A Powerful Prayer for Loneliness

Are you lonely and maybe even horrified to admit that out loud? I hate that there’s so much shame around this topic because it’s a lot more common than we know. That’s why I’m asking God for some powerful prayer for loneliness.

How do we pray for ourselves or others when lonely?

A Powerful Prayer for Loneliness

Maybe the most powerful prayer for loneliness ever
is simply this,
God, I need You!

Twenty-five years ago, my friend shared this powerful story . . . and I still carry it with me.

A coach and an Elder at church, he found himself in an internal wrestling match.

At a meeting earlier in the week, our pastor had decided that the Elders needed to meet more people. My friend didn’t want to do that. No one would expect it, but he was painfully shy.

While playing his trombone during orchestra practice Sunday morning, he noticed a woman come into the room and sit off to the side by herself.

No one talked to her. He was of the same mind. 

After practice, he had 20 minutes before the service started. “I don’t want to go talk to her, Lord,” he argued. “What difference does it make if I talk to people or not?”

Perspiration trickled down his back. His cheeks flushed and his stomach churned as he maneuvered the chairs and gingerly left the comfort of the worship area to make his way over to her.

Screwing up his courage, he managed a weak, “How are you?”

The woman looked up and shared her list of woes. She’d lost her job. Her husband left. She didn’t have money to pay the rent. She went looking for someone to talk to but couldn’t find anyone.

Tears rolled down her cheeks, as she shared honestly, “I made plans to commit suicide today. Then, I decided to give God one more chance. I came early to see if anyone would talk to me . . . and I told God if only one person said Hi, I wouldn’t kill myself.”

Sometimes we underestimate how powerfully
God might work through us to help someone else.

If you feel like this woman or you know someone who does, click here to get help. There is no need to be ashamed.

One of the things I love about Jesus is that . . .

He knows what it’s like.

No matter what we are going through, we have a God who is “intimately acquainted” with all of our ways (Psalm 139:3 NASB).

“For we do not have a High Priest who is unable to sympathize and understand our weaknesses and temptations, but One who has been tempted [knowing exactly how it feels to be human] in every respect as we are” (Hebrews 4:15, AMP).

Jesus spent a life on Earth going through the ins and outs of humanity. He knew isolation, betrayal, abandonment, and emptiness. Different from everyone He ever met, Jesus knows what it’s like to be misunderstood and persecuted.

Never settling down, He lived life on the move.

Jesus built a family for Himself to come alongside Him on the journey. But even those men and women didn’t fully understand Him or stick with Him.

He died a lonely death forsaken even by the Father who He’d been with forever.

Jesus is not a God who doesn’t know what it’s like to be lonely.
He knows the depth of our pain.

We were not meant to be alone.

God created us to be known, loved, and connected, both to Him and those around us.

If you’re in a season of loneliness, know that God is there. Know that He is working for your good. If you are without companionship, or if you feel alone in the midst of many, guess what?

You do not have a need that God is not delighted to meet. 

This feeling of loneliness may feel inescapable, but it is a temporary condition. 

God is on the way to you. Hope in Him. Trust that Jesus died to draw you closely so you never have to be alone again. If you choose to believe in Jesus, surely, He is with you now until the end of the age, and even after that.

You will never be alone.

A Powerful Prayer for Loneliness

Lord,

Bring every person who’s reading this comfort. Each one of them is Your Beloved. Show each that he/she is not alone and that You are a right-here God who is before and beside and ahead and behind and beneath and above your people.

You do not leave those you love behind. 

Fill Your Beloved with a hope that runs deeper than loneliness. Hold each one’s hand, be near to each one’s heart, and speak to each one’s thoughts.

You are forever enough.

Show them that.

You also said it is not good for man to be alone, so I am contending for community for your Beloved. Bring others to lift each one up and pour into them. Bring people

• to have fun with 
• to help 
• and some they can serve

Sustain and strengthen each in the transitions and spaces between communities. 

Remind each that You are there with a future and a hope. You are a God who fills the gaps.

Fill the gaps for your Beloved. 

Bring each soul to a place of overflowing comfort, joy, and connection, so each can pour into others. Thank you, Jesus, for closing the gap between us and you. It’s in Your name we pray, Amen.

The Bible says:

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11, NIV).

“No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it (1 Corinthians 10:13, NIV).

Related Post: Need God? You Might Not Think So Till You See How Good He Is!

I wrote this post with my niece, Savannah. She was in a really hard space when she put together a cool video called, What Do You Do. Click here to watch it.

When I asked her for a bio, she said:

“Who am I?” I live and go to school in Massachusetts. I have one older sister, two sets of parents, and four pets. And once, on a whim, I described myself as “the most exuberant introvert you’ll ever meet.” That seems to sum it up.