Praying scripture back to God & applying it

Like many folks, I would not choose the Ten Commandments as my favorite Scripture to cozy up with. But I experienced them differently when I experimented with Martin Luther’s way of praying called the Four Golden Strands. He prayed a verse of Scripture in four ways. 

First, he asked God to help him apply the verse to himself in as many ways as possible (strand 1—but note that this is a prayer, not a beating-self-up session). 

Then he made appropriate confessions to God based on those applications (strand 2). 

He then thanked God for anything related to the verse’s truth (strand 3). 

Finally, he offered requests of God regarding the truth of that verse.[1] 

Since Luther often did this with the Ten Commandments, I decided to give it a try as I was hiking one day. Certainly the first two commandments did not apply to me because I wasn’t an idol worshipper, but I started with the first one anyway: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3, KJV). 

In the heat and tedium of the steep switchbacks of the trail, I saw that I had an enormous god before God. It was my comfort. Sure, I served, but I arranged service around getting or doing whatever made me comfortable. If circumstances became uncomfortable, I whined to God nonstop. So I confessed this to God and then thanked him for being One who brings us peace and security in what appears to be uncomfortable circumstances (thereby using us in such powerful ways). I asked God to help me trust him for my comfort.  

TODAY’S EXPERIMENT - Try praying a verse of Scripture using Luther’s Four Golden Strands. If possible, start with the Ten Commandments and see how long you can stay off your knees. [1] Walter Trobisch, Martin Luther’s Quiet Time (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1975), 3, 7–10.

Johnson, Jan; Willard, Dallas. Renovation of the Heart in Daily Practice: Experiments in Spiritual Transformation (Redefining Life) (pp. 38-39). The Navigators. Kindle Edition. 

 

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