Season 11 Ep.7 / Guided Scripture Prayer

Brenda (00:00.95)

I didn't tell you this Alex, but I wanted us to spend just a minute to catch up because you've got some exciting news from your family that's happened this summer and I've got some exciting news from my family that's happened this summer and do you know what I'm talking about? Well it has to do one of your daughters.

Alex (00:13.23)

It's like, what's happened to me? My mind always gets blank. Well, my married daughter moved to Sweden and so that was exciting and sad. It's been sad. And my oldest daughter graduated with her doctorate as a nurse practitioner in women's health. So yes.

Brenda (00:39.158)

I can't wait, gonna, she will, you we'll get her on the podcast as well, talking about women's health before it's over with. She's been discipled by you her whole life and now she's got those medical credentials. It'll be exciting.

Alex (00:50.006)

I just keep telling her, solve menopause. Solve menopause.

Brenda (00:52.92)

Please. that's awesome, right? Wouldn't that be man she be. That'd be something else if she could do that. That go down in history. Well, we're excited for your family and the changes of bringing a son-in-law and just the potential for your daughter and your new son-in-law and then for your daughter who just.

Alex (01:02.974)

Mm-hmm.

Brenda (01:15.602)

is pursuing this incredible journey of getting her doctorate. Is it her doctorate? that what you said? It's a doctorate in...is that what it is? Did I miss that?

Alex (01:23.086)

Doctorate is in nurse practitioner. Yeah, it's kind of confusing.

Brenda (01:28.128)

Okay, okay, yeah, well, that's exciting. Well, on our side of the fence, we are expecting yet another grandbaby. I know. So we're really excited. It's gonna be another little girl, we found out. My daughter's having her third, so we're just really looking forward to embracing another little one. And one of the things I just love about...

Alex (01:37.182)

Yay!

Alex (01:44.291)

Hmm.

Brenda (01:54.061)

being around babies and little children in whatever capacity we have the opportunity to do that. It just teaches us so much about the love of God, the character of God. And we've been talking about that on the previous episode on contemplative prayer. And I really think there's something about little children and babies that teach us probably a lot about that particular kind of prayer. But today we're gonna move our focus a little bit and we wanna talk about guided scripture prayer.

Alex (02:03.916)

Mm-hmm.

Alex (02:17.592)

Yes.

Brenda (02:24.044)

love this kind of praying Alex because I think it really combines prayer and a deeper knowledge and understanding of God's Word along with just the ability to be very intimate with Him through His Word.

Alex (02:37.614)

you

Brenda (02:39.072)

I also think it's a great place not just for a young believer, but certainly I think for somebody who's a young believer who has not really maybe grown in their prayer life. It gives some structure to that and you can know it's biblical, Alex, because you're going to be getting it straight from the Bible. Whereas some of these other forms of prayers we've talked a little bit about, you know, maybe needing to know the scriptures a little bit or at least being aware and have some bumper cards up.

Alex (02:50.03)

Hmm.

Alex (02:58.103)

Right?

Brenda (03:08.986)

When we talk about guided prayer, we're really just going to use the Bible as a way to directly pray. there's, you know, I think not only for maybe a new Christian or somebody who's growing in prayer, but if you're spiritually dry and you just like, ugh, I just don't know what to pray or I don't feel like praying or whatever, distracted because it's going to cause you to be focused. It's very hard for me to pray scripture because it's laid out for me and to be thinking

Alex (03:28.418)

Right.

Brenda (03:38.859)

about my grocery list. People who feel overwhelmed. I know for me, a lot of times my prayers for people flow out of my quiet time today. So whatever I'm praying, you know, if it's, I don't know, I'm trying to think what my quiet, but just the the John 6 today was about Jesus being the bread and the water of life. And so all of my praying that went out today was that people that I knew and loved would be satisfied in Christ alone and whatever was

Alex (03:40.269)

Hmm.

Alex (03:49.975)

Right.

Brenda (04:08.762)

their bread and water on a temporal level wouldn't be fulfilling that they would find their fulfillment in Christ. And so for me sometimes when I start praying for quote-unquote needs it can seem overwhelming. I feel like I'm having to pray for everybody and everything under the sun so it can kind of just...

streamline, if you will, my prayers. And I know that I am praying the will of God for whoever I'm praying for because I'm praying straight scripture. Yeah, and then I just think also just wanting to go deeper with God because I think there's a place where when we combine the scripture and prayer together, we are gaining a more accurate knowledge of who God is and what He's doing in the world and what He wants to do with us and how He feels about us and all those things.

Alex (04:34.775)

Right.

Alex (04:40.864)

Hmm.

Alex (05:04.941)

Yeah.

So guided prayer, like you said, is just really just using scripture, whether a person is reading that to you, it's a recording or it's a written prayer of scripture that helps to create, we call it a trellis, right? A structure that helps the vine grow, that your soul can grow towards God on the trellis of his word. And so when we feel weak or tangled up, like what you said, I find myself using God in prayer probably

The most often when I feel anxious and I can't get a hold of my own thoughts or they're racing and so then guided prayer becomes like these training wheels where we're learning how to ride the bike but it's giving us support, it's giving us balance, it's giving us confidence because we know like you said that we're praying God's words back to him. We're asking for things that fall in line with his will and it just gives that that structure when we need it.

Brenda (05:52.025)

you

I think we have some really good examples in the Bible. mean, the Old Testament is repeated so much in the New Testament. I don't remember the numbers, but it's a lot. So I think if we go through the scriptures, we can see how much, how many prayers, how many admonitions, exhortations, encouragements are coming straight out of the Old Testament, which would have been the Bible for New Testament believers, right? And so a few areas that I found in my research, one is in Acts 4,

Alex (06:05.85)

it.

Brenda (06:22.362)

verses 23 through 26 and the disciples are gathering with Peter and John and they're fearful and they pray Psalm 2 and for the the sake of time I'm not going to go into all the details of these but something to look up go into that prayer and see how it relates to Psalm 2 and then of course we have the story of Jacob in Genesis 22 who is wrestling with God and says I'm not going to hold on to you until you do what you said you were going to do God you said you were going to bless me and so he's repeating God's

Alex (06:31.543)

Right?

Alex (06:46.798)

Mmm.

Brenda (06:52.482)

He's reminding God of his promises to him and he's not gonna let go which I have to say I've used that one quite a lot I'm gonna go hold on to you. God. I'm not letting go until you bless me And then I think even Jesus on the cross who cried out my God my God Why have you forsaken me actually comes from Psalm 22? And so he is repeating the scripture so we have these examples and I just think again It's a beautiful way to get God's Word into our heart

Alex (07:04.342)

Mmm. Mmm.

Brenda (07:22.222)

but also to instruct our prayer life, but also to connect with God and know that we were praying according to His will.

Alex (07:25.794)

Hmm.

Alex (07:45.698)

Mm-hmm.

So just like you're saying, the biggest tool we use for guided prayer is scripture-based guided prayer. We go back to God's Word and we read a passage. We might insert our own name or the name of someone we love. We might use the Lord's Prayer and a lot of people pray the Lord's Prayer and make variations on it and make it very personal. I've often used Paul's Prayers for the church, for my own church, for communities around me. Psalm 23 is another one that people

go back to a lot and I want to just reiterate something you said to make sure that we highlight it for many many many years my guided prayer was a guided prayer that I created and someone challenged me to pray an aspect of God to worship

an aspect of need for myself and then to pray different scriptures for my family. And so I had a little prayer guide that I made and different scriptures that I had picked out on different topics for people in my family.

Brenda (08:44.439)

Mm-hmm.

Alex (08:51.526)

What I realize now years later from doing that is how much, how many scripture verses I have memorized because I prayed them so often for my children. Prayed them often. Paul's prayers for the church that I prayed for my church like I have memorized is scripture memory was not what I was setting out to do. I was setting out to pray and yet scripture memory became the added benefit of that. So, so many verses that I recall now and prayers I'm able to recall without that guide in front

Brenda (09:09.528)

Yeah, I think that's so good. Yeah, I think that's one of the biggest benefits of this kind of prayer is you just are continually hiding God's Word in your heart.

and knowing you're praying according to God's will. I mean, just think those two things are just huge. tool we can use or what we would call liturgy, prayers from sources like the Book of Common Prayer or the Valley of Vision. I use the Valley of Vision a lot. It's a collection of Puritan prayers. I think what we just find is this ability to join other voices in history a lot of times.

Alex (09:21.521)

because I prayed them for many years.

Alex (09:35.5)

Mm-hmm.

Brenda (09:51.061)

have people historically been praying? What are the prayers that are still being offered up? And you can find these, know, some,

traditions have more liturgy, they have more prayers that are written up than others. There are apps now, there are historical readings, there's all kinds of things, but one of the things I do appreciate is just kind of this idea of feeling connected to the church, past and present, and also here and around the world through guided prayers. I know you love the Lectio Divina, we talked about that earlier, and it's so cool to hear the scriptures read in different accents, right? And I think those

Alex (10:05.752)

Mm.

Alex (10:30.722)

Mm-hmm.

Brenda (10:31.31)

kind of prayers do just give us a sense of we are a part of something bigger. Like there's just this sense of like, wow, I'm standing here, but people have been praying this prayer for generations or for centuries. And on one hand, it just, there's a grandeur in being a part of that. On another place, it makes me feel very small and humble in being a part of that.

Alex (10:42.818)

Mm-hmm.

Alex (10:51.746)

Mm-hmm.

Alex (11:11.189)

You mentioned some of the tools we talked about, Lectio 365, that's my bread and butter, always say it's every day I listen to it. And as we've been planning these podcasts on prayer, came across another one that a friend recommended, which is called Pray As You Go. And it's another guided prayer, has some space for silence in it. There's hallo, there's abide, there's one minute pause, so there are a

Brenda (11:12.984)

Mm-hmm.

Alex (11:40.464)

of different apps that people are using to help them with guided prayer. And then I think we should not forget music as a tool for guided prayer and worship. But it can be in the background, it can be the words of the song itself that we find ourselves praying, or I know when my kids were little we played scripture songs all the time so that they would memorize. Yeah and again those are the verses I remember because I have a song that goes with them.

Brenda (11:49.022)

yeah.

Brenda (11:53.592)

You

Brenda (12:03.192)

I know some of our favorite were the Steve Green songs, the Hide Him in Your Heart, me too. But who was the lady that did Go to the Ant? gosh, there was another one. She was so good. Maybe somebody I'll remember and can post on our social media, but I'm trying to teach my daughter the oldies but goodies and my grandchildren because I don't know how much they're known anymore, but those were just great songs. And my children can still remember a lot of those songs, which is really great too.

Alex (12:10.384)

can turn into a form of prayer as we hide God's Word in our heart as we remember it and then we pray it back to Him.

I can hear his voice. Yes!

Brenda (12:33.146)

I did get like I'd never heard of the pray as you go and I went and looked that up and it has a really neat feature in that I saw maybe a four or five point lesson about how to teach the exam and T 11 to 17 year olds. So yeah, so I was thinking like even for me just to give just some more basic language for the exam and prayer that we taught earlier in this series, but if you want to go back and maybe do a

Alex (12:34.464)

I can't

Yeah.

Alex (12:46.025)

yeah.

Brenda (13:03.066)

What's it called when you go back and look at something?

Alex (13:04.84)

I didn't see that. Mm-hmm.

Brenda (13:08.344)

Refresh your course on Examine. Go to that app and see what they're saying in that study for 11 to 17 year olds. And then take your children through it because I think oftentimes we don't think about teaching these forms of prayer to our children. But the time to start really is when they are children to be able to give them some ways to engage with the Lord, to teach them how to be more intimate with the Lord in these different forms of prayer and that prayer is not boring. It's exciting.

Alex (13:24.483)

Yeah.

Alex (13:32.558)

Hmm.

Brenda (13:38.298)

that it's not dead, it's living and active, that it's powerful. And so, I just think that this just seemed like that was a really good app that had some cool, cool things I want to go back to. So, yeah.

Alex (13:40.77)

Hmm.

Alex (13:53.666)

Hmm.

Alex (14:06.286)

I wanted to say...

One of the pushbacks that I gave, it's not even something I necessarily heard from other people about guided prayers that were not using scripture. So we have a lot of prayers in scripture we can pray, a lot of verses we can pray back, but more liturgical prayers, Book of Common Prayer, Valley of Vision, those type of prayers. You know, one of the things I used to push back on was like, okay, we're not supposed to have prayer become vain and repetition, and we're not supposed to have it become just rote and meaningless.

Brenda (14:16.908)

Mm-hmm.

Brenda (14:26.988)

Hmm.

Alex (14:38.576)

So I stayed away from those prayers for a long time, but for that reason.

And I don't know if it's getting older and realizing my words really are just not that great or if it's realizing there are many times I feel overwhelmed and I don't have my own words. I don't know what it is, but I've leaned more into these written prayers. I've noticed two things. The first one you already said that we are connected to believers around the world and throughout history when we're connected to these prayers that have been passed down.

love that aspect of written prayers. And the other thing is that it provides me with words, often times that I couldn't find or express myself that I say and I imitate, and they then become my words, right? If I am thoughtful about them, it becomes a cry of my heart. It becomes a way that I can express myself with the Lord. And so I really, I hate the years that I miss not using

Brenda (15:17.432)

Hmm.

Brenda (15:21.048)

Okay.

Brenda (15:28.621)

Mm.

Brenda (15:33.549)

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, well I think they were written by people who did a lot of contemplation. You know, these, I look at like the Puritans and you just go, why is it a paragraph is enough meat to chew on for, you know, a month? And I just think they sat with God and they listened and they were still and they reflected on the scripture and they prayed to know the scripture and then they wrote about it and it's just so rich. I was also thinking when you were talking about, I think the older we get,

Alex (15:43.908)

these beautiful written prayers because there's such richness and beauty in them.

Alex (15:54.049)

Mm-hmm.

Alex (16:01.238)

Really?

Brenda (16:04.862)

in terms of just guided prayer, like our Bible gets thicker. And so I think our guided prayers get better because we're not just going to like, I got to find the anxiety verses if I'm anxious. I need to find the, you know, anger verse and pray that. mean, like there's so much in the scripture wherever you are that will speak to the heart of where you are. And so that's one of the things I do love. I'm almost challenged when I have my quiet time to say, how can I turn this into a prayer for different people?

Alex (16:11.95)

Mm-hmm.

Alex (16:26.04)

Hmm.

Alex (16:29.738)

Right?

Brenda (16:34.886)

and make application because it's there the Bible is so rich and there's you know maybe one interpretation but many applications and not that we actually even all agree to the same interpretations or know the same interpretation but just the application the fact that God's Word is living and active and I think using the scripture in prayer is one way that that that we recognize it as being very alive and very powerful.

Alex (16:48.62)

Mm-hmm.

Brenda (17:05.324)

So we want to give just a few simple examples of guided prayer. Here's just a few that I have prayed at different times and was just reminded of when we were writing here. I think this whole idea is again, we want to remember that the scriptures were written in a time and place for a people, right? We have to look at the historical context. We have to see who's being written to, what's the culture, what's happening. So we don't want to lose that as we come to the scriptures, but the scriptures were also written for us and for our edification.

Alex (17:18.83)

Mm-hmm.

Brenda (17:35.051)

So on one hand, you know, they were written for a different audience, but they were also written to us and for us. And I think that when we do guided prayer, it does remind us of that, that these, this word and these promises and these truths are for me as well for the people that they were written for. So the first one is just when I'm fearful or afraid, I can pray Isaiah 43, 1 and 2. And again, to put our name into it and read it as if it's coming to us. So this is the Lord

speaking to you Brenda. Brenda fear not for I have redeemed you I have called you by name you are mine when you pass through the waters I will be with you the rivers will not overwhelm you when you walk through the fire you will not be burned and the flames will not consume you for I am the Lord your God

And there is something really powerful about taking just a small passage like that and inserting my name. you know, if I had time, I would probably have paused more, thought more, breathed more, maybe gone into even some Thanksgiving and praise at the end of that. When I'm discouraged, Matthew 11 28, the words of Jesus says, this is Jesus speaking to me. Come to me, Brenda. I know you are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.

And then I think times when shame or condemnation sneak in and seek to rob me of my joy or my peace. I'm reminded the apostle Paul comes and he speaks to me personally. And he says to me, Brenda, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ. For in Christ Jesus, the law of the spirit of life set you free. Brenda, you are free from the law of sin and death.

And so, you know, I've got Isaiah speaking to me, I've got Jesus speaking to me, I've got the Apostles Paul speaking to me. How beautiful for these writers to be speaking to their audience, but also in this moment to come and to speak to me in my time of need.

Alex (19:19.214)

Mm-hmm.

Alex (19:31.566)

you

Alex (19:48.353)

Just like with all these prayers, have an example. We have a worksheet to work through if you want to learn how to do these prayers. The example we use on the worksheet is the one that I use often, which is the Psalm 23 prayer. Mainly because I can lay in bed when I'm awake in the middle of the night and it's a scripture I know no matter how anxious I am, I can access Psalm 23.

And so I do the same thing where I take each phrase and try to apply it to whatever's making me anxious on that day. And so.

Because the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. Alex, you lack nothing from this. Lord, remind me, I don't like anything in this situation. He makes me lie down in green pastures. Here's where I see you giving me rest, giving me comfort throughout the day. He leaves me beside still waters. Here's how you're bringing peace. Just walking through that and applying it to the specific situation that's keeping me awake that night and reminding me that he's there in it. Psalm 23 is one.

Brenda (20:38.648)

Mm.

Brenda (20:42.53)

Yeah, that's great. I think there's something to be said. That's one of the beautiful things about putting prayer to words and words to prayer and letting it be from the scripture is when you're laying at bed at night that there is a passage that's so familiar that can direct your heart toward the Lord and counsel your heart. Well, we're going to end this edition of this podcast as we have most of the others. And that is with a reader who's going to

Alex (20:51.728)

to return to over and over again and we've given an example of that in our worksheet.

Alex (21:11.894)

Mm-hmm.

Brenda (21:12.514)

read her guided prayers. And I just want to say that this has become a precious friend of mine, somebody who has been writing her prayers in a Google Doc for me. I'm very fond of Google Docs for, I would say, maybe the last year and a half to two years. And so I have literally read hundreds of her scripture guided prayers. All of her prayers are just so saturated with the scripture. And just as the person who's been a recipient of reading those, I have been so blessed.

I have man, I mean just the Word of God coming at me every time so she asked me recently was it time to stop writing in the journal There's been some changes for me and she was like is it time to stop writing and I was like I mean if you think it is it is and I said but I'm so blessed every time I get to read your journal entries, which is almost every day that I do I said it's like an extension of my devotional time and I just get to hear the Word of God becoming so so

Alex (21:45.806)

Bye!

Alex (22:05.322)

No!

Brenda (22:12.27)

personal and intimate and alive for you. And not only that, but in the last season that I've walked with her, I have seen God answer so many of those scriptural prayers. It has been phenomenal. And so now I'm like, you see it? You see it right here? God's answered that. God's answering this. And just so exciting. So I'm really excited for everyone to hear from her. This was one I think she wrote in a time of personal sorrow and scripture just, know, the truths of who God is.

Alex (22:20.664)

Wow. Mm-hmm.

Alex (22:38.871)

Hmm.

Brenda (22:42.27)

the truths of what he's done, what he is doing, what he's promised to do. Not only did the scriptures guide her words, but they guided her heart in times where there was a lot of agony and also guided her heart to have words to express herself even in joy. She's somebody who's really had to learn. Like she wasn't naturally verbal. She didn't naturally know how to express herself or talk about her emotions or feelings or even just give answers. Like I can even remember when I

Alex (22:44.492)

That's great.

Alex (23:06.327)

Hmm.

Brenda (23:12.11)

first started meeting with her, I'd ask her a question and she would just freeze. She wouldn't be able to say anything. And now just to see just the growth and the maturity and the way she can express herself so beautifully. And I believe that the Holy Spirit and the Word of God has been her tutor in that to show her not only how to talk to God, but just how to speak and to gain personhood and to be able to move forward to say things that are gracious and are truthful at the same time, at the right time. So just I can't think

Alex (23:22.958)

Hmm.

Alex (23:30.382)

Mm-hmm.

Brenda (23:42.08)

a better testimony, honestly Alex, of somebody I know who I've personally witnessed the power of this kind of prayer. And so to you my friend who's reading, I just want to say thank you and it's been a privilege to walk with you. So we're through with our tools, Alex, and we're going to have one more podcast where we're going to round out I think some of the... I'm trying to think what we called it... doubts, something, and mystery.

Alex (23:43.214)

Mmm. Yeah.

Alex (23:55.671)

Yeah.

Alex (24:10.114)

Hmm.

Brenda (24:13.234)

Yes, that's delays and mysteries. So we're going to come back and kind of try to round out this whole series on prayer with talking about some of the things that has made it hard for us to grow in our prayer life and that we learned from others as well. They seem to be common struggles and so we can find some real comfort in that. But we hope that this tool along with the others that we've done have been a blessing and that will really encourage, motivate, expand.

Alex (24:25.25)

Doubts, delays, and mystery or something like that.

Brenda (24:43.121)

the prayer life of the saints who are listening and by doing that would actually really deepen their walk with God.

Alex (24:46.456)

Yes.