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Lord, I want good health, an expensive car, a new book, money in the bank, and…
Many of us unknowingly fall into this trap of long lists in our prayers. We allow petition and intercession to dominate our prayer. Even though we ought to present our petitions and intercessions to God, we rarely take time for confession, thanksgiving, or adoration. But these long lists of petitions often assume that God does not know what is best for us.
Scripture shows us a different way of praying, often beginning with adoration and thanksgiving. When we begin our prayers by praising God, we see that everything is about Him, not about us.
One method of reorienting our hearts so that we avoid laundry-list prayers is praying through Scripture. This method involves reading and reflecting on a small passage of Scripture, allowing its truths to sink into our hearts. Resting with and reflecting on a passage help us surrender to God and entrust our lives to Him. In His sovereignty and love, He will do what is best for us.
Let’s practice this through Jude 24: “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy.”
Looking at this text, we see that we are no longer bounded by the pain of our bounded past but by the joy of our unbounded future. We will be with His eternal presence one day, and we can begin worshiping Him now. Prayerfully meditating on this verse directs our hearts to this God, leading us into adoration for who He is and thanksgiving for what He has done for us.
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Check out Ken’s Handbook to Prayer for a good resource on praying Scripture back to God.
Interested in learning about Ken’s Friday Morning Men’s Study? Click here for more information.
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In the article below, Dr. Boa synthesizes material from several teaching sessions from his series Biblical Principles for Marriage and from portions of his spiritual formation text Conformed to His Image (primarily from chapter 18, “Holistic Spirituality”). Dr. Boa focuses on agape love as one of the five forms of loves (based on the different Greek words). After reviewing all forms, he gives reasons for why agape is the greatest.
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