It’s Saturday, but I challenge you to use these words from Alistair Begg to help you get ready for worship this weekend. Pray before you hear the Word and immediately after you hear it:
Simply ask yourself: will I pray before and after I hear God’s word preached to me next Sunday? The way we come to listen to the Bible and the way we go off after we have listened—both on our own and also as a church—matters. And it is revealing. We tend to teach our children to say thank you to God for a meal before they eat it, and that you don’t just walk away from the table after a meal; you say thank you before you get down. That’s fair. It’s just the same with the bread of God’s word. You don’t just start the meal—you thank God for it, and you ask him to use it to nourish you, spiritually. Then you don’t finish the meal and run for your car; you finish the meal and you take some time to say, “Thank you, Father, for the food. It may not have been served the way I like it, it may not have been quite the flavor I was hoping for; but I believe the pastor, whoever he was, prayerfully prepared and delivered it as best as he could, and I want to thank you for providing for me before I head out.”
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Alistair Begg, Pray Big: Learn to Pray Like an Apostle. The Good Book Company. Kindle Edition.
