Praying the Word is central to the AHOP vision. We are grateful to God for the prayers that have risen like incense from AHOP over the last four years. Many of them have been biblical prayers -- that is, prayers recorded in the Bible, such as Revelation 4:8, Psalm 23, Ephesians 1:17-19, and of course Matthew 6:9-12.

Now these prayers have been collected in the new 3rd edition of the AHOP Prayer Book. Old Testament and New Testament prayers are divided into eight types of prayer: Adoration, Listening, Longing, Grieving, Requesting, Enjoying, Acquiescing, and Thanksgiving.

Where can you find the AHOP Prayer Book?

• You can find it in the AHOP Prayer Room
• You can find it in many other prayer rooms throughout Austin
• You can also download the prayer book as a PDF file ... it's formatted to be printed out front-and-back.

Enjoy God enjoying you as you pray back to Him these prayers that are close to His heart!

We consider any prayer that is recorded in the Bible to be a Biblical prayer.

For example, Paul records his prayer for the believers in Rome in Romans 15:13 -- "Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."

Also, any prayer that is taught in the Bible.

For example, Jesus answered his disciples' request to learn how to pray with -- "This, then, is how you should pray: 'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name ... '"

Finally, any prayer that is modeled in the Bible.

For example, John observes in Revelation 4 how prayer is modeled by the heavenly creatures who gaze directly on God's glory -- "The 4 living creatures do not rest day or night, saying: 'HOLY, HOLY, HOLY, LORD GOD ALMIGHTY, who was and is and is to come!'"

One reason is that they provide confident, unified prayer in the midst of the many different agendas for prayer in Austin.

• Some people are praying for the poor;
• some are praying for one political party or another to gain power;
• some are praying for salvation for particular people or groups;
• some are praying against a specific evil that they believe threatens the well-being of the city.

These are all valid topics for prayer. However, a more sure and simple foundation is needed in order to have a prayer room that serves to unite the churches in Austin (which Jesus prayed for in John 17, and Paul in Romans 15, and which John recorded as destined at the end of history in Revelation 7).

We have chosen for that foundation the biblical prayers, starting with the New Testament and extending into the Old Testament. We all have access to the scriptures, and the prayers recorded there are simple and powerful, accessible and inexhaustible. We figure that we can't go wrong by praying back to God the prayers that He chose to have recorded in His Word in the first place!

So ... even when we're in the prayer room at different times of the day & night, we can know that we're all praying the same set of prayers together as we ground our day and night prayer in the Biblical prayers of the AHOP Prayer Book.

Selecting the prayer

One benefit of having a book of prayers recorded in the Old & New Testament is that you don't have to expend any energy worrying whether you're praying a "good prayer" or not ... just pick one of the ones that God liked enough to write down in His word, and go for it! You'll develop some favorites that you'll go deep in over time, but you'll also find that the Holy Spirit will help and instruct you when you choose a brand new prayer.

Praying the prayer

Once you've chosen which prayer to pray, you can do so much more than simply read it (though that's a good place to start). Here are some suggestions:

• Make it your own by substituting your name or who you are praying it for in the verse (e.g., taking Paul's prayer from Romans 15:13, "I pray that any depressed people in my church would abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit")
• Choose a single phrase and pray it in different ways & words, meditating on the meaning
• Visualize the prayer being answered, and verbally prophecy it happening
• Sing the prayer or phrases of the prayer, mixing these with worship choruses or hymns
• Write and/or illustrate the prayer in a journal or on the prayer wall
• Shout it, whisper it, dance it -- be creative, there's a lot of freedom in the prayer room!

Homework

The best way to prepare to pray these prayers in the AHOP prayer room is to pray them in your private prayer room. Download the prayer book, print it out, and begin praying through the prayers. Make notes in the margins. Look up the prayers in other translations, and pray those versions. Mostly, just take these prayers and make them your own by praying them earnestly before your Father, who loves you!

If you really want to enjoy prayer more, here are four ways to go deeper, in order of ease:

• Listen to the "Song of Songs" bible study (20 teachings) by Mike Bickle (available at the FOTB Bookstore or by download from the San Jose House of Prayer...)
• Read the "Praying the Bible" series by Wesley & Stacey Campbell, starting with book #1 "Praying the Bible: The Pathway to Spirituality" (available at prayingthebible.com ...)
• Read "Fire Within" by Thomas Dubay (available at Amazon.com or by order from a local bookstore ...)
• Begin doing Greek word studies on some of the prayers (see the next section for examples!)