We often struggle with prayerlessness, a lack of delight in prayer or praying amiss, maybe because we pray for the same things, eventually turning prayer into a bore. When our prayers are characterized by chanting the same things repeatedly, our minds will be led to wander, and ultimately, our delight will diminish. Yet we are called to live a life of constant prayer (Luke 18:1, Romans 12:12, Ephesians 6:18, 1 Thessalonians 5:17).
In his word, God teaches us that our prayers ought to be within the bounds of his will (1 John 5:14-15). We know that sometimes our prayers go unanswered because we pray amiss (James 4:3). God answers prayers that accord with his will. In the prayer our Lord taught us, we are to pray, “Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). Our prayer is not for our will to be done on earth but that God’s will is done on earth. Prayer is meant to align us with God’s will and purpose. How can we know God’s will? Has God revealed his will to us? How do we pray for God’s will?
What is God’s Will?
We must understand that whatever God intends for us to know is not hidden from us. That which he has withheld from us is not for us (Deuteronomy 29:29). Some people believe God’s will is lost, making statements like, “I am searching for God’s will.” But we all know it and maybe often say it: God has a will for our lives. Surely, he would not hide it from us if he had a will for our lives. God has revealed his will in the scriptures (Romans 12:2). Many Bible verses contain the phrase ‘‘for this is the will of God”. God has revealed much to us in his word. His word should frame our prayers and shape our approach to prayer. We need to pray the Bible because then we are assured that we are praying God’s will. This understanding brings clarity and should empower our prayer life.
Why Pray the Bible?
As I’ve earlier stated, our prayers often revolve around the same things. We frequently pray for family, career, and finances. Don Whitney sums it up nicely: “One prayer does not a prayer life make. Prayers without variety eventually become words without meaning.” This means we must saturate our prayers with the word of God and not with ourselves. God’s word helps us increase variety in our prayers. And when our prayers align with God’s will, prayer life will become more meaningful, effective, and delightful.
In all things, including prayer, we are to be imitators of Christ (Ephesians 5:1). On the cross, Jesus prayed the Psalms. While he hung on the cross in pain, he cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me” (Matthew 27:46, Psalm 22:1). Before breathing his last, he prayed Psalm 31:5, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” (Luke 23:46).
The Early Church also set a model for prayer; they prayed the Bible. Upon the release of Peter and John from arrest by the Jewish authorities, the believers lifted their voices to the Lord. They prayed, “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, “Why did the Gentiles rage, and the people’s plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed” ” (Acts 4:24-26).
The prayer borrows from the scriptures. The opening part (Acts 4:24b) is from Psalm 146:6, while the second part (Acts 4:25b-26) is from Psalm 2:1-2. The believers in the Early Church prayed God’s word with boldness (Acts 4:31).
How to Pray the Bible
The Bible is filled with prayers, and “to read them is simply to pray,” says John Piper. The scriptures include the prayers of Jesus (John 17), Paul’s prayers for different churches (Romans 1:8-10, 15:5-6, 1 Corinthians 1:4-9, Ephesians 1:3,15-23, Philippians 1:2-11), and the many prayers in the Psalms. God, in his Word, has left us a model for prayer. We can read it and incorporate his word into our prayers. How, then, can we go about praying the Bible?
Pray the Psalms
Meditating on the Psalms strengthens a Christian’s prayer life and vocabulary. The book of Psalms is not only filled with prayers; even the Psalms that are not offer helpful resources for opening our hearts to God. The Psalms train us on how to communicate with God. Left to ourselves, we are likely to talk to God as though he is like us (one who hears and responds like we do). The Psalms help us converse with the God who speaks to us.
In the Psalms, we learn to wrestle with God, lament well, and adore the God revealed in scripture. The Psalms also bring us face to face with our sins and point us toward repentance in obedience and sincerity. The Psalms remind us of God’s power, justice, holiness and love; they open us up to the character of God and show us how to approach him well. Using Psalm 16, I will give a few tips we could use to pray using the Psalms.
A Psalm a Day
You could take a Psalm for each day, meditate on it, and then curate a prayer. You could pray Psalm 16:1-5 in this way: Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge. LORD, you are my Lord; I have no good apart from you. Help me delight in the saints around me. Open the eyes of those that seek after other gods but you and keep me from the sorrow of idolatry. Thank you, O Lord, for you hold my lot. You alone are my chosen cup and portion. Amen!
Word for Word
Another way you could use the Psalms is to pray the exact words of the Psalm back to God. Our prayer using Psalm 16:7-11 would look more like this: I bless the Lord who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me. I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Therefore, my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells securely. You will not abandon my soul to Sheol or let your holy one see corruption. Lord, you make known to me the path of life; in your presence, there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Amen!
Pray a Thematic Psalm
If you are in a season of lament, you could pray the Psalms of lament, which include Psalms 13, 22, 39 and 88. You can also pray confession prayers using Psalms 6, 32, 38, 51, 106 and 130. As you skim through the Psalms, you will find some common themes: thanksgiving, praise, adoration, etc.
Pray Other Parts of the Bible
As I mentioned earlier, our prayers must be filled and guided by the word of God. God’s word should dwell in us in all its richness (Colossians 3:16) to fill and shape our prayers. The Psalms are not the only helpful resource for prayer; all scripture is applicable to that end (2 Timothy 3:16). The Pauline epistles contain Paul’s prayers that we could pray today for ourselves and on behalf of other believers (Ephesians 1:15-23, Philippians 1:9-11, Colossians 1:9-14).
You could pray through other portions of the Bible. Consider James 1:2-8 and your prayer could go something like this: Lord, when trials or testing come my way, it is hard to count it all joy. It is hard to see that they are working on my endurance and growth in my faith. Could you fill me with joy when they come? Help me steward them with patient endurance. Lord, give me the wisdom to steward trials well. Help me not to live in doubt like a double-minded man. Cause me to trust you entirely and purely. Amen!
The narratives can also help us pray. There is a difference between praying through a Psalm or a New Testament letter. Thus far, we have looked at praying through a text in scripture summarily or word for word.
With narrative passages, we will have to look at the big picture. Take Genesis 3, for example. We read of the origin and consequence of sin and God’s righteous judgement over sin. God says to the Serpent in verse 15, “I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall crush your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” We know that Jesus fulfils the “crushing of the Serpent’s head” by disarming the devil and putting him to open shame, providing atonement for us (Colossians 2:13-15). So, we can pray in gratitude for God’s faithfulness to his promise of victory over the devil. We could also pray for those still walking in darkness to be freed from the Enemy’s shackles and to receive this freedom already won.
You don’t have to turn every verse in the Bible into a prayer. However, when we pray the words of scripture, we pray meaningfully, not mere words. That is all we need for our prayer life to be strengthened. In the words of J. Miller, “For freshness of utterance, for breadth of comprehension, for elevation of thought, for intimacy of heart, there is no prayer like that which forms itself in the words and thoughts of scripture.”
Dear brethren, pray with an open Bible, for this is our confidence that when we pray the word of God, we pray his will. When we pray God’s will in faith, he hears us. If God hears us, we know we have the requests we have asked of him (1 John 5:14-15).
References
Whitney, D.S. (2015). Praying the Bible. Crossway
Keller, T. (2008). Praying with the Psalms.
https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/how-do-i-pray-the-bible
https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/how-to-pray-the-psalms
