Sabbath: Practical Prayer
Daily Lesson for Sabbath 9th of May 2026
Image © Pacific Press
Read for This Week’s Study:
1 Kings 19:1-18; Matthew 6:5-8; Luke 11:2-4; Matthew 6:5-15; Daniel 9:4-19; Romans 8:26-27.
Memory Text:
“Trust in Him at all times, you people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us” (Psalms 62:8, NKJV).
What is your prayer life like? How often do you pray? How fervently? How expectantly? Do you pray daily or only in emergencies? Are your prayers always asking for something, or do you praise God in your prayers, as well?
Also, do you find yourself offering a prayer in the morning before you eat and perhaps partway through your busy day? Perhaps you’ve been part of a regular prayer group or even experienced what it’s like to pray around the clock. Have you experienced the power and presence of God through prayer that changes everything in your life?
Prayer is the constant connection between us (the branches) and Jesus (the Vine). “If we would grow and flourish, we must continually draw sap and nourishment from the Living Vine; for separated from the Vine we have no strength.”—Ellen G. White, Early Writings, p. 73. This is the blessing of abiding prayer. God hears us, and He always answers in His time and in His perfect way—though not always in the way we might expect.
This week let’s study other praying individuals in the Bible and consider practical ways to strengthen prayer in our daily lives.
… and we turn the page of the lesson to find we have another week to study prayer. Some of us may have run out of things to say about prayer and we will resort to platitudes.
I want to throw out a challenge: Rather than talking about praying, how about we pray. I am setting myself the goal of writing a prayer every day this week.
Here is my first one:
Now I have to think up six more!
Father, Jesus, Spirit. I am so grateful that you want to be close to us. My prayer is that this week you let Maurice know how close you are to him as he shares prayers to encourage SSNET readers as he has so effectively in many ways for some time now. As we study practical prayer, help us all make our prayers a conversation and a time for listening with you.
What a beautiful majestic creation! Thank you Maurice.
The Bible in James 5:16 tells us, “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” meaning that prayer is not optional for us as Christians. Prayer is not just something we only do before a meal, or before we fall asleep, when in danger, or even after reading something in the Bible, but rather, prayer can be done while driving to work, walking to school, taking a shower, enjoying a meal, while receiving a text from a friend, and even while conversing. We must ceaseless pray as an invitation to connect with our Father anytime, connect with the throne of God all the time, for God is omnipresent and ready to hear from us.
The scripture is notorious in showing how prayer has been battle-field tested with God answering different people in their circumstances. Elijah prayed and stopped the rains (James 5:17–18). Hannah cried out and conceived a miracle (1 Samuel 1:10). Daniel knelt, and lions went fasting (Daniel 6:10–22). When we pray, we don’t bend reality to our will, but we align ourselves to God’s will. This is how victorious our spiritual battle can be. Prayer is what keeps us standing instead of falling. Just like we anxiously search for strong Wi-Fi signals to stay connected to the world, we must daily seek the stable frequency of prayer to stay connected to our Lord Jesus Christ (John 1). “Seeing then that we have a great high priest… let us come boldly unto the throne of grace” (Heb. 4:14–16). In Christ, our spiritual signal will never fail.
Thank you Montoya, I need to share something that my wife purchased many years ago. It is engraved on a rock on our front porch:
PRAYER, THE WORLD’S BEST WIRELESS CONNECTION.
Can I repost your comment on another platform? I think it is so practical.
Absolutely!
What is “Practical Prayer” like?
“So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless” (James 2:17, NLT).
Prayer should have an impact on the believer’s life. Prayer should impact on how we live, what we do, our thoughts, our attitudes and how we related to God and our fellow human being. Prayer is not just we say or tell God. What we believe in words must be translated into tangible actions which bring real changes in our lives. We cannot pray but our actions are directly opposite. Prayer is much more than just words.
Examples:
a) If we pray for a job, we must be actively looking for one. We must write job applications. We must be willing to enrol in some course. Look for job adverts. We cannot simply pray and do nothing.
b) If we pray for peace in the family, we must make efforts to reconcile, apologise where necessary, willing to change our attitude, willing to forgive and be lovers of peace. We cannot wish for a happy family while we are agitating family members.
c) If we pray for good health, we must make efforts to live healthily. We eat well, drink enough water, have enough sunshine, do some physical exercise, have enough sleep and be positive. We cannot wish to have good health while we are going against health principles. Prayer is not challenging God to perform miracles.
d) If we pray for God’s blessings in our lives, we must be obedient to the Word of God. Doing God’s will must be our priority. We cannot live in blatant disobedient with the will of God and yet expect God to pour His blessings upon us. That is living in contempt with God.
Prayer is not simply speaking/reciting spiritual words to God but living those words. We need more practical prayers in this end-time. We need prayers that transform lives. We need prayers that are action oriented, prayers that prepares us for the second coming of Jesus Christ. Practical prayers believe that faith can be lived.
Yesterday, as I was sitting in my car at a parking lot in a drive-through, waiting for my daughter to wash her hands, a man parked his car next to mine, got out, stood locating the direction facing Mecca, and began to pray — I watched. He stood, raised his hands towards his face, crossed his arms, bent over, went to his knees, stood again, quietly muttering or “chanting” a prayer — alone. His eyes were open, but the concentration was intense — unflinching and undisturbed by the noise of Friday evening traffic. He wasn’t Seventh-day Adventist like me, but somehow I could feel his prayer as I watched and wondered, “Wow! That discipline!” Five times he went down to his knees and up again. Soon after, he quietly returned to his car and continued with his journey.
My thoughts have not left that experience till this minute (it’s 3:43am – EAT). As I mentioned, I felt his prayer; his confidence and faith said something — he was in the presence of a higher power, and he was exalting this higher power. Oh! I really don’t know how to ask this, but didn’t that prayer feel practical? How does he separate himself from the noise in the environment? Can I really doubt that this is not “a practical prayer”? (“As an Adventist, that is!”) I’ll be here for a while! No rush, I think God is talking to me, like Peter, I may need to learn or even unlearn.
It’s amazing that this week’s study is “Practical Prayer,” coming back-to-back from comes immediately after this. This week will inspire, as it always does. I strongly believe that I will learn so much, and whatever this experience was all about, the study this week will be of great profit to my journey toward a deeper relationship with God. I hope this week will be spiritual and of great gain to all of us as well.
Dear Stanley, thank you for your inspiring words and for sharing what you witnessed about a prayer warrior. I had a similar experience with a Moslem student at my university.
The class I taught ended at 12 noon. Students from other classes that ended at the same time we streaming through the corridor. Some going to lunch, some going to join other classes, some just hanging around until their classes were due. In the midst of this sea of human traffic, my Moslem student, took out a small towel from his backpack, and spread it on the floor in a corner of the corridor. He then knelt down on it and began to pray. His prayer was silent but his dedication, resilience, commitment and loyalty to his pray life spoke a sermon to me. His actions also spoke volumes to the other students who also noticed him. This student’s devotional life forced me to ask myself the question, is my devotion to my God changing me? Are onlookers seeing Christ in my devotion?
wow!
I pray in the early his of the morning everyday.But in some of my desperate moments, I pray fervently and God intervenes in the situation.
“Incredible Answers to Prayer” by Roger Morneau, come to mind. When this man prayed – mountains moved. He gives steps on how to pray. I believe they are essential in this time of that we live in.
Praying without faith is nothing and faith without actions is dead, we need to pray, trust God and live according to his word all the things we pray for shall fall unto us
Prayer has been my salvation. My prayer group has literally been my true church! It has helped me throughout my darkest and, at the same time, happiest moments over the past years – I thank God for the people who have stood by me in prayer! Prayer has given me a deeper sense of who my true physical and spiritual family is! Prayer has brought me closer to incredible people and pushed away those who are simply circumstantial! God is amazing! I can’t live without prayer anymore!
I thank God for the clarification and explanation of the practical prayer. Also I thank God for the scenes where breathren noticed on different occasions where people different religions commit themselves to prayer not minding the place or whose watching or whether there’s notice or any obstructions. That was such an inspiration to me me that no matter where we’re prayer must be done anywhere and anytime. I was a Muslim before I accepted Jesus as my saviour so I thank God for that because all my prayers have been answered. HALELUYA!!!!!!