Those who are rich in Christ, those who have a deep abiding relationship with Him, understand the best sequence of personal worship:Bible study, followed by meditation, followed by prayer.
When we follow this sequence in our personal worship, we allow God to speak to us through His Word. We can than meditate on what He is trying to tell us through His Word. Finally, once we understand what the Lord is communicating to us, we feel led to talk to Him and discuss what He is trying to teach us.
Several months ago, I wrote a blog post regarding the great stewardship mindset of George Müller. He was a man of great faith who totally depended on God through His Word and through prayer to meet the needs of the orphanages he was called to establish in England. Regarding his own sequence of personal worship, he said,
Several months ago, I wrote a blog post regarding the great stewardship mindset of George Müller. He was a man of great faith who totally depended on God through His Word and through prayer to meet the needs of the orphanages he was called to establish in England. Regarding his own sequence of personal worship, he said,
The first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day was to have my soul happy in the Lord. The first thing to be concerned about was not, how much I might serve the Lord, how I might glorify the Lord; but how I might get my soul in a happy state, and how my inner man might be nourished.
Before this time my habit had been to give myself to prayer after having dressed in the morning. Now I saw that the most important thing I had to do was to give myself to the reading of the Word of God and to meditation on it, that thus my heart might be comforted, encouraged, warned, reproved, instructed; and that thus, whilst meditating, my heart might be brought into (an experiential) communion with the Lord.
The result I have found to be almost invariable this, that after a very few minutes my soul has been led to confession, or to thanksgiving, or to intercession, or to supplication; so that though I did not, as it were, give myself to prayer, but to meditation, yet it turned almost immediately [Source: Light Their Fire for God by Anne and David Harper, p. 102].
What is your own sequence for personal worship? Do you agree with George Müller's own personal experience and assessment?
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