Praying Scriptures

I like to include Scriptures in my prayers during my personal prayer time.

I find it helps me to better understand the meaning of the verse.

It also helps me apply and understand it in a very personal way. It’s as if it makes it come more alive in my life.

Another thing it does is remind me of the truth of what God has promised.

When I pray back a Scripture to Him, I am reminding myself that I can trust God and rely on what He has said.

I am also asking Him to keep that particular promise.

It is not that He can’t be trusted to keep His promises, or that if I don’t specifically pray that verse it won’t happen.

It’s that by repeating the promise and asking Him to fulfill it, I am recognizing that as the Creator of the Universe and all that is in it, God alone is the One who can make it happen.

By repeating them, I am acknowledging God’s authority and superiority as I submit my life and plans to Him.

So, how do you do that?

How do you pray the Scriptures?

It’s very easy.

1-Choose the Scripture you want to pray.

2-Personalize it to make it coming from you to God, if necessary. Not all verses need this.

3-Add it in to your prayer and speak it to God, either silently or aloud.

 

Here’s an example.

You, God, are my God,
earnestly I seek You;
I thirst for You,
my whole being longs for You,
in a dry and parched land
where there is no water.  Psalm 63:1 (NIV)

For this one, you can either just repeat it as it’s written, or else you can paraphrase it and say,

“You’re my God,
I am earnestly* seeking You;
I’m thirsty for You,
All of me wants Your presence,
in a dry and parched** land
where there is no water***.”

 

Now, let’s look at one I would personalize:

Truly my soul finds rest in God;
    my salvation comes from Him.
² Truly He is my rock and my salvation;
    He is my fortress, I will never be shaken. Psalm 62:1-2 (NIV)

 

For this one, I might pray:

My soul really does find rest in You, God;
I know my salvation comes from You.
2 You really are my rock and my salvation;
Because you are my fortress I will never be shaken.

In this paraphrase, I am saying the same thing, but I am making it personal and applying it to my life and how it affects me personally.

Can you see how the subtle changes keep the truth of the verse, but better show what the Scriptures are saying to me personally, and how they actually affect and apply to me?

To me, it makes them come alive and shows me just who God is and how He thinks about things.

This in turn causes me to better understand God and want to draw closer to Him and build a stronger relationship with Him.

 

Remember, praying Scriptures isn’t some mysterious thing.

It’s an opportunity to humbly go to God and let Him know I am reading His word and I’m seeking to communicate with Him about things He has said in His book, the Bible.

 

I encourage you to try praying a verse of Scripture in your next quiet time. You might be surprised at just how much it draws you closer to Him!

Let me know how it goes. I’d really like to hear about your experience!

 

*earnestly means sincerely, intensely, with great seriousness – you can pray these words instead of earnestly if that is better for you

**parched means drought-stricken, desert-like

***the water in this instance is referring to God’s Spirit and presence.