阅读经文 

许多年前，在北京的一所大学里，我问一间教室里大约100名中国学生是否曾经祈祷过。大约70%的人举起了手。

总体而言，世界上许多人都说他们会祈祷。但我们需要问：“他们究竟向谁祈祷呢？”

基督徒祷告的时候，他们并不是将愿望发射到没有位格的宇宙。基督徒的祷告是向那位神圣的、宇宙的创造者说话，祂是独一的真神，天地的主宰。

我们如何认识这位神呢？尽管神已经在造物中启示了祂自己，但我们若要个人认识神，只能通过神的话和祷告。因此，祷告和读经是分不开的。我们若非沉浸在祂的话中，聆听、默想，与祂沟通我们在其中发现的真理。就不能知道神是我们的天父，也不能知道怎样在世上为祂而活和侍奉祂。

所以我们应该明智地让一首古老的主日学歌曲在心里提醒我们：“每天读经，每天祷告。” 当然这并不是什么神奇的公式。然而这是一个很好的建议，让我们知道我们向谁祷告，神要我们怎样祷告，以及当为什么事祷告。如果我们心中没有神的话而祷告，我们就会处在只是“许愿”的危险中。

Many years ago at a university in Beijing, I asked a classroom of about 100 Chinese students to raise their hand if they ever prayed. About 70 percent of them raised their hands.

Broadly defining prayer, many people around the world say that they pray. But we need to ask, "To whom or what do they pray?"

When Christians pray, they are not merely launching wishes out to an impersonal cosmos. Christian prayer speaks to the divine Creator of the universe, the one true God who is the Lord of heaven and earth.

And how do we know this God? Though God has revealed himself in his creation, we can know God personally only through his written Word and through prayer. Consequently, prayer and Bible reading cannot be separated. We can't know God as our Father in heaven, or how to live for him and serve him in his world, unless we are immersed in his Word, listening and meditating and communicating with him about the truth we find there.

So we would be wise to take to heart an old Sunday school song that reminds us, "Read your Bible; pray every day." Of course this isn't some magical formula; it's just sound advice for knowing to whom we pray, how God wants us to pray, and what we should pray for. Praying without God's Word in our hearts puts us at risk of merely "sending wishes."