I have prayed all my life. I learned simple prayers as a very young child, with tiny hands folded, head bowed, down on my knees by my bed before I went to sleep: “Dear Jesus, Thank you for this day. Thank you for my mommy and daddy. I love you. Amen.” I remember the feel of the hardwood floor of my bedroom beneath my knees. I remember the white platform bed in front of me with the built-in drawers painted medium blue on either side of a special storage cupboard I could fit my entire self into, and did on many occasions.

I learned longer rhyming prayers before lunchtime in church school with titles like ‘Thank You, Jesus, For Them All’: “Round this table, here to pray, First we thank you for the day, For our family and our friends, Gifts of grace that heaven lends, Living water, daily bread, Countless blessings our God sends, Thank you, Jesus, for them all, For the great ones and the small, When we’re happy, when we’re sad, On the good days and the bad, We are grateful, we are glad. Amen.” This one was always rushed. I had my lunch in front of me. I could smell the homemade bread of my sandwich and the sweet hint of my fruit side. We couldn’t get through this prayer fast enough for me.

I experienced other people’s prayers, when they would pray out loud before a gathering or some event. The pastor’s prayers in church before or after his sermon. Boy could he pray for a long time! Our youth pastor’s prayer for safe travels as our youth group headed north on a white water rafting adventure weekend. My father’s prayers before family meals.

At some point, during my middle school and high school years, I graduated to my own words of prayer born from whatever issue I was facing at the moment. These were most often requests for help. “Lord, I have three big tests today. Please help me to remember everything I’ve learned. Amen.” Or, “Heavenly Father, I have my French competition today. I’m so nervous. Please help me to do well in front of all those people. Amen.”

And then, I quit.

For a period of time in my adult life, I quit praying. This may have started as early as college, despite the fact that I attended a very conservative, Christian college which required weekly chapel attendance and church service attendance every weekend. As I shed my youth and it’s innocent acceptance and mimicry of the things I was taught and the things my elders modeled for me, I started to question things and utilize my own newfound adult reasoning skills, and here I began to drift. For many years my relationship with God was a slight, very distant thing.

And then God gifted me with two sweet little baby boys. The responsibility of raising them to know who God is guilted me back into regular church attendance so that my littles could learn the Bible stories, hear about Jesus, and learn to pray. But it was awhile before my own prayer life was rejuvenated. The Holy Spirit worked within me for many years as I struggled to ascertain, as an adult, the truth of who I thought God was and of what scripture was telling me about Him, life, and our purpose here.

When I started praying again it was with an emotional connection. I prayed with fervency. I prayed for myself to know God better, for others to know Him in the first place, for peace, for patience, for wisdom, for everything. I prayed in bed at night when I couldn’t sleep, in the car while I was driving to work, with my kiddos at night before they went to sleep. I prayed. A lot. Some of my prayer requests were answered, in due time. And I felt some satisfaction at being able to recognize those answers to prayer. Prayers of thankfulness and gratitude followed. But some prayers went unanswered. Some of them are still unanswered (at least as far as my human eyes and expectations can see).

Recently, my prayers have taken a different turn which I view with a full heart. I was impressed by several of Priscilla Shirer’s books that I read and a women’s group I attend, Legacy Principles, to try incorporating scripture into my prayers. Literally praying God’s words. This concept, as I put it into practice, was immediately revelatory.

I had felt both peace and comfort from my earlier prayer style, my own heart-felt words reaching up to God’s ears. But these new prayers, incorporating God’s own words in with mine, gave me such a sense of power and strength as I had not previously experienced. When I prayed Bible promises of God’s gifts to us – strength, wisdom, peace that passes all understanding, among others – as I was asking for those things, with an attitude of faith that they would be granted to me BECAUSE the Almighty had already promised them, I was unbelievably empowered. The Holy Spirit filled my soul to overflowing.

And before you get discouraged, thinking, “I could never pray like that. I don’t have many scriptures memorized,” know that I don’t either. I have the WORST memory! Seriously. But we live in an age where knowledge is a keystroke away. I simply search online for ‘scriptures about peace’ or ‘Bible verses on marriage’ and I read through the results and pick the ones that speak to me. It’s that simple. And then I start writing out my prayer incorporating the verses I’ve selected in all the appropriate places. When I’m finished writing it out, I read through it in an attitude of prayer. I let the words speak from my soul as an act of sincere reverence, worship and communion.

I offer you the following example, to get you started on your own journey of powerful scripture prayer. (Link to Scripture Prayer Example: Scripture Prayers) Use this as it is. Or alter it to better suit your communication style. However you apply this technique, I’m positive you will feel as blessed by it as I do.