BALANCING PRAYER WITH STUDIES

While it is true that prayer does tremendous things and has power to change people, situation and society, it is never a substitute to studying. No matter how fervent and prayerful you may be, you must understand that prayer is quite a different thing from studying. Although you are to participate in both, you must not do one and leave the other undone.

Lack of understanding of this has left some students, who claimed to be prayer warriors, to be failures or poor in their studies and academics. Other students are highly studious but with little or no prayer life. You must exercise balance: that is, give equal importance to your studies and prayers.

There are four students in the Bible which i would want us to examine as we learn to give equal importance to studies and prayers. They are Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. These boys were fervent worshipers of the God of Isreal. It was recorded that they always meet to pray, and for Daniel, he prays three times a day. They were fervent and constant in their prayers.

However, they maintained balance in their prayers and studies. As students in one of the highly equipped schools in the ancient Babylon, and under the scholarship of the king, they gave acute attention to their studies and performances. While they studied very hard, they equally maintained their prayers and relationships with God. In doing these, the scripture says, "God gave these four youths great ability to learn and they soon mastered all the literature.