Is praying Scripture effective?

Praying Scripture is effective when it aligns our hearts with God’s will and deepens our relationship with Him. But praying Scripture becomes unhelpful when we treat it like a script or try to force God’s hand.

what does the bible say?

The Bible shows that prayer should help us develop a raw and real relationship with God (Psalm 62:8). Some people find that praying certain Scriptures, oftentimes the Psalms (Psalm 3, 51, 143), is an effective way of doing this. The Bible encourages us to come before God in prayer (Matthew 6:9–13; 7:7–11) to build our relationship with Him, not merely to get what we want (Psalm 42:1-2; John 15:4-5). Scripture should never be used to try manipulating God asSatan tried with Jesus; God cannot and will not ever be manipulated. If we use Scripture while praying, it should be to seek God’s will (1 John 5:14-15). Moreover, prayer should be a continuous spiritual discipline in our life (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18), and to really pursue this, we cannot expect to pray only using Scriptures as it is often necessary to pray over specific situations (Philippians 4:4-7).

from the old testament

Scripture can inform our prayers but prayer should also be the time to simply pour out our hearts to God (Psalm 62:8).
Scripture is filled with examples of how to express ourselves to God. Many of Psalms are essentially prayers; good examples are Psalms 3, 51, and 143..

from the new testament

Supplication is part of prayer (Matthew 7:7-11; 1 Timothy 2:1) but not the only part. Prayer is also about fellowshipping with God and exercising the privilege He’s given us. Prayer is effective in accomplishing kingdom work. Getting what we want or what we think is best is not guaranteed; we must learn to trust God’s will over our own.
Scripture can be useful in our prayers, but for specific requests, we will need to go outside of just the Bible to express our needs to God (Philippians 4:6).
We are also commanded to pray continuously and with thanksgiving (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). We can pray to God at any time about anything, and we should do so even if we aren’t using Scripture as our word-for-word guide.
Our prayers should be focused on God’s glory, not our own (1 Peter 4:11). We should not quote Scripture in prayer as a means to impress others, and when praying in private, we shouldn’t try to manipulate God into giving us what we want because we are quoting His Word.
In one sense, “effective” prayers could mean that our prayers are answered in the way we desire for them to be answered. For our prayers to be effective in this way, they must line up with God’s will (1 John 5:14-15). We know God’s will is revealed in the Bible, so praying Scripture is effective in this sense.

implications for today

Our access to God comes when we receive the sacrificial death of His Son, Jesus Christ, as substitutionary punishment for our sins (Hebrews 10:19–25) and believe that Jesus then rose from the grave, having power over even death (Romans 10:9). As His children, we can approach God in prayer, and He hears and answers us. Praying Scripture can help us effectively pray in line with God’s will. Being a student of God’s Word is the best way to know God. Scripture reveals truths about God’s character as well as His desires and plans for us. Though we can use Scriptures to pray, not every passage in the Bible can be transferred to our lives. For example, God delivered Daniel from death, but not Stephen. Properly understanding Scripture in context is key to applying Scripture to our prayers. Moreover, believers are given the indwelling Holy Spirit who works to transform us and make us more like God (2 Corinthians 5:17). While salvation is not about our works, God does call us to a life of holiness (Ephesians 2:10; 1 Peter 1:14-16). God tells us to strive after righteousness, and that righteousness is a foundation to effective prayer (James 5:16; 1 Peter 3:12; Psalm 34:15; Proverbs 15:8).

Recap

understand

Some people use Scripture to pray, oftentimes the Psalms.
Using Scripture to pray can encourage praying in God’s will.
Our prayers should always be heartfelt rather than scripted and in context if we are praying Scripture.

reflect

What role does Scripture play into your prayer life?
How do you ensure you’re praying in God’s will?
How do you prevent your prayers from becoming repetitive and scripted?

engage

What is the value in praying Scripture?
What are some practical ways we can avoid letting Scripture-based prayer become rote or manipulative?
How can believers guard against rote prayer?