There are many ways to
pray, and one method is to use the scriptures as part of our prayers. Here’s a
three-step way I’ve found to be effective.
Step 1: Find the scripture
that speaks to your heart regarding your issue. Sometimes that’s not as easy as
it sounds. Sometimes the terms we use today aren’t written in the older Bible
versions. We’ll need to look up something in more general terms. Where do we
look them up?
There are two online
sources that I use: Bible Gateway is the first. It’s easy to use. I type the
word I want into the search box, and it comes up everywhere it’s used
in the Bible. The second resource is the Blue Letter Bible online. I
can see the definitions of the words from the original Biblical texts. I’ve put
the links to these two sources at the end of this article. The information in
these two sources is also available in traditional books. Another
good source is Scripture Keys for Kingdom Living by June Davis. This
book is one of many books that list scriptures according to the topics or
subjects a person might want to look up.
Even though it takes a
little effort to find a scripture or two, it’s worth it. God speaks through the
revelation in His written word. Jesus tells us: “Search the scriptures”
(John 5:39).
Once we find a scripture
that speaks to us, we read it and thank God for helping us to receive what it
says. Even if we start off pleading with God, that’s okay. In Isaiah 43:26, God
tells His people: “Put me in remembrance: let us plead together.”
The more we pray with
honesty and openness, the closer our relationship with the Lord grows. We learn
to trust God because we see that He hears and answers us.
Step 2: Realize we have an
enemy. The devil has always tried his best to stop people from praying. Then
when they do pray, the devil tries to get them to doubt that God has time to
listen. But with scripture that backs up our requests, we can use that
scripture as a sword against “the wiles of the devil” (Eph. 6:11).
Jesus showed us how to use
Step 2. When the devil fought Jesus mentally and emotionally in the wilderness,
Jesus came back at him with: “It is written!” Satan is the one who stands
in the way of our godly answer to prayer, but God Almighty’s words are weapons
that don’t break. Jesus spoke directly to Satan: “Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written,
thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve’” (Matt.
4:10).
God stands behind His
Word. He calls it a sword and buckler (Eph. 6:17 and Ps. 91:4). A sword is an
assertive hostile weapon. Generally, we think of a buckler as an implement that
will shield us. That’s true, but it also has projections on the front to pierce
and injure the enemy. We push Satan back with the sword and buckler. Jesus says:
“It is written,” to confront the enemy with truth directly. We remind
Satan that what God has written is true, and he has no power to stop it.
And that brings us to step 3.
Step 3: Say the scripture
aloud. Saying something aloud is a double-whammy. You use two senses – your
mouth and your ears. This step is self-confirming, and it helps, especially
when our faith may be a little weaker than we want it to be.
Using this three-fold way
of praying makes it real. It strengthens prayer life and helps bring
the results we desire.
Love, Carolyn
These are the links to the
resources I mentioned above:
QUESTIONS AND EASY
CHALLENGES
1. What the three steps to
prayer talked about in this chapter?
2. Have you ever begged or
beseeched God like David did? Describe the situation. Have you ever started a
prayer with begging and then at a later date realized you could thank Him
because you were now convinced it was answered?
3. What is Step Two? Cite
a scripture that backs this up.
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