Praying with God’s Word

Traditional prayers, off-the-cuff prayers, silent prayers, visual prayers. There are so many ways to pray, and no one way is right or wrong. They each connect us to our loving Father in unique ways. But this post is a close look at one way to pray more intentionally: praying with God’s Word.

I’ve been saying formal prayers since I was sticking blueberries up my nose, barely old enough to string together more than a few words. “Help, Mommy!” My early toddler prayers were simple. Even now, my grown-up prayers are often simple like that.

So sometimes I ask the question: are my prayers good prayers?

That’s certainly not the right question to ask! But as a Christian, I know I am called to pray, and to pray often, in fact always. How? What does “always prayer” look like?

Friends, I’m always learning along with you. Though I’ve spent a lifetime practicing prayer, I’m still learning. These days I’m doing what I always do when I want to learn more. I read and talk to others and research and then I write about it. An entire volume of books (and blog posts!) could be written about prayer, but this post is a close look at one way to pray more intentionally by praying God’s Word.

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My Prayer Story

Traditional Prayers in My Youth

I was blessed to be born into a faithful family with a rich prayer life where prayer was modeled for me by parents and grandparents.

Daily, as a family, we would pray what’s known as the “Common Table Prayer” in our faith tradition. It goes like this: “Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest, and let thy gifts to us be blessed. Amen.” To this day, my siblings and I have a playful debate about whether or not it should be “thy gifts” or “these gifts,” but that’s a discussion for another time.

I also prayed the “Now I lay me down to sleep” prayer with my parents in those young years. We prayed the Lord’s Prayer and evening meal prayers and many more during our dinner-time devotions and worship. I was steeped in traditional prayers, and we taught them to our children as well. This was good.

My Growing and Changing Prayer Life

But a seed was planted way back then that my prayer life could and would change and mature. I suppose that’s how the Holy Spirit works in us. As a college student at a Christian university, I learned new ways to pray and I practiced them in the cracks of life, between work and studies and parties. Yeah, there was that.

As a new teacher, and then a wife and then a mom, I developed lots of new rhythms for my prayer life. Some of those years, my prayer life was limited to Sunday in church and meal times. I often used the Concordia Publishing House’s Portals of Prayer which did exactly what the title suggests. It gave doors into prayer. But too often I prayed outside of these “scheduled” times only when something big was happening. My excuse? Busy. Other than in a Bible study, very few people in my life actually talked about their prayer life and how to do it.

One of my earliest prayer rhythms was waking up early in the morning to handwrite my prayers in a journal. It was a blessed quiet way to begin my day before the mad rush ahead. I’m not sure what prompted me to do this other than as a writer, it felt right. I was blessed by this practice for many years.

Learning to Live a Praying Life

Once the kids left our home, my rhythms changed once again. Sadly, I found myself forgetting to pray way more often than I’d like to admit. I found myself in seasons of frequent prayer and then dry seasons. I prayed when big things happened to me or my family – and we had plenty of big things. Struggles, decisions, stresses. But I longed to be more intentional about prayer.

I was recently reminded of Dallas Willard’s words: “Don’t seek to develop a prayer life. Seek a praying life.” Isn’t that a beautiful way to put it?

God Isn’t Grading Us

God is not keeping a running score of how often or when I pray. I know my salvation is not dependent on me checking the “Prayed today” box on my planner.

Nor is he measuring how “good” my prayers might be (is this something you struggle with?). He delights in hearing my prayers like any parent delights in hearing their children talk to them! Prayers may be formal written ones like the Lord’s Prayer or another book with written prayers. Or they may be from the heart. Both are beautiful ways to pray when you are alone or with others.

And He hears them no matter what they sound like. Maybe it’s “Help!” or “Please.” Sometimes it’s “Thank you!” Oftentimes it’s the Psalmist’s cry, “Why?!” Simple words can be heart cries to the Lord which He promises to hear. After all, God calls us to pray – to talk to Him! – not just at meal times and not just in church. He invites us to pray always. “Pray without ceasing.” 1 Thessalonians 5:17

Thoughtful Idea for Living a Praying Life

Thanks to good books, wise and faithful friends, and the Visual Faith^Ⓡ Ministry, I have many helpful tools and encouraging teachers as I work on this praying life of mine.

Today I’m just focusing on one particularly troubling thing to me. When I pray spontaneous or extemporaneous prayers, also known as ex corde prayers (from the heart), my prayers start to all sound the same.

Lord, be with ___________ and give her comfort, peace, and strength.

Father, bring healing!

Lord, give __________ the wisdom to make this decision.

After decades of praying for my husband, my children, extended family and people I don’t even know, praying for healing and jobs and faith and answers, my prayers can seem to be on repeat. Again, this is absolutely okay! God does not require me to craft creative or poetic prayers. But for me, sometimes the repetitive nature of my prayers seems feeble, lackluster. I long for a little more oomph. Again, not that God needs this. It’s just that I desire it. And where is the best place to find that oomph? Of course. In God’s Word.

I’m not alone here. John Piper writes, “If I try to pray for people or events without having the word in front of me guiding my prayers, then several negative things happen. One is that I tend to be very repetitive . . . . I just pray the same things all the time. Another negative thing is that my mind tends to wander.” Sound like your prayer life?

Praying with God’s Word

One way to guide our prayers is to pray the Word of God back to God. (I know many others who do this regularly.) What a genius idea! Christ Himself did this, and we would be blessed to follow His practice.

The Rev. Dr. Geoffrey Boyle writes in an article about Christ and His prayers, “Dietrich Bonhoeffer calls the Psalter ‘the Prayerbook of the Bible.’ He beautifully lays out how we may read the Psalms primarily as the prayers of Jesus . . . So also is it in the Psalms, and not merely Psalms of praise, or general petition, but even (and especially) those on the brink of despair while alienated from God; they’re all on the lips of Jesus. He speaks for us, with us, as one with us . . . The Psalms are Jesus’ prayers; in this unique book of the Bible, we hear both the human and divine voice praying together. The Psalms are Scripture, and they are prayer — from God to us and from us to God.”

An Example of Praying with God’s Word: Psalm 1

Starting with the Psalms is a beautiful thing. You can begin anywhere, but let’s look at Psalm 1: 1-3a just to get an idea of how this might work.

Blessed is the man

    who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,

nor stands in the way of sinners,

    nor sits in the seat of scoffers;

but his delight is in the law of the Lord,

    and on his law he meditates day and night.

He is like a tree

    planted by streams of water

Option 1: Word for Word Replacement

One option is to take the central character in the Psalm (here it’s the “man”) and replace it with the name of a loved one or with your own name.

This might sound something like this: Blessed am I when I don’t walk in the counsel of the wicked, when I don’t stand in the way of sinners or sit with scoffers. Blessed am I when my delight is in the law of the Lord and when I meditate on it day and night.

Option 2: Paraphrase the Verse and Meditate

I sometimes also choose to paraphrase the verse and then meditate on it slowly, allowing quiet for the Holy Spirit to get through the cobwebs in my crazy brain.

That same verse could be prayed like this for myself:

Lord, You still bless me even though I’m not always walking in Your way. I sometimes sit with scoffers. I sometimes don’t speak up when people speak poorly of You. And fool that I am, I don’t always delight in Your law, and I certainly don’t meditate on it day and night. Help me to meditate on it more. Teach me how to love Your Word more each day . . .

So while I’m praying, I am also reading and inwardly digesting Scripture! What a joy!

I may also use this same passage to pray for a young college student who is struggling with her identity and faith.

Lord, bless __________ who seems to be listening to the counsel of wicked ones. Whose ear is tugged by social media. Whose heart is straying. She’s standing with those who don’t trust You, Lord. Help her to walk away from them, to turn off the loud noises of the culture. She’s sitting with those who scoff at Your name. Give her strength to close her ears and remember she belongs to You. Help her remember her baptism and Your promises. She is not delighting in You right now, Lord.

Return her to You, Lord, that she will once again delight in You all the days of her life. She is not meditating on your Word day and night. Help her to remember Your promises, Your Word. Stir within her a desire to return to worship, to pray, to open her Bible, to listen to her parents’ wisdom. Help her to be like that tree planted by the streams of water! Amen.

Other Starting Points for Praying with God’s Word

One Visual Faith® coach explains first steps and suggests using Psalm 103:1-5 as a prayer for healing. Insert the person’s name into the Psalm as you pray.

Another coach invites us to try the “breath prayer” where you repeat a short passage of Scripture which can be said in one breath. She shared her current one: “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, have mercy on me, a sinner.” (A paraphrase of John 1:29). I love this!

She also encourages beginning with Colossians 1: 9-14 as a good verse to fill in the blanks with your own name or the name of a friend or loved one.

If you are like me, looking for ways to live a praying life, begin with God’s Word. Open your Bible so you can “rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.” Romans 12:12