Enriching Our Prayers

 If your prayers seem thin and dull, or a bit too frenzied and infrequent, LeAnne Hardy has just the book for you. Honey from the Comb: A Guide for Focused Prayer Using the Scriptures (Birch Island Books) is the fruit of a lifetime of praying, experimenting and searching; seeking a better way to talk to God.

She writes, “it is easy to focus on the problems instead of the one who is able to  calm the storm.” She recommends enriching prayer by refocusing on who God is, what he is like, before rushing in to make requests or demands. And, adding thanksgiving and confession to the mix: Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication. ACTS. As another writer put it, a full diet of prayer.

Hardy’s book does not contain prayers, but hundreds of Bible verses that she has collected over the years, organized around the four aspects of prayer. For Adoration, for instance, she lists more than 40 aspects of God’s character and actions with verses for contemplation that later can turn to prayer (almost 100 pages worth!).  

After watching the evening news—all that suffering and chaos—she recommends turning to the section on the Almighty and focusing on “Is anything to hard for the Lord?” (Genesis 18:14) and “He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed.” (Job 8:10); rephrasing each verse and praying it back to God in adoration, before asking God to help that devastated family or to protect your own.

I’ve been focusing on enriching my use of the Lord’s Prayer, especially the first phrase, “Our Father.” With Hardy’s book in hand, I found a verse in Adoration on God as Father: “I am Israel’s father” in Jeremiah 39:1 that echoes Exodus 4:22, “Israel is my son, my firstborn. Let my people go.” God is coming to claim his son. In the section on Confession, I found “Those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (Gal 5:21) And did some self examination—working back through the previous verses—to see where I fall short and confessed it. In Thanksgiving, I found “In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship” (Eph 1:5) and thanked God for taking me in. Then, in Supplication I found “Be openhanded and freely lend.” (Deut 15:8) Adoption is into a kingdom that is a family, and family members need help—and I need help in being generous. That menu makes quite a meal for one day!

I first met LeAnne Hardy about 50 years ago and have enjoyed praying for her and her husband Steve as they served in six countries around the world. So, get yourself a copy and enrich your prayers, expand your menu.

—Larry Sibley