Praying the scriptures is a wonderful way to get closer to God.  When you do it, you are communicating with the Almighty God, the Creator of the universe!  Wow!  Isn’t that amazing?  Not only are you communicating with Him but He invites you to do so. 

I learned how to do so from my mother-in-law over the course of my marriage. I have never really felt like a prayer warrior, however, praying the scriptures or the word of God has really improved my prayers.   It has built my confidence that God hears me when I pray.

What Does It Mean To Pray the Scriptures

So what does praying the scriptures mean?  Well it just means to pray the word of God back to Him.  When you pray the scriptures you are essentially using His words to formulate your prayers and that is a good thing because the scriptures says in Isaiah 55:11

“So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”

Why Is It Important To pray the Scriptures

You can see from this verse that when we use His words and formulate our prayers with them His purpose will be will be accomplished. Essentially, we are aligning ourselves with His purpose and are coming into agreement with the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords!

1 John 5:14 also tells us

“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, he will hear us.”

So just from these two verses we see that we have some benefits from praying the scripture

• His word does not return empty but accomplishes what He purposed it to do
• We are praying according to His will
• He hears us

How Do You Pray the Scriptures

Now I’m going to show you how to pray the scriptures.  There are three steps that I have found in order to do so.

Step 1: Read the Scripture

This may not come as a surprise but it is a vital first step.  You have to have a scripture verse or passage to help guide your prayers.   Going back to the example of my mother-in-law, she is part of an international prayer group called Ask Network.  They pray for nations, political leaders, families, churches, and a whole plethora of other things the Lord leads them to pray for. 

I have been to some of the prayer meetings and have seen that they would seek the Lord for what they were to pray over and collectively would gather scripture verses pertaining to that topic.  Then when they came together they would seek the Lord and pray those scriptures back to God according to the topic. 

Maybe praying for nations and political leaders is a bit intimidating to you.  Have no fear!  You can do this at a more micro level such as praying for your friends, family, and church.

 Step 2: Let the Holy Spirit Lead You

After you’ve read the scripture ask the Holy Spirit to lead you.

Step 3: Personalize the Scripture

At this step you are adding pronouns in order to make the scripture applicable to you or the topic you are praying for.  I will give examples of how this works.

2 Examples of Praying the Scripture

• The scripture I am using is Isaiah 41:13 and will be on a more macro level.  In this example, I am praying for the Ukrainian people.

For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand,
Who says to you, ‘Do not fear, I will help you.’

Prayer Example:

Father, I pray for the people of Ukraine.  I pray that even in the midst of the invasion by the Russians that they will know that you are with them, that you are holding their hand.  Lord, I pray that you will calm their fears and show them that you are with them and will help them.  Lord for those who don’t know you I pray that they will have a peace that passes all understanding and a knowing that it is because of you.  I also pray that they will know that you are helping them and turn to you.  In Jesus’ mighty name amen.

• The scripture verse for the second example is Proverbs 3:5-7 and is more personal to me because I am using it to pray for my students…my current students, my former students, and those that will be my students in years to come.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart
And do not lean on your own understanding.
⁶ In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He will make your paths straight.

Prayer Example: 

Father, I thank you for each and every one of my students.  I also thank you for the privilege I have to teach them.  Lord, I pray that each one will trust you with all of their heart, and that they will not lean on their own understanding but will dig into your word.  I pray that they will know you as their Lord and Savior and acknowledge you in everything they do because only then will their course in life be made straight and sure.  I pray this in Jesus’ precious name amen.

Conclusion

Praying the scriptures is a great way to communicate with God because you are simply praying His words back to Him and allowing His words to resonate in your heart.  I hope this post helps to deepen your prayer time with Him and helps you to gain the confidence that you don’t have to be a prayer warrior in order to have effective prayers.

If the Holy Spirit was speaking to you as you read this post please share in the comments below.