Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable.  So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet:  “I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world.” Matthew 13:34-35

A thought came to me the other day out of nowhere – “work your yeast through my dough.”  I chuckled at the light-hearted parable-turned-prayer.  Then almost immediately after, I was struck with an idea.  Parable Prayers.

Jesus “did not say anything to them without using a parable.”  Jesus saw the world, the people in it, and the kingdom of heaven from a holistic and divine perspective.  He understood the inner-workings of every created thing, and so he was easily able to connect ordinary physical realities to more abstract spiritual realities.

If Jesus saw it fitting to use parables to describe the kingdom, how much power lives within those very words as we pray that his kingdom come.  In other words, what would it look like to apply the concept of “praying through scripture” to his parables.

For example, instead of praying “give me courage,” why not pray “Illuminate the light from my lamp on your stand”?

That is the concept for these prayers.  They are simple. Try to avoid adding any of your own language.  Repeat a prayer over and over to let it sink in and take hold.

Illuminate the light from my lamp on your stand – Matt 5:14-16

Showcase my town built on your hill – Matt 5:14-16

Show me the plank in my eye and remove it – Matt 7:1-5

Pour your new wine into my new wineskin – Matt 9:16-17

Bind the strong man – Matt 12:24-30

Enable me to become good soil – Matt 13:1-23

Enable your seed to produce a crop out of my good soil – Matt 13:1-23

Collect, tie up and burn the weeds sowed among my wheat – Matt 13:24-30

Transform my mustard seed into a tree – Matt 13:31-32

Work your yeast through my dough – Matt 13:33-34

Reveal your treasures to me, and in joy, may I sell all I have to buy the field – Matt 13:44

Reveal your fine pearls of great value so that I may sell all I have to buy them – Matt 13:45-46

Pull up any roots in my heart not planted by the Father – Matt 15:10-20