What is prayer? Apart from the wonderful answer to this question in The Shorter Catechism (Question 98), helpful answers are given by various writers. Below are some answers by the Puritan, William Gurnall, in his classic work, The Christian in Complete Armour, which is based on Ephesians 6:10-20 (the passage which describes the Christian’s armour, with which he is to withstand the wiles of the devil).
Gurnall’s sayings about prayer in this article are gathered (with some editing) from his explanation of verse 18 of the passage, “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints”. His sayings are not arranged as they are found in his book but rather by subject. He shows clearly that prayer is an essential piece of armour in resisting Satan.
Gurnall writes, “Prayer is to be used with all other means in the Christian’s spiritual warfare. This is the ‘silver trumpet’ by which he is to sound an alarm to heaven and call on God to succour him. . . . Prayer is appointed by God; yet it is not effective armour, except it be a prayer given by God, flowing from His Spirit. . . . Prayer is a humble appeal from our impotence to God’s omnipotence. . . . Prayer is the sincere soul’s messenger. It goes to heaven with full speed.”
Gurnall continues, “What is prayer but the breathing forth of that grace which is breathed into the soul by the Holy Spirit? When God breathed into man the breath of life, he became a living soul. So, when God breathes into the soul the breath of spiritual life, it becomes a praying soul. . . . Praying is to the ‘new creature’ as crying is to the child. The child is not taught by example to cry, but cries by nature; it comes into the world crying. Praying is not got by forms and rules but flows from new life itself.
“Prayer is the soul’s motion Godward,” Gurnall adds. “It is a means whereby we give worship to God, and also wait to receive grace from God. To say a wicked man ought not to pray is to say he ought not to worship God and acknowledge Him to be his Maker; and also that he ought not to use the means whereby he may obtain grace and receive faith. It cannot be denied that an unbeliever sins when he prays. It is not his praying which is his sin, but his praying unbelievingly. . . . Prayer is as solemn a work as any you can do in your whole lifetime. . . . Prayer is an act of religious worship; we have to do immediately with the great God, to whom we approach in prayer.
“Prayer is one of the nearest approaches to God which the Christian is capable of on this side heaven. . . . Prayer is called, coming to ‘the throne of grace’. We come in prayer to the throne of God and put our petition into the very hand of God, as He sits on His throne in all His royalty. . . . Holy matter in prayer is the incense to be offered; the tongue is the censer; but the affections of the devout soul bring the fire to the incense before it can ascend as a sweet perfume into the nostrils of God. . . . Prayer is called a pouring out of the soul to God. The soul is the well from which the water of prayer is poured; but the Spirit is the spring that feeds this well, and the hand that helps to pour it forth. . . . We must pray in the Spirit, to honour the name of God. The common description of prayer is calling ‘on the name of God’. Now, as in prayer we call upon the name of God, so it must be with worship suitable to God’s name, or else we pollute it and incur His wrath.
“Pray with a deep sense of, and sorrow for, your sins. The worst lack of sense in prayer is that of the heart; when he that prays has no sense of the sin he deprecates or of the mercy he desires. . . . Prayer is the channel into which godly sorrow pours forth itself, and runs down in brinish tears, while the Christian is accusing himself of, and judging himself for, his abominations, with deep shame and self-abhorrence. . . . When you pray against any sin, plead with God from His promises. Show God His own hand in such promises as these, ‘Sin shall not have dominion over you’ (Rom 6:14); ‘He will subdue our iniquities’ (Mic 7:19). Prayer is nothing but the promise reversed, or God’s word formed into an argument, and returned by faith upon God again.
“When you have been with God [in prayer] expect good from Him. ‘I will direct my prayer unto Thee, and will look up’ (Ps 5:3). For lack of this many a prayer is lost. If you do not believe, why do you pray? And if you believe, why do you not expect? By praying, you seem to depend on God; by not expecting, you renounce your confidence. What is this but to take His name in vain? . . . The Christian’s prayer may miscarry for want of faith. Prayer is the bow, the promise is the arrow, and faith the hand which draws the bow and sends this arrow with the heart’s message to heaven.
“God has His sealing times, in which His Spirit bears witness with His children’s spirit as to their state and grace. Prayer is a principal sealing time. Where was it that God so marvellously dignified and, if I may so say, knighted Jacob with that new title of honour, ‘Thou shalt be called Israel’, but in the field of prayer? . . . Prayer moves God and overcomes Him, not by causing any change in His will and making Him take up new thoughts of doing that for His people which He did not before intend. No, God is immutable, and what good He does in time for His people He purposed before any time was. But prayer is said to overcome God, because He then gives what, from eternity, He purposed to give upon their praying to Him. For when God decreed what He would do for His saints, He also purposed that they should pray for the same. ‘I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them’ (Ezk 36:37).
“To pray ‘always’ is as much as if the Apostle had said, Pray about ‘everything’, according to what he says in another epistle, ‘In every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God’. Prayer is an all-embracing duty, with which, like a girdle, we are to encompass all our affairs. . . . To pray always is to pray daily. When the Christian is daily exercised in this duty, prayer to him is not a holiday pursuit, as it were, but everyday work. ‘Every day will I bless Thee; and I will praise Thy name for ever and ever’ (Ps 145:2). . . . Prayer is not only a winter garment. It is indeed to be worn then, but it is not to be left off in the summer of prosperity. You will find some praying only when the storm comes. These are like some birds that are never heard to call but in foul weather.
“Let secret prayer be your constant trade. Rolling stones gather no moss. Inconstant hearts will never excel in this or any other duty. The spirit of prayer is a grace infused, but advanced to further degrees by daily exercise. Frequency begets familiarity, and familiarity confidence. We go boldly into the house of one whom we often visit. . . . Prayer is a universal duty and a means to be made use of in all our affairs and enterprises. What bread and salt are to our table, prayer is to the Christian in all his undertakings, enjoyments, and temptations. Whatever our meal is, bread and salt are set on the table; and whatever your condition is, prayer must not be forgotten.
“Do you pray? Unless you pray fervently, you do nothing. Cold prayer is no more prayer than painted fire is fire. . . . Prayer is too sacred a duty to be performed with a heavy eye or a drowsy heart. This God complained of: ‘There is none that calleth upon Thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of Thee’ (Is 64:7). He counts it no prayer where the heart is not stirred up and awake. In no way can we more honour or dishonour God than in prayer. O how then ought we to watch in this duty!”
The last saying of Gurnall about prayer we give at present is, “Cease to pray, and you will begin to sin. Prayer is not only a means to prevail for mercy but also to prevent sin. ‘Pray that ye enter not into temptation’.” NMR