Growing up, my parents taught me to pray the Scriptures. Every day when my mom drove my sister and I to school she would always pray Psalm 91 over us. Recently, the importance of praying the Scriptures was reaffirmed for me as I read Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Life Together. Bonhoeffer notes that we can learn to pray by praying the Psalms. So often, we pray wrong, misguided, incorrect, and unbiblical prayers when we pray our own bright ideas or religious phrases we’ve picked up in church. Many times when we pray we’re just complaining. And many times we pray in doubt and unbelief instead of faith. God responds to faith. He does not respond to prayers of doubt and unbelief. Jesus taught clearly that when we ask we receive. So once you ask God for something in faith, you should not ask Him for the same thing again. (To ask God again implies that you don’t believe God heard you or answered you the first time! To pray this way is to pray in doubt, not faith.) Instead, you should thank Him in your prayers that you have received what you have already asked for. For instance, if you’ve prayed to be healed, instead of asking God to heal you again and again, pray this way: “Father God, I thank you that I am healed. I believe I receive my healing. I believe my healing is manifesting itself in my physical body from the top of my head to the soles of my feet. I thank you that 1 Peter 2:24 is true concerning my life. I thank you that I have been healed by the stripes of Jesus.” Also, when you pray thank God and have an attitude of gratitude. Kenneth Hagin used to say that if we spent as much time thanking God as we do asking God for stuff that we would get a lot further down the road and get better results in our prayer lives.
These are some of the Scriptures that I pray every day over myself, my family, and the church:
• Exodus 15:26
• Deuteronomy 8:18
• Deuteronomy 28:1-14
• Psalm 1
• Psalm 35
• Psalm 91
• Psalm 103
• Luke 6:38
• Acts 2:42, 47
• 1 Corinthians 3:6
• 2 Corinthians 9:6-11
• Ephesians 1:3, 17-23
• Ephesians 2:6-10
• Ephesians 3:14-21
• Philippians 4:13
• Philippians 4:19
• 1 Peter 2:24
Please note that when I pray these Scriptures, I personalize them. For instance, when I pray 1 Peter 2:24, this is how I pray: “Father God, I thank you that I walk in divine health and healing because Jesus Christ paid the price on the cross not only for my sins but also my sicknesses and infirmities. I thank you that I have been healed by the wounds of Jesus. I thank you that sickness and disease has not right, place, or authority in my physical body.”
Also, when you have a petition or request or something you are believing God for in particular, find Scriptures in the Bible that apply to your situation. Then, pray those Scriptures.
For a great resource for daily prayer and personalized Scriptures check out my father’s Book of Prayer. I would also encourage you to do the Daily Bible Reading as part of your daily devotion time.
