“The church has many organizers, but few agonizers; many who pay, but few who pray; many resters, but few wrestlers; many who are enterprising, but few who are interceding. People who are not praying are playing. Two pre-requisites of dynamic Christian living are vision and passion, and both of these are generated in the prayer closet. The ministry of preaching is open to a few. The ministry of praying is open to every child of God. Do not mistake action for unction, commotion for creation, and rattles for revivals. The secret of praying is praying in secret. A worldly Christian will stop praying, and a praying Christian will stop worldliness. When we pray, God listens to our heartbeat. Hannah’s ‘lips’ moved, but her voice was not heard (I Samuel 1:12, 13). When we pray in the Spirit, there are groanings which cannot be uttered (Romans 8:26). Tithes may build a church, but tears will give it life. This is the difference between the modern church and the early church. Our emphasis is on paying, theirs was on praying. When we have paid, the place is taken. When they had prayed, the place is shaken (Acts 4:31). In the matter of effective praying, never have so many left so much to so few. Brethren, let us pray” (Author unknown).
The above quotation pinpoints the cause of our ineffectiveness as Christians in our generation. We may have the form of sound words, and some measure of outward activity, but too often our lives lack that vitality which comes from a close walk with God. Winslow has no hesitation in stating that the most marked characteristic of personal declension is the decay of the spirit of prayer. Prayer is one of the first evidences of spiritual life, and the declension of prayer is strongly indicative of the decay of real grace in the child of God. “God has no dumb children” (Angell James). What a blessed exercise is prayer as it is directed to God, through Jesus Christ, by the teaching of the Holy Spirit! Strange it is, that God’s children must so often be reminded and exhorted to “avail themselves of the most costly and glorious privilege this side of glory“. Prayer is not only a duty; it is a privilege. How remiss is the person who goes first to the creature for help! Such conduct was condemned by God who called it “going down to Egypt for help” (cf. Isaiah 31:1). The Jews were afraid of an invasion from the Assyrians, and sought help by an alliance with Egypt. In this alliance they were trusting in the Egyptians and not in God who had promised to be their protector and Who had prohibited alliances with surrounding nations. God is able to do great things, and will do as is best in His wisdom. Our first recourse must be to Him, and His provision in the ordinance of prayer has made it possible for sinners to come to a Holy God.
Jesus instructed His disciples saying, “Thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and, when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret . . .” (Matthew 6:6). The hypocrites love to pray “that they may be seen of men”. A person who is praying in public is seen and heard by many, so pride and self-love are encouraged by the foolish thought that people are listening. It is one thing to repeat words in public prayer; it is another to agonise in the secret place, unseen by any eye and unheard by any ear but God’s. There, in the place of secret prayer, your heart may be poured out without reserve, and you may enjoy heart-melting visits of the love of Jesus. The promises of God with respect to secret prayer are so rich, we ought not to be surprised that such formidable forces as self, Satan, and the world are arrayed against it. Give all the more diligence to the pursuit of this holy and profitable exercise. It has been justly observed that there is little of public reward from the heavenly Father because there is little of prayer in secret. Philip Henry’s advice was — “Be sure you look to your secret duty; keep that up whatever you do. The soul cannot prosper in the neglect of it”.
The Christian, diligently engaged in his lawful calling in the world, needs God. To God he may constantly breathe in the spirit of prayer. To live so that you are above your work, not engulfed by it to the strangling of your soul, you need God. To be prepared to answer the question from your fellow-worker about your Christian hope, and to react in a Christian way to his words or actions, you need God. Nehemiah, questioned by the king, was afraid, but he tells how he conquered his fears with success. “So I prayed to the God of heaven”. His heart and soul went to God for help and guidance. It may be that your Christian witness at work has been rendered ineffective because you have not acted nor answered as a Christian should. To avoid such pitfalls make secret prayer a regular and precious exercise, asking God to give you an abiding “spirit of prayer”. Then it will be “natural to grace in you” to breathe to God your requests. Jonathan Edwards said of his early Christian life — “I was almost constantly in ejaculatory prayer wherever I was. Prayer seemed to be natural to me, as the breath by which the inward burnings of my heart had vent”.
Neglect of secret prayer by one member of a family affects the whole domestic circle. Family worship, if not abandoned, becomes a ritual hastened through without reverence and without feeling. Unpleasantness in the home, a word spoken in haste, a bad example to children, and a failure to respect parents can all be traced to neglect of prayer. Many broken homes, broken marriages, and broken families would not have been broken had the duty and privilege of prayer been attended to. “This exercise throws a hallowing influence around the domestic circle — it cements the hearts, fortifies the minds, awakens and concentrates the sympathies, and it softens the cares and trials of each individual member”.
God sets a high value on prayer. In Old Testament times He provided the Mercy Seat to be the meeting-place between sinful men and a Holy God. In this New Testament time, that Mercy Seat has been replaced by the Saviour Jesus Christ in Whom God reconciles the world unto Himself. Prayer is to be “in the name of Christ”. It is on account of the finished and perfect work of Christ that the way is open for sinners to come to God in prayer. It is on the same account that sinners are to ask for mercies and blessings from the divine riches. You are to pray to God for spiritual blessings, laying hold with boldness to the promises of the Bible which speak of confession of sin and a free pardon, of the poor and needy seeking water when there is none and of the Lord’s saying, “I will hear them, I, the God of Jacob, will not forsake them”, of salvation by grace and of God’s carrying on a good work until the day of Jesus Christ. Lay hold of such promises in the Bible, and have your faith fortified in them. Present them to God, and do not take silence for an answer, because He is faithful that has promised. You are to pray for material and temporal blessings with the qualification, that these be granted to you if the giving of them is agreeable to God’s will. The Lord may have other purposes with respect to you, and His wise and loving answer may be a denial of your request, but with grace given to you to say “Good is the will of the Lord”. To view your prayers in this way, and to distinguish between things for which there is a specific promise in the Bible and things for which there is no such promise, may help relieve many anxieties and doubts you have as to why you do not receive some things requested in prayer.
If prayer is to be successful in its petition, you must come with purposes of holiness in heart and life. You must lift up “holy hands” to God. Achan prevented the success of the armies of Israel while he was hiding his sin. The Psalmist acknowledged that God would not hear him if he gave place to sin in his heart. Prayer must be with humility. God knows the proud afar off. Self-abasement, contrition of heart, and confession of sin with grief and hatred must characterise your approaches to God. You must come in absolute dependence upon Him. You do not come to inform Him, nor do you come to enrich Him. You come, as one who has nothing, to the Giver of every good and perfect gift. You must come with earnestness. Jesus spoke about the man who went to a friend at midnight requesting three loaves because he had received a guest and had nothing to set before him. Jesus said — “because of his importunity he will rise and give as many as he needeth. And I say unto you, ‘Ask and it shall be given you; seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth’.” As your needs will press upon you, let them press you to more urgency and earnestness in prayer. Samuel Rutherford said — “The pinching necessity of the saints is not tied to the law of modesty. Hunger cannot be ashamed”. You must be constant in prayer. The words “continuing instant in prayer” express the idea of perseverance. It means to hold out with fortitude in a difficult position, until the object is attained. Force of circumstances should not render us inactive in prayer. Prosperity or adversity, apparent or real, call for prayer to God. When Martin Luther had his workload increased with more duties requiring his attention, he would say — “Now we must pray more”.
Pray for pastors, for ministers of the Gospel. No part of ministerial work can be performed aright without help sought and obtained from above. The work of the minister becomes a formal, lifeless ritual, apart from the work of the Spirit of God in him. Thomas Houston, referring to ministerial duties, wrote “None of these can be performed acceptably to the Head of the Church but in the spirit and habit of prayer by the pastor himself, and through much prayer of the church on his behalf. The familiar remark, namely, of a praying people makes a preaching minister, is full of important and general application.” The abounding of the spirit of prayer for ministers in the church will often be the forerunner and sign of approaching blessing. The church in Jerusalem prayed for Peter, and he was set free. The Christians at Kirk of Shotts spent the night after a communion in earnest prayer, and on the following day the Spirit accompanied the gospel with convicting and converting power so that five hundred persons were converted to Christ. People who pray for their pastor that he be given messages from God to deliver, often find that the preaching is graciously adapted to suit their particular case of soul, bringing to them the benefits of salvation. Doubts have been resolved, fears have been removed, their souls have been strengthened in what is good, and they have been enabled to rejoice. “This poor man cried, God heard and saved him from all his distresses”.
Pray for your children. Hannah prayed for Samuel before he was born. Many have had to trace the work of God in their lives to the influence of godly parents. Parents, pray much for your children, and set a good example before them in a holy consistent life. To the regular daily times of prayer, add special occasions at times for special prayer. Teach them prayers from the Bible. There you find recorded the work of the Spirit of God in the hearts of sinners. Teach your children to memorise and to use these prayers, and pray for them that God will give them the blessings of forgiveness, peace with God, and grace to live for Him. What greater joy could you have than to see your children with a saving interest in Jesus Christ? Do not allow your love to them to be limited to their bodies and to their prosperity in secular things. Love them with a love that cares for their souls, a love that sees their need of God and of His Christ. Desire heaven for them, and show them that prayer is a privilege by which they may draw near to Jesus Christ who said — “Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not”.
In New England there lived a godly mother who had six children, none of whom had an interest in Christ. At about the age of sixty, the mother suffered from a disease and was not able to attend the church services. This was a grief to her, but to those who visited her she spoke of a grief that was greater. She was grieved and weighed down in her spirits because none of her children were converted to Christ. For their conversion she prayed to God. Some time afterward there was a revival of religion in the district, and four of her children were among the first people savingly changed. Soon a fifth of the children was added to the number who believed, but the sixth child remained unmoved, unchanged. The mother and her converted children agreed to observe a day of fasting and prayer for the unconverted sister, who did not know that this was being done. However, on the same day, as she was engaged in her house-work, her mind was solemnly arrested and she too was soon among those who believed in Jesus. The words of Jesus were fulfilled — “That 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”. There is no greater encouragement to prayer than the Bible. It is rich with exhortation, encouragement and example. It is the word of the God Who has said — “Before they call, I will answer; while they are yet speaking, I will hear”.