Praying the Bible - Again
I’ll admit that my spiritual life took a hit when all of this began to unfold a few weeks ago. Between the loss of routine, the new challenges of figuring out work and homeschool together, and the mounting fear and anxiety about the state of the world, I found it very difficult to pray. I found myself going through my days with so much fear and worry that I couldn’t bring myself to slow down and spend time trying to draw nearer to God. Even though I obviously knew that’s what I needed and wanted most, it seemed like it wasn’t the most pressing thing. And the idea of slowing down and being quiet was honestly terrifying. I didn’t want to engage with the thoughts in my head.
Something that has helped me a lot in the past few days has been finally making myself schedule time to pray the Bible. This is a simple practice that is always a huge help when I actually use it (You can read a longer explanation about the practice here).
The basic idea is to actually block off 10-30 minutes, turn off your phone, and pray. Ask God for help experiencing his nearness. Then use the time praying a few Bible verses, one at a time. Pick something like a Psalm or another poetic passage. Then start with the first verse. Read the verse a few times, meditate, let it sink in. Then rephrase the verse, putting it in your own words. Then finally, pray the verse to God. Tell him how much you identify with the verse, or confess how hard it is for you to believe or feel like it’s true for you. Wherever you are, let it guide your prayer.
After this time of prayer, I like to write out some of what I’ve been praying. It helps me clarify my thoughts, and it’s always helpful to be able to look back later on where my heart has been recently. Here’s one of my prayers from a few days ago:
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Finally, I’ve also started sharing these prayers with a group of friends. After I’m done praying and writing, I just make a screen grab and send it to them in a group chat. They don’t need to respond or give any feedback. I just send it in hopes that it encourages them in their spiritual lives. I know it always warms my heart when someone shares with me what they’ve been praying about recently.
This step also has helped me build some routine and discipline. The sharing part is a deadline that is entirely self-imposed. But, because I know other people are expecting to see a prayer from me in the morning, it creates a little more incentive to help me get out of bed and do what I really want to do anyway.
We’d love to hear about how your spiritual life has been going, or has changed in these past few weeks. If you try this practice, let us know how it goes! What other things have been helpful to you?