The idea of being a prayer warrior can be daunting. But even if we’re not sure how to pray, we all need prayer. So, where do you start?
While prayer warriors can be different from head to toe, these 7 characteristics of a prayer warrior are attributes they all have in common. These qualities of a prayer warrior will encourage you and give you direction in your prayer life. As you learn how to pray, you can be powerful prayer warriors for others, too.
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I’ll receive a commission if you purchase through my links, at no extra cost to you. Please read the full disclosure for more information.
Characteristics of a Prayer Warrior
What makes someone a prayer warrior?
When things don’t go how you plan, what’s your initial response? For me, it can be anger, frustration, sadness, and maybe rejection. Yet when things go according to plan, I’m happy, proud, or arrogant.
While feeling our emotions isn’t a bad thing, it can be problematic when you’re only responding to situations with emotion-fueled actions.
This isn’t the only way to respond to life’s ups and downs. Instead, we can respond with prayer, and that’s what makes someone a prayer warrior.
Being a prayer warrior is about your response. Do you respond with prayer? Do you turn to God or rely on yourself?
The power of prayer is something I’ve only begun to understand in my spiritual life. One way I’ve grown to understand prayer more is having people pray for me and learning to pray for others. Here are 7 qualities of prayer warriors to strengthen your prayer life.
- Faithful
- Consistent
- Humble
- Obedient to God
- Dependable
- Speaking God’s Truth
- Persevering
The first 4 characteristics of prayer warrior focus on the discipline of prayer. The additional attributes are particular to friends who pray for you. Those attributes also show how praying friends are a blessing and joy, too.
1 – Prayer Warriors have Faith
When we pray, we are relying on faith, trust, and hope in God. Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”
To be a prayer warrior, you must believe in what you’re praying and that your prayers have impact, even if you don’t see the result of your prayer immediately. God works on his own timetable, not ours.
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.”
Additionally, you must believe in whom you are praying to. The power of prayer is not in the prayer itself or even the person saying the prayer.
Prayer is powerful because of who we are praying to: the Holy God who is good, righteous, and almighty.
God is sovereign over all, meaning everything is in God’s control. God can turn around any situation or circumstances. This is the God we are praying to for His holy intervention in our lives and the lives of our friends.
Do you have faith that He can work out all things for our good? (Romans 8:28)
2 – Prayer Warriors are Consistent
For prayer warriors, praying is a habit. They are diligent in prayer and treat prayer as a discipline of Christian living. Like all disciplines we must practice prayer consistently until it becomes a habit.
“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
If you’re new to prayer, praying all the time seems like a lot when you’re not sure what to say. Try to pray by reusing one of these short prayers for young people.
3 – Prayer Warriors have Humility
Another characteristic of a prayer warrior is humility. When you pray for your friends or yourself, you’re coming to God’s holy throne through Jesus.
Why Jesus? God is so holy and so righteous we cannot comprehend the amount of reverence he deserves. Because we all have sinned, we are tainted with sin and unable to enter the presence of God.
But because Jesus has paid the penalty for our sin and clothed us in his righteousness, God sees us as righteous and without sin. This is what allows us to approach God directly on the throne of grace and pray to Him.
Little bit of a side story, but it’s worth knowing and understanding how Jesus’s sacrifice for us closed the divide between us and God, the divide that sin created. You can read more about the power of prayer and accepting God’s love to dive deeper into this topic.
In summary, if we truly understand Jesus’s sacrifice, then we will approach God’s throne with humility. We know that being a prayer warrior is a gift. Being able to talk to God directly came at the highest price—Jesus’ death on the cross.
4 – Prayer Warriors are Obedient to God
To be a prayer warrior, we must be obedient to God in other areas of our life, too. Having a clean heart and conscience allows us to pray to God unhindered.
If we’re hiding sin in our lives or being disobedient, then we can’t fully experience the power of prayer.
God wants us to confess and repent of our sin and obey his commands before we come to him in prayer.
5 – Prayer Warriors are Dependable
It always feels like the Christian thing to say is, “I’ll pray for you.” But how many of us really do pray for the person?
When a prayer warrior says they will pray for you, they do. Prayer is one of many ways you can show God’s love to others.
Personally, I’m trying to be more intentional when I say, “I’ll pray for you,” and follow through. I either stop what I’m doing and pray that moment or write it down to pray about it later.
6 – Prayer Warriors Speak God’s Word Over Your Life
One of the duties of a prayer warrior is to pray, but not just any prayer. We want to speak a prayer full of God’s word and truth.
In Matthew 4, Jesus was tempted by Satan before beginning his ministry. He fought temptation and Satan’s lies with the strongest weapon, the truth of God’s word.
Powerful prayer warriors do the same. They are using scriptures to pray for friends and speaking God’s word over people’s lives.
7 – Prayer Warriors are Persevering
At first glance, this characteristic of a prayer warrior may seem like a repeat of “Consistent.” On the contrary, consistency is about praying continually, daily, and at different points throughout the day.
Perseverance is about continuing to pray when you’re tired, angry, disappointed, or sad or facing tough circumstances.
Persevering in prayer is like a marathon. We continue to pray for things even when we’re not seeing the results we expect or getting the answers we want.
Lately, I’ve been encouraged by God’s kindness even in response to prayer. Sometimes we even have good desires and pure hearts, but God’s answer to our prayer is still no or wait.
We must trust in his character and that this is a kind, loving response from God—though we may not understand why our request is not granted.
By his character, God is kind. And how he answers prayer is always the kindest response he could give.
How to Be a Prayer Warrior
Don’t lose faith if you don’t have all these characteristics of a prayer warrior mastered. Building your prayer life is a journey, and it takes time and practice.
Still, that shouldn’t stop you from being a prayer warrior friend to those around you and to yourself.
One of the greatest blessings of my Christian friendships is having someone to pray for me consistently and intentionally, which is where I got the idea for this article. It’s one of those blessings you don’t realize you’re missing until you experience it.
Prayer Warriors and Praying Friends
To illustrate the impact of praying friends and friends who pray for you, I’ll wrap up with a story from my own life.
In early 2022, I met my friend for coffee. While sipping from our mugs, we shared our “words” for the year. What I didn’t expect was that my friend had picked a word for me, too.
She told me that she had prayed for each of her friends, and God had given her a word to pray over them. The word God had given her for me was “Whole.”
As someone recovering from brokenness, I needed that exact prayer, and God showed her that without me having to even utter a word. That’s the power of prayer and friendship with powerful prayer warriors.
So, you can bet that my friend exhibited all these characteristics of prayer warriors. With a little time, intention, and practice, so will you. :]
What are other characteristics of a prayer warrior?
Leave me a comment below!
Don’t miss this! More posts in the Growing in Faith Category:
- 12 Impactful Scriptures to Use When Praying
- 11 Inspirational Short Prayers for Young People
- 10 Lessons & Stories to Unlock the Power of Prayer
- 7 Genuine Ways to Connect with God (Again)
Join our Email List!
Hey there! You don’t have to navigate the adulting struggle on your own. Here at Kara J Lovett Co., we want to support you while you’re figuring things out and getting it together.
That’s why we’ve made the “Getting It Together Guide”: 25 pages of support, encouragement, practical tips, prayers, devotionals, and resources for the adulting struggle.
Subscribe to our site for access to the guide, regular post updates, fun freebies, and printables! Or find out more about our premium Getting it Together Guide here.
I love things. I wish to hear more about this. Thanks alot. God bless you 🤗🙏
Hi Justina, I’m so glad you enjoyed the post. I hope it helps your prayer life.
I will love to learn more about prayer and who a prayer warrior is
Hi Annie,
Thank you for your comment. The best way to learn more about being a prayer warrior is to start praying. Jesus often taught about prayer and many of His prayers are recorded in the gospels (see Matthew 6:9-13 and John 17:20-26) so spending time reading and studying those passages of scripture can be helpful in becoming a “powerful and effective” (James 5:16c) prayer warrior.
~Trish, from KJL Co.
Hello and thank you so much for the 7 characteristics of a Christian Warrior Friend. I am presently embarking on a women’s ministry at church this coming Sunday, having all the women of the church pair up and randomly selected to have a prayer partner for 3 months. I’m hoping to share your 7 characteristics with them and to embark on an unforgettable journey. What God begins, and we execute with HIM to fruition, will never come up void. Thank you Kara.
Hi Christine,
Thank you for sharing how this blog post helped you in preparing to start a women’s ministry at your church. As someone who has been involved in women’s ministry for many years, I can’t think of a better way to embark on this journey with these women than by encouraging them to pray for one another. There is power in prayer! May God bless and increase your ministry as you respond in obedience to the call He has placed on your life.
~ Trish, from KJL Co.