A Roadmap For Praying
Asking directly from God's own Word
The Father invites us to ask of Him. We can go to him in total confidence that he hears us, we can cast all our cares on him, we can make all kinds of prayers and requests, and consistently come with our urgent needs.
But we must remember that he does not give us just whatever we want that we think will make our life better or easier. No, but he will give to us good things that he already wants us to have.
What are these things?
They are what we find in his word. John Calvin said we pray with the “bridle of the word of God.”1 We look to the Bible as a roadmap for our praying. Similar to an unfolded map, which shows roads, highways, towns, etc. and used as a guide for our journey, the Bible has his promises, revealed will, commands, blessings and more for our prayer journey.
Last May we introduced F.O.C.U.S. prayers, in which each letter was a prayer theme. The S is referring to Scripture.
Probably the best way to learn to pray is by praying His Word, certainly the Psalms are an excellent place for this. If they were important enough to be preserved for our reading today, they are good enough as our prayer guide! You could pray through one Psalm each day, just read through it as if you were praying it yourself. Or focus on a verse or two. There are 150 chapters, so at one a day it covers about 5 months. Then maybe pray the Proverbs and you have daily Scripture prayers for half a year.
We also use many passages as a starting and ending point to pray for God’s Church in our frequent section below.
So when we ask the Lord, we ask for help, or love, or to be mature and fully assured in all the will of God, or more grace, or for wisdom from above — we are asking from his roadmap, his guide of promises. And we can be sure that this map will take us exactly where he wants to be.
Praying the Word of God on Behalf of the People of God
Mon- Matthew 26:40, 41
Tue - Mark 4:14-20
Wed - Luke 11:1-4; 13
Will you join us in praying these verses, and ask one person to join you?
Until Monday, grace and peace
Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists Matthew, Mark, and Luke, trans. William Pringle (Calvin Translation Society, 1846), Vol. 3, p 19.
hat/tip to Truth For Life
Photo by Tabea Schimpf on Unsplash