This study was first taught on February 9, 2020

Topic: The New Way (3): Where and When Should We Pray?

(use the audio to study)

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Background
Last week, we saw that the true temple of God is one built without human hands, and is spiritual. The true temple of God—the tabernacle of David rebuilt—is the believer in Christ. It is the habitation of God—the place where God desires to live in; not visit!

Thus, we must be holy in every manner of conversation. Church leaders must understand that building the saved and sanctified souls are more important to God than putting up physical structures.

We must, therefore, ensure that our thoughts, speech, and actions are acceptable to God at all times.

Scripture Text(s)
Acts 3:1
Besides the error of going to the temple, as has been earlier pointed out, there was also the error of what they were going there for—pray at the hour of prayer! In the New Way, where and when we pray is also affected by the New Way.
The apostles, Peter and John seemed to find the New Way difficult to adapt to (<strong>Galatians 2:11-13</strong>), just as we have people who still go to their "Orthodox churches" while attending so-called "Pentecostal churches". Some others are fixated with programmes, so they go from church to church and from programme to programme (<strong>2 Timothy 4:2-4</strong>). Our example to follow in living the New Way in every respect is the Lord Jesus Christ; it is to Him that we must now turn in respect of where and when to pray.
Matthew 6:5-6; Mark 1:35; Luke 6:12; 11:1; 9:28; 22:39-46; 2:46; John 2:13-16; 5:1-14; 7:14, 37; Matthew 21:14; Luke 18:1; 1 Thessalonians 5:17; John 4:20-23; Matthew 23:5a.

Conclusion
When we look at the teachings and lifestyle of the Lord Jesus, we find that He exemplified secret private praying more than public praying. He always found a solitary or secluded place where He prayed—be it a mountain or some out-of-the-way place, where He would not be disturbed. And this is how we must pray—in private away from public glare. We must not seek to pray in public when we have not been praying in private!

Furthermore, we find that whenever the Lord went into the temple in His days on the earth, it was to teach, heal, chase out those desecrating the sanctuary, etc., but never to pray. We must never feel the need to substitute our private praying time for public prayer meetings.

And when it comes to when to pray, the Lord made it clear that we ought always to pray! The Bible tells us to "pray without ceasing". For the believer in Christ, we are to pray at any time—in the New Way there is no "hour of prayer"!

In summary, we are to pray at any time of the day, and in secret, at least when we talk of personal prayer—even within our hearts (<strong>Psalm 55:17; 4:3-4</strong>). What is crucial though is that we pray the will of God and for this to happen, we must be praying in the Spirit (<strong>1 John 5:14-15; Romans 8:26-27</strong>).

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