by Dick LaFountain
Pray
the Word
Nothing pleases God more than to hear his children praying back to him his own words of truth.
The Bible is filled with prayers of God's people. Most of them are God-honoring prayers that God gave us as examples of how we should pray.
Using those biblical prayers as your template, your pattern, or your guide you can transform your routine prayers into dynamic conversations with the Father.
Bruce Wilkinson captured this little truth in his little best selling book on the Prayer of Jabez. He simply outlined the prayer and explained its meaning
and how it is a great pattern for our prayers. Here is the challenge:
Pray the Prayer of Jabez every day, out loud, for three weeks - 21 days.
Do it faithfully. Don't miss a day. Do it out loud. Make it a routine at your breakfast table, in the shower, or in your car driving to work.
But make it your prayer, not just a memorized prayer. Then watch what happens. God will bless you in it.
The Prayer of Jabez
"Oh that You would bless me indeed,
and enlarge my territory,
and that your hand might be with me,
and that you would keep me from evil,
that I may not cause pain!"
I Chronicles 4:10 NKJV
Use the following scriptures to guide your prayers. Put each one in the first person, and in your own words.
I may take some work at first, so write it out in your own words, then put it on a 3x5 card and carry it with you
so you can pray it often.
Col. 1:9-14 "For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not
stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of
his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this
in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in
every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of
God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so
that you may have great endurance and patie nce, and joyfully giving thanks
to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the
saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of
darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we
have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."
Eph. 1:16-21 "I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in
my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the
glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that
you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be
enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you,
the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably
great power for us who believe. That p ower is like the working of his
mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the
dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all
rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given,
not only in the present age but also in the one to come."
1 Tim 2:1-6 "I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers,
intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone-- for kings and all
those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all
godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants
all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is
one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who
gave himself as a ransom for all men--the testimony given in its proper
time."
Psalm 108:1-6 "My heart is steadfast, O God; I will sing and make music
with all my soul. Awake, harp and lyre! I will awaken the dawn. I will
praise you, O LORD, among the nations; I will sing of you among the
peoples. For great is your love, higher than the heavens; your faithfulness
reaches to the skies. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, and let your
glory be over all the earth. Save us and help us with your right hand, that
those you love may be delivered."
Psalm 25:4-11 "Show me your ways, O LORD, teach me your paths; guide me in
your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you
all day long. Remember, O LORD, your great mercy and love, for they are
from of old. Remember not the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways;
according to your love remember me, for you are good, O LORD. Good and
upright is the LORD; therefore he instructs sinners in his ways. He guides
the humble in what is right and teaches them hi s way. All the ways of the
LORD are loving and faithful for those who keep the demands of his
covenant. For the sake of your name, O LORD, forgive my iniquity, though it
is great."
Jer. 29:11-14a "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD,
"plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a
future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will
listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your
heart. I will be found by you," declares the LORD.
(All verses from NIV version.)
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