WOW! When I posted my Power of a Praying Friend blog in the wee hours of Friday morning, I had no idea that so many of you would join me. I hoped that 25-50 would commit to pray, but boy did God have bigger plans. As I write this post, there have been 335 comments with prayer requests and prayers for each other.
I LOVE praying for you and reading how you are praying for each other. It’s a beautiful thing to see women from all around the world gather in Jesus’ Name to encourage, support and carry each others’ burdens. My prayer is that your courageous renderings of your heart desires and personal needs will forge friendships despite miles that separate us because of God’s Spirit that connects us!
Today I wanted to share about the power of praying God’s Word. My prayers used to feel kind of flat. I didn’t really know what to say and I stumbled over my words a lot. I especially didn’t know what to pray when I was struggling or when friends were going through really hard times. I wanted my prayers to be filled with power, hope and faith to believe that the God I was talking to was big enough to accomplish the things I was asking for.
Soon after I became a Christian, a friend who was mentoring me taught me the power of praying God’s Word. She shared that when we pray God’s Word, we pray God’s will. I really liked that idea. It gave me a sense of confidence and God’s direction.
The Bible tells us that God’s Word is alive and active. When we pray in agreement with His Word, we pray in agreement with God’s will, expecting it to come alive in a specific situation and active in the person’s life that we’re praying for. Here are some verses that I like to pray for myself or for a friend:
May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, give ___________the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that ____________may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of _____________’s heart may be enlightened in order that ____________may know the hope to which he has called her, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, Ephesians 1:17-20
May the God of hope fill __________ with all joy and peace as ___________trusts in him, so that _______________may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13
So, what is a verse you could pray for your prayer partner? If you want to find a verse on a specific topic, go to this page on BibleGateway and click on Keyword in the left margin, then type in a keyword you want to search on. (For instance, if I had typed in hope, the two verses listed above would have come up.) When you type in your keyword and hit enter, several verses will come up and you can choose the one that best fits. Then come back and post the verse and/or a prayer with that verse in the comments area below for your prayer partner.
Remember, there is no certain way to do it. What we want to do is get into the Word, and get the Word into us, and into our prayers so we can experience the power of Praying God’s Word together.
According to Random Integer Generator (Timestamp: 2008-07-23 00:43:32), the winner of the bookDear Jesus is #231 comment(C-Mom)
c-mom said…- Please pray that my husband will find God-centered, gainful employment soon. He has been out of work since November and he is feeling quite defeated at this time.
Pray that our family’s faith will remain strong and that we continue to trust in Him each day to deliver us through this situation. We pray that my husband will find a job that he will glorify Him through.
C-mom, I don’t have your email. So I hope you find this. If not, I’ll have RIG choose another winner on Wednesday. We would love to hear how God is answering our prayers, so be sure to let us know if you have a praise to share.
Discover more from Renee Swope
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Thank You Helen for your words of encouragement and prayers.
Renita
This is for my prayer friend Veronica:
Heavenly Father,
I always thank You, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when I pray for Veronica, because I have heard of her faith in Christ Jesus and of the love she has for all the saints—(Col 1:3-4).For this reason, since the day I heard about Veronica, I have not stopped praying for her and asking God to fill her with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And I pray this in order that she may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that Veronica and her husband may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified her to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.(Col 1:9-12)
Veronica, May the Lord give you the desire of your heart
and make all your plans succeed. I will shout for joy when you are victorious
and will lift up my banners in the name of our God.
May the LORD grant all your requests. Now I know that the LORD saves his anointed;
he answers him from his holy heaven
with the saving power of his right hand.(Psalm 20: 4-6)
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.(Romans 15:13)
In Jesus name I pray,
Amen.
For jbohnen’s friend:
I am praying Matthew 7:8-
For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
and Matthew 21:22-
And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.
The Lord has heard your request to do His will in Isreal. He is pleased that you wish to do His work and will find a way to get you where you need to be. It is not an accident that Tony Hooper asked you to go with him. Believe!
This is to anonymous who is praying for me, Loretta in Phoenix. Thank you for your prayers. God is doing something. I am not sure what. My husband’s boss has been making some decisions which affect us directly. Please continue to pray so we would know what God wants us to do. Thank you especially for praying for me to trust in God’s provision. I am clinging to that.
His Will for us is always beyond anything that I could ever ask for or imagine. So I am joyfully giving thanks in all circumstances for God is indeed in control
Thanks again.
this is for Patricia in Tampa,FL
I did not read Renee’s post yesterday or else I would have posted then. Please know I have been keeping your 7 yr old son, his biological father, you and your new husband covered in prayer. I pray that God will continue to be with your son as he visits with his dad, that He will strengthen him and grow him in his walk with the Lord, that He will protect him and nuture him, that He would establish a healthy realationship btwn father and son, that his biological dad would come to love and trust God for all things, that his dad would expereince healing in his heart so that the legacy he passes on to his child will be one of love, grace, integrity and forgiveness. I pray for you Patricia, to feel God’s presence in your heart as you continue to trust Him with your son’s well being. I pray your son will always have a wonderful relationship with your new husband. I pray for your marriage to be strong and loving, with God always at the center. I pray for your heart to be reassured that you are all loved by God and can trust that love He has for you. I thank you for posting your request and allowing me to pray for you. My verse today for you is “that He will keep thee in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee”. Be blessed and know that God is in control. I am still praying.
Duet 31:8 is a verse He keeps giving me for my life lately so I will share it with you as well “Do not be afraid or discouraged for the Lord is the one who goes before you. He will be with you. He will neither fail you or forsake you”
Loretta in Phoenix
Could everyone that has the time, please go to my blog and read the URGENT prayer request that I sent out. It is about my cousin Angie who is a missionary in Africa and trying to adopt this little girl named Enia who is 8. Enia has been with Angie since she was like 1 or 2. At my blog, on the side bar is links to Angie website and etc. If you would like to know more about her Hope House she has in Africa.Please Contact me. But PLEASE say some prayers for her, she is getting hit by Satan in every different on this adoption process. Thank you so much. ~~~ Loretta
I’ve been praying for Kim, who has been dealing with a troublesome medical issue. What a neat site to show us!
The verse I found was:
1 Samuel 25:6 (New International Version)
New International Version (NIV)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society
6 Say to him: ‘Long life to you! Good health to you and your household! And good health to all that is yours!
It’s so funny that your post was on praying God’s word. I am repeatedly amazed by the way that God reinforces again and again (because maybe I am hard headed or a slow learner? haha) points he wants me to hear. Last week, in looking for a new book by Joyce Meyer, I came across her book The Secret Power of Speaking God’s Word (or something like that. The book’s upstairs). After reading the intro, I was intrigued and ordered it.
Fast forward to Saturday night at church, when one of Pastor Mark’s points was speaking God’s word aloud. And now your post. I get it, I get it. 🙂
Thank you for being God’s gentle nudge to me.
After 6 months of job searching I finally have an interview tomorrow. I am asking everyone…anyone to pray that God’s Will shall be done during that interview. I have prayed about whether or not to return to work because our finances are in a shamble and I am almost beginning to worry, even though I know that to worry would be not trusting God to see us through this situation. My human eyes and heart cannot see a solution other than my returning to the workforce but so far God has closed all doors. I’m asking that He make it crystal clear to me what he wants me to do, and then to provide either the job or the way to make our finances work. Thank you all for your prayers.