Friends, I could not be more excited to tell you all about what is next for us on the blog in our #neuethingchallenge2019. We just spent the last three months engaging in some in-depth Bible study through three small books of the Bible. When you spend that kind of intentional time in the Word of God, it gets in your bones! This is why I love Bible study so much. Well, hang onto your seat, because we have quite the ride ahead of us for these next three months:
Praying God’s Word
Overcoming Strongholds
This is what lies ahead of us, and this journey of learning how to pray Scripture has marked the past decade of my life. It has truly changed my life. Over a decade ago, I came across a book called “Praying God’s Word” by Beth Moore, and I have never been the same since. I had zero idea what I was getting myself into when I decided to learn how to use the Sword of the Spirit (which Ephesians 6:17 tells us is the Word of God), but let me tell you this:
When we infuse Scripture into our prayers, it’s like throwing a stick of dynamite at the enemy.
When we pray God’s Word back to Him, we are breathing faith over our circumstances.
For the next three months, I want us to learn how to flex this spiritual muscle of prayer. I want us to experience breakthrough and freedom from strongholds. Will you join me?
I’m going to talk a lot more about the “How To” in each week’s recap on Facebook live, but for now, I’ve shared one of my own prayers with you below that I wrote years ago as I was first learning how to pray God’s Word, just to give you a framework and an idea of what this looks like. I’m so excited to Pray God’s Word with you!
Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love. According to your great compassion, cleanse me from all my sin. (Psalm 51:1-2) When all that is within me feels parched and broken, frail and weak, remind me of your unfailing love and your covenant of peace that you promise to not remove from my life. (Isaiah 54:10) When I am confused and afraid, teach me to lean into you, to depend solely upon you, and to trust completely in you Lord with all of my heart and to resist the temptation to rely upon my own understanding of the situation. (Proverbs 3:5) When my hurt overwhelms me and my sorrow aches within me, gently remind me that your healing work within me is most effective when I’m choosing to trust you. When I’m bound by discouragement and the pieces of my broken heart surrounding me are all that I can see, might I call to mind your faithfulness that you were sent to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty for the captives, and to open the prison doors to those who are bound! (Isaiah 61:1) Though the weight of my disappointment is real and my pain is near tangible, your presence is more real, and upon you I draw my strength. Because your mercies toward me are new each and every morning, I am not consumed. (Lamentations 3:22-23) Because your love is better than life, my lips will praise you. (Psalm 63:3) Because you, O Lord, are my rock and my fortress, I will wait upon you, and I will not be shaken. (Psalm 62:1-2) Because you have promised to complete the good work you have started in me (Philippians 1:6), I will trust you in my brokenness that you will use even this for my good and that you will glorify yourself through my life. (Romans 8:28) Help me to believe that not one ounce of pain, not one hour of brokenness, not one season of discouragement is wasted when I choose to unite myself with you and your purposes. You alone are able to create wholeness out of my brokenness, to make beauty from my ashes. May I not withhold a single fiber of my being from your healing embrace. Although it is impossible for me to piece back together what has been shattered and torn, there is not one thing that is impossible for you. (Matthew 19:26) So as I continue in this brokenness for however long you see fit, meet me with your spoken Word, and sing over me, “My grace is sufficient for you.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)
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