Theme Introduction - Church Prayer Leaders Network

Solid Foundation: The Power of Praying Scripture

Decades ago, she prayed a very bold prayer. Evelyn Christenson asked the Lord to let her teach the world to pray. She had a moment of thinking perhaps the prayer was not right, but then the Lord confirmed that He was the One who put that prayer on her heart.

When Evelyn passed away in November 2011 at age 89, it was clear that God had granted her request. She was the author of several best-selling books on prayer, she traveled internationally to teach principles of prayer, and even today her material is broadcast by radio into various countries of the earth.

God granted me the privilege of sitting under Evelyn’s mentorship for the last few years. Not only did I experience her passion for prayer, but I also heard often of her love for God’s Word. The two were inseparable. All of Evelyn’s deep and impassioned prayer life flowed out of the rich truths she discovered daily in Scripture. As you can see by her Bible, pictured on our cover, Evelyn treasured the Word and let it saturate her life. She understood the power of praying God’s Word.

My Own Journey

A few years ago the Lord convicted me about how much I did not know of His Word. My prayer life was rooted in my own thoughts and desires, but rarely did it flow out of my interaction with Scripture.

However, during an intense season of prayer, God impressed upon me to turn to His Word in a dramatic way. I unplugged the distraction of my television, and for the next several weeks I learned to pray Scripture. I started in Genesis and began praying my way through the Bible. God spoke to me and profoundly changed my heart. I fell in love with Jesus as He revealed Himself to me through His Word.

God answered my prayers in an amazing way during that season. But even after God had captured my heart, I continued praying through the Bible, book after book. Daily I read passages and then prayed back to Him the truths I discovered.

As I prayed through the Old Testament, I began embracing repentance, obedience, holiness, and fear of the Lord. When I embarked on the New Testament, my longing for the manifest presence of Jesus Christ through revival and spiritual awakening started consuming my prayers. After three years, I finally prayed the ultimate invitation, “Come, Lord Jesus,” at the end of Revelation.

Saturated in the Word

Both Evelyn and I discovered a foundational truth to prayer. When on your knees in prayer, keep God’s Word in one hand as you extend the other hand in worship of God and His great mercy

In this issue, many faithful pray-ers and students of Scripture will share their experiences of the power and authority of prayer grounded in God’s promises. May you discover the joy of saturating your prayer life with the Lord Himself as revealed by the Holy Spirit through His rich and treasured Word.

–Carol Madison, editor of Prayer Connect.