How to ask for prayer at Grace Bible Baptist Church

Some weeks are heavier than others. A diagnosis, a job lost, a marriage under strain, a child who has stopped calling: these are the times people most want someone to pray for them and least know whom to ask. Grace Bible Baptist Church in Knoxville gives you several plain ways to ask, and none of them requires that you be a member, or that you have ever visited.

Use the prayer request button

Our website has a Request Prayer button. You write what you would like us to pray about, and you choose whether the request is kept private or shared with the church. Requests go to Pastor Barnett, and the choice between private and shared with the church is yours to make each time.

You do not have to explain everything. A sentence is enough: a name, a situation, and what you are asking God for. If you would like a reply, say how to reach you.

Call the church

If you would sooner speak to a person, call the church at (865) 637-8954. You can also write to us from the Contact page and choose prayer request as the subject. Either way, you are asking someone who is willing to be asked. The church would rather hear from you than have you carry something alone.

Come to the Saturday prayer meeting

We post a Prayer Meeting every Saturday at 10:00 A.M., at 2646 Jefferson Ave. Our midweek gathering on Wednesday evening is posted at 7:30 P.M. If you would like to be prayed for in person, a Saturday morning is one place to do it. You do not need to say anything out loud to be welcome in the room. Our invitation is the same one we give on Sundays: no matter who you are or where you are from, come as you are.

What the Bible says about praying

We read from the King James Bible, and two verses are worth keeping close when you are anxious. Philippians 4:6: “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.” In the old wording, careful means full of care. The verse is saying that you do not need to carry every worry alone, and that you may bring it, whatever it is, to God.

First Peter 5:7 says it more briefly: “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.” Notice the verb. To cast something is to throw it off yourself. It is not a suggestion to try harder, and it is not a promise that every problem will be gone by Friday. It is an invitation to hand the weight to someone who cares.

If you do not know how to pray

You do not need special words. If you have never prayed, our article on the plan of salvation includes a short prayer the church publishes, and it is a good place to begin. Pastor Barnett has written that the heart-felt prayer of this church is for people to know the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Savior, and to belong to a Bible-believing, Bible-preaching church that cares for them. That is the kind of church we are trying to be, and a prayer request is one small way for us to show it.

Whatever you are carrying this week, you are welcome to send it to us.