‘…who by the mouth of Your servant David have said: “…The kings of the earth took their stand… Against the Lord.”’ Acts 4:25-26 NKJV
In the first part of this series, we saw how the disciples, despite facing overwhelming threats and danger, followed a Jewish pattern of prayer by first turning their attention to exalting and praising God.
Today, in the second part of our series, we note how the disciples continued their prayer by turning to quoting God’s Word and His Promises.
The Power of Words
The Hebrew word for ‘word’ is also the word for ‘thing’. In fact, the classic magician’s phrase ‘abracadabra’ comes from Aramaic and Hebrew, and simply means ‘what I say creates’. While I’m certainly not condoning magic, it is nevertheless a Biblical truth that our words have power to create. As we speak words of doubt and fear, we become increasingly doubtful and fearful. Hebraic prayer instead focuses on speaking words of faith and power, and that faith must be based in God’s Word.
A story was told of a young Jewish boy in a World War II concentration camp. One day a Nazi soldier placed him in a tight spot between two high powered electric fences. The boy was told he would have to stand still all night long. If he tipped to the left or right side, he would be instantly killed by the voltage of the fences. If he took a step forward or backwards, the soldier would instantly shoot and kill him.
“Like the early disciples, may I encourage you to keep your prayers Scripture based and Scriptural. Declaring God’s Word in prayer will build your own faith and that of those around you, releasing His power into situations that seem completely impossible.”
The young boy knew he was stuck in a death trap. What should he do? As he cried out to God in his heart, he suddenly began to recall some of the Psalms of David that he had memorised. The boy quietly and methodically began to recite the Psalms to himself. And as he did, it gave him peace and enabled him against all odds to keep standing still hour after hour. He kept reciting Psalms all night long and miraculously survived the night. The young boy later said, “the book of Psalms saved my life!”Praying the Psalms
Just like this little boy, Jewish people around the world will typically pray or sing the Psalms during times of need. We find this key repeated in the disciple’s prayer of Acts 4. In order to avoid being overwhelmed by the problems and threats of persecution at hand, they focussed their eyes on the Lord through His Word.
According to Bible researcher Dr John Garr, virtually all Jewish corporate prayer is either directly quoting Scripture or paraphrasing portions of Scripture.
There is truly something special about praying God’s Word back to Him, and Jewish people have been aware of this secret to prayer for millennia.
A few years ago, a close relative of mine was struggling with sickness. As her condition worsened, I felt increasingly powerless and lost for words in prayer. As I pressed into God in this difficult season, I found that the best words I could use in prayer where simply God’s own Words.
As I started to pray healing Scriptures over her, my own faith began to grow. And each time doubts and fears emerged, praying the Scriptures helped change my perspective. Over a period of time, my relative was healed of several allergies and her health remarkably improved.
Like the early disciples, may I encourage you to keep your prayers Scripture based and Scriptural. Declaring God’s Word in prayer will build your own faith and that of those around you, releasing His power into situations that seem completely impossible.
In our next part of this series on Jewish prayer, we will look at how Hebraic prayer is more corporate than individual.
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