Praying the Word of God

Here are some good reasons why we should pray the Bible – in other words, use the language and words directly from Scripture as you pray:

• It builds faith: Rom. 10:17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

• God is bound to His own promises – pray the things He has spoken and watch what He will do: Num. 23:19 Has God said, and will He not do it? Or has he spoken, and will He not make it good?

• It assures us that we are praying according to God’s will.

1Jn. 5:14 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.

• It releases the power of God – the power of the possible into our prayers: Mk. 10:27 But Jesus looked at them and said, “With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible.”

• If we don’t know what to pray, then this method can help us. The Word teaches us to have conversation with the Lord.

• Jesus prayed the psalms: On the cross He prayed directly from Psalm 22v1 and 31v5. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” and “Into your hands I commit my spirit.”

Also in Acts 4v24-26. Peter and John reported back to the other disciples after being hauled before the Sanhedrin following the miraculous healing of a lame man in Jerusalem. “When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. "Sovereign Lord, you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them. You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David: "`Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?” Here they were using the words of Psalm 2 as they prayed.

• The Word is food for our soul and spirit: Ps. 34:8 Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!

• It opens us up to a deepening of our intimacy and communication with God through a growing awareness of who God is and who we are.

           

• It allows the Word to penetrate our hearts. The Word of God is living and powerful as it works in our hearts: Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

• It opens all our spiritual senses.

• It is a lamp that lights our way and guides our path - it speaks to us and leads us as we follow His words: Ps. 119:105 Your word is a lamp to my feet
 And a light to my path.