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"Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God" (Matt. 4:4).

Jesus said each one of us is a house of prayer and in every orderly house, there are rules of conduct that set the tone there. There are certain habits - say, taking out the trash or buying groceries - that help the household to run smoothly.

The same is true in your house of prayer. Even though prayer itself is a matter of the heart, there are a few prayer habits you can adopt that will benefit you greatly in your personal prayer life.

The first and most vital is the simple habit of spending time reading and meditating on the Word of God - not just once in a while, but every single day. God's Word is essential to your prayer life. It is the fuel behind every effective prayer. When your Word level gets low, you'll find your prayers sputtering and lurching along instead of roaring ahead in power. If you don't stop and refuel, your praying will eventually come to a complete stop.

Hebrews 1:3 tells us that God Himself is "upholding and maintaining and guiding and propelling the universe by His mighty word of power." If God's Word is the force behind the entire universe, obviously it must be the force behind our prayers as well.

Jesus left no room for doubt about that. For in the gospel of John, He forever linked the Word with answered prayer by saying "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you" (John 15:7).

A Daily Feast
Some people have tried to take a spiritual shortcut by simply pulling scriptures out of the Bible and inserting them in their prayers, thinking that just because they've used scriptural words, their prayers will take on supernatural power.

But there's more to praying the Word than parroting Bible phrases. For the Word to truly give power to our prayers, it must take up residence in our heart. We must meditate upon it until it becomes revelation from the Holy Spirit and dwells richly within us (Col. 3:16).

Once that happens, the Word of God is no longer just a bunch of ideas in a leather-bound book It is "alive and full of power...active, operative, energizing, and effective" (Heb. 4:12). It literally brings life to us.

People everywhere are looking for life. But most of them are looking in the wrong places. Some folks think exercise will give them life, so they spend all their time at the health club. Others seem to think vitamins will give them life, so they spend all their time at the health food store. Still others have the idea that relaxing will give them life, so they spend every possible moment on vacation.

But the reality is, even though each of those things is fine, the only place you can actually go to get life is the Word of God. That's because the Word contains the very substance of God Himself. It is not just nice-sounding phrases. It is real spiritual substance.

When you get your Bible and begin to read and meditate on the Word, the Holy Spirit imparts that substance to you. You partake of the very life and nature of God Himself (see Peter 1:4). I'm not talking about a mental effect or a little spiritual influence. I'm saying that as you receive God's Word, His power is transmitted to you.

You see, the Words of God "are spirit, and they are life" (John 6:63). They do for your inner man what food does for your outer man. Just as the food you eat supplies energy to your physical body, when you digest the Word of God it supplies you with spiritual energy. That's why the apostle Paul admonished Timothy to be "a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith" (1 Tim. 4:6). God's Word is spiritual nourishment.

Over the years, I've noticed people who feed their spirit constantly with the Word of God can more easily follow their hearts. I believe that's because the heart has grown so strong, it exerts a greater pull on them than their flesh does. The reverse is also true. People who don't feed on the Word have a more difficult time following their heart because it is weak. And often, the strong voice of their well-fed flesh drowns out the faint cry of their frail spirit.

Remember this: you cannot be weak in spirit and strong in prayer. That is a complete impossibility, for real prayer requires you to become a co-laborer with God. It requires you to grasp His will and His plan about a particular matter and lift it up to heaven with the fervency and heat that comes from the very heart of God Himself.

Do you think a spiritual weakling could accomplish so great a task? Certainly not! The Bible says we must be strong to apprehend and grasp the love of God (Eph. 3:18-19) and no one ever grew strong in God without feeding upon His Word.

Notice I said you grow strong by feeding on the Word (present tense), not by having been fed on it (past tense). You'll never get anywhere spiritually by going to church once in awhile and reading your Bible only on occasion. You need a constant supply of the Word. For it's the Word that is fresh and alive in your today, it's the truth that is proceeding fro the mouth of God into your heart right now that will work most powerfully in you.

The Old Testament tells us that when God sent manna to feed the children of Israel in the wilderness, they had to gather it every day except the Sabbath. If they tried to store it, it would spoil. The Word of God is much the same way. So we must feed on it not just once or twice a week - but every single day!

Source: The Master is Calling by Lynne Hammond
Excerpt permission granted by Mac Hammond Ministries

Author Biography

Lynne Hammond
Web site: Lynne Hammond Ministries
 
A teacher and an author, Lynne publishes a newsletter called Prayer Notes, has written numerous books, and currently serves as the national prayer director for Daughters for Zion. Her passion for inspiring and leading others into the life of Spirit-led prayer continues to take her around the world to minister to believers whose heart cry, like hers, is “Lord, teach me to pray!”
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