PRAYING THROUGH SCRIPTURE

 

I.                    What is wrong with our prayers? 

We say the same old things about the same old things.

 

II.                 What should we do to change our prayers? 

Pray through Scripture.

 

III.               What is praying through Scripture?

Take a passage of Scripture & let it suggest, inform & shape your prayer.

 

IV.              How can we pray through Scripture?

A.     Select a passage

                                                             1.      Psalms – Psalms of the Day (Today:  16, 46, 76, 106, 136)

                                                             2.      NT Epistles – very specific requests (cf. D. A. Carson’s book on praying through Paul’s epistles, A Call to Spiritual Reformation)

                                                             3.      Narrative passages – be sure to back up and get the main idea

 

B.     Pray

                                                             1.      Use the very words of Scripture, applying them to your requests.

                                                             2.      Go through the passage consecutively.

                                                             3.      Pray until you complete the passage or until you are out of time.

 

**At this point, choose a passage of Scripture (preferably a Psalm) and stop to pray through it (for 15-20 minutes, if possible, but even 5 minutes is profitable).  When resuming this study, list the benefits revealed by the experience of praying Scripture.**

 

V.                 Why should we pray through Scripture?

A.     Benefits

                                                             1.      __________________________________________

                                                             2.      __________________________________________

                                                             3.      __________________________________________

                                                             4.      __________________________________________

                                                             5.      __________________________________________

                                                             6.      __________________________________________

                                                             7.      __________________________________________

                                                             8.      __________________________________________

                                                             9.      __________________________________________

 

B.     Biblical precedent:  Jesus and the apostles used the Scripture in their prayers and may have prayed through it.

                                                             1.      Jesus (Matthew 27:46/Psalm 22:1; Luke 23:46/Psalm 31:5)

                                                             2.      Apostles (Acts 4:24-26/Psalm 146:6 and Psalm 2:1-2)

 

C.     Historical precedent – George Müller’s example

 

VI.              Will you pray through Scripture?  When will you begin?

 

This document is posted here with the permission of Dr. Donald S. Whitney.

This material is adapted by Doug Smith from class notes taken in Dr. Whitney’s Biblical Spirituality class,

June 5, 2007, in Owensboro, Kentucky.

 

For more information about praying through Scripture, please see

Donald S. Whitney, Simplify Your Spiritual Life: Spiritual Disciplines for the Overwhelmed

(Colorado Springs, CO:  NavPress, 2003), especially pages 60 and 80.