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Monday

Psalm 15.1 “Lord, who may dwell in your sacred tent? Who may live on your holy mountain?”

Sacred. Holy. Two words you don’t hear every day. I wonder if the church’s anxiety to downplay the distinction between sacred and secular has back-fired? We need words like reverence and awe. They describe our recognition that life has boundaries. The word ‘holy’ lies at the heart of Christian worship: “Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness, bow down before him, his glory proclaim.” I wonder too if we have become too self-important to feel the need to bow down. We could do with recovering at least some of the Psalm poet’s sense of the holiness, majesty and glory of God.

Tuesday

Psalm 15.2a “The one whose walk is blameless, who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from their heart.”

Blameless and righteous living has to do with behaviour and action, what we do and why we do it. Righteousness is strongly flavoured with justice, fairness and mercy. To use a phrase too tritely used by politicians – Righteousness is “to do the right thing.” And for the right reasons. The blameless walk is about a way of life, the settled disposition of someone for whom doing what God approves is sufficient reason.

Wednesday

Psalm 15.2b “The one whose walk is blameless, who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from their heart.”

A blameless walk and righteous action are complemented by speech that can be trusted, and words that can be believed. Now more than ever, in a culture of devalued truth and easily distorted words, integrity in our speech is an important sign of those who take truth seriously, because we take God seriously. The complaint “Nothing is sacred anymore,” suggests that deep down we know that such things as truth, goodness, beauty, God and God’s ways, have a claim on us. God requires integrity, a close match between our words, our heart and the world we live in.  

Thursday
Psalm 15.3 “Whose tongue utters no slander, who does no wrong to a neighbour, and casts no slur on others.”

Words wound. Words spoil reputations. Words ignite conflicts. No wonder the Bible repeatedly warns against words that are false, malicious, trouble-making, forged in anger and spoken in spite. “The tongue is a fire”, says James. “Every word you speak must be accounted for”, warned Jesus. It isn’t possible to come into God’s presence to pray and praise, if much of our speaking elsewhere causes damage, hurt and misunderstanding. We get to enjoy God’s presence when our daily conversations at home, work and wherever, are consistent with what we say in our worship and prayers; when our words are also blameless and righteous.  

Friday
Psalm 15.4 “Who despises a vile person but honours those who fear the Lord; who keeps an oath even when it hurts, and does not change their mind.”

The Psalm-poet warns about bad company. We can be a bit self-righteous if we baulk at ‘despising a vile person.’ To fear the Lord is to put the values and ways of God first in our relationships. So if we make promises we keep them, however inconvenient it turns out to be. In a society like that of our Psalm-poet, doing business depended on keeping your word, being trusted on the strength of a promise. Indeed the steadfast love of the Lord is a belief embedded in a culture where the word was a bond. God doesn’t change his mind about what he has promised – nor should those who come into God’s presence on the strength of those promises. Our word should be as dependable as God’s promises to us. There’s a thought!

Saturday
Psalm 15.5 “Who lends money to the poor without interest; who does not accept a bribe against the innocent.”

What we do with our money, and what we allow our money to do to us, is absolutely central to a life of practical obedience to God, and faithful Christian discipleship. Luther said property is fellowship through created things. Money is a sacrament, a means of grace, a means to the end of loving our neighbour. In a consumerist and competitive world, how we as Christians use our money becomes counter-cultural, subversive of barcodes and Q8 scan codes. Banksy’s newest art says: “When you give to the poor leave the camera at home.” Aye. That!

Sunday

Psalm 15.6 “Whoever does these things will never be shaken.”

Living with integrity is a present continuous process. Integrity is the outcome of habits of thought and action, countless choices for good, so that such behaviour becomes characteristic of the doer. They are predictably trustworthy. That’s a big ask. But the good character of a Christian is a powerful statement, a persuasive argument, a recurring witness to our faith in a faithful God.

This whole Psalm is about how we behave outside the church affecting the quality and sincerity of what we do inside God’s house. Doing righteousness, speaking truth, blameless walk, making our money talk the language of compassion – do these things and life is well founded.

Monday

I Thess. 3.10 “Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you again face to face and supply what is lacking in your faith.”

Paul understands the importance of face to face meetings. Relationships grow by the way we see and behave towards each other. Phone, text, email, WhatsApp are all fine – just as in Paul’s day papyrus and ink could communicate across distance. But to encourage others, build friendship, and deepen affection and understanding nothing substitutes for being present, being there FOR, and being there WITH, each other, face to face. Christian love is embodied and enacted best in each other’s presence.

Tuesday

Galatians 2.11 “When Peter came to Antioch I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong.”

This is another kind of face to face meeting altogether! Paul is fighting for the freedom of Gentile converts, saved by grace through faith, not through any other means. Peter refused to eat with these Gentile converts to avoid offending those of a different mind. Paul doesn’t simmer with resentment – he faces Peter, speaks truth, and names what is wrong. Sometimes we have to face up to difficult people and situations. Just remember – in this same letter Paul lists the fruit of the Spirit, those built in safeguards of Christian behaviour – and he includes love and self-control! 

Wednesday

Matthew 6.16-17 “When you fast, do not look sombre as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face…,”

Jesus is insisting that the face we present to the world is truthful, not pretending to be who we are not. There is an honesty required in the words we speak – but also in what we communicate with our faces. There is a Scottish banter question, “What’s up with your face”? Usually a way of calling out someone in a bad mood, made visible by their whole body language. Jesus is talking about not making a show of our piety and pretending we are super-spiritual. A Christian’s face should avoid being a visible and convincing contradiction of the Good News! 

 

Thursday

Acts 6.15 “All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.”

The first martyr’s face bears witness to his faith as he speaks truth to his accusers. In telling Stephen’s story, Luke describes the face of a man at peace in the midst of a storm that will engulf him. He is a follower of Jesus, and like Jesus, he prays for those who will kill him. The intense and unflinching face of Stephen tells of his faithfulness to Jesus, forgiveness to his executors, and bears witness to the hope of the Gospel – “I see heaven open, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” (7.56) The face of this faithful witness, looks up in faith to Jesus risen and enthroned.

Friday

Matthew 17.2&6 “Jesus was transfigured before them and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light…”

When God said “This is my Beloved Son”, the disciples “fell face down to the ground.” The face of Jesus’ ablaze with glory, and the hidden faces of disciples awed into silence by the voice from heaven, each tell a story. Awe, wonder, the fear of God – I wonder if we are losing that sense of the Holy? Are we less attuned to reverence in the presence of Almighty God? The Transfiguration reminds us that God is not our pal, and we have no right to take liberties in God’s presence. Should we really need to be reminded that Jesus is the Christ, the Beloved Son, and Lord as well as Saviour?

Saturday

1 Corinthians 13.12 “Now we see but a poor reflection, as in a mirror, then we shall see face to face.”

 At the end of the Love chapter, come these words about the vision of God in Christ that awaits all whose faith and love pull the heart towards heaven. The Bible is quite clear that we cannot look on the face of God and live. But if it is the face of God in Christ, the human face of God, the Word made flesh and now glorified, then we will look on Jesus face to face, and we shall know even as we are fully known. Heaven is this personal meeting, face to face, in which our relationship to God in Christ comes to fulfilment. That’s why the greatest of these three, faith, hope and love, is Love.

Sunday

2 Corinthians 4.6 “For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.”

The light that glowed at the Transfiguration on the face of Jesus, now shines in Christian hearts. This light is what we know, in our experience, in the deeper life of our mind, in those hidden places of the heart only God sees and understands. “The light of the knowledge of God’s glory in the face of Christ” is the light of life, the energy source of all that we are and hope to be in Christ, the presence in all our living of the risen Christ. Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.  

Paintings used above:

Icon of The Holy Trinity, Rublev – the interchange of the three faces expressing the life and love of the Triune God. 

Jesus in the Home of Martha and Mary, Vermeer – this painting is in the National Galleries of Scotland, and is the only known biblical subject Vermeer painted.

The Head of the Virgin, Rogier van der Weyden – a rare silverpoint sketch, and for me, the loveliest face of Mary I have seen as artistic representation. 

On a recent Sunday journey to Montrose, at the Stonehaven peripheral junction and roundabout, the driver on the outside ignored lane discipline and changed lanes, forcing me off the designated lane for turning right. In a burst of self-righteousness I chose not to be angry, and moved back into position after the offending driver had passed. After all, I was heading to a church to preach about Jesus as the inspiration and model for our lives.

Going through Inverbervie a car was waiting to join the traffic at the junction near the Co-op, and he waited till I was much nearer then slowly pulled out in front of me forcing me to brake. Once again I tried, I really tried, not to be annoyed. At which point Classic FM started playing 'Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring.' Including the following words:

Jesu, joy of man's desiring,
Holy wisdom, love most bright;
Drawn by Thee, our souls aspiring
Soar to uncreated light.

 I defy anyone to sustain annoyance and keep muttering angrily under their breath while listening to that piece of heaven anticipated. Like an all-knowing back seat driver, the Holy Spirit knows just how to tell us to slow down, and grow up! Over the years I've come to recognise that driving is one of those fast track training grounds for the fruit of the Spirit which Paul tells us is “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”

That morning I was having a road test of at least three areas with room for improvement: patience, goodness and self-control! Learn these and we grow in maturity, and the roads will be safer.

Monday

2 Corinthians 13.14: “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”

These words, often used as a closing blessing at the end of worship, were the last words Paul wrote in the letter that caused him most personal pain. Misunderstood, misrepresented, his heart open and vulnerable to the Corinthians, many of whom had closed their hearts to him. And he writes this! These are not words that say “Everything in this church is fine!” Rather, they are written to remind them, and us, that it is the grace, love and communion of the Triune God that holds us together, nourishes our shared life, and guides and guards our relationships with each other.

Tuesday

2 Cor. 13.11a: “Finally brothers and sisters, rejoice! Aim for perfection, listen to my appeal, be of one mind, live in peace.”

When we say the Grace together, it helps to look at what Paul wrote just before writing this benediction. “Rejoice” is the Christian attitude that contradicts all the other self-indulgent nonsense we get up to! Whatever the problems they (and we) have with each other, God is at work to bring reconciliation. Aim for perfection more literally means, “Mend your ways.” Paul’s prayer and hope for each of the churches shines through these two phrases, “be of one mind, live in peace.” When we close a service with the Grace, that is what we are saying, and praying, and working towards.

Wednesday

2 Cor. 12.11b: “And the God of love and peace will be with you.”

Before we get to the Benediction, which is a wish prayer, we have a promise prayer. It follows from all Paul’s urgings to sort things out that he mentions earlier in this verse. When we work at love as agape, as “indefatigable good-will”, God who is love is with us. Where we seek peace and reconciliation, the God of peace will be with us. To say the Grace to each other, then, is to acknowledge and renew our commitment to all that those words of grace, love and communion bestow on our life together. 

Thursday

2 Cor. 13.12-13: “Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints send their greetings.”

What is intended here is the exchange of a visible sign of fellowship, forgiveness, an open recognition that we are all guests in God’s house, entitled to be here, each of us equally honoured by our host, the Triune God of grace, love and communion. The modern practice of ‘exchanging the peace’ is our cultural version of this. It’s worth remembering that the kiss of peace lies at the heart of the parable of the Prodigal Son. The Father’s kiss is the public sign of reconciliation, love and acceptance. “All the saints” send their blessing; not those who felt like it, but all the saints, share in this practice of demonstrating the holy grace and love that infuses Holy Communion.

Friday

2 Cor. 13.14a “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.”

And so, against the background of a troubled church emerging from self-inflicted wounds of hurt and blame, we come to each of the three elements of a Christian Benediction. “You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor…” “By grace you are saved, through faith.” “My grace is sufficient for you.” At the heart of our own heart’s experience is the grace that loves us, found us, saved us, and keeps us. To say the Grace as we look around at each other is an act of wondering praise for the amazing grace of God in Christ. Inexhaustible grace pushes us towards greater maturity as Christ’s Body.

Saturday

2 Cor. 13.14b “May the love of God be with you all.”

God’s love for each of us doesn’t depend on us just wishing it were so for each of us. God’s love is already “shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit”. John the Apostle of love went on and on about the love of God in his letter: “If God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” “God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God.” When we look into the faces of our brothers and sisters at the close of worship, we are wishing them, and ourselves, a deeper sense of ‘the love that drew salvation’s plan’. Together we are making a shared response that we will love God more, and love each other more, because he first loved us.

Sunday

2 Cor. 13.14c “May the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”

‘Communion’, or ‘fellowship’, only capture some of Paul’s meaning. Spelled out more carefully; “Your common participation in the life and power of the Holy Spirit.”[1] Fellowship can sound a cosy word. Not in Paul’s dictionary! This is about partnership, sleeves rolled up, the whole self in and shaken all about! In other words to say the Grace to each other is to commit ourselves to working together, supporting each other, being good colleagues and dependable co-workers in the Kingdom of God.

 

[1] Murray Harris, The Second Epistle to the Corinthians, page 962. Harris has spent a lifetime in the Greek New Testament, and is a leading scholar on 2 Corinthians. I don’t usually do footnotes in TFTD, but this one is a worthy exception, to pay tribute to a man whose academic work and meticulous scholarship have always been in the service of the church and its ministries. Like many ministers, I thank God for such vocational excellence.

I've lost count of the number of books Walter Brueggemann has written. Most of them are his particular brand of Old Testament theology, a blend of exegetical and social hermeneutics of Old Testament texts, honed in his unique process that cuts through our long established defences against the disruptiveness and subversive energy of these words from God. I have a shelf full of them, read most of them, and I probably only have about half of what he has put out there.

This book is a bit different. On the publication in 2013 of the new Presbyterian Hymnal, Glory to God, Brueggemann was involved in some of the launch events. Writing this book comes out of those experiences and his conviction that "Congregational singing, along with forgiveness and thanks, marks the church as a very different community in the context of a culture that is, for the most part, unforgiving and ungrateful." This is vintage Brueggemann, looking for the countercultural practices that bear witness to an alternative and God-given way of seeing and being in the world. 

The result is a book that takes some of the hymns from Glory to God, and expounds them as precisely the sung texts that practice awe and wonder, that remember the goodness of God, and acknowledge our own waywardness and recalcitrance to follow in the costly ways of Jesus. Such hymn singing, aids our expression of gratitude for grace, strengthens faith in God's faithfulness, and alerts our responsiveness to those occasions and opportunities in the life of discipleship when we are called to bear witness to the transformative energy of the Gospel of newness, life and flourishing.

The first four chapters are on Psalms are 104-107, praises of Israel and the church which are "definingly human when it is remembered that our humanness consists in our lives played out in the presence of God."  Taken together these Psalms evoke "praise, readiness for obedience, readiness for rescue, and thanks." These are the reasons WHY we sing. The rest of the book explores 15 hymns and expounds in considerable pastoral and exegetical detail, WHAT we sing, and what such singing does to the singer, and to the singing community. 

This is vintage Brueggemann, observant of our cultural context as Western consumers trained to see all of life as marketable, and everything of worth as money-indexed commodity. In doing so he is attentive to the text of the hymn and its rootedness both in theological tradition and in the spiritual experience of a pilgrim people who have been travelling together for centuries, from generation to generation. His interpretations, even of a hymn like "Jesus calls us o'er the tumult" is neither mawkish nor sentimental, two bogey-words for Brueggemann. His exposition of each hymn renders the poetry and theology in terms that are astringent, searching, bracing, and always but always, pointing the way to a deeper faithfulness, a truer repentance, and a rebirth of hope and daring in every reminder and rediscovery of the fidelity and steadfast love of God in Christ.

A good example of Brueggemann's hymn exegesis might help you decide if this book is for you, and worth your time. "Love Divine, all loves excelling" is Wesley at his lyrical best, and on the theme that brought him to raptures of praise: the Love of God in Christ. Each verse undergoes literary analysis by a writer who has been immersed in the Psalter all his long life. Some of Brueggemann's finest writing is on Psalms, and who can forget his framing of Psalms as texts of orientation – disorientation – reorientation; once you get it, you can't get away from it!

Take Wesley's line, 'Alpha and Omega be!' After some biblical digging around you get this:

"In Revelation's anticipatory vision God now declares in a loud voice from the throne a new governance that totally redefines the shape of reality. There is nothing before the rule of Christ; there is nothing after the rule of Christ. There is nothing other than the rule of Christ who says, "I am making all things new."

One of the most enriching qualities of Brueggemann's writing is his familiarity and facility across the whole canon of Scripture. This is Scripture interpreting Scripture, and Scriptural allusions in hymns being repristinated for those who might have forgotten how brilliantly such truth shines. His comment on 'Pray and praise Thee without ceasing': "Such prayer, we imagine, is not an endless torrent of words, but rather an unmitigated mindfulness of living always in the presence of God." That should be on a poster above every office desk – as well as every prayer desk!

Here is Brueggemann the scripture jazz pianist, and here is his riff on the word 'finish' in "Finish then Thy new creation." 

" 'Finish' is not unlike the final delicate act of completing a new building – the close finishing work that requires attention to detail and aesthetic beauty…The hymn's verb 'finish' is reminiscent of the report that God finished creation (Gen.2:1), the finish of the tabernacle as God's new dwelling place (Exod. 39:32;40:33), and Jesus' declaration on the cross, "It is finished" (John 19.30). God can and will make the new creation complete."(p.118)

Coming to the end of seven pages of reflection on Wesley's hymn, he ends as he usually does, as a scholar and pastor who cares deeply for the church and for all of us who try to live faithfully within and beyond our Christian communities: 

"The singing assemblage itself can be and sometimes is a transport into another world of 'wonder, love and praise' that invites us and permits us to redefine our lives so that fear, anxiety and responsibility are are made at best penultimate. When we are fully enveloped by "love divine all loves excelling" we may relinquish, for the sake of a different life, the destructiveness of seeking to live beyond the reach of Alpha and Omega." (p.119)

The combination of favourite hymns that could do with some unpacking, and a seasoned exegete of scripture who is also a prophetic critic of culture and our social and contemporary context, makes for a book that is by turns intriguing, inspiring, surprising and an education in what, at its best, the singing congregation can get up to!

Prayer is the soul’s sincere desire,
  Uttered, or unexpressed;
The motion of a hidden fire
  That trembles in the breast.

Prayer is the burden of a sigh,
  The falling of a tear;
The upward glancing of an eye
  When none but God is near.

Prayer is the simplest form of speech
  That infant lips can try;
Prayer the sublimest strains that reach
  The Majesty on high.

Prayer is the Christian’s vital breath,
  The Christian’s native air;
His watchword at the gates of death;
  He enters rest with prayer.

The saints in prayer appear as one,
  In word, and deed, and mind;
While with the Father and the Son
  Sweet fellowship they find.

Nor prayer is made by man alone;
The Holy Spirit pleads.
And Jesus at the Father's throne,
For sinners intercedes.

O Thou, by whom we come to God,
  The Life, the Truth, the Way,
The path of prayer Thyself hast trod—
  Lord, teach us how to pray.

This hymn was written by a journalist who amongst other things campaigned for the abolition of slavery and against the exploitation of children chimney sweeps. Born in Scotland in 1771 in Irvine, James Montgomery was a member of the Moravian Church, became editor of The Sheffield Iris, a poet of mixed success, but also writer of some of the best-loved English hymns.

This hymn on prayer is one of the finest English hymns on prayer. Almost every line has its biblical echo; he touches on a wide range of human experiences, showing a deep understanding of the human heart; and lines of theological beauty take us deep into the places where God and the human heart meet in trust and love.

Monday

Prayer is the soul’s sincere desire, uttered, or unexpressed;
The motion of a hidden fire that trembles in the breast.

Prayer engages our whole self – body, mind, heart and soul. Indeed when Jesus spoke of the first commandment as loving the Lord our God, it was a call to such complete self-giving of all that we are. To pray is to speak our longing, to put our heart into words; but it is also to know that our deepest desires are already known by God, spoken or not. Whatever goes on deep within us, God already knows. Prayer is the movement of the heart towards God who first comes to us in grace, a flame of answering love kindled by the Holy Spirit – “we love because He first loved us.”

Tuesday

Prayer is the burden of a sigh, the falling of a tear;
The upward glancing of an eye when none but God is near.

Another hymn puts this as a question: “Are we weak and heavy laden, cumbered with a load of care?” The answer is yes, sometimes. Not all prayers need words, and there are experiences in life that make words hard to find and prayer all but impossible. But then, prayer has never depended on us finding the right words, or even any words. God is nearer to our heart than we know, and his love is deeper than whatever happens to us. It’s just hard to know that at the time. At such times, “The Spirit makes intercession for us with sighs too deep for words.” (Romans.8.26)

Wednesday

Prayer is the simplest form of speech that infant lips can try;
Prayer the sublimest strains that reach the Majesty on high.

When Jesus was overheard in prayer saying “Abba, Father”, the disciples heard Jesus using the language of intimate trust and family belonging. Christian prayer is like the conversations, requests, laughter, fears, and imaginings of a child chattering with the One who loves her most! And yet. Prayer is also music to the ears of God, whether symphonies of praise, concertos of gladness, or the virtuoso playing of the heart expressing the whole range of human emotion and experience, and all of it gathered up into the music of heaven. Prayer can be simple or sophisticated, the language of the trusting child or the full tonal range of needs played by mature human hearts.

Thursday

Prayer is the Christian’s vital breath, the Christian’s native air;
His watchword at the gates of death; he enters heaven with prayer.

When God created humanity he breathed life into those creatures made in God’s image, those created for loving obedience and trusting fellowship with the Creator. Prayer is the oxygen that sustains the Christian life. Another poet speaks the same thought: “God’s breath in man returning to his birth…” Prayer is the natural, native air of home. Prayer, like breathing is the vital, essential and energising source of life. And as each life comes to completion, the breath God first gave, becomes for all of us, the trustful yielding of the Christian heart to the One who first gave breath, the one who holds us within the eternal purposes of a loving Creator Redeemer: “God’s breath in man returning to his birth…”

Friday

The saints in prayer appear as one, in word, and deed, and mind;
While with the Father and the Son, sweet fellowship they find.

The phrase ‘corporate prayer’ makes shared prayer sound like a business! Even ‘prayer meeting’ sounds a bit functional. When people pray together there is an orchestration of the Spirit, what Charles Wesley called a harmony of hearts. Or as Paul wrote to a dysfunctional church; “be like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.” (Phil. 2.2) To share in prayer is to enter communion with each other and with the Triune God of love. It is in praying together that a true deepening of fellowship takes place, and loving care for each other grows, displacing all those other responses which get in the way of ‘the fellowship of believers’.

Saturday

Nor prayer is made by man alone; the Holy Spirit pleads.
And Jesus at the Father's throne, for sinners intercedes.

Romans 8.26 again. “The Spirit makes intercession for us with sighs too deep for words.” God’s Spirit is the best interpreter of our heart, and our words. But then there’s Hebrews 7.25: “He is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.” Every time we pray, we are accompanied by the Comforter, AND our prayers are underwritten by the Ascended Saviour. Few hymns condense so much Gospel truth into the theology of our praying. By grace God is in our praying, present to us even as we pray.

Sunday

O Thou, by whom we come to God, the Life, the Truth, the Way,
The path of prayer Thyself hast trod—Lord, teach us how to pray.

Perhaps the most important prayer we can pray: “Lord teach us how to pray.” This is not about technique, or set rules – prayer is learned as we come to God the Father, through Jesus the Son, in the power of the Spirit. The first motion of our minds and hearts towards God, and we come under the tutelage and support of the Holy Spirit. When we pray, we come to God through Christ in whom we have experienced new life. By prayer we come to know the truth of God as the Holy Spirit teaches us. Through prayer we come to know the sustaining grace of God, and grow in the knowledge and wisdom of God, and so are able to walk in the ways of God.