The Family Disciple Me Podcast // Discipleship Starts With a Conversation
In a world filled with a lot of talk, we want to have meaningful, biblical conversations with those God has entrusted to us. Join Tosha Williams and the Family Disciple Me ministry for Devotion Driven Discipleship conversation starters that will encourage you to "Seek Him Speak Him" in your own life.
Family Disciple Me is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) Christian ministry dedicated to catalyzing Devotion Driven Discipleship in our own lives and homes as well as around the world.
For more information, visit familydiscipleme.org
The Family Disciple Me Podcast // Discipleship Starts With a Conversation
LIFE VERSES | Focus Your Prayers | Convo #3 in "Finding Scriptures That Shape Your Story"
Ever felt your mind wander during prayer, losing focus and direction just when you need to connect with God most deeply? You're not alone. While quick "stoplight prayers" have their place, there's a profound difference when we learn to pray with laser focus and genuine depth.
The secret lies in an ancient practice modeled by spiritual giants throughout history – praying Scripture. When we examine the prayer lives of Moses, David, Daniel, and Paul, we discover they consistently wove God's own words into their conversations with Him. Most powerfully, Jesus Himself turned to Scripture in His darkest hour on the cross, quoting from Psalms even as He suffered.
This episode reveals how Scripture-focused prayer transforms our scattered thoughts into powerful spiritual conversations. Think of it as spiritual breathing – inhaling God's Word as you seek Him, then exhaling it back in focused prayer. The beautiful simplicity of this approach means you don't need to craft perfect words; you can borrow God's perfect words instead.
Beyond personal growth, Scripture-focused prayer becomes a powerful discipleship tool. When you ask "Can I pray for you?" and then pray God's Word over someone, you're giving them the gift of divine truth wrapped in compassion. Imagine praying Psalm 23 over a friend facing fear, Ephesians 3:14-21 for someone needing strength, or the blessing from Numbers 6:24-26 over your children before school.
Ready to transform your prayer life? This week, open your Bible to a passage – perhaps a psalm, one of Paul's prayers, or the Lord's Prayer. Pray it aloud for yourself, then pray it for someone else. Visit the Family Disciple Me app for the accompanying Discipleship Conversation Guide (SOON TO BE RELEASED!!!!) to take this journey deeper. Remember, discipleship starts with a conversation, and the most meaningful conversations are shaped by God's own words.
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The Family Disciple Me ministry exists to catalyze devotion driven discipleship in our homes and around the world. We believe that discipleship starts with a conversation, and FDM provides free, easily-accessible, biblical resources to encourage these meaningful conversations along life's way. Sign up through our website to be "the first to know" about upcoming releases and resources (including the FDM App - coming soon!!!) You can also follow Family Disciple Me on social media.
Family Disciple Me is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit ministry, and all donations are tax deductible. More information, blogs, statement of faith and contact info can be found at familydiscipleme.org
How is your prayer life going? Do you ever feel like your prayers wander or lose direction? Do you ever feel like you get started in prayer going this way and then you fall asleep that way? I don't know about you, but sometimes it's easy to shoot up quick stoplight prayers or pray genie-in-the-bottle prayers, where I give God my wishes or say those thank you, god for this food prayers. I'm not talking about that kind of prayer. I'm talking about those moments when you want to pray real deep, focused prayer, when you want your prayers to be more than just rambling or scattered words. I'm talking about those moments when you need to intercede in a way that surpasses just normal, simple prayers. That, my friend, is what this episode is all about, as we continue in our collection of conversations that we're calling Life Verses, finding Scriptures that Shape your Story. Today, we're going to be talking about Focus your Prayers, and what we're going to find is that, as we search scriptures that shape our stories, it is so valuable and so important for us to look for prayers that can be found throughout God's Word that we can then use in our own walks with God as we get started.
Speaker 1:Today, we're going to look at this key scripture from Psalm 88, verses 1 and 2. And it says this Day and night I cry out to you. May my prayer come before you Turn your ear to my cry. Have you ever felt that way? Have you ever needed that sort of prayer? I sure have this psalm, this prayer. It's raw, it's persistent, it is laser focused. It's not fancy, it's not polished, it's just a desperate, heartfelt cry to God. And that's what focused prayer is. It's lifting up our deepest needs, our rawest emotions, the most vulnerable parts of our story, and aiming them in prayer at the God who hears and can do something about all of it. And here's the beautiful thing we don't have to come up with perfect words. Praise God. We can use His words, God's entire word. Every verse, every prayer, every blessing, every chapter, every lament can shape our prayers. So think, a prayer like this, it's kind of like breathing. We inhale God's word as we seek him and then we exhale it back to him as we pray. We can pray not just his promises, but we can pray his entire word. That's what godly people did throughout scripture, that's what godly people have done through the history of the world. And, friend, even Jesus himself prayed scripture as he hung on the cross. He focused his prayers by quoting the Psalms, including Psalm 22, verse 1. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? He prayed Psalm chapter 31, verse 5, into your hands I commit my spirit. Oh friend, if Jesus prayed scripture in his darkest moments, how much more then should we learn to focus our prayers in the same way? Have you learned to do this? Have you begun to pray scripture back to God? That's the invitation in this podcast episode.
Speaker 1:In this conversation, I'll be the first to admit prayer is not always easy for me. I find it simple to pray quick prayers and a lot of prayers along life's way, but when it comes to the deepest, hardest places in my life, I sometimes don't even know what to say. That's why I've learned, and I'm continuing to learn, the importance of letting Scripture focus my prayers. Of course, the Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6 is such a model prayer for all of us, and that's something that so many pray in community. But there are also so many other prayers, like the prayers of Moses, the prayers of Hannah, the prayers of David, the prayers of Asaph, the prayers of Daniel, the beautiful prayers of Paul. The prayers of Daniel, the beautiful prayers of Paul. I find that as I search the scriptures to shape my story, that as I come across these beautiful prayers, it is such an amazing moment to stop to breathe it in and then to exhale it back in prayer to the Lord, who promises that he hears and he answers.
Speaker 1:Prayer Thing is. Praying isn't just for us, it's also a way that we can disciple others and point others to Jesus. One of the simplest spiritual conversations that we can have is to ask someone else can I pray for you? They may say no, and if they do, that's their choice, that's okay. But when they say yes, we can pray over them and not just pray our own words. We can pray God's word over them. When we speak his word back to someone else, back over someone else, we give them the gift of hearing God's truth. Imagine praying Psalm 23 over a friend who's going through fear or death or a hard time. Or imagine praying Ephesians 3, verses 14 to 21, over someone who needs strength. Or one of my favorites praying the blessing of Numbers 6, chapter 24 to 26, over your children. I remember the season when I began praying that scripture, that blessing, over my kids when they hopped out of the car to go into school each morning.
Speaker 1:Scripture-focused prayers make God known in powerful, practical ways. So here's your challenge for this week Focus your prayers, spend time in God's Word. Open your Bible to a passage, maybe one of Paul's prayers, or a psalm, or even the Lord's prayer. Pray it aloud for yourself and then pray it for someone else. Let God's Word become part of a conversation that you have with them.
Speaker 1:And as you do this, I challenge you, as always, to go to the Family Disciple Me app and open up the Discipleship Conversation Guide that goes along with this episode. It will lead you deeper into Scripture. It's going to help you breathe in God's Word as you seek Him, and then it's going to compel you to breathe that out in prayer and then in speaking Him to someone else. Use this in your personal devotion and then let it become a part of your discipleship journey. Oh, friends, remember this Jesus himself focused his prayers by praying scripture. If he did so, should we so? Breathe in God's word and then breathe it out in focused prayer. Make this part of your life verses and, as you do remember, seek Him, speak Him. Discipleship starts with a conversation. Oh, friend, be encouraged, be challenged and blessed. I'll see you here in the next episode. Until then, go with God.