How Do I Pray the Bible?

00:00:00.000 | Welcome back to a new week on the Ask Pastor John podcast with longtime author and Pastor

00:00:08.000 | John Piper.

00:00:09.000 | Thanks for making us a part of your day.

00:00:11.800 | Today is episode number 999.

00:00:16.040 | And our question today comes from a listener named Dallabore.

00:00:19.840 | I think that name is Czechoslovakian, Dallabore.

00:00:23.280 | Pastor John, can you give an example or two on how to pray the scriptures?

00:00:27.000 | This seems right, but also foreign to me.

00:00:29.360 | How do I read in such a way that the words become alive and speak to me here and now?

00:00:33.680 | How do my feelings reflect or align with the text I'm reading now?

00:00:38.600 | Even better, perhaps, would you be willing to pray through a section of scripture with

00:00:42.360 | us and for us?

00:00:43.880 | I love this question because praying the scriptures is so important in the Christian life.

00:00:50.120 | If we don't form the habit of praying the scriptures, our prayers will almost certainly

00:00:58.580 | degenerate into vain repetitions that eventually revolve entirely around our immediate private

00:01:06.040 | concerns rather than God's larger purposes.

00:01:11.460 | So let me try to help Dallabore see this as less foreign.

00:01:15.880 | He said it felt foreign to him.

00:01:17.680 | Let me see if I can help make it feel less foreign.

00:01:22.400 | First, we should notice that the early church prayed the scriptures in Acts 4, 24 following.

00:01:31.540 | In fact, they explicitly quote scriptures.

00:01:36.160 | So the threats have been made against them, and it says they lifted their voices together

00:01:42.320 | to God and said, "Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything

00:01:49.880 | in them," and they're exalting in what they know from God in scripture.

00:01:53.740 | Then verse 25, "Who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy

00:01:59.260 | Spirit, 'Why did the Gentiles rage in the people's plot of vain thing?

00:02:03.660 | The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers were gathered together against

00:02:07.880 | the Lord and against his anointed,'" etc.

00:02:10.960 | So that's a quotation from Psalm 2.

00:02:14.140 | So we know that the early church prayed back to God the very words that God had given them,

00:02:22.580 | for example, in the Psalms.

00:02:24.460 | Here's the second thing.

00:02:26.720 | Don't forget the obvious, namely that many parts of the scripture are prayers.

00:02:34.540 | So simply to read them is to pray if we're awake, if you're thinking about what you're

00:02:40.820 | doing.

00:02:41.820 | Paul's got numerous prayers that he prays for the people that he's writing his letters

00:02:46.820 | to.

00:02:47.820 | Every time we read those, we should be praying with Paul.

00:02:50.380 | And a great portion of the Psalms are prayers, and Jesus gave us some prayers.

00:02:57.380 | I've used the acronym IOUS from the Psalms to guide how I pray the scriptures.

00:03:04.860 | It says, "I incline my heart to your testimony," Psalm 119.36.

00:03:09.220 | "Oh, open my eyes to see wonderful things," Psalm 119.18.

00:03:13.940 | "You unite my heart to fear your name," Psalm 86.11.

00:03:18.780 | "S, satisfy me in the morning with your steadfast love," Psalm 90.14.

00:03:24.560 | So the scripture models for us how to pray about reading the scriptures and turning them

00:03:32.860 | into prayers.

00:03:35.040 | And then think about this, which is so obvious.

00:03:38.160 | The scriptures either tell us something about God and Christ when we're reading so that

00:03:45.300 | we can praise him, or they tell us something about what God and Christ and the Holy Spirit

00:03:50.760 | have done so that we can thank him and express faith in it, or they tell us what God expects

00:03:57.180 | from us so that we can cry out for his help, or they tell us about something we failed

00:04:02.740 | to do so that we can confess our sins.

00:04:05.260 | So it seems to me that virtually all of the Bible is doing one or more of those four things,

00:04:12.140 | something about God, something about what he's done, something about what he expects,

00:04:15.860 | something about how we've failed, so that they naturally lead into praise to God, thanks

00:04:22.540 | to God, crying for help to God, and confession of sin to God.

00:04:27.820 | So one caution here, let's be realistic.

00:04:32.340 | What we are praying is the meaning of text, not just words.

00:04:38.260 | This is important.

00:04:40.140 | So for example, when reading part of the Old Testament history book that takes a whole

00:04:45.380 | chapter to tell a story, say about Ahab's wickedness, I just read this morning about

00:04:52.180 | Ahab's wickedness, and I also read this morning a whole chapter about Shadrach, Meshach, and

00:04:57.740 | Abednego's faith and courage in front of that fiery furnace.

00:05:01.900 | Now, how do you pray Scripture like that?

00:05:05.820 | You don't probably turn every verse into a prayer, because it takes more than one verse

00:05:11.340 | to make a point.

00:05:13.380 | So that's my point.

00:05:14.860 | We're praying meaning.

00:05:15.860 | We're not just praying words.

00:05:17.980 | And so you have to read enough of the Bible to catch the meaning.

00:05:22.220 | What's the author trying to say here about boldness and courage and faith in Daniel chapter

00:05:28.700 | 3?

00:05:29.700 | And so you might wait three or four minutes of reading and then pause and say, "Oh God,

00:05:34.660 | make me like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and forgive me for my pansy-like relation

00:05:42.740 | to feeling embarrassed or whatever."

00:05:45.580 | And same thing with Ahab.

00:05:46.580 | "Ugh, I just got so mad at him this morning when he took Naboth's vineyard and killed

00:05:53.820 | him.

00:05:54.820 | Oh, and the prophet came and really laid into him and told him we're going to be in big

00:05:59.380 | trouble."

00:06:00.380 | I mean, that's just, there's so much there to pray about, but you have to read the whole

00:06:04.260 | chapter before you can get it right in your head.

00:06:08.780 | Okay, so Daliber asked me to do this.

00:06:11.820 | I'm going to close by doing it, and I wanted to do a big section, but I realized it doesn't

00:06:18.420 | work that way for me.

00:06:20.300 | So I'm just going to start with Colossians 2, 6, because I've been in Colossians in my

00:06:26.940 | devotions, and I'm going to show you how I turn Colossians 2, 6 following into prayer.

00:06:35.220 | And I'll break it up in two pieces.

00:06:36.580 | It just turned out that way.

00:06:37.660 | So here we go.

00:06:38.780 | This is reading Colossians 2, 6.

00:06:40.540 | "As you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and

00:06:47.460 | established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

00:06:53.420 | Yes, Lord Jesus, I have received you, and I do receive you afresh right now this morning.

00:07:00.940 | I welcome you to take full control of my life.

00:07:06.060 | If I am estranging you in any way, pushing you away at all, show me and help me to kill

00:07:13.460 | that sin.

00:07:14.460 | I want to walk in you, in your power, in your way, in your fellowship.

00:07:20.860 | I dedicate myself to this right now, again, just like I have so many times in the past,

00:07:27.260 | and I turn from all others.

00:07:30.100 | Anything else that would compete with you is my closest friend and helper.

00:07:34.800 | You have given rootedness and foundation to my life.

00:07:39.420 | Thank you.

00:07:40.420 | I didn't create these roots in you or these great foundation stones of faith.

00:07:46.060 | You did that.

00:07:47.220 | Thank you.

00:07:48.220 | Thank you for sending teachers into my life.

00:07:51.140 | Thank you for my father and Daniel Fuller and Jonathan Edwards and John Owen and J.

00:07:56.060 | I. Packer and R.C.

00:07:57.620 | Sproul and dozens of partners in ministry over the years that have exhorted me and kept me

00:08:03.120 | on the narrow way.

00:08:04.660 | Oh, how I thank you, Lord.

00:08:06.980 | It has all been owing to you.

00:08:09.500 | My reaching you and my walking in you and my rootedness and foundation in you, it's

00:08:17.340 | all owing to you.

00:08:19.380 | All my teachers were from you.

00:08:22.140 | You are kind and merciful, a mighty God.

00:08:25.740 | I love you this morning.

00:08:27.540 | And then I keep reading, "See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy or

00:08:35.200 | empty deceit according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the

00:08:40.840 | world and not according to Christ.

00:08:43.720 | For in him, the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily."

00:08:47.760 | Lord Jesus, I'm not even sure I know what the elemental spirits of the world are.

00:08:54.080 | But until I find out, I pray that you would protect me from them.

00:09:00.040 | Your work in me is way more important than my perfect understanding.

00:09:05.040 | Guard me.

00:09:06.440 | But I know something of the dangers of human tradition and philosophy.

00:09:11.440 | I have felt the pull of forces away from you.

00:09:15.480 | Oh, thank you that I am still here right now praying and not over the cliff of unbelief.

00:09:23.120 | Oh, give me discernment so I can see what is according to Christ.

00:09:29.680 | Like you said, in the books that I read, in the TV shows that I watch, in the movies,

00:09:34.680 | in the news, oh Lord, these forces are so strong and I'm so prone to be entertained

00:09:41.240 | by ideas and actions that are not according to Christ.

00:09:46.440 | Have mercy upon me and give me the courage to say no to anything that tends to undermine

00:09:52.780 | my fellowship with you and my boldness in witness.

00:09:57.400 | How could I ever be lured away, Lord?

00:10:00.080 | For in you is the whole fullness of deity, Paul says.

00:10:04.780 | The whole fullness of deity dwelling bodily.

00:10:07.880 | Amazing, amazing, absolutely amazing.

00:10:11.520 | Oh, Christ, help me all day, every day, this very day, to be more amazed at you and your

00:10:19.080 | fullness of deity that I will never turn away, more amazed than I am at anything else.

00:10:26.720 | Let my amazement at your fullness of deity spill over at work today.

00:10:32.120 | Make me a means of others being amazed, I pray in Jesus' name.

00:10:36.960 | Amen.

00:10:37.960 | Amen.

00:10:38.960 | Thank you, Pastor John.

00:10:39.960 | That's a great question, Dallabore.

00:10:41.520 | Thank you for sending it in to us, and thank you again for making this podcast part of

00:10:45.320 | your life and listening in.

00:10:47.280 | Of course, you can find our audio feeds and our episode archive, and you can reach us

00:10:50.640 | via email all through our online home at DesiringGod.org/AskPastorJohn.

00:10:57.280 | This was episode number 999.

00:11:00.560 | Next time, of course, episode 1000.

00:11:03.200 | It's epic.

00:11:04.200 | It's too epic to mention by name, and it's too grand to miss.

00:11:08.480 | I'm your host, Tony Reike.

00:11:10.080 | We'll see you on Wednesday for episode 1000.

00:11:12.760 | [BLANK_AUDIO]

00:11:20.300 | you

How Do I Pray the Bible?

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