The disciples of Jesus walked with Him for three years, hearing His words and seeing the Kingdom come in signs and wonders, and this is the one thing they requested of the Lord. “Teach us how to pray!
Many of us were taught that reading our Bible was important (and it is), however, many of us were never taught how to pray? We are told it’s a vital part of our spiritual life, and yet, few parents (natural or spiritual) take the time to train up their children how to pray. Why? Probably because no-one ever taught them how to unlock this amazing gift given to us by God. That’s good news, and today we’re going to learn a powerful prayer model that will teach you not only what to pray, but how to connect your mind, soul, and spirit in a deeper and enjoyable way as you do it. Let’s get started!
Introduction
Jesus corrected the Pharisees for thinking they would experience God’s life or presence simply by knowing the Bible. “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you were not willing to come to Me that you may have life.” (John 5:39-30)
It’s not enough to just study the Bible — we are meant to talk to God as we read it. Bible study is meant to create an active dialogue in our hearts with God. One way we can strengthen our prayer lives is by turning Scripture into a conversation with God. Talking to God as we read the Word makes prayer easy and enjoyable. The question is: “How exactly do we do that?”
“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.”
John 15:7
How to turn Scripture into Prayer
Before we dive into our 4-Step Prayer Tool, we need the most important part – a Bible verse we want to pray! Although you can encounter God in any verse in the Bible, I recommend starting with a verse where God is clearly talking about Himself. After all, our goal is to hear His voice and connect our hearts to His is joyful, affectionate, agreement, so choosing a passage where God is speaking is perfect.
For today’s example, we’re going to use one of my favorite verses to pray – John 15:9:
“As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.
John 15:9
Now that we have our verse selected, let’s dive into this simple prayer tool that will help us grow in the area of enjoyable prayer.
4-Steps To GROWing in prayer: G-R-O-W
STEP 1: Start with GRATITUDE (G)
Being grateful is a power practice; especially when are thankfulness is rooted in the eternal truth of who God says He is, and how He relates to us through His promises and commands. But how do we practice gratitude while pray-reading our Bible?
The first thing we want to do is to look for either a promise to believe, or a command to obey in our verse.
Our verse says “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.” In response to that promise, we would thank God for that truth by speaking words back to Him. It is best to do this OUT LOUD so that your own ears can hear the truth as you declare it over yourself. What might that sound like?
“Jesus, thank you for loving me. I thank you that You love me with the same intensity that the Father loves you!”
STEP 2: Ask for REVELATION (R)
The second thing we want to do is ask God to give us greater understanding of this specific truth.
In his letter to the Ephesian church, the Apostle Paul prayed that God would give to them “a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God”. This is exactly what we are doing here — asking the Holy Spirit to open up the eyes of our hearts and fill them with revelation of who He is, what He’s thinking, and how He feels about the verse we are praying.
For example, we might pray something like “Jesus, give me more understanding about how You love me with the same intensity with which the Father love You.”
At this point, the Holy Spirit might start bringing other Scripture verses to mind. If He does, you can incorporate them into your prayer dialogue; beginning once again with a posture of thanksgiving. (I often incorporate Ephesians 1:17 as part of my prayer for greater revelation, saying “Father, thank you that you have given us a spirit of wisdom and revelation, and desire that I would know You better. Show me how you…[insert the specific truth you want greater revelation on here]”)
STEP 3: Commit to OBEY (O)
Sometimes a verse may contain a command God wants us to obey.
Agreeing with God about who He is, and what He thinks, has a powerful effect on our hearts. It is in obeying His commands that we demonstrate our love for Him (John 14:15) and walk in the joy of “happy holiness” (Psalms 45:7). As we set our hearts to agree with the truth of His Word, it fosters intimacy with Him as our love is expressed through a willingness to obey.
In our example verse, we see a command to “…abide in My love.”
The first thing we want to do when we encounter a command is commit ourselves to obeying that command. You might want to say (out loud) something like “Jesus, I commit to abide in and focus on Your love. I set my heart toward growing in this truth and living submitted to it.
STEP 4: A WALK WORTHY OF HIS CALLING (W)
Finally, we want to end by asking God to give us a willing spirit, and the wisdom to walk worthy of His calling (Wow, that’s a lot of W’s!)
Without His power working in us we can do nothing. It is by grace that we are saved and transformed into His likeness. That is why we want to finish our prayer dialogue by asking the Holy Spirit to help us; by giving us the wisdom, love, and power we need to obey His commands and demonstrate through our love based obedience that He is worthy. It is by seeing His worth, and encountering His love for us, that we are empowered to obey. It’s the biggest reason I encourage people to pray John 15:9; because it’s rooted in the revelation that Jesus loves us. What an incredible place to start our journey of growing in prayer!
Staying with our sample verse, I would finish by saying: “Jesus, You are worthy of my obedience! Help me abide in Your love. Give me the grace to walk worthy of this command.”
The FINAL STEP
Congratulations, You’ve taken your first step towards growing in prayer, and you’re ready to embark on a lifelong journey of growing in prayer and greater intimacy with Jesus. However, there is one more step to growing in prayer, and it’s the most crucial one of them all. What is that all too critical final step? It is simply this…
RETURN TO STEP ONE OVER & OVER & OVER AGAIN
Consistently taking the time to pray Scripture will – over weeks, months, and years – transform your mind as you repeatedly set your heart to hear His voice and obey His words. Taking 4 small steps won’t take you very far, but repeat those four steps over and over again, and you’ll find yourself walking (and talking) with God for a long time. Enjoy the journey!
I have been using this prayer model for almost 20 years, and it has proven to be an effective and powerful tool for connecting my heart to Jesus through the Scriptures. I hope you find as much life in this prayer model as I have.
Jon Loeppky
To find more resources on Prayer, Bible Meditation, and Worship; visit our RESOURCE page.