Prayer Series 4: Praying God’s Word

I am not a great memorizer.  In fact, my memory is terrible.  Luckily, God has given me a husband who remembers everything, for better and for worse, even things I would rather block from his memory forever (yes, I have those too).  Some have said he has a photographic memory.  He has the ability to remember places, random facts, analogies, and teachings.  Oh man!  If I could have a memory for one thing, it would be scripture.  Like most, I need repetition, repetition, repetition, and then more repetition.  Even if I do memorize scripture, it’s forgotten in no time.

I was so blessed to help my mom move out of our childhood house and into a house with her wonderful new husband the past few weeks.  We went through so many childhood memories like photographs, school work, cards, and crafts.  One thing I was so amazed by was all of the Bible verses I had on crafts and school work from childhood.  I so appreciate that I had parents that developed my godly character and prioritized learning about God throughout my preschool and elementary years, but it made me realize how easy it was to forget all those lessons when we stopped going to church, when sin snuck in, when our family drifted away from the Lord, and I backslid in my teens and twenties.

What’s my point?  The Bible is God’s Word to us – to YOU!  In it is found His will for our lives.  His amazing promises – and He is faithful 100% of the time.  Reminders to us, when we forget, of His love for us.  How He knew us before we knew Him.  How He has forgiven us and loves us.  That He has a plan for us.  That He will restore us and protect us.  That He has already conquered and made us victorious now and for eternity.  His love and His Word sets us free, so our joy may be full.

“Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits” – Psalm 103:2

Now, don’t get me wrong.  It’s not the “work” of memorizing the Word at all.  No one gets points for having the Word memorized or being able to recite a bunch of memory verses.  The point is that we must spend time with God consistently, in relationship, to stay strong, to stay filled up, to equip ourselves for trials, discouragement, and afflictions which do come and are many. 

When you spend time in His Word and He impresses His promises on your heart, read it over and over and PRAY ON IT!  You know those little nuggets that touch your heart during a Bible Study?  Those are His words for you today.  Praise Him, thank Him, and pray on those promises.  Ask Him to help you prepare for the days, weeks, and years ahead by writing His words on your heart.  When you feel empty or distant from God, return to your Creator and spend time with Him.  He’s available 24/7.  It’s us that make ourselves too busy and unavailable, not Him.  He is always there with open arms.  Get into His actual Word, not just books written by men about the Bible.  Meditate on His promises and pray them.  Put them on a Post-it.  Put them in a prayer journal.  Email them to yourself.  Put them on your fridge.  Put them on your desk.  Share them with others.  Teach them to your kids.  Then repeat, repeat, repeat, and never stop.  Our human hearts, minds, and souls need to be in consistent fellowship with our God to have His Will and His Word front and center in our lives where it belongs.

So, what I’m saying is, don’t beat yourself up over your inability to spout off scripture or pray it out loud on the spot.  Just keep it simple.  Draw close to Him and He will draw close to you.  I pray for God to continue to increase our passion for Him and our desire to be in His presence and in His Word.  Praise God for new mercies every morning!  He is so good.

“He also taught me, and said to me: "Let your heart retain my words; Keep my commands, and live. Get wisdom! Get understanding! Do not forget, nor turn away from the words of my mouth.” – Proverbs 4:4-5

Prayer Series 3: Thanksgiving

Continuing on the journey of studying prayer, the Bible states repeatedly to pray with thanksgiving…always…in everything. 

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” - 1 Th. 5:16-18

“giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,” - Eph. 5:20

Kids are great at giving thanks in prayer.  While praying, they think of every person they know and look around at everything they can physically see and thank God.  It’s a simple truth that we so easily overlook – every good gift and perfect gift is from above (Jas. 1:17).  The breath in our lungs, the warmth of the sun, our relationships, our heartbeat, the food in front of us, the shelter over our heads, our warm blankets, our salvation, the love of our heavenly Father, His Word, the Holy Spirit…the list goes on and on.

While being more purposeful about thanking God this past month, I had an awesome realization.  When I stop to thank God, I am giving Him the glory.  It’s so easy to take an answered prayer and, without even thinking, turn it into glory for ourselves vs. glorifying and giving credit to God who made it happen in the first place.

The story of the ten lepers in Luke 17:11-19 always reminds me of the importance of saying thank you.  Ten lepers came to Jesus and asked for healing.  Jesus healed all of them from an incurable, terminal illness!  One of the ten lepers realized that he did not say thank you, so he ran back to Jesus and “with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks”.  Jesus healed him spiritually, in addition to the physical healing, because he remembered to say thank you.  You see, God wants to bless us, and He wants to heal us spiritually.  To be healed, we need to realize (and constantly remind ourselves) that it’s God who’s all-powerful, almighty, and all-knowing.  He is the one capable of the incapable.  He is God, and we are sinners.  He formed us, He gives us our breath, our hearts beat because of Him, and any gift or abilities we have are because He prepared us with them to do His will.  Thanksgiving puts us in that position of trust and humility that just doesn’t come naturally to us in our flesh and allows us to be healed spiritually.  Regardless of the circumstances surrounding us at any given time, there are always many reasons to offer thanksgiving to our Lord!

There is another key we all need to grasp about offering thanksgiving in everything, at all times, and that’s during times of suffering, tests, and trials.  Take the time to read Lezli’s blog: “A Year of Suffering” to immerse yourself there.  It will bless you!

“Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good!” – Psa. 106:1