No matter how long we have walked with Christ, prayer is one thing that will continue to be a necessary part of our walk. However, prayer does not need to be a dread as though it is just a task to check off the list. In fact, with time & practice, prayer can become second nature to breathing.

I believe with all my heart that every situation in our life that does not reflect God’s love & truth is tied to a sinful stronghold. Whether it is mental, physical or emotional, a worldly stronghold is anything “that sets itself up against the knowledge of God”. {2 Corinthians 10:3-6} According to the dictionary definition, a stronghold is a “well fortified place”. This sounds much like the things in the world that keep us in bondage & keep us from living an abundant life.

Over 15 years ago, I came to a serious realization that my marriage was in the bottom of a dark pit. I remember clearly the day I cried out to God & told Him if He didn't do something, it would all be over. I tell you in all seriousness, that without praying scripture over my situation I don’t know how things would’ve turned out.

What God did was change my perspective.

Unfortunately, in the beginning, my prayers were somewhat wasted with my own agenda & desires for what I wanted for my marriage & what I wanted my husband to be.

After realizing this method was wearing me out & allowing my circumstances to get the best of me, I knew I needed a different battle plan.

I began praying scripture over the circumstances that had brought my marriage down. The shift in my mindset was nothing short of miraculous. I began to realize through praying God’s word over my husband, my thoughts about my marriage & my spouse aligned with what God wanted, instead of my flawed human desires. Over time, God’s desires for my marriage became my full focus. It was an amazing turnaround that used the power of God’s Word to rescue my marriage & restore us to a place of living in love & grace daily.

I have found a passion for praying scripture over every relationship & area of my life because it pulls me out of my own tunnel vision & takes me to the One Who’s ways are higher than mine. {Isaiah 55:8-9} I have also come to realize, in opposite contradiction to the spiritual warfare of strongholds, that according to Psalm 18:2, God can be a stronghold as well. This means that I am not bound to my own failures or this fallen world but I am bound to the stronghold of God Almighty & He is my “well fortified place”.

Too often, we pray with our own agenda...

...we don’t see changes in life or relationships that we want, so we just give up. We stop praying because our natural eyes don’t see God at work, but when we pray His scripture, our spiritual eyes are opened & we begin to realize that God is not slack concerning His promises. {2 Peter 3:9}

Praying scripture is simply taking the words of a verse or a passage & applying them to whatever situation you are facing. Here are some examples:

If I need to make a decision, I might take Isaiah 30:21 to the Lord. “Whether you turn to the right or left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it’. I would quote that verse to the Lord & ask Him to help me to hear His voice specifically guiding me in the way He wants me to go.

If I have a relational conflict that needs divine guidance, I might pray Ephesians 4:29-32. I would say, ‘Father keep me from unwholesome talk & let my words be life giving. Cleanse my heart of any bitterness & anger & let kindness & compassion fill its place.’

If I am in a situation where my mind {or someone else’s mind} needs to change, I would ask God to help me set my mind on things above & remove my thoughts from earthly things. I would also ask Him to transform my mind & renew my thoughts. {Romans 12:2, Colossians 3:2-3}

Of course these are only a few examples {I have made a list for you of a few other scriptures & topics below}, but you can see how our own pre-conceived thoughts or emotion about a situation can change to line up with what our Father wants for our lives.

Here are some ideas about how to begin to pray scripture in your own life:

Ask Your Father For Help ~ The only way praying scripture works is if we enter in to it with a heart that is willing to hear from God & receive what He wants for our lives. He has greater plans for us than we could ever dream up, but a hardened, selfish heart isn’t open to what He wants. We must set aside our own thoughts & intentions for situations & be willing to look at them through the Father’s great plan. {Ephesians 3:20, Ezekiel 36:26}

Write It Down ~ I keep a stack of Bible verses that move my heart when I read them. This can be a good place to start when we need to find a scripture to pray. We are in a battle against an enemy that wants to destroy every part of us including our relationships, identity, faith & our heart. Having a stack of scripture cards is like keeping the ‘shield of faith’ readily at our side to extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one. {Ephesians 6:10-18}

Don’t Stop Short ~ It is so easy to have good intentions about prayer without full follow through. Because there is a holy mystery about exactly how God uses this specific channel of communication with His children to bring Heaven to earth, we too often stop short of giving our full passion to prayer. The fact that God ordained this way of inviting His holy power into our circumstances should be enough for us to keep at it, but too often we stop just short of His breakthrough. Praying scripture truly helps keep us engaged by focusing on God’s will over our own desires, because it will bring a movement of God that we might otherwise miss. {Matthew 6:5-13}

What area do you need to apply scripture to in order to shift your perspective from earthly to heavenly? Where is your Father calling you to give up earthly strongholds & let Him be the stronghold of your life?

Here are a few more topical scriptures you might want to consider:

PATIENCE ~ JAMES 1:19-20
FREEDOM FROM ANXIETY ~ JOHN 16:33
COURAGE ~ PSALM 27:14
FORGIVENESS ~ COLOSSIANS 3:12-13
FREEDOM FROM FEAR ~ 1 JOHN 4:18
GENEROSITY ~ ACTS 20:35
GOD'S POWER/LOVE ~ EPHESIANS 3:14-19
LIFE PURPOSE ~ JOHN 10:9-10

Love, Cara

Prayer is something I love but this wasn't always the case. I used to be extremely intimidated by prayer. When I was a little girl, I thought prayers had to be long & very formal with big words that needed Webster to define them. I believed that somehow when I was grown my prayers would naturally morph into a liturgical ballad. As I got older, my angst for praying grew as I felt like everyone around me could pray amazing prayers, hear clearly from the Lord & speak words that made angels stop in amazement.

My desire to have a good line of communication with God, however, spurred me on to keep at it. After reading countless books on prayer, I began to gain understanding that prayer is an intimate & crucial part of our relationship with our Father who loves us. Practically, I forced myself to pray in group settings, to spend time praying daily & keep a prayer journal. I also learned to love praying scripture, which has been the key for me to unlock consistent & perpetual prayer with God.

I have 2 kids & I love it when they talk to me. They have completely different styles of communication. One is bold & says everything that comes to mind, the other is more analytical about words & gives me pieces of thoughts over time.

Either way, I don’t care. If my kids want to talk to me, I am willing to listen. I don’t care if it’s about deep details of their day or silly antics of time spent with friends. I just want them to tell me about it.

God is the same way. He understands we all have different ways of communicating with Him because He created us all differently. He doesn’t care how you communicate; He just desires that you do it regularly.

We need a prayer life that is persistent enough to keep discouragement from derailing us

He wants us to keep praying, keep talking, and keep communicating. His desire is for us to tell Him the good, the bad & the ugly. We need the kind of prayer life that believes that God wants more for us than we could ever imagine. {Ephesians 3:20-21}

We must stop over-spiritualizing prayer by making it all about religion & begin to measure ourselves through the eyes of God to make it all about relationship. He sees us as His righteous child. He wants to hear from us & He doesn’t compare us, or our prayers, to anyone else.

Here are some things I’ve learned about communication with the Father:

A willing heart is all it takes ~ Take a tip from Nike & Just Do It! Start with a few words, start with the Lord’s Prayer, start by writing out things you can thank God for, but just start. You would never dream of having any relationship with a human being that you didn’t talk to. God is your Father & your Friend & if you do not talk to Him, your relationship can’t grow. Ask Him to show you how to make prayer a more comfortable action in your life. {2 Corinthians 8:10-12, Colossians 4:2}

Let God’s words be your words ~ Jesus Himself gave His disciples words to pray. If Jesus pointed people to pray scripture, we need to take special heed to how important God’s own words are to Him. It’s not because God is boastful & thinks His words are the only words, but it’s because He wants to know you value His principles & hide them in your heart. Praying Psalms is also another great place to start because they are so real. There is so much praise & so much real life wrapped up in the book of Psalms. {Luke 11:1-4, Psalm 119:105}

Be relentless in your prayers ~ Your enemy is scheming constantly to do harm to you. If you stop praying you will essentially be giving your victory over to the devil. In Ephesians, not only does Paul tell us to put on the Armor of God to stand firm in our faith but he tells us that we need to pray persistently at all times. Being a person of prayer lays claim to the victory God wants for you. {Luke 11:9-10, Ephesians 6:18}

What is your next step in prayer? Do you need to make it a daily habit, pray out loud in groups or be bold enough to pray for a neighbor or co-worker? Ask the Lord to help you to deepen your communication with Him.

Love, Cara