[The list has been expanded to include prayer testimonies]
The most beautiful, powerful prayers
are those we find in Scripture, those which are inspired by the Holy
Spirit Himself. They contain language and theology that we should
imitate in our own prayer lives.
Some are so intimate between persons of
the Godhead, such as John 17 (containing the prayer of God the Son to
God the Father), that they amount to inter-Trinitarian conversation
which we cannot emulate in our own prayer lives, yet do they
make for rich meditation.
Some of the classic prayers, such as
the cry of dereliction (“My God, my God! Why have you forsaken me?”
Matthew 27:46), are so unique in redemptive history that we can not imitate them in our own prayer lives. There are other prayers
in which the individual expresses the sense of abandonment (such as
Psalm 88) that are more appropriate for you and I.
Some of the prayers noted here preserve
none of the original language; merely the fact of the prayer is noted
in the midst of the circumstance. Nehemiah’s
prayer (Nehemiah 2:4), which comes when king Artaxerxes puts him
on the spot, is a classic example of launching a “God, help me!”
prayer when there is not time for anything more.
In any case, I am offering this forum
in an attempt to improve my own prayer life by considering and
meditating on the prayers we see in Scripture. I invite you to share
your own favorite prayers found in the Bible. Provide the reference,
and a few lines about what makes the prayer so meaningful to you. You
can do that with comments, or you can email them to me. I’ll add
your selections to the mix. I’ll act as an editor; I trust you
won’t be offended by that. You are also welcome to add your
thoughts to prayers someone else (including me) has already
referenced.
By the way, I'll leave a
link to this post somewhere on the top of my blog, entitled “Classic
Prayers of Scripture,” so it will always be easy to locate.
While the purpose of this post is
primarily for folks at BFC, anyone who reads this blog can
participate. The ground rules are that the prayers must be from one
of the sixty-six canonical books of the Bible. Great prayers of
history and prayers from the Apocrypha will not be included.
I've included just enough to get started, and will add several of my own favorites each week, as well as any that you send to me.
I've included just enough to get started, and will add several of my own favorites each week, as well as any that you send to me.
No comments:
Post a Comment