Six Reasons to Pray the Bible

Why pray the Bible?

1. You’ll pray biblically-saturated, biblically-shaped prayers. This means you’ll have greater assurance that you’re praying the will of God. The Bible makes plain (in 1 John 5:14-15 specifically) that we must pray according to the will of God if we expect him to answer. Can you have any greater assurance that you are praying the will of God than when you are praying the Word of God?

2. You’ll be freed from the boring rut of saying the same about the same old things in prayer. You’ll continue to pray about the same things, because our lives tend to consist of the same things from one day to the next. Most things in our lives don’t change dramatically very often. But while you pray about the same things, you won’t say the same things.

3. You’ll not only pray about the same things in fresh ways every day, but you’ll pray about new things as well. When you pray the Bible, the text will suggest things for you to pray that you wouldn’t pray for if you had a prayer list as long as the New York City phone directory.

4. You’ll be more focused in prayer. Your mind won’t wander as much as it does when you pray the same old things every day. When you say the same old things every day your mind tends to go on auto-pilot in prayer. You find yourself able to say the words without thinking about them. But when you pray the Bible your mind has a place to focus. And when your thoughts do wander, you have a place to return to—the next verse.

5. You’ll be more God-centered in prayer. For example, people tell me that when they pray the Bible they find themselves praising God more than usual. Instead of prayer being mostly a time of saying in effect, “Lord, here I am again with my usual list of the things I want you to do for me,” it becomes more about God—his attributes, his ways, and his will. And more God-centered prayer is a good thing, isn’t it?

6. You’ll find that your prayers become more like a real conversation with a real Person. That’s what prayer is, remember? Prayer is talking with a Person, the Person of God himself. So prayer shouldn’t be considered a one-way conversation. And yet somehow, many people assume that when they meet with God they must do all the talking. When we pray the Bible, though, our monologue to God becomes a conversation with I’m not alluding to the perception of some spiritual impression or hearing an inner voice, imagining God saying things to us—away with that sort of mysticism. Instead, I’m referring to the Bible as the means by which God enters the conversation, for the Bible is God speaking. God speaks in the Bible, and you respond to that. That’s why people who try this often report, “The pressure was off. I didn’t have to think about what to say next, and it just kind of flowed.”

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To get info on Don’s book Praying the Bible or to order it, click here.