Learning to pray Scripture

Scripture Praying

The Bible is absolute truth, and, if prayed through and obeyed, will formulate your value system and lead you into the will of God.  It is through this Book that God speaks to us.

Scripture praying is the practice of using God’s Word as the foundation for our communion with Him. The Word and prayer are inseparable. When one engages in prayer without the Word it can lead to mysticism; when one uses the Word without prayer, it can lead to legalism, intellectualism and coldness of heart.

Even the most sincere believers can mishandle the Scriptures if they don’t practice discernment. All too often, careless observations lead to faulty interpretations and improper conclusions. This can be avoided by a simple three step process: Observe—Interpret—Apply. 

1. As you read through Scripture, observe the context and note the original audience of the text. Try to “climb inside the skin” of the writer and see the scenes and personalities through his eyes. Take note of the words, phrases and sentences—what they are saying and to whom they are directed.
2. Next, ask the Holy Spirit to open your mind to enable you to correctly understand and interpret what the writer specifically meant in this historical setting and for what purpose. At this point, you are not interpreting the Word for your personal use but are looking at it from the author’s viewpoint.
3. Finally, after observing and properly interpreting the Word, ask God how these truths apply to you personally, today. Then, allowing the Spirit to formulate your thoughts, shape your prayers and determine your actions, pray back to Him your response to what He has just said to you through His Word. By using the various elements of prayer: praise/adoration/worship, thanksgiving, confession with repentance, intercession and petition one will maintain a balanced, meaningful and dynamic communion with our Great Creator.

This unique form of two-way conversation, Scripture Praying, will give you the certainty of knowing that God’s word will providentially nourish, instruct, guide, convict and purify your soul as you live for the glory of our King!

The following calendar outline can be used as an aid to pray various portions of Scripture for personal devotions throughout the year:

January/April July/October Day/Scripture Psalm 1,2 Matthew 5:1-26 Psalm 3, 4 Matthew 5:27-48 Psalm 5, 6 Matthew 6:19-34 Psalm 7, 9 Matthew 7 Psalm 10, 11 Matthew 10 Psalm 12, 13 Matthew 18:15-35 Psalm 14, 15 Mark 9:14-37 Psalm 16, 17 Mark 10:17-31 Psalm 18 Luke 1:46-55: 67-80 Psalm 19, 20 Luke 6:27-49 Psalm 21, 22 Luke 10:1-20 Psalm 23, 24 Luke 11:1-1 3 Psalm 25 Luke 14:1 5-35 Psalm 26, 27 John 14 Psalm 28, 29 John 15

February/May August/November Day/Scripture Psalm 30 John 17 Psalm 31 Acts 2:14-47 Psalm 32 Romans 3:9-31 Psalm 33 Romans 5 Psalm 34 Romans 6 Psalm 36 Romans 7 Psalm 37 Romans 8 Psalm 40, 41 I Corinthians 13 Psalm 42, 43 Galatians 1 Psalm 46, 47 Galatians 2 Psalm 51 Galatians 3 Psalm 61, 62 Galatians 4 Psalm 63, 65 Galatians 5 Psalm 66, 67 Galatians 6 Psalm 71 Ephesians 1

March/June September/December Day/Scripture Psalm 73 Ephesians 2 Psalm 75, 77 Ephesians 3 Psalm 78 Ephesians 4 Psalm 85, 86 Ephesians 5 Psalm 90, 91 Ephesians 6 Psalm 102, 103 Colossians 1 Psalm 111, 112 Colossians 2 Psalm 113, 115 Colossians 3 Psalm 116, 118 II Timothy 2 Psalm 119:1-88 II Timothy 3 Psalm 119:89-176 Hebrews 3 Psalm 125, 126, 127, 128 Hebrews 10 Psalm 138, 139 Hebrews 12 Psalm 141, 143, 144 Hebrews 13 Psalm 145, 146, 147 Revelation 4

Note: When praying through the imprecatory Psalms, you may want to think of the “flesh,” that great enemy of our soul, as a synonym for the word “enemy(ies).”