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The Word of God and Prayer

The church is engaged

in a warfare in which she

must “fight the good fight

of faith.” Every Christian is

a soldier clothed in armor

and equipped with weapons

for defense and aggressive

fighting. The soldiers of

the cross who put on the

whole armor of God are as-

sured of victory over the un-

seen hosts of darkness

under the leadership of the prince

of devils. “Therefore put on the

complete armor of God, so that

you may be able to stand your

ground in the evil day, and, hav-

ing fought to the end, to remain

victors on the field.” (Ephesians

6:13, Weymouth) Christians are

not on a playground, enjoying a

picnic. We are on a battlefield,

engaged in a fight to the

finish. It is an all-out

war. We occupy a

fortress, not a plea-

sure house. The re-

ward is promised

only to “him that

overcometh.”

In Paul’s picture of this spiritual

conflict the Word of God and prayer

are the only weapons for offensive,

or aggressive, warfare. The various

parts of the armor are for defensive

purposes only. The mighty “weap-

ons of our warfare,” therefore,

which pull down “strongholds,”

“fortresses,” and unholy “imagina-

tions,” and which bring “into cap-

tivity” straying and reprobate

thoughts, are the Word of God and

prayer. These two weapons of the

Christian warrior are inseparable in

the all-out battle for victory. One

cannot be used effectually without

the other. The Word is powerless

without prayer, and prayer is inef-

fectual without the Word. The

Word of God is “quick, and power-

ful, and sharper than any twoedged

sword” only when it is wielded by

effectual, fervent prayer.

The program of the apostles is

stated in Acts 6:4: “We will give

ourselves continually to prayer, and

to the ministry of the word.” The re-

sult of this plan is stated in verse 7:

“The word of God increased, and

the number of the disciples multi-

plied in Jerusalem greatly; and a

great company of the priests

were obedient to the faith.”

The same program will bring

the same results today. The

modern ministry is spending more

time in serving tables than in study

and prayer. No man can properly

minister the Word without spending

much time in the study of the Word,

and the Word ministered will

produce little or no results unless

seasoned with much prayer. When

the church returns to the apostolic

program, we shall see pentecostal

results. Again the sword of the

Spirit will be edged with power and

bathed in the lightnings of heaven,

so that it will cut its way through

doubt and unbelief, and produce

thousands of converts in a day. This

experience will be repeated when

leaders again give themselves “con-

tinually to prayer, and to the minis-

try of the word.”

Prayer and the study of the Word

must be properly balanced, in order

that they may be effectual. Too much

study and too little prayer lead to for-

malism and legalism, to a

cold, hard, dead, Christ-

less religion. This pro-

duces a critical, exacting,

self-satisfied, pharisa-

ical spirit. On the other

hand, the overemphasis

of prayer to the neglect

of the study of the Word

creates extremes and fanaticisms.

Persons who follow this course are

not controlled by the reason and

judgment that come only from a

knowledge of the Scriptures. Like

many of the Jews, they have a zeal

for God, but as Paul says, it is an

Woman to Woman

Vol. 2, No. 2

“And ye are complete in him.” Colossians 2:10

Mar./Apr. 1999

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