The Word and Prayer

It seems to me the more I read the great preachers of the past the further our church's have fallen from what the pattern of a true church should be. D. L. Moody really nailed down what happens to us when we neglect Prayer and The Word of God.

"The two first and essential means of grace are the Word of God and Prayer. By these come conversion; for we are born again by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever; and whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

By these also we grow; for we are exhorted to desire the sincere milk of the Word that we may grow thereby, and we cannot grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ except we also speak to Him in Prayer.

It is by the Word that the Father sanctifies us; but we are also bidden to watch and pray, lest we enter into temptation.

These two means of grace must be used in their right proportion. If we read the Word and do not pray, we may become puffed up with knowledge, without the love that buildeth up. If we pray without reading the Word, we shall be ignorant of the mind and will of God, and become mystical and fanatical, and liable to be blown about by every wind of doctrine."

Excerpt taken from the book "Prevailing Prayer" by D. L. Moody