WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO PRAYER AND BIBLE STUDY IN OUR HOMES, CHURCHES, AND COMMUNITIES WORLDWIDE? PART ONE

     Every Christian's perspective is very important on this issue. We must face the hard facts and take all of our medicine because we're going to need every drop of it to get better. We are sick with everything else but what God says we should be constantly occupied with. Most of us are proud of reading God's Word every day but we pine away when we are under pressure. What is wrong? Look in the mirror, friend, and you will find out very quickly. We treat Bible study and reading as a manmade ritual which  in reality condemns us  for what much we know and little we practice. I 'm not trying to put you on a guilt trip. But I'm just trying to get us to see how we really are in this post-Christian era. Our homes, churches, and communities are in a terrible mess while we continue our religious programs of so-called service. God has a lot to say about this kind of condition in the Scriptures: I Sam. 15:22: "And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams." Jer. 6:18-21: "Therefore hear, ye nations, and know, O congregation, what is among them.  Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my words, nor to my law, but rejected it.  To what purpose cometh there to me incense from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country? your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet unto me.  Therefore thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will lay stumblingblocks before this people, and the fathers and the sons together shall fall upon them; the neighbour and his friend shall perish." Jer. 7:21-28: "Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Put your burnt offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat flesh.  For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices:  But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.  But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.  Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day I have even sent unto you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them:  Yet they hearkened not unto me, nor inclined their ear, but hardened their neck: they did worse than their fathers.  Therefore thou shalt speak all these words unto them; but they will not hearken to thee: thou shalt also call unto them; but they will not answer thee.   But thou shalt say unto them, This is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the LORD their God, nor receiveth correction: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth."

     As you can see I hope, sacrifice in service is not the main objective in the Christian life but obedience to the voice of God which can lead to true genuine sacrifice. So many are too busy doing instead of listening. Following the high call of God in your personal life is more important than what all public ministry can produce man's way. We have more programs, curriculums, and study guides, etc., etc., etc., in our homes, churches, schools, and colleges today than you can shake a stick at. But what's happened to genuine prayer and serious Bible study? We have too many substitutes that takes the place of what God has simply laid out in the old paths. Jer. 6:16-18: "Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.  Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken. Therefore hear, ye nations, and know, O congregation, what is among them." I have many so-called Christian friends and critics who will waste their time tearing down my ministry while building theirs up. When we focus on yours and mine in a prejudice way because of some doctrinal differences, etc., it takes God out of the picture. This type of seductive, manipulative, wicked spirit in the apostate church among us today is contrary to the Scripture: I Cor. 14:12: "Even so ye, forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the church." I Cor. 14:26b: ". . . Let all things be done unto edifying." I Cor. 12:19: "Again, think ye that we excuse ourselves unto you? we speak before God in Christ: but we do all things, dearly beloved, for your edifying." Tearing down another man's ministry because you disagree with him produces self-pride. 
     Listening to the voice of God takes faith in the God of prayer. Productive prayer requires spiritual response to God's revelation in His Word. II Sam. 7:27: "For thou, O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, hast revealed to thy servant, saying, I will build thee an house: therefore hath thy servant found in his heart to pray this prayer unto thee." Productive prayer also becomes an ongoing reality in the Christian's life by God's spiritual response to His servant's faithfulness and obedience to Him. I Kings 9: 3-4: "And the LORD said unto him, I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication, that thou hast made before me: I have hallowed this house, which thou hast built, to put my name there for ever; and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually.  And if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded thee, and wilt keep my statutes and my judgments:." (Read also vs. 4-9) As we continue to read on in this passage, God gives some conditional promises that He will keep if we are obedient to what He says and faithful to Him alone in the context. F. B. Meyer wrote in his classic book, "The Secret of Guidance" on page 32: "More Christians than we can count are suffering from a lack of prayer and Bible study, and no revival is more to be desired than that of systematic private Bible study. There is no short and easy method of godliness that can dispense with this." If we read this very carefully, he doesn't mean that mere systematic private Bible study is more important than prayer. He means that the two go together in our private time with the Lord. Most of our studies today whether private or public is mere dry orthodoxy lacking the wet sweet dew of heavenly prayer.
    II Tim. 2:15: "Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth" This one of the most well known verses to us today but I fear that most of us do not understand its fullness. Most Christians think that going to Bible College or theological seminary is making themselves approved unto God. It would do our souls much good  to repeatedly and prayerfully meditate over and over on II Tim. 2:1-26.   

WRITTEN BY BROTHER MATTHEW C. ALTMAN