A few weeks ago, I began a series of posts on how to read the Bible. The first two posts discussed reading the Bible consistently and contextually. In this post, I wanted to address how we can read the Bible prayerfully.
Reading the Bible prayerfully is not a complicated concept. It just means that when you read the Bible, you also pray.
Reading the Bible is like listening on one end of a phone conversation. The Bible is God’s authoritative word to us and speaks to us. Through the Bible, God addresses our hearts and our minds. But this is only one part of the conversation.
What should I pray?
John Piper has created an acronym, I.O.U.S. for praying before you read the Bible. I believe they originally appeared in his book, When I Don’t Desire God. This is a very helpful list of scripture to pray.
- I – Incline – “Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain!” (Psalm 119:36, ESV). In order to hear from God rightly, we need to have hearts that desire him and his word.
- O – Open – “Open my eyes that I might behold wondrous things out of your law.” (Psalm 119:18, ESV). Through prayer, God can open our eyes to the amazing things in his word that are already there.
- U – Unite – “Unite my heart to fear your name.” (Psalm 86:11, ESV). I have heard the definition of a pure heart as a heart with a single focus. We can pray that God be that single, unifying focus.
- S – Satisfy – “Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.” (Psalm 90:14, ESV). One major goal of reading the Bible should be that we become more and more satisfied with God. Pray that this encounter through the word produces that fruit.
Aside from this, there are other things that we can pray and ask for as we read Scripture.
- Wisdom – The first chapter of James tells us that we can ask God for wisdom, who “gives generously to all without reproach.” We need this wisdom as we seek to read and understand God’s word.
- Acknowledging God’s Greatness – I want to set my heart and mind on God’s greatness as I approach his word. Psalm 19 and Psalm 119 both deal with his word. Psalm 145 is an amazing psalm that declares God’s greatness. Reading and praying through these psalms has been an encouraging activity.
- Confession, Repentance, Thanksgiving – Hopefully, as we read, the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin, identifies areas of our lives where change needs to happen, and even gives us further direction. As this happens, we should respond to God through prayers of confession, repentance, and thanksgiving, responding to how he is addressing our hearts.
Reading the Bible is a different exercise than reading any other piece of literature because it is a living word through which God himself speaks to us. Prayer is an important part of both hearing and responding to him.