HOW TO PRAY, USING THE
SCRIPTURES
Step 1: Find the scripture
that speaks to your heart regarding the issue you’re praying for. Sometimes that’s
not as easy as it sounds. A lot of the names we use today for sicknesses and
diseases aren’t written in the older Bible versions. Sometimes we need to look
up something in more general terms. Where do we look them up?
There are two online
sources that I use a lot: Bible Gateway is the first. It’s easy to use. I just type
the word I want into the search box. Then I have the option of finding it in
several different Bible versions. Often when I scroll down to see all the
verses where the word is used, one or two will pop out to me and then I go to
read the context and get more out of it.
The second resource I use
is Blue Letter Bible online. On this site, I have the option of looking at the
Strong’s Concordance definitions for the word I’m seeking. This is really
helpful. (I’ve included the links to both these sources at the end of this
article.) There are other great topical books, both online and hard copy for
finding scriptures on various subjects, including health issues and so many
other things.
We have all prayed for
some sickness or ailment to go away, but if we don’t have a solid scriptural
backup in mind, we can get distracted or lose our healing because our minds
have nothing solid to latch on to.
Even though it takes more
effort to actually find a scripture or two, it’s totally worth it. God speaks
through revelation when we go to read His written words.
Once we find a scripture
that we like, we read it and thank God for helping us to receive what it says.
Even if we start off pleading with God or the Lord Jesus Christ to please help
us get well, that’s perfectly okay. In Isaiah 43:26 God tells His people, “Put me in remembrance: let us plead together: declare thou, that thou mayest be
justified.”
But at some point we need
to get to the place of not just asking and begging and pleading, but of
believing and thanking Him because we know He has heard our prayer and He loves
us enough to answer it.
Step 2: Once we have said
our scripture back to God, to remind Him and us of what He has said and what he
has promised, we need to use the scripture as a sword to slice the devil, prefacing
it with, “It is written!” Satan is the one who stands in the way of our
healing, and it is those true words of God that will make him back off. Proof
of that is found in the New Testament.
This is what our Lord Jesus
used as His weapon against Satan in the wilderness, and the devil had to back
off. This is a way to aggressively move forward with prayer.
“Then saith Jesus unto him, ‘Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him
only shalt thou serve’” (Matt. 4:10). And in Matthew 4:6 “[Jesus] answered and said, ‘It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that
proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”
God stands behind His Word.
The Almighty God calls it a sword and buckler (Eph. 6:17 and Ps. 91:4). A sword
is an assertive hostile weapon. Generally we think of a buckler as an implement
that will shield us. That’s true, but it also has projections on the front to
pierce and injure any enemy. We push Satan back with the sword and buckler. Jesus
said, “It is written” to directly confront the devil and we can too. The
written Word of God is a signed contract telling us what is ours and what is
true. We need to remind the devil that what God has written, is true, and when
we believe it, the devil has no power to stop it. And that’s brings us to step
3.
Praying this way makes it
real. Yes, it’s a bit of an effort, but it will strengthen our prayer life and bring
the results we seek.
Love, Carolyn
These are the links to the
resources I mentioned above:
HAPPY
MOTHERS DAY!!
No comments:
Post a Comment