Biblical Teaching on Prayer

James 3:9-10

With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be.

Pondering Point

This Bible verse is a tongue twister, but unfortunately it is NOT a good one! James shares a sad reality that our tongues can become disgracefully twisted, sharing both praise for God and shameful words about people he made and loves – people His Son died for. James 3 likens the tongue to a fire of sorts, able to corrupt a person and send his whole life up in flames (see James 3:5-6). God forbid! May all our words, whether in communication with God or man, bring honor to the Lord.

James 3:5-6

5 So the tongue is a little member and boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire!

6 And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is an unrighteous world among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the cycle of nature, and set on fire by hell.

Prayer

Father God, help me guard my heart as the wellspring of life – and to guard my tongue, a potential wellspring of destruction. Let me take this teaching of Your Word seriously and use my tongue for good. In Jesus I pray. Amen.

Prayer Thoughts
Chapter 27
Time

The habit of praying at the beginning of each day was formed earlier in my life. Consistency in prayer really came for me when we moved to Indonesia. The first item on my agenda still is personal prayer. So, I spend the first 45 minutes to an hour in Bible reading and prayer. I have discovered over the years that the most important task I have as a pastor, counselor, teacher, colleague, coach, grandfather, father, husband and world Christian is to pray for the situations and people that I find surrounding me. The second item is that I have found that my prayer list is so long that I need to write down prayer concerns so I do not forget them. I now have made it a habit to write a new prayer list every few months. My desire is to spend time with this list in prayer each day.

As a Godly servant leader I did not pray to inform Him of what was happening. He already knew. I wanted His divine perspective, insight, and direction to accomplish the variety of tasks that faced me in this chaotic world. The focus in prayer was what God could do, not what I could do. It was prayer that was filled with God’s presence. Was it perfect? No. Three definite conclusions were made:

No leader is greater than his prayer life.
Prayer life flows out of an intimate relationship with God.
Make prayer the number one priority in life.

Got his book? Read pages 130-133 in Keep Me and Keep All, Smith.