The following "Question" was asked by a member of the congregation at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, and "Answered" by their pastor, John MacArthur Jr. It was transcribed from the tape, GC 1301-R, titled "Bible Questions and Answers Part 20." A copy of the tape can be obtained by writing, Word of Grace, P.O. Box 4000, Panorama City, CA 91412 or by dialing toll free 1-800-55-GRACE. ©1982. All Rights Reserved.
Question
John, what is more important, reading the Word or praying? And after you answer that, could you give us an example of your prayer life?
Answer
Well, the answer to that question is "neither is more important." I mean, that’s
like saying if you’re going to have a conversation with somebody, which is more
important, that he talk or you talk? Prayer is you talking to the Lord; the Word
is Him talking to you. If you’re going to have any kind of an interchange at
all, you’ve got to have both. So you can’t make one over the other. Basically,
prayer is a way of life. I perceive prayer as a way of life. I used to use the
illustration that prayer is like breathing; you don’t get up in the morning and
say, now for an hour I’m going to breathe, and breathe myself right into the
day. And tonight when I go to bed, I’m going to breathe again. Prayer is a way
of life. It is taking in the divine presence; it is being in the divine
atmosphere. That’s what it says in I Thessalonians 5—“pray without ceasing”;
it’s a way of life. Praying in all things Ephesians says.
So basically prayer is an attitude which is conscious of the presence of God at all times in all places, so there’s a running communion with Him. And sometimes, I confess to you, the most fruitful times of communion with the Lord are when I’m not reading the Bible and I really don’t have the words to say, either. There’s just a rising of the concern of my heart that I find hard sometimes to articulate.
So prayer, I think you have to get beyond the fact that—I’m not denying that you need time in prayer—but you have to get beyond the fact that prayer is some kind of a set routine; it is a way of life. I like to perceive it as the fact that in any given vicissitude or any situation in life, the first reaction the believer has is to carry that thing to God. There’s an immediate sense of communing. In my own life, I cannot tell you—I cannot draw a line between praying and hearing the Word, because the Word is so much in my mind, that whenever I see a thing happening, immediately it goes through this Biblical grid, and somewhere in there my thoughts rise to God. So that I think is really critical. I think in my own life, one of the things that I’ve seen happen in spiritual growth, is that you come to the place where prayer is the most instant response to anything. The Word of God, crying out to God, you know, giving your heart to God in whatever happens, and seeking His will, but also there needs to be a time where you’re involved in meaningful prayer where you set things aside and you pray for specific things.
And I find that in my own personal life, the best time for me is at night. I
have a difficulty in the morning because I have four kids, and the mornings I
spend with them. We read together the Word; we’re reading through the Bible now.
We’re in Exodus, and we’re wading through all the furniture in the Tabernacle.
Melinda says, “Why are we reading this, Daddy? What is all this about?” So we’re
having a great time, so I explain some of the things to them, and leave some of
the others alone, but anyway… And then we read a Proverb; you know, there are 31
chapters in Proverbs, 31 days in a month, so each day, whatever day is
corresponding we read that chapter in Proverbs and just go through the fact that
kids aren’t to foolish; they’re to be wise, listen to their parents. So, it’s
really great, so we do that. And then at night, I always spend time in prayer,
and then that’s really the best time for me to concentrate. Now, normally in the
process of a day I’ll take some time while I’m studying to break from the rigors
of study, and I have at my right hand some prayer requests that I jot down, and
just go through those. But I mean, I guess that’s the best way I can answer the
question.
Question continued
So when people give you a prayer request, do you actually go through all
the prayer requests?
Answer continued
I do my best to do that, but it’s very difficult. I mean, for example, with
the radio, we may get 20,000 letters a month with people asking me to pray for
something. You know, I have no more power in prayer than you do. I got a phone
call today from a lady in Wheaton, IL, she called up and said, “Pray for my
husband; he’s got cancer.” She called and wanted to make sure she got me; she
didn’t want to talk to anybody but me. She wanted me to pray for her husband who
has cancer. Well, I can appreciate her desire, but I can’t get God to do
anything you can’t get Him to do. I mean, at least that’s been my experience.
Lot’s of people I’ve prayed for died. I do believe too that there’s such a thing
as a gift of faith which I think expresses itself in a very unique prayer life.
And many people have that.
Added to Bible Bulletin Board's "MacArthur's Questions and
Answers" by:
Tony Capoccia
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