I was reading an article this week in the online magazine published by the PCA called “Flirting with Darkness?”. The author was discussing how our world develops wrong teachings and thoughts about Satan.

He quoted a famous statement made by C.S. Lewis about Satan. “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors.”

It made me think about the distortions that can creep into our society and even our churches. The New Testament has a number of examples of false teaching that the apostles dealt with in the early church. Examples can be found in 2 Corinthians, Colossians, 1 Timothy, 2 Peter, 2 John, and Jude to name a few. And it continues today. The worst are beliefs that are 90% truth, but the remaining 10% make the whole thing false. I’m sure we can all identify illustrations of false teaching in our society and in some churches.

So what does this have to do with prayer and what are we to do about it?

As followers of Jesus Christ we have a responsibility to read and understand what God has revealed to us in the Holy Scriptures. One way to gain an understanding of scripture is to pray it back to God. What we then are able to understand about scripture tells us what we need to believe about Him. That distillation of the revelation from God about who He is and what He has done for us is our doctrine.

But doctrine has become a dirty word these days in many circles, probably because doctrinal documents are so closely associated with the various denominations within the church. Our denomination holds that scripture is inerrant and the very word of God. Our denomination also believes that the distillation of that word into doctrinal concepts can be found in the Westminster Confession of Faith, which is based entirely on scripture.

In generations past, especially during times of revival, believers would study the Bible, earnestly praying that God would reveal Himself to them. They would use documents like the Westminster Confession to pray over, so that they could discern God’s will and purpose. Too many Christians today, abdicate that responsibility to the Pastor of the church to teach them what they should believe via the sermon. In times past, exhortation of the Word was primarily worship; worship that encouraged Christians to study the Word even more deeply on their own.

Many in our church have a wonderful grounding of scripture and doctrine because they have a passion for God’s Word and study it every day. It shows in how they pray. If you want your prayer life to grow, use prayer in the scriptures to do that. You might even try praying over the Westminster Confession.

Always praying for the glory of God,

Chris McKean