Lesson 1: The Foundation to Lay – True Knowledge of God 

In any building task, the first thing to do is lay the foundation. Before doing so however, the question of how high or how heavy the structure you want to build is first settled. A foundation of wood cannot be used to hold up a concrete building. And the higher the construction, the deeper and stronger should be the foundation. 

Prayer meetings are noted to be boring or dull such that it draws very few of God’s people. Though prayer retreats and seminars are extremely helpful, and most prayer meetings have plenty of room for improvement, the person who truly knows God will naturally find prayer the most exciting and enjoyable activity regardless of outward influences or circumstances. Dr. Ben Jennings, (International Prayer Coordinator of Campus Crusade for Christ, Int’l. for many years) had this to say, “Our attitude towards prayer is the same as our attitude towards God.” Prayer is nothing but spending time with the greatest and most interesting Person in the universe. 

Laying the proper foundation in building one’s prayer life also helps ensure effectiveness of one’s prayers. It will be futile to invest so much time and energy in prayer if one is not praying according to the character and will of God. Effective prayers are offered according to true knowledge of God. Therefore, the proper and necessary foundation to lay in building one’s prayer life is `true knowledge of God’.      

The first prayer principle has to do with how our practice of prayer is rooted in our knowledge of God. It will be drawn from the passage in John 4:20-24 where Jesus had a conversation with the Samaritan woman. Jesus being a Jewish man should not have engaged the Samaritan woman in this conversation for two reasons: 1) She was a woman, (Jewish men were not supposed to talk to women in public), 2) She was a Samaritan (`mestizo’ Jews – not pure, half-bred) with whom the Jews did not want anything to do, because they did not `worship God’ according to the Jewish traditions that were based on the Scriptures. It is interesting that Jesus chose to use this encounter with the Samaritan woman to teach this prayer principle. 

Statement of the Principle: True worship is founded on true knowledge of God. 

Memory Verse 1: John 4:23
"But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.”