The blessing of Melchizedek - a blessing also for you!

In collecting prayers for ^the Book of Bible Prayers, I focused on actual prayers prayed by real people who lived in Bible times – people who pleaded, whined, praised, asked, expressed thanks, cried real tears, complained to God, and interceded for others – just as we do today!

According to early chapters of Genesis, people began to call on the Lord a couple of generations after Adam and Eve, but (maybe because they couldn’t write yet!) we don’t know what the actual words were. (Probably, “God, help!") Those references to prayer have generally been omitted, and so have most of the many, many blessings that laud God but don’t talk directly with or to the Lord.

A few blessed exceptions have been paraphrased as blessings that speak to God rather than about Him (for example, the high priestly prayer of Aaron.) However, in the case of Melchizedek, the king-priest’s words to Abraham remain as the first recorded blessing, appropriately beginning ^the Book of Bible Prayers.

Genesis 14:19-20 – the blessing of Melchizedek

May you be blessed by God most High,

maker of heaven and earth.

May you be blessed by God most High,

Who has delivered you from the hands

of those who wish you harm.

Prayerfully paraphrased by Mary Harwell Sayler, ©2019, for the Book of Bible Prayers – a single volume for you to pray with “prayer partners” among God’s people, regardless of the hour, day, or year! If the book blesses you, please say so in an Amazon review. If not, please write me personally and tell me! Either way, thank you. God bless.

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Praying with Abraham for our children

Abraham, the great patriarch of three major religions, talked with God often, but the Bible records very few of his actual prayers. Here’s one we, too, might pray for our children.

Genesis 17:18 – a prayer of Abraham

Oh, that my child

might live in Your

presence, Lord,

and be under Your

blessing!

paraphrased by Mary Harwell Sayler, ©2019

from the Book of Bible Prayers: actual Bible prayers 

collected and prayer-a-phrased from God’s Word

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Bible Prayers: forgive us

Almost every church family prays the Matthew 6 version of the “Lord’s Prayer” aka “Our Father” with regularity, unity and only one notable difference. i.e., When we get to verse 12, some say, “Forgive us our sins,” while others pray, “Forgive us our trespasses” – a word that doesn’t appear in the prayer itself but in the next two verses.

I like that word choice, however, because, from childhood on, I’ve seen “No Trespassing” signs and understood what they meant. Conversely, the idea of a debt wasn’t clear until much later, and, even now, “sin” is an abstract word that’s hard to envision, difficult to clarify, and open to interpretation.

As prayers for the Book of Bible Prayers came together, they remained in the order they appear in most translations. Then, each of those prayers was paraphrased into every day language with one exception – the Matthew 6 version of Jesus’ prayer as recorded in the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible:

Matthew 6:9-13 – a prayer of Jesus

“Our Father which art in heaven,

Hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come,

Thy will be done in earth,

as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts,

as we forgive our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil:

For thine is the kingdom,

and the power, and the glory,

for ever. Amen.”   

In King James' day, a "debt" may have been a particularly big deal as people sometimes wound up in debtors prison! 

Besides the beautifully poetic and powerful lines in Matthew 6, a lesser known version of the Lord’s Prayer has been paraphrased below as it appears in the prayer book but can be easily found in your favorite translation of the Gospel of Luke:

Luke 11:2-4 – a prayer of Jesus

Father in heaven,

may Your Name

be kept holy among us.

Bring us into Your kingdom.

Give us bread for the day.

Forgive us

as we forgive those who

have wronged us.

Keep us from temptation.

Deliver us

from a time of hard trials.

Amen!

MarySayler, ©2019

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NEW! the Book of Bible Prayers

After decades of researching what the Bible has to say about prayer and buying a bunch of prayer books that weren’t quite what I wanted, I felt led to collect the actual prayers in the Bible then prayer-a-phrase (prayerfully paraphrase) them into THE prayer book I personally want and need. If you do, too, you’ll be happy to know the Book of Bible Prayers is now available on Amazon.

With the gathering of these prayers, I saw things I’d never before noticed. As the Foreword notes, for example, “The prayers in the Hebrew scriptures (aka Old Testament) are frequently pleas, praise, thanksgiving, complaints, and petitions, but in the New Testament such requests or responses are less likely to occur. Instead, Paul and other apostles typically ask believers in Christ to pray for them. Or, more often, they offer parental blessings over the Christian communities they’re addressing. Similar to the priestly blessing of Aaron in Numbers 6, these New Testament blessings are directed toward the people rather than God, but I felt I would be remiss to exclude all of them, so a few of those blessings have been prayer-a-phrased as prayers."

An exception is the prayer of Melchizedek, which remains the blessing given over Abraham and now over us!

“May you be blessed by God most High,

maker of heaven and earth.

May you be blessed by God most High,

Who has delivered you from the hands

of those who wish you harm,”

Genesis 14:19-20.

That blessing also brought another surprise: i.e., It’s the first prayer-blessing recorded. Prior to that, we had God’s blessings over all creation in Genesis, and by the time of Adam and Eve’s grandson, we hear how “All people began to call on the Name of the Lord.” But it’s the actual prayers spoken to God that bring us this prayer book.

Lord willing, I’ll post a prayer from the book with some regularity on this site with the hope and prayer the Book of Bible Prayers will bring unity to the Body of Christ and more power to your prayer life and mine.

MaryHarwell Sayler, ©2019

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Praying God's promises through a storm

As Hurricane Dorian approaches the United States, fear can sweep over us like a tidal wave! God knows this and has already given us comfort in these words:

Proverbs 3:24-26, Contemporary English Version (CEV)

…you will rest without a worry
and sleep soundly.
So don’t be afraid
of sudden disasters
or storms that strike
those who are evil.
You can be sure
that the Lord
will protect you from harm.

As you read and re-read those comforting words from God’s Word, what words would you use to claim that promise in prayer? For example:

Heavenly Father, no matter how scary things seem, we claim Your protection for we truly believe You want only good for us and not harm. Thank You for letting us know we have nothing to fear as we rest in the strength of Your love. Praise You, Lord, for protecting me and my home, church, community, and loved ones in Jesus’ Name, amen.

Mary Sayler, ©2019

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Praying Bible prayers and Bible promises

For several years, the Bible Prayers blog has focused on actual prayers in the Bible – prayers that have been prayer-a-phrased (prayerfully paraphrased) into contemporary language after comparing many of the translations found in my home and also on the Bible Gateway website.

If you’ve followed this blog (thank you very much and God bless you!) you’ve probably noticed long gaps between posts, which I pray will be only temporary.

Meanwhile, I’ve been collecting and paraphrasing Bible prayers for a book, which, Lord willing, will soon be available because I believe so strongly in its importance – first as a means of providing an up-to-date version of actual Bible prayers in one easy-to-read book - and also because praying those prayers means we automatically have prayer partners from the past, present, or future, who agree with us in prayer as two or more of us gather in Jesus’ Name.

In addition to that goal, a thought recently came to remind me that powerful, timeless, and relevant prayers are also available as we appropriately claim God’s promises in the Bible. Lord willing, this blog will soon include those prayers too.

For example, consider Psalm 119:165 in the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible: “Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.” Or, according to the Amplified Bible (AMP), “Those who love Your law have great peace; Nothing makes them stumble.” Or, the Contemporary English Version (CEV) says, “You give peace of mind to all who love your Law. Nothing can make them fall.”

With those translations and others in mind, a prayer that claims this biblical promise might go like this:

Oh, Lord, we praise You for Your encouraging Word to us through scripture. Thank You for promising to give us great peace of mind if we take Your will to heart, mind, and spirit. Thank You for showing us Your will in the instructions and commandments You’ve given us in the Bible. Praise You for the guidance of Your Holy Spirit, for the strength of Your Word, and for Jesus Christ, Who keeps us from falling away from You. In His Name we pray, amen.

Mary Sayler, ©2019

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Last prayer in the Bible

Revelation 22:20-21

Marana tha—

Our Lord, come!

May the grace

of our Lord Jesus Christ

be with you all.

Amen.

prayer-a-phrased by Mary Harwell Sayler, (c) 2019

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