Praying Through the Bible
When your prayers feel repetitive, add variety by praying through the Bible.
I’m currently reading a short book called, “Praying the Bible” by Donald S. Whitney. The author shares the opinion that we often go through periods of no prayer due to our prayers being repetitive, saying the same old things about the same old things.
Whitney prescribes a method of prayer that creates variety by having us open up God’s Word to pray between verses. He states that he has confidence in the Word and the Spirit of God to believe that if you pray in this way, in the long run your prayers will be far more biblical than if you make up your own prayers.
Here is an example of how one could pray through the beginning of Psalm 23:
The Lord is my shepherd
Pray: Lord, I thank you that you are my shepherd. You’re a good shepherd. You have shepherded me all my life. And great Shepherd, please shepherd my family today: guard them from the ways of the world; guide them into the ways of God. Lead them not into temptation; deliver them from evil. O great Shepherd, I pray for my children; cause them to be your sheep. May they love you as their shepherd, as I do. And, Lord, please shepherd me in the decision that’s before me about my future. Do I make that move, that change, or not? I also pray for our under-shepherds at the church. Please shepherd them as they shepherd us.
I shall not want
Pray: Lord, I thank you that I’ve never really been in want. I haven’t missed too many meals. All that I am and all that I have has come from you. But I know it pleases you that I bring my desires to you, so would you provide the finances that we need for those bills, for school, for that car?
He makes me lie down in green pastures
Pray: Lord, I would be grateful if you would make it possible for me to lie down and take a nap today.
He leads me beside still waters
Pray: Yes, Lord, do lead me in that decision I have to make about my future. I want to do what you want, O Lord, but I don’t know what that is. Please lead me into your will in this matter. And lead me beside still waters in this. Please quiet the anxious waters in my soul about this situation. Let me experience your peace. May the turbulence in my heart be stilled by trust in you and your sovereignty over all things and over all people.
He restores my soul
Pray: My Shepherd, I come to you so spiritually dry today. Please restore my soul; restore to me the joy of your salvation. And I pray you will restore the soul of that person from work/school/down the street with whom I’m hoping to share the gospel. Please restore his soul from darkness to light, from death to life.
That’s it. If you are praying through a psalm, you simply read the psalm line by line, talking to God about whatever thoughts are prompted by the inspired words you read.
A nineteenth-century Scottish pastor once said: “Turn the Bible into prayer…This is the best way of knowing the meaning of the Bible, and of learning to pray.”