4 Ways To Pray The Gospel Over Your Life - J D Greear

One of the revolutionary ideas of the gospel is that we begin to do what we ought for God as we are captivated by the story of what he has done for us.

Spiritual fruits do not develop in us as we focus on them; spiritual fruits come as we abide in Jesus (John 15:5). Spiritual “fruit” is much like physical “fruit.” When a husband and wife conceive physical “fruit” (i.e. a child), they are not thinking about the exact, scientific mechanics of making that child. They get caught up in a moment of loving intimacy with one another, and the fruit of that loving intimacy is a child. In the same way, spiritual fruits do not grow by focusing on fruit production, but by becoming intimate with the doctrines of the gospel.

Grow Your Fruit with the Gospel

Jesus said that saturating ourselves in the gospel, or “abiding” (lit., “making our home”) in it, is the way to abundant fruit. Sanctification is the daily process of pulling up the roots of our hearts from the flesh and grounding them in the soil of the gospel. Or, to change metaphors, we must send out missionaries to the unreached parts of our heart to preach the gospel and bring our heart under the subjugation of the gospel.


Things like radical generosity and audacious faith are not produced when we focus on them, but when we focus on the gospel.


A Prayer of God's Righteousness

About four years ago, I wrote a prayer for our church to help to this end. We often talk about “preaching the gospel to ourselves daily,” but how can you do that? This four-part prayer confronts us with the reality of God’s gift-righteousness and love:

1.“In Christ, there is nothing I could do that would make you love me more, and nothing I have done that makes you love me less.”

Pray about this “gift righteousness” of the gospel (2 Cor. 5:21) and go to war against the incipient works-righteousness hardwired into our hearts.

2.“Your presence and approval are all I need today for everlasting joy.”

Pray about this value of God’s presence in our lives. It’s one thing to know that Jesus is your possession; it’s another for that approval to have such weightiness in our hearts that our captivity to other idols is snapped.

3.“As you have been to me, so I will be to others.”

Pray about and consider the extravagant generosity of God toward us. His generosity toward us leads us to radical generosity toward others.

4.“As I pray, I’ll measure your compassion by the cross and your power by the resurrection.”


Pray that God would help you view the world through the lens of the gospel. Seeing the compassion and power of God revealed in the gospel produces bold, audacious faith in our hearts.



Focus on What Jesus has Done For You

Things like radical generosity and audacious faith are not produced when we focus on them, but when we focus on the gospel. Focusing on what we ought to do for God creates only frustration and exhaustion; focusing on what Jesus has done for us produces abundant fruit. Resting in what Jesus has done for us releases the revolutionary power of the gospel.



J.D. Greear is the pastor of the Summit Church in Raleigh-Durham, NC. This article is adapted from his newly released book, Gospel: Recovering the Power that Made Christianity Revolutionary.

Three Things Jesus Prays For Us by Jonathan Parnell

Thomas Watson:

When a Christian is weak, and can hardly pray for himself, Jesus Christ is praying for him; and he pray for three things.

First, that the saints may be kept from sin (John 17:15). "I pray that thou shouldest keep them from evil." We live in the world as in a pest-house; Christ prays that his saints may not be infected with the contagious evil of the times.

Second, for his people's progress in holiness. "Sanctify them" (John 17:17). Let them have constant supplies of the Spirit, and be anointed with fresh oil.

Third, for their glorification: "Father, I will that those which thou hast given me, be with me where I am" (John 17:24). Christ is not content till the saints are in his arms. This prayer, which he made on earth, is the copy and pattern of his prayer in heaven. What a comfort is this; when Satan is tempting, Christ is praying! This works for good.

All Things for Good, 1663, (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust, 2008), 23, paragraphing mine.

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The Reflective Life by Jack Deere

(This article was copied from Jack Deere's blog on the Wellspring Church website.)

Socrates said that the unexamined life is not worth living (Apology 38a). The unexamined life will also get us in trouble. About 120 years earlier, one of the Hebrew prophets said the same thing. Haggai said, “Give careful thought to yours ways” (1:5, 7). It’s rare to find anyone who pays attention to Socrates or Haggai. When is the last time you gave careful thought to your ways? When is the last time you gave careful thought to the ways of God? How do you do that? I’ll tell you how I do it. I keep three journals: a prayer list, daily events, and daily meditation.


1.Prayer List

1.There are three sources for regular conversations with God: whatever is on my heart, the prayers of Scripture, and my own personal list. God frequently speaks to us while we’re praying.

2.My current list:

1.i. Thanks/praise
2.ii. Confession
3.iii. Family
4.iv. Dreams

1.Give us the right interpretation.
2.Warning dreams: don’t let these happen
3.Good dreams: let these happen
5.v. Extended family
6.vi. Immediate needs
7.vii. Wellspring and our services
8.viii. Congregation
9.ix. Questions for the Lord
10.x. Upcoming conferences
11.xi. Friends who don’t go to Wellspring
12.xii. Enemies
13.xiii. My disciples
14.xiv. My men’s group
15.xv. VIP group (people I know that don’t yet know the Lord)
16.xvi. Record answers with date and “thank you” in red.

3.Problems with a list:

1.i. Can limit us.

2.ii. Can burden us. When my list gets too big, I file it and start over with a smaller one.

3.iii. Can get mechanical.

2.Journal of daily events.

1.The disciples took notes:

1.i. Luke 1:1-4

2.ii. Rev. 1:19

3.iii. Luke 2:19, 51, “But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.”

4.iv. We take notes because we treasure what the Lord does and what He gives us.

2.What not to write

1.i. Don’t record all the details of the day.

2.ii. Don’t give our journals the authority of the Bible.


3.What to write

1.i. I start by recording my wake up time, my weight, and whether I worked out and/or did cardio. If I’m recording it means I am paying attention to my life and trying to move forward. When I don’t record, I’m just going with the flow, trying to survive.

2.ii. Anything that stands out or is meaningful to me.

3.iii. Anything that I think God may be showing me that day.

4.iv. Some days I may only record two lines. I don’t let writing in my journal become a burden. It is simply a tool to help me reflect on my life.

5.v. I write honestly with no intention of showing my journal to anyone. It is password protected.

3.Journal of meditation on the ways and works of God that are illumined to us in Scripture. NB. This journal sometimes overlaps with my journal of daily events. You may only want to keep one journal for both.

1.Writing causes us to read expectantly not passively.

2.An example from my meditation: 8/16/10 (Phil. 3:7-11). Paul lost “all things” for the sake of Christ. In order to “gain Christ,” that is, to move to the next level of friendship, you always have to lose something, to give up something that has been holding you back. You have to risk something for nothing more than a closer relationship to Jesus. If you risk the loss for anything other than this your motive is ulterior and you lose. “not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ”—real righteousness begins in the heart with faith, not with the external performance. By faith in Christ, Mary sat at Jesus’ feet and did nothing other than listen to Him. Righteousness is first established in the heart through faith and then it is manifested in external behavior. Paul quotes Ps. 116:10 in 2 Cor. 4:13 to this effect, “I believed, therefore I spoke” (Study the contexts of these two texts, both are about suffering and death). Jesus was rewarded for heart attitudes in Heb. 1:8-9. Faith increases by feeding the heart Scripture, which God illuminates so that we can interpret our experience by Scripture. Our experience increases our faith when we understand our experience by the light of illuminated Scripture. Sometimes God interprets our experience by speaking to us directly from heaven, but mostly it is spoken to us when God illuminates His written word. God has locked the explanation of our individual lives, the interpretation of our experience, in the Bible. “These things happened as examples to us.” Or “how shall a young man cleanse his way.” Or “it is the glory of God to conceal a matter and the glory of kings to search it out.” On another note, what happens to leaders is used by God to produce life in their followers (2 Cor. 4:12). This is why Paul is always telling his story, talking about his struggles. Whatever is going on in his life is meant to strengthen the faith of others.

Prayer In The Mist of The Storm- Stowe Missal

O God, make speed to save us.

We have sinned, O Lord, we have sinned, spare our sins,

And save us; Thou who guidedst Noah over the flood waves,

Hear us; Who with Thy word recalledst Jonah from the abyss;

Deliver us; Who stretchedst forth Thy hand to Peter as he sank, help us,

O Christ Son of God, Thou didst the marvelous things of the Lord with our fathers, be favourable in our days also;

Stretch forth Thy hand from on high.

Deliver us, O Christ.

Hear us, O Christ."

-Stowe Missal, 9th Century A.D.

Seven Kinds of Prayer to Soak our Bible Reading by John Piper

But since our text is Psalm 119:18, "Open my eyes, that I may behold wonderful things from Your law," we should let this psalmist show us how he prays more generally about his reading of the Word of God. So let me close with a little tour of Psalm 119, and show you seven kinds of prayer with which you can soak your Bible reading this year.

We should pray . . .

1. That God would teach us his Word. Psalm 119:12b, "Teach me Your statutes." (See also verses 33, 64b, 66, 68b, 135). True learning of God's Word is only possible if God himself becomes the teacher in and through all other means of teaching.

2. That God would not hide his Word from us. Psalm 119:19b, "Do not hide Your commandments from me." The Bible warns of the dreadful chastisement or judgment of the Word of God being taken from us (Amos 8:11). (See also verse 43).

3. That God would make us understand his Word. Psalm 119:27, "Make me understand the way of Your precepts" (verses 34, 73b, 144b, 169). Here we ask God to cause us to understand - to do whatever he needs to do to get us to understand his Word.

4. That God would incline our hearts to his Word. Psalm 119:36, "Incline my heart to Your testimonies and not to [dishonest] gain." The great problem with us is not primarily our reason, but our will - we are disinclined by nature to read and meditate and memorize the Word. So we must pray for God to incline our wills.

5. That God would give us life to keep his Word. Psalm 119:88, "Revive me according to Your lovingkindness, so that I may keep the testimony of Your mouth." He is aware that we need life and energy to give ourselves to the Word and its obedience. So he asks God for this basic need. (See also verse 154b)

6. That God would establish our steps in his Word. Psalm 119:133, "Establish my footsteps in Your word." We are dependent on the Lord not only for understanding and life, but for the performance of the Word. That it would be established in our lives. We cannot do this on our own.

7. That God would seek us when we go astray from his Word. Psalm 119:176, "I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek Your servant." It is remarkable that this godly man ends his psalm with a confession of sin and the need for God to come after him and bring him back. This too we must pray again and again.

Be Encouraged To Pray by J.C. Ryle

"I dare not lay down too strict rules on such points as these. I leave them to your own conscience. You must be guided by circumstances.

Our Lord Jesus Christ prayed on a mountain;
Isaac prayed in the fields;
Hezekiah turned his face to the wall as he lay upon his bed;
Daniel prayed by the riverside;
Peter, the Apostle, on the housetop.

I have heard of young men praying in stables and haylofts. All that I contend for is this, you must know what it is to "go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen" (Matthew 6:6)."

There must be stated times when you must speak to God face to face, you must every day have your times for prayer — You must pray.

J. C. Ryle, Thoughts For Young Men (Kindle edition, locations 668-673).

Practicing the Gospel in Prayer by Dudley Hall

Dudley's Weekly Message

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. 1 Timothy 2:1-6 (ESV)

"This admonition is given by Paul to Timothy as a young leader in the process of disciple-making. It is found in the context of a discussion about how the gospel is to be lived out. Paul has already reminded Timothy that the goal of the gospel message is to produce lives of love (agape) that come from a pure heart, good conscience, and a sincere faith (1 Timothy 1:5). The implication is that any instruction that does not produce this is not the gospel he preaches. He is not impressed with those who have an abundance of head knowledge and theories. He is less impressed with those who think they understand the Old Testament but have failed to see Jesus as its fulfillment. The gospel is aimed first at the human heart, but does not neglect the renewed understanding that results. It changes the priorities of daily living as well as the perspective of life as a whole.

The first priority for those who have been impacted by the gospel is prayer. Paul mentions all kinds of prayers to be employed. They are to include all kinds of people. There is reason to pray for all people without national, ethnic, or social distinctives. He then singles out the leaders. Regardless of the form of government, those who lead affect the lives of all who are citizens of their realm. The hope is to have a life free enough under the established order that the distinctive lifestyle the gospel produces will be highlighted in society.

The prayer, however, is for these leaders to be saved by the one God and one mediator between God and mankind. Our prayers are not limited to petitions for their good decisions and wisdom in leadership. They are part of the "all people" we are to include in our intercessions. No leader can fully reach his or her potential apart form being reconciled to God through Jesus Christ. The best unbelieving leader will be better when he knows God personally and enjoys the enlightened mind that is part of the blessing. It might be considered by some to be politically incorrect to pray for civil leaders to become Christians. Some would even protest the mixing of church and state by such actions. But under the ultimate government of the universe, we are commanded to pray for our leaders with the knowledge that God has made a way for them to have transformed lives, but only through one mediator who alone paid the ransom for us.

Gospel pray-ers are bold and unashamed to embrace the truth. They cannot give up their knowledge of truth in order to appear objective. Leaders deserve to be offered the gospel just like others. They are not bound to be neutral in the area of faith because of their calling to civil service.

Those whose lives are demonstrating the love (agape) the gospel has produced will be intentional in praying according to the truth of the gospel. They love enough to pray the truth." You can visit Dudley's website at www.sclm.org