Praying Through Scripture

More beauty.  : )

When I have my time with the Lord in the early mornings, I find that reading His Word first before prayer is very helpful to me.  It is in His Word that I'm convicted.  It is in His Word that I find attributes to praise Him for.  It is in His Word that I find prayers spoken through others that gives me the words to pray when I can't seem to find them on my own.  

For a few days now I have been in 1 Chronicles in the Old Testament and have come across passages that, after I'm done reading, I can pray through.  For instance, in 1 Chronicles 14:15, towards the end of the verse it says "God has gone out in front of you......" - I immediately underlined those words because they grabbed my attention.  And after I finished reading, I prayed that the Lord would go out in front of me that day.  Asking for God's protection over me and those I love and care about.

Another example is in 1 Chronicles 16: 7-36 where Kind David prays a prayer of thanksgiving  to the Lord.  I won't write it down because it is lengthy and I hope that today you will look it up for yourselves.  : )  But it's a prayer that the majority of the verses we could pray as well.  We could re-read it during our thanksgiving part of our prayer time to remind us just how much God does for us and how wonderful He really is.

In still another part of 1 Chronicles 17:20 - "There is no one like you, O Lord, and there is no God but you......." can be a part of our praise part of our prayers.

And lastly, for this post, in 1 Chronicles, Chapter 18, there are a couple of verses (6 & 13) where it says "The Lord gave David victory everywhere he went."  And we could pray for that very same thing!  Where would we like to see victory in our lives today?  Victory over drinking?  Victory over watching things that we shouldn't watch?  Victory over anger?  Victory over illness?  Victory over fear? Victory over painful memories?  Victory over strongholds in our life?  We all have challenges that only God can give us victory over.  And through His Word we learn that we can ask Him for it.

So, I would encourage you to read God's Word every morning before you begin your prayers for the day.  I know that not every day will you find something to commit to praying to from your reading (if you do look at 1 Chronicles today, you will notice that the first few chapters are historical records and descendants and clans that are interesting, but I have yet to find a way to incorporate them into a prayer!).  But the Holy Spirit has a way of touching our heart with something that we read in the Bible that is applicable to us as well.

May God bless this day for you.  Put Him first in all you do.  : )  Love to you all.