Word of God and Prayer

For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude; for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer.

1 Timothy 4: 4-5

Unhappiness and failure come from having the wrong hope, the wrong thoughts, and the wrong desires; it comes from speaking the wrong words and acting the wrong way. Blessings come when we have the right hope and make the right plans; it comes from speaking the right words and behaving the right way. In other words, our happiness or unhappiness depends solely on ourselves. We could be in the happiest circumstances, but if we are thinking and doing the wrong things, this will eventually lead to unhappiness. On the other hand, we could be in an unhappy situation, but if we are thinking and doing the right things, true happiness will eventually find its way to us.

We equate bad things with unhappiness and good things with happiness. Spiritually or carnally, sorrow is a result of our faults, and happiness is a result of living the right way. But when we experience unhappiness, we don’t turn the spotlight on ourselves and realize we are the very reason for our grief. And we crave happiness, but we refuse to do the work to become a person who can be happy.

Therefore, living the right way is the source of all happiness, and living the wrong way is the source of all unhappiness. So we should not focus on seeking happiness and avoiding grief; instead of putting these things at the top of the list, we must first focus on living right. If we focus on living right, happiness or unhappiness will take care of themselves.

If happiness depends on living right, how do we live the right way? The Bible teaches that we are sanctified “by means of the word of God and prayer.” Before doing anything else, read the Bible. If we keep reading the Bible, the bad person inside of us, who attracts unhappiness, melts away and grows weak. And we must pray.

We must be careful because praying can be dangerous. We must pray according to the will of God. We must pray for the things God wants and discard things God dislikes. Instead, many of us set selfish desires as our prayer goals, and we pray until we meet that desire. That kind of prayer is useless! God despises that kind of prayer! We must deny ourselves and adhere to the truth when praying. We must never use God as a means to satisfy our most selfish desires. When we pray, we must seek out the things we are doing wrong and fix them.

When we read the Bible, we must fix ourselves accordingly. We must set the words of the Bible as the standard and try to live up to those standards. Fix what the Bible says is wrong and do the things the Bible commands! We perish if we use the Bible to justify our needs and desires. We must not use the Bible to rationalize our ungodly behavior.

People who read the Bible a lot and pray fervently open the door to God’s infinite blessings. You may profess to be a Christian, but all is for naught if you do not read the Bible and pray. Once you stop reading the Bible and praying, you lose the ability to distinguish between right and wrong. You lose the ability to discover and seek out the truth. You live in darkness. For this reason, we must be devoted and diligent when it comes to reading the Bible and praying.

Before looking for happiness or trying to escape unhappiness, live the right way. Despite your circumstances, whether they be good or bad, focus on living right and happiness will follow. How do we live the right way in the eyes of God? We must devote ourselves to Scripture-reading and prayer.

Summary