Praying Scripture Resources
Websites:
How to Pray Using Scripture - NIV
This blog gives several suggestions for praying Scripture and specifically addresses Psalms as a prayer book.
How Do I Pray the Bible? – Ask John Piper
In this podcast, John Piper teaches about using the Bible to pray. He begins with sharing evidence from the early church in Acts. He points out the necessity of reading the Bible text for understanding the meaning to guide our prayers. He ends by praying through a portion of Colossians as an example.
Praying Scripture – Stonecroft Ministries
This paper, produced by Stonecroft Ministries, teaches how and why to pray using Scripture. Examples of how to pray Scripture using the ACTS Prayer Format are provided.
Praying the Bible with Donald Whitney
This five-minute YouTube teaching video by Donald Whitney is a demonstration of how to pray through Psalm 23.
Praying Scripture Back to God – Wycliffe
This site has some basic ideas for using Scripture to pray for people around the globe.
Prayer Bible Verses –Bible Study Tools
This site is a compilation of Scripture verses on the topic of prayer.
Books:
Praying the Scriptures: A Field Guide for Your Spiritual Journey
Evan Howard
Howard’s book is the story of how he personally sought to know God more intimately through the Scriptures. He shares that “praying the Scriptures strengthened my confidence in prayer as I spoke to the Lord with words and attitudes reflected in his own Word. It brought power to my prayers as I identified with the intense emotions and the profound vision of God expressed by the writers of the Bible” (10). It includes different methods of praying the Scriptures as well as an examination of different prayers in the Bible, including the Lord’s Prayer, the psalms, praise and thanksgiving, meditation, petition and intercession, and prayers of deliverance. Howard also addresses unanswered prayers. His book concludes with an easy-to-access list of Scriptures that undergird each chapter.
Praying the Bible
Donald Whitney
When you find yourself “praying the same old, same old” and sense your prayer life is in a rut, this would be a good book for practical advice to learn how and why to pray the Bible. Whitney helps the reader discover that it is not the person praying who is the problem but more than likely the method of prayer that the person is using. Whitney gives biblical and church history to encourage the reader to pray the Bible. Even in the midst of the book, he challenges the reader to select a psalm to pray, guiding along the way with his gift of teaching.
Handbook to Prayer: Integrating the Bible into Everyday Life
Kenneth Boa
The heart of the book is a “Daily Prayer Guide” containing three months of daily prayers adapted from Bible passages. Each is modeled after the Lord’s Prayer and includes eight sections: Adoration, Confession, Renewal, Petition, Intercession, Affirmation, Thanksgiving, and Closing Prayer. Short questions are woven among the different verses to help the reader focus during his or her communication with God. The book also includes Morning Affirmations (short ideas to renew your mind each day), an in-depth week-long prayer guide, and personal prayer pages.
Face to Face, Volume 1: Praying the Scriptures for Worship
Kenneth Boa
This adaptation of the Handbook to Prayer (above) is structured in the same way. Boa encourages readers to think of the book as “a tool that combines the Word of the Lord with prayer and guides you through the process of praying Scripture back to God.”
Seeking God’s Face: Praying with the Bible Through the Year
Philip Reinders
This book is designed to guide the reader through the process of praying the Bible in a year. Each day is composed of an Invitation, Bible Song, Bible Reading, Dwelling, Free Prayer, Prayer, and Blessing. This book is an excellent guide for someone who is interested in praying Scripture as a regular discipline. It is a good resource because it works through the entire Bible in a prayerful way. The structure is designed to walk the believer through the discipline without eliminating freedom from the process. The goal is for the reader to engage with the words of God as he or she worships through prayer. The book is structured around the Church calendar, which allows the believer to be mindful of and engage in the rhythm of the year that is established through the different periods on the calendar. Each new period is introduced and described, and the daily selections are arranged accordingly.
Learning to Pray Through the Psalms
James W. Sire
Sire’s goal for this book is that we “might more profoundly employ these psalms as our own speech—speech that reflects not just a generic reaction but our own utterly intimate response” (12). He does this through teaching the reader to slowly read the psalm three times, reflecting on the meaning of the words, the rational structure of the psalm, and then the emotional structure of the psalm. He gives a process for doing this for ten psalms and also includes a leader’s guide for studying each psalm as a small group and for directed prayer.
Praying the Scriptures for Your Children
Jodie Berndt
Berndt uses what she has learned through experience of raising five children and seeking to learn how to more effectively pray the Scriptures with others. The book is divided into five sections that cover praying for your child’s faith, character, safety, relationships, and future. Within each section, four or more attributes are developed—such as praying for your child’s salvation, a servant’s heart, emotional well-being, relationships with siblings, and your child’s purpose in life. Each chapter includes real-life stories, principles of prayer, and applicable Scriptures to pray. Other books Berndt has written include praying the Scriptures for your teens and adult children.
Praying God’s Word: Breaking Free from Spiritual Strongholds
Beth Moore
Moore’s book addresses the topic of spiritual strongholds and the biblical mandate to fight these battles with the Word of God through prayer. She tackles the topics of idolatry, unbelief, and pride and then goes on to other common strongholds that affect the believer and unbeliever. Each chapter gives teaching, scriptural prayers, and nuggets of encouragement from other Christians. The last chapter challenges the reader to write his or her own deliverance prayers from Scripture for the strongholds of fear and anger.
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© Phil Collins, Ph.D., 2014. This material was created in partnership with the Taylor University Center for Scripture Engagement.
