Last Updated on October 19, 2023 by Emma
Do you need to close a Bible study with a prayer? Not sure what to pray?
We’ve created these six caring prayers for you to use to end a Bible study in prayer. Choose the situation that best fits you and pray! You are welcome to modify the details in the prayer to suit your specific needs and circumstances.
Bible study helps us learn and grow as followers of Jesus Christ. When we study with others, we get different viewpoints on the scripture, and we get to share ours. As you close a study with prayer, you can summarize what you’ve learned together and point people toward the hope you share together.
“For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope” (Romans 15.4, NIV).
Closing a Bible study with prayer is the final step of your time together. You’ve come to the place where you are gathered and caught up with each other. Someone has opened the study with a prayer. Whether it was one person or shared among each person, you were led through the scripture passage. You may have had questions to answer and discuss. And now, as you prepare to depart, you’ve been asked to pray. Think about the importance of what has just happened.
Let me share with you an extended account of a Bible study that happened in the early church. From this, you can see both the necessity for getting into God’s Word, even in the midst of struggle or obstacles.
“As soon as it was night, the believers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. 11 Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. 12 As a result, many of them believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men. 13 But when the Jews in Thessalonica learned that Paul was preaching the word of God at Berea, some of them went there too, agitating the crowds and stirring them up. 14 The believers immediately sent Paul to the coast, but Silas and Timothy stayed at Berea. 15 Those who escorted Paul brought him to Athens and then left with instructions for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible” (Acts 17.10-15)
It is unlikely that you will have people show up to a Bible study you are attending and start agitating or stirring things up, as they did in Acts. But you might have some candid discussion and direct conversation as you discuss scripture and theology which can all lead to intense feelings. Theology is simply what you think about God.
Your prayer at the end of a Bible study can bring everyone back into focus on God, not each other, and not on differences of opinion. May what you pray be a balm of peace to unite everyone under Christ, through his love and regardless of individual belief.
A Short Prayer to End a Bible Study
Dear God, we are thankful for all that you have shown us in our study of (exact scripture) today. Thank you for our leader (name) who guided us through the questions and reading. May we use what we have learned to be better people and better followers of Jesus. It is in his name I pray, Amen.
Prayer to Close a Bible Study at Church
Dear God, I give you thanks for a wonderful and insightful Bible study this morning. I want to thank you for (leader’s name) who helped us discuss your Word. I also want to thank you for having a room here at church to gather and learn together.
I admit I struggled this morning with the issues brought up in the scripture. I had never really considered several of the viewpoints we talked about as we read. It seems apparent that others had not as well. Help each of us to seriously consider what we have heard and read today. I ask your Holy Spirit to guide us, individually and corporately, into all truth over the next few hours and days.
Let us not shy away from letting go of outdated, or even wrong, thinking. Let the hard truth of scripture get into us and change us more into the image of Christ. May we be open to being transformed and not to have hard hearts, Lord. As we depart in peace, I pray all of this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
Prayer to Close a Bible Study at Home
Dear Lord, what a joy it was to host this Bible study in our home tonight. We are so glad that everyone could make it and there were no illnesses or childcare issues to prevent anyone from attending.
Thank you Holy Spirit for opening us up to share about our struggles in (area of discussion). I know I was personally relieved to hear that I was not the only one who had been dealing with it. While we didn’t get through all of the questions in the study guide, the ones we did talk about were so spiritually stimulating. Thank you for the trust we have in this group, Lord.
We may very well pursue some of this the next time we gather, but for tonight, I pray that you help our finite minds begin to grasp the issues we discussed. Help us to wrestle with what it means for each of us as we follow you. Let us not be content with the status quo anymore. You have shown us new insights which have challenged how we have been living.
Enable us to integrate the truth revealed tonight into our hearts and minds. I ask all of this in the name of Jesus, Amen.
Prayer to Close a Bible Study for Men
Dear Lord, I am so thankful I can gather with other men and study the Bible and talk about what it means in my life. I am grateful for all of these other men who come each week to do the same. We have built up a trust over time which is so valuable.
May we each continue to be vulnerable and not be afraid to share about what’s going on in our lives. This study this morning was especially challenging for everyone, it seems, based on our discussion. Just because it’s hard, Lord, doesn’t mean we can just ignore it and pretend we didn’t read what we read, or hear what we heard.
Strengthen us by your Spirit to embrace the truth and do what we must to be transformed into the likeness of Christ. I pray for each man as they leave this morning: may we go about our day in safety and under the direction of you, our God and Redeemer. I pray this in the mighty name of Jesus, Amen.
Prayer to Close a Bible Study for Women
Dear Father in heaven, I’m praying now with joy for the Bible study today. We’ve had a breakthrough in the unity of the group through what we talked about as we read your scripture. I give you thanks for each woman here.
I’m weeping as I pray because I’m so grateful for your Spirit and what he has done in us in the last hour. We were overwhelmed as we let down our barriers and allowed ourselves to show who we really are, and what we struggle with each day.
Your Word has been a comfort and a peace for us today. I know we all have to leave and go about our day, with everything we have to do and get done. But I pray right now for you to surround us with your strength and guide us into a new way of living because of what we’ve learned here. May we shine with your grace and mercy and be a light in the darkness, wherever we are today.
I ask for all of this things in the loving name and presence of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Prayer to Close a Bible Study for Youth
Dear Lord, I’m not sure what to pray right now as I’ve never really prayed out loud in front of others before. My youth leader asked me so I’m doing because we were studying how not to be afraid because God is with us.
I know you are with me now, so I pray a prayer of thankfulness for helping me do what I’m doing right now. Thank you for our (youth leader’s name). Thank you for each person here. Thank you for being accepted here. Thank you for what we are learning as we study.
I pray these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Final Thoughts
Opening a Bible study in prayer is important because it can set the tone for the rest of your time together. But closing a Bible study in prayer is just as important.
For the hour (or whatever length of time) you studied the Bible with other people, you were engaged in seeking God and his truth for your life. This is one of the ways you gain wisdom, which is so vital for following God, as the wise author in Proverbs reminds us:
“Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you;
love her, and she will watch over you.
The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom.
Though it cost all you have, get understanding” (Proverbs 4.6-7, NIV).
You could be doing something else besides studying the Bible in a group. So, as you pray to end a Bible study remind yourself and every person there of what God has shown you, what you have learned. The teaching of God you receive is literally life to you all.
“My son, do not forget my teaching,
but keep my commands in your heart,
for they will prolong your life many years
and bring you peace and prosperity” (Proverbs 3.1-2, NIV).
Praying before you depart allows you to close on a positive note. The prayer is a transition from the study and back into society. May your prayer serve as a doorway through which people exit, full of God’s truth and presence.