Turn Scriptures Into Prayers

In 1970, God gave Ruth Shinness an unusual message. After she became involved in a series of small automobile accidents, she said, "Lord, do You have something to say to me?"

The Lord's instructions came clearly: "I want you to stay home and seek Me. Go out only when your husband goes out."

"But, Lord," she objected, "He doesn't like to shop." God did not answer, but she knew she could trust Him to work out the details of their daily lives.

By 1975, instead of having answers, though, some things in her life grew worse. She learned that one of her sons had begun using drugs and alcohol. Ruth was devastated. She thought that if God had told her to stay home and pray for her family and this terrible thing happened, she was a failure. Now she sees God used that incident and other painful situations to teach her more about prayer.

Through the church she attended, Ruth learned the power of praying Scripture. Five years later she had many answers from "reminding God of His promises" (Isaiah 62:6 Amp.).

In the early morning hours of January 4, 1979, after four years of praying Scripture, her son knocked on her door asking if he could come in. He wanted to give his heart to the Lord. He experienced a wonderful transformation in his life and went on to Bible college where he later taught.

J. Oswald Sanders testified how his spiritual life was transformed. "A change came when I learned to use the Scriptures as a prayer book, and to turn what I read, especially in the Psalms, into prayer."

Teach us, Lord, to use Your Word to help us pray more effectively.

"Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests" (Ephesians 6:17,18).