Devotions: Prayer "versus" Scripture

In my devotional life – my life listening and talking to God – finding the right balance between prayer and Scripture reading has frequently been a challenge. Even the question of which one goes first is problematic.

 

I love to put Scripture first so that my prayers come as a response to what I hear from God. But too often, when I put Scriptures first I cut my prayer time short.

 

I also love to put prayer time first. This makes certain that I spend a significant time in prayer for people I care about. But when I put prayer first my prayers often lack the substance and depth that is provided by responding to the Scriptures.

 

I’m probably silly, and this is probably obvious, but I think I’ve finally realized the way to sort this out (maybe I’ve realized it before, but forgotten because it seemed to be so common sense?). Prayer time should go first, to make certain that it gets done. But it should always be a response to the Scriptures, too. How? By continuing to respond to the Scriptures I studied the day before. So I begin with prayer, and my prayers for myself and others are filled with the truths, promises, and training God taught me the previous day. And then I continue into the Scriptures, hear from God, live for God according to what He teaches me, pray throughout the day according to what I have heard, and continue the conversation the next day on the basis of what God has said the day before. I think this is the pattern that will work best with my personality.

 

But the point for everyone is that our conversation with God is continuous. It does not start new every day, as though we haven’t heard anything from God before. We can begin each day remembering what God has already said to us and depending on those “past” teachings, because they are not past, but current. Everything God has taught us matters every day. So let’s not reinvent our relationships with God every morning, acting as though we have nothing for the day until we have heard a “new” word. We have a relationship with God through His word, and His word is “living and enduring” (1 Peter 1:22-25). So our relationship with Him endures from day to day forever.