"By this means, (praying the Bible), the Spirit of God will use the Word of God to help the people of God pray increasingly according to the will of God."
Through many seasons of my life I have felt my prayer life was more of rote repetition other than a conversation in relationship with my heavenly Father. Even the disciples struggled with the discipline of praying and asked Jesus in Luke 11, "Lord, teach us to pray...". The discipline of a healthy vibrant prayer life is something to be cultivated like any other spiritual discipline. We need to be discipled in the discipline of prayer as in any other discipline that makes us more like Jesus. This book by Donald Whitney does just that. Don disciples you on how to have a more vibrant prayer life as he teaches a master class on learning to pray using the Bible.
Premise
Most believers struggle with their prayer life because we typically tend to "say the same old things about the same old things" according to Whitney. In order to break this habit, Whitney outlines how to grab your Bible and start praying through Scripture. He lays out a specific plan of praying through the Psalms, but the same strategy of praying the Psalms can be used anywhere you start reading as you pick up God's word daily.
Key Takeaways
My biggest takeaway from this book was awakening to the fact that God loves to hear his own words repeated back to him from our own lips as we pray. Whitney puts it much more eloquently saying, "Basically what you are doing is taking the words that originated in the heart and mind of God and circulating them through your heart and mind back to God. By this means his words become the wings of your prayers." He goes on to say that we don't need to complicate prayer. We just go through our daily reading and we talk to God about whatever comes to mind as we read the text. I needed to hear that and understand it. God wants to hear from us and have a relationship with us and we have the opportunity to talk to the Creator of the universe daily in casual conversation. How great is that!
Another major takeaway for me is that praying in this way will help us to pray more within the will of God. Whitney states, "the Spirit of God will use the Word of God to help the people of God pray increasingly according to the will of God." I believe that the prayers God answers most are the ones aligned with his will and there is no better way to pray in the will of God than to use the words of God as the voice of your prayers.
Last big takeaway for me: You never run out of things to say to God when you pray the Bible!
Author
Don Whitney has been a professor and Associate Dean at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY since 2005. Prior to that he was pastor for 15 years. Whitney has written several books and also has a ministry speaking and teaching at churches and conferences. You can find out more about Don and his work at The Center for Biblical Spirituality.
Rating
★★★★★
I give this book five stars. The book is a short easy read but is incredibly profound in it's content. It is a must read for anyone wanting to improve their prayer life!
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