My prayer routine was getting a bit stale. I wasn't praying easily. My heart was stony. Words weren't coming. The desire to pray was there. But the words weren't.
So I turned to the original prayer book: The Bible. I searched out verses I wanted to pray - verses that gave voice to my yearnings. I've done this before in different seasons - Prayer PathWay was largely that: using the Bible to pray. Now I needed to do it again. I collected verses that spoke for me - I strung them together without pauses for my own words to break in - unless they did. They were enough.
The result was a liturgy of sorts. A litany: nagging in prayer. A vigil: standing in prayer. A new prayer route - written in a notebook - propped up where I could see it as I went about my day's work, calling me to slip into prayer for my dearests. Speaking my yearnings, blunting my worryings, settling my strivings.
Here it is:
THE REMINDER of when and why I pray:
Evening and morning and at noon
I utter my complaint and moan,
and he hears my voice.
~ Psalm 55:17 - ESV
THE PRAISE:
You are the Lord, you alone.
You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host,
the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them;
and you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you.
~ Nehemiah 9:6I - ESV
THE CONFESSION:
I confess my iniquity;
I am sorry for my sin.
~ Psalm 38:18 - ESV
THE FORGIVENESS:
"I acknowledged my sin to you,
and I did not cover my iniquity;"
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”
and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah
~ Psalm 32:5 - ESV
THE ASKING:
Give ear to my words, O Lord;
consider my groaning.
Give attention to the sound of my cry,
my King and my God,
for to you do I pray.
~Psalm 5:1-2 - ESV
MY YEARNING:
For all of my dearests - that the Gospel be stirred up within them - for salvation and sustaining.
That they would yearn for You and the eternal.
And that they would know that they are each worth more than many sparrows.
Next, I have A LIST OF MY DEARESTS - by name -
WITH SEVERAL AREAS OF NEED for each one.
MY HEART'S CRY:
"I believe; help my unbelief!"
~ Mark 9:24b - ESV
AS FOR ME:
As for me, I will look to the Lord;
I will wait for the God of my salvation;
my God will hear me.
~ Micah 7:7 - ESV
As for me, I will look to the Lord;
I will wait for the God of my salvation;
my God will hear me.
~ Job 5:8-9 - ESV
As for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord.
At an acceptable time, O God,
in the abundance of your steadfast love
answer me in your saving faithfulness.
~ Psalm 69:13 - ESV
I BELIEVE:
Truly God has listened;
he has attended to the voice of my prayer.
Blessed be God,
because he has not rejected my prayer
or removed his steadfast love from me!
~ Psalm 66:19-20 - ESV
THE AMEN:
Amen!
Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving
and honor and power and might
be to our God forever and ever!
Amen.
~ Revelation 7:12 - ESV
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For the last year or so, I've pray this way several times a day, most days. Sometimes my heart is inclined, sometimes my heart lags behind. But God knows. God hears His own words in my mouth.
Why should I be surprised when the words of God's Word speak truer than my own? He knows my heart better than I do!
Using God's own Word in prayer isn't taking an easy way out - it's taking His Way. His straight path - right to Him.
I've revised this liturgy several times - and I'll likely revise it again. As life changes and as the Spirit beckons. God knows. Thankfully.
“And as for me, this is my covenant with them,” says the Lord:
“My Spirit that is upon you, and my words that I have put in your mouth,
shall not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouth of your offspring,
or out of the mouth of your children's offspring,”
says the Lord,
“from this time forth and forevermore.”
~ Isaiah 59:21 - ESV
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