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‘As you pray, so you believe’

April 3, 2020 By John Francis

Lex orandi, Lex credende.

In worship academia, this phrase is passed around a lot. It means, “As you pray (or worship), so you believe.” As an instructor of worship and a worship leader, lately, I have been challenged in my prayer life. Deep down, I know that strong corporate worship must be rooted in proper prayer, and boy have we had something to pray about!

While we are all probably tired of everything COVID-19, it does allow us to pray and to review our prayer life, doesn’t it?

While I know that I am not the first to encourage you to pray over the past month, let me at least be one that would encourage you to renew your prayer life through this odd time in which we live. Whether your church has been virtual, or meeting, this opportunity to get down to some good praying is life-changing. In my prayer life lately, I have been examining the high prayer of Jesus in John 17, right before his trial and crucifixion. I’ve also enjoyed, alongside it, a classic text by Warren Wiersbe, The Intercessory Prayer of Jesus: Priorities for Dynamic Christian Living. In this book, Wiersbe breaks down the prayer into four headings that we could well use in our own prayer life: glory, sanctity, security, and unity.

God alone is worthy of glory, remember as you pray, so you believe. If we think this about our Master, then our prayer life should begin with glory due His name. We recognize that he is glorious, and we are not. This realization leads to a request for sanctity. If we are a people truly set apart, we must ask for it. If we ourselves, do the setting apart, then we are merely self-righteous. We must pray that God does the work through the Word and Spirit (Verbum cum Spiritus, Spiritus cum Verbum.)

Security is essential as well, with a caveat: that God would keep us safe, as He defines safe. God has a mission, and safety is being in His presence. Physical safety may, or may not, be ours to have. But as you follow Him, it may not be ours to choose. Security needs to be instead sought in being in the will and in the shadow of the Lord.

Finally comes unity. In our sinful nature, unity is something not pursued. We would rather be right than together. While there is power in right-thinking, Christ prayed that the church would have unity. Pray that our churches unify in thought and deed.

Lex orandi, lex credendi, is a powerful concept. I encourage you to take this strange time in the life of our world to explore where you are in it and perhaps do some prayer re-evaluations. I’ll be praying! 

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