Praying with Scripture

I am curious about the idea of praying with scripture. The children and I have been memorizing our latest memory passage, and just today at lunch we prayed the passage we worked on at breakfast. "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen." Ephesians 4:29 At the same time, we personalized it.

So I decided to google the idea. Not that I have never heard of it, I just have never practiced it. I discovered a fresh perspective. God, in Genesis, states that He spoke creation into existence. Now did He have to do this? Was it necessary for Him to actually speak it? Couldn't He have "thought" it into existence?

I wonder if by praying the scripture aloud and by personalizing appropriately if we are actually speaking His Words into existence in a sort of way that He intended at the moment that He spoke them originally. Perhaps, we are personally affirming His Words, Words that He knew we would some day embrace, and may have fully intended for our benefit, and furthermore while speaking we are allowing Him to speak fresh breath... upon us and our lives. Because, His Word we know is INSPIRED or God-breathed.

Too often I underestimate, take for granted, and stop short of fully embracing that reality. Rather than reading His words into life, I read them as a status post that was written ages ago. Written to only refer to how He worked then, versus affirming His continued, current work and embracing these Words of His as conversations that He wants to engage in with me, today.

I do read them knowing He wants to speak to me but perhaps it is deception to think that He only wants to use them as an objective lesson to point me in the right direction. Far above a lesson He may be actually directing my own circumstances through the living, breathing, and receiving of His Word and these Faith gifts in such a way that when I speak or rather allow Him to speak it through me into life, and into my own life.

As I ponder the faith followers He chose to share with me, it is more than coincidental that each one can represent different stages of our own journey. These faith followers definitely had one thing in common. They intensely sought to know their Creator. No matter how imperfectly they sought Him, they did seek Him.

His Word... a faith gift; waiting to be received, affirmed, embraced, spoken into existence through my commitment to Him and His Word.

As a word-loving creature, I can truly grasp the idea that my Creator relates. I know that when others restate, affirm, and embrace my own thoughts and words there is a sense of well-being.
How moving, stirring, and up-lifting to restate His Words on our behalf so that we might draw closer to Him. And not only for our benefit, but for the mutual response of the Spirit. He finds joy in our drawing toward Him. Hmm! :-)

The Cornerstone, the Holy Priesthood, and our Spiritual Sacrifices

4As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him—
5you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
6For in Scripture it says: "See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone,and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame."



Next, Peter teaches us a third truth. He says that this SPIRITUAL HOUSE can be built only if one of the LIVING STONES is a CORNERSTONE.

The cornerstone is the most, important stone. If you don't have the cornerstone, the building will not stay standing.

Who do you think is THAT CORNERSTONE?
Yes! Jesus is THE CORNERSTONE of THE SPIRITUAL HOUSE that God is building.

It is only with JESUS, OUR CORNERSTONE, that we can be a part of His CHURCH or THIS SPIRITUAL HOUSE that God is building.

Incredibly, we become this SPIRITUAL HOUSE... and within that HOUSE God lives. He lives within us, and within His CHURCH! If we are followers of Jesus, He will send His Holy Spirit and He will live within us forever.

With Jesus as our CORNERSTONE, we can begin today to build our lives on Him.

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Fourth, Peter tells us that we can, also, enter into this HOUSE and go straight to the Throne of God because we have become a part of the HOLY PRIESTHOOD.

This means that we are PRIESTS. In the Old Testament days, God's children had to go to a certain person called the high priest if they wanted to give SPIRITUAL SACRIFICES to God.

But now, if we are followers of Jesus then we have become a part of this HOLY PRIESTHOOD. This means that we can actually go through Jesus to God and give our SPIRITUAL SACRIFICES to Him. We are all PRIESTS within this SPIRITUAL HOUSE.

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A fifth truth that Peter tells us is that we are to be offering SPIRITUAL SACRIFICES. In the Bible, we learn about offering ourselves in many ways. During this campaign we are looking at how God wants us to offer our Time, Talents, and Treasures to the mission at Lakeside.

Our mission is to reach out to those around us with the life-saving hope of Jesus and to encourage one another to draw nearer to Him.

SACRIFICE means to give up, to let go of, to surrender, and to take a risk. But, does is it really risky? When we think of what Jesus SACRIFICED for us, what do we really have to lose?

Let's join together and ask God to show us what SPIRITUAL SACRIFICES that He wants each one of us to offer during this campaign. How will we SACRIFICE for the mission?

Remember our SPIRITUAL SACRIFICES will not make us important to God. Jesus was the one, perfect SACRIFICE that could do that. Now we offer our SACRIFICES because it is the least that we could do to show our love.

Living Stones, Living Church

1 Peter 2:4-6
4As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him—
5you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
6For in Scripture it says: "See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame."


The first truth that Peter tells us is that we are LIVING STONES.
Before we became followers of Jesus, we were like... rocks.
A rock, by itself, can't do anything. It is a non-living thing.
But, when we became followers of Jesus we became LIVING STONES instead of a useless rock.

In other words before we became followers of Jesus, we were dead in our selfishness and sin. And, if we had stayed dead... we would never be able to be with and live with Jesus, someday, as His forever friend.
Instead, we would have been separated from Him forever and after we leave this Earth, we would exist in complete loneliness.

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So... What do we get to do as LIVING STONES?
Well, Peter tells us a second truth.
He says that like LIVING STONES we are being used to be built into a SPIRITUAL HOUSE. Hmm! What is a SPIRITUAL HOUSE?

This SPIRITUAL HOUSE is The Church.

The Church is not actually a building.
The Church is actually the followers of Jesus.

This building we come to is only a PHYSICAL or EARTHLY HOUSE where followers of Jesus meet together to worship God. So... this building is the house where our Church meets. This building is not the Church itself. It is a tool. It can be an important tool but WE are The Church! You and me, together.

When we become followers of Jesus, Peter says that, like a LIVING STONE, God is building us into a SPIRITUAL or HEAVENLY HOUSE.

So when you become a follower of Jesus you are actually apart of two worlds, our PHYSICAL or EARTHLY WORLD and our SPIRITUAL or HEAVENLY WORLD.

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As the song reads...
God is making us into a living church. He's making it of living stones.
Each of us is connected and has special worth. Heaven's gonna be our Home.
We're Living Stones. And, we're not alone!
-Living Stones by God Rocks