Praying through the Bible with Lindsey - Genesis 3

Read the Bible passage, then see the following prayer to take inspiration on how you might pray through this Scripture.

 

Genesis 3

(English Standard Version)

 

The Fall

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.

 

He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” ² And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, ³ but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” ⁴ But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. ⁵ For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” ⁶ So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one with she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. ⁷ Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

 

⁸ And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. ⁹ But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” ¹⁰ And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” ¹¹ He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” ¹² The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” ¹³ Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

 

¹⁴ The Lord God said to the serpent,

“Because you have done this,
    cursed are you above all livestock
    and above all beasts of the field;
on your belly you shall go,
    and dust you shall eat
    all the days of your life.
¹⁵ I will put enmity between you and the woman,
    and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
    and you shall bruise his heel.”

 

¹⁶ To the woman he said,

“I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing;
    in pain you shall bring forth children.
Your desire shall be contrary to your husband,
    but he shall rule over you.”

 

¹⁷ And to Adam he said,

“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife
    and have eaten of the tree
of which I commanded you,
    ‘You shall not eat of it,’
cursed is the ground because of you;
    in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
¹⁸ thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
    and you shall eat the plants of the field.
¹⁹ By the sweat of your face
    you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground,
    for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust,
    and to dust you shall return.”

 

²⁰ The man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. ²¹ And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.

 

²² Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” ²³ therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. ²⁴ He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

 

 

Prayer for Genesis 3

Lord,

1-6) Give me the discernment to identify sin and deceit. I need to be able to call it what it is, before I’m trapped. You always give a way out of temptation, but sometimes, I’m blind to it, especially when I want something-when I want things of the flesh instead of things of Your kingdom. It is so easy to find truth wherever I look and justify excuses to do my will instead of Your will. I want to search for the truth and understand the truth before I react and make a choice. Remind me of the misery it is to go my own way and that my way is the way that leads to death. I’m always finding myself trying to be You instead of reflecting You. It is enough that I’m made in Your image, but sometimes, I want to be in charge of my life, take revenge, or be all knowing. I’m not capable of that, nor do I actually want to be capable of that. Reflecting Your image is all I need. Help me to do that and do that only.

 

7) You know all the things I struggle with, Lord. We just talked about me wanting to be You instead of reflecting You. That’s not all, though, of course. I want to be in charge of my marriage too! I want to make choices that aren’t mine to make. Help me the be the spouse You created me to be! I don’t want to reverse roles the way the world so easily sways me to do! I want what You had planned for marriage. That’s always the best.

 

8-13) In all these sins I’m confessing, You are always so merciful to give me the chance to do so. You don’t have to. You could let me keep on in my miserable sin, but You don’t. You’re faithful and full of grace to find me in my sin so I can choose You instead. Thank You so much, Lord. You give more than I deserve. May I always remember this and remain humble enough to keep confessing until Your return. May I always fess up to what I’ve done. May I be responsible and humble enough to endure the consequences of my sin.

 

14-21) My sin is my sin. It’s no one’s fault but mine, but You have seen to it that the evil will not win. You’ve made a way to stop evil forever. How do I say thank You?! We may have to carry on in the broken world, but through Your sacrifice, we can be sustained. We are still able to find comfort and joy despite the curse of pain and disdain of work.

 

22-23) We chose death, but You still give us life eternal. We may have to die before eternal life begins, but that’s so we don’t live in our sin forever. Can I repeat my previous question? How do I ever say thank You? I cannot fathom Your love for us, that You provide a way to get back to You, that You always have a plan of mercy  for our mistakes.

 

24) Drive the sin out of me! Guard my heart so that I will always go to You first! Thank You for always making that possible!

 

 

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