OK you guys, raise of hands if you have watched a YouTube video on “Prayer Bibles” in the last three weeks. My suggestion feed is blowing up with them. While they all share the same concept the execution is vastly different. Many see this as a “new” thing but the truth is the idea has been around for a long time. My mother had a Bible that she used specifically in her prayer time. The YouTube channel The Sisterita Clucb has been credited for bringing this back. (Link Below to the Sisteritaclub)
Of course with all the hype, it could not go without a bit of drama, I now have videos of individuals going back and forth about who is doing prayer Bibles the right way and some even questioning if it is Biblical. In the end, I really liked the concept but felt the Lord directing me to go a different direction.
First I selected a Bible. I selected this Pink and Brown bible that was gifted to me by my in-laws. I love this Bible but do not reach for it when studying scripture so I thought I would turn it into my Prayer Bible. ( I will go more in-depth about my specific Prayer Bible in next week’s post)
As I was praying about my setup and what scriptures I wanted to highlight I felt the Lord saying to me to focus on the prayers already in the scripture. As I shared last week that is 650 prayers starting in Genesis all the way through Revelation.
On the last Wednesday of the month, I will be posting a printable that we can use to work through the prayers of the Bible. To start with let’s look at the Prayers in Genesis. Our first scripture is Genesis 4:26
“To Seth also a son was born, and he called his name Enosh. At that time men began to call upon the name of the Lord.”
John Wesley speculates that this was a sort of call to do “more religion”. Specifically to “began to worship God not only in their closets and families, but in public and solemn assemblies”
He goes on to say that while Cain and his descendants declared themselves the sons of men and formed this “irreligion” Those who adhered to God began to declare for Him and His worship, calling themselves the sons of God.
Prayer became a way to distinguish themselves from those who were Godless through an act of worship.
“Lord, today distinguish us as Yours. Set us apart from the world of man. We praise You, o Lord, with all our hearts. As we begin to explore the prayers of your word, Lord, guide us and open our minds and hearts to You. We will be glad and rejoice in You. Lord, we sing praise to your name. ” Amen
Just like all the other Prayer Bibles, there is no right or wrong way to go about this. As this is a part of my prayer time I will take notes of any questions that are raised so that I can look into them later. I know myself. If I open Google or get up to find a concordance I could easily get distracted. I also know that over the next 650 prayers, I will be tweaking this process to simplify it.
If you would like to join me on this journey, be on the lookout each month for a the new list of prayers. We will follow the order of the Bible starting with Genesis.
Share in the comments your thoughts on prayer Bibles and if you do or will be using one.
Simply ~ Jess
“When faith ceases to pray, it ceases to live.”
― E.M. Bounds