By The Inspiration of His Word

By Saundra L. Washington D.D.

This e-Book contains eighty-four personalized prayers based on scriptural verses that will empower and inspire you in your devotionals as the Holy Spirit works in you. Written in the first person singular pronoun, these prayers can serve as a catalyst for developing or strengthening your relationship with God of the Ages.

As you pray the prayers, you will note that inherent in each prayer is the keen awareness of our own need to be changed by God and to be endued with His power to do His divine will. His Holy Writ provides the spiritual direction for each prayer, that is, each prayer is in response to the selected scriptural verses.

When we pray, spiritually influenced by the Scriptures, we acknowledge the weakness and sins that it put before us, and we celebrate in praise and thanksgiving as we glorify Him for being our God through Jesus Christ. Our prayers bring us into agreement with God and His power is released to quiet the turbulent soul.

Holy Writ (Bible, Scripture) inspired praying is not identical with Scripture praying. Scripture praying personalizes a biblical text. For example, 2 Corinthians 5:1 reads: “Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.” Scripture praying would personalize it thusly:

Lord, I know that if the earthly tent I live in is destroyed, I have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.

Though similar, Scripture inspired prayers in the context in which I mean it, are prayers inspired by the verse or passage through the work of the Holy Spirit in you. So an inspired prayer from this same verse might be:

O God, Whose days are without end and whose mercies cannot be numbered,

Keep me deeply aware of the shortness and uncertainty of human life. Grant that Your Holy Spirit lead me in holiness and righteousness and that when I shall have served my allotted time, I be gathered with all the saints of the ages before Your throne at last. This I ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Notice the difference?

Inspired Scripture praying is responding to God in the moment as you are meditating on His Word and being urged by the Holy Spirit to pray, in a contrite spirit, your soul deepest needs in reaction to the Word. It also includes responding to God in praise of who He is as God and what that means to you personally.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Saundra L. Washington D.D.
• Release date: Mar 7, 2011
• ISBN: 9781458096319

Saundra L. Washington D.D.

Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,Christian writing in particular is an expression of my passion to educate and inspire the body of Christ. I enjoy writing (and reading) and perhaps the clue that it was to play a vital role in my future can be traced to my love of writing as a child. Actually, it was not writing but scribbling (smile). I would scribble pages and pages and go show my masterpieces to my mother for her critique. She always complimented me on how wonderful my stories were and had me interpret the meaning from time to time. But, to be honest, I never contemplated writing beyond those childhood illusions and fantasies. God does indeed work His will into the lives of those committed to Him.So now, decades later, semi-retired from pastoral responsibilities, I felt the Holy Spirit's urging to write what I otherwise would probably be orally teaching or preaching.I believe you will find my eBooks interesting, spiritually strengthening, educative, informative, motivating and encouraging as you grow in your spiritual walk.You are encouraged to view samples from each eBook to get a “feel” for content.God bless you and thank you for surveying my eBooks and perusing this profile.All glory to God!

Book preview

Introduction

The New Testament teaches that it is only through Jesus Christ our Savior that Christians have access to God. Our prayers should therefore contain only those requests which can be genuinely offered in the name, character and spirit of Christ. This rules out all selfish petitions and treating prayer as a kind of magic formula by which God’s attention can be arrested or influenced. It should be clear to all Christians that prayer is not a means of compelling God to do our will.

Jesus makes an interesting comment about prayer. He said, Your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. Thus, if we understand it correctly and God knows our needs before we ask, clearly the purpose of prayer is not to inform God of anything we think He may be unaware of. God, after all, is omniscient. Beyond that, God desires to bless us.

Prayer, then, is cooperating with Divinity to bring about His plan, not trying to bend Him to our will. Our prayers to God are not for changing Him or to beg Him to do what we want Him to do. Rather, we go to God on His terms, not ours. We draw nearer to Him in humble submission, realizing our unmitigated unworthiness before His Holy Highness. As we relinquish our own selfish desires in acquiescence to the One who knows our needs far better than we ever could before we even ask, our prayers are transformed into power for living.

I think this is important for us to understand because it is man that is transformed in prayer, not God. We cannot exploit God as we tend to do to each other. The real essence of prayer extends beyond always asking to offering, extends beyond self-seeking to self dedication, extends beyond my will to Your will be done.

When we allow the inspiration of Scriptures to guide our prayers, we know we are coming into agreement with God because we are allowing His Word to speak to us. As we listen, our thoughts for prayer are formulated and with the help of the Holy Spirit, we make our petition know to God in a genuine, meaningful, heartfelt way. Inspired Scripture praying is the practice of using God’s Word as the foundation of our prayers helping us to align our thoughts and desires with His will as we express them to Him.

This e-Book contains eighty-four personalized prayers based on scriptural verses that will assist and inspire you in your own personal devotion life as the Holy Spirit works in you. Written in the first person singular pronoun, these prayers can serve as a catalyst for developing or strengthening your relationship with God of the Ages.

As you read and pray the prayers, you will note that inherent in each prayer is the keen awareness of our own need to be changed by God and endued with His power to do His divine will. His Holy Writ provides the spiritual direction for each prayer, that is, each prayer is in response to the selected scriptural verses. When we pray, spiritually influenced by Scriptures, we acknowledge the weakness and sins that it put before us, and we celebrate in praise and thanksgiving as we glorify Him for being our God through Jesus Christ. Our prayers bring us into agreement with God and His power is released to quiet the turbulent soul.

Holy Writ (Bible, Scripture) inspired praying is not identical with Scripture praying. Scripture praying personalizes a biblical text. For example, 2 Corinthians 5:1 reads: Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Scripture praying would personalize it thusly:

Lord, I know that if the earthly tent I live in is destroyed, I have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.

Though similar, Scripture inspired prayers in the context in which I mean it, are prayers inspired by the verse or passage through the work of the Holy Spirit in you. So an inspired prayer from this same verse might be:

O God, Whose days are without end and whose mercies cannot be numbered,

Keep me deeply aware of the shortness and uncertainty of human life. Grant that Your Holy Spirit lead me in holiness and righteousness and that when I shall have served my allotted time, I be gathered with all the saints of the ages before Your throne at last. This I ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Notice the difference?

Inspired Scripture praying is responding to God in the moment as you