“Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee” (Psalm 119:11 KJV).

Today’s Scripture, believe it or not, lies at the heart of prayer.

Like innumerable other Christian subjects, prayer is terribly misunderstood. Superstition thus lurks in this realm. Since not considered dispensationally, prayer is usually such an unspeakable burden, a taxing exercise with mysterious and often unexpected results. Little wonder so many stumble therein!

As God has already spoken to us through His Word, the Holy Bible, so we now speak to Him through prayer. Prayer, of course, must be “Pauline” if it will have the impact Father God intended. The only way our prayers can be Pauline is if our doctrine is Pauline—harmonious with what the Lord says to us through our Apostle Paul (Ephesians 3:1-2). We cannot force God to do something He is no longer doing. Yanking verses from other dispensations, claiming prayer promises God never gave us, is a sure way to wind up a bitter opponent of Christianity!

God the Holy Spirit speaks in Romans through Philemon, then we read and store or believe that information with the heart (cf. today’s Scripture). Psalm 62:8 comments: “Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah.”

Prayer is heartfelt communion with Father God—not mindless repetition of denominational proclamations!

Watch how Hannah prayed:

“And it came to pass, as she continued praying before the LORD, that Eli marked her mouth. Now Hannah, she spake in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard: therefore Eli thought she had been drunken. And Eli said unto her, How long wilt thou be drunken? put away thy wine from thee. And Hannah answered and said, No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit: I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul before the LORD” (1 Samuel 1:12-15).

She obviously read God’s Word to her—particularly the Mosaic Law—and she prayed according to it. Scripture was in her heart, and her prayer was the pouring out of her soul. This led to the birth of the Prophet Samuel.

Brethren, our prayers will be equally powerful when we pray the Pauline way!

While Christians often forget to pray for others, most of us remember to pray for ourselves, especially when it comes to things like that!

Of course, you wouldn't think a pastor would forget to pray for others, but pastors are Christians too. So Paul wrote to Pastor Timothy, saying,

"I exhort therefore, that, first of all supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men" (I Timothy 2:1).

Now, when Paul only exhorts Timothy to pray after charging him to "teach no other doctrine" (1:3,18), it's easy to conclude from this that praying is not as important as teaching. But an exhortation from God is a serious thing! After the Lord told the Jews that "the blood of all the prophets" would be "required of this generation" (Lu. 11:50,51), Peter chose to "exhort" them, "saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation" (Acts 2:40). That sounds serious to me! And when Paul then exhorts us to pray, we know that prayer must be just as serious a matter in the eyes of God.

As we look back to the previous chapter to see why Paul would exhort Timothy to pray "therefore," we see that Paul just finished charging him to "war a good warfare" (1:18). Well, what does every soldier do before going into battle? He prays! I don't care if he's a Christian or not. An old saying says, "There are no atheists in foxholes!"

Yet, as Christians, it is so easy to forget that God has called us to "wrestle... against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places" (Eph. 6:12). After Paul went on in that passage to describe the armor God gave us to conduct that warfare (v. 13-17), he exhorted the Ephesians to pray (v.18). Naturally! After donning his armor, every Roman soldier was certain to pray to his god, and so must we.

Beloved, we must pray for the lost with whom we share Christ, and we must pray for the saints with whom we share the mystery, if we hope to "war a good warfare" against the wicked spirits that are keeping them in darkness with their "doctrines of devils" (I Tim. 4:1). If you are laboring to bring souls to Christ and then build them up in the faith, why not follow the example of Epaphras, who was "always laboring fervently...in prayers" that people might "stand perfect and complete in all the will of God" (Col. 4:12).