Learning to "Pray The Scriptures"

Have you ever heard someone use the expression "praying the Scriptures?"  It's easy to wonder just what they are referring to.  Is it using a Bible text as a special chant?  Is it reading the Bible and calling it prayer?

People at Christ Covenant have heard me mention how my own prayer life has been revitalized and deepened by using Scotty Smith's Heavenward website as part of my regular devotional time.  His April 17th prayer - A Prayer for Measuring the Measureless Riches of Grace - is a great example of "praying the Scripture," in this case Psalm103.  I include the entire post below:

 

Praise the LORD, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
Praise the LORD, my soul, and forget not all his benefits:

--who forgives all your sins
--and heals all your diseases,
--who redeems your life from the pit and
--crowns you with love and compassion,
--who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. 

Ps. 103:1-5 

Dear Lord Jesus, as this day begins, I want to “blast” my heart with the gospel. I want to expose my soul to a good measure of the measureless riches of your grace for us in Jesus. For nothing is as powerful as the gospel—nothing is peace-giving, heart-liberating and life-transforming. I really don’t need any of hard circumstances or difficult people to change in order for me to walk in joyful praise and obedience today. I just need the gospel. So these things I remember and rehearse to your glory…

     I praise you for forgiving all my sins—past, present, and future, sins of thought, word, and deed. How staggering a thought. I used to think you forgive only confessed sins, but now I realize I’m probably aware of only 4 percent of my sins. But your blood covers the other 96 percent as well. Praise the Lord, O my soul, for an all-inclusive, contra-conditional, never-ending forgiveness!

     I praise you for healing all my diseases—diseases in my body, heart, and mind. Though I wish you would completely heal me before you return, nonetheless, I have this sure hope: the healing I’m already receiving in the gospel will be brought to completion. Praise the Lord, O my soul, for present, ongoing, and a secured complete healing!

     I praise you for redeeming my life from all pits—the pit of eternal separation from God, the pits others throw me into, the pits I naively fall into, and the pits I foolishly dig for myself. Praise the Lord, O my soul, for an all-pit redemption!

     I praise you for crowning me with your love and compassion. You have taken away all my guilt and you’ve borne my shame. My conscience is no longer under the law and condemnation but under the gospel and freedom. Praise the Lord, O my soul, for a coronation of mercy and grace!

     I praise you for satisfying my desires with good things. Lord, I praise you for the smile of my grandson, the kiss of my wife, the taste of dark chocolate, the rainbow you painted on the side of a trout, the encouragement from a friend, and the sounds of great music, to name a few. Praise the Lord, O my soul, for a God who takes my desires seriously and satisfies them in countless ways!

 

That's how I "pray the Scriptures."  I take a passage and then go point by point through it, taking each statement and then extending it with my own words, needs and life.