Jacob’s vow: making a deal with God

In times of uncertainty or doubt, many of us have prayed, “Lord, IF You will ___(fill in the blank), THEN I will ___(fill in the blank.)” That’s what Jacob did.

This son of Isaac and twin brother of Esau didn't know if God would be with him the way He had been with Jacob’s grandfather Abraham. He’d undoubtedly heard his family’s stories of faith, but maybe he thought that tricking his brother and his father had put him on the outs with God.

Now on the run from his brother’s wrath, Jacob fled toward his mother’s family many, many miles away. Alone and in new terrain, he made a vow to God in this prayer:

Genesis 28:20-22

from the King James Version of the Bible
and the Book of KJV prayers

And Jacob vowed a vow, saying,

If God will be with me,

and will keep me in this way that I go,

and will give me bread to eat,

and raiment to put on,

So that I come again

to my father's house in peace;

then shall the Lord be my God:

And this stone,

which I have set for a pillar,

shall be God's house:

and of all that thou shalt give me

I will surely give the tenth unto thee.

Genesis 28:20-21

paraphrase of Jacob’s prayer-vow

from the Book of Bible Prayers 

Lord God, if You will be with me

and

watch over me wherever I go

and

provide me with necessities

and

get me safely home,

then

You will be my God.

God did indeed take care of Jacob, whom He later renamed "Israel" and blessed with twelve sons who became the tribal chiefs of the Twelve Tribes of Israel.

 

Mary Harwell Sayler, ©2019

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A servant’s prayer

The aging Abraham must have completely trusted his eldest servant to send the man on such a long journey and important mission: To travel to Abraham and Sarah’s homeland to get a wife for their son Isaac.

Genesis 24:12 – a prayer of Abraham’s servant

from the King James Version of the Bible
and the Book of KJV prayers

"And he said

O Lord God of my master Abraham,

I pray thee,

send me good speed this day,

and shew kindness

unto my master Abraham."

Genesis 24:12 prayer paraphrased
from the Book of Bible Prayers 

"Oh, Lord

God of my master,

please grant me

success today

and show

Your steadfast

love!"

Today, the Lord Himself is our Master! So we can be sure of His positive response to us as we pray this servant’s prayer and go about, doing God’s will.

Mary Harwell Sayler, ©2019

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The prayer of Hagar: God sees!

Year after year, Abraham and Sarah waited for the child God had promised to them, but when nothing happened, they decided to take matters into their own hands. Sarah offered her Egyptian maid to her husband as a means of having a child, and Abraham obliged!

Once Hagar knew a baby was on the way, she treated her mistress with contempt. This undoubtedly burdened Sarah even more, knowing she’d failed to give Abraham a child, while her maid had not.

With Hagar’s haughtiness more than Sarah could bear, she, in essence, gave her husband an ultimatum. Abraham responded by telling his wife to do as she pleased. Sarah did. She treated Hagar so harshly, the woman ran away.

As Hagar wandered alone in the wilderness, an Angel of the Lord appeared and  told her she would have a son, whom she was to name Ishmael. Meanwhile, the Lord wanted Hagar to return to her mistress and be respectful to Sarah.

Realizing she was not alone and the Lord was with her, Hagar expressed her joy and relief in this brief prayer that speaks for us too.

Genesis 16:13 – a prayer of Hagar

You are EL Roi!

You are the God Who sees me!

You watch over me.

Paraphrased by Mary Harwell Sayler, ©2019, in the Book of Bible Prayers.

Prayers of Abraham

When God called to him, Abraham heard and responded, “Here I am, Lord.”  When God asked him to intercede for a man he had wronged, Abraham obeyed.

This patriarch of God’s people is lauded as an example of true faith and closeness to God, but few of his actual prayers have been recorded.

Genesis 15:2

O Lord God, what will You give me?

Will I need an inheritance

if I have no child?

Genesis 17:18

Oh, that my child

might live in Your

presence, Lord,

and be under Your

blessing!

Genesis 18:23, 32

Lord, would You really sweep away

the righteous with the wicked?

What if ten honorable people

are found?

And God answered:

For the sake of ten,

I will not destroy the town.

Paraphrased by Mary Harwell Sayler, ©2019, in  the Book of Bible Prayers.

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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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