Episode #410: Turning Scripture Into Conversation With God – Praying Scripture

Hey, friends. In our recent episodes, we've been praying through Scripture together. And I've mostly been reading from the Psalms for us, but I wanted to show you another way that I pray through Scripture, and how you can use this to help inspire fresh conversations with the Lord.

So I have Matthew 9 pulled up on my phone here in the New Living Translation, and I'm gonna be reading the story that's recorded for us in verses 35 through 38. It says, "Jesus traveled through all the towns and villages of that area, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the good news about the kingdom, and he healed every kind of disease and illness.

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. He said to his disciples, 'The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest. Ask him to send more workers into his fields.'"

Now, the way that I use this to spark prayer, I'm not talking about times of study, but to spark conversations that I have with the Lord, I often look for the things that prompt gratitude in me, awareness of God. He's the main character in all of Scripture, right? So we see that Jesus is traveling through all of the places and teaching, announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. So that's one of my first pausing places, because I knew of the Good News, right? Of the Gospel. But I didn't always know what that meant. The Good News about the Kingdom for years felt heavy to me. Yes, I'm rescued, but, like, I need to work really hard now. But now I have this ever-increasing awareness about the Good News of God's Kingdom. He is better than I ever thought. He is better than we could ever conceive, and I'm guessing that the same is true for you too.

As we walk with God, we get increasing revelation from Him about how good the Good News actually is. And so, God, I thank You for the Good News of Your kingdom.

And then it says, "And he healed every kind of disease and illness." God, I thank You for Your healing power and that You choose to share that with us.

"When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd." I like to hang out in places like this too, because it's describing the heart of the Father for His people. He is our Shepherd. It reminds me of other passages where He talks about Himself as our good Shepherd and how His sheep follow Him because we know His voice. It reminds me of how God was angry with how the past leaders of Israel mistreated them and used things to their own advantage instead of for the good of the people, and He said, "I myself will be their shepherd."

God, I thank You that's true of You. God, I thank You that You have compassion on us when we're confused and when we are helpless, that You are a compassionate shepherd and good Father, and that Your compassion moves You to action on our behalf.

So God, You know the places where I feel helpless. You know the places where I need your compassion from my own mistakes, from my own shortcomings, from my own limitations. Please help me. Please help those that I know and love who need that from You too.

And then in this passage, He actually gives us a way to pray. He says, "So pray to the Lord who's in charge of the harvest. Ask him to send more workers into his fields because the harvest is great and the workers are few."

And so God, I echo this prayer. I pray to You, Lord, You who are in charge of the harvest, please send more workers into Your fields because we need more. I thank You that Your harvest is great in a world that needs You desperately. I ask that You open our eyes to see how much we need You. I ask that You reveal Yourself in ways only You can. And God, I ask You that You show me how to participate in this prayer, that as I ask You to send more workers into the fields, show me how I'm a worker that You can send into the field. Safeguard me from just jumping in like a worker does and making that my identity, 'cause that's a struggle I need to stay on guard about that. Help me, Lord, to engage as Your daughter, already loved, already cherished, who gets to be a worker in Your field, reaching others to share the Good News about Your Kingdom.

And I wanted to share this passage of Scripture today because every passage gets to be something we learn from, but also that we pray through. We can engage with our living and active God as we read His living and active Word and talk with Him through it.

And so here's a question that I invite you to talk with God about today:

God, what's something about this passage, about Your Good News or You as Shepherd or Your harvest and Your workers that You want to highlight to me today, and how do You want me to pray through that?

Have a good talk.

And if you've been encouraged by this content, please share it with a friend and help them grow in their conversational relationship with God too!

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