Try this at home. Here’s one feat I encourage every believer to attempt. Insert your name and the names of loved ones into Scripture.
Then pray the words and the Word back to God and see what happens.
Recently, I recognized the seventh anniversary of my father leaving this earth in a social media post. In the write-up, I mentioned the years my dad spent as an atheist.
When I met Christ at sixteen, I started praying for my dad. Prayers for him to believe in the heavenly Father.
And God answered my prayers sixteen years later when my dad gave his life to the Lord.
Inserting Names into Bible Verses
But in the middle of the long process, my faith often waned. I struggled to believe my dad would ever become a Christ-follower.
Needing help with my own unbelief, I began to insert my dad’s name into Scripture. Then I prayed it out loud and back to God. While I may not know for sure, I think it played a part in my dad’s salvation.
Yet, I know this. There’s power in prayer and we move mountains in the spiritual world with the truth of God’s Word.
Also, this practice acquaints us with Scripture and aids in its memorization.
Names of Loved Ones and Yours
And please don’t feel the least bit selfish to add your name into Scripture. Four Bible verses on colored sticky notes hang on the wall in my home office. Each display either my name or the pronoun “me.” I look at them often as reminders of God’s promises.
I’m sharing 12 Scriptures I’ve personalized and prayed. However, keep in mind the wealth of Bible topics available at our disposal.
Examples include: salvation, freedom from addictions, fear, healing, spiritual growth, strength, faith, trust, love, forgiveness, bondage, sin, wisdom, wayward souls, and depression.
Scriptures and Names
#1 Salvation/John 3:16, For God so loved Gene Clarkston (my dad), that he gave his only Son, that if Gene believes in him, Gene will not perish but have eternal life.
#2 Salvation/Romans 10:13, If Gene Clarkston calls on the name of the Lord, he will be saved.
#3 Fear/2 Timothy 1:7, For God has not given Sara a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of sound mind.
#4 Spiritual blessing/Ephesians 1:3, Blessed be the God and Father of Laura’s Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed Laura in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.
#5 Strength in the Spirit/Zechariah 4:6, This is the word of the Lord to Jenny: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts.
#6 Healing/Malachi 4:2, But for Kristi who reveres my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. Kristi shall go out leaping like a calf from the stall.
#7 Life in Christ or calling/1 Corinthians 1:9, God is faithful, by whom Debbie was called into the fellowship of his son, Jesus Christ her Lord.
#8 Surrender and support/2 Chronicles 16:9, For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to Teresa when her heart is completely his.
#9 Secure in God’s love/1 John 3:1, See what kind of love the Father has given to Cory, that she should be called a child of God; and so Cory is.
#10 Discouragement/Psalm 90:14, Satisfy Dianne in the morning with your steadfast love, that she may rejoice and be glad all her days.
#11 Peace/Isaiah 26:3, You keep Elaine in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because she trusts in you.
#12 Comfort for hard times/Psalm 32:7, You are a hiding place for Shara; you preserve her from trouble; you surround Shara with shouts of deliverance.
The Name Above All Names
Inserting our name and the names of loved ones into God’s Word becomes a powerful prayer. And where calling out names to the Name above every other name, Jesus!
Write the Bible verses with names on a notecard, sticky note, in a journal, or type out and save where you will see them. It serves as a reminder to pray and also builds our faith.
My list gives you some ideas. The important message remains.
Prayer changes things and people.
So pray with intention, specifics, God’s Word, and with names.
Featured image courtesy of Adobe Spark.
* 2 Timothy 1:7 based on NIV, all other verses based on ESV.
