Quote:
Originally Posted by OBW
And, despite all of your sources and references, you actually have not established that "the word of God is designed to be prayed." It can be prayed. Some of it is already prayer. But you have failed to actually deal with the question. The question is not whether you can pray the word. It is whether it was designed to be prayed. Is there any evidence that, as a general statement, you can show that the word is designed — written with the structure and intent that it would be prayed.
You can make generalizations about where there are prayers contained in scripture. You can find that some portions of scripture were actually prayed by someone else in other scripture. But you haven't established that anything says that it was designed to be prayed.
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I could explain that finding prayers, and verses prayed, is like finding verses that say "to the church in [city]" and declaring that churches must be by city. It could be true in some cases. But there are other cases that are not that way. Just as there are a vast array of verses in scripture that are not demonstrated as being prayed, nor are they said that they should be prayed.
No one has said you should not pray scripture. But you cannot find anything that establishes that it is expressly designed to be prayed. That is the point.
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This is true, which is why I still like you. You don’t stop until I can get to the punch line. Everything I have shared is relevant to the comment, but doesn’t establish that the word was designed for this purpose.
1 Peter 3:12 For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers and James 5:16 – The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. God’s ears are open to the prayers of the righteous, their prayers are effectual, and their prayers avail much. Therefore, if you want God to hear and answer your prayers you need to be a righteous man.
Rom 3:28 – we are justified by faith. Rom 4:21 And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. 4:22 And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. Paul explains that Abraham was fully persuaded that what God had promised He was able to perform, and therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. This is what he is referring to when he says Abraham was justified by faith. So in Galatians Paul says: 3:5 He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? 3:6 Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. 3:7 Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.
It is by faith that we are justified, it is by faith that righteousness is imputed to us, it is by the hearing of faith that God ministers the Spirit to us and works miracles among us.
Then Romans 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
The word is designed for us to hear it, and when we hear it faith comes. This is how faith comes. Without that faith it is impossible to please God, it is impossible to be justified, it is impossible to be a righteous man that God hears, a man whose prayers are effectual and that avail much. God has designed his word to transmit this faith to us. Prayer is based on faith. This is what James refers to when he says “the prayer of faith” in 5:15. A prayer of faith is your telling God that you have received his promise and are fully persuaded that He is able to perform it.