How Does It Work?

The greatest Bible is a personalized Bible. Make it your own. Internalize and apply the truth in prayer. We do this by praying through a portion of Scripture.

Praying through a portion of Scripture? What does that look like? To examine that, let’s take something we all know like Psalm 23, probably the most famous psalm there is. The psalms are easy to pray, but you can pray through any portion of the Word of God.

An Example of Praying the Bible

If Psalm 23 were your devotional reading today, it would look something like this:

“The Lord is my shepherd.”

“Lord, I just want to thank You that I am one of Your sheep. I just want to praise You today for being a faithful shepherd and a good shepherd. I love You, Lord. Thank You for always keeping Your word.” I am just talking for a minute about who God is.

“I shall not want.”

“Lord, I have some needs today, but I believe that based on what this says, You are going to meet those needs.” I might stop right there and pray for five minutes or so over certain needs, the wants of my own heart. But I am going to claim that verse for those prayers.

Verse by verse, line by line, word by word, work your way through the passage. Take what God has sent to you, turn it around, and send it right back to Heaven. This is how we pray through a passage of Scripture.

Often, as we do this, God will reveal areas of our life that need correction. It causes us to think, “Oh yes, Lord, that’s me. God help me, that’s me.”

The Need for Intercessory Prayer

Often while praying through a passage, God will prompt you to pray for someone else at that moment. Intercessory prayer is the great neglected ministry of the local New Testament church. Yet, anyone can do it, anywhere.

We are better intercessors as we pray the Scriptures over others. Paul described Epaphras as someone who was “always labouring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God” (Colossians 4:12).

Pray this for those you love - for all the will of God to be fulfilled in them. By this we pray not for our will to be done, but for His…just as Jesus prayed (see Matthew 26:36-46).