Power of Prayer (Praying the Scriptures)

To pray Scripture literally means praying God’s Word. It has to do with speaking out the bible verses and the promises embedded in them to align your circumstance back to the will of God for your life. It is vital that you include God’s Words in your own prayers daily.

Isaiah 43:26 makes it abundantly clear to us when the prophet states, “Put Me in remembrance; Let us contend together; State your case, that you may be acquitted.” The words “put me in remembrance” are translated from the Hebrew Word zāḵar which means to remember, to recall, or to bring to mind.

We can see that Isaiah through the leading of the Holy Spirit is letting us know that our Heavenly Father wants us to bring His Word to His remembrance. This has nothing to do with the Lord God forgetting His promises that He gave to us. What scripture prayer does is reiterate what God has to say about the particular situation that you are dealing with which in turn invites His assistance.

Rather than using your prayer time to profess empty phrases, use God’s Words and God’s promises (which is your two-edged Sword) to fight against the adversary that is attempting to snatch your blessing. Remember a lot of our blessings are blocked and delayed by the devil and his demonic kingdom. He will use the negative things of the world to detour you in the wrong direction from God’s will for your life.

One example of this could be getting into a relationship with the wrong person. They are seemingly perfect on the outside but they have no relationship with the Lord nor do they desire one. The enemy will use people to distract you from doing mighty things in the Kingdom of God. A relationship with a person that is not in your best interests is just that, a diversion.  

What praying God’s own Words back to Him does is invites the Holy Spirit to do something for you that you cannot do in your own power. He becomes your Guide: warning you, leading you, and putting you back on track when you cannot see the direction in which you are heading.

We can never forget that our prayer life is the fuel that we need to live our daily lives as believers of Jesus Christ. The Lord gave us His Word, which is saturated with the promises that He guarantees His children so that we can apply it to every specific situation. There are prayers of the Bible laid out for you as a guide if you are apprehensive about the words that you want to say.

One of the most powerful things that you can ever do as a Christian is gain an understanding of the true power of prayer! Keep in mind that even Jesus Christ Himself used the Word of God as a spiritual weapon when the devil came against Him, Matthew 4:10. How much more do we need to do the same? The Lord lets us know in Deuteronomy 8:3, “…man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.”

In other words, there is no way that you can make it in this World defeating the enemy and his wicked ways without God’s Word. It is going to be impossible! Developing a spiritual life is critical to becoming strong enough to stand against the wiles of the devil and praying God’s Truth is a huge part of it.  

Another part of the passage of Scripture in Isaiah that I want to highlight is when the prophet states, “…Let us contend together; State your case, that you may be acquitted.” God wants to contend with us but He is also stating that we must speak our case or in other words let God know what His Word has to say about our circumstance.

The Lord is a righteous Judge and uses His rules and regulations to judge every situation. We need to take His Word and apply it practically to our everyday lives. You would be amazed at how much your frame of mind can completely change by declaring the Lord’s Word consistently. Make it a part of your daily routine. Make your environment one of continual prayer!

Some of the easy ways that you can introduce the atmosphere of prayer are: get into a quiet place, you can put on some worship music, and make sure that you are coming to the Lord with a pure heart. Also do not forget some of the key principles that you want to incorporate when you decide to come to the Lord in prayer.

Those principles include:

 Believe what you are praying

 Mark 11:24 “Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.”

Having belief and faith that God will do what He said He would do is critical to building your confidence in His Word. The promises that He provided in every part of the Bible are for every single believer of Jesus Christ. It is then up to us to do our part to incorporate His assurances into our daily prayer time.

Forgive

Mark 11:25-26 “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.”

A lot of times Christians overlook the power of forgiveness. It is a vital part of your prayer life and spiritual journey as a believer of Christ Jesus. He is clearly letting us know in this passage of Scripture that if we fail to forgive others, He will not hear our own prayers. You don’t ever want to take that risk. Let go of any offense that you might have against your brothers and sisters before even approaching the throne of grace.

I have several articles pertaining to this topic: How to Overcome Unforgiveness, The Importance of Forgiveness, and Forgiveness: Appreciate your Enemies!

Pray in the Name of Jesus Christ

John 14:14 “If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.”

Anything that you ask in prayer can never leave out the Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He is the reason that we can come to the Father in the first place. We can conclude in this passage of Scripture that John through the Holy Spirit is letting us know that we have the ability to ask the Lord for anything. The fact of the matter is that there is nothing impossible for God and we must come to Him believing that He can do all things as well as come in the Name of Jesus.

Pray according to God’s will

1 John 5:14 “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.”

This is a clear example of why praying the Scriptures is so vital. We know that God’s Word is His will for our lives. We can stand in assurance and confidence that His Scriptures are complete Truth which God honors. He places His Word even above His own Name that is how important it is to Him.

Pray without ceasing

Luke 18:1 “Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart.”

Here we can see that Luke is describing how one should pray and it’s without ceasing regardless of the situation that you are facing. A lot of times we allow the adversities of life to prevent us from praising God. It is in those challenging moments that we should pray even harder. Get into the Lord’s Word and begin to speak to your circumstance!

In my next article I am going to go more in depth on some of the principles regarding prayer.