"Scripture and souls are the primary fields of operation of the Holy Spirit. . . God does not put us in charge of forming our personal spiritualities. We grow in accordance with the revealed Word implanted in us by the Spirit" – Eugene Peterson
Does your prayer life need a lift? Sometimes we find ourselves repeating the same prayers every day. That's OK, but sometimes we wish we had a fresh approach in reaching out to God. For me, that fresh approach is found in praying over the Scripture passage I'm reading. When I do, I'm interacting with God about the message he has given. I think he likes that.
If you want to try it, the psalms are a great place to start because most of them were written as prayers in the first place. So we can pray along with David or the song-writers or the praise-givers and know that these words and these pleas are inspired already. God will honor his word.
Here are some specific suggestions for how we can pray God's word back to him:
- Go through the passage line-by-line, thinking about what each phrase means. Then start a conversation with God about it.
- Pray the truth of what you are saying will penetrate your heart and be made evident in your life.
- Focus on the intention of the words of Scripture as if they were your very own.
- Pause to listen between lines or verses to hear what the Holy Spirit is telling you about application to your life or what he may be revealing to give you a fuller understanding of the text.
- Offer thanksgiving to God for whatever he brings to you mind as you pray his word.
God has begun the conversation. It's our turn to respond.
"I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart." - Psalm 40:8
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