Saturday, October 9, 2010

Praying the Scriptures


Good Evening to All!

Forever, O Lord, Your Word is settled in heaven. (Psalm 119:89)

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The above verse is telling us that God's Word stands firm in heaven. In other words, God said it, I believe it. It's settled. Whatever He says in His Word is complete truth. Therefore it is settled in heaven.

I'm sure you know and I have told you in the past that one way God speaks to us is through His Word. He loves hearing His Word back spoken back to Him. When we pray this way, it is said we are "praying the Word", or "praying the Scriptures." Some people say it is the way for someone to learn how to pray. All it takes is reading some scriptures out of Bible pertaining to what you want to pray about and praying them in a way that makes them personal or for someone else. The main thing is to feel this need in your heart, along with the scripture, and start the prayer off such as "God, Your Word says, or "it is written" and then insert whatever scripture fits your prayer request.

For example, if you were praying a prayer for healing, you could say, Father, according to your Word, "By Your stripes "she/he" is healed, In Jesus' Name I pray, Amen. In this particular prayer you paraphrased Isaiah 53:5 KJV which says "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. 1 Peter 2:24 KJV says: Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.

Another example is "Lord in Your Word, You say that as long as we abide in You and Your words abide in us, whatever we ask in Your name, you will do it. This is according to John 15:4 KJV. In Matthew 7:7 KJV, this should be one that needs no introduction. "Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. These last two scriptures can be used for any purpose, be it healing, financial, special situations, it doesn't matter. God just wants you to ask for His help, and He likes it even more if you quote His Word back to Him because that shows that you care enough about Him to read His Word.

Do you know that God hears all of your prayers? I've heard tell, that all of our prayers are floating around up in heaven. Our prayers never die. You know something even better? God says His Word will never come back void. In other words, when you speak His word, action will be taken. We may not see it for a time, but something will happen. His word is never spoken in vain. Whenever you speak His Word, a seed WILL be planted. Whether it's today, or a year from now, someone will "understand and get something from it".

Again, I would like to reiterate that your prayers don't have to be fancy, or full of eloquence. Just make sure your heart is right and they come from your heart. Praying the scriptures is what you might say a bonus. It's a bonus for you because you study the Bible to find the right scriptures for your request, and a bonus for God, because He loves hearing His Word prayed back to Him.

Another thing. When you are praying, if you have a Bible handy, I would suggest looking up scriptures having to do with your prayer request and "reading them in prayer form as suggested above, making them personal. If you don't have a Bible handy, then just remembering the basic words, such as spoken above, i.e. according to Your Word, by Your stripes he/she is healed", will suffice. it isn't exactly praying the scriptures, but it shows God that you have been reading the Word and know that it says that in there.

Good night to all and May God Bless!


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1 comment:

Patti Hanan said...

Dear P. J., This post is very encouraging. I have always been encouraged by the verse that God's words won't return to Him void. What an amazing promise! I remember that when I speak scripture to someone. Even if they don't seem to be listening, God promises His word does not return to Him void.
I loved the sweet comment you left on my blog. It really lifted my spirits. Like you do, I work so hard to say in an interesting way what God has placed on my heart. It is such a boost when a fellow believer gives encouragement. Your friend, Patti