Bible Study on Prayer!

 Hey! I hope you’re having a great week so far. Today we’re doing a little Bible Study on Prayer! I’ve talked about different types of prayer and fun ways to do it, but I haven’t talked a lot about prayer itself. So that’s what we’re doing today! We’re going to study it a little bit. You can grab your Bible and highlighters if you want, but all the Bible verses will be here on this post too. 

Let’s look at my Verse of the Year, 1 Thessalonians 5:17 (NLT), which says: “Never stop praying.” I’ve mentioned it a lot on my Instagram, but I’ve never really dove into it. It’s only three words and pretty self-explanatory, but we’re still going to study it. 

The reason I picked the NLT (New Living Translation) translation of this verse is because it’s simple and right to the point; also, I liked it best out of the other translations. Sometimes, when I’m focusing on one verse in the Bible, I would go to the Bible app and look at other translations of that same verse. It helps me understand it better and the rephrasing of it just commits it to my memory. Here are what some of the other translations of 1 Thessalonians 5:17 say:

• “Make your life a prayer.” -TPT (The Passion Translation)
• “pray without ceasing,” -ESV (English Standard Version)
• “pray continually,” -NIV (New International Version)
• “pray constantly,” -CSB (Christian Standard Bible)
• “be unceasing and persistent in prayer;” -AMP (Amplified Bible)

All these translations say over and over to always be praying. It doesn’t say “we should try to pray more.” It says “Never stop praying.” So let’s pray about praying.

Dear God,

Your Word says to never stop praying, and I want to be faithfully obedient to You. Please help me to obey this command and never stop praying. I love you and I want to be in conversation with you more. But Your Word doesn’t say to try to pray more, it says to never stop praying. So please help me to make my life a prayer. I need your help, Lord, and I pray all of this in Jesus’ name, Amen.

1 Thessalonians 5:17 is such a life verse. From little prayers in your head throughout the day to sitting down for intentional prayer, we should commit our life as a prayer to God. 

The next verse we’ll discuss is James 5:16 (NLT -I’ve been loving this translation lately as you can tell; it’s super simple and to the point): “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.” Here’s two more translations of this same verse:

• “For this reason, confess your sins to each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous person is powerful in what it can achieve.” -CEB (Common English Bible)
• “Confess your faults to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The supplication of a righteous man prevails much, being effective.” -AFV (A Faithful Version)

You get the point right? Reading three different translations definitely helped me comprehend it better. Anyways, Christian community is such a great thing for growing your faith. One thing to remember, though, is that you shouldn’t base or change your beliefs off of what others say or think, but off of the Word. God loves it when we discuss it together, obey it together, and study it together, but don’t believe something if the Bible doesn’t say it. We’re only human, and we can’t ever have a full understanding of the Bible or God. Despite that, God also loves it when we come together to pray and worship Him. James 5:16 (the verse we just read) says to pray for each other and confess our sins to each other. After that, it says that a righteous person’s prayer is effective and powerful. So we need to make sure that we are training in the faith to be one of those righteous people that have powerful prayers. Obviously, if you have accepted Jesus into your life, obey His Word, and love Him, then you are righteous. But we can never reach perfection in the faith until we get to heaven. So until then, keep training in the faith and praying constantly! Together and alone. 

Okay. I know that was a bit longer than my usual posts, but I hope you’re inspired and maybe learned something. God Bless, have a great week, and never stop praying!