Bleeding Biblese in Our Prayers
Do you enjoy prayer? Or do you constantly drag yourself to pray? Do you pray with an economy of words that expresses conviction? Or do you, as Jesus says, heap up empty words in your prayer (Matthew 6:7)? Do you pray for all things commanded in Scripture? Or do you pray only for things that affect you? If you are struggling in your prayer life, there is hope for you!
The secret to a vibrant and well-rounded prayer life is praying through Scripture itself. Praying through Scripture helps us to enjoy a deep communion with God, ask the right things while praying to God, and pray for all things that pleases God.
Praying through Scripture has the profound effect of helping us enjoy a deep communion with God. In Romans 8:26, Paul informs us that in our weakness the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. Since we believers are often weak in ourselves, this groaning of the Spirit in us can be understood to take place almost continually. If the Spirit groans in us continually, would he not work most effectively in us if we prayed the very Scripture he gave us (2 Timothy 3:16)? By praying the inspired words of the Spirit, we express greater agreement with the Spirit, and he enables us to experience deep fellowship with God.
Here something must be said about psalm-singing. So many psalms are filled with groanings. Consider Psalm 119:25 “My soul clings to the dust; Revive me according to Your word;” or Psalm 130:1 “Out of the depths I have cried to You, O LORD;” or Psalm 22:1 “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping Me, And from the words of My groaning?” All these psalms express deep groanings. These were groans which our Lord and Savior himself uttered on the cross. How beneficial it would be to pray through the psalms themselves. Singing of psalms during times of prayer is like “apples of gold in settings of silver” (Proverbs 25:11). Do you sing psalms every day? Do you sing them aloud to God when you are alone? If you haven’t been doing so, now is the time! The Spirit will use the groanings of the psalms to help you experience a deep fellowship with the sufferings of Christ (Philippians 3:10).
Praying through Scripture also aids us in offering up prayers that conform to the will of God. Often our prayers are self-centered. For example, we constantly pray for mundane things such as a pay-hike or a bigger house or a new car. While all these prayers are not sinful, they nevertheless constitute asking amiss if we pray such prayers keeping only our own interests in mind (James 4:3). Praying through Scripture will prompt us to pray for things such as conformity unto the likeness of Christ (Romans 8:29), hunger and thirst for righteousness (Matthew 5:6), hatred against evil (Psalm 97:10), power to withstand temptation (Matthew 26:41), and the expansion of the Kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33). These prayers will ascend to God as a pleasing aroma and will make us truly seek his will.
Finally, praying through Scripture enables us to look beyond our usual horizon and pray for all those things that are dear to the heart of God. For example, when we pray through Psalm 67, the Spirit will prompt us to pray for the conversion of the nations of the world. When we pray through Isaiah 1, the Spirit will bring to mind the fatherless and the widow in our own congregations. And if we pray through the Beatitudes in Matthew 5, the Spirit will burden us to pray for the very people with whom we don't get along. These prayers are just a few examples of petitions that don't come to us easily, but are encouraged by Scripture.
Therefore, strive to pray through Scripture. Begin with praying those passages which you have already memorized. Pray through one scripture passage a day. This practice will also reinforce your Scripture memory. Then expand your base. Memorize new Scripture passages and pray through them. If you are a Christian leader who leads God’s people in prayer, choose one passage of Scripture which will be your bow from which you will shoot your prayer arrows to the Almighty. Let your prayer be bathed with Scripture phrases. Let your prayer bleed Biblese! Through this practice, God will grant you a deeper fellowship with him and an all-around prayer life that pleases him. Will you start praying through Scripture today?