Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart,
To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.
The subject of prayer is one of the subjects in Christianity that a lot of God’s wonderful children have misunderstood, not because it is misunderstanding but God’s people mostly tend to believe more in the practice of prayer that they’ve seen around than in what the Word of God says about prayer itself. When a child is born into the world, the first way such a child learns anything is by learning from its environment by observing people and how they do things and following suit. So, children learn by observing patterns and behaviour; they learn by examples. As good as that is, there is a balance to it when it comes to the things of God. As you observe how things are done around you, you must also go to the Word of God to place in the right perspective such practice that you’ve seen around in order that your understanding of the practice might be in line with the Word of God. Such is the case when it comes to prayer. Effective praying begins at the point of alignment with the will of God, which is the Word of God. Our praying must be in line with the Word of God for it to produce results.
The subject of prayer is learnt on two grounds: the principle of prayer as it is enshrined in God’s Word and the practice of prayer as seen in the Word of God and in our contemporary times, in people who practice the art of prayer. So, when it comes to the subject of prayer, you must first get rooted and grounded in the principle of prayer before getting into the practice of prayer. When principles lead us to practice, we cannot go wrong; but if we learn the practice of prayer outside of the principle of prayer, we will miss the mark. Jesus’ disciples had seen Him pray over time and were fascinated by His lifestyle of prayer, and as a result, they came to Him and asked Him to teach them how to pray; He then taught them how to pray. Now, the observation they had about His prayer life in the practice of prayer was so captivating that they wanted to learn how to pray. When the Lord Jesus taught them to pray, He referred them to kingdom principles of prayer. Beloved, if the practice of prayer is not underpinned in the Word of God, it will be misaligned from the Word of God and results in prayer cannot be guaranteed. That’s why we have to go to the Word to stay current and in alignment with the will of God regarding prayer. Isaiah 8:20 is explicitly clear about this: “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” Therefore, to pray effectively the New Testament way, it has to be based on the revelation of the Word of God to us in Christ.
MY SOLID FRONT (YOUR CONFESSION):
In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I declare that I am a doer of the Word. My prayer life is in line with the Word as I pray and get biblical results! Amen!
Further Meditation: Ephesians 1:17-19; Luke 11:1.