And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. ACT 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. JAS 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.
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. JOS 1:8
18 You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.
Rashi
You shall therefore lay up these words of mine—Even after you have been banished make yourselves distinctive by means of my commands: lay tefillin, make mezuzoth, so that these shall not be novelties to you when you return. Similarly does it state (Jer 31:20), “Set up road markers for yourself” (Sifrei Devarim 43:34).
19 You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. DEU 11:18-19
Bava Batra 21a:2
What was this ordinance? As Rav Yehuda says that Rav says: Truly, that man is remembered for the good, and his name is Yehoshua ben Gamla. If not for him the law would have been forgotten from the Jewish people. Initially, whoever had a father would have his father teach him the law, and whoever did not have a father would not learn the law at all. The Gemara explains: What verse did they interpret homiletically that allowed them to conduct themselves in this manner? They interpreted the verse that states: “You shall teach them [otam] to your children” (Deu 11:19), to mean: You yourselves [atem] shall teach, i.e., you fathers shall teach your sons.
Kiddushin 29b:8
The baraita teaches that a father is obligated to teach his son the law. The Gemara asks: From where do we derivethis requirement? As it is written: “You shall teach them [velimadtem] to your children” (Deu 11:19). And in a case where his father did not teach him he is obligated to teach himself, as it is written, i.e., the verse can be read with a different vocalization: You shall study [ulmadtem].
Rashi
You shall teach them to your children, talking of them—From the moment when your son knows how to speak, teach him (Deu 33:4) “Moses commanded us a law”—so that this should be the means of teaching him to speak (Sukkah 42a). From this they (the Rabbis) derived their teaching: When the babe begins to speak, his father should speak with him in the holy tongue, and should instruct him in the law. If he does not do this, it is as though he buries him, as it is said here, “You shall teach them to your children, talking of them . . .” that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied.
21 Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
John Gill
Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord”—Not every one that calls Christ his Lord and Master, professes subjection to him, or that calls upon his name, or is called by his name; or makes use of it in his public ministrations. There are many who desire to be called, and accounted Christians, and who make mention of the name of Christ in their sermons, only to take away their reproach, to cover themselves, and gain credit with, and get into the affections and goodwill of the people; but have no hearty love to Christ, nor true faith in him: nor is it their concern to preach his gospel, advance his glory, and promote his kingdom and interest; their chief view is to please men, aggrandize themselves, and set up the power of human nature in opposition to the grace of God, and the righteousness of Christ. Now not everyone of these, no, not any of them,
Will enter the kingdom of heaven—This is to be understood not of the outward dispensation of the gospel, or the gospel church state, or the visible church of Christ on earth, in which sense this phrase is sometimes used; because such persons may, and often do, enter here; but of eternal glory, into which none shall enter,
But the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven—This, as it may regard private Christians, intends not merely outward obedience to the will of God, declared in his law, nor barely subjection to the ordinances of the gospel; but more especially faith in Christ for life and salvation; which is the source of all true evangelical obedience, and without which nothing is acceptable to God. He that looks after the Son, looks to him, ventures on him, commits himself to him, trusts in him, relies on him, and believes on him for righteousness, salvation, and eternal life, he it is that does the will of the Father, and he only; and such an one, as he is desirous of doing the will of God in all acts of cheerful obedience to it, without dependence thereon; so he shall certainly enter the kingdom of heaven, and have everlasting life; see Joh 6:40 but as these words chiefly respect preachers, the sense of them is this, that only such who are faithful dispensers of the word shall enter into the joy of their Lord. Such do the will of Christ’s Father, and so his own, which are the same, who fully and faithfully preach the gospel of the grace of God; who declare the whole counsel of God, and keep back nothing that is profitable to the souls of men; who are neither ashamed of the testimony of Christ, nor afraid of the faces of men; but as they are put in trust with the gospel, so they speak it boldly, with all sincerity, not as pleasing men, but God, and commend themselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God: such as these shall have an abundant entrance into the kingdom and glory of God. The Vulgate Latin adds this clause, “he shall enter into the kingdom of heaven,” and so does Munster’s Hebrew edition of the gospel according to Matthew.
1 Hear this, O house of Jacob,
who are called by the name of Israel,
and who came from the waters of Judah,
who swear by the name of the Lord
and confess the God of Israel,
but not in truth or right.
Rashi
Hear this—The two tribes destined to go in exile to Babylon.
O house of Jacob, who are called by the name of Israel—That is the tribe of Benjamin, who are not called by the tribe of Judah, but by the general name of the tribes of Israel.
And who came from the waters of Judah—And the tribe of Judah who emanated and ran from the waters of Judah’s pail, as Scripture states (Num 24:7): “Water shall run out of his pails.”
But not in truth—As Jeremiah said, (5:2) “Though they say, ‘As the Lord lives,’ surely they swear falsely,” i.e., you were unworthy of being redeemed, but since they were called as being from the holy city, and that caused them not to be exiled with the ten tribes in the time of Sennacherib, to Halah and Habor, for they have no redemption.
2 For they call themselves after the holy city,
and stay themselves on the God of Israel;
the Lord of hosts is his name. ISA 48:1-2
Rashi
And stay themselves on the God of Israel in the days of Hezekiah, about whom it is written (2Ki 18:5): “He trusted in the Lord God of Israel.” That caused them not to be exiled except in the days of Nebuchadnezzar, who exiled them to Babylon, and they had a redemption through Cyrus.
24 Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. MAT 7:21, 24
And he said to man,
“Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,
and to turn away from evil is understanding.” JOB 28:28
Rashi
Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom—One requires the other, and wisdom is unseemly without the fear of the Lord.
Shabbat 31b:3
The Gemara remarks: Conclude that Rabbi Elazar is the one who said that he is praiseworthy because he is a man who fears sin, as elsewhere he also spoke in praise of fear. As Rabbi Yohanan said in the name of Rabbi Elazar: The Holy One, Blessed be He, has in His world only fear of Heaven alone, as it is stated: “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God” (Deu 10:12). And it is written: “And he said to man, ‘Behold [hen], the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding” (Job 28:28), as in the Greek language they call one hen. Apparently, fear of God is of primary importance. The Gemara concludes: Indeed, conclude that Rabbi Elazar is the one who said so.
9 How can a young man keep his way pure?
By guarding it according to your word.
11 I have stored up your word in my heart,
that I might not sin against you. PSA 119:9, 11
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. ROM 12:2
29 For everyone who does any of these abominations, the persons who do them shall be cut off from among their people.
Makkot 23a:20
And Rabbi Ḥananya ben Gamliel says: And if for one who performs one transgression his soul is taken for it, as one’s soul can be uprooted from the world for one transgression, for one who performs a single commandment, it is all the more so the case that his soul will be given to him, as the reward for performing commandments is greater than the punishment for performing transgressions. Rabbi Shimon says: It is derived from its own place in the law, as it is stated at the conclusion of the passage discussing intercourse with forbidden relatives, which is punishable with karet: “And the persons who perform them shall be excised” (Lev 18:29).
Rashi
The persons who do them—Both men and women are implied by the plural “the persons who do them” (in contrast to the sing. “everyone who does” in the beginning of the verse Sifra, Acharei Mot, Chapter 13 20).
30 So keep my charge never to practice any of these abominable customs that were practiced before you, and never to make yourselves unclean by them: I am the Lord your God. LEV 18:29-30
Moed Katan 5a:21
Mar Zutra said that an allusion to this obligation is found in the verse “Thus you shall keep the people of Israel separate from their impurity” (Lev 15:31), which indicates that people must be warned to stay away from that which could cause them to become ritually impure. Rav Ashi said it is derived from the verse: “So keep my charge” (Lev 18:30), which means that you must establish a safeguard for my charge, i.e., protective measures must be enacted to prevent people from transgressing halakha, a task that includes distancing people from ritual impurity by marking off graves, so that they not come to convey ritual impurity to the contribution or other consecrated items.
Rashi
So keep my charge—This is intended to caution the court regarding this (Sifra, Acharei Mot, Chapter 13 22).
And never to make yourselves unclean by them: I am the Lord your God—If, however, you do defile yourselves I am not your God since you have cut yourselves off from me. What use can I have of you? Consequently you deserve annihilation! That is why Scripture states: I am the Lord your God (Sifra, Acharei Mot, Chapter 13 22).
2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation—
3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. 1PE 2:2-3
Prayer
Christianity is more than just a religion. It is first and foremost a relationship with God. The foundation of any 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 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.” LUK 11:1
Jesus told us not to pray like the hypocrites and those who don’t know God.
5 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.
Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord;
be assured, he will not go unpunished. PRO 16:5
Sotah 4b:10
Rabbi Yohanan says in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Yohai: Any person who has arrogance within him is considered as if he were an idol worshipper, as it is written here: “Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord” (Pro 16:5), and it is written there concerning the destruction of idols: “And you shall not bring an abominable thing into your house” (Deu 7:26).
Sotah 5a:17
Rav Nahman bar Yitzhak said: Even a law scholar should not have any arrogance or any part of arrogance, i.e., not even one-eighth of one-eighth. He explains why arrogance should be avoided entirely by asking: Is it a small matter that it is written with regard to arrogance: “Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord” (Pro 16:5)?
Tractate Derekh Eretz Rabbah 11:14
Anyone who goes into the street with his shoes unlaced is haughty of spirit. He who walks with his sanṭer hanging side-ways, or his cap turned backwards, or sits crosslegged, or holds in his hand the straps of the tefillin and puts them back while walking in the street belongs to the haughty of spirit. Every man in whom there is haughtiness of spirit is as though he worships idols, as it states, You shall not bring an abominable thing into your house, and it states elsewhere, Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord: the word abomination is written in the one connection and also in the other—as the abomination mentioned in the one refers to idolatry so the abomination mentioned in the other refers to idolatry.
Tractate Kallah Rabbati 10:18
BARAITHA. If he loosened his shoe and went out into the street he is regarded as haughty.
GEMARA. What is he to do? This is what it means to say: If he put on his shoe when he went out into the street he is regarded as haughty. Raba said: It is forbidden to bring a haughty man into one’s house; for the Rabbis said: Any man in whom is haughtiness of spirit will in the end stumble through an unfaithful married woman, as it is stated, Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord. Even if he be learned in the law like Moses our teacher, he will not be free from the judgment of Gehinnom. As for everyone who is lowly of spirit, the Holy One, blessed be he, will save him from evil visitations that come upon the world; as it is stated, For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.”
7 And 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.
8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. MAT 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. MAT 6:6
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. JOH 14:6
8 And a highway shall be there,
and it shall be called the Way of Holiness;
the unclean shall not pass over it.
It shall belong to those who walk on the way;
even if they are fools, they shall not go astray.
9 No lion shall be there,
nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it;
they shall not be found there,
but the redeemed shall walk there. ISA 35:8-9
John Gill
No lion shall be there—That is, in the way before described; no wicked persons, comparable to lions for their savage and cruel dispositions towards the people of God; for those who have been as such, as Saul before conversion, yet when brought into this way become as tame as lambs. The Targum interprets it of tyrannical kings and princes,
“there shall not be there a king doing evil, nor an oppressive governor”;
And Jarchi applies it to Nebuchadnezzar, as in Jer 4:7 and the sense may be, that when this way shall be more known on earth, in the latter day, there will be no persecutor of the church and people of God: or else Satan, the roaring lion, is here meant, who has no part nor lot in this way of salvation; and all that are in it are out of his reach; and though he may disturb in the paths of duty and ordinances, yet he can never destroy those who are in Christ the way:
Nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it—Upon the high way; the same may be intended as before:
They shall not be found there—Walking, ravaging, and destroying:
But the redeemed shall walk there—Without fear, as Kimchi adds, since no lion, or any beast of prey, shall be found upon it: the “redeemed” are the redeemed of the Lord, and by him, and are peculiarly his, being bought with his precious blood, redeemed from among men, and unto God, and from sin, the law, its curse, and condemnation; these “shall walk” in the way of life and salvation by Christ, in consequence of their being redeemed; which supposes life, strength, and wisdom, which are given them, and a proficiency or going forward: they “shall” walk here; though they have been blind, their eyes shall be opened to see this way; and, though weak, they shall have strength to walk in it; and, though foolish, they shall have wisdom to guide their feet with discretion; and, though they may stumble and fall, they shall rise again, and shall keep on walking to the end.
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.” MAT 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.
14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.
15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him. 1JN 5:14-15