Praying God’s Word

Prayer and the Word of God are inseparable and should always go together in the quiet time of the inner chamber. In His Word, God speaks to me; in prayer, I speak to God. If there is to be true fellowship, God and I must both take part. If I simply pray without using God’s Word, I am apt to use my own words and thoughts. To really give prayer its power, I must take God’s thoughts from His Word and present them before Him. Then I am enabled to pray according to God’s Word. How indispensable God’s Word is for all true prayer!

When you pray, you must seek to know God correctly. It is through the Word that the Holy Spirit gives you right thoughts of Him. The Word will also teach you how wretched and sinful you are. It reveals to you all the wonders that God will do for you and the strength He will give you to do His will. The Word teaches you how to pray with strong desire, with firm faith, and with constant perseverance. The Word teaches you not only what you are, but also what you may become through God’s grace. Above all, it reminds you each day that Christ is the great Intercessor and allows you to pray in His name. O Christian, learn this great lesson, to renew your strength each day in God’s Word, and thereby pray according to His will.

Now let us turn to the other side: prayer. We need prayer when we read God’s Word: prayer to be taught by God to understand His Word, prayer that through the Holy Spirit we may rightly know and use God’s Word, prayer that we may see in the Word that Christ is all in all, and will be all in us. Blessed inner chamber, where I may approach God in Christ through the Word and prayer! There I may offer myself to God and His service and be strengthened by the Holy Spirit, so that His love may be poured out in my heart (see Romans 5: 5) and I may daily walk in that love.  —Andrew Murray

The writer of Hebrews tells us, “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12). We must keep this in mind as we go to God in prayer. God’s word is not a passive book on a shelf, it’s alive and active. It’s not ineffective, but rather sharper than any double-edged sword. And its work is precise, penetrating and judicious. A real key for us in growing in faith and spiritual maturity is allowing the Word to do its work in our hearts, minds, bodies, and souls! As we read the Lord’s Word, may it read us—and where better for this to happen than in our prayers? As we bow, as we seek an audience with our Heavenly Father, the Lord God Almighty, what better place to meet His word than in our hearts in the prayer closet? —DH