God's Word in Prayer

In preparing for preaching this Sunday, I have been struck by the critical importance to use of God's Word in sharing the Gospel and prayer.  Before he was filled with the Holy Spirit, I cannot immediately recall a single time when Peter quoted from scripture.  Yet during Peter's sermon on the Day of Pentecost, when he preached to the people after the lame beggar was healed at the temple, when he addressed the religious leaders while on trial, and in prayer afterward he quoted scripture!  The Holy Spirit not only brought passages to remembrance, but caused the disciples to rightly divide the Word of truth.  They were able to bring the truth of God's Word upon any situation with the accuracy of a skilled sniper.  It was the Spirit who caused their words to engage and persuade hearts with power.  When they prayed God answered, and the earth quaked as God moved in power among them to boldly proclaim His Word.

Consider this quote from R.A. Torrey's book How to Obtain Fullness of Power (pages 11-12) concerning the power of God's Word and its relation to faith and prayer:

Faith must have a foundation; it cannot float in thin air.  It is disheartening to see men told to believe when they are not given anything to believe in.

Not only saving faith comes through the Word of God, prevailing faith in prayer does, as well.  Suppose I read Mark 11:24:  "What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them."  I used to say, "The way to get anything I want is to believe I am going to get it."  I would kneel down and pray, trying to believe, but I did not get the things that I asked for.  I had no real faith.

Real faith must have a guarantee.  Before I can truly believe I am to receive what I ask for, I must have a definite promise from God's Word, or a definite leading of the Holy Spirit, to rest my faith on.  What, then, should we do?

We go into God's presence with the thing we desire.  Next, we ask ourselves this question:  is there any promise in God's Word regarding what we desire?  We look into the Word of God and find the promise.  Then all we have to do is to present that promise to God.  For example, we say, "Heavenly Father, we desire the Holy Spirit.  You say in Your Word, 'If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?'  And again in Acts 2:39, that 'the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.'  I have been called; I am saved; and here in your Word is your promise.  So please fill me now with the Holy Spirit."

We then take 1 John 5:14-15 and say, "Father, this is the confidence I have in You, that, if I ask anything according to Your will - and I know that this is according to Your will - You hear me, and, if I know that You hear me, I know that I have the petition that I have asked of You."

Then we stand on God's promise and say, "It is mine," and it will be.  The only way to have a faith that prevails in prayer is to study your Bible, know the promises, and present them to God when you pray.  George Mueller, one of the Church's mightiest men of prayer, always prepared for prayer by studying the Word."

How the neglect of reading, studying, and praying God's Word saps us of spiritual strength!  There is a old saying I will adapt for our context:  "Seven days without the Word makes one weak."  Puns aside, it would be truer said that prayer or any action without God's Word or the leading of the Holy Spirit is wasted effort, and lack of results reveals we do not ask aright.  God, please forgive me for all presumptuous prayers which are not according to your Word!  Help me through the Holy Spirit's power to rightly divide the Word of truth and bring it to bear upon all circumstances of life.  Teach me how to pray!