Weren’t we all told this as children? Perhaps as a new believer the pastor shook your hand and encouraged you to read the Bible every day. As basic as it sounds, as obvious as it seems to any believer, these two activities are the cornerstones of a close walk and fellowship with our Heavenly Father. But do we practice them?

This is an introduction to a series on reading the scriptures and praying. Jesus left us examples of both of these activities. There are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Bible commentaries out there. Volumes of books have been written on prayer. E.M. Bounds wrote extensively on this subject. There is even a Pray! Magazine. But at the end of the day when we’ve debated with our friends the truth of scripture, after we’ve asserted that we have a Constitutional right to pray, when all is said and done, do we read the Bible? Do we pray to the God we argue exists, loves and cares for us, or just go discussing how important it is to follow him? I want to encourage everyone that reads this (and the one that writes it) that knowing the truth of God’s Word by reading it on a regular basis is the best way to getting scripture “hid in our heart,” and that spending time in prayer, communion with God, is vitally more important than explaining how important he is. There are many excellent Bible teachers, but listening to or reading all of them doesn’t take the place of reading the Word of God for ourselves. Jesus said the he was the vine, we are the branches, and we must dwell in him and he in us. Prayer keeps us connected to God through his son Jesus Christ, so that our spirit can be renewed. My next post will be about the fundamental of reading the Word. I’m not concerned if you read through the Bible in a year, read one Proverb each day for a month, or which version you think we should all read, just stay in the Word. The next post after that will focus on prayer. The Bible has a lot to say about prayer, and Jesus both taught prayer and daily showed us his example.

Jesus read the Holy Scriptures and prayed on a daily basis. Paul considered the scriptures his schoolmaster, and we know he daily prayed for the early church and fellow church leaders. If we are going to share the gospel with a lost and dying world, if we are going to build God’s kingdom, if we are going to lead church congregations or lead our family, we need to always be in the Word and in prayer. I’m preaching to myself here as well. Particularly those of us in ministry get the idea that as we do more for God, as we get closer to God, we can slack off of the basics because we’re on some “higher level” or something. Jesus never slacked off praying to the Father in Heaven, and he is God. You can’t get any closer than that.