The Prayers of Moses: 3 Key From Moses’ Prayer Life

In this article we will dive into 3 lessons from the prayers of Moses! We will look at Moses’ prayer life and how we can grow in our own personal prayer life. So, let’s grab our Bibles and get started…

God’s word is chockfull of beautiful and powerful prayers. We see certain individuals only having one or two prayers recorded in scripture, for Example Jabez, and Hannah.

Then you have others that share so many of their personal and corporate prayers, like Jesus, Paul, and David. We see prayers of nation wide repentance in the book of Daniel.

 And today I want to look at some of the prayers of Moses and what we can learn from his prayer life. 

Lessons From Moses’ Prayer Life

he said, “Listen to my words: “When there is a prophet among you,
I, the Lord, reveal myself to them in visions, I speak to them in dreams. But this is not true of my servant Moses; he is faithful in all my house. With him I speak face to face,  clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the Lord…. Numbers 12:6-8

There are so many qualities that Moses’ had that inspires me as a Christian and a leader, but it’s Moses’ relationship with God that impacts me the most. 

In the Old Testament, he is the only one recorded that God would talk to him face to face. I think the second closest to that would be Enoch. But none of the other prophets could say that. 

He had a connection to God that was special. So, let’s take a deeper look into the prayers of Moses and what we can learn. 

Moses Desired the Presence of God

Moses didn’t just WANT God’s blessing and favor for himself and for the children of Israel. 

One of the key things that made Moses different is that he was not constantly looking for the hand of God only. 

What is the hand of God, you ask? The hand of God is what you can get from God and what He can do for you. 

Moses wanted ALL of God. He didn’t want just God’s hand, but he wanted God’s face and presence. He wanted God Himself. The whole package deal!

And Moses prayed and asked for it…

Then he said to Him, “If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us? So we shall be separate, Your people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth.” 17 So the Lord said to Moses, “I will also do this thing that you have spoken; for you have found grace in My sight, and I know you by name.” 18 And he said, “Please, show me Your glory.” – Exodus 33:15-18

You know Moses could have asked for anything… “Bless my children…” “I’m in need of this…” “Can you do this for the people…”

But he didn’t.

His heart desired to have God’s presence for himself and the nation of Israel. He wanted to see God’s glory. He wanted all of God…

How much is our prayer life about desiring God? Or is it more of a list of requests? 

Are you desiring the presence of God in your life?

The psalmist writes…

 As the deer pants for the water brooks, So pants my soul for You, O God… – Psalm 42:1

Our prayer life should just be about what we can get out of God, but it should be about our love and relationship with Him. 

These are sometimes hard questions to ask yourself. I know time to time I check my heart about my hunger for God. 

And I’m not saying supplication and intercession is bad, on the contrary we are encouraged to pray those prayers. But it should be balanced with our hunger and longing for God. 

And Moses’ prayers are a prime example of that. 

I love this song by Don Potter the first part is all about Moses and his longing for God. It’s beautiful. Give it a listen! 

Moses Intercessory Prayers – The Power of Forgiveness and Promises

There are numerous events that take place throughout the Torah (The 5 Book of Moses) where we see Moses standing in the gap between God and Israel or an individual. This is when we really see the humbleness of Moses. 

I want to camp on just two instances when Moses uses intercessory prayers. 

Moses’ prayer for Miriam – Numbers 12

Moses’ sister Miriam and brother Aaron decided to bad mouth Moses’ wife because she was a Cushite. God was not a fan of that since to Him all people, nationalities, and races were created by Him. And he loves all of us equally. 

Scripture says that God’s anger burned against Miriam and she became leprous. When that happened we see Aaron repent to Moses for being foolish…

11 So Aaron said to Moses, “Oh, my lord! Please do not lay this sin on us, in which we have done foolishly and in which we have sinned. 12 Please do not let her be as one dead, whose flesh is half consumed when he comes out of his mother’s womb!” 13 So Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, “Please heal her, O God, I pray!” – Numbers 12:11-13

Moses could have easily harbored offense towards Aaron and Miriam. And let God discipline Miriam harshly. But Moses was quick to forgive his brother and sister and to intercede for healing on his sister’s behalf. 

Man, Moses was quick to forgive! Like he didn’t even think twice about Aaron’s apology. Moses then prayed for Miriam, pleading with God to heal her. He didn’t need time to think it over.

Are we that quick to forgive those around us and pray for them? It’s hard when offense tries to put a wedge between you and that person. Like it did in this situation. 

But we are told to forgive and to even pray for our enemies. (Matthew 5:44, Colossians 3:13)

Moses is an amazing example of being humble in prayer. Forgiving those who speak ill of you and your family and willing to intercede on their behalf. 

Moses Intercedes for Isreal and Reminded God of His Promises 

When we read the Torah we will see many time when Isreal sinned against the Lord and/or turned away from Him. God is holy and would have no part of this sinful conduct. 

This put Isreal in a really bad spot. They knew better yet they still sinned. This would make a lot of people mad and it made God mad.

Moses understood a lot about God’s nature. He understood God was Holy, but also understood the Lord was full of mercy. 

The LORD is merciful and gracious, Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy. – Psalm 103:8

Moses’ prayer was to remind God to be merciful, and remember the promises He made to Abraham, Issac, and Israel.

Here is a prime example:

9 “I have seen these people,” the Lord said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people. 10 Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.” 11 But Moses sought the favor of the Lord his God. “Lord,” he said, “why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people. 13 Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.’” 14 Then the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened. – Exodus 32:9-14

Moses could have taken advantage of the situation when God said, “then I will make you into a great nation.” That could have been his golden ticket to stop dealing with the Israelites and have his personal family become great.

But Moses didn’t do that! Moses prayed for God to relent and to remember all His promises that He made towards Israel. 

All these instances teach us a lot about intercession and prayer. It teaches that we can remind God of His promises and to cry out for mercy. It also shows us that prayer can change things. Something could happen, but if we pray and intercede we can change the situation.

When Moses Prayed He Listened To God’s Voice 

Now, Moses had a very special relationship where God talked to him as if face to face. So, much so that his face became radiant! How amazing is that! 

We may not be like Moses but he understood and operated under a powerful truth that is still true to this day. And that truth is that prayer is communication with God. 

Prayer was never meant to be a one-sided conversation. And sadly that’s what it is for many Christians. God speaks in many ways, and we can learn how to listen to His voice. Some of those ways are through the Bible, an impression, visions, dreams and more. To learn more about God’s voice check out: The 11 Prophetic Ways God Speaks

When we pray we should expect to share our heart with the Lord, but we should also make time for Him to speak to us. This sometimes means we need to be silent or quiet in His presence.

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Well, I hope you enjoyed these 3 short lessons on the prayers of Moses. There is so much more than what I just shared here in this post. So, I encourage you to keep studying and learn more about prayer. Go read through Moses’ prayers and see what the Lord reveals to you! 

And remember He wants you to draw near to Him so He can draw near to you! If you would like to share with me what you are learning or what God is doing in your life…feel free to drop me a comment below! I would love to hear from you.

I pray God blesses you and your family!