You don\u2019t have to be a Bible scholar to pray God\u2019s Word effectively. In fact, all you need is the simple, childlike faith that God really will speak to you through the Scriptures, as well as a system that gets you in the pages of the Bible on a regular basis. Here are a few suggestions for making reading and praying the Bible a regular part of your life.<\/p>\n
Have a regular time for prayer. If you delay your daily praying until you have time for it, it won\u2019t happen. Prayer needs to be as important in your routine as eating, sleeping, and personal hygiene. Set a time to meet with God\u2013\ufb01ve minutes, ten minutes, \ufb01fteen minutes, whatever\u2013and then be ruthless about protecting it<\/p>\n
Have a regular place for prayer. If possible, have a specific place where you meet with God. It could be at your kitchen table with a hot cup of coffee, in a cozy chair in your living room, or at an office desk. But when it comes to prayer, familiarity breeds intimacy. You don\u2019t want new sights, sounds, and settings distracting you from your conversation with God.<\/p>\n
Have a regular system for prayer. I believe that it\u2019s good to know in advance where you\u2019re going to read in the Bible. The sixty-six books of the Bible offer countless prayers for ourselves and our loved ones.<\/p>\n
If you can, try to have a reading plan that gets you all the way through the Bible in a year. But don\u2019t force it. Be open to the Spirit\u2019s guidance on what to read.<\/p>\n
Praying the Psalms never gets old. My life and the lives of those I love have been greatly impacted because of the powerful pinpoint prayers I\u2019ve been able to pray from the Psalms. When you read the Bible, look for statements of what you want to be true in your life.<\/p>\n
Read with your spiritual eyes open. As you read through the verses of a particular chapter, don\u2019t be in a hurry. The goal is not just to get to the end. You\u2019re looking for treasure. You\u2019re looking for verses that jump off the page. You\u2019re looking for promises that connect with your passions.<\/p>\n
As you read, listen for the gentle nudge of God\u2019s Holy Spirit. Ask him to speak to you through the text. Occasionally you\u2019ll hear him say, \u201cI want to do this in you,\u201d or, \u201cYou need to pray this verse for your life.\u201d So right then, stop and write your initials next to that verse. Then, every time you read that chapter or open your Bible to that page, you\u2019ll be reminded to pray God\u2019s Word back to him.<\/p>\n
My Bible has become more than my prayer guide; it\u2019s my prayer script. I never have to worry about what I\u2019m going to say to God about a certain subject. The answer is always right there in his Word.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
You don\u2019t have to be a Bible scholar to pray God\u2019s Word effectively. In fact, all you need is the simple, childlike faith that God really will speak to you through the Scriptures, as well as a system that gets you in the pages of the Bible on a regular basis. Here are a few […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":148,"featured_media":30810,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[251],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[2512],"class_list":["post-24342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-how-to-pray"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n