could your prayer life use a jump start or even a major overhaul if so this video is for you because I am going to walk you through one of the simplest ways to either get started in praying or improve your prayer life in case you and I haven't met yet I'm Keith faren your Bible coach my passion and the goal of everything on this channel is to help you move from should to want when it comes to reading studying understanding applying and yes enjoying God words so if you could use some help with that you're
going to want to click that little button down there so you don't miss a video I meet very few people who don't admit that their prayer life could use some improvement I know that is true for me it's an area that I am always trying to grow in and have been for the life of my journey with Jesus and one thing that I did not do my whole life but really only started doing more regularly in the last 10 years or so is what I call Bible praying now Bible praying is exactly what it sounds
like it is using scripture as your guide your model for praying in fact I ended up co-writing a book uh called Bible praying for parents that takes 365 passages of scripture and turns them into prayers we can say for and with and over our kids and I believe this when we pray God's word we pray God's Will and so praying God's word is a fantastic way to to grow in our prayer Life In fact when you are reading scripture you can just look for verses that you see or ideas that you see some whole sections
sometimes whole paragraphs or sometimes prayers right Paul has a lot of times the beginning of Philippians and in Ephesians so many of his letters he has a prayer right there so you can use those prayers but I want to take today to kind of show you some of how this works uh I want to take one of the most popular Psalms in the Bible and one that you could turn into many many prayers so Psalm 139 it's it's probably best known for its verse in the in the Middle where it says you knit me together
in my mother's womb I praise you for I fearfully and wonderfully made but for this uh example this video I want to look at just the last two verses I think you could take Psalm 139 and man almost every verse could be turned into a prayer a prayer of awe a prayer of Wonder H A Prayer of gratitude but as you go through your day I think that coming back to verses 23 and 24 the last two verses in the entire Psalm could be something that would be really helpful to have as a regular prayer
that you say over and over again so now here is the the scripture itself and then I want to look at the five prayers that can be built from these two verses the verses themselves say search me oh God and know my heart test me and know my concerns see if there is any offensive way in me Lead Me in the way Everlasting so now you could take that prayer and first of all you could internal I mean it's two verses you could read that those two verses out loud 10 times and you would have
it probably downward for word uh if not you do that for two days three days and you will have it down but break it down a little bit into looking at how turning this into a prayer can really guide that conversation that we have with God so the first prayer is search me oh God now when you search for something you are looking deeply for it you are going after it there's some work involved well flipping that around we usually look at searching as something that we do when we turn that into a prayer and
and we say the words that David said search me oh God this is an invitation into intimacy this is a reminder of the the intimate relational aspect of our prayer so start by asking God search me oh God and the second is the next step in that and know my heart to to know in in the in the Hebrew language the word for heart is one that represents the totality of the person we oftentimes hear the word heart and we tie just the emotion to it right he he played that game with a lot of
heart or she gave it her whole heart or and we look at heart as an emotional thing well in that Hebrew culture the heart was the seat of not only the emotions but all Al the intellect and the will it represented the totality of the person so when David says know my heart he's saying know everything there is to know about me that is both an invitation and a reminder that when we pray we are praying to the God who knows us better than we know ourselves the third prayer is test me and know my
concerns some translations say know my anxious thoughts that this idea of testing me and knowing my struggle to to look deeply inside of me and and God I I want to reveal to you as if God doesn't already know we've already prayed those two prayers but just this public confession of this is what I am struggling with God I want you to I want you to test me and know my concerns to know my anxious thoughts I want to bring these and lay these concerns at your feet that when we uh speak out our concerns
to God when we say to test me and to know my concerns to know my anxious thoughts we are putting ourselves in a position of of submission to one who wants to help who is present who is near in fact in Philippians 4 one of the most famous passages in the book of Philippians where he where where Paul says do not be anxious about anything but in everything through prayer and petition with Thanksgiving present your request to God and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and Minds in Christ Jesus
you know what the words are right before that the Lord is near do not be anxious about anything the Lord is is near is the foundation when we say test me and know my concerns that there is this reminder of God's nearness for him to test us and know us and know our anxious thoughts there is a reminder of that closeness this fourth one is hard says see if there is any offensive way in me man that one is one that that part of that examining part of that knowing part of that confessing is a
a reminder to ourselves that we don't often times even know the offensive way sometimes they're very very obvious and sometimes it's just an attitude or an approach that we have to to something or someone and we daily need to come to God and say see if there is any offensive way in me that coming to God authentically recognizing that we don't even recognize all of the ways that we may be offending God I think when we come with a position of listening and a position of Stillness and and we follow that up that prayer of
see if there is any offensive way in me with a time of Silence I think that's really important so that if there is something offensive in me I give him time to reveal that to me to bring that to my thoughts and my minds and the number of times that I recognize an attitude or a hard conversation I need to have or a confession I need to make to somebody or an apology that that rarely comes in a time of busyness that typically comes when I actually slow down enough to listen so to pray see
if there is any offensive way in me and then be still be silent and finally the very last phrase in this entire Psalm is Lead Me in the way Everlasting well there is that recognition that only God can lead us into a way that is Everlasting he is the only one who is eternal he is the only one who knows what is Everlasting knows what will last and knows that way in fact Jesus hundreds of years after this was written said I am the way to help us to know Jesus know that that leads to
what is true what is good what is Everlasting and just finishing our prayer with God please Lead Me in the way Everlasting what if each day you paused at the beginning of your day and maybe again at the end of your day and said search me oh God and know my heart test me and know know my concerns see if there is any offensive way in me Lead Me in the way Everlasting that would be a powerful powerful prayer now if this model of praying has been helpful for you then you might want to check
out the video that just popped up in the corner right there or will at the end of this video that is one that I did on meditating on scripture using the fruits of the spirit from the book of Galatians so you want to check that out and as always if this was helpful leave a comment share this with a friend subscribe to this Channel and I will see you in the next video for
