Most of us don’t start praying because we’ve mastered it, and the scripture on how to pray doesn’t expect us to. We start because something is heavy, or quiet, or unresolved, and we aren’t sure what to do with it. If that’s where you are, you’re in good company. When the disciples first raised the subject, they didn’t ask to be made holy. They said, “teach us.”
What follows is a collection of some of the best-known scripture on how to pray. You won’t find a method or a formula here. The focus is on one thing in particular: attention. Where do we place ourselves when we pray, and what are we listening for? Take what helps and leave the rest. The Quiet Return explores stillness across religious traditions, with room for doubt and nonreligious perspectives, so read these passages at your own pace and in your own way.
Quotations are from the World English Bible unless noted. Please check them against the translation you prefer.
1. Begin by asking: “Lord, teach us to pray”
In Luke 11:1, one of the disciples watches Jesus pray and asks him to teach them. The request takes for granted that prayer is learned. Nobody is simply born good at it.
If you feel clumsy at prayer, that’s a relief. Even the people closest to Jesus needed help. Learning to pray may begin with admitting we don’t quite know how.
Paul says something close to this in Romans 8:26: “we don’t know how to pray as we ought.” Then he describes the Spirit helping us in that weakness. So not knowing how doesn’t rule you out. It’s where you begin.
2. Go to a quiet place
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says: “when you pray, enter into your inner room, and having shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret” (Matthew 6:6). He’s warning against praying to be seen by others (Matthew 6:5).
Mark 1:35 shows the same habit in action. Jesus gets up early, while it’s still dark, and goes out to a solitary place to pray.
Neither passage sets rules about the hour or the room. What they share is a sense that prayer often involves withdrawing: setting aside the audience and the noise so attention can turn toward God. So what’s your “inner room”? It might be a chair. A walk. The first ten minutes of a morning.
3. Don’t confuse many words with real attention
Right after that instruction, Jesus adds: “In praying, don’t use vain repetitions, as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their much speaking” (Matthew 6:7). Then he offers the short prayer we know as the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13).
It’s brief. It honors God, then asks for daily bread, forgiveness and protection. Whatever else it teaches, it suggests a prayer can be real without being long or elaborate.
In Luke 18:9-14, Jesus tells a short story about two men in the temple. One lists his own virtues. The other, a tax collector, stands at a distance and says only, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” According to Jesus, it was the second man who went home right with God. Honest attention seems to count for more than polished speech.
4. Be still, and wait
Several passages lean toward quiet:
- Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still, and know that I am God.”
- Psalm 62:5 says, “My soul, wait in silence for God alone.”
- In 1 Kings 19:11-13, Elijah stands on the mountain. Wind, earthquake and fire pass, but the text says the Lord was not in them. Then comes what’s described as a gentle whisper, or “a still small voice” in the King James Version.
None of these promise that silence will feel dramatic. They suggest that part of prayer is making room to listen. That’s hard in a life that rarely goes quiet. If your mind races when you try, that’s ordinary. The practice is in returning, again and again, to the place of attention.
5. Bring what is actually on your mind
The Psalms may be the most useful scripture on how to pray, because they show people praying honestly. There’s praise in them, and also fear, anger, confusion and grief. Psalm 13 opens with “How long, Yahweh? Will you forget me forever?” Psalm 5:3 describes bringing your concerns to God in the morning and then watching expectantly for a response.
Paul puts it more gently in Philippians 4:6: do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God.
What ties these together is honesty. You don’t need to tidy your thoughts first. Many readers find it helps to name what’s true today, in plain words, and stay with it.
6. Keep coming back
Luke 18:1 says Jesus told a parable to show that people “must always pray and not give up.” Paul’s line “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) is sometimes read as a call to a continuing awareness of God, which is different from constant speaking.
Both describe prayer as a returning. You drift. You come back. That fits the name of this site. A wandering mind doesn’t mean you’ve failed at prayer, and coming back may be most of the practice.
7. Notice distraction without shame
One more passage deserves a slow read. In Luke 10:38-42, Jesus visits the home of Martha and Mary. Mary sits and listens to him. Martha is “distracted with much serving” and asks Jesus to tell Mary to help. His answer is kind: Martha is “anxious and troubled about many things,” and Mary has chosen something that will not be taken from her.
He doesn’t scold Martha harshly. He names her distraction with some tenderness. Readers often take the story as an invitation to put attention on the person in front of us before the task list. If you’ve ever prayed while running through tomorrow’s to-do list, you know this ground.
What these passages might suggest about attention
Put side by side, these passages don’t add up to one method. A few themes do keep coming up:
- Not knowing how is a fine place to start. (Luke 11:1; Romans 8:26)
- Withdrawing helps, and prayer is often tied to a quiet place. (Matthew 6:6; Mark 1:35)
- Fewer words can be enough. (Matthew 6:7-13; Luke 18:13)
- Listening matters as much as speaking. (Psalm 46:10; Psalm 62:5; 1 Kings 19:12)
- Honesty beats polish. (Psalms; Philippians 4:6)
- Returning is the practice. (Luke 18:1; 1 Thessalonians 5:17)
A small way to try this
Want to put this into practice? Try the following for a few days and see what you notice. Treat it as an invitation. Nothing here is required.
- Choose one passage from above and read it slowly, twice.
- Sit quietly for a few minutes.
- Say one honest sentence about what’s on your mind.
- Stay a little longer than feels comfortable, listening.
- When your mind wanders, gently return.
Afterward, notice what you paid attention to, without judging it.
If this kind of quiet reflection is useful to you, you’re welcome to look around the rest of The Quiet Return for more.
Related reading
Author: Theo Bennett, editorial review
Last updated: November 2026
Leave a Reply