Pray the Word

Hi friends... I want to share something POWERFUL with you today.

"Pray the Word"... you're asking me, Elizabeth, what exactly does that mean? Before I tell you, lets all agree on 2 things.
1) The Word of God is alive and active - Hebrews 4:12
2) There is power in our words - Proverbs 18:21

Think with me for a moment, what would happen in the spiritual realm if we combine these two truths? If you take an alive, active, and powerful Word of God (Scripture) and you pray it back to God using your powerful words (mouth)... something supernatural happens and God begins to act on your behalf. His Word is not going to return void nor is it going to fall on deaf ears. God LOVES to hear His Word prayed back to Him.

The KEY to answered prayer is to pray according to the will of God and in accordance to His Word.
The way to have a supernatural prayer life is simple... pray the Word of God directly. When we do this we seek to align our words with God's will more fully. Praying in this way is in alignment with God, in the name of Jesus, and the Holy Spirit agrees with you too. I don't know about you but I want all of them on my side when I'm believing for something and need the Lord to work on my behalf. Are you excited yet?

I know you have all been there like I have and had times in you life when you were at a point where you didn't know what to pray or how to pray and the words just wouldn't come. Any time you find your self there remember you can always pray God's Word.

If you have never prayed the Scriptures before it is really easy and rest assured, there are no special skills needed. Praise the Lord for that!! All you need to do is locate a passage that fits your need/desire (google search or ask God to give you one you may already know) and then substitute the pronouns (he or she) with the name of the person you are praying for. You may do this for anyone - yes, that means you too. Use the correct pronoun that represents that person throughout the verse or passage. It's that easy!

For today's post I am praying for my teenage daughter. I am praying for her continued growth in the Lord and that she would flourish as a daughter of the Most High God. I want her to not be swayed by peer pressure, not to succumb to temptation, to be strong and rooted in her faith, and that she would blossom into the woman of God that she is created to be.

I remembered 2 Peter 3:18. "But grow in the grace and knowledge our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."
I'm going to use my daughter Zoe's name and illustrate how I prayed this verse over.

Lord Jesus, I pray that my beautiful daughter Zoe would grow in the grace and knowledge of You. I pray that she would flourish as she grows into the godly woman You have called her to be. I also pray that you lead her in all things and that as she acknowledges You, You will guard her heart. Keep her mind pure and alert to the schemes of the enemy. Keep her from temptation and let no evil come to her. And you continue.... You can add more scriptures if you want or pray however your heart leads you.

It's SO powerful ladies!!! God is in agreement with YOUR prayers and He is faithful to His Word to perform it. You should be filled with excitement now!!

So, who is it that the Lord has placed on your heart to pray for? I encourage you to look up scriptures to help you pray for that person and their situation.

Psalm 91 is a passage that you can easily pray and is a great place to begin practicing your new skills. Try it! I promise you will feel empowered as a pray-er (is that even a word?). And just by adding this simple technique to your prayer time you will discover a depth to your prayer life that you never experienced before.

Artist Talk:
I used the simple watercolor 'stomping' technique my friend Colleen showed us and then stamped the tiny word 'grace' randomly all over the page using the same watercolors. You need to make sure that when applying the color to the stamp that it is dry wet and not wet wet like you would use for regular watercoloring. You want more pigment and less water for coloring stamps- especially tiny ones like this. Added some white spatters and then my page elements & finished with the journaling.
I love the watercolor look and used it for the "grow in grace" words as well.

Happy Saturday and may you too "grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus your Lord"!
Elizabeth 💕

Follow me on IG @ icolorinmybible

Check out the Garden of Grace devotional & printable bundle HERE. There are 4 pages of ephemera, washi strips, tabs, a devotional and more. I only used a fraction of the images on my page. Grab it for yourself and play along. 

Find the versatile stamps I used HERE

I'd love to hear your comments or see how you put this prayer technique into practice. Leave me a note or post a picture of your page.

I used these and I LOVE them!

My house, Your home

24 Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy. 25 So stop telling lies. Let us tell our neighbors the truth, for we are all parts of the same body. 26 And “don’t sin by letting anger control you.” Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 for anger gives a foothold to the devil. 28 If you are a thief, quit stealing. Instead, use your hands for good hard work, and then give generously to others in need. 29 Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them. 30 And do not bring sorrow to God’s Holy Spirit by the way you live. Remember, he has identified you as his own, guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. 32 Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you. Ephesians 4:24-32 NLT

Paul is writing to the church at Ephesus here but the Lord was speaking to me as if it were fresh rhema directly to me. I'm not sure if when you read that passage it spoke to you like it did me but man, God began to speak to me about holiness right off the bat and continued to speak various things to me throughout. 

I kept reading...

Verse 26 tells of something we practice in our marriage. Like any good marriage we have our disagreements and "heated discussions". The principle here is to not go to bed on unresolved anger as it allows the enemy to accuse your spouse before you. Needless to say there have been many a late night in our house. :)-

I kept reading...

In verse 29 it talks of using foul language and I've never been one to talk trashy or cuss however the rest of that verse is more convicting. See, it was here that I felt the biggest conviction from the Holy Spirit. "Your words should be an encouragement to all those who hear them". Boom! Right there I knew God was trying to prune me in the area of talking to my kids & my husband in my own home. Anyone else have a problem with their mouth getting them into trouble?? We are comfortable at our own house & most comfortable with the people in our house. This leads us to say things that we would never imagine saying to other people. Words are powerful and they need to be an encouragement to EVERYONE - not just those we minister to or see at church, work, or school. Lord have mercy on us! 

As a homeschooling mom the amount of words spoken to my kids far out weigh all the others I speak to on a daily basis. But it's my words that are shaping my kids.

As if I wasn't already convicted enough the crescendo in verse 30 stopped me dead in my tracks. "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit or bring sorry to God by how I live". Sure, I know what you are thinking... I would never do that. Truth be told, we are guilty of this more than we realize. We as Christians walk upright before the Lord as best we can but so many times, without even knowing it, we grieve the Holy Spirit of God. 

What the Lord was speaking so clearly to me through this passage was that my house was often not a very good place for Him to dwell. At times I have dishonored my husband with my words, I have spoke condescendingly to my kids, and allowed my emotions to control me and act in ways I shouldn't. These things grieve the Lord and many a day God has not been comfortable in my house because of these things. He simply can't be "at home" in my house unless I create an atmosphere for Him to dwell and abide there. This brings me to a place of repentance and tears knowing that my actions could be hurting the heart of my Father. 
You may ask yourself what types of things would grieve God's spirit or cause Him to not feel at home in your house? I'm glad you asked. Verse 31-32 sums it up for us. Getting rid of our harsh words, our anger, bitterness and evil behavior. Trade those out for kindness, tenderness & forgiveness and you will make God "at home in your house".  

Art:
1. Stamp and fussy cut all your paper pieces out then assemble with glue pen. I used the Illustrated Faith Seeds of Faith, She Blooms, & Delight in His Day paper collections. 

2. Using Derwent Inktense pencils lay a watercolor wash to the background. Mist the whole page with water then using a water brush pick up the color directly from the pencil and apply to page.

My verse was at the bottom of the page so I needed to modify where I put the 'grass'. I felt a lil scrappy so I just went with it. :) Hope you learn something new!

Grab your Love Your Neighbor set here.

Follow me on IG at icolorinmybible

In Him,

Elizabeth