Prayer & God’s Word

Read:    1 Thessalonians 5:17
             Colossians 4:2
             Romans 12:12
             Luke 18:1
 
For those who were raised in church, we were taught to pray from childhood.  Our first prayers might have started something like this, “Now I lay me down to sleep…” or “God is great, God is good…”
 
Our childhood prayers turned into teenage prayers.  Maybe sounding something like this, “Please help me pass this test!  If You will just help me this one time, I promise I will always study for every test!”  How about this one,  “If You would just let me go to homecoming with Bob, I would serve you in the darkest jungles of Africa—or where ever there is a dark jungle—for the rest of my life!”
 
Our teenage prayers turned into adult prayers.  They became more urgent.  Maybe involving finances, “Please help us pay our bills.  There’s NEVER enough money!”  Possibly marriage, “Marriage isn’t what I thought it would be.  My husband is no longer the man I married!”
 
The contents of our prayers changed over the years, but maybe the power we thought we should see in our prayer life didn’t seem to be much different than when we were teenagers.  Or even children!  Interesting.   Read the scripture references above.  The Bible is pretty clear that we are to pray.   So if we are to pray, and we are, how do we have power in our prayers?  How does our prayer life become a vibrant and even exciting part of our spiritual walk?
 
E. M. Bounds (1835-1913) said, “The Word of God is the food by which prayer is nourished and made strong.”
 
If our prayers are not as powerful as we would like.  If we seldom see answers to our prayers, could it be we don’t get the proper nourishment?  Do we spend time in the Word, learning what it says, following its guidance?  How can we effectively pray if we don’t know what the Bible says?  You don’t need to be a theologian.  Just spend time reading & studying the Word each day—letting God speak to you through His Word. As we become familiar with the Bible and what it says, our prayers will begin to align with it, and that’s the goal.
 
To know God’s will and follow His commands are imperative to a healthy, vibrant prayer life.  But you must know His Word to know His commands and what His will is. We will begin to see our prayers answered as our prayers become more closely aligned to His Word.  Our desires will change.  Our focus will change.   In other words, we will see our prayers answered because our WILL will become His will for our lives.  Jesus Himself, as our ultimate example, prayed, “Not my will, but Your will”.
 
Prayer and the Bible are so tied together.  A successful Christian life hinges on prayer, and prayer hinges on the Bible.

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