I once heard this statement in a sermon, “Sometimes our prayers are just ‘worrying out loud’!” God is certainly a “friend like no other” but He should be more than just a soundboard for our daily rants or complaints. Of course, He wants to meet with us, hold us, cry with us, laugh with us; and to talk to Him about our concerns, fears, and questions from day to day. But, if we just left it there, we may as well just have coffee with a friend and do the same thing. We know from Scripture that John 15:5 (ESV) says, “No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father, I have made known to you”. He is our friend, the lover of our soul…He holds the keys to our prayers and our “worrying out loud”…it’s in His Word to us.
Years ago, I heard Elisabeth Elliot speaking at a conference and she clearly said… “If you find yourself losing your train of thought…or you simply don’t know what to pray…pray His Word back to Him!”
I have to admit that when I heard that statement, I felt it was a bit too “liturgical” for my Charismatic/Pentecostal ways. But I realized how right she was!
My mind wanders.
I start thinking about my grocery list.
I remember that text I need to answer.
Distractions are real for us. We are wives, mothers, hold down careers, attend church and Bible studies, prepare meals, fold laundry, keep the house clean and scramble to find five minutes to just sit on the front porch and open the mail…or check Facebook!
Yes! I now declare the written Word of God, even if I have to read it out loud! It helps me stay focused and pray straight at the bullseye rather than allowing my emotions to dictate my wandering thoughts. Feelings have their place in our prayer life…the back seat rather than the driver’s seat!
Years ago, I had a friend who was a navy wife whose husband flew dangerous missions on a regular basis. I asked her how she got through her days without constant panic. She answered simply that she dedicated her husband each day to the Lord’s service, prayed the promises of God over him, and went about her day. Did you read that? She “claimed” and “declared” the promises of God. Only in my recent years as a Christian, have I begun to understand this. The more I invest time into His Word, the more I pray with confidence that it’s not possible to speak His Word without response. It is like reading someone’s mail out loud to yourself while that person is sitting right there! They will nod their head in agreement because they wrote it! God wants us to activate our prayer life through His written and spoken Word.
I love to make homemade bread and experience the rise of that puffy delight that happens with just a small amount of yeast. The Word of God is like that yeast….it “activates” the prayers! Speak it, declare it, and shout it out if you must to activate these promises over your family, friends and those the Holy Spirit brings to your mind.
There are times when simply put, I don’t have a lot of time! With God’s Word at my fingertip, that small amount of yeast can yield great results.
PRACTICAL PLANNING
Over the years I have created prayer cards. Index cards with each day of the week on them, even colored coded, with very specific scriptures and prayer highlights. I use these prayer cards as a guide, allowing the Holy Spirit to move either in a gentle breeze or gale force winds if necessary! These lists are so personal to you! I have multiple prayer cards that I have put together in categories with little O rings around them. Most are written out with my handwriting and packed full of Scriptures. I have lots of books on prayer and have copied little portions to tape onto index cards…easier to keep in the car or my purse rather than lugging books all around!
P R A Y….my prayer acronym:
So often I hear people praying and I wonder if they understand how to enter into that sacred space, that place of intimacy with the Living God. There are times when you just need to cry out “Jesus!” There are those times when you just jump in the deep end of the pool! He hears every cry! This acronym has been my process for years. It is easy to remember and follows a Biblical pattern.
P – Praise and Thanksgiving
R – Repentance
A – Ask
Y – Yield and Surrender
Here are Scripture verses you can pray through in each category. Focus and fix your eyes on Jesus and His Word!
“P” – Praise and Thanksgiving:
Psalm 103:1-2 “Praise the Lord, my soul, all my inmost being. Praise His Holy Name. Praise the Lord, oh my soul, and forget not all His benefits.”
Exodus 15:2 “The Lord is my strength and my song. And He has become my salvation. This is my God and I will praise Him. My Father’s God and I will extol Him.”
I Chronicles 16:25 “For great is the Lord and greatly to be praised. He also is to be feared above all gods.”
Psalm 63:3 “Because Thy loving kindness is better than life. My lips will praise Thee so I will bless Thee as long as I live. I will lift up my hands in Thy name.”
Philippians 4:8 “Finally brethren, whatever is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, good repute. If there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on those things.”
Hebrews 13:15 “Through Him, then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God that is, the fruit of our lips that give thanks to His name.”
Revelation 19:5 “Give thanks to our God, all you His bond servants, you who fear Him, the small and the great.”
Psalm 28:7 “The Lord is my strength and my shield. My heart trusts in Him and I am helped. Therefore my heart exults and my song shall thank Him.”
I Chronicles 16:8-11 “Oh give thanks to the Lord. Call upon His name. Make known His deeds among the peoples. Sing to Him. Sing praises to Him. Speak of all His wonders.
Psalm 92: 1-2 “It is good to give thanks to the Lord. And to sing praises to Thy name, O Most High. To declare Thy faithfulness in the morning. And Thy faithfulness by night.”
2 Thessalonians 1:3 “We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brethren, as is only fitting because your faith is greatly enlarged, and the love of each one of you, toward one another, grows ever greater.”
Psalm 26:7 “That I may proclaim with the voice of Thanksgiving, and declare all Thy wonders.”
Psalm 95:2 “Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving. Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.”
Philippians 4:6 “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.
Revelation 7:12 “Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and Thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be unto our God forever and ever. Amen.”
“R” – Repentance:
I John 1:9 “If we confess our sins He is faithful and righteous to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Psalm 51:10 “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”
Jeremiah 5:3 “O Lord do not Thine eyes look for truth? Thou hast smitten then, but they did not weaken. Thou hast consumed them, but they refused to take correction. They have made their faces harder than rock. They have refused to repent.”
Matthew 3:2 “Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”
Mark 1:15 “And all the country of Judea was going out to Him, and all the people of Jerusalem, and they were being baptized by Him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.”
Luke 15:7 “I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.”
Acts 2:38 And Peter said, “Repent, and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
Acts 17:30 “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all everywhere should repent.”
Acts 26:20 “But keep declaring both to those of Damascus first, and also at Jerusalem, and then throughout the region of Judea, and even to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds appropriate to repentance.
Luke 24:47 “And that repentance for forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.”
2 Corinthians 7:10 “For the sorrow that is according to the Will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.”
2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slow about His promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance.”
“A” – Ask:
James 4:4-5 “We have not because we ask not.”
Proverbs 30: 7-8 “Two things I ask of Thee. Do not refuse me before I die, keep me from deception and lies.”
James 1:5 “But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives generously and without reproach and it will be given to him.”
Matthew 7:7 “Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be open to you.”
Matthew 21:21-22 “And Jesus answered and said to them, “Truly I say to you, if you have faith, and do not doubt, you shall not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, Be taken up and cast into the sea, it shall happen. And all these things you ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive.”
Mark 11:24 “Therefore I say to you, all things for which you ask and pray, believe that you have received them, and they shall be granted you.”
“Y” – Yield and Surrender:
Matthew 26:39 “And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed saying, My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me, yet not as I will, but as Thou will.”
Matthew 26:42 “He went away a second time and prayed saying, My Father, if this cannot pass away from me unless I drink it, Thy will be done.”
Matthew 27:50 “And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit.”
May this bless you and strengthen your prayer life with unwavering faith and His “Word” to all your “worry!” – Alyson Shedd
