Praying Scripture

The Secrets of The Secret Place

The Secret of Praying Scripture (v2.0)

The Secret of Praying Scripture

You might be thinking, “Nate, I have been told since I was a kid that I am supposed to read my bible and memorize scripture. However, no one has told me to pray scripture. You might have a few questions, like:

What is the definition of prayer?

What is praying scripture & how do you do it?

Where do I start?

Why should I do it?

The final question is one we should always ask, “Is there an example in the Bible to follow?”

WHAT IS THE DEFINITION OF PRAYER?

For most of my Christian experience, 32 years, I had a misunderstanding of prayer.

I thought prayer only occurred in a “time slot” in which “I” talked to God asking Him for things. Things for me and for other people and giving him gratitude and thanks for His influence in my life.”

My definition and understanding of prayer was way too narrow.

The Holy Spirit would nudge me and say to me, “There is so much more to experience. There is so much more.”

These nudges from The Spirit would manifest themselves in different ways.

For example: while worshiping at church I yearned to worship freely.

However, I worried what other people would think if I raised my hands.

When I would raise my hands a conversation would start in my head, while I was singing,

Are people’s eyes closed so they don’t see me raising my hands or are their eyes open and they see me?

Are other people raising their hands?

Am I the only one?

I would raise my hands and attempt to respond to the Spirit’s nudge that there is more available.

However, most of the time I would be totally distracted by my thoughts.

What I did not realize at the time was that The Holy Spirit was slowly growing in me a new understanding, a fuller understanding of prayer.

He was working through me in my discomfort.

And He still is!!!!!!!!

If you were here last Sunday in first service, during worship Pastor Shawn paused and challenged us to turn to a neighbor and pray a blessing over them. I instantly got uncomfortable! (Anyone else???). For about ten seconds I contemplated how to respond. I recognized the uncomfortable challenge by the Spirit and I needed to respond because He spoke!

Consider this definition of prayer:

Prayer is communicating with God by “responding” to who He is and what He has said through worship, thanksgiving, confession, petition, surrender,.............

The key point to us in this is ………………….. responded.

I love the word “responding”.

I thought prayer was:

Initiated by me.

Controlled by me.

I chose when to do it.

I chose how long to do it.

I chose what to say.

However, I realized that my understanding and definition of prayer was severely limited. That misplaced understanding is what Spirit was nudging me with His words when He would speak, “There is so much more.”

Prayer is not initiated by us.

It is initiated by God first.

Prayer is our response to a God who initiated first.

God speaks first and prayer is our response, through various methods.

God speaks → we listen → we respond.

In the book The Secrets of The Secret Place. Bob Sorge suggests prayer is:

“the overarching term to describe the entire spectrum of expressions we offer to God.

Thus, prayer includes praise, thanksgiving, adoration, intercession, worship, supplication, shouts of joy, lifting of hands, bowing, honor, exaltation, intimate affection, repentance, surrender, dancing, mourning, contemplation, spiritual warfare, prophesying, etc. When the Scriptures form and inform your prayers, you'll start to explore the whole gamut of expressions. Heaven will give you a holy permission slip to do it all!

Bob Sorge - The Secrets of The Secret Place

This is exactly what Spirit has been telling me all these years. There are so many more ways I can respond. Take the shackles off and allow your heart to fully respond in Awe & Wonder!

One of these expressions is to pray God’s scripture back to Him.

WHAT IS PRAYING SCRIPTURE & HOW DO YOU DO IT?

It is very simple.

It is not complicated.

You take a passage, for example let’s use last week's sermon scripture, Psalm 119: 9-16, and you pray through it one line at a time.

Use a timer and set it for 1-10 minutes. If you use your phone, put it on do not disturbed.

Read the verse out loud to God.

Then start to pray to Him regarding the verse.

Anything that comes to mind about the verse, just pray it.

When the timer goes off, hit the reset button to start the timer again and repeat the process with the next verse.

WHERE DO I START?

This is the amazing thing, you can go anywhere in the bible.

You can use the entire bible.

“The Bible is one massive prayer book. Nearly every page contains prayer prompts.”

Bob Sorge - The Secrets of The Secret Place

Great places to start would be the book of Psalms, Proverbs, maybe even the Gospels (Mathew, Mark, Luke, and John) and focus on the red letters, the words Jesus spoke.

WHY DO IT?

Have you ever paused to pray and found yourself not knowing what to pray?

Have you ever paused to pray and found yourself uninspired?

Have you ever felt like your prayers might be a bit shallow and self centered but you don’t know how to break the selfish mold?

Have you ever questioned if your prayers were even God’s will?

Are you yearning for new life, energy, and boldness in your prayer time?

Here are some points from Bob Sorge:

“As you take time in his word, not only is your meditation sweet, but you find yourself spontaneously conversing with God in response to the text. The language of scripture becomes the language of your prayer life.”

Bob Sorge - The Secrets of The Secret Place

I love his challenge and the result. Did you see the long term result.

“The language of scripture becomes the language of your prayer life.”

That is an incredible outcome, to have deep and rich prayers back to Father…….because He deserves it!

Praying scripture is not something I have done. Even after reading this chapter for the first time, roughly a year ago, I did not take up the challenge.

However, I figured if I am going to preach on this and challenge you on this topic I need to do this myself. For the last two weeks, everyday I have been praying scripture back to God.

I can testify that I am really really enjoying it. There is a new level of prayer, a deeper level of prayer, I can feel the word penetrating into my heart, the scriptures are giving me new prayer points and language that I have not used before in my prayers.

If you do this I guarantee that a new hunger will grow inside of you. A new desire will sprout that will help you respond to Father in a new way………..and it will be genuinely exciting.

Praying with the language of God’s word is powerful for several reasons, including:

Hebrews 4:12 tells us His word "is living and powerful". When we pray with His Word on our lips, our prayers transform into living and powerful prayers.

1 John 5:14 says, “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.” Our prayers gain confidence when we know we are praying in accordance to Father’s will.

Praying the Scriptures adds a dimension of creativity and surprise to our prayer life, which in turn makes prayer more fascinating and enjoyable.

I am coming to believe that praying scripture blesses God, and I think He loves it!

Parents, let me ask you something.

What do you feel when you have communicated something to your child and then days, weeks, months or even years later your child quotes your words of wisdom back to you?

What do you feel?

Surprise, “Hey they were listening!”

Pride, “My kid is getting it! They are maturing!”

Reliefe, “Maybe my child will be okay on their own someday.”

When we speak God’s words back to Him we are letting Him know that His children are listening.

I believe this puts a huge smile on His face!

Praying scripture ……………..………….. takes time.

Praying scripture is an investment of time…………..but it is so worth it.

IS THERE AN EXAMPLE IN THE BIBLE?

In 1 Samuel 13:14 the prophet Samuel delivers a statement to King Saul when he said,

14 But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him ruler of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command.”

1 Samuel 13:14

I don’t know about you, but I want to be known as a man after God’s own heart.

I think a wise place to search for the answer to the question, “Is there an example in the bible about praying scripture?”, should be focused upon the prayers of the man whom God described as, “A man after my own heart.” King David.

STANDING FOR THE READING OF THE WORD:

27 “Lord Almighty, God of Israel, you have revealed this to your servant, saying, ‘I will build a house for you.’ So your servant has found courage to pray this prayer to you. 28 Sovereign Lord, you are God! Your covenant is trustworthy, and you have promised these good things to your servant. 29 Now be pleased to bless the house of your servant, that it may continue forever in your sight; for you, Sovereign Lord, have spoken, and with your blessing the house of your servant will be blessed forever.”

2 Samuel 7:27–29

Pastor: This is the Word of The Lord!

Congregation Response: Thanks be to God!

Before you are seated, fistbump your neighbor and say, “FIND YOUR COURAGE TO PRAY IT BACK

THE BACKGROUND / CONTEXT:

2 Samuel chapter 7.

In Short:

David tells the prophet Nathan that David is going to build a house for God and move the ark of God out of a tent.

Nathan tells David to do it. God is with you!

However, neither of them consulted God about His opinion on the matter.

Immediately, that night God gives Nathan a word to tell David,

Do not build me a house.

I have it covered and I don’t need your help.

I established you, not the other way around.

I will raise up another king from your own flesh and blood and He will build my house.

God then promises to David that his house and kingdom will endure forever before God (this is a prophetic word of the messiah, Jesus Christ).

Nathan reported to David all of the words of the revelation.

In response:

David then prays back to God a beautiful prayer, v18-29.

In this prayer back to God, David is not quoting scripture word-for-word.

Rather, he is praying a prayer that is saturated with ideas, language, promises, and truths already revealed in Scripture. (That is praying scripture).

David is also praying back to God the revealed word that was just given to him from Nathan.

Side Note: At the moment in time in which God responded to Nathan, God’s word at that moment was “revealed word”. Words spoken by God, that were not yet written down as scripture in the Bible. Today for us these exact words are scripture, recorded in the Bible.

What is my point about this “side note” comment? God reveals His word to us through the work of the Holy Spirit. It may come directly to you from Him. It may come to you from another person that God sent to share it with you. Either way those words are God’s words and you can pray them back to Him. (That is praying scripture). David prayed back to God the promise the Prophet Nathan gave him.

So we see David responding in prayer to the recollection of written scripture and revealed words. David uses all of God’s words and prays them back to God.

DAVID: A MAN AFTER GOD’S OWN HEART:

David was a man after God’s own heart and he gives us a great example of how to pray.

In looking at David’s prayer in 2 Samuel 7:18-29 you can see a rhythm:

David remembers what God has done.

David declares who God is.

David finds courage to approach God.

David reminds God by speaking God’s words back to Him. The fourth component of David’s prayer was to pray God’s word back to Him.

CLOSING:

Last week when I closed the message I alluded to a connection between last week's message, which was on journaling, and this week's message, praying scripture.

In closing this week I want to wrap these two messages together.

When we apply the truth of Psalm 119:9-16 to our lives through the method of journaling, we aren’t simply reading God's Word, we are interacting with God’s Word until it changes us. Journaling slows us down with the intention of building up our spiritual reservoirs.

“I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you”

Psalm 119:11

With hand to pen …… and pen to paper …… writing slows the mind. Thinking becomes clearer.

God’s truth moves ……. from our hand……to our mind…..to our heart.

And once His word is in our hearts we are able to accomplish Psalm 119:13 which says,

“With my lips I recount all the laws that come from your mouth:

Psalm 119:13

This is the response of praying scripture back to God.

From His mouth → into our heart → out of our mouth → back to God.

God loves it when we respond by praying His scripture back to Him!

I believe part of the process to become people after God’s own heart is to be people that pray God’s words back to Him.