The Power Of Prayer

When you consider God’s greatness and man’s littleness, it is simply an infant talking to the Infinite, and yet if you are a stranger to prayer you are a stranger to power.

Moses prayed and a nation was saved from death. Joshua prayed and the sun stood still. Hannah prayed and God gave her a son. Solomon prayed for wisdom and God made him the wisest of mortal men. Elisha prayed and he received the mantle and a double portion. Daniel prayed and the angel locked the jaws of the lions. Peter prayed and Dorcas arose. The thief prayed for mercy and went with Christ to paradise. When Christians pray with living faith in one accord, we know that revival fires shall sweep the land and sinners shall be saved.

Definition

Prayer is the key of the day and the lock of the night.

Prayer is nothing else but a fervent mind settled upon God.

Prayer is the voice of faith, and a virtue that prevails against temptation.

Prayer is a shield to the soul, a sacrifice to God, and a scourge for Satan.

Prayer is releasing the energies of God and asking God to do what we cannot do.

D.L. Moody said, “Prayer is a serious thing. We may be taken at our word.”

Philip Brooks said, “Prayer is not conquering God’s reluctance, but taking hold up onon God’s willingness.”

Bishop Taylor stated, “Prayer is the peace of our spirit, the stillness of our thoughts, the evenness of recollection, the seat of mediation, the rest of our cares and the calm of our tempest; prayer is the issue of a quiet mind, of untroubled thoughts; it is the daughter of charity and the sister of meekness.”

Tupper said, “Prayer is the slender nerve that moves the muscle of Omnipotence.”

Humiliation

Prayer means that some things must go, like pride, unkindness, self-indulgence and self-importance. And all the time you will fail Him so often that by and by you will have no self-confidence left, only a growing confidence in Him instead, because He does not fail you.

You can expect the Lord to ask you to do things that you can do only if you forget about yourself and the sort of person you thought you were. He may even ask you to face death or complete shame as He did Himself.

You can make no stipulations. That is not your part. You know that He wants you and you know the kind of wanting that He desires, but of course you will also go with Him before His enemies. The things that they say about Him will be said about you, and you will also go among the people who don’t care, whom He is trying to arouse with a sense of His love.

In humility you will find yourself with Him in pain, or exaltation, or tiredness, or happiness.

Supplication—for one another

Just before Jonathan Goforth’s departure for China, at the farewell meeting on January 19, 1888, a story was told of a young couple, bidding farewell to their home country church as they were about to leave for an African field, known as “The White Man’s Grave.” The husband said, “My wife and I have a strange dread in going. We feel much as if we were going down a pit. We are willing to take the risk and go, if you, our home circle, will promise to hold the ropes.” One and all promised.

Less than two years passed. The wife and the little one God had given them succumbed to the dreaded fever. Soon the husband realized that his days, too, were numbered. Not waiting to send word home of his coming, he started back at once, and arrived at the hour of the Wednesday prayer meeting. He slipped in unnoticed, taking a back seat. At the close of the meeting, he went forward. An awe came over the people, for death was written on his face. He said, “I am your missionary. My wife and child are buried in Africa, and I have come home to die. This evening I listened anxiously, as you prayed, for some mention of your missionary, to see if you were keeping your promise, but in vain! You prayed for everything connected with yourselves, and your home church, but you forgot your missionary. I see now why I am a failure as a missionary. It is because you have failed to hold the ropes!

Regulation

There is a regulation to prayer, but certainly not as one of our modernist friends has put it: “First make yourself comfortable, but not slouchy. Say to your body, ‘Oh body of mine, you may be the vehicle through which God may come to me, so be receptive.’ You are now in the presence of God; let go and listen.” This same modernist says, “To get certain evil thoughts from my mind, I bat my eyes rapidly. That breaks up the thought, for the batting of the eyes demands attention from the evil thoughts, and in the midst of it I say, God help me.” Well, so much for the liberalist on prayer. The soul may be in an attitude of prayer at any time. Jesus stood, knelt, and fell on His face. David prayed on the bed. Peter prayed in the water. The dying thief prayed on the cross and you can pray while even walking. Really, it is the posture of the soul and not the body.

Our Lord prayed much because He loved to pray. The Gospel writers mention His prayer life some fifteen times. He went into the desert to pray. He retired from the crowds to pray. He continued all night in prayer. He knew where to find counsel and fellowship for the coming day of satanic thrusts. He prayed on the cross, “Father, forgive them.”

Perhaps the only reason why we like a regulation in prayer is to make sure that we pray once or twice at a stated time; but this is bad business, we should be in the spirit of prayer always and not punch a time clock in regard to our personal visits to the Lord Jesus Chrsit.

Condition

The Christian prayer warrior must have confidence, for without faith it is impossible to please God. If we do not believe in prayer, we had better abandon it. It is either a farce or a force.

There must be earnestness and definiteness. If we are vague with God, we cannot expect God to be more than vague with us. We do not need to limit the power of God.

There must be persistence and submission. Prayer must be made in submission to the will of God. If we live each step of the way as He tells us in the Word, we will know His will.

We must be scriptural. True prayer puts its finger on some promise of God and pleads its faithfulness to His own Word. It is one thing for a child to ask a parent for something of his own requesting but it is another thing simply to remind a parent of a previously made promise.

Constitution—rules

In our prayer life, we must remember five things. First, adoration; then thanksgiving, for what he has done for us; and then confession, which is an acknowledgment of failure; following this, supplication for one another; and then, of course, intercession for those without, that is especially the unsaved.

These can be called the rules for prayer life, and you will notice that if they are adhered to worry will fade away. Worry prevents us from praying and God from working. We worry simply because it is a personal habit and once formed is difficult to overcome. We worry because others about us worry; it is contagious. We worry simply because we do not realize our Father’s care, and thus worry is a sin.

If there is one thing I want the Christian reader of this article to know, it is this—when you worry, you thrust a dagger into the heart of God. Why don’t you simply cast all your care on Him, and with adoration, thanksgiving, confession, supplication and intercession discover that delays are not denials and that the Lord can dissolve every doubt?

To pray is the greatest thing we can do, and to do it well there must be calmness, time, and liberation; otherwise it is degraded into the littlest and meanest of all things. True praying has the largest results for good, and poor praying the least. We cannot do too much of real praying; we cannot do too little of the sham. We must learn anew the worth of prayer and enter anew the school of prayer.