Read: 1 Peter 1:3-9
Blessed be the God and Father . . . (v. 3)
Did you know that the phrase Peter uses to begin his letter is not original to him? He is actually borrowing a phrase from the Sabbath liturgy of the Jewish synagogue. The main section of prayers in the liturgy of the synagogue was called the Shemoneh Esrei, which literally means “eighteen,” and refers to the eighteen blessings that were offered for the gifts that God had lavished on his people. Thanksgiving blessings included prayers for the coming of the kingdom, for daily bread, for forgiveness, and for freedom from the tempter—and all of them were derived from prayers offered in the Psalms.
And if all of this sounds strangely familiar, it should, because Jesus taught us to pray this way. Jesus offered what we know as “The Lord’s Prayer” from his deep experience in the synagogue. Isn’t that remarkable? When Jesus prayed, he did not merely draw upon his own heart, though his heart was a river of love, but he relied upon the Scripture. While the human heart is necessary for falling in love, admiring a sunset, or writing a poem, it is too fickle to build a life of prayer on. We need the sure foundation of the Word of God. Literally, when you pray just open the Bible and pray away. You can start in the Psalms, but you can pray using the words of any part of the Bible. Praying out of the Bible in this way will give you prayers for a lifetime.
As you pray, ask God for humility to depend upon his Word when you pray.
About the Author
Dr. Timothy Brown is the Henry Bast Professor of Preaching and President Emeritus at Western Theological Seminary where he served from 1995-2021. Tim is married to Nancy and together they have three children and ten grandchildren.
