LEARNING HOW TO PRAY USING SCRIPTURE – John 14:13

And whatever you ask in My name, this I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. (John 14:13) 

When Jesus says to pray “in My name,” He means that we can pray in His authority. When our requests, made in the name of His Son, further God’s purposes and kingdom, God will act on our behalf, and in the end the Father will be “glorified in the Son” (John 14:13). 

Christ promises He will do anything that is asked “in His name.” That implies that the person is asking something consistent with the will and nature of Christ. This, in turn, means such a request is consistent with the will and nature of God (John 14:10).

By using Scripture to petition our prayers, we use God’s words and speak them back to Him. God promises that His Word never returns void, therefore, praying Scripture is a beautiful way to know God’s will. It guards our theology and helps guide our requests in accordance with God’s word. 

Praying scriptures is helpful for a few reasons. First, it prevents us from praying amiss since it comes directly from God’s word (James 4:3). Next, it ensures that God hears and answers our prayers (1 John 5:14-15). It also helps us to live a more biblically based life since when we remain in God’s word by praying it each day, our hearts become more aligned with God’s ways. Instead of being led astray by the world’s philosophies, we begin to live our life more like God intended us to (Romans 12:2). 

Let’s take a look at how we can personalize a passage from the Word of God and pray. 

Here’s how we could pray Philippians 4:6-7: Lord, I thank you that I don’t have to be anxious about anything. I thank you that I can lay every burden and every care at your feet. Instead of trying to fix my problems on my own, I thank you that I can give them to You. Thank you Lord that when I give you my anxiety and my worries, you give me Your peace. Even when things may be going wrong, internally I can have peace. Lord, help me to lay all my anxieties at Your feet and help me to trust You to do what only you can do instead of trying to do what I cannot do. Thank you Lord. Amen.

 When we look through the Bible we find believers praying the Psalms. For example, in Acts 4:24-26, the believers pray Psalm 2. Even Jesus prayed using the Psalms; His dying prayer on the cross was a quotation of Psalm 22:1: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34). 

Other examples of prayers where we can insert a loved one’s name are: 

Ephesians 1:16-19; “I have not stopped giving thanks for you ______________, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in His holy people, and His incomparably great power for us who believe.” 

Ephesians 3:14-19; “For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you ______________, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

Philippians 1:9-11; “And this I pray, that your love ________________ may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.” 

Hebrews 13:20-21; “May the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you _____________ complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.” 

We need to find a quiet place where we are able to connect with God without distraction. Where we can focus on letting His Word speak to us and direct our prayers. 

We can also pray a verse back to God and insert the name of a specific person or group to make the prayer more personal. “Lord, your Word says in Acts 2:21 that everyone who calls on Your name will be saved. I pray that _____________ will call on Your name and be saved. Amen!” 

We can also ask the Holy Spirit to help us pray. For example, when we don’t know how to pray or we are lost as how to pray, we can ask the Holy Spirit to intercede for us in prayer since “the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God” (Romans 8:26-27). 

God knows our heart, and He knows our desire to pray on behalf of people in need, using Scripture. So know that as you faithfully commit to pray, He will be faithful in answering your prayers according to His perfect will. 

Therefore, “Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass” (Psalm 37:4-5). 

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