Praying the Bible

 
One of my favorite topics to practice and preach is on praying the Bible, mostly because something that seems so simple has made the single most dramatic impact on my life. 

Even though praying the scriptures is simple, it still takes effort. You must understand and value it in order to do this diligently. So why pray the Bible? Here are three reasons you should pray using the scriptures. 

1. The Holy Spirit Inspired the Scriptures.

 According to Hebrews 4:12, all scripture is inspired by the Holy Spirit, and therefore, powerful. The words of the scriptures are more powerful than my own words. 

"For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." Hebrews 4:12

My words are weak, human, and short-sighted. His words are eternal, powerful, and divine. Why wouldn't  use those words to pray?

2. The Words of the Scriptures Release Faith.

Romans 10:17 tells us that faith comes by hearing the Word of God. As a human, I lack confidence and faith. Let's be honest, on a good day, our faith is wavering at best. We believe great things, yet doubt God will actually do them. When I pray using scripture, I not only am praying powerful prayers, but I am building my faith. Faith literally rises as I pray! 
 

3. The Scriptures are the Will of God.

The scriptures are the only clear, absolute truth and will of God. The scriptures reveal God's heart, what He wants, what He thinks, and what He feels. Why is this so important to know when we pray? Because according to 1 John 5:14-15, when we pray according to His will, He hears us and will answer us.

"This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him."

Personally, I can testify that when I am daily praying scriptures I have a significant increase in my spiritual life. I walk in more joy, more faith, and honestly, I have less stress. I am telling you this because it is actually measurable. I cannot express this great enough in text form, but I encourage you to try it. 

How do I start?

In my previous post, Drawing Life From the Word,  I mentioned this resource available on this site in the Children's Ministry resource section: Biblical Promises to Speak over your children- try using some of these.
 
Example:
Biblical identity promise: "Your steps are established by the Lord Ps 37:24"
Prayer: "Father, thank you for establishing my steps. Right now I give you my life, I surrender each step to You. You alone know my days, and I trust You."

Pretty easy right? I hope you'll take advantage of this resource and begin speaking these passages over yourself and your family.

In Preparation for the 21 Days:

• Our bulletin board is up. The family mission statement is posted. I'll share it tomorrow...
• I am working on cards and things to put on it tonight
• I am cutting out the shortened version for the door tonight as well
• I printed out scriptures and posted them around our home for strengthening.
• I decided that as our devotions develop each day I will fine tune which passages stand out to us as a family and they will end up on the board as we go as well.
• The kids found containers today to turn into their mailboxes. That will be a family project tomorrow night. 

Considering joining me in a Fast Unto Your Family. I am starting tomorrow, but you can create your own time frame, I'd love to hear from you!