“Satan does not care how many people read about prayer if only he can keep them from praying.” (Paul Billheimer)

If the fear of public speaking is one of the general population’s greatest frights, apprehension of praying publicly may be the Christian equivalent. A prayer is an honest conversation with your Heavenly Father. At times, some of us have battled with a sense of distance between us and God. Prayer can reconnection us with the Almighty.

How do you pray publicly in a way that's helpful to listeners? To pray on behalf of others is a huge privilege. When we get to Heaven, we may find that was the best thing we ever did. In prayer together, the leader brings others on a holy errand to the very throne room of the Heavenly Father.

The Christian never prays alone, and the Christian never leads others in prayer by themself, but always has the promised and sufficient help of the three: the listening Father, the interceding Son, and the helping Spirit. With this confidence, you can take steps to better pray in front of others.

1. Always be clear: Your great aim as you lead others in prayer is that they would pray along with you. You should pray with simplicity and humility, encouraging others to join their hearts to yours. It is good to pick one or two items for prayer and pray thoroughly and briefly about them. This allows others time to lead. The words and sentences of your prayer should also be clear and personal. Use your natural way of speaking.

“Dear God, if I am wrong, right me. If I am lost, guide me. If I start to give up, Keep me going. Lead me in light & love. Amen!” (Hope in Recovery)

2. Always be corporate: When you lead in public prayer, you are not praying for yourself only but also with others. You are asking them to join you as you approach God and to make your petitions their own. For this reason, you should try as much as possible to use corporate language (“we,” “us,” and “our”), and to pray for things that are common to everyone. Your most feeble prayer may unite the hearts of the church before the Almighty. Briefly, remind others of forgotten truth, stir them to renewed faith, or move them to greater divine love. Praying together may be just what they need.

“It is in fact the most normal thing in the common Christian life to pray together.” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer)

3. Always be ready: Your readiness for public prayer always begins with a regular habit of private prayer. Get ready by studying other prayers from a variety of sources. Think ahead to what you might want to pray. Your prayer topic can from anything in your private life. Be prepared to pray any time you are asked to. It’s not as difficult to do as you might expect. Remember it’s actually just you communicating to your Heavenly Father.

“It is not the body's posture, but the heart's attitude that counts when we pray.” (Billy Graham)

“We tend to use prayer as a last resort, but God wants it to be our first line of defense. We pray when there's nothing else we can do, but God wants us to pray before we do anything at all.

Most of us would prefer, however, to spend our time doing something that will get immediate results. We don't want to wait for God to resolve matters in His good time because His idea of good time is seldom in sync with ours.” (Oswald Chambers)[i]