CHAPTER FIVE

DEVOTION

And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

Acts 2:42

What made the early Church vibrant and healthy was their devotion to God. Because they were devoted to grow in their relationship with Him, they developed disciplines that expressed this devotion. Two of these vital disciplines are reading the Bible and Praying.

Word

More than just a random collection of stories, poems, and letters, the Bible is the inspired written Word of God. We must follow the example of Job who valued God's Word more than food.

I have not departed from the commandment of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food.

Job 23:12

Before turning to Christ, we lived by the world's standards. Now we accept the Bible as the final authority for what we believe and how we live. God's Word is the ultimate and absolute standard for every area of life.

The measure of our spiritual progress is not how much of the Bible we know, but how much we obey. Those who constantly learn but fail to obey end up deceiving themselves.

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

James 1:22

The Bible is our key to spiritual growth. It is also how we resist temptation, how we become successful, and how we can know God's will for our lives.

²Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— ³if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

1 Peter 2:2,3

⁹How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. . . .¹¹I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.

Psalm 119:9,11

"This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success."

Joshua 1:8

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Romans 12:2

Prayer

Christianity is more than just a religion. It is first and foremost a relationship with God. The foundation of my healthy relationship is communication. The better the communication, the better the relationship will be. God talks to us in many ways but primarily through His Word, the Bible. We talk to Him through prayer. We learn to listen to the sound of God's voice in our lives when we read His Word. He listens to us when we pray. We respond to His Word with action. He responds to our prayers with action.

Jesus is our best example for prayer. By observing His personal prayer life, we can learn important principles on how to have an intimate time of connection with the Father.

Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples."

Luke 11:1

Jesus told us not to pray like the hypocrites and those who don't know God.

"And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward....⁷And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. ⁸Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him."

Matthew 6:5,7,8

Jesus told us to pray to the Father, not to the mother, saints, or angels. We are to pray through Jesus because He is the only way to the Father.

"But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you."

Matthew 6:6

For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. . .

1 Timothy 2:5

Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

John 14:6

Jesus taught His disciples to pray for God's will to be done, provision, forgiveness, victory over temptation, and protection from the devil's schemes.

⁹ Pray then like this: "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. ¹⁰ Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. ¹¹ Give us this day our daily bread, ¹² and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. ¹³ And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil."

Matthew 6:9-13

As we read and obey the Word, and as we pray and trust God with our lives, let us not forget that God really answers prayer. The more specific the prayers, the more specific the answers will be. The secret is to pray according to His will. We know His will by knowing His Word. Therefore, as we pray according to His Word, we know He will answer.

¹⁴And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. ¹⁵And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.

1 John 5:14,15