Lyrics
Pray
Lyric note: Archive page had no lyrics; lyrics supplied by owner.
Read together: Job 30:20; 1 Samuel 1:9–18; Daniel 10:10–14; Romans 8:26–27; Revelation 8:3–4; Luke 18:1–8
Have you ever tried to pray and the words wouldn't come? Or prayed and wondered whether God cared? Or brought your needs to His throne and felt completely alone when you got there? This song asks those questions, and then adds something refreshingly honest: If you say that's never how you feel, I have to wonder—are you really being real?
Struggling in prayer is not a sign that something is wrong with your faith. It is a sign that you are human. And the song reminds us that some of the greatest people of faith in the Bible struggled too.
Read Job 30:20. In his suffering, Job cried, "I cry out to You, O God, but You do not answer; I stand up, but You merely look at me." David wrote psalms that ask why God seems far away. Read 1 Samuel 1:9–18. Hannah, grieving her childlessness, prayed so deeply that her lips moved but no sound came out. The priest Eli thought she was drunk. She said, "I have been pouring out my soul before the Lord." And read Daniel 10:10–14. Daniel prayed and fasted for three weeks before an angel came and told him, "Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard." Daniel's prayer was heard on day one. The answer came on day twenty-one.
Each of these believers felt the silence. And each kept praying.
That is the whole message of the chorus: Pray, pray, pray, and pray again. Read Luke 18:1–8. Jesus told a parable about a widow who kept coming to an unjust judge until he finally granted her justice. Luke says Jesus told it "to show them that they should always pray and not lose heart." If even an unjust judge eventually responds to persistence, how much more will our loving Father hear His children?
The second verse remembers Paul's comfort. Read Romans 8:26–27. "The Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans too deep for words." When you have no words, the Spirit prays for you. God understands your tears and your groans.
The song also admits that sometimes earnest prayers do not get the answer we want. God in His wisdom won't let them through. We should hear that carefully. God hears every prayer of His children. But He does not always say yes. Sometimes He says "wait," as with Daniel. Sometimes He says "no," because He sees what we cannot. A loving Father does not grant every request.
And then comes the third verse, one of the most beautiful images in this collection. In heaven there's a bowl where every prayer ever prayed does stay, and God never throws even a single prayer away. Read Revelation 8:3–4. John saw an angel with a golden censer offering incense "with the prayers of all the saints" on the golden altar before the throne, "and the smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, went up before God." Revelation 5:8 also pictures golden bowls full of incense, "which are the prayers of the saints." Your prayers are not lost. They rise before God like incense, and He keeps them.
So pray. Pray when you don't know what to say. Pray through the night. Pray when it feels like nothing is happening. You are never alone when you pray.
A moment to respond: Read 1 Samuel 1:9–18. Then spend five minutes in prayer today, even if you have no words. If words won't come, simply say, "Lord, You know," and sit quietly in His presence. Write down one prayer you have stopped praying, and start praying it again.
Let's pray: Father, You know how often we struggle to pray. Sometimes the words won't come, and sometimes it feels like no one is listening. Thank You that Job, David, Hannah, and Daniel struggled too, and You heard them. Thank You that Your Spirit prays for us when we cannot, and that not one prayer is ever thrown away. Teach us to pray and never lose heart. Amen.
Our desire at UnrelentingJesus is that you would keep praying—through the silence, through the night, and through every season—because God hears and keeps every prayer.



