“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” Galatians 5:1
One of my driving passions for starting Neue Thing was to equip women to know and love God’s Word so that they might walk in the freedom that Christ died to give. Did you catch that? Freedom is meant to be our present reality in Christ, dead to sin and now alive in Him. So why is that more and more it appears that Christians are living in just as much defeat as those who would not claim the name of Christ? Rather than living lives set free and walking in freedom, we fade in with the statistics of the world, finding ourselves more characterized by the bondage of sin and spiritual strongholds than freedom in Christ. Sisters, this should not be. We have complete access to freedom through God’s Word. We must begin to stand firm upon it and refuse to return to the slavery of sin.
As I’ve shared with you before, I love to read. It is not uncommon for me to be in the middle of several books at a time. You’ll also come to know (if you haven’t already) that I love to recommend the good books that I’ve read. I suppose I project my love of reading onto others, assuming they will be just as enthralled with a certain book as I was. Although, this is not a bad practice, something recently occurred to me in regards to this. It is far too often that I find myself failing to prioritize the reading of God’s Word, and just as often do I hear others say the same. Yet, I am somehow finding all this time to be reading several books at once? Regardless of the fact that a book might be incredibly uplifting and spiritually edifying, it should never replace being fed by God’s Word. Never. And it is upon that point that I’d like to introduce you to Praying God’s Word by Beth Moore.
Over the past five years, I have read and reread this book. I have led Bible studies through this book. The copy I have is now tattered and worn. The reason I would so highly recommend this book to you is that 85% of its pages are Scripture. The premise of the book is to learn how to infuse God’s Word into your prayers (praying God’s Word) in order to break free from spiritual strongholds. Defined within the book, a stronghold is “anything that exalts itself in our minds, ‘pretending’ to be bigger or more powerful than our God. It steals much of our focus and causes us to feel overpowered. Controlled. Mastered.” That is a stronghold. Does it in any way sound familiar? When I first picked up this book and saw the word “strongholds” on the cover, I immediately thought, “What strongholds do I have?” Not that I was seeking to be pious or religiously prideful, but I just assumed that since I was a confessing Christian, I didn’t have spiritual strongholds. I couldn’t have been more wrong. This book highlights fourteen common strongholds that we face, and it offers the powerful punch of God’s Word to ignite your prayer life as you seek to overcome them and walk in freedom. The strongholds range from unbelief to addiction, depression to unforgiveness, rejection to sexual strongholds, and more. Each chapter begins with a brief commentary on the specific stronghold from Beth, and the remaining majority of the chapter is scripture prayers. You are literally reading verses from God’s Word and praying through them. At the end of each chapter, you’re given space to journal out your own personalized prayer to the Lord. All I can say is that it’s powerful!
Prior to reading this book, the concept of praying God’s Word was somewhat foreign to me. When I began to practice the discipline of praying Scripture though, the spark that was once my prayer life burst into a roaring flame. There is such power in God’s Word. Ephesians 6 tells us that it is our sword, a weapon to be used in the spiritual battle that we are engaged in. When we speak God’s Word over our situations in our prayers, we are literally breathing faith. Not only was my prayer life strengthened, but my knowledge of Scripture grew as well. I became much more familiar with certain passages and began committing them to memory as I prayed through them over and over again.
Consider this my strong invitation to you to read through Praying God’s Word! It will be a remarkable investment in your prayer life as well as your study of God’s Word. If we are continuing on this journey, seeking to become women who are found on our knees at the feet of Jesus in passionate pursuit of Him, we must learn to understand the importance of embracing this discipline.
1. In light of the above definition of a stronghold, is God revealing to you anything in your life that might fit this description? What might your stronghold be?
2. Using Galatians 5:1, journal a scripture prayer to the Lord, claiming the freedom that He’s given you, committing to stand firm upon His truth, and by His grace refusing to return to the bondage of any sin area in your life.
This is so great cher. I’ve never read anything by Beth Moore but I read this and bought the book. I’m so excited! I’ll tell you how much I love it when I read it! And thank you for all your blog posts. They really are a blessing to read and think about.
Kahle, you are going to be thrilled by this book! I’m so excited that you got it. Miss you friend!
Cherie,
This book came to my attention last fall when I started Beth Moore’s “Breaking Free” study. I checked out the book from the library and instantly knew I had to buy this book and have it available at all times. So I did just that. It’s so powerful the way she worded the prayers so they allow you to pray directly from verses in the bible that have to do with a particular stronghold you may have! Very, very powerful!
Debbie,
That’s so funny because that is exactly how I came across this book too. Breaking Free was such a pivotal study in my walk with the Lord! I hope you are doing well!
Cherie, I struggle with prayer so much..after reading this blog (Thank you a million times over) I bought the book. I am excited and can not wait to see what God is going to do with me. Thank you for your writings, they fill me up and I can relate to so many of them.
I know you will love it, Lisa! The best thing about this book is that it’s a “re-read”. I’ve gotten tons of use out of my copy. God’s Word is powerful! Hope you’re doing well. How’s your Bible study going?
Cherie, I was just thinking the other day after reading something you wrote that it is obvious that you are in God’s Word because I recognize so many scripture verses that you personalize into what you are writing. I was blessed to have been under your teaching with “Praying Gods Word.” I’m excited to see the other women’s comments and that they too have picked up the book. Blessings on you!
Denise,
That Praying God’s Word class is so dear to my heart, as it was the 1st time I ever “taught” a Bible study. I’ll never forget that treasured experience and the faces of the women in that class. So grateful for you, Denise and that the Lord has sustained our friendship since then!
Hey Cherie –
I have been going through some valleys lately, places I have never been to before or have not struggled through in a long time. Last Friday (Jan 20th) I got myself ready and headed out to the gym. After my yoga class I got on the treadmill and instead of putting on the sermon I intended to listen to, I responded to a gentle prodding and dialed up a book that I downloaded in November that I hadn’t yet listened to – Praying God’s Word by Beth Moore. I was 8 minutes into the book and for the life of me I could not pay attention. I was distracted by the TV’s, the people, the fact that the audio book was recorded by someone other than Beth Moore…I could go on and on. Unfortunately, I switched to music, finished my workout, and struggled through another stressful weekend. This morning when I logged on to your blog, I read Friday morning’s entry. The happy coincidence that the very book you were blogging about would be the very book I suddenly decided to give a chance is a testament to the power of prayer. I know that you pray over every blog entry and for all your readers. The fact that I gave in to distractions is a testament to the reality of spiritual warfare and the importance of perseverance. Needless to say, I will be carving out time today to put in my earbuds and turn up the volume on Praying God’s Word. Thank you for your prayers and sincerity.
Wow, that just gave me chills, Heidi! I love how God works! You will not be disappointed in this book, it’s incredible. You may even want to get a hard copy of it, although that just might be the “old-school” talking in me 🙂