Scriptural Prayers

Our prayer lives can be enriched by our Bible reading if we ask ourselves this simple question: How can we use the words we were just reading?
Every verse or paragraph or chapter in the Bible can help us turn toward God. Do we need some help in getting started? Why not begin by reading the Psalms and the prayers of Jesus and Paul? These actual prayers in Scripture (and there are many more!) are recorded for us to demonstrate the many varied forms that the Holy Spirit might use to bring us to the throne of grace.

OR: Read the prayers of the saints that have gone before us. There are many beautiful collections of Scriptural prayers, including the one shown above that I have been using for almost a year now. For example, here's how the author of Pride and Prejudice made good use of Romans 2:4: "Or do you presume on the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?"

Jane Austen's Prayer: "Look with mercy on the sins we have this day committed and in mercy make us feel them deeply, that our repentance may be sincere and our resolution steadfast of endeavoring against the commission of such in the future. Teach us to understand the sinfulness of our own hearts, and bring to our knowledge every fault of temper and every evil habit in which we have indulged to the discomfort of our fellow creatures, and the danger of our own souls. May we now, and on each return of night, consider how the past day has been spent by us, what have been our prevailing thoughts, words, and actions during it, and how far we can acquit ourselves of evil. Have we thought irreverently of you, have we disobeyed your commandments, have we neglected any known duty, or willingly given pain to any human being? Incline us to ask our hearts these questions, oh God, and save us from deceiving ourselves by pride or vanity. Give us a thankful sense of the blessings in which we live, of the many comforts of our lot, that we may not deserve to lose them by discontent or indifference."

Candy's final thoughts: We mustn't be intimidated or overwhelmed with the sheer volume of this prayer based on only one verse in Scripture, nor should we compare our prayers with the beauty of this one written by an acclaimed author! Instead, let's ask the Holy Spirit to intercede for us even when we only have "...groanings too deep for words." God hears the prayers of ALL His people. 💜