July 15

The Word necessary to prayer

“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).
“I have done all these things at thy word. Hear me, O Lord, hear me. . . . Then the fire of the Lord fell” (1 Kings 18:36-38).

The verse before us shows the important connection existing between a full knowledge of the Word of God and successful prayer. Those prayers only will be answered which are in harmony with the revealed will of God. Many of us have heard earnest, but ignorant believers praying for things clearly contrary to the revealed purposes of God. Again a full knowledge of the Word will often bring to our recollection appropriate promises, and thus enable us to pray with faith and confidence.


Abiding in Christ and feeding upon His Word will lead to a Christ-like walk, which will assure our hearts before God.
We must take time to be holy. It is not so much the quantity of Scripture we read, as the subjects for meditation which we find in it, that measure the nourishment we gain. On the other hand, our reading must not be too limited, for as the whole Paschal Lamb was to be eaten, so the whole Word of God is profitable and necessary “that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” We would earnestly recommend the consecutive reading of the whole Word of God to all who do not so read it; and to all who are able to do so that the whole Bible be read over in the course of the year. Where this cannot be done prayerfully and thoughtfully, rather let a shorter portion be taken for daily reading, still going through the whole of the Word consecutively.
—Hudson Taylor.

What would He think of me
If when I saw Him, I should say,
“I was too busy every day
To read what Thou didst write to me;
I really hadn’t time for Thee!”
—Martha Snell Nicholson
(Evangelical Christian).

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