What is God's Word?
2 Timothy 3:16-17; 1 Peter 1:20-21
The Westminster Larger Catechism defines God's Word as follows:
"The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the Word of God, the only rule of faith and obedience."
Perhaps it is good to take our minds back in history when Bibles were scarce and fiercely protected during the first five hundred years of the Church. Whereas every Christian home or hotel premise has a Bible, that was not the case in the history of the Church. The privilege of owning and reading the Bible is relatively new. For us to have such a privilege, some men lost their lives and were under great persecution for releasing it to the masses (e.g. William Tyndale). This reflection of history is not baseless but serves as a reminder of the great cost it has taken for us to receive the Scriptures. Those who risked their lives had one motivation, summed up by Luther "If it opens up a floodgate of iniquity, so let it be, so vital is the truth of the Gospel for all nations." However, in answering what God's Word is, we can sum it up as the living voice of the eternal living God communicated to us in the Old and New Testaments. Through words, God speaks in an audible, intelligible manner, delivered to us by inspired men through the power and instrumentation of the Holy Spirit. The words of God then became immortally inscribed in the Holy Scripture/Bible, which describes our rule of faith and obedience.
What does this then Mean for Us?
The Holy Scripture's chief author is God. The truthfulness of His Word and its relevance for us today depends not on man but on Him who delivered those words to us. When history, culture and times change, God's Word remains transcendent over time, space and history because it is about Himself. Thus, the chief end of the Holy Scripture is to glorify God. These words are life-giving (Luke 11:28; John 6:63), which is why Paul believes they can complete the man of God. So then, God's Word gives us guiding light to Him; it guides us in our daily living as we travel through this world; it provides the words through which we journey to Him and with Him. Therefore, it is only in God's Word that we know what is pleasing to Him and what is not. Now, if God's Word reveals everything for us to know about God and how to do what pleases Him and avoid what does not, we cannot learn how to pray unless God's Word reveals it to us. Thus, before we speak to Him, we must first listen to Him speaking to us.
What is Prayer?
The Westminster Larger Catechism defines prayer as follows: "Prayer is an offering up of our desires unto God, in the name of Christ, by the help of His Spirit; with confession of our sins, and thankful acknowledgment of His mercies." Further, in response to what rule God has given for our direction in the duty of prayer, the answer in the first part is, "The whole Word of God is of use to direct us in the duty of prayer…."
If we are to offer our desires to God, 1 John 5:14 and Romans 8:27 tell us something about God as He responds to our prayers. Both of these verses speak of God's will. How do we get to know God's will so we can offer our prayers according to that will? God has revealed in His Word what His will is, so it goes without saying that His Word must regulate our prayers to conform to His will.
However, we must understand that reading God's Word and praying, though they are the duty of every Christian, is often a difficult task. Why is it a difficult task? Because it is unnatural to sinful man. In the beginning, it is clear that God created man for fellowship and communion with him (Gen 2 & 3), but sin corrupted all things God created because of the fall. As a result, man's fellowship and communion with God were destroyed, and thus, man, because of his sinful nature, cannot approach God but instead wants to be separated from Him. Therefore unless there is a quickening of the heart to spiritual life, sin causes us to resist God.
So how should we Pray rightly and Acceptably?
Psalm 17:1; 145:18 - First, we should be sincere in our prayers to God. Repeating empty phrases and being evasive to God is a mockery of Him. Hypocrisy is never to be found in prayer. Our affections and words in prayer should correspond to one another. What is spoken by the mouth should be from the abundance of the heart saturated with a genuine desire to bring glory to God (Luke 6:45).
Ecclesiastes 5:1; Psalm 89:7; Hebrews 12:28 – Second, we should approach God with reverence in prayer. God is a transcendent and holy God, as revealed to us by Isaiah in his vision in the sixth chapter of the book of Isaiah. Recognizing God's supreme majesty guards us from approaching God casually. We should never be tempted to come to God with familiarity or contempt. Everything in our expression, voice and gestures should portray reverence as we are before a great, majestic, Holy God.
Genesis 18:27; 32:10; Luke 5:8; 18:13-14 – Finally, we are supposed to not only understand who God is, but also supposed to understand who we are. We are sinful creatures, and that must never be forgotten. We must always approach God with a deep sense of unworthiness and sinfulness in our spirits. We cannot manage to go arrogantly before God. From a closer look at these requirements when we pray, it is clear that only a believer can pray with sincerity, reverence and humility. Only the believer finds it a pleasure to obey God, not because they expect anything in return, but because they truly understand who God is. What other way is there to know and understand who God is other than through His Word? For the believer, God is ever deserving of all honour and glory. In Romans 10:14 and Hebrews 11:6, we read clearly that any prayer the unbeliever offers is lost because God cannot ever graciously accept or answer such prayers. In Isaiah 59:2, Isaiah clearly states that God slams the door upon the sinner's prayer which is not a prayer first of repentance and an offering up of their hearts in contrite submission to Him.
Here is the first place where Scripture and prayer go hand in hand. First, before a Holy God, we are all sinners (Genesis 6:5; Psalm 51:5; Romans 3:23; Ephesians 2:1). So, if Scripture clearly states that God does not listen and hates the sinner's prayer (a continually hardened heart) because it is an abomination to Him, the sinful condition must be dealt with first. Thus, it is taught in God's Word that there's only one way that our sins are forgiven: if we believe in Christ and put our faith in Him and only Him (John 3; Galatians 3; Ephesians 2). This is the true Gospel, declared in God's Word for all humanity. Thus, praying requires saving faith. Timothy J. Keller, a renowned theologian, says, "Thus without the gospel, there is no possibility of passion and delight to praise and approach God."
The unbeliever's prayer denies the saving power of Christ by proclaiming that Christ's work was not necessary for the forgiveness of our sins. They reject Holy Scripture, where it provides that the only way to access God is through Christ (John 14:6). It is only through Jesus Christ we become God's children (John 1:12). As children, we can cry out, "Abba Father!" (Romans 8:15). Thus, because of Christ, we can boldly approach God in prayer (Hebrews 10: 19). The point is that unless we truly repent through faith in Christ, our prayers will never be answered because it is only Jesus Christ who can remove the sin that causes separation between God and us.
For all those who think they cannot be followers of Christ, let them remember 'God's mercy. Because God is merciful and loving, God will hear them if they approach Him in repentance and belief. For in an 'unbeliever's prayer, their sincerity is pretentious, their humility deceptive, and their fear of God temporary, for they seek to have God only fulfil what they need at that time of need and to get what they want. The Gospel, found in God's Word alone, gives us the desire to pray and grants genuine sincerity, humility and reverence. The Gospel enables the Christian not to pray because it is an obligation but because it is a desire from our need to speak with God in our newfound relationship.
The Gospel is the Heart of Prayer
No one can begin to understand prayer until he grasps what the Gospel teaches us about prayer. We will get to know God's will if we know God's Word. God has revealed Himself to us through the Scriptures, and more excellent still, the eternal Word who is Christ made Himself manifest in the flesh (John 1:14), and through Him, God speaks to us (Hebrews 1:1-2). So it is also through the Son, as revealed in Scripture, who teaches us how to pray (Matthew 6:5-13). Further, the only prayer an unbeliever can make and God listens to is that prayer of repentance. The gift of God in salvation is given freely to all who come to God in repentance and faith.
