Praying Scripture

For the past 6 years our church has done 21 days of prayer and fasting twice a year. Transparently, each time I get a few days in and think to myself:

“What am I doing?”

“What is prayer?”

“What is the purpose of prayer?”

I almost find myself in an existential crisis of prayer. Then, I continue down my list of requests for God and wonder why I need to ask Him every day to do the same list of things I’d asked him to do the day before. Although I sit there and obediently pray, I still can’t shake the confusion that I feel.

Today, on day 2 of 21 days, I had a lightbulb moment, and I realized that I’d been missing something.

The purpose of prayer is to align our hearts with God, right? We are supposed to pray for His will to be done. But when I am only bringing my list of needs and requests to Him, I’m missing the purpose of why I’m asking Him for these things in the first place.

I’m no stranger to knowing about praying Scripture. But I have not been actively praying Scripture in conversation with the Lord. And THAT I believe is where the Lord is going to align my heart with Him. When I’m praying His perfect words of Scripture over my life, He is actively molding me to be more like Him. And then, through His divine sovereignty, my prayer requests will serve to change my heart, not just my circumstances.

A beautiful example of this would be Psalm 23. Let me show you what I mean.

“Lord, You are my Shepherd. I need nothing more than You. Thank You for slowing me down and giving me rest. You restore me, and You lead me. Help me to always follow You. I know that You are always with me, even when my soul is in a dark and scary place. Because I belong to You, I never have to be afraid. I can have comfort knowing that Your rod and staff are guiding and protecting me. Even my enemies can see that You are providing for me. I can live with confidence knowing that Your goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. Thank You for letting me dwell with You forever!”

This is also why Scripture memorization is so important! When His words are engrained in our hearts and minds, they can flow through our prayers.

Dear Heavenly Father,

I want to know You more so I can love You more. Even when I don’t fully understand prayer, I know that the Spirit himself intercedes for me with moaning too deep for words. Scripture says that when we ask for wisdom it is freely given, so Lord I ask that You would give me wisdom and understanding of You and your Word. Align me with Your Holy Spirit. Change my heart to be more like You.

Amen