- Dec 20, 2019
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How can we help people who are in physical pain? Of course, we can encourage them to pray, but are we limited to telling them, “Ask God to heal you!” That is certainly a direct approach to their problem. Perhaps, however, there is another avenue to follow, which employs the principle of indirection. How can a person approach the problem of pain indirectly instead of “head-on?” What I am wondering is if there is a helpful path that indirectly approaches their suffering that may in the long run offer a better response to their suffering.
I’ve had the privilege of writing several books, but my recent one, A Handbook for Praying Scripture, will probably become my favorite.
Years ago, I struggled with my mind wandering in my times of prayer. I also was concerned that my prayers were focusing too much on my needs. I call these “Gimme Prayers.” I discovered that the spiritual discipline of praying scripture back to God was what I needed to revitalize my prayer life. Works such as Ken Boa’s Handbook to Prayer: Praying Scripture Back to God and Don Whitney’s Praying the Bible were a great help to me as I sought to incorporate scripture into my prayers more often. Last spring, I thought of writing my “handbook” on praying scripture. My wife and I field-tested my early versions, and I am thrilled that the Handbook launched in January.
Building on the familiar pattern of the “ACTS Prayer Meeting” (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication), I expanded these categories and suggest that prayers of Adoration, Thanksgiving, Confession, Affirmation, Petition, and Intercession can form a balanced approach and rejuvenate our prayer lives. I have drawn all those elements of prayer from the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, with a particular emphasis on the Psalms. There are 31 days of prayers following the sections above and then seven days of more extended prayers. I have utilized over 300 Biblical texts, some of which have been repeated two or three times in the monthly or weekly prayer cycle. There are pauses after each section to add your praises or prayers.
If you have ever agreed with the Apostle Paul that “we do not know what to pray for as we ought” (Romans 8:26), you can find the answer to your predicament by praying the very words of scripture or adapting a scripture statement to become the prayer that your heart desires to express. Although I am not opposed to the prayers in a good church prayer book, I suggest that the wealth of scripture offers hundreds or even thousands of prayers that cover every area of our heart’s desires.
Let me share an experience of my dear wife, Helen, that happened a few days ago. Helen has thyroid cancer, which has metastasized to tumors on her spine. These tumors are extremely painful and seriously challenge our prayer lives. She has cried out many times to the Lord and often shares that perplexity about how to pray, which I mentioned earlier. I sat in my living room while Helen was praying from the Handbook. It was the selection for Day 18 because it was April 18! Suddenly she cried, “Oh, honey, this is just what I needed to pray today!” She then read back to me the selection under “Affirmation:”
She also read back to me what she prayed under the rubric for “Petition”:
These were just the right words that conveyed verbally what her heart was crying out silently. The scriptures gave expression to her soul. The inspired words of the Psalmist communicated her heart’s desire as she struggled with the pain of her physical affliction. The Lord has used many other passages to convey her heart’s desire back to Him.
Jesus taught His disciples to pray twice in the Gospels (Matthew 6:9-13 and Luke 11:2-4). We often refer to it as the “Lord’s Prayer,” but He would not have prayed for forgiveness, so we prefer to call those familiar words the “Disciples’ Prayer” – and we pray those scriptures daily. Believers – especially pastors – should be careful not to go to the Lord with another “laundry list” of requests (those so-called “Gimme Prayers”). When we place our petitions in the context of adoration and thanksgiving, those personal requests cease to be selfish but become part of a true worship experience.
Of course, physical suffering is not the only need met by praying scripture. There are thousands of prayers in the Bible for other needs, such as missions, evangelism, grief, wisdom, growth, rest, and sanctification. I cannot think of an area of life that is not covered, at least in a general way, by the inspired words of the Bible.
By the way, praying scripture “when it hurts” does not always mean that we pray scriptures expressing our anguish, as powerful as those passages may be. Sometimes praying scriptures of praise and worship can help to refocus our attention away from ourselves to the Holy One. Like this one:
I will bless the Lord at all times;
His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
My soul will make its boast in the Lord;
The humble will hear it and rejoice.
O magnify the Lord with me,
And let us exalt His name together.
I inquired of the Lord, and He answered me,
And delivered me from all that I dread. (Psalm 34:1-4) The psalmist in the passage above mentions a way ahead that he dreads. I wonder if his path included physical suffering. I do know, however, that the Lord’s deliverance is not always along a physical path. But His way of “blessing the Lord at all times” is always the best path!
Related:
Praying the Psalms as a Spiritual Discipline
Solutions to Common Problems in Prayer as a Spiritual Discipline
Reading and Meditating on the Bible as Spiritual Disciplines for Pastors
The post Praying Scripture When It Hurts appeared first on Focus on the Family.
Continue reading...
I’ve had the privilege of writing several books, but my recent one, A Handbook for Praying Scripture, will probably become my favorite.
A little background
Years ago, I struggled with my mind wandering in my times of prayer. I also was concerned that my prayers were focusing too much on my needs. I call these “Gimme Prayers.” I discovered that the spiritual discipline of praying scripture back to God was what I needed to revitalize my prayer life. Works such as Ken Boa’s Handbook to Prayer: Praying Scripture Back to God and Don Whitney’s Praying the Bible were a great help to me as I sought to incorporate scripture into my prayers more often. Last spring, I thought of writing my “handbook” on praying scripture. My wife and I field-tested my early versions, and I am thrilled that the Handbook launched in January.
Building on the familiar pattern of the “ACTS Prayer Meeting” (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication), I expanded these categories and suggest that prayers of Adoration, Thanksgiving, Confession, Affirmation, Petition, and Intercession can form a balanced approach and rejuvenate our prayer lives. I have drawn all those elements of prayer from the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, with a particular emphasis on the Psalms. There are 31 days of prayers following the sections above and then seven days of more extended prayers. I have utilized over 300 Biblical texts, some of which have been repeated two or three times in the monthly or weekly prayer cycle. There are pauses after each section to add your praises or prayers.
If you have ever agreed with the Apostle Paul that “we do not know what to pray for as we ought” (Romans 8:26), you can find the answer to your predicament by praying the very words of scripture or adapting a scripture statement to become the prayer that your heart desires to express. Although I am not opposed to the prayers in a good church prayer book, I suggest that the wealth of scripture offers hundreds or even thousands of prayers that cover every area of our heart’s desires.
My personal testimony
Let me share an experience of my dear wife, Helen, that happened a few days ago. Helen has thyroid cancer, which has metastasized to tumors on her spine. These tumors are extremely painful and seriously challenge our prayer lives. She has cried out many times to the Lord and often shares that perplexity about how to pray, which I mentioned earlier. I sat in my living room while Helen was praying from the Handbook. It was the selection for Day 18 because it was April 18! Suddenly she cried, “Oh, honey, this is just what I needed to pray today!” She then read back to me the selection under “Affirmation:”
She also read back to me what she prayed under the rubric for “Petition”:
These were just the right words that conveyed verbally what her heart was crying out silently. The scriptures gave expression to her soul. The inspired words of the Psalmist communicated her heart’s desire as she struggled with the pain of her physical affliction. The Lord has used many other passages to convey her heart’s desire back to Him.
Placing petition in the context of adoration and thanksgiving
Jesus taught His disciples to pray twice in the Gospels (Matthew 6:9-13 and Luke 11:2-4). We often refer to it as the “Lord’s Prayer,” but He would not have prayed for forgiveness, so we prefer to call those familiar words the “Disciples’ Prayer” – and we pray those scriptures daily. Believers – especially pastors – should be careful not to go to the Lord with another “laundry list” of requests (those so-called “Gimme Prayers”). When we place our petitions in the context of adoration and thanksgiving, those personal requests cease to be selfish but become part of a true worship experience.
Of course, physical suffering is not the only need met by praying scripture. There are thousands of prayers in the Bible for other needs, such as missions, evangelism, grief, wisdom, growth, rest, and sanctification. I cannot think of an area of life that is not covered, at least in a general way, by the inspired words of the Bible.
Praying scriptures of praise and worship
By the way, praying scripture “when it hurts” does not always mean that we pray scriptures expressing our anguish, as powerful as those passages may be. Sometimes praying scriptures of praise and worship can help to refocus our attention away from ourselves to the Holy One. Like this one:
I will bless the Lord at all times;
His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
My soul will make its boast in the Lord;
The humble will hear it and rejoice.
O magnify the Lord with me,
And let us exalt His name together.
I inquired of the Lord, and He answered me,
And delivered me from all that I dread. (Psalm 34:1-4) The psalmist in the passage above mentions a way ahead that he dreads. I wonder if his path included physical suffering. I do know, however, that the Lord’s deliverance is not always along a physical path. But His way of “blessing the Lord at all times” is always the best path!
Related:
Praying the Psalms as a Spiritual Discipline
Solutions to Common Problems in Prayer as a Spiritual Discipline
Reading and Meditating on the Bible as Spiritual Disciplines for Pastors
The post Praying Scripture When It Hurts appeared first on Focus on the Family.
Continue reading...