The Necessity of Prayer
by E. M. Bounds
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XI. PRAYER AND VIGILANCE
"David Brainerd was pursued by unearthly adversaries, who were
resolved to rob him of his guerdon. He knew he must never quit his armour, but
lie down to rest, with his corselet laced. The stains that marred the
perfection of his lustrous dress, the spots of rust on his gleaming shield, are
imperceptible to us; but they were, to him, the source of much sorrow and
ardency of yearning." -- LIFE OF DAVID BRAINERD.
THE description of the Christian soldier given by Paul in
the sixth chapter of the Epistle to the Ephesians, is compact and
comprehensive. He is depicted as being ever in the conflict, which has many
fluctuating seasons -- seasons of prosperity and adversity, light and darkness,
victory and defeat. He is to pray at all seasons, and with all prayer, this to
be added to the armour in which he is to fare forth to battle. At all times, he
is to have the full panoply of prayer. The Christian soldier, if he fight to
win, must pray much. By this means, only, is he enabled to defeat his
inveterate enemy, the devil, together with the Evil One's manifold emissaries.
"Praying always, with all prayer," is the Divine direction given him. This
covers all seasons, and embraces all manner of praying.
Christian soldiers, fighting the good fight of faith, have access to a place of
retreat, to which they continually repair for prayer. "Praying always, with all
prayer," is a clear statement of the imperative need of much praying, and of
many kinds of praying, by him who, fighting the good fight of faith, would win
out, in the end, over all his foes.
The Revised Version puts it this way:
"With all prayer and supplication, praying at all seasons in the
Spirit, and watching thereunto in all perseverance and supplications, for all
saints, and on my behalf, that utterance may be given unto me, in opening my
mouth to make known with boldness the mystery of the Gospel, for which I am in
bonds." It cannot be stated too frequently that the life of a
Christian is a warfare, an intense conflict, a lifelong contest. It is a
battle, moreover, waged against invisible foes, who are ever alert, and ever
seeking to entrap, deceive, and ruin the souls of men. The life to which Holy
Scripture calls men is no picnic, or holiday junketing. It is no pastime, no
pleasure jaunt. It entails effort, wrestling, struggling; it demands the
putting forth of the full energy of the spirit in order to frustrate the foe
and to come off, at the last, more than conqueror. It is no primrose path, no
rose-scented dalliance. From start to finish, it is war. From the hour in which
he first draws sword, to that in which he doffs his harness, the Christian
warrior is compelled to "endure hardness like a good soldier."
What a misconception many people have of the Christian life! How little the
average church member appears to know of the character of the conflict, and of
its demands upon him! How ignorant he seems to be of the enemies he must
encounter, if he engage to serve God faithfully and so succeed in getting to
heaven and receive the crown of life! He seems scarcely to realize that the
world, the flesh and the devil will oppose his onward march, and will defeat
him utterly, unless he give himself to constant vigilance and unceasing
prayer.
The Christian soldier wrestles not against flesh and blood, but against
spiritual wickedness in high places. Or, as the Scriptural margin reads,
"wicked spirits in high places." What a fearful array of forces are set against
him who would make his way through the wilderness of this world to the portals
of the Celestial City! It is no surprise, therefore, to find Paul, who
understood the character of the Christian life so well, and who was so
thoroughly informed as to the malignity and number of the foes, which the
disciple of the Lord must encounter, carefully and plainly urging him to "put
on the whole armour of God," and "to pray with all prayer and supplication in
the Spirit." Wise, with a great wisdom, would the present generation be if all
professors of our faith could be induced to realize this all-important and
vital truth, which is so absolutely indispensable to a successful Christian
life.
It is just at this point in much present-day Christian profession, that one may
find its greatest defect. There is little, or nothing, of the soldier element
in it. The discipline, self-denial, spirit of hardship, determination, so
prominent in and belonging to the military life, are, one and all, largely
wanting. Yet the Christian life is warfare, all the way.
How comprehensive, pointed and striking are all Paul's directions to the
Christian soldier, who is bent on thwarting the devil and saving his soul
alive! First of all, he must possess a clear idea of the character of the life
on which he has entered. Then, he must know something of his foes -- the
adversaries of his immortal soul -- their strength, their skill, their
malignity. Knowing, therefore, something of the character of the enemy, and
realizing the need of preparation to overcome them, he is prepared to hear the
Apostle's decisive conclusion:
"Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in he power of
His might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against
the wiles of the devil. Wherefore, take unto you the whole armour of God, that
ye may be able to stand in the evil day, and having done all, to
stand." All these directions end in a climax; and that climax
is prayer. How can the brave warrior for Christ be made braver still? How can
the strong soldier be made stronger still? How can the victorious battler be
made still more victorious? Here are Paul's explicit directions to that end:
"Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit,
and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all
saints." Prayer, and more prayer, adds to the fighting
qualities and the more certain victories of God's good fighting-men. The power
of prayer is most forceful on the battle-field amid the din and strife of the
conflict. Paul was preeminently a soldier of the Cross. For him, life was no
flowery bed of ease. He was no dress-parade, holiday soldier, whose only
business was to don a uniform on set occasions. His was a life of intense
conflict, the facing of many adversaries, the exercise of unsleeping vigilance
and constant effort. And, at its close -- in sight of the end -- we hear him
chanting his final song of victory, a I have fought a good fight," and reading
between the lines, we see that he is more than conqueror!
In his Epistle to the Romans, Paul indicates the nature of his
soldier-life, giving us some views of the kind of praying needed for such a
career. He writes:
"Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake,
and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers
to God for me, that I may be delivered from them that do not believe in
Judaea." Paul had foes in Judaea -- foes who beset and
opposed him in the form of "unbelieving men" and this, added to other weighty
reasons, led him to urge the Roman Christians to "strive with him in prayer."
That word "strive" indicated wrestling, the putting forth of great effort. This
is the kind of effort, and this the sort of spirit, which must possess the
Christian soldier.
Here is a great soldier, a captain-general, in the great struggle, faced by
malignant forces who seek his ruin. His force is well-nigh spent. What
reinforcements can he count on? What can give help and bring success to a
warrior in such a pressing emergency? It is a critical moment in the conflict.
What force can be added to the energy of his own prayers? The answer is -- in
the prayers of others, even the prayers of his brethren who were at Rome.
These, he believes, will bring him additional aid, so that he can win his
fight, overcome his adversaries, and, ultimately, prevail.
The Christian soldier is to pray at all seasons, and under all circumstances.
His praying must be arranged so as to cover his times of peace as well as his
hours of active conflict. It must be available in his marching and his
fighting. Prayer must diffuse all effort, impregnate all ventures, decide all
issues. The Christian soldier must be as intense in his praying as in his
fighting, for his victories will depend very much more on his praying than on
his fighting. Fervent supplication must be added to steady resolve, prayer and
supplication must supplement the armour of God. The Holy Spirit must aid the
supplication with His own strenuous plea. And the soldier must pray in the
Spirit. In this, as in other forms of warfare, eternal vigilance is the price
of victory; and thus, watchfulness and persistent perseverance, must mark the
every activity of the Christian warrior.
The soldier-prayer must reflect its profound concern for the success and
well-being of the whole army. The battle is not altogether a personal matter;
victory cannot be achieved for self, alone. There is a sense, in which the
entire army of Christ is involved. The cause of God, His saints, their woes and
trials, their duties and crosses, all should find a voice and a pleader in the
Christian soldier, when he prays. He dare not limit his praying to himself.
Nothing dries up spiritual secretions so certainly and completely; nothing
poisons the fountain of spiritual life so effectively; nothing acts in such
deadly fashion, as selfish praying.
Note carefully that the Christian's armour will avail him nothing, unless
prayer be added. This is the pivot, the connecting link of the armour of God.
This holds it together, and renders it effective. God's true soldier plans his
campaigns, arranges his battle-forces, and conducts his conflicts, with prayer.
It is all important and absolutely essential to victory, that prayer should so
impregnate the life that every breath will be a petition, every sigh a
supplication. The Christian soldier must needs be always fighting. He should,
of sheer necessity, be always praying.
The Christian soldier is compelled to constant picket-duty. He must always be
on his guard. He is faced by a foe who never sleeps, who is always alert, and
ever prepared to take advantage of the fortunes of war. Watchfulness is a
cardinal principle with Christ's warrior, "watch and pray," forever sounding in
his ears. He cannot dare to be asleep at his post. Such a lapse brings him not
only under the displeasure of the Captain of his salvation, but exposes him to
added danger. Watchfulness, therefore, imperatively constitutes the duty of the
soldier of the Lord.
In the New Testament, there are three different words, which are translated
"watch." The first means "absence of sleep," and implies a wakeful frame of
mind, as opposed to listlessness; it is an enjoinder to keep awake,
circumspect, attentive, constant, vigilant. The second word means "fully
awake," -- a state induced by some rousing effort, which faculty excited to
attention and interest, active, cautious, lest through carelessness or
indolence, some destructive calamity should suddenly evolve. The third word
means "to be calm and collected in spirit," dispassionate, untouched by
slumberous or beclouding influences, a wariness against all pitfalls and
beguilements.
All three definitions are used by St. Paul. Two of them are employed in
connection with prayer. Watchfulness intensified, is a requisite for prayer.
Watchfulness must guard and cover the whole spiritual man, and fit him for
prayer. Everything resembling unpreparedness or non-vigilance, is death to
prayer.
In Ephesians, Paul gives prominence to the duty of constant
watchfulness, "Watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication."
Watch, he says, watch, WATCH! "And what I say unto you, I say unto all,
Watch."
Sleepless wakefulness is the price one must pay for victory over his spiritual
foes. Rest assured that the devil never falls asleep. He is ever "walking
about, seeking whom he may devour." Just as a shepherd must never be careless
and unwatchful lest the wolf devour his sheep, so the Christian soldier must
ever have his eyes wide open, implying his possession of a spirit which neither
slumbers nor grows careless. The inseparable companions and safeguards of
prayer are vigilance, watchfulness, and a mounted guard. In writing to the
Colossians Paul brackets these inseparable qualities together: "Continue in
prayer," he enjoins, "and watch in the same, with thanksgiving."
When will Christians more thoroughly learn the twofold lesson, that they are
called to a great warfare, and that in order to get the victory they must give
themselves to unsleeping watchfulness and unceasing prayer?
"Be sober, be vigilant," says Peter, "because your adversary,
the devil, walketh about seeking whom he may devour." God's
Church is a militant host. Its warfare is with unseen forces of evil. God's
people compose an army fighting to establish His kingdom in the earth. Their
aim is to destroy the sovereignty of Satan, and over its ruins, erect the
Kingdom of God, which is "righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost."
This militant army is composed of individual soldiers of the Cross, and the
armour of God is needed for its defence. Prayer must be added as that which
crowns the whole.
"Stand then in His great might,
With all His strength endued;
But take, to arm you for the fight,
The panoply of God." Prayer is too simple, too evident a
duty, to need definition. Necessity gives being and shape to prayer. Its
importance is so absolute, that the Christian soldier's life, in all the
breadth and intensity of it, should be one of prayer. The entire life of a
Christian soldier -- its being, intention, implication and action -- are all
dependent on its being a life of prayer. Without prayer -- no matter what else
he have -- the Christian soldier's life will be feeble, and ineffective, and
constitute him an easy prey for his spiritual enemies.
Christian experience will be sapless, and Christian influence will be dry and
arid, unless prayer has a high place in the life. Without prayer the Christian
graces will wither and die. Without prayer, we may add, preaching is edgeless
and a vain thing, and the Gospel loses its wings and its loins. Christ is the
lawgiver of prayer, and Paul is His Apostle of prayer. Both declare its primacy
and importance, and demonstrate the fact of its indispensability. Their
prayer-directions cover all places, include all times, and comprehend all
things. How, then, can the Christian soldier hope or dream of victory, unless
he be fortified by its power? How can he fail, if in addition to putting on the
armour of God he be, at all times and seasons, "watching unto prayer"?
XII. PRAYER AND THE WORD OF GOD
"How constantly, in the Scriptures, do we encounter such words
as 'field,' 'seed,' 'sower,' 'reaper,' 'seed-time,' 'harvest'! Employing such
metaphors interprets a fact of nature by a parable of grace. The field is the
world and the good seed is the Word of God .Whether the Word be spoken or
written, it is the power of God unto salvation. In our work of evangelism, the
whole world is our field, every creature the object of effort and every book
and tract, a seed of God." -- DAVID FANT, JR.
GOD'S Word is a record of prayer -- of praying men and
their achievements, of the Divine warrant of prayer and of the encouragement
given to those who pray. No one can read the instances, commands, examples,
multiform statements which concern themselves with prayer, without realizing
that the cause of God, and the success of His work in this world is committed
to prayer; that praying men have been God's vicegerents on earth; that
prayerless men have never been used of Him.
A reverence for God's holy Name is closely related to a high regard for His
Word. This hallowing of God's Name; the ability to do His will on earth, as it
is done in heaven; the establishment and glory of God's kingdom, are as much
involved in prayer, as when Jesus taught men the Universal Prayer. That "men
ought always to pray and not to faint," is as fundamental to God's cause,
today, as when Jesus Christ enshrined that great truth in the immortal settings
of the Parable of the Importunate Widow.
As God's house is called "the house of prayer," because prayer is the most
important of its holy offices; so by the same token, the Bible may be called
the Book of Prayer. Prayer is the great theme and content of its message to
mankind.
God's Word is the basis, as it is the directory of the prayer of faith. "Let
the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom," says St. Paul, "teaching
and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing
with grace in your hearts to the Lord."
As this word of Christ dwelling in us richly is transmuted and assimilated, it
issues in praying. Faith is constructed of the Word and the Spirit, and faith
is the body and substance of prayer.
In many of its aspects, prayer is dependent upon the Word of God. Jesus says:
"If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what
ye will, and it shall be done unto you." The Word of God is the
fulcrum upon which the lever of prayer is placed, and by which things are
mightily moved. God has committed Himself, His purpose and His promise to
prayer. His Word becomes the basis, the inspiration of our praying, and there
are circumstances under which, by importunate prayer, we may obtain an
addition, or an enlargement of His promises. It is said of the old saints that
they, "through faith obtained promises." There would seem to be in prayer the
capacity for going even beyond the Word, of getting even beyond His promise,
into the very presence of God, Himself.
Jacob wrestled, not so much with a promise, as with the Promiser. We must take
hold of the Promiser, lest the promise prove nugatory. Prayer may well be
defined as that force which vitalizes and energizes the Word of God, by taking
hold of God, Himself. By taking hold of the Promiser, prayer reissues, and
makes personal the promise. "There is none that stirreth up himself to take
hold of Me," is God's sad lament. "Let him take hold of My strength, that he
may make peace with Me," is God's recipe for prayer.
By Scriptural warrant, prayer may be divided into the petition of faith and
that of submission. The prayer of faith is based on the written Word, for
"faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." It receives its
answer, inevitably -- the very thing for which it prays.
The prayer of submission is without a definite word of promise, so to speak,
but takes hold of God with a lowly and contrite spirit, and asks and pleads
with Him, for that which the soul desires. Abraham had no definite promise that
God would spare Sodom. Moses had no definite promise that God would spare
Israel; on the contrary, there was the declaration of His wrath, and of His
purpose to destroy. But the devoted leader gained his plea with God, when he
interceded for the Israelites with incessant prayers and many tears. Daniel had
no definite promise that God would reveal to him the meaning of the king's
dream, but he prayed specifically, and God answered definitely.
The Word of God is made effectual and operative, by the process and practice of
prayer. The Word of the Lord came to Elijah, "Go show thyself to Ahab, and I
will send rain on the earth." Elijah showed himself to Ahab; but the answer to
his prayer did not come, until he had pressed his fiery prayer upon the Lord
seven times.
Paul had the definite promise from Christ, that he "would be delivered from the
people and the Gentiles," but we find him exhorting the Romans in the urgent
and solemn manner concerning this very matter:
"Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake,
and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers
to God for me; that I may be delivered from them that do not believe in Judaea,
and that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be accepted of the
saints." The Word of God is a great help in prayer. If it be
lodged and written in our hearts, it will form an outflowing current of prayer,
full and irresistible. Promises, stored in the heart, are to be the fuel from
which prayer receives life and warmth, just as the coal, stored in the earth,
ministers to our comfort on stormy days and wintry nights. The Word of God is
the food, by which prayer is nourished and made strong. Prayer, like man,
cannot live by bread alone, "but by every word which proceedeth out of the
mouth of the Lord."
Unless the vital forces of prayer are supplied by God's Word, prayer, though
earnest, even vociferous, in its urgency, is, in reality, flabby, and vapid,
and void. The absence of vital force in praying, can be traced to the absence
of a constant supply of God's Word, to repair the waste, and renew the life. He
who would learn to pray well, must first study God's Word, and store it in his
memory and thought.
When we consult God's Word, we find that no duty is more binding, more
exacting, than that of prayer. On the other hand, we discover that no privilege
is more exalted, no habit more richly owned of God. No promises are more
radiant, more abounding, more explicit, more often reiterated, than those which
are attached to prayer. "All things, whatsoever" are received by prayer,
because "all things whatsoever" are promised. There is no limit to the
provisions, included in the promises to prayer, and no exclusion from its
promises. "Every one that asketh, receiveth." The word of our Lord is to this
all-embracing effect: "If ye shall ask anything in My Name, I will do it."
Here are some of the comprehensive, and exhaustive statements of the Word of
God about prayer, the things to be taken in by prayer, the strong promise made
in answer to prayer:
"Pray without ceasing;" "continue in prayer;" "continuing
instant in prayer;" "in everything by prayer, let your request be made known
unto God;" "pray always, pray and not faint;" "men should pray everywhere;"
"praying always, with all prayer and supplication." What clear
and strong statements are those which are put in the Divine record, to furnish
us with a sure basis of faith, and to urge, constrain and encourage us to pray!
How wide the range of prayer, as given us, in the Divine Revelation! How these
Scriptures incite us to seek the God of prayer, with all our wants, with all
our burdens!
In addition to these statements left on record for our encouragement, the
sacred pages teem with facts, examples, incidents, and observations, stressing
the importance and the absolute necessity of prayer, and putting emphasis on
its all-prevailing power.
The utmost reach and full benefit of the rich promises of the Word of God,
should humbly be received by us, and put to the test. The world will never
receive the full benefits of the Gospel until this be done. Neither Christian
experience nor Christian living will be what they ought to be till these Divine
promises have been fully tested by those who pray. By prayer, we bring these
promises of God's holy will into the realm of the actual and the real. Prayer
is the philosopher's stone which transmutes them into gold.
If it be asked, what is to be done in order to render God's promises real, the
answer is, that we must pray, until the words of the promise are clothed upon
with the rich raiment of fulfilment.
God's promises are altogether too large to be mastered by desultory praying.
When we examine ourselves, all too often, we discover that our praying does not
rise to the demands of the situation; is so limited that it is little more than
a mere oasis amid the waste and desert of the world's sin. Who of us, in our
praying, measures up to this promise of our Lord:
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on Me, the
works that I do shall he do also, and greater works than these shall he do,
because I go to My Father." How comprehensive, how far
reaching, how all-embracing! How much is here, for the glory of God, how much
for the good of man! How much for the manifestation of Christ's enthroned
power, how much for the reward of abundant faith! And how great and gracious
are the results which can be made to accrue from the exercise of commensurate,
believing prayer!
Look, for a moment, at another of God's great promises, and discover how we may
be undergirded by the Word as we pray, and on what firm ground we may stand on
which to make our petitions to our God:
"If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what
ye will, and it shall be done unto you." In these comprehensive
words, God turns Himself over to the will of His people. When Christ becomes
our all-in-all, prayer lays God's treasures at our feet. Primitive Christianity
had an easy and practical solution of the situation, and got all which God had
to give. That simple and terse solution is recorded in John's First
Epistle:
"Whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His
commandments, and do those things which are pleasing in His
sight." Prayer, coupled with loving obedience, is the way to
put God to the test, and to make prayer answer all ends and all things. Prayer,
joined to the Word of God, hallows and makes sacred all God's gifts. Prayer is
not simply to get things from God, but to make those things holy, which already
have been received from Him. It is not merely to get a blessing, but also to be
able to give a blessing. Prayer makes common things holy and secular things,
sacred. It receives things from God with thanksgiving and hallows them with
thankful hearts, and devoted service.
In the First Epistle to Timothy, Paul gives us these words:
"For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused,
if it be received with thanksgiving. For it is sanctified by the word of God
and prayer." That is a statement which gives a negative to mere
asceticism. God's good gifts are to be holy, not only by God's creative power,
but, also, because they are made holy to us by prayer. We receive them,
appropriate them and sanctify them by prayer.
Doing God's will, and having His Word abiding in us, is an imperative of
effectual praying. But, it may be asked, how are we to know what God's will is?
The answer is, by studying His Word, by hiding it in our hearts, and by letting
the Word dwell in us richly. "The entrance of Thy word, giveth light."
To know God's will in prayer, we must be filled with God's Spirit, who maketh
intercession for the saints, and in the saints, according to the will of God.
To be filled with God's Spirit, to be filled with God's Word, is to know God's
will. It is to be put in such a frame of mind, to be found in such a state of
heart, as will enable us to read and interpret aright the purposes of the
Infinite. Such filling of the heart, with the Word and the Spirit, gives us an
insight into the will of the Father, and enables us to rightly discern His
will, and puts within us, a disposition of mind and heart to make it the guide
and compass of our lives.
Epaphras prayed that the Colossians might stand "perfect and complete in all
the will of God." This is proof positive that, not only may we know the will of
God, but that we may know all the will of God. And not only may we know
all the will of God, but we may do all the will of God. We may,
moreover, do all the will of God, not occasionally, or by a mere impulse, but
with a settled habit of conduct. Still further, it shows us that we may not
only do the will of God externally, but from the heart, doing it cheerfully,
without reluctance, or secret disinclination, or any drawing or holding back
from the intimate presence of the Lord.
XIII. PRAYER AND THE WORD OF GOD (Continued)
"Some years ago a man was travelling in the wilds of Kentucky.
He had with him a large sum of money and was well armed. He put up at a
log-house one night, but was much concerned with the rough appearance of the
men who came and went from this abode. He retired early but not to sleep. At
midnight he heard the dogs barking furiously and the sound of someone entering
the cabin. Peering through a chink in the boards of his room, he saw a stranger
with a gun in his hand. Another man sat before the fire. The traveller
concluded they were planning to rob him, and prepared to defend himself and his
property. Presently the newcomer took down a copy of the Bible, read a chapter
aloud, and then knelt down and prayed. The traveller dismissed his fears, put
his revolver away and lay down, to sleep peacefully until morning light. And
all because a Bible was in the cabin, and its owner a man of prayer." --
REV. F. F. SHOUP.
PRAYER has all to do with the success of the preaching of
the Word. This, Paul clearly teaches in that familiar and pressing request he
made to the Thessalonians:
"Finally, brethren, pray for us that the Word of the Lord may
have free course, and be glorified." Prayer opens the way for
the Word of God to run without let or hindrance, and creates the atmosphere
which is favourable to the word accomplishing its purpose. Prayer puts wheels
under God's Word, and gives wings to the angel of the Lord "having the
everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every
nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people." Prayer greatly helps the Word of
the Lord.
The Parable of the Sower is a notable study of preaching, showing its differing
effects and describing the diversity of hearers. The wayside hearers are
legion. The soil lies all unprepared either by previous thought or prayer; as a
consequence, the devil easily takes away the seed (which is the Word of God)
and dissipating all good impressions, renders the work of the sower futile. No
one for a moment believes, that so much of present-day sowing would go
fruitless if only the hearers would prepare the ground of their hearts
beforehand by prayer and meditation.
Similarly with the stony-ground hearers, and the thorny-ground hearers.
Although the word lodges in their hearts and begins to sprout, yet all is lost,
chiefly because there is no prayer or watchfulness or cultivation following.
The good-ground hearers are profited by the sowing, simply because their minds
have been prepared for the reception of the seed, and that, after hearing, they
have cultivated the seed sown in their hearts, by the exercise of prayer. All
this gives peculiar emphasis to the conclusion of this striking parable: "Take
heed, therefore, how ye hear." And in order that we may take heed how we
hear, it is needful to give ourselves continually to prayer.
We have got to believe that underlying God's Word is prayer, and upon
prayer, its final success will depend. In the Book of Isaiah we
read:
"So shall My word be that goeth out of My mouth; it shall not
return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall
prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." In Psalm 19, David
magnifies the Word of God in six statements concerning it. It converts the
soul, makes wise the simple, rejoices the heart, enlightens the eyes, endures
eternally, and is true and righteous altogether. The Word of God is perfect,
sure, right, pure. It is heart-searching, and at the same time purifying, in
its effect. It is no surprise therefore that after considering the deep
spirituality of the Word of God, its power to search the inner nature of man,
and its deep purity, the Psalmist should close his dissertation with this
passage:
"Who can understand his errors?" And then praying after this
fashion: "Cleanse Thou me from secret faults. Keep back Thy servant also from
presumptuous sins. Let them not have dominion over me. Let the words of my
mouth, and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my
strength and my redeemer." James recognizes the deep
spirituality of the Word, and its inherent saving power, in the following
exhortation:
"Wherefore, lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of
naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to
save your souls." And Peter talks along the same line, when
describing the saving power of the Word of God:
"Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of
incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth
forever." Not only does Peter speak of being born again, by the
incorruptible Word of God, but he informs us that to grow in grace we must be
like new-born babes, desiring or feeding upon the "sincere milk of the Word."
That is not to say, however, that the mere form of words as they occur in the
Bible have in them any saving efficacy. But the Word of God, be it remembered,
is impregnated with the Holy Spirit. And just as there is a Divine element in
the words of Scripture, so also is the same Divine element to be found in all
true preaching of the Word, which is able to save and convert the soul.
Prayer invariably begets a love for the Word of God, and sets people to the
reading of it. Prayer leads people to obey the Word of God, and puts into the
heart which obeys a joy unspeakable. Praying people and Bible-reading people
are the same sort of folk. The God of the Bible and the God of prayer are one.
God speaks to man in the Bible; man speaks to God in prayer. One reads the
Bible to discover God's will; he prays in order that he may receive power to do
that will. Bible-reading and praying are the distinguishing traits of those who
strive to know and please God. And just as prayer begets a love for the
Scriptures, and sets people to reading the Bible, so, also, does prayer cause
men and women to visit the house of God, to hear the Scriptures expounded.
Church-going is closely connected with the Bible, not so much because the Bible
cautions us against "forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the
manner of some is," but because in God's house, God's chosen minister declares
His Word to dying men, explains the Scriptures, and enforces their teachings
upon his hearers. And prayer germinates a resolve, in those who practise it,
not to forsake the house of God.
Prayer begets a church-going conscience, a church-loving heart, a
church-supporting spirit. It is the praying people, who make it a matter of
conscience, to attend the preaching of the Word; who delight in its reading;
exposition; who support it with their influence and their means. Prayer exalts
the Word of God and gives it preeminence in the estimation of those who
faithfully and wholeheartedly call upon the Name of the Lord.
Prayer draws its very life from the Bible, and has no standing ground outside
of the warrant of the Scriptures. Its very existence and character is dependent
on revelation made by God to man in His holy Word. Prayer, in turn, exalts this
same revelation, and turns men toward that Word. The nature, necessity and
all-comprehending character of prayer, is based on the Word of God.
Psalm 119 is a directory of God's Word. With three or four exceptions, each
verse contains a word which identifies, or locates, the Word of God. Quite
often, the writer breaks out into supplication, several times praying, "Teach
me Thy statutes." So deeply impressed is he with the wonders of God's Word, and
of the need for Divine illumination wherewith to see and understand the
wonderful things recorded therein, that he fervently prays:
"Open Thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of
Thy law." From the opening of this wonderful Psalm to its
close, prayer and God's Word are intertwined. Almost every phase of God's Word
is touched upon by this inspired writer. So thoroughly convinced was the
Psalmist of the deep spiritual power of the Word of God that he makes this
declaration:
"Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against
Thee." Here the Psalmist found his protection against sinning.
By having God's Word hidden in his heart; in having his whole being thoroughly
impregnated with that Word; in being brought completely under its benign and
gracious influence, he was enabled to walk to and fro in the earth, safe from
the attack of the Evil One, and fortified against a proneness to wander out of
the way.
We find, furthermore, the power of prayer to create a real love for the
Scriptures, and to put within men a nature which will take pleasure in the
Word. In holy ecstasy he cries, "O, how I love Thy law! It is my meditation all
the day." And again: "How sweet are Thy words to my taste! Yea, sweeter than
honey to my taste."
Would we have a relish for God's Word? Then let us give ourselves continually
to prayer. He who would have a heart for the reading of the Bible must not --
dare not -- forget to pray. The man of whom it can be said, "His delight is in
the law of the Lord," is the man who can truly say, "I delight to visit the
place of prayer." No man loves the Bible, who does not love to pray. No man
loves to pray, who does not delight in the law of the Lord.
Our Lord was a man of prayer, and He magnified the Word of God, quoting often
from the Scriptures. Right through His earthly life Jesus observed
Sabbath-keeping, church-going and the reading of the Word of God, and had
prayer intermingled with them all:
"And He came to Nazareth where He had been brought up, and as
His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath Day, and stood up to
read." Here, let it be said, that no two things are more
essential to a spirit-filled life than Bible-reading and secret prayer; no two
things more helpful to growth in grace; to getting the largest joy out of a
Christian life; toward establishing one in the ways of eternal peace. The
neglect of these all-important duties, presages leanness of soul, loss of joy,
absence of peace, dryness of spirit, decay in all that pertains to spiritual
life. Neglecting these things paves the way for apostasy, and gives the Evil
One an advantage such as he is not likely to ignore. Reading God's Word
regularly, and praying habitually in the secret place of the Most High puts one
where he is absolutely safe from the attacks of the enemy of souls, and
guarantees him salvation and final victory, through the overcoming power of the
Lamb.
XIV. PRAYER AND THE HOUSE OF GOD
"And dear to me the loud 'Amen,'
Which echoes through the blest abode --
Which swells, and sinks, then swells again,
Dies on the walls -- but lives with God! "
PRAYER stands related to places, times, occasions and
circumstances. It has to do with God and with everything which is related to
God, and it has an intimate and special relationship to His house. A church is
a sacred place, set apart from all unhallowed and secular uses, for the worship
of God. As worship is prayer, the house of God is a place set apart for
worship. It is no common place; it is where God dwells, where He meets with His
people, and He delights in the worship of His saints.
Prayer is always in place in the house of God. When prayer is a stranger there,
then it ceases to be God's house at all. Our Lord put peculiar emphasis upon
what the Church was when He cast out the buyers and sellers in the Temple,
repeating the words from Isaiah, "It is written, My house shall be called the
house of prayer." He makes prayer preeminent, that which stands out above all
else in the house of God. They, who sidetrack prayer or seek to minify it, and
give it a secondary place, pervert the Church of God, and make it something
less and other than it is ordained to be.
Prayer is perfectly at home in the house of God. It is no stranger, no mere
guest; it belongs there. It has a peculiar affinity for the place, and has,
moreover, a Divine right there, being set, therein, by Divine appointment and
approval.
The inner chamber is a sacred place for personal worship. The house of God is a
holy place for united worship. The prayer-closet is for individual prayer. The
house of God is for mutual prayer, concerted prayer, united prayer. Yet even in
the house of God, there is the element of private worship, since God's people
are to worship Him and pray to Him, personally, even in public worship. The
Church is for the united prayer of kindred, yet individual believers.
The life, power and glory of the Church is prayer. The life of its members is
dependent on prayer and the presence of God is secured and retained by prayer.
The very place is made sacred by its ministry. Without it, the Church is
lifeless and powerless. Without it, even the building, itself, is nothing, more
or other, than any other structure. Prayer converts even the bricks, and
mortar, and lumber, into a sanctuary, a holy of holies, where the Shekinah
dwells. It separates it, in spirit and in purpose from all other edifices.
Prayer gives a peculiar sacredness to the building, sanctifies it, sets it
apart for God, conserves it from all common and mundane affairs.
With prayer, though the house of God might be supposed to lack everything else,
it becomes a Divine sanctuary. So the Tabernacle, moving about from place to
place, became the holy of holies, because prayer was there. Without prayer the
building may be costly, perfect in all its appointments, beautiful for
situation and attractive to the eye, but it comes down to the human, with
nothing Divine in it, and is on a level with all other buildings.
Without prayer, a church is like a body without spirit; it is a dead, inanimate
thing. A church with prayer in it, has God in it. When prayer is set aside, God
is outlawed. When prayer becomes an unfamiliar exercise, then God Himself is a
stranger there.
As God's house is a house of prayer, the Divine intention is that people should
leave their homes and go to meet Him in His own house. The building is set
apart for prayer especially, and as God has made special promise to meet His
people there, it is their duty to go there, and for that specific end. Prayer
should be the chief attraction for all spiritually minded church-goers. While
it is conceded that the preaching of the Word has an important place in the
house of God, yet prayer is its predominating, distinguishing feature. Not that
all other places are sinful, or evil, in themselves or in their uses. But they
are secular and human, having no special conception of God in them. The Church
is, essentially, religious and Divine. The work belonging to other places is
done without special reference to God. He is not specifically recognized, nor
called upon. In the Church, however, God is acknowledged, and nothing is done
without Him. Prayer is the one distinguishing mark of the house of God. As
prayer distinguishes Christian from unchristian people, so prayer distinguishes
God's house from all other houses. It is a place where faithful believers meet
with their Lord.
As God's house is, preeminently, a house of prayer, prayer should enter into
and underlie everything that is undertaken there. Prayer be longs to every sort
of work appertaining to the Church of God. As God's house is a house where the
business of praying is carried on, so is it a place where the business of
making praying people out of prayerless people is done. The house of God is a
Divine workshop, and there the work of prayer goes on. Or the house of God is a
Divine schoolhouse, in which the lesson of prayer is taught; where men and
women learn to pray, and where they are graduated, in the school of prayer.
Any church calling itself the house of God, and failing to magnify prayer;
which does not put prayer in the forefront of its activities; which does not
teach the great lesson of prayer, should change its teaching to conform to the
Divine pattern or change the name of its building to something other than a
house of prayer.
On an earlier page, we made reference to the finding of the Book of the Law of
the Lord given to Moses. How long that book had been there, we do not know. But
when tidings of its discovery were carried to Josiah, he rent his clothes and
was greatly disturbed. He lamented the neglect of God's Word and saw, as a
natural result, the iniquity which abounded throughout the land.
And then, Josiah thought of God, and commanded Hilkiah, the priest, to go and
make inquiry of the Lord. Such neglect of the Word of the Law was too serious a
matter to be treated lightly, and God must be enquired of, and repentance
shown, by himself, and the nation:
"Go enquire of the Lord for me, and for them that are left in
Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that is found; for great
is the wrath of the Lord that is poured out upon us, because our fathers have
not kept the word of the Lord, to do after all that is written in this
book." But that was not all. Josiah was bent on promoting a
revival of religion in his kingdom, so we find him gathering all the elders of
Jerusalem and Judah together, for that purpose. When they had come together,
the king went into the house of the Lord, and himself read in all the words of
the Book of the Covenant that was found in the house of the Lord.
With this righteous king, God's Word was of great importance. He esteemed it at
its proper worth, and counted a knowledge of it to be of such grave importance,
as to demand his consulting God in prayer about it, and to warrant the
gathering together of the notables of his kingdom, so that they, together with
himself, should be instructed out of God's Book concerning God's Law.
When Ezra, returned from Babylon, was seeking the reconstruction of his nation,
the people, themselves, were alive to the situation, and, on one occasion, the
priests, Levites and people assembled themselves together as one man before the
water gate.
"And they spake unto Ezra the scribe, to bring the book of the
law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded to Israel. And Ezra the priest
brought the law before the congregation, both of men and women, and all that
could hear with understanding. And he read therein before the street that was
before the water gate from the morning until midday; and the ears of all the
people were attentive unto the book of the law." This was
Bible-reading Day in Judah -- a real revival of Scripture-study. The leaders
read the law before the people, whose ears were keen to hear what God had to
say to them out of the Book of the Law. But it was not only a Bible-reading
day. It was a time when real preaching was done, as the following passage
indicates:
"So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly and gave
the sense, and caused them to understand the reading." Here
then is the Scriptural definition of preaching. No better definition can be
given. To read the Word of God distinctly -- to read it so that the people
could hear and understand the words read; not to mumble out the words, nor read
it in an undertone or with indistinctness, but boldly and clearly -- that was
the method followed in Jerusalem, on this auspicious day. Moreover: the sense
of the words was made clear in the meeting held before the water gate; the
people were treated to a high type of expository preaching. That was
true preaching -- preaching of a sort which is sorely needed, today, in
order that God's Word may have due effect on the hearts of the people. This
meeting in Jerusalem surely contains a lesson which all present-day preachers
should learn and heed.
No one having any knowledge of the existing facts, will deny the comparative
lack of expository preaching in the pulpit effort of today. And none, we
should, at least, imagine, will do other than lament the lack. Topical
preaching, polemical preaching, historical preaching, and other forms of
sermonic output have, one supposes, their rightful and opportune uses. But
expository preaching -- the prayerful expounding of the Word of God is
preaching that is preaching -- pulpit effort par excellence.
For its successful accomplishment, however, a preacher needs must be a man of
prayer. For every hour spent in his study-chair, he will have to spend two upon
his knees. For every hour he devotes to wrestling with an obscure passage of
Holy Writ, he must have two in the which to be found wrestling with God. Prayer
and preaching: preaching and prayer! They cannot be separated. The ancient cry
was: "To your tents, O Israel! "The modern cry should be: "To your knees, O
preachers, to your knees!"
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