Praying and reading the Bible are two of the best ways to grow your relationship with God. Doing them will help you to live the good life. And using the Bible when you pray—doing both at the same time—can take it to another level.
The Good Life and Using the Bible When We Pray
Integrating what the Bible says with our prayers can be an amazing experience. Here are some ways to do this:
- Reading parts of the Bible while praying.
- Claiming the promises that are written in the Bible.
- Quoting Bible verses.
- Personalizing what is said so that it applies to our specific situation and circumstances.
The Good Life and Praying the Prayers of the Bible
Praying the prayers of other people recorded in the Bible can give us a super packed spiritual power punch. David, when he was the king of Israel, prayed a prayer like this:
“Create in me a clean heart, God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from Your presence,
And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of Your salvation,
And sustain me with a willing spirit
Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
so that sinners will turn back to you.” — Psalm 51:10-13
Putting This Into Practice
As an example, I’m going to incorporate this prayer with one of my own, and bring in a New Testament passage along with it. It is important to note in this example, that those of us who believe in Jesus will not have the Holy Spirit taken away from us—that’s a promise we can claim:
“Create a clean heart in me O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, please keep me close, wrap Your arms around me God. Strengthen me and uplift me as I seek to continually commit myself to You and Your ways. Please fill me with Your Holy Spirit. Control me, and give me wisdom and understanding. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation. Please give me Your peace that surpasses all comprehension guarding my heart and my mind in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:6-7), and sustain me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach other people Your ways, so they will turn to You.”
The end part of this prayer is especially meaningful to me, specifically because it relates to the mission of encouraging people to embrace God’s love toward us. God has shown His love for us by sending His Son Jesus Christ to die on a cross to pay the price for our sins—so we could be saved. I talk more about this here.
A Final Thought
Praying and reading the Bible are two things, when done together, go hand in hand with living the good life. With that in mind, I want to leave you with a simple challenge that will help to build your closeness with God: make it a priority in your life to make relationship with God a priority—and pray, read the Bible, and even pray the Bible.
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