HOW
TO PRAY
R.
A. TORREY
CONTENTS
Chapter
IV. Praying in the Name of Christ and According to the Will of God
VI. Always Praying and Not Fainting
VIII. Praying with Thanksgiving
XI. The Need of Prayer Before and During Revivals
XII. The Place of Prayer Before and During Revivals
HOW
TO PRAY
CHAPTER
I
THE
IMPORTANCE OF PRAYER
In
the 6th chapter of Ephesians in the 18th verse we read words which put the
tremendous importance of prayer with startling and overwhelming force:
"Praying always with all prayer and supplication in
the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for
all saints."
When
we stop to weigh the meaning of these words, then note
the connection in which they are found, the intelligent child of God is driven
to say, "I must pray, pray, pray. I must put all my energy and all my
heart into prayer. Whatever else I do, I must pray."
The
Revised Version is, if possible, stronger than the Authorized:
"With
all prayer and supplication praying at all seasons in the spirit, and watching
thereunto in all perseverance and supplication for all the saints."
Note
the ALLS: "with ALL prayer," "at ALL seasons," "in ALL
perseverance," "for ALL the saints." Note the piling up of
strong words, "prayer," "supplication,"
"perseverance." Note once more the strong expression, "watching
thereunto," more literally, "being sleepless thereunto." Paul
realized the natural slothfulness of man, and especially his natural
slothfulness in prayer. How seldom we pray things through! How often the church
and the individual get right up to the verge of a great blessing in prayer and
just then let go, get drowsy, quit. I wish that these words "being
sleepless unto prayer" might burn into our hearts. I wish the whole verse
might burn into our hearts.
But
why is this constant, persistent, sleepless, overcoming prayer so needful?
1.
First of all, BECAUSE THERE IS A DEVIL.
He
is cunning, he is mighty, he never rests, he is ever plotting the downfall of
the child of God; and if the child of God relaxes in prayer, the devil will
succeed in ensnaring him.
This
is the thought of the context. The 12th verse reads:
"For
our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities,
against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the
spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places." (R.V.)
Then comes the 13th verse: "Wherefore take up the
whole armor of God,
that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and, having done all, to
stand." (R.V.) Next follows a description of the
different parts of the Christian's armor, which we
are to put on if we are to stand against the devil and his mighty wiles. Then
Paul brings all to a climax in the 18th verse, telling us that to all else we
must add prayer -- constant, persistent, untiring, sleepless prayer in the Holy
Spirit, or all else will go for nothing.
2.
A second reason for this constant, persistent, sleepless, overcoming prayer is
that PRAYER IS GOD'S APPOINTED WAY FOR OBTAINING THINGS, AND THE GREAT SECRET OF
ALL LACK IN OUR EXPERIENCE, IN OUR LIFE AND IN OUR
WORK IS NEGLECT OF PRAYER.
James
brings this out very forcibly in the 4th chapter and 2nd verse of his epistle:
"Ye have not because you ask not." These words contain the secret of
the poverty and powerlessness of the average Christian -- neglect of prayer.
"Why
is it," many a Christian is asking, "I make so little progress in my
Christian life?"
"Neglect
of prayer," God answers. "You have not because you ask not."
"Why
is it," many a minister is asking, "I see so little fruit from my labors?"
Again
God answers, "Neglect of prayer. You have not because you ask not."
"Why
is it," many a Sunday-School teacher is asking, "that I see so few
converted in my Sunday-School class?"
Still God answers, "Neglect of prayer.
You have not because you ask not."
"Why
is it," both ministers and churches are asking, "that the church of
Christ makes so little headway against unbelief and error and sin and
worldliness?"
Once
more we hear God answering, "Neglect of prayer. You have not because you
ask not."
3.
The third reason for this constant, persistent, sleepless, overcoming prayer is
that THOSE MEN WHOM GOD SET FORTH AS A PATTERN OF WHAT HE EXPECTED CHRISTIANS
TO BE -- THE APOSTLES -- REGARDED PRAYER AS THE MOST IMPORTANT BUSINESS OF
THEIR LIVES.
When
the multiplying responsibilities of the early church crowded in upon them, they
"called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not reason that we should leave the Word of God, and
serve tables. Wherefore, brethren, look you out among
you seven men of honest report, full of the
Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. But WE WILL GIVE
OURSELVES CONTINUALLY TO PRAYER and to the ministry of the Word." It is
evident from what Paul wrote to the churches and to individuals about praying
for them, that very much of his time and strength and thought was given to
prayer. (Rom. 1:9, R.V.; Eph. 1:15,16; Col. 1:9, R.V.;
1_Thess. 3:10; 2_Tim. 1:3, R.V.)
All
the mighty men of God outside the Bible have been men of prayer. They have
differed from one another in many things, but in this they have been alike.
4.
But there is a still weightier reason for this constant, persistent, sleepless,
overcoming prayer. It is, PRAYER OCCUPIED A VERY PROMINENT PLACE AND PLAYED A
VERY IMPORTANT PART IN THE EARTHLY LIFE OF OUR LORD.
Turn,
for example, to Mark 1:35. We read, "And in the morning, rising up a great
while before day, He went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there
prayed." The preceding day had been a very busy and exciting one, but
Jesus shortened the
hours of needed sleep that He might arise early
and give Himself to more sorely needed prayer.
Turn
again to Luke 6:12, where we read, "And it came to pass in those days that
He went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to
God." Our Savior found it necessary on occasion
to take a whole night for prayer.
The
words "pray" and "prayer" are used at least twenty-five
times in connection with our Lord in the brief record of His life in the four
Gospels, and His praying is mentioned in places where the words are not used.
Evidently prayer took much of the time and
strength of Jesus, and a man or woman who does not
spend much time in prayer, cannot properly be called a follower of Jesus
Christ.
5.
There is another reason for constant, persistent, sleepless, overcoming prayer
that seems if possible even more forcible than this,
namely, PRAYING IS
THE MOST IMPORTANT
PART OF THE PRESENT MINISTRY OF OUR RISEN LORD.
Christ's
ministry did not close with His death. His atoning work was finished then, but
when He rose and ascended to the right hand of the Father, He entered upon
other work for us just as important in its place as His atoning work. It cannot
be divorced
from His atoning work; it rests upon that as its
basis, but it is necessary to our complete salvation.
What
that great present work is, by which He carries our salvation on to
completeness, we read in Heb. 7:25, "Wherefore He is able also to save
them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing HE EVER LIVETH TO MAKE
INTERCESSION FOR THEM." This verse tells us that Jesus is able to save us
unto the uttermost, not merely FROM the uttermost, but UNTO the uttermost, unto
entire
completeness, absolute perfection, because He not merely
died, but because He also "ever liveth."
The verse also tells us for what purpose He now lives, "TO MAKE
INTERCESSION FOR US," to pray. Praying is the principal thing He is doing
in these days. It is by His prayers that He is saving us.
The
same thought is found in Paul's remarkable, triumphant challenge in Rom. 8:34
-- "Who is he that shall condemn? It is Christ Jesus that died, yea
rather, that was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, WHO ALSO
MAKETH INTERCESSION FOR US." (R.V.)
If
we then are to have fellowship with Jesus Christ in His present work, we must
spend much time in prayer; we must give ourselves to earnest, constant,
persistent, sleepless, overcoming prayer. I know of nothing that has so
impressed me with a sense of the importance of praying at all seasons, being
much and constantly in prayer, as the thought that that is the principal
occupation at present of my risen Lord. I want to have fellowship with Him, and
to that end I have asked the Father that whatever else He may make me, to make
me at all events an intercessor, to make me a man who knows how to pray, and
who spends much time in prayer.
This
ministry of intercession is a glorious and a mighty ministry, and we can all have
part in it. The man or the woman who is shut away from the public meeting by
sickness can have part in it; the busy mother; the woman who has to take in
washing for a
living
can have part -- she can mingle prayers for the saints, and for her pastor, and
for the unsaved, and for foreign missionaries, with the soap and water as she
bends over the washtub, and not do the washing any more poorly on that account;
the hard driven man of
business can have part in it, praying as he hurries
from duty to duty. But of course we must, if we would maintain this spirit of
constant prayer, take time -- and take plenty of it -- when we shall shut
ourselves up in the secret place alone with God for nothing but prayer.
6.
The sixth reason for constant, persistent, sleepless, overcoming prayer is that
PRAYER IS THE MEANS THAT GOD HAS APPOINTED FOR OUR RECEIVING MERCY, AND
OBTAINING GRACE TO HELP IN TIME OF NEED.
Heb.
4:16 is one of the simplest and sweetest verses in the Bible, -- "Let us
therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and
find grace to help in
time of need." These words make it very plain that God has appointed a way
by which we shall seek and obtain mercy and grace. That way is prayer; bold,
confident, outspoken approach to the throne of grace, the most holy place of
God's presence, where our sympathizing High Priest, Jesus Christ, has entered
in our behalf. (Verses 14, 15.)
Mercy
is what we need, grace is what we must have, or all our life and effort will
end in complete failure. Prayer is the way to get them. There is infinite grace
at our disposal, and we make it ours experimentally by prayer. Oh, if we only
realized the
fullness of God's grace, that is ours for the
asking, its height and depth and length and breadth, I am sure that we would
spend more time in prayer. The measure of our appropriation of grace is
determined by the measure of our prayers.
Who
is there that does not feel that he needs more grace? Then ask for it. Be
constant and persistent in your asking. Be importunate and untiring in your
asking. God delights to have us "shameless" beggars in this
direction; for it shows our faith in
Him,
and He is mightily pleased with faith. Because of our "shamelessness"
He will rise and give us as much as we need (Luke 11:8). What little streams of
mercy and grace most of us know, when we might know rivers overflowing their
banks!
7.
The next reason for constant, persistent, sleepless, overcoming prayer is that
PRAYER IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST IS THE WAY JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF HAS
APPOINTED FOR HIS DISCIPLES TO OBTAIN FULLNESS OF JOY.
He
states this simply and beautifully in John 16:24, "Hitherto have you asked
nothing in My name; ask, and you shall receive, that
your joy may be fulfilled." "Made full" is the way the Revised
Version reads. Who is there that does not wish his joy filled full? Well, the
way to have it filled full is by praying in the name of Jesus. We all know
people whose joy is filled full, indeed, it is just running over, is shining
from their eyes, bubbling out of their very lips, and running off their finger
tips when they shake hands with you. Coming in contact with them is like coming
in contact with an electrical machine charged with gladness. Now people of that
sort are always people that spend much time in prayer.
Why
is it that prayer in the name of Christ brings such
fullness of joy? In part, because we get what we ask.
But that is not the only reason, nor the greatest. It makes God real. When we
ask something definite of God, and He gives it, how real God
becomes! He is right there! It is blessed to have a
God who is real, and not merely an idea. I remember how once I was taken
suddenly and seriously sick all alone in my study. I dropped upon my knees and
cried to God for help. Instantly all pain left me -- I
was perfectly well. It seemed as if God stood
right there, and had put out His hand and touched me. The joy of the healing
was not so great as the joy of meeting God.
There
is no greater joy on earth or in heaven, than communion with God, and prayer in
the name of Jesus brings us into communion with Him. The
Psalmist was surely not speaking only of
future blessedness, but also of present blessedness when he said,
"In
Thy presence is fullness of joy." (Ps. 16.11.) O
the unutterable joy of those moments when in our prayers we really press into
the presence of God!
Does
some one say. "I have never known any such joy as
that in prayer"?
Do
you take enough leisure for prayer to actually get into God's presence? Do you
really give yourself up to prayer in the time which you do take?
8.
The eighth reason for constant, persistent, sleepless, overcoming prayer is
that PRAYER, IN EVERY CARE AND ANXIETY AND NEED OF LIFE, WITH THANKSGIVING, IS
THE MEANS THAT GOD HAS APPOINTED FOR OBTAINING FREEDOM FROM ALL ANXIETY, AND THE PEACE OF GOD WHICH PASSETH ALL UNDERSTANDING.
"Be
careful for nothing," says Paul, "but in everything by prayer and
supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God, and
the peace of God which passeth all understanding,
shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ
Jesus."
(Phil. 4:6,7.) To many this seems at the first glance,
the picture of a life that is beautiful, but beyond the reach of ordinary
mortals; not so at all. The verse tells us how the life is attainable by every
child of God: "Be careful for nothing," or as the Revised Version
reads, "In nothing be anxious." The remainder of the verse tells us
how, and it is very simple: "But in everything by prayer and supplication
with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto
God." What could be plainer or more simple than
that?
Just
keep in constant touch with God, and when any trouble or vexation, great or
small, comes up, speak to Him about it, never forgetting to return thanks for
what He has already done. What will the result be? "The peace of God which
passeth all understanding
shall guard your hearts and your thoughts in
Christ Jesus." (R.V.)
That
is glorious, and as simple as it is glorious! Thank God, many are trying it.
Don't you know any one who is always serene? Perhaps he is a very stormy man by
his natural make-up, but troubles and conflicts and reverses and bereavements
may sweep
around him, and the peace of God which passeth all understanding guards his heart and his thoughts
in Christ Jesus.
We
all know such persons. How do they manage it?
Just
by prayer, that is all. Those persons who know the deep peace of God, the
unfathomable peace that passeth all understanding,
are always men and women of much prayer.
Some
of us let the hurry of our lives crowd prayer out, and what a waste of time and
energy and nerve force there is by the constant worry! One night of prayer will
save us from many nights of insomnia. Time spent in prayer is not wasted, but
time invested at big interest.
9.
The ninth reason for constant, persistent, sleepless, overcoming prayer is that
PRAYER IS THE METHOD THAT GOD HIMSELF HAS APPOINTED FOR OUR OBTAINING THE HOLY
SPIRIT.
Upon
this point the Bible is very plain. Jesus says, "If you then, being evil,
know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your
heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?" (Luke 11:13.)
Men
are telling us in these
days, very good men too, "You must not pray for the Holy Spirit," but
what are they going to do with the plain statement of Jesus Christ, "How
much more will your heavenly Father give
the Holy Spirit TO THEM THAT ASK HIM?"
Some
years ago when an address on the baptism with the Holy Spirit was announced, a
brother came to me before the address and said with much feeling,
"Be
sure and tell them not to pray for the Holy Spirit."
"I
will surely not tell them that, for Jesus says, 'How
much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask
Him'."
"Oh,
yes," he replied, "but that was before Pentecost."
"How
about Acts 4:31? was that before Pentecost, or
after?"
"After, of course."
"Read
it."
"'And when they had prayed, the place was shaken
where they were assembled together; and they were all FILLED WITH THE HOLY
GHOST, and they spake the Word of God with
boldness.'"
"How
about Acts 8:15? was that before Pentecost or
after?"
"After."
"Please
read."
"'Who,
when they were come down PRAYED for them, that they might receive the Holy
Ghost.'"
He
made no answer. What could he answer? It is plain as day in the Word of God
that before Pentecost and after, the first baptism and the subsequent fillings
with the Holy Spirit were received in answer to definite prayer. Experience
also teaches this.
Doubtless
many have received the Holy Spirit the moment of their surrender to God before
there was time to pray, but how many there are who know that their first
definite baptism with the Holy Spirit came while they were on their knees or
faces before God, alone or in company with others, and who again and again
since that have been filled with the Holy Spirit in the place of prayer!
I
know this as definitely as I know that my thirst has been quenched while I was
drinking water. Early one morning in the Chicago Avenue Church prayer room,
where several hundred people had been assembled a number of hours in prayer,
the Holy
Spirit
fell so manifestly, and the whole place was so filled with His presence, that
no one could speak or pray, but sobs of joy filled the place. Men went out of
that room to different parts of the country, taking trains that very morning,
and reports soon came back of the out-pouring of God's Holy Spirit in answer to
prayer. Others went out into the city with the blessing of God upon them. This
is only one instance among many that might be cited from personal experience.
If
we would only spend more time in prayer, there would be more fullness of the
Spirit's power in our work. Many and many a man who once worked unmistakably in
the power of the Holy Spirit is now filling the air with empty shoutings, and beating it with his meaningless
gesticulations, because he has let prayer be crowded out. we
must spend much time on our knees before God, if we are to continue in the
power of the Holy Spirit.
10.
The tenth reason for constant, persistent, sleepless, overcoming prayer is that
PRAYER IS THE MEANS THAT CHRIST HAS APPOINTED WHEREBY OUR HEARTS SHALL NOT
BECOME OVERCHARGED WITH
SURFEITING AND
DRUNKENNESS AND CARES OF THIS LIFE, AND SO THE DAY OF CHRIST'S RETURN COME UPON
US SUDDENLY AS A SNARE.
One
of the most interesting and solemn passages upon prayer in the Bible is along
this line. (Luke 21:34-36) "Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your
hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and cares of this life,
and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare
shall it come on all them that dwell in the face of the whole earth. Watch you therefore, and PRAY ALWAYS, that you may be
accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to
stand before the Son of man." According to this passage there is only one
way in which we can be prepared for the coming of the Lord when He appears,
that is, through much prayer.
The
coming again of Jesus Christ is a subject that is awakening much interest and
much discussion in our day; but it is one thing to be interested in the Lord's
return, and to talk about it, and quite another thing to be prepared for it. We
live in an atmosphere that has a constant tendency to unfit us for Christ's
coming. The world tends to draw us down by its gratifications and by its cares.
There is only one way by which we can rise triumphant above these things--by
constant watching unto prayer, that is, by sleeplessness unto prayer.
"Watch" in this passage is the same strong word used in Eph. 6:18,
and "always" the same strong phrase "in every season." The
man who spends little time in prayer, who is not steadfast and constant in
prayer, will not be ready for the Lord when He comes. But we may be ready. How?
Pray! Pray! Pray!
11.
There is one more reason for constant, persistent, sleepless, overcoming
prayer, and it is a mighty one: BECAUSE OF WHAT PRAYER ACCOMPLISHES. Much has
really been said upon that already, but there is much also that should be added.
(1)
Prayer promotes our spiritual growth as almost nothing else, indeed as nothing
else but Bible study; and true prayer and true Bible study go hand in hand.
It
is through prayer that my sin is brought to light, my most hidden sin. As I
kneel before God and pray, "Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me,
and know my thoughts; and see if there be any wicked way in me,"
(Ps.139:23,24), God shoots the
penetrating rays of His light into the innermost
recesses of my heart, and the sins I never suspected are brought to view. In
answer to prayer, God washes me from mine iniquity and cleanses me from my sin
(Ps. 51:2). In answer to prayer my eyes are opened to behold wondrous things
out of God's Word (Ps. 119:18). In answer to prayer I get wisdom to know God's
way (Jas. 1:5) and strength to walk in it. As I meet God in prayer and gaze
into His face, I am changed into His own image from glory to glory (2_Cor.
3:18). Each day of true prayer life finds me liker to my glorious Lord.
John
Welch, son-in-law to John Knox, was one of the most faithful men of prayer this
world ever saw. He counted that day ill-spent in which seven or eight hours
were not used alone with God in prayer and the study of His Word. An old man
speaking of
him after his death said, "He was a type
of Christ."
How
came he to be so like his Master?
His prayer life explains the mystery.
(2)
Prayer brings power into our work.
If
we wish power for any work to which God calls us, be it preaching, teaching,
personal work, or the rearing of our children, we can get it by earnest prayer.
A
woman with a little boy who was perfectly
incorrigible, once came to me in desperation and said:
"What
shall I do with him?"
I
asked, "Have you ever tried prayer?"
She
said that she had prayed for him, she thought. I asked if she had made his
conversion and his character a matter of definite, expectant prayer. She
replied that she had not been definite in the matter. She began that day, and
at once there was a marked change in the child, and he grew up into Christian
manhood.
How
many a Sunday-school teacher has taught for months and years, and seen no real
fruit from his labors, and then has learned the
secret of intercession, and by earnest pleading with God, has seen his scholars
brought one by one to Christ! How many a poor preacher has become a mighty man
of God by casting away his confidence in his own ability and gifts, and giving
himself up to God to wait upon Him for the power that comes from on high! John
Livingstone spent a night, with some others likeminded, in prayer to God and
religious conversation, and when he preached next day in the Kirk of Shotts five hundred people were converted, or dated some
definite uplift in their life to that occasion. Prayer and power are
inseparable.
(3)
Prayer avails for the conversion of others.
There
are few converted in this world unless in connection with some one's prayers. I
formerly thought that no human being had anything to do with my own conversion,
for I was not converted in church or Sunday-school, or in personal
conversation with any one. I was awakened in the middle
of the night and converted. As far as I can remember I had not the slightest
thought of being converted, or of anything of that character, when I went to
bed and fell asleep; but I was awakened in the middle of the night and
converted probably inside of five minutes. A few minutes
before I was about as near eternal perdition as one gets. I had one foot
over the brink and was trying to get the other one over. I say I thought no
human being had anything to do with it, but I had forgotten my mother's
prayers, and I afterward learned that one of my college classmates had chosen
me as one to pray for until I was saved.
Prayer
often avails where everything else fails. How utterly all of Monica's efforts
and entreaties failed with her son, but her prayers prevailed with God, and the
dissolute youth became St. Augustine, the mighty man of God. By prayer the
bitterest enemies of the Gospel have become its most valiant defenders, the
greatest scoundrels the truest sons of God, and the vilest women the purest
saints. Oh, the power of prayer to reach down, down, down, where hope itself
seems vain, and lift men and women up, up, up into fellowship with and likeness
to God. It is simply wonderful! How little we appreciate this marvelous weapon!
(4) Prayer brings blessings to the church.
The
history of the church has always been a history of grave difficulties to
overcome. The devil hates the church and seeks in every way to block its
progress; now by false doctrine, again by division, again by inward corruption
of life. But by prayer, a clear way can be made through everything. Prayer will
root out heresy, allay misunderstanding, sweep away jealousies and animosities,
obliterate immoralities, and bring in the full tide of God's reviving grace.
History abundantly proves this. In the hour of darkest portent, when the case
of the church, local or universal, has seemed beyond hope, believing men and
believing women have met together and cried to God and the answer has come.
It
was so in the days of Knox, it was so in the days of Wesley and Whitfield, it
was so in the days of Edwards and Brainerd, it was so in the days of Finney, it
was so in the days of the great revival of 1857 in this country and of 1859 in
Ireland, and it will be so again in your day and mine. Satan has marshalled his
forces. Christian science with its false Christ--a
woman--lifts high its head. Others making great pretensions of apostolic
methods, but covering the rankest dishonesty and hypocrisy with these pretensions, speak with loud assurance. Christians equally
loyal to the great fundamental truths of the Gospel are glowering at one
another with a devil-sent suspicion. The world, the flesh and the devil are
holding high carnival. It is now a dark day, BUT--now "it is time for
Thee, Lord, to work; for they have made void Thy law." (Ps. 199:126). And
He is
getting ready to work, and now He is listening for
the voice of prayer. Will He hear it? Will He hear it from you? Will He hear it
from the church as a body? I believe He will.
CHAPTER
II
PRAYING
UNTO GOD
We
have seen something of the tremendous importance and the resistless power of
prayer, and now we come directly to the question--how to pray with power.
1.
In the 12th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles we have the record of a prayer
that prevailed with God, and brought to pass great results. In the 5th verse of
this chapter, the manner and method of this prayer is described in few words:
"Prayer
was made without ceasing of the church UNTO GOD for him."
The
first thing to notice in this verse is the brief expression "unto
God." The prayer that has power is the prayer that is offered unto God.
But
some will say, "Is not all prayer unto God?"
No.
Very much of so-called prayer, both public and private, is not unto God. In
order that a prayer should be really unto God, there must be a definite and
conscious approach to God when we pray; we must have a definite and vivid
realization that God is bending over us and listening as we pray. In very much of our prayer there is really but little thought of
God. Our mind is taken up with the thought of what we need, and is not
occupied with the thought of the mighty and loving Father of whom we are
seeking it. Oftentimes it is the case that we
are occupied neither
with the need nor with the One to whom we are praying, but our mind is
wandering here and there
throughout the world. There is no power in that sort
of prayer. But when we really come into God's presence, really meet Him face to
face in the place of prayer, really seek the things that we desire FROM HIM, then there is power.
If,
then, we would pray aright, the first thing that we should do is to see to it
that we really get an audience with God, that we really get into His very
presence. Before a word of petition
is offered, we should have the definite and vivid
consciousness that we are talking to God, and should believe that He is
listening to our petition and is going to grant the thing that we ask of Him.
This is only possible by the Holy Spirit's power, so we should look to the Holy
Spirit to really lead us into the presence of God, and should not be hasty in
words until He has actually brought us there.
One
night a very active Christian man dropped into a little prayer-meeting that I
was leading. Before we knelt to pray, I said something like the above, telling
all the friends to be sure before they prayed, and while they were praying, that they really were in God's presence, that they
had the thought of Him definitely in mind, and to be more taken up with Him
than with their petition. A few days after I met this same gentleman, and he
said that this simple thought was entirely new to him, that it had made prayer
an entirely new experience to him.
If
then we would pray aright, these two little words must sink deep into our
hearts, "UNTO GOD."
2.
The second secret of effective praying is found in the same verse, in the words
"WITHOUT CEASING."
In
the Revised Version, "without ceasing" is rendered
"earnestly." Neither rendering gives the full force of the Greek. The
word means literally "stretched-out-ed-ly."
It is a pictorial
word, and wonderfully expressive. It represents
the soul on a stretch of earnest and intense desire. "Intensely"
would perhaps come as near translating it as any English word. It is the word
used
of our Lord in Luke 22:44 where it is said, "He
prayed more earnestly: and His sweat was as it were great drops of blood
falling down to the ground."
We
read in Heb. 5:7 that "in the days of His flesh" Christ "offered
up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears." In Rom. 15:30,
Paul beseeches the saints in Rome to STRIVE together with him in their prayers.
The word translated "strive" means primarily to contend as in
athletic games or in a fight. In other words, the prayer that prevails with God
is the prayer into which we put our whole soul, stretching out toward God in
intense and agonizing desire. Much of our modern prayer has no power in it
because there is no heart in it. We rush into God's presence, run through a
string of petitions, jump up and go out. If someone should ask us an hour
afterward for what we prayed, oftentimes we could not tell. If we put so little
heart into our prayers, we cannot expect God to put much heart into answering
them.
We
hear much in our day of the rest of faith, but there is such a thing as the
fight of faith in prayer as well as in effort. Those who would have us think
that they have attained to some sublime
height of faith and trust because they never
know any agony of conflict or of prayer, have surely gotten beyond their Lord,
and beyond the mightiest victors for God, both in effort and prayer, that
the ages of Christian history have known. When
we learn to come to God with an intensity of desire that wrings the soul, then
shall we know a power in prayer that most of us do not know now.
But
how shall we attain to this earnestness in prayer?
Not
by trying to work ourselves up into it. The true method is explained in Rom.
8:26, "And in like manner the Spirit also helpeth
our infirmity: for we know not how to pray as we ought; but the Spirit Himself maketh intercession for us with groanings
which cannot be uttered." (R.V.) The earnestness
that we work up in the energy of the flesh is a repulsive thing. The
earnestness wrought in us by the power of the Holy Spirit is pleasing to God.
Here again, if we would pray aright, we must look to the Spirit of God to teach
us to pray.
It
is in this connection that fasting comes. In Dan. 9:3 we read that Daniel set
his face "unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with
fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes." There
are those who think that fasting belongs to the
old dispensation; but when we look at Acts 14:23, and Acts 13:2,3, we find that
it was practised by the earnest men of the apostolic day.
If
we would pray with power, we should pray with fasting. This of course does not
mean that we should fast every time we pray; but there are times of emergency
or special crisis in work or in our individual lives, when men of downright
earnestness will withdraw themselves even from the gratification of natural
appetites that would be perfectly proper under other circumstances, that they
may give themselves up wholly to prayer. There is a peculiar power in such
prayer. Every great crisis in life and work should be met in that way. There is
nothing pleasing to God in our giving up in a purely Pharisaic and legal way
things which are pleasant, but there is power in that downright earnestness and
determination to obtain in prayer the things of which we sorely feel our need,
that leads us to put away everything, even the things in themselves most right
and
necessary, that we may set our faces to find God, and
obtain blessings from Him.
3.
A third secret of right praying is also found in this same verse, Acts 12:5. It
appears in the three words "OF THE CHURCH."
There
is power in UNITED PRAYER. Of course there is power in the prayer of an
individual, but there is vastly increased power in united prayer. God delights
in the unity of His people, and seeks to emphasize it in every way, and so He
pronounces a special blessing
upon united prayer. We read in Matt. 18:19,
"If two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall
ask, it shall be done for them of My Father which is in heaven." This
unity, however, must be real. The passage just quoted does not say that if two
shall agree in asking, but if two shall agree AS TOUCHING anything they shall
ask. Two persons might agree to ask for the same thing, and yet there be no
real agreement as touching the thing they asked. One might ask it because he
really desired it, the other might ask it simply to
please his friend. But where there is real agreement, where the Spirit of God
brings two believers into perfect harmony as concerning that which they may ask
of God, where the
Spirit lays the same burden on two hearts; in all such prayer there is
absolutely irresistible power.
CHAPTER
III
OBEYING
AND PRAYING
1.
One of the most significant verses in the Bible on prayer is 1_John 3:22. John
says, "And whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His
commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight."
What
an astounding statement! John says in so many words, that everything he asked
for he got. How many of us can say this: "Whatsoever I ask I
receive"? But John explains why
this was so, "Because we keep His
commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight." In
other words, the one who expects God to do as he asks Him, must on his part DO
WHATEVER
GOD BIDS HIM. If we give a listening ear to all God's commands to us, He will
give a listening ear to all our petitions to Him. If, on the other hand, we
turn a deaf ear to His
precepts, He will be likely to turn a deaf ear to
our prayers. Here we find the secret of much unanswered prayer. We are not
listening to God's Word, and therefore He is not listening to our
petitions.
I
was once speaking to a woman who had been a professed Christian, but had given
it all up. I asked her why she was not a Christian still. She replied, because
she did not believe the
Bible. I asked her why she did not believe the
Bible.
"Because I have tried its promises and found them
untrue."
"Which
promises?"
"The promises about prayer."
"Which
promises about prayer?"
"Does
it not say in the Bible, 'Whatsoever you ask believing you shall
receive'?"
"It
says something nearly like that."
"Well,
I asked fully expecting to get and did not receive, so the promise
failed."
"Was
the promise made to you?"
"Why,
certainly, it is made to all Christians, is it not?"
"No,
God carefully defines who the 'ye's' are, whose
believing prayers He agrees to answer."
I
then turned her to 1_John 3:22, and read the description of those whose prayers
had power with God.
"Now,"
I said, "were you keeping His commandments and doing those things which
are pleasing in His sight?"
She
frankly confessed that she was not, and soon came to see that the real
difficulty was not with God's promises, but with herself. That is the
difficulty with many an unanswered
prayer to-day: the one who offers it is not
obedient.
If we would have power in prayer, we must be
earnest students of His Word to find out what His will regarding us is, and
then having found it, do it. One unconfessed act of
disobedience on our part will shut the ear of God
against many petitions.
2.
But this verse goes beyond the mere keeping of God's commandments. John tells
us that we must DO THOSE THINGS THAT ARE PLEASING IN HIS SIGHT.
There
are many things which it would be pleasing to God for us to do which He has not
specifically commanded us. A true child is not content with merely doing those
things which his
father specifically commands him to do. He studies
to know his father's will, and if he thinks that there is any thing that he can
do that would please his father, he does it gladly, though his father has never
given him any specific order to do it. So it is with the true child of God. He
does not ask merely whether certain things are commanded or certain things
forbidden. He studies to know his Father's will in all things.
There
are many Christians to-day who are doing things that are not pleasing to God,
and leaving undone things which would be pleasing to God. When you speak to
them about these
things they will confront you at once with the
question, "Is there any command in the Bible not to do this thing?"
And if you cannot show them some verse in which the matter in question is
plainly forbidden, they think they are under no
obligation whatever to give it up; but a true child of God does not demand a
specific command. If we make it our study to find out and to do the things
which are pleasing to God, He will make His study to do the things which are
pleasing to us. Here again we find the explanation of much unanswered prayer:
We are not making it the study of our lives to know what would please our Father,
and so our prayers are not answered. Take as an illustration of questions that
are constantly coming up, the matter of theater
going, dancing and the use of tobacco. Many who are indulging in these things
will ask you triumphantly if you speak against them, "Does the Bible say,
'Thou shalt not go to the theater'?"
"Does the Bible say,'Thou
shalt not dance'?"
"Does the Bible say,'Thou shalt
not smoke'?" That is not the question. The question is, Is
our heavenly Father well pleased when He sees one of His children in the
theater, at the dance, or
smoking? That is a question for each to decide for himself,
prayerfully, seeking light from the Holy Spirit. "Where is the harm in
these things?" many ask. It is
aside from our purpose to go into the general
question, but beyond a doubt there is this great harm in many a case; they rob
our prayers of power.
3.
Psalm 145:18 throws a great deal of light on the question of how to pray:
"The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon Him, to all that call upon
Him in truth."
That
little expression "in truth" is worthy of study. If you will take
your concordance and go through the Bible, you will find that this expression
means "in reality," "in sincerity."
The prayer that God answers is the prayer
that is real, the prayer that asks for something that is sincerely desired.
Much
prayer is insincere. People ask for things which they do not wish. Many a woman
is praying for the conversion of her husband, who does not really wish her
husband to be
converted. She thinks that she does, but if she knew
what would be involved in the conversion of her husband, how it would
necessitate an entire revolution in his manner of doing business,
and how consequently it would reduce their
income and make necessary an entire change in their method of living, the real
prayer of her heart would be, if she were to be sincere with God:
"O
God, do not convert my husband."
She
does not wish his conversion at so great cost.
Many
a church is praying for a revival that does not really desire a revival. They
think they do, for to their minds a revival means an increase of membership, an
increase of income,
an
increase of reputation among the churches, but if they knew what a real revival
meant, what a searching of hearts on the part of professed Christians would be
involved, what a radical
transformation of individual, domestic and social life
would be brought about, and many other things that would come to pass if the
Spirit of God was poured out in reality and power; if all
this were known, the real cry of the church
would be:
"O
God, keep us from having a revival."
Many
a minister is praying for the baptism with the Holy Spirit who does not really
desire it. He thinks he does, for the baptism with the
Spirit means to him new joy, new power in preaching the Word, a wider reputation among men, a larger prominence in the church of Christ. But if he understood what a baptism with the Holy Spirit really involved, how for example it would
necessarily bring him into antagonism with the world, and with unspiritual Christians, how it would cause his name to be
"cast out as evil," how it might necessitate his leaving a good
comfortable living and going down to work in the slums, or even in some foreign
land; if he understood all this, his prayer quite likely would be--if he were
to express the real wish of his heart,--
"O
God, save me from being baptized with the Holy Ghost."
But
when we do come to the place where we really desire the
conversion of friends at any cost, really desire the outpouring of the Holy
Spirit whatever it may involve, really desire the baptism with the Holy Ghost
come what may, where we desire anything "in truth" and then call upon
God for it "in truth," God is going to hear.
CHAPTER
IV
PRAYING
IN THE NAME OF CHRIST AND ACCORDING TO THE WILL OF GOD
1. It was a wonderful word about prayer that
Jesus spoke to His disciples on the night before His crucifixion,
"Whatsoever you shall ask IN MY NAME, that will I do, that the Father may
be
glorified in the Son. If you shall ask anything in My name, I will do it."
Prayer
in the name of Christ has power with God. God is well pleased with His Son
Jesus Christ. He hears Him always, and He also hears always the prayer that is
really in His name. There is a fragrance in the name of Christ that makes
acceptable to God every prayer that bears it.
But
what is it to pray in the name of Christ?
Many
explanations have been attempted that to ordinary minds do not explain. But
there is nothing mystical or mysterious about this expression. If one will go
through the Bible and examine all the passages in which the expression "in
My name" or "in His name" or synonymous
expressions are used, he will find that it means just about what it does in modern
usage. If I go to a bank and hand in a check with my name signed to it, I ask
of that bank IN MY OWN NAME.
If
I have money deposited in that bank, the check will be cashed; if not, it will
not be. If, however, I go to a bank with somebody else's name signed to the
check, I am asking IN HIS NAME, and it does not matter whether I have money in
that bank or any other, if the person whose name is signed to the check has
money there, the check will be cashed.
If,
for example, I should go to the First National Bank of Chicago, and present a
check which I had signed for $50.00, the paying teller would say to me:
"Why,
Mr. Torrey, we cannot cash that. You have no money in
this bank."
But
if I should go to the First National Bank with a check for $5,000.00 made
payable to me, and signed by one of the large
depositors in that bank, they would not ask whether I had money in that bank or
in any bank, but would honor the check at once.
So
it is when I go to the bank of heaven, when I go to God in prayer. I have
nothing deposited there, I have absolutely no credit there, and if I go in my
own name I will get absolutely nothing; but Jesus Christ has unlimited credit
in heaven, and He has granted to me the privilege of going to the bank with His
name on my checks, and when I thus go, my prayers will be honored
to any extent.
To
pray then in the name of Christ is to pray on the ground, not of my credit, but
His; to renounce the thought that I have any claims on God whatever, and
approach Him on the ground of God's claims. Praying in the name of Christ is
not merely adding the phrase "I ask these things in Jesus' name" to
my prayer. I may put that phrase in my prayer and really be resting in my own
merit all the time. But when I really do approach God, not on the ground of my
merit, but on the ground of Christ's merit, not on the ground of my goodness,
but on the ground of the atoning blood (Heb. 10:19), God will hear me. Very
much of our modern prayer is vain because men approach God imagining that they
have some claim upon God whereby He is under obligations to answer their
prayers.
Years
ago when Mr. Moody was young in Christian work, he visited a town in Illinois.
A judge in the town was an infidel. This judge's wife besought Mr. Moody to
call upon her husband, but Mr. Moody replied:
"I
cannot talk with your husband. I am only an uneducated young Christian, and
your husband is a book infidel."
But the wife would not take no for an
answer, so Mr. Moody made the call. The clerks in the outer office tittered as
the young salesman from Chicago went in to talk with the scholarly judge.
The
conversation was short. Mr. Moody said:
"Judge,
I can't talk with you. You are a book infidel, and I have no learning, but I
simply want to say if you are ever converted, I want you to let me know."
The
judge replied: "Yes, young man, if I am ever converted I will let you
know. Yes, I will let you know."
The
conversation ended. The clerks tittered still louder when the zealous young
Christian left the office, but the judge was converted within a year. Mr. Moody
visiting the town again asked the judge to explain how it came about. The judge
said:
"One
night, when my wife was at prayer meeting, I began to grow very uneasy and
miserable. I did not know what was the matter with me,
but finally retired before my wife come home. I could not sleep all that night.
I got up early, told my wife that I would eat
no breakfast, and went down to the office. I told the
clerks they could take a holiday, and shut myself up in the inner office. I
kept growing more and more miserable, and finally I got down and asked God to
forgive my sins, but I would not say 'for Jesus' sake,' for I was a Unitarian
and I did not believe in the atonement. I kept praying 'God forgive my sins';
but no answer came. At last in desperation I cried, 'O God, for Christ's sake
forgive my sins,' and found peace at once."
The
judge had no access to God until he came in the name of Christ, but when he
thus came, he was heard and answered at once.
2.
Great light is thrown upon the subject "How to Pray" by 1_John
5:14,15: "And this is the boldness which we have toward Him, that if we
ask anything ACCORDING TO HIS WILL, He heareth us;
and if we know that He heareth us whatsoever we ask,
we know that we have
the petitions which we have asked of Him."
(R.V.)
This
passage teaches us plainly that if we are to pray aright, we must pray
according to God's will, then will we beyond a peradventure get the thing we
ask of Him.
But
can we know the will of God? Can we know that any specific prayer is according
to His will?
We
most surely can.
How?
(1)
First by the Word. God has revealed His will in His Word
When
anything is definitely promised in the Word of God, we know that it is His will
to give that thing. If then when I pray, I can find some definite promise of
God's Word and lay that promise before God, I know that He hears me, and if I
know that He hears me, I know that I have the petition that I have asked of
Him. For example, when I pray for wisdom I know that it is the will of God to
give me wisdom, for He says so in James 1:5: "If any of you lack wisdom,
let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally,
and upbraideth not;and it
shall be given him." So when I ask for wisdom I know that the prayer is
heard, and that wisdom will be given me. In like manner
when I pray for the Holy Spirit I know from
Luke 11:13 that it is God's will, that my prayer is heard, and that I have the
petition that I have asked of Him: "If you then, being evil, know how to
give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father
give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?"
Some
years ago a minister came to me at the close of an address on prayer at a
Y.M.C.A. Bible school, and said,
"You
have produced upon those young men the impression that they can ask for
definite things and get the very things that they ask."
I
replied that I did not know whether that was the impression that I produced or
not, but that was certainly the impression that I desired to produce.
"But,"
he replied, "that is not right. We cannot be
sure, for we don't know God's will."
I
turned him at once to James 1:5, read it and said to him, "Is it not God's
will to give us wisdom, and if you ask for wisdom do you not know that you are
going to get it?"
"Ah!"
he said, "we don't know what wisdom is."
I
said, "No, if we did, we would not need to ask; but whatever wisdom may
be, don't you know that you will get it?"
Certainly
it is our privilege to know. When we have a specific promise in the Word of
God, if we doubt that it is God's will, or if we doubt that God will do the
thing that we ask, we make
God a liar.
Here
is one of the greatest secrets of prevailing prayer: To study the Word to find
what God's will is as revealed there in the promises, and then simply take
these promises and spread them out before God in prayer with the absolutely
unwavering expectation that He will do what He has promised in His Word.
(2)
But there is still another way in which we may know the will of God, that is,
by the teaching of His Holy Spirit. There are many things that we need from God
which are not covered by any specific promise, but we are not left in ignorance
of the will of God even then. In Rom. 8:26,27 we are
told, "And in like manner the Spirit also helpeth
our infirmity: for we know not how to pray as we ought; but the Spirit Himself maketh intercession for us with groanings
which cannot be uttered; and He that searcheth the
hearts knoweth what is the mind of the spirit,
because He maketh intercession for the saints
ACCORDING TO THE WILL OF GOD." (R.V.)
Here
we are distinctly told that the Spirit of God prays in us, draws out our
prayer, in the line of God's will. When we are thus led out by the Holy Spirit
in any direction, to pray for any given object, we may do it in all confidence
that it is God's will, and that we are to get the very thing we ask of Him,
even though there is no specific promise to cover the case. Often God by His
Spirit lays upon us a heavy burden of prayer for some given individual. We
cannot rest, we pray for him with groanings which
cannot be uttered. Perhaps the man is entirely beyond our reach, but God hears
the prayer, and in many a case it is not long before we hear of his definite
conversion.
The
passage 1_John 5:14,15 is one of the most abused passages in the Bible:
"This is THE CONFIDENCE that we have in Him, that, if we ask anything
according to His will, He heareth us; and if we know
that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we
desired of Him." The Holy Spirit beyond a doubt put it into the Bible to
encourage our faith. It begins with
"This is THE CONFIDENCE that we have in
Him," and closes with "WE KNOW that
we have the petitions that we desired of Him;" but
one of the most frequent usages of this passage, which was so manifestly given
to beget confidence, is to introduce an element of uncertainty into our
prayers. Oftentimes when one waxes confident in prayer, some cautious brother
will come and say:
"Now,
don't be too confident. If it is God's will He will do it. You should put in,
'If it be Thy will.'"
Doubtless
there are many times when we do not know the will of God, and in all prayer
submission to the excellent will of God should underlie it; but when we know
God's will, there need be no "ifs"; and this passage was not put into
the Bible in order that we might introduce "ifs" into all our
prayers, but in order that we might throw our "ifs" to the wind, and
have CONFIDENCE" and "KNOW that we have the petitions which we have
asked of Him."
CHAPTER
V
PRAYING
IN THE SPIRIT
1.
Over and over again in what has already been said, we have seen our dependence
upon the Holy Spirit in prayer. This comes out very definitely in Eph. 6:18,
"Praying always with all prayer and supplication IN THE SPIRIT," and
in Jude 20, "Praying IN THE HOLY GHOST." Indeed the whole secret of
prayer is found in these three words, "in the Spirit." It is the
prayer that God the Holy Spirit inspires that God the Father answers.
The
disciples did not know how to pray as they ought, so they came to Jesus and said,"Lord teach us to pray." We know not how to
pray as we ought, but we have another Teacher and Guide right at hand to help
us (John 14:16,17), "The Spirit helpeth our infirmity" (Rom. 8:26, R.V.). He teaches
us how to pray. True prayer is prayer in the Spirit; that is, the prayer the
Spirit inspires and directs. When we come into God's presence we should
recognize "our infirmity,"our ignorance of
what we should pray for or how we should pray for it, and in the consciousness
of our utter inability to pray aright we should look up to the Holy Spirit,
casting ourselves utterly upon Him to our prayers, to lead out our desires and to guide our utterance of them.
Nothing
can be more foolish in prayer than to rush heedlessly into God's presence, and
ask the first thing that comes into our mind, or that some thoughtless friend
has asked us to pray for. When we first come into God's presence we should be
silent before Him. We should look up to Him to send His Holy Spirit to teach us
how to pray. We must wait for the Holy Spirit, and surrender ourselves to the
Spirit, then we shall pray aright.
Oftentimes
when we come to God in prayer, we do not feel like praying. What shall one do
in such a case? cease praying until he does feel like
it? Not at all. When we feel least like praying is the
time when we most need to pray. We should wait quietly before God and tell Him
how cold and prayerless our hearts are, and look up
to Him and trust Him and expect Him to send the Holy Spirit to warm our hearts
and draw them out in prayer. It will not be long before the glow of the
Spirit's presence will fill our hearts, and we will begin to pray with freedom,
directness, earnestness and power. Many of the most blessed seasons of prayer I
have ever known have begun with a feeling of utter deadness and prayerlessness, but in my helplessness and
coldness I have cast myself upon God, and looked to Him to send His Holy Spirit
to teach me to pray, and He has done it.
When
we pray in the Spirit, we will pray for the right things and in the right way.
There will be joy and power in our prayer.
2.
If we are to pray with power we must pray WITH FAITH. In Mark 11:24 Jesus says,
"Therefore I say unto you, What things soever you desire, when you pray, believe that you receive
them, and you shall have them." No matter how positive any promise of
God's Word may be,
we will not enjoy it in actual experience unless we
confidently expect its fulfillment in answer to our
prayer. "If any of you lack wisdom," says James, "let him ask of
God that giveth to all men
liberally, and upbraideth
not; and it shall be given him." Now that promise is as positive as a
promise can be, but the next verse adds, "But let
him ask in faith, nothing doubting: for he that doubteth
is like the surge of the sea driven by the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the
Lord." (R.V.) There must then be confident
unwavering expectation. But there is a faith that goes beyond expectation, that believes that the prayer is
heard and the promise granted. This comes out in
the Revised Version of Mark 11:24, "Therefore I say unto you, All things whatsoever you pray and ask for, believe that you
HAVE received them, and you shall have them."
But
how can one get this faith?
Let
us say with all emphasis, it cannot be pumped up. Many a one reads this promise
about the prayer of faith, and then asks for things that he desires and tries
to make himself believe that God has heard the prayer.
This ends only in disappointment, for it is not real faith and the thing is not
granted. It is at this point that many people make a collapse of faith
altogether by trying to work up faith by an effort of their will, and as the
thing they made themselves believe they expected to get is not given, the very
foundation of faith is oftentimes undermined.
But
how does real faith come?
Rom
10:17 answers the question: "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing
BY THE WORD OF GOD." If we are to have real faith, we must study the Word
of God and find out what is promised, then simply
believe the promises of God. Faith must have a warrant. Trying to believe
something that you want to believe is not faith. Believing what God says in His
Word is faith. If I am to have faith when I pray, I must find some promise in
the Word of God on which to rest my faith. Faith furthermore comes through the
Spirit. The Spirit knows the will of God, and if I pray in the Spirit, and look
to the Spirit to teach me God's will, He will lead me out in prayer along the
line of that will, and give me faith that the prayer is to be answered; but in
no case does real faith come by simply determining that you are going to get
the thing that you want to get.. If there is no promise in the Word of God, and
no clear leading of the Spirit, there can be no real faith, and there should be
no upbraiding of self for lack of faith in such a case. But if the thing
desired is promised in the Word of God, we may well upbraid ourselves for lack
of faith if we doubt; for we are making God a liarby
doubting His Word.
CHAPTER VI
ALWAYS
PRAYING AND NOT FAINTING
In
two parables in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus teaches with great emphasis the
lesson that men ought always to pray and not to faint. The first parable is
found in Luke 11:5-8, and the other in Luke 18:1-8.
"And
He said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend,
and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him: 'Friend, lend me three
loaves; for a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing
to set before him?' And he from within shall answer
and say: 'Trouble me not: the door is now shut,
and my children are with me in bed. I cannot rise and give thee.' I say unto
you, Though he will not rise and give him because he
is his friend, yet
because of his importunity he will rise and give
him as many as he needeth." (Luke 11:5-8)
"And
He spake a parable unto them to this end, that men
always ought to pray and not to faint, saying: There was in a city a judge
which feared not God, neither regarded man; and there was a widow in that city;
and she came to him, saying:
"'Avenge
me of mine adversary.'
"And
he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself: 'Though I fear
not God, nor regard man, yet because this widow troubleth
me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.'
"And
the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. And
shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto Him,though He bear long with them?
I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man
cometh, shall He find
faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:1-8)
In
the former of these two parables Jesus sets forth the necessity of importunity
in prayer in a startling way. The word rendered "importunity" means
literally "shamelessness," as if Jesus
would have us understand that God would have us
draw nigh to Him with a determination to obtain the things we seek that will
not be put to shame by any seeming refusal or delay on God's part. God delights
in the holy boldness that will not take "no" for an answer. It is an
expression of great faith, and nothing pleases God more than faith.
Jesus
seemed to put the Syro-Phoenician woman away almost
with rudeness, but she would not be put away, and Jesus looked upon her
shameless importunity with pleasure, and said, "O woman, great is thy
faith; be it unto thee even as thou wilt." (Matt. 15:28) God does not
always let us get things at our first effort. He would train us and make us
strong men by compelling us to work hard for the best things. So also He does
not always give us what we ask in answer to the first prayer; He would train us
and make us strong men of prayer by compelling us to pray hard for the best
things. He makes us PRAY THROUGH.
I
am glad that this is so. There is no more blessed training in prayer than that
that comes through being compelled to ask again and again and again even
through a long period of years before one obtains that which he seeks from God.
Many people call it submission to the will of God when God does not grant them
their requests at the first or second asking, and they say:
"Well, perhaps it is not God's
will."
As
a rule this is not submission, but spiritual laziness. We do not call it
submission to the will of God when we give up after one or two efforts to
obtain things by action; we call it lack of
strength of character. When the strong man of action
starts out to accomplish a thing, if he does not accomplish it the first, or
second or one hundredth time, he keeps hammering away until he does
accomplish it; and the strong man of prayer when he
starts to pray for a thing keeps on praying until he prays it through, and
obtains what he seeks. We should be careful about what we ask from God, but
when we do begin to pray for a thing we should never give up praying for it
until we get it, or until God makes it very clear and very definite to us that
it is not His will to give it.
Some
would have us believe that it shows unbelief to pray twice for the same thing,
that we ought to "take it" the first time that we ask. Doubtless
there are times when we are able through
faith
in the Word or the leading of the Holy Spirit to CLAIM the first time that
which we have asked of God; but beyond question there are other times when we
must pray again and again and again for the same thing before we get our
answer. Those who have gotten beyond praying twice for the same thing have
gotten beyond their Master, (Matt. 26:44). George Muller prayed for two men
daily for upwards of sixty years. One of these men was converted shortly before
his death, I think at the last service that George
Muller held, the other was converted within a year after his death. One of the
great needs of the present day is men and women who will not only start out to
pray for things, but pray on and on and on until
they obtain that which they seek from the Lord.
CHAPTER
VII
ABIDING
IN CHRIST
"If
you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you shall
ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you." (John 15:7) The whole
secret of prayer is found in these words of our Lord. Here is prayer that has
unbounded power: "Ask WHAT YOU WILL, and it shall
be done unto you."
There
is a way then of asking and getting precisely what we ask and getting all we
ask. Christ gives two conditions of this all-prevailing prayer:
1.
The first condition is, "If you abide in Me."
What
is it to abide in Christ?
Some
explanations that have been given of this are so mystical or so profound that
to many simple-minded children of God they mean practically nothing at all; but
what Jesus meant was really very simple.
He
had been comparing Himself to a vine, His disciples to the branches in the
vine. Some branches continued in the vine, that is, remained in living union
with the vine, so that the sap or life of the vine constantly flowed into these
branches. They had no independent life of their own. Everything in them was
simply the outcome of the life of the vine flowing into them. Their buds, their
leaves, their blossoms, their fruit, were really not theirs, but the buds, leaves,
blossoms and fruit of the vine. Other branches were completely severed from the
vine, or else the flow of the sap or life of the vine into them was in some way
hindered. Now for us to abide
in Christ is for us to bear the same relation to Him that the first sort of
branches bear to the vine; that is to say, to abide in Christ is to renounce
any independent life of our own, to give up trying to think our thoughts, or
form our resolutions, or cultivate our feelings, and simply and constantly look
to Christ to think His thoughts in us, to form His purposes in us, to feel
His emotions and affections in us. It is to renounce all life independent of
Christ, and constantly to look to Him for the inflow of His life into us, and
the outworking of His life through us. When we do this, and in so far as we do
this, our prayers will obtain that which we seek from God.
This
must necessarily be so, for our desires will not be our own desires, but
Christ's, and our prayers will not in reality be our own prayers, but Christ
praying in us. Such prayers will always be in harmony with God's will, and the Father heareth Him always. When our prayers fail it is because
they are indeed our prayers. We have conceived the desire and framed the
petition of ourselves, instead of looking to Christ to pray through us.
To
say that one should be abiding in Christ in all his prayers, looking to Christ
to pray through Him rather than praying himself, is simply saying in another
way that one should pray "in the Spirit." When we thus abide in
Christ, our thoughts are not our own thoughts, but His, our joys are not our
own joys, but His, our fruit is not our own fruit, but His; just as the buds,
leaves, blossoms and fruit of the branch that abides in the vine are not the
buds, leaves, blossoms and fruit of the branch, but of the vine itself whose
life is flowing into the branch and manifests itself in these buds, leaves,
blossoms and fruit.
To
abide in Christ, one must of course already be in Christ through the acceptance
of Christ as an atoning Savior from the guilt of sin,
a risen Savior from the power of sin, and a Lord and
Master over all his life. Being in Christ, all that we have to do to abide (or
continue) in Christ is simply to renounce our self-life--utterly renouncing
every thought, every purpose, every desire, every affection of our own, and
just looking day by day and hour by hour for Jesus Christ to form His thoughts,
His purposes, His affections, His desires in us. Abiding in Christ is really a
very simple matter, though it is a wonderful life of privilege and of power.
2.
But there is another condition stated in this verse, though it is really
involved in the first: "And My words abide in you."
If
we are to obtain from God all that we ask from Him, Christ's words must abide
or continue in us. We must study His words, fairly devour His words, let them
sink into our thought and into our heart, keep them in our memory, obey them
constantly in our life, let them shape and mold our
daily life and our every act.
This
is really the method of abiding in Christ. It is through His words that Jesus
imparts Himself to us. The words He speaks unto us, they are spirit and they
are life. (John 6:33) It is
vain to expect power in prayer unless we
meditate much upon the words of Christ, and let them sink deep and find a
permanent abode in our hearts. There are many who wonder why they are so
powerless in prayer, but the very simple explanation of it all is found in
their neglect of the words of Christ. They have not hidden His words in their hearts;
His words do not abide in them. It is not by seasons of mystical meditation and
rapturous experiences that we learn to abide
in Christ; it is by
feeding upon His word, His written word as found in the Bible, and looking to
the Holy Spirit to implant these words in our hearts and to make them a living
thing in our hearts. If we thus let the words of Christ abide in us, they will
stir us up in prayer. They will be the mold in which
our prayers are shaped, and our prayers will be necessarily along the line of
God's will, and will prevail with Him. Prevailing prayer is almost an impossibility where there is neglect of the study of the
Word of God.
Mere
intellectual study of the Word of God is not enough; there must be meditation
upon it. The Word of God must be revolved over and over and over in the mind,
with a constant looking to God by His Spirit to make that Word a living thing
in the heart. The prayer that is born of meditation upon the Word of God is the
prayer that soars upward most easily to God's listening ear.
George
Muller, one of the mightiest men of prayer of the present generation, when the
hour for prayer came would begin by reading and meditating upon God's Word
until out of the study of the Word a prayer began to form itself in his heart.
Thus God Himself was a real author of the prayer, and God answered the prayers
which He Himself had inspired.
The
Word of God is the instrument through which the Holy Spirit works,
it is the sword of the Spirit in more senses than one; and the one who would
know the work of the Holy Spirit in any
direction must feed upon the Word. The one who would
pray in the Spirit must meditate much upon the Word, that
the Holy Spirit may have something through which He can work. The Holy Spirit
works His prayers in us through the Word, and neglect of the Word makes praying
in the Holy Spirit an impossibility. If we would feed the
fire of our prayers with the fuel of God's Word, all our difficulties in prayer
would disappear.
CHAPTER
VIII
PRAYING
WITH THANKSGIVING
There
are two words often overlooked in the lesson about prayer which Paul gives us
in Phil. 4:6,7, "In nothing be anxious; but in everything by prayer and
supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And
the peace of God, which passeth all understanding,
shall guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus." (R.V.) The two important words often overlooked are,
"WITH THANKSGIVING."
In
approaching God to ask for new blessings, we should never forget to return
thanks for blessings already granted. If any one of us would stop and think how
many of the prayers which we have offered to God have been answered, and how
seldom we have gone back to God to
return thanks for the answers thus given, I am
sure we would be overwhelmed with confusion. We should be just as definite in
returning thanks as we are in prayer. We come to God with most
specific petitions, but when we return thanks to
Him, our thanksgiving is indefinite and general.
Doubtless
one reason why so many of our prayers lack power is because we have neglected
to return thanks for blessings already received. If any one were to constantly
come to us asking help from us, and should never say "Thank you" for
the help thus given, we would soon tire of helping one so ungrateful. Indeed,
regard for the one we were
helping would hold us back from encouraging such rank ingratitude. Doubtless
our heavenly Father out of a wise regard for
our highest welfare oftentimes refuses to
answer petitions that we send up to Him in order that we may be brought to a
sense of our ingratitude and taught to be thankful.
God
is deeply grieved by the thanklessness and ingratitude of which so many of us
are guilty. When Jesus healed the ten lepers and only one came back to give Him
thanks, in wonderment and pain He exclaimed,
"Were
not the ten cleansed? but where are the nine?"
(Luke 17:17, R.V.)
How
often must He look down upon us in sadness at our forgetfulness of His repeated
blessings, and His frequent answer to our prayers.
Returning
thanks for blessings already received increases our faith and enables us to
approach God with new boldness and new assurance. Doubtless the reason so many
have so little faith when they pray, is because they take so little time to
meditate upon and thank God for blessings already received. As one meditates
upon the answers to prayers already granted, faith waxes bolder and bolder, and
we come to feel in the very depths of our souls that there is
nothing too hard for the Lord. As we reflect upon the
wondrous goodness of God toward us on the one hand, and upon the other hand
upon the little thought and strength and time that we ever put into
thanksgiving, we may well humble ourselves before God and confess our sin.
The
mighty men of prayer in the Bible, and the mighty men of prayer throughout the
ages of the church's history have been men who were much given to thanksgiving
and praise. David was a mighty man of prayer, and how his Psalms abound with
thanksgiving and praise. The apostles were mighty men of prayer; of them we
read that "they were continually in the temple, praising and blessing
God." Paul was a mighty man of prayer, and how often in his epistles he
bursts out
in definite thanksgiving to God for definite blessings and
definite answers to prayers. Jesus is our model in prayer as in everything
else. We find in the study of His life that His manner of returning
thanks at the simplest meal was so noticeable that
two of His disciples recognized Him by this after His resurrection.
Thanksgiving
is one of the inevitable results of being filled with the Holy Spirit and one
who does not learn "in everything to give thanks" cannot continue to
pray in the Spirit. If we would learn to pray with power we would do well to
let these two words sink
deep into our hearts: "WITH
THANKSGIVING."
CHAPTER
IX
HINDRANCES
TO PRAYER
We
have gone very carefully into the positive conditions of prevailing prayer; but
there are some things which hinder prayer. These God has made very plain in His
Word.
1.
The first hindrance to prayer we will find in James 4:3, "You ask and
receive not BECAUSE YOU ASK AMISS, THAT YOU MAY SPEND IT IN YOUR
PLEASURES."
A selfish purpose in prayer robs prayer of
power. Very many prayers are selfish. These may be prayers for things for which
it is perfectly proper to ask, for things which it is the will of God to give,
but the motive of the prayer is entirely wrong, and so the prayer falls
powerless to the ground. The true purpose in prayer is that God may be
glorified in the answer. If we ask any petition merely that we may receive
something to use in our pleasures or in our own gratification in one way or
another, we "ask amiss" and need not expect to receive what we ask.
This explains why many prayers remain unanswered.
For
example, many a woman is praying for the conversion of her husband. That
certainly is a most proper thing to ask; but many a woman's motive in asking
for the conversion of her husband is entirely improper, it is selfish. She
desires that her husband may be converted because it would be so much more
pleasant for her to have a husband who sympathized with her; or it is so
painful to think that her husband might die and be lost forever. For some such
selfish reason as this she desires to have her husband converted. The prayer is
purely selfish. Why should a woman desire the conversion of her husband? First
of all and above all, that God may be glorified; because she cannot bear the
thought that God the Father should be dishonored by
her husband trampling underfoot the Son of God.
Many
pray for a revival. That certainly is a prayer that is pleasing to God, it is
along the line of His will; but many prayers for revivals are purely selfish.
The churches desire revivals in
order that the membership may be increased, in order
that the church may have a position of more power and influence in the
community, in order that the church treasury may be filled, in order that a
good report may be made at the presbytery or conference or association. For
such low purposes as these, churches and ministers oftentimes are praying for a
revival, and oftentimes too God does not answer the prayer. Why should we pray
for a revival? For the glory of God, because we cannot endure it that God
should continue to be dishonored by the worldliness of
the church, by the sins of unbelievers, by the proud unbelief of the day;
because God's Word is being made void; in
order that God may be glorified by the outpouring
of His Spirit on the Church of Christ. For these reasons first of all and above
all, we should pray for a revival.
Many
a prayer for the Holy Spirit is a purely selfish prayer. It certainly is God's
will to give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him--He has told us so plainly in
His Word (Luke 11:13), but many a prayer for the Holy Spirit is hindered by the
selfishness of the motive that lies back of the prayer. Men and women pray for
the Holy Spirit in order that they may be happy, or in order that they may be
saved from the wretchedness of defeat in their lives, or in order that they may
have power as Christian workers, or for some other purely selfish motive. Why
should we pray for the Spirit? In order that God may no longer be dishonored by the low level of our Christian lives and by
our ineffectiveness in service, in order that God may be glorified in the new
beauty that comes into our lives and the new power that comes into our service.
2.
The second hindrance to prayer we find in Is. 59:1,2:
"Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither
His ear heavy, that it cannot hear. But YOUR INIQUITIES HAVE SEPARATED BETWEEN
YOU AND YOUR GOD, and YOUR SINS HAVE HID HIS FACE FROM YOU, THAT HE WILL NOT
HEAR."...
Sin hinders prayer. Many a man prays and
prays and prays, and gets absolutely no answer to his prayer. Perhaps he is
tempted to think that it is not the will of God to answer, or he may think that
the days when God answered prayer, if He ever did, are over. So the Israelites
seem to have thought. They thought that the Lord's hand was shortened, that it
could not save, and that His ear had become heavy that it could no longer hear.
"Not
so," said Isaiah, "God's ear is just as open to hear as ever, His
hand just as mighty to save; but there is a hindrance. That hindrance is your
own sins. Your iniquities have separated
between you and your God, and your sins have hid
His face from you that He will not hear."
It
is so to-day. Many and many a man is crying to God in vain, simply because of
sin in his life. It may be some sin in the past that has been unconfessed and unjudged, it may be some sin in
the present that is cherished, very likely is
not even looked upon as sin, but there the sin is, hidden away somewhere in the
heart or in the life, and God "will not hear."
Any
one who finds his prayers ineffective should not conclude that the thing which
he asks of God is not according to His will, but should go alone with God with
the Psalmist's prayer, "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and
know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me" (Ps. 139:23,24), and wait before Him until He puts His finger upon the
thing that is displeasing in His sight. Then this sin should be confessed and
put away.
I
well remember a time in my life when I was praying for two definite things that
it seemed that I must have, or God would be dishonored;
but the answer did not come. I awoke in the middle of the night in great
physical suffering and great distress of soul. I cried to God for these things,
reasoned with Him as to how necessary it was that I get them, and get them at
once; but no answer came. I asked God to show me if there was anything wrong in
my own life. Something came to my mind that had often come to it before,
something definite but which I was unwilling to confess as sin. I said to God,
"If this is wrong I will give it up"; but still no answer came. In my
innermost heart, though I had never admitted it, I knew it was wrong.
At
last I said:
"This
is wrong. I have sinned. I will give it up."
I
found peace. In a few moments I was sleeping like a child. In the morning I
woke well in body, and the money that was so much needed for the honor of God's name came.
Sin
is an awful thing, and one of the most awful things about it is the way it
hinders prayer, the way it severs the connection between us and the source of
all grace and power and blessing. Any one who would have power in prayer must
be merciless in dealing with his own sins. "If I
regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me."(Ps. 66:18) So
long as we hold on to sin or have any controversy with God, we cannot expect
Him to heed our prayers. If there is anything that is constantly coming up in
your moments of close communion with God, that is the thing that hinders
prayer: put it away.
3.
The third hindrance to prayer is found in Ez. 14:3,
"Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their heart, and put
the stumbling block of their
iniquity before their face:
should I be inquired of at all by them?"(R.V.)
IDOLS IN THE HEART CAUSE GOD TO
REFUSE
TO LISTEN TO OUR PRAYERS. What is an idol? An idol is anything that takes the
place of God, anything that is the supreme object of our affection. God alone
has the right to the supreme place in our hearts. Everything and everyone else
must be subordinate to Him.
Many
a man makes an idol of his wife. Not that a man can love his wife any too much,
but he can put her in the wrong place, he can put her before God; and when a
man regards his wife's pleasure before God's pleasure, when he gives her the
first place and God the second place, his wife is an idol, and God cannot hear
his prayers.
Many
a woman makes an idol of her children. Not that we can love our children too
much. The more dearly we love Christ, the more dearly we love our children; but
we can put our children in the wrong place, we can put them before God, and
their interests before God's interests. When we do this our children are our idols.
Many
a man makes an idol of his reputation or his business. Reputation or business
is put before God. God cannot hear the prayers of such a man.
One
great question for us to decide, if we would have power in prayer is, Is God
absolutely first? Is He before wife, before children, before reputation, before
business, before our own lives?
If
not, prevailing prayer is impossible.
God
often calls our attention to the fact that we have an idol, by not answering
our prayers, and thus leading us to inquire as to why our prayers are not
answered, and so we discover the idol, put it away, and God hears our prayers.
4.
The fourth hindrance to prayer is found in Prov.
21:13,
"WHOSO
STOPPETH HIS EARS AT THE CRY OF THE POOR, HE ALSO SHALL CRY
HIMSELF,
BUT SHALL NOT BE HEARD."
There
is perhaps no greater hindrance to prayer than stinginess, the lack of
liberality toward the poor and toward God's work. It is the one who gives
generously to others who receives
generously from God. "Give, and it shall be given
unto you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, shall they
give into your bosom. For with what measure you mete it shall be measured to
you again." (Luke 6:38, R.V.) The generous man is the mighty man of
prayer. The stingy man is the powerless man of prayer.
One
of the most wonderful statements about prevailing prayer (already referred to)
1_John 3:22, "Whatsoever we ask we receive of Him, because we keep His
commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight," is made
in direct connection with generosity toward the needy. In the context we are
told that it is when we love, not in word or in tongue, but in deed and in
truth, when we open our hearts toward the brother in need, it is then and only
then
we have confidence toward God in prayer.
Many
a man and woman who is seeking to find the secret of
their powerlessness in prayer need not seek far; it is nothing more nor less
than downright stinginess. George Muller, to whom
reference has already been
made, was a mighty man of
prayer because he was a mighty giver. What he received from God never stuck to
his fingers; he immediately passed it on to others. He was constantly receiving
because he was constantly giving. When one thinks of the selfishness
of the professing church to-day, how the orthodox churches
of this land do not average $1.oo per year per member for foreign missions, it
is no wonder that the church has so little power in prayer. If we would get
from God, we must give to others. Perhaps the most wonderful promise in the
Bible in regard to God's supplying our need is Phil. 4:19, "And my God
shall fulfill every need of yours according to His
riches in glory in Christ Jesus." (R.V.) This
glorious promise was made to the Philippian church,
and made in immediate connection with their generosity.
5.
The fifth hindrance to prayer is found in Mark 11:25, "And when you stand
praying, FORGIVE, if you have ought against any; that your
Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses."
An
unforgiving spirit is one of the commonest hindrances to prayer. Prayer is
answered on the basis that our sins are forgiven; and God cannot deal with us
on the basis of forgiveness while we are harboring
ill-will against those who have wronged us. Any one who is nursing a grudge
against another has fast closed the ear of God against his own petition. How
many there are crying to God for the conversion of husband, children, friends,
and wondering why it is that their prayer is not answered, when the whole
secret is some grudge that they have in their hearts against some one who has
injured them, or who they fancy has injured them. Many and many a mother and
father are allowing their children to go down to eternity unsaved, for the
miserable gratification of hating somebody.
6.
The sixth hindrance to prayer is found in 1_Peter 3:7, "Ye husbands, in
like manner, dwell with your wives according to knowledge, giving honor unto the woman, as unto the weaker vessel as being
also joint-heirs of the grace of life; to the end that your prayers be not
hindered." (R.V.) Here we are plainly told that A
WRONG RELATION BETWEEN HUSBAND AND WIFE IS A HINDRANCE TO PRAYER.
In
many and many a case the prayers of husbands are hindered because of their
failure of duty toward their wives. On the other hand, it is also doubtless
true that the prayers of wives are
hindered because of their failure in duty toward
their husbands. If husbands and wives should seek diligently to find the cause
of their unanswered prayers, they would often find it in their relations to
one another.
Many
a man who makes great pretentions to piety, and is
very active in Christian work, shows but little consideration in his treatment
of his wife, and is oftentimes unkind, if not brutal; then he wonders why it is
that his prayers are not answered. The verse that we have just quoted explains
the seeming mystery. On the other hand, many a woman who is very devoted to the
church, and very faithful in attendance upon all services, treats her husband
with the most unpardonable neglect, is cross and peevish toward him, wounds him
by the sharpness of her speech, and by her ungovernable temper; then wonders
why it is that she has no power in prayer.
There are other things in the relations of
husbands and wives which cannot be spoken of publicly, but which doubtless are
oftentimes a hindrance in approaching God in prayer. There is much of sin
covered up under the holy name of marriage that is a cause of spiritual
deadness, and of powerlessness in prayer. Any man or woman whose prayers seem to
bring no answer should spread their whole married life out before God, and ask
Him to put His finger upon anything in it that is displeasing in His sight.
7.
The seventh hindrance to prayer is found in James 1:5-7, "But if any of
you lacketh wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all liberally and upbraideth
not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask IN FAITH, NOTHING DOUBTING: for
he that doubteth is like the surge of the sea driven
by the wind and tossed. For let not that man think
that he shall receive anything of the Lord." (R.V.)
Prayers
are hindered by unbelief. God demands that we shall believe His Word
absolutely. To question it is to make Him a liar. Many of us do that when we
plead His promises, and is it any wonder that our
prayers are not answered? How many prayers are hindered by our wretched
unbelief! We go to God and ask Him for something that is positively promised in
His Word, and then we do not more than half expect to get it. "Let not
that man think that he shall receive
anything of the Lord."
CHAPTER
X
WHEN
TO PRAY
If
we would know the fulness of blessing that there is
in the prayer life, it is important not only that we pray in the right way, but
also that we pray at the right time. Christ's own example is
full of suggestiveness as to the right time for
prayer.
1.
In the 1st chapter of Mark, the 35th verse, we read, "And IN THE MORNING,
rising up A GREAT WHILE BEFORE DAY, He went out, and departed into a solitary
place, and there prayed."
JESUS
CHOSE THE EARLY MORNING HOUR FOR PRAYER. Many of the mightiest men of God have
followed the Lord's example in this. In the morning hour the mind is fresh and
at its very best. It is free from distraction, and that absolute concentration
upon God which is essential to the most effective prayer is most easily
possible in the early morning hours. Furthermore, when the early hours are
spent in prayer, the whole day is sanctified, and power is obtained for
overcoming its temptations, and for performing its duties. More can be
accomplished in prayer in the first hours of the day than at any other time
during the day. Every child of God who would make the
most out of his life for Christ, should set apart the first part of the day to
meeting God in the study of His Word and in prayer. The first thing we do each
day should be to go alone with God and face the duties, the temptations, and
the service of that day, and get
strength from God for all. We should get victory
before the hour of trial, temptation or service comes. The secret place of
prayer is the place to fight our battles and gain our victories.
2. In the 6th chapter of Luke in the 12th
verse, we get further light upon the right time to pray. We read, "And it
came to pass in those days, that He went out into a mountain to pray, and
continued ALL NIGHT in prayer to God."
Here
we see Jesus praying in the night, spending the entire night in prayer. Of
course we have no reason to suppose that this was the constant practice of our
Lord, nor do we even know how common this practice was, but there were
certainly times when the whole night was given up to prayer. Here too we do
well to follow in the footsteps of the Master.
Of
course there is a way of setting apart nights for prayer in which there is no
profit; it is pure legalism. But the abuse of this practice is no reason for neglecting
it altogether. One ought
not to say, "I am going to spend a whole
night in prayer," with the thought that there is any merit that will win
God's favor in such an exercise; that is legalism.
But we oftentimes do well to say, "I am going to set apart this night for
meeting God, and obtaining His blessing and power; and if necessary, and if He
so leads me, I will give the whole night to prayer." Oftentimes we will
have prayed things through long before the night has passed, and we can retire and
find more refreshing and invigorating sleep than if we had not spent the time
in prayer. At other times God doubtless will keep us in communion with Himself
away into the morning, and when He does this in His infinite grace, blessed
indeed are these hours of night prayer!
Nights
of prayer to God are followed by days of power with men. In the night hours the
world is hushed in slumber, and we can easily be alone with God and have
undisturbed communion with Him. If we set apart the whole night for prayer,
there will be no hurry, there will be time for our own hearts to become quiet
before God, there will be time for the whole mind to be brought under the
guidance of the Holy Spirit, there will be plenty of time to pray things
through. A night of prayer should be put entirely under God's control. We
should lay down no rules as to how long we will pray, or as to what we shall
pray about, but be ready to wait upon God for a short time or a long time as He
may lead, and to be led out in one direction or another as He may see fit.
3.
Jesus Christ prayed BEFORE ALL THE GREAT CRISES IN HIS EARTHLY LIFE.
He
prayed before choosing the twelve disciples; before the sermon on the mount;
before starting out on an evangelistic tour; before His anointing with the Holy
Spirit and His entrance upon His public ministry; before announcing to the
twelve His approaching death; before the great consummation of His life at the
cross. (Luke 6:12,13; Luke 9:18,21,22; Luke 3:21,22;
Mark 1:35-38; Luke 22:39-46.) He prepared for every important crisis by a
protracted season of prayer. So ought we to do also. Whenever any crisis of
life is seen to be approaching, we should prepare for it by a season of very
definite prayer to God. We should take plenty of time for this prayer.
4.
Christ prayed not only before the great events and victories of His life, but
He also prayed AFTER ITS GREAT ACHIEVEMENTS AND IMPORTANT CRISES.
When He had fed the five thousand with the
five loaves and two fishes, and the multitude desired to take Him and make Him king,
having sent them away He went up into the mountain apart to pray, and spent
hours there alone in prayer to God (Matt. 14:23; Jn.
6:15). So He went on from victory to victory.
It
is more common for most of us to pray before the great events of life than it
is to pray after them, but the latter is as important as the former. If we
would pray after the great achievements of life, we might go on to still
greater; as it is we are often either puffed up or exhausted by the things that
we do in the name of the Lord, and so we advance no further. Many and many a
man in answer to prayer has been endued with power and thus has wrought great
things in the name of the Lord, and when these great things were accomplished,
instead of going alone with God and humbling himself before Him, and giving Him
all the glory for what was achieved, he has congratulated himself upon what has
been accomplished, has become puffed up, and God has been obliged to lay him
aside. The great things done were not followed by humiliation of
self, and prayer to God, and so pride has come
in and the mighty man has been shorn of his power.
5.
Jesus Christ gave a special time to prayer WHEN LIFE WAS UNUSUALLY BUSY. He
would withdraw at such a time from the multitudes that thronged about Him, and
go into the wilderness and pray. For example, we read in Luke 5:15,16, "But so much the more went abroad
the report concerning Him: and great multitudes
came together to hear, and to be healed of their infirmities. But He withdrew
Himself in the deserts and prayed." (R.V.)
Some
men are so busy that they find no time for prayer. Apparently the busier
Christ's life was, the more He prayed. Sometimes He had no time to eat (Mark
3:20), sometimes He had no time for needed rest and sleep (Mark 6:31,33,46), but He always took time to pray; and the more the
work crowded the more He prayed.
Many
a mighty man of God has learned this secret from Christ, and when the work has
crowded more than usual they have set an unusual amount of time apart for
prayer. Other men of God, once mighty, have lost their power because they did
not learn this secret, and allowed increasing work to crowd out prayer.
Years
ago it was the writer's privilege, with other theological students, to ask
questions of one of the most useful Christian men of the day. The writer was
led to ask,
"Will
you tell us something of your prayer life?"
The
man was silent a moment, and then, turning his eyes earnestly upon me, replied:
"Well,
I must admit that I have been so crowded with work of late that I have not
given the time I should to prayer."
Is
it any wonder that that man lost power, and the great work that he was doing
was curtailed in a very marked degree? Let us never forget that the more the
work presses on us, the more time must we spend in prayer.
6.
Jesus Christ prayed BEFORE THE GREAT TEMPTATIONS OF HIS LIFE.
As
He drew nearer and nearer to the cross, and realized that upon it was to come the great final test of His life, Jesus went out into
the garden to pray. He
came "unto a place
called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit
you here while I go and pray yonder." (Matt. 26:36) The victory of Calvary
was won that night in the garden of Gethsemane. The calm majesty of His bearing
in meeting the awful onslaughts of Pilate's Judgment Hall and of Calvary, was the outcome of the struggle, agony and victory
of Gethsemane. While Jesus prayed the disciples slept, so He stood fast while
they fell ignominiously.
Many
temptations come upon us unawares and unannounced, and all that we can do is to
lift a cry to God for help then and there; but many of the temptations of life
we can see approaching from the distance, and in such cases the victory should
be won before the temptation really reaches us.
7.
In 1_Thess. 5:17 we read, "Pray WITHOUT CEASING," and in Eph. 6:18,
R.V., "praying AT ALL SEASONS."
Our
whole life should be a life of prayer. We should walk in constant communion
with God. There should be a constant upward looking of the soul to God. We
should walk so habitually in His presence that even when we awake in the night
it would be the most natural thing in the world for us to speak to Him in
thanksgiving or in petition.
CHAPTER
XI
THE
NEED OF A GENERAL REVIVAL
If
we are to pray aright in such a time as this, much of our prayer should be for
a general revival. If there was ever a time in which there was need to cry unto
God in the words of the Psalmist, "Wilt Thou not revive
us again, that Thy people may rejoice in Thee?" (Ps. 85:6) it is this day
in which we live. It is surely time for the Lord to work, for men have made
void His law (Ps. 199:126). The voice of the Lord given in the written Word is
set at naught both by the world and the church. Such a time is not a time for
discouragement--the man who believes in God and believes in the Bible can never
be discouraged; but it is a time for Jehovah Himself to step in and work. The
intelligent Christian, the wide-awake watchman on the walls of Zion, may well
cry with the Psalmist of old, "It is time for Jehovah to work, for they
have made void Thy law." (Ps.
119:126, Am.R.V.)
The
great need of the day is a general revival.
Let
us consider first of all what a general revival is.
A
revival is a time of quickening or impartation of life. As God alone can give
life, a revival is a time when God visits His people and by the power of His
Spirit imparts new life to them, and through them imparts life to sinners dead
in trespasses and sins. We have religious excitements gotten up by the cunning
methods and hypnotic influence of the mere professional evangelist; but these
are not revivals and are not needed. They are the devil's imitations of
a revival. NEW LIFE FROM GOD--that is a revival. A
general revival is a time when this new life from God is not confined to
scattered localities, but is general throughout Christendom and the earth.
The
reason why a general revival is needed is that spiritual dearth and desolation
and death is general. It is not confined to any one
country, though it may be more manifest in some countries
than in others. It is
found in foreign mission fields as well as in home fields. We have had local
revivals. The life-giving Spirit of God has breathed upon this minister and
that, this church and that, this community and that; but we need, we sorely
need, a revival that shall be widespread and general.
Let
us look for a few moments at the results of a revival. These results are
apparent in ministers, in the church and in the unsaved.
1.
The results of a revival in a minister are:
(1)
The minister has a new love for souls. We ministers as a rule have no such love
for souls as we ought to have, no such love for souls as Jesus had, no such
love for souls as Paul had. But when God visits His people the hearts of
ministers are greatly burdened for the unsaved. They go out in great longing
for the salvation of their fellow men. They forget their ambition to preach
great sermons and for fame, and simply long to see men brought to Christ.
(2)
When true revivals come ministers get a new love for
God's Word and a new faith in God's Word. They fling to the winds their doubts
and criticisms of the Bible and of the creeds, and go to preaching the Bible
and especially Christ crucified. Revivals make ministers who are loose in their
doctrines orthodox. A genuine wide-sweeping revival would do more to turn
things upside down and thus get them right side up than all the heresy trials
ever instituted.
(3)
Revivals bring to ministers new liberty and power in preaching. It is no
week-long grind to prepare a sermon, and no nerve-consuming effort to preach it
after it has been prepared.
Preaching
is a joy and a refreshment, and there is power in it
in times of revival.
2.
The results of a revival on Christians generally are as marked as its results
upon the ministry.
(1)
In times of revival Christians come out from the world and live separated
lives. Christians who have been dallying with the world, who
have been playing cards and dancing and going to the theater
and indulging in similar follies, give them up. These things are found to be
incompatible with increasing life and light.
(2)
In times of revival Christians get a new spirit of prayer. Prayer-meetings are
no longer a duty, but become the necessity of a hungry, importunate heart.
Private prayer is followed with new zest. The voice of earnest prayer to God is
heard day and night. People no longer ask, "Does God answer prayer?"
They know He does, and besiege the throne of grace day and night.
(3)
In times of revival Christians go to work for lost souls. They do not go to
meeting simply to enjoy themselves and get blessed. They go to meeting to watch
for souls and to bring them to Christ. They talk to men on the street and in
the stores and in their homes. The cross of Christ, salvation, heaven and hell
become the subjects of constant conversation. Politics and the weather and new
bonnets and the latest novels are forgotten.
(4) In times of revival Christians have new
joy in Christ. Life is joy, and new life is new joy. Revival days are glad
days, days of heaven on earth.
(5)
In times of revival Christians get a new love for the Word of God. They want to
study it day and night. Revivals are bad for saloons and theaters,
but they are good for bookstores and Bible agencies.
3.
But revivals also have a decided influence on the unsaved world.
(1)
First of all, they bring deep conviction of sin. Jesus said that when the
Spirit was come He would convince the world of sin (Jn.
16:7,8). Now we have seen that a revival is a coming
of the Holy Spirit, and therefore there must be a new conviction of sin, and
there always is. If you see something men call a revival, and there is no
conviction of sin, you may know at once that it is bogus. It is a sure mark.
(2)
Revivals bring also conversion and regeneration. When God refreshes His people,
He always converts sinners also. The first result of Pentecost was new life and
power to the one hundred and twenty disciples in the upper room; the second
result was three thousand conversions in a single day. It is always so. I am
constantly reading of revivals here and there, where Christians were greatly
helped but there were no conversions. I have my doubts about that kind. If
Christians are truly refreshed, they will get after the unsaved by prayer and
testimony and persuasion, and there will be conversions.
WHY
A GENERAL REVIVAL IS NEEDED
We
see what a general revival is, and what it does; let us now face the question
why it is needed at the present time. I think that the mere description of what
it is and what it does shows that it is needed, sorely needed, but let us look
at some specific conditions that exist to-day that show the need of it. In
showing these conditions one is likely to be called a pessimist. If facing the
facts is to be called a pessimist, I am willing to be called a pessimist. If in
order to be an optimist one must shut his eyes and call black white, and error
truth, and sin righteousness, and death life, I don't want to be called an
optimist. But I am an optimist all the same. Pointing out the real condition
will lead to a better condition.
1.
Look first at the ministry.
(1)
Many of us who are professedly orthodox ministers are practically infidels.
That is plain speech, but it is also indisputable fact. There is no essential
difference between the teachings of Tom Paine and Bob Ingersoll
and the teachings of some of our theological professors. The latter are not so
blunt and honest about it; they phrase it in more elegant and studied
sentences; but it means the same. Much of the so-called new learning and higher
criticism is simply Tom Paine infidelity sugar-coated. Prof. Howard Osgood, who
is a real scholar and not a mere echo of German infidelity, once read a
statement of some positions, and asked if they did not fairly represent the
scholarly criticism of to-day, and when it was agreed that they did, he
startled his audience by saying:
"I
am reading from Tom Paine's 'Age of Reason.'"
There is little new in the higher criticism.
Our future ministers oftentimes are being educated under infidel professors,
and being immature boys when they enter the college or seminary, they naturally
come out infidels in many cases, and then go forth to poison the church.
(2)
Even when our ministers are orthodox--as thank God so very many are!--they are
oftentimes not men of prayer. How many modern ministers know what it is to
wrestle in prayer, to spend a good share of a night in prayer? I do not know
how many, but I do know that many do not.
(3)
Many of us who are ministers have no love for souls. How many preach because
they MUST preach, because they feel that men every where are perishing, and by
preaching they hope to save some? And how many follow up their preaching as
Paul did, by beseeching men
everywhere to be reconciled to God?
Perhaps
enough has been said about us ministers; but it is evident that a revival is
needed for our sake or some of us will haveto stand
before God overwhelmed with confusion in an awful day of reckoning that is
surely coming.
2.
Look now at the church:
(1)
Look at the doctrinal state of the church. It is bad enough. Many do not
believe in the whole Bible. The book of Genesis is a myth, Jonah is an
allegory, and even the miracles of the Son of God are questioned. The doctrine
of prayer is old-fashioned, and the work of the Holy Spirit is sneered at. Conversion
is unnecessary, and hell is no longer believed in. Then look at the fads and
errors that have sprung up out of this loss of faith, Christian Science,
Unitarianism, Spiritualism, Universalism, Babism,
Metaphysical Healing, etc., etc., a perfect pandemonium of doctrines of devils.
(2)
Look at the spiritual state of the church. Worldliness is rampant among church
members. Many church members are just as eager as any in the rush to get rich.
They use the methods of the world in the accumulation of wealth, and they hold
just as fast to it as any when they have gotten it.
Prayerlessness
abounds among church members on every hand. Some one has said that Christians
on the average do not spend more than five minutes a day in prayer.
Neglect
of the Word of God goes hand in hand with neglect of prayer to God. Very many
Christians spend twice as much time every day wallowing through the more of the
daily papers as they do bathing in the cleansing laver of God's Holy Word. How
many Christians average an hour a day spent in Bible study?
Along
with neglect of prayer and neglect of the Word of God goes a lack of
generosity. The churches are rapidly increasing in wealth, but the treasuries
of the missionary societies are empty. Christians do not average a dollar a year
for foreign missions. It is simply appalling.
Then
there is the increasing disregard for the Lord's Day. It is fast becoming a day
of worldly pleasure, instead of a day of holy service. The Sunday newspaper
with its inane twaddle and filthy scandal takes the place of
the Bible; and visiting
and golf and bicycle, the place of the Sunday-school and church service.
Christians
mingle with the world in all forms of questionable amusements. The young man
and young woman who does not believe in dancing with its rank immodesties, the
card table with its drift toward gambling, and the theater
with its ever-increasing appeal to lewdness, is counted an old fogy.
Then
how small a proportion of our membership has really entered into fellowship
with Jesus Christ in His burden for souls! Enough has been said of the
spiritual state of the church.
3.
Now look at the state of the world.
(1)
Note how few conversions there are. The Methodist church, which has led the way
in aggressive work has actually lost more members than
it has gained the last year. Here and there a
church has a large number of accessions upon
confession of faith, but these churches are rare exceptions; and where there
are such accessions, in how few cases are the conversions deep, thorough and
satisfactory.
(2)
There is lack of conviction of sin. Seldom are men overwhelmed with a sense of
their awful guilt in trampling under foot the Son of God. Sin is regarded as a
"misfortune" or as "infirmity," or even as "good in
the making"; seldom as enormous wrong against a holy God.
(3)
Unbelief is rampant. Many regard it as a mark of intellectual superiority to
reject the Bible, and even faith in God and immortality. It is about the only
mark of intellectual
superiority many possess, and perhaps that is the
reason they cling to it so tenaciously.
(4)
Hand in hand with this widespread infidelity goes gross immorality, as has
always been the case. Infidelity and immorality are Siamese twins. They always
exist and always grow and always fatten together. This prevailing immorality is
found everywhere. Look at the legalized adultery that we call divorce. Men
marry one wife after another, and are still admitted into good
society; and women do likewise. There are thousands
of supposedly respectable men in America living with other men's wives, and
thousands of supposedly respectable women living with other women's husbands.
This
immorality is found in the theater. The theater at its best is bad enough, but now "Sapphos," and the "Degenerates," and all the
unspeakable vile accessories of the stage rule the day,
and the women who debauch themselves by appearing in such plays are defended in
the newspapers and welcomed by supposedly respectable people.
Much
of our literature is rotten, but decent people will read books as bad as
"Trilby" because it is the rage. Art is oftentimes a mere covering
for shameless indecency. Women are induced to cast modesty to the winds that
the artist may perfect his art and defile
his morals.
Greed
for money has become a mania with rich and poor. The multi-millionaire will
often sell his soul and trample the rights of his fellow men under
foot in the mad hope of
becoming a billionaire, and the laboring man will
often commit murder to increase the power of the union and keep up wages. Wars
are waged and men shot down like dogs to improve commerce, and to gain
political prestige for unprincipled politicians who parade as statesmen.
The
licentiousness of the day lifts its serpent head everywhere. You see it in the
newspapers, you see it on the bill-boards, you see it
on the advertisements of cigars, shoes, bicycles, patent medicines, corsets and
everything else. You see it on the streets at night. You see it just outside
the church door. You find it not only in the awful cesspools set apart for it
in the great cities, but it is crowding further and further up our business
streets and into the residence portions of our cities. Alas! now
and then you find it, if you look sharp, in supposedly respectable homes;
indeed it will be borne to your ears by the confessions of broken-hearted men
and women. The moral condition of the world in our day is disgusting,
sickening, appalling.
We
need a revival, deep, widespread, general, in the power of the Holy Ghost. It
is either a general revival or the dissolution of the church, of the home, of
the state. A revival, new life from God, is the cure, and the only cure. That
will stem the awful tide of immorality and unbelief. Mere argument will not do
it; but a sign from heaven, a new outpouring of the Spirit of God, It was not
discussion
but the breath of God that relegated Tom Paine, Voltaire, Volney
and other of the old infidels to the limbo of forgetfulness; and we need a new
breath from God to send the Wellhausens and the Kuenens and the Grafs and the
parrots they have trained to occupy chairs and pulpits in England and America
to keep them company. I believe that breath from God is coming.
The
great need of to-day is a general revival. The need is clear. It admits of no
honest difference of opinion. What then shall we do? Pray. Take up the
Psalmist's prayer, "Revive us again, that Thy people may rejoice in
Thee." Take up Ezekiel's prayer, "Come from the four winds, O breath
(breath of God), and breathe upon these slain that they may live." Hark, I
hear a noise! Behold a shaking! I can almost feel the breeze upon my cheek. I
can almost see the great living army rising to their feet. Shall we not pray
and pray and pray and pray, till the Spirit comes, and God revives His people?
CHAPTER
XII
THE
PLACE OF PRAYER BEFORE AND DURING REVIVALS
No
treatment of the subject How to Pray would be at all
complete if it did not consider the place of prayer in revivals.
The
first great revival of Christian history had its origin on the human side in a
ten-days' prayer-meeting. We read of that handful of disciples, "These all
with one accord continued
steadfastly in prayer." (Acts 1:14, R.V.) The
result of that prayer-meeting we read of in the 2nd chapter of the Acts of the
Apostles, "They were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak
with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." (v.4) Further on
in the chapter we read that "there were added unto them in that day about
three thousand souls." (v.41,R.V.) This revival proved
genuine and permanent. The converts "continued steadfastly in the
apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and the
prayers." (v.42,R.V.)
"And the Lord added to them day by day
those that were being saved." (v.47,R.V.)
Every
true revival from that day to this has had its earthly origin in prayer. The
great revival under Jonathan Edwards in the 18th century began with his famous
call to prayer. The marvelous work of grace among the
Indians under Brainerd had its origin in the days and nights that Brainerd
spent before God in prayer for an enduement of power
from on high for this work.
A
most remarkable and widespread display of God's reviving power was that which
broke out at Rochester, New York, in 1830, under the labors
of Charles G. Finney. It not only spread throughout the State but ultimately to
Great Britain as well. Mr. Finney himself attributed the power of this work to
the spirit of prayer that prevailed. He describes it in his autobiography in
the following words:
"When
I was on my way to Rochester, as we passed through a village, some thirty miles
east of Rochester, a brother minister whom I knew, seeing me on the canal-boat,
jumped aboard to have a little conversation with me, intending to ride but a
little way and return. He, however, became interested in conversation,
and upon finding where I was going, he made up his mind to keep on and go with
me to Rochester. We had been there but a few days when this minister
became so convinced that he could not help weeping
aloud at one time as we passed along the street. The Lord gave him a powerful
spirit of prayer, and his heart was broken. As he and I prayed together, I was
struck with his faith in regard to what the Lord was going to do there. I
recollect he would say, 'Lord, I do not know how it is; but I seem to know that
Thou art going to do a great work in this city.' The spirit of prayer was
poured out powerfully, so much so that some
persons stayed away from the public services to
pray, being unable to restrain their feelings under preaching.
"And
here I must introduce the name of a man, whom I shall have occasion to mention
frequently, Mr. Abel Clary. He was the son of a very excellent man, and an
elder of the church where I was converted. He was converted in the same revival
in which I was. He had been licensed to preach; but his spirit of prayer was
such, he was so burdened with the souls of men, that
he was not able to preach much, his whole time and strength being given to
prayer. The burden
of his soul would frequently be so great that he was
unable to stand, and he would writhe and groan in agony. I was well acquainted
with him, and knew something of the wonderful spirit of prayer that was upon
him. He was a very silent man, as almost all are who have that powerful spirit
of prayer.
"The
first I knew of his being in Rochester, a gentleman who lived about a mile west
of the city, called on me one day and asked me if I knew a Mr. Abel Clary, a
minister. I told him that I knew him well. 'Well,' he said, 'he is at my house,
and has been there for some time, and I don't know what to think of him.' I
said, 'I have not seen him at any of our meetings.' 'No,' he replied, 'he
cannot go to meeting, he says. He prays nearly all the time, day and night, and
in such agony of mind that I do not know what to make of it. Sometimes he
cannot even stand on his knees, but will lie prostrate on the floor, and groan and pray in a manner that quite astonishes
me.' I said to the brother, 'I understand it: please keep still. It will all
come out right; he will surely prevail.'
"I
knew at the time a considerable number of men who were exercised in the same
way. A Deacon P---, of Camden, Oneida county; a Deacon T---, of
Rodman, Jefferson county;
a Deacon B---, of Adams, in the same county; this Mr. Clary and many others
among the men, and a large number of women partook of the same spirit, and
spent a great part of their time in prayer. Father Nash, as we called him, who
in several of my fields of labor came to me and aided
me, was another of those men that had such a powerful spirit of prevailing
prayer. This Mr. Clary continued in Rochester as long as I did, and did not
leave it until after I had left. He never, that I could learn, appeared in
public, but gave himself wholly to prayer.
"I
think it was the second Sabbath that I was at Auburn at this time, I observed
in the congregation the solemn face of Mr. Clary. He looked as if he was borne
down with an agony of prayer. Being well acquainted with him, and knowing the
great gift of God that was upon him, the spirit of prayer, I was very glad to
see him there. He sat in the pew with his brother, the doctor, who was also a
professor of religion, but who had nothing by experience, I should think, of
his brother Abel's great power with God.
"At
intermission, as soon as I came down from the pulpit, Mr.Clary,
with his brother, met me at the pulpit stairs, and the doctor invited me to go
home with him and spend the intermission and get some refreshments. I did so.
"After
arriving at his house we were soon summoned to the dinner table. We gathered
about the table, and Dr. Clary turned to his brother and said, 'Brother Abel,
will you ask the blessing?' Brother Abel bowed his head and began, audibly, to
ask a blessing. He had uttered but a sentence or two when he broke instantly
down, moved suddenly back from the table, and fled to his chamber. The doctor
supposed he had been taken suddenly ill, and rose up and followed him. In a few
moments he came down and said, 'Mr. Finney, brother
Abel wants to see you.' Said I, 'What ails him?' Said
he, 'I do not know but he says, you know. He appears in great distress, but I
think it is the state of his mind.' I understood it in a moment, and went to
his room. He lay groaning upon the bed, the Spirit making intercession for him,
and in him, with groanings that could not be uttered.
I had barely entered the room, when he made out to say, 'Pray, brother Finney.' I knelt down and helped him in prayer, by
leading his soul out for the conversion of sinners. I
continued to pray until his distress passed away, and
then I returned to the dinner table.
"I
understood that this was the voice of God. I saw the spirit of prayer was upon
him, and I felt his influence upon myself, and took it for granted that the
work would move on powerfully. It
did so. The pastor told me afterward that he
found that in the six weeks that I was there, five hundred souls had been
converted."
Mr.
Finney in his lectures on revivals tells of other remarkable awakenings in
answer to the prayers of God's people. He says in one place, "A clergyman
in W----n told me of a revival among
his people, which commenced with a zealous and
devoted woman in the church. She became anxious about sinners, and went to
praying for them; she prayed, and her distress increased; and she finally came
to her minister, and talked with him, and asked him to appoint an
anxious meeting, for she felt that one was needed.
The minister put her off, for he felt nothing of it. The next week she came
again, and besought him to appoint an anxious meeting, she knew there would be
somebody to come, for she felt as if God was going to pour out His Spirit. He
put her off again. And
finally she said to him, 'If
you do not appoint an anxious meeting I shall die, for there is certainly going
to be a revival.' The next Sabbath he appointed a meeting, and said that if
there were any who wished to converse with him about the salvation of their
souls, he would meet them on such an evening. He did not know of one, but when
he went to the place, to his astonishment he found a large number of anxious
inquirers."
In
still another place he says, "The first ray of light that broke in upon
the midnight which rested on the churches in Oneida county,
in the fall of 1825, was from a woman in feeble health, who, I believe had
never been in a powerful revival. Her soul was exercised about sinners. She was
in agony for the land. She did not know what ailed her, but she kept praying
more and more, till it seemed as if her agony would destroy her body. At length
she became full of joy and exclaimed, 'God has come! God has come! There is no
mistake about it, the work is begun, and is going over all
the region!' And sure enough the work began, and her family were almost
all converted, and the work spread all over
that part of the country."
The
great revival of 1857 in the United States began in prayer and was carried on
by prayer more than by anything else. Dr. Cuyler in
an article in a religious newspaper some years ago said,
"Most
revivals have humble beginnings, and the fire starts in a few warm hearts.
Never despise the day of small things. During all my own
long ministry, nearly every work of grace had a similar
beginning. One commenced in a meeting gathered at a
few hour's notice in a private house. Another
commenced in a group gathered for Bible study by Mr. Moody in our mission
chapel. Still another--the most powerful of all--was kindled on a bitter
January evening at a meeting of young Christians under my roof. Dr. Spencer, in
his 'Pastor's Sketches', (the most suggestive book of its kind I have ever
read), tells us that a remarkable revival in his church sprang from the fervent
prayers of a godly old man who was confined to his room by lameness. That
profound Christian, Dr. Thomas H. Skinner, of the Union Theological Seminary,
once gave me an account of a
remarkable coming together of three earnest men in his
study when he was the pastor of the Arch Street Church in Philadelphia. They
literally wrestled in prayer. They made a clean breast in confession of sin,
and humbled themselves before God. One and another church officer came in and
joined them. The heaven-kindled flame soon spread through the whole
congregation in one of the most powerful revivals ever known in that
city."
In
the early part of the seventeenth century there was a great religious awakening
in Ulster, Ireland. The lands of the rebel chiefs which had been forfeited to
the British crown, were settled up
by a class of colonists who for the most part were
governed by a spirit of wild adventure. Real piety was rare. Seven ministers,
five from Scotland and two from England, settled in that country, the earliest
arrivals being in 1613. Of one of these ministers named Blair it is recorded by
a contemporary, "He spent many days and nights in prayer, alone and with
others, and was vouchsafed great intimacy with God." Mr. James Glendenning, a man of very meager
natural gifts, was a man similarly minded as
regards prayer. The work began under this man Glendenning.
The historian of the time says, "He was a man who never would have been
chosen by a wise assembly of ministers nor sent to begin a reformation in this
land. Yet this was the Lord's choice to begin with him the
admirable work of God which I mention on
purpose that all may see how the glory is only the Lord's in making a holy
nation in this profane land, and that it was 'not by might, nor by power, nor
by man's wisdom, but by My Spirit, saith the
Lord.'" In his preaching at Oldstone multitudes
of hearers felt in great anxiety and terror of conscience. They looked on
themselves as altogether lost and damned, and cried out, "Men and
brethren, what shall we do to be saved?" They were stricken into a swoon
by the power of His Word. A dozen in one day were
carried out of doors as dead. These were not women,
but some of the boldest spirits of the neighborhood;
"some who had formerly feared not with their swords to put a whole market
town into a fray." Concerning one of them, then a mighty strong man, now a
mighty Christian, say that his end in coming into church was to consult with
his companions how to work some mischief."
This
work spread throughout the whole country. By the year 1626 a monthly concert of
prayer was held in Antrim. The work spread beyond the bounds of Down and Antrim
to the churches of the neighboring counties. So great
became the religious interest that Christians would come thirty or forty miles
to the communions, and continue from the time they came until they returned
without wearying or making use of sleep. Many of them neither ate nor drank,
and yet
some of them professed that they "went away
most fresh and vigorous, their souls so filled with the sense of God."
This
revival changed the whole character of northern
Ireland.
Another
great awakening in Ireland in 1859 had a somewhat similar origin. By many who
did not know, it was thought that this marvelous work
came without warning and preparation, but Rev. William Gibson, the moderator of
the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland in 1860, in his very
interesting and valuable history of the work tells how there had been
preparation for two years. There had been constant discussion in the General
Assembly of the low estate of religion, and of the need of a revival. There had
been special sessions for prayer. Finally four young men, who became leaders in
the origin of the great work, began to meet together in an
old schoolhouse in the neighborhood
of Kells. About the spring of 1858 a work of power
began to manifest itself. It spread from town to town, and from county to
county. The congregations became too large for the buildings, and the meetings
were held in the open air, oftentimes attended by many thousands of people.
Many hundreds of persons were frequently convicted of sin in a single meeting.
In some places the criminal courts and jails were closed for lack of
occupation. There were manifestations of the Holy Spirit's power of a most
remarkable character, clearly proving that the Holy Spirit is as ready to work
to-day as in apostolic days, when ministers and
Christians
really believe in Him and begin to prepare the way by prayer.
Mr.
Moody's wonderful work in England and Scotland and Ireland that afterwards
spread to America had its origin on the manward side
in prayer. Mr. Moody made little impression until men
and women began to cry to God. Indeed his going
to England at all was in answer to the importunate cries to God of a bed-ridden
saint. While the spirit of prayer continued the revival abode in strength, but
in the course of time less and less was made of prayer and the work fell off
very perceptibly in power. Doubtless one of the great secrets of the unsatisfactoriness and superficiality and
unreality of many of our
modern so-called revivals, is that more dependence is put upon man's machinery
than upon God's power, sought and obtained by earnest, persistent, believing
prayer. We live in a day characterized by the multiplication of man's machinery
and the
diminution of God's power. The great cry of our day is
work, work, work, new organizations, new methods, new machinery; the great need
of our day is prayer. It was a master stroke of the devil when he got the
church so generally to lay aside this mighty weapon of prayer. The devil is
perfectly willing that the church should multiply its organizations, and deftly
contrive machinery for the conquest of the world for Christ if it will only
give up praying. He laughs as he looks at the church to-day and says to
himself:
"You
can have your Sunday-schools and your Young People's Societies, your Young
Men's Christian Associations and your Women's Christian Temperance Unions, your
Institutional Churches and your Industrial Schools, and your Boy's Brigades,
your grand choirs and your fine organs, your brilliant preachers and your
revival efforts too, if you don't bring the power of Almighty God into them by
earnest, persistent, believing, mighty prayer."
Prayer
could work as marvelous results today as it ever
could, if the church would only betake itself to it.
There
seem to be increasing signs that the church is awakening to this fact. Here and
there God is laying upon individual ministers and
churches a burden of prayer that they have never known before. Less dependence
is being put upon machinery and more dependence upon God. Ministers are crying
to God day and night for power. Churches and portions of churches are meeting
together in the early morning hours and the late night hours crying to God for
the
latter rain. There is every indication of the
coming of a mighty and widespread revival. There is every reason why, if a
revival should come in any country at this time, it should be more widespread
in its extent than any revival of history. There is the closest and swiftest
communication by travel, by letter, and by cable between all parts of the
world. A true fire of God kindled in America would soon spread to the uttermost
parts of the earth. The only thing needed to
bring this fire is prayer.
It
is not necessary that the whole church get to praying to begin with. Great
revivals always begin first in the hearts of a few men and women whom God
arouses by His Spirit to believe in Him as a living God, as a God who answers
prayer, and upon whose heart He lays a burden from which no rest can be found
except in importunate crying unto God.
May
God use this book to arouse many others to pray that the greatly-needed revival
may come, and come speedily.
LET US PRAY