Bible Reading and Prayer Tips for Adult Ministry Leaders

Written by Ruth Ann Hill

If regular exercise helps you stay fit physically, as we know it does, then daily Bible reading and prayer will strengthen you spiritually. No matter how many times you have read the Bible through or prayed, each day brings new needs. The main reason for daily Bible reading and prayer is to develop your relationship with Jesus.

Daily Bible Reading
Call it whatever you like - Quiet Time, Daily Devotions, Family Altar, or Bible Study - the important thing is to spend time every day in God's Word (God's Word for you).

• Read passages in devotional materials such as Open Windows, Stand Firm, Journey, essential connection, Bible Express, More, Adventure, and in your quarterly Sunday School learner guides.
• Keep a journal. Write passages/verses in your own words, or record special meaning a verse has for you.
• Read a passage aloud with the expression denoted by the contextual situation.
• Read a One-Year Bible with Old and New Testament passages, a Psalm, and a Proverb for each day. Use a different translation each year.
• Use a concordance to search for passages referring to your interests - for example, birds, trees, rivers, flowers.
• With computer software containing the Scriptures, search for a word or a phrase. Print all the verses together. New insights can be gained by seeing verses from different books of the Bible on the same page. Bible Navigator is an excellent Bible software program with many features that can enhance your study experience, including multiple translations and versions.
• Re-read sermon notes and related Bible passages. Record what is revealed to you.
• Read a favorite hymn. Is it based on a specific Bible passage? Find a favorite Bible passage and a hymn based on that passage. Try writing the words for a hymn.
• Personalize Bible passages. Say your name instead of the pronoun. (The Lord is Ruth Ann's Shepherd.)
• Have Bible resources handy, such as a Bible dictionary, commentaries, and/or a concordance, as you read.
• Read with imagination. Picture the scene. Think of the characters as living people.
• List Bible promises for prayer and to bring comfort.

Daily Prayer
A prayer cannot be answered until it is prayed. God's Word directs us to pray (1 Thess. 5:17; Jas. 5:16b). If Jesus could not undertake anything without prayer, how can we? Try some of these suggestions to strengthen your prayer life:

• Read/study prayers in the Bible. Note circumstances, the people involved, and responses.
• Memorize Scripture phrases/promises to use as your heart's cry in prayer - for example, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me" (Ps. 51:10; Ps. 19:14, among others).
• Keep a written prayer list. Record the date you begin praying for a request. Look for Scriptures related to the request. Record the date you become aware of an answer.
• Write out your prayers. If you have prayed for an individual, you may bless them by giving them a copy of your prayer. Writing your heartfelt gratitude to God could produce a poem or lyrics for a song.
• Pray through the Psalms. You can read 5 Psalms a day straight through the book or read them by finding the psalm that corresponds to the day's date. Read that "dated" psalm, then add 30 and read that number Psalm. Add 30 to the number of each day's psalm until there are no more. This approach gives you five Psalms, except for Day 29 when the 119th Psalm "adds up." Since it is the longest chapter in the Bible, save Psalm 119 to read when a month has 31 days.
• Pray each day for a different category of needs: Monday-Missionaries (get to know missionaries/their needs; see pp. 8-14); Tuesday-Tasks (projects or undertakings; Wednesday-Kingdom workers (church staff, volunteer leaders, state convention, and Convention leaders); Thursday-Persons in authority (government leaders and employers/supervisors; Friday-Friends and family; Saturday-The lost. (These suggestions are based on Gordon MacDonald's, Ordering My Private World.) Our suggestion for Sunday is Sunday Services/Special Requests.
• Allow the Holy Spirit to reveal how and what to pray. Have no agenda. Later, record what came to your mind.
• Read books about prayer, but spend more time praying than reading.
• Try variety in your private prayers. Change your position (sitting, on your knees, prostrate, hands raised).
• Include a "needs list" in your Journal. As you seek God's direction, what have you learned of His desire for you? As you pray, also record Scriptures that relate to each request. (You may find your answer in those Scriptures.)
• Write a letter to God. List areas you would like to grow in - especially your relationship to Him. Seal it in an envelope and ask a friend to mail it to you in a few months. The Shunnamite woman who provided the "prophet's room" for Elisha always referred to him as "That Holy Man of God" or "That Man of God." Moses glowed when he came from the mountain after being with God. What would people call you if they didn't know your name? Do you glow? Is there a peace about you?