Does God Hear Prayer?
The Bible Gives the Answer
NOBODY who is even faintly religious would deny that
prayer Is part of the religious life. People who have had little to do
with a church, who have seldom picked up a Bible, who have given scant
attention to God, will, faced with a crisis, turn to prayer. Many a
helpless individual, faced with the stark reality of death, has gone
down on his knees in prayer. It sometimes comes as a surprise to
discover that some of the most powerful men in history have been men
of prayer.
What is Prayer?
What then is prayer all about? Is it just an exercise
in bringing pleasant thoughts into the mind? Is it a way of
miraculously solving impossible situations? Is it a religious ritual
by holy people on behalf of the rest of us? Is it the public recital
of noble thoughts and ideals or the repetition of certain forms of
words?
This booklet is concerned with Bible teaching
on the subject. This is because those who are truly followers of the
Lord Jesus Christ must, like him, be guided in all matters of faith
and practice by what the Bible teaches. For the Bible consists of
"the sacred writings which are able to instruct you for salvation
through faith in Christ Jesus" (2 Timothy 3:15, R.S.V.).
The Bible leaves us in no doubt that believers ought
to pray:
"Men ought always to pray and not to faint"
(Luke 18:1).
"Pray without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:17).
"In everything by prayer and supplication let
your requests be made known unto God" (Philippians 4:6, R.S.V.).
To fail to pray is regarded as a sin; Samuel the
prophet declared:
"God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in
ceasing to pray for you" (1 Samuel 12:23).
The Starting Point
So how does prayer start? Its springboard is need. We
may be having great difficulty in coping with life; we may be faced
with seemingly insuperable problems; we may be conscious of our
failings and desire some kind of spiritual cleansing; we may be trying
to search out the meaning of life. In fact the very problems which
confront us have a significance in emphasizing to us that for all
man's great achievements, we are frequently helpless in the midst of
human failure. Failure is more often at the start of the road to God
than success.
In the Gospels we read of men who commanded great
armies, of people in high office in government, of mothers and fathers
seeking the best for their children, of farmers and fishermen,
tradesmen and craftsmen -- people of all types and backgrounds who
sought out the Lord Jesus Christ because some need or other could not
be fulfilled elsewhere. And as we see Jesus always finding time to
listen, to advise, to help, we see how he reveals to us the character
of his Father:
"Whoever would draw near to God must believe that
he exists and that he rewards those who seek him" (Hebrews 11:7,
R.S.V.).
The Bible makes it clear that God wants to help
us. We should never feel that it is only good people that He will
hear. In fact if we think we are rather good and managing quite well
on our own, the chances are we shall be less inclined to rely upon
God.
Two Men ...
Jesus told about two men who went up to the temple in
Jerusalem to pray. One was a Pharisee -- a member of a leading
religious sect of the day. The other was a tax-collector. Since the
land of the Jews was occupied by the Romans, we can imagine that a Jew
collecting taxes on behalf of the hated invaders was treated with
contempt. So the parable portrays a member of the religious
establishment and an outcast. But Jesus says the Pharisee prayed
"with himself, 'God, I thank thee that I am not like other men,
extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I
fast twice a week, I give tithes (i.e. 10% given to the religious
authorities-the temple) of all that I get'." Obviously this man
thought he was doing a good job for God and expected to be commended.
"But the tax collector, standing far off, would
not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying,
'God, be merciful to me a sinner!' " (Luke 18:9-13, R.S.V.). This
man's circumstances had made him keenly conscious of a sense of
personal failure. In that frame of mind he begged God to help him.
Jesus tells us that his prayer did far more good than the boasting of
the Pharisee.
God's Mercy -- Man's Need
The seven words of that man's prayer perfectly
summarize the right approach to God. It begins with God and ends with
"me, a sinner". God and the sinner are brought together
through the divine mercy. W. F. Vine writes of the word mercy: "It
assumes need on the part of him who receives it, and resources
adequate to meet the need on the part of him who shows it" (Expository
Dictionary of New Testament Words).
So we pray because we are conscious of a need and we
recognize that God alone can meet that need. To accept that God can do
what we cannot do is to bow to His greatness, to acknowledge His
infinite wisdom. This is praise. Praise, when it finds
expression in words, is an attempt to describe the ways in which God
is superior to man; it is to give God glory. Through praise we reflect
on what God is, and what resources He has to meet our need.
Listening to God
Since God knows best, we must listen to what He says
to us. Through the Bible God speaks to us. The Psalmist could say:
"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path"
(Psalm 119:105). The Lord Jesus stated:
"Scripture cannot be broken" (John 10:35).
The apostle Paul wrote: "All scripture is given by inspiration of
God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for
instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect"
(2 Timothy 3:16).
It is vital to realize that prayer cannot be divorced
from a knowledge and understanding of the Word of God. For prayer is
communication with God. The communication is two-way. It is not enough
that we should speak to God. He expects us to listen to Him. In fact,
we shall often be better occupied meditating on His Word than trying
to talk to Him at great length. The Bible itself warns:
"Let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing
before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let
thy words be few" (Ecclesiastes 5:21).
The Lord Jesus himself emphasizes this point:
"When ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the
heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much
speaking" (Matthew 6:71).
We must not come to God full of ourselves, ready to
tell Him what we think. That would be like the person who asks
a question, not because he wants to know the answer', but because he
wants the opportunity to air his own knowledge. If we come to God as
those who do not know the answers and believe that He does, then what
folly if we ignore what He has already told us through the Scriptures!
Rather we must read them regularly and reflect on them in order that
we may attune our minds to the mind of God, as the words of a hymn
direct us:
"Inspirer of the ancient seers,
Who wrote from Thee the sacred page,
A light for all succeeding years,
A lamp in this degenerate age:
Wisdom to us Thy words impart,
And with Thy comfort fill our heart."
The many examples of prayer in the Bible make it clear
that God responds only when man prays in accordance with His will.
After all, God knows best what is in man's interests and can control
events accordingly.
Old Testament Examples
Elijah, for example, was "a man of like passions
with us, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain: and it rained
not in the earth by the space of three years and six months"
(James 5:17). What was the point of God responding to such a prayer?
When we read through the narrative of 1 Kings 16:29 onwards we
discover that the people of Israel-God's witnesses-were in desperate
need of reformation. The point of Elijah's prayer and God's response
was to make the king and people realise that only by submitting to God
would they be able to survive. The prayer of faith was designed to
bring healing from the sickness of sin, to convert sinners from the
error of their ways.
Just as there had been a special demonstration of the
power of God when Israel were brought out of Egypt under Moses, so
during the period of Elijah and Elisha there was a spate of miraculous
activity to accompany the working of God's prophets. Elijah's
overriding concern was that God's will should be done, and his prayer
was answered because it accorded with God's will at that time. (There
was of course another epoch of miraculous activity associated with the
ministry of Christ and the apostles.)
Daniel's prayer, recorded in Daniel 9, is another
example of prayer which was fully in tune with the will of God. From
the beginning of the prayer we see how right was Daniel's attitude. At
the time, Daniel was living in Babylon in exile with the Jews. The
nation was suffering the consequences of failing to heed God's earlier
warnings to serve Him faithfully. Daniel, praying on behalf of his
people, accepts that God is righteous and that his people need
forgiveness for their sins. This leads to his request in verses 16 and
17 that God should once more restore the fortunes of Jerusalem, which
would mean the end of enforced exile.
Two points can be noted: firstly, anyone familiar with
earlier writings of the Old Testament, and in particular the first
five books of Moses, will realize that phrase after phrase of Daniel's
prayer echoes what has gone before. Daniel is praying as one who has
filled his thinking with God's thinking -- and he has done this by
regular reading of the books of the Bible which then existed.
Secondly, his prime petition-that his people should be
forgiven and allowed to re-establish themselves and their worship in
Jerusalem-was something that Daniel knew God had promised He would
carry out. Jeremiah, for example, had prophesied:
"For, lo, the days come, saith the LORD, that I
will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, saith
the LORD: and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to
their fathers, and they shall possess it" (Jeremiah 30:31).
In addition, Daniel knew from Jeremiah 25:11-12 that
the period of captivity would last 70 years. Since the people were not
taken into captivity all at once, he did not know exactly when the 70
years would end. But he knew approximately, as a result of which he
fervently prayed that God's will should be done soon.
So Daniel prayed as a man who had humbled himself
before God, who listened to God and became thoroughly familiar with
what God had revealed in His Word and who prayed in harmony with what
he knew to be the will of God. He was the sort of person referred to
when God earlier declared:
"To this man will I look, even to him that is
poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word" (Isaiah
66:2).
A Right Relationship with God
Effective prayer assumes and depends upon a
relationship with God. "This is life eternal, that they might
know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast
sent" (John 17:3). Such knowledge is to be found, in the first
instance, in the inspired writings of the Bible-and nowhere else. But
to know God is not simply to know about Him. When a husband and wife
know each other, they do not just have in their minds a pen-portrait
of their partner. Their knowledge is intimate and deep, because of the
nature of their relationship. It depends upon continued, regular
contact, the acceptance of responsibilities and the desire to grow in
knowledge and understanding of each other.
To acknowledge one's need as a sinner, whose
imperfection is in marked contrast to the glorious perfection of God's
character; to develop that "poor and contrite" spirit, which
desires to be moved by the power of God through His Word, as the
leaves on a tree tremble at the passing of a breath of wind; to
realize from the knowledge of God's gracious dealings with men and
women of past ages that the same grace can be extended to us
today-this is to begin the process of praise and thanksgiving which
marks the beginning of uttered prayer.
There is no room here for the casual or the careless.
God is in heaven, man upon earth. We cannot assume familiarity or
presume upon His loving kindness. It is God's to command, ours to
obey. We cannot call God "Our Father", without at the same
time hallowing His name. And we cannot do that unless we seek to do
His will upon earth as it is done in heaven. If we are to
benefit from the privilege of being called His sons and daughters, we
must, after serious consideration, come within His family:
"Hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep
his commandments" (1 John 2:3).
Response and Responsibility
As our knowledge of God's commandments grows, so we
learn the need for repentance-sorrow at our personal sin and
inadequacy and a commitment to turn away from sin. We learn of God's
love in providing a perfect Son, "the way, the truth and the
life", through whom alone men may come to God. We learn that to
be associated with that saving work we must be born again, that is, we
express our faith and obedience by baptism-immersion into water as a
symbol of our association with the death of Jesus and with his
resurrection, as we rise from the water to "newness of
life". "As many of you as have been baptized into Christ
have put on Christ" (Galatians 3:27). As newly born sons and
daughters of God we seek to behave according to His high standards.
There is held out to us the hope of sharing Christ's glory when he
comes to rule over the earth in peace and righteousness:
"Behold, what manner of love the Father hath
bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God . . . when
he shall appear, we shall be like him" (1 John 3:1,2).
Belief, repentance, baptism, a life of faith, the hope
of eternal life granted at the judgement after the return of Christ
and the resurrection of the dead, when he will establish the kingdom
of God and fulfil the hope of Israel-this is but a brief summary of
what we need to understand if our commitment to God's family is to
have any real meaning.
The Lord's Prayer
The Lord's Prayer was uttered in response to his
disciples' request for instruction in prayer. Clearly the prayer given
by the Lord is not something to repeat vainly, like a magical
incantation.. Its true meaning can only be appreciated by those who
know the teaching of Christ, have committed themselves to his
discipleship and have become children of God, hallowing thereby His
name and striving to live in anticipation of His coming kingdom when
all the world will be governed according to His will.
It is good that we should meditate upon the weight of
those solemn words:
"Our Father, which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy
name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in
heaven" (Matthew 6:9-10)
What to Pray for
For many people prayer consists of asking God for
favors. For some the proof of whether God is actually there or not
consists of testing out whether God will grant a particular request.
Did not Jesus say: "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye
shall find" (Matthew 7:71)
We are told how Jesus welcomed little children and
took them up in his arms. In this he reflected the character of his
Father, who welcomes all who seek Him in sincerity and simplicity. But
whereas the particular purpose of God at the time of the Lord's
ministry and during the subsequent establishment of the ecclesias
involved frequent miraculous signs that this was indeed the Lord at
work, we shall be sadly misled if we expect God to work a miracle in
response to every request we make.
This is not to say that God's power is not
demonstrated today, or to imply that God is not interested in us.
There is a children's prayer which simply states a truth:
"God always listens whenever we pray,
He's never too busy to hear what we say.
"Thy will be done"
No prayer is disregarded when it comes from those who
sincerely seek the Lord. But the answer is not always Yes; it may be
No, or Wait. What is vitally important is that we keep on praying,
thinking over God's ways and, with the help we gain from His Word,
coming to terms with the situation. When Hezekiah received a
threatening letter from the commander of the Assyrian forces, his
reaction was to "spread it before the Lord" (2 Kings 19:14).
So, too, we should talk out our problems before God. At the very
least, it will help us to get them in perspective.
But prayer does not produce instant answers to every
request. Imagine the chaos if it did, since often God-fearing folk are
praying for exactly opposite things One person might be praying for
sunshine for some important event; another for rain to water vitally
needed crops. Someone may be seriously ill. One relative might pray
for his recovery; another that he should peacefully die.
We tend to see things very much from a human
perspective, finding it hard to step outside the arena of our
immediate needs to gain an overall view. Yet often, after years of
bitter disappointment because some hope or ambition has not been
realized, we may look back and feel that, after all, things turned out
for the best. And even if we never do understand the meaning of
certain experiences, we have the assurance that "all things work
together for good to them that love God" (Romans 8:28).
Of course some of our requests are petty and even
selfish. We cannot expect the Almighty to perform conjuring tricks for
us. James warns those with such a limited view: "Ye ask, and
receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may spend it on your
pleasures" (James 4:3).
Praying for Others
What is more difficult is that our request may be of
an entirely selfless nature, on behalf of some thoroughly worthy
cause. Very often such prayers arise from the desire to alleviate
suffering, which it is felt a God of love would naturally want to do.
It is not so easy to explain why such earnest requests are sometimes
disregarded.
But the fact is that as a result of man's
imperfection, or sin, the whole creation has been subjected to
"bondage", as the Bible puts it. In other words, we are
enslaved to a system which does not function perfectly as a result of
the separation from God which sin has caused. Thorns and thistles grow
up as well as beautiful flowers and wholesome vegetables. The human
body is capable of the grace of a ballet dancer or the speed and
stamina of an Olympic runner. But it can be handicapped from birth, be
prone to infection and terrible diseases.
As the apostle Paul puts it: "The whole creation
groaneth and travaileth in pain" (Romans 8:22). Around us are
constant reminders that we are in an imperfect world; without these
reminders we would forget our moral and spiritual imperfection. Just
as certain fish can adapt to living in polluted waters, so man could
adapt to living in a world of muddy values and murky principles, if he
did not experience the regular shock of situations which cry out to
him of his need to be saved. In the face of such situations, people
tend to get on their knees.
Of course, many of the problems can be traced directly
to human sin and stupidity. The pregnant mother who smokes must bear
the responsibility for any damage she causes her baby. But many of the
evils which afflict us are not of our own personal making, nor are
they always the result of foolish collective policies or wicked
systems. In a world that has separated itself from God, both social
and natural laws are affected by the curse of sin. Even the man who
puts all his trust in God will suffer the consequences. The book of
Job is a vivid dramatization of this truth. Catastrophes will not be
fairly distributed in such a world; nor will life's bonuses:
"The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to
the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of
understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill . . . as the fishes that
are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the
snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth
suddenly upon them" (Ecclesiastes 9:11-12).
God Cares
What we must realize is that God has not abandoned us
in this situation. He asks us to trust Him, to believe in His Word, to
obey His commandments as far as we are able and to look forward to a
time in the future when He will intervene in human affairs to
establish a society which will be governed by just and fair
laws, in which nature itself will ultimately be in harmony with its
perfect Creator.
We must understand therefore that God's concern for us
is to do with our eternal welfare and it may not be best for us
to have every problem, big or small, solved instantly. The very
set-backs of life can be turned to advantage in the development of our
characters:
"We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not
only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that
suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and
character, hope" (Romans 5:3, N.I.V.).
The experiences of our present life can find meaning
in the context of God's eternal plan. In the kingdom of God, we shall
be able to look back, by God's grace, and see the value of even the
most testing crises in our lives. So Paul the apostle could write:
"We do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are
wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our
light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory
that far outweighs them all" (2 Corinthians 4:16, N.I.V.).
Paul could write from personal experience. He had
suffered many trials in the course of his preaching work (see 2
Corinthians 11:23-29) and, to make matters worse, he had some kind of
physical disability which handicapped him further. He states that
three times he prayed to God that this "thorn in the flesh"
might be removed. But then he came to accept that, after all, the very
weakness which afflicted him made him all the more aware that his own
strength was insufficient: he must depend upon the power of God:
"He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for
thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly
therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of
Christ may rest upon me. I take pleasure in infirmities, in
reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for
Christ's sake: for when I am weak, than am I strong" (2
Corinthians 12:9-10).
"Learning all the worth of pain"
God never allows us to be tested more than we can bear
(1 Corinthians 10:13) and the Bible reveals how God Himself is
personally affected as He enters into the feelings of human experience
(see, for example, Isaiah 63:9; Acts 9:4). There is no greater
demonstration of this than in the willing suffering of God's only
beloved Son, who "when he suffered, he threatened not, but
committed himself to him that judgeth righteously". The Lord was
greatly strengthened throughout his life by prayer, not least in the
hour of keenest trial:
"In the days of his flesh, when he had offered up
prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that
was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;
though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he
suffered, and being made perfect, he became the author of eternal
salvation unto all them that obey him" (Hebrews 5:7-9).
Here our theme is vividly exemplified. It could be
said that the Lord's prayer was not heard, for the suffering
was not removed. Scripture, however, clearly states that he was
heard, but it was not in God's will that the experience should be
removed. What good, then, was it to pray? The Gospels record that in
the very process of laying his situation before his heavenly Father,
even in the midst of his mental agony, Jesus was actually coming to
terms with the necessity of the cross he was to bear:
"Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from
me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done" (Luke
22:24)
A Source of Strength
But this was not all. Prayer is not only the way we
may sort out our problems in God's presence. It can provide a very
real fortifying power:
"And there appeared an angel unto him from
heaven, strengthening him" (Luke 22:43).
Our prayers, then, must not be selfish, though we may
lay all our problems before the Lord. Even in our best and apparently
selfless requests, we must accept that God knows best: "Shall we
receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?"
(Job 2:10). Whatever we ask must be conditioned by the Lord's phrase,
"nevertheless not my will, but thine be done". This does not
apply, of course, when we are asking God for things which He has
clearly declared to be His will. It is unnecessary, for example, when
we pray for the coming of the Lord, to add "if it be thy
will", since we know it is God's will.
Even though God may not choose to work a miracle on
our behalf as we would like it to work, it is not because He does not
care. It is because He is working in us the miracle of transforming
our characters to be like that of His Son. For the true believer,
there is nothing that can separate him from the love of God in Christ
Jesus:
"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the
shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me" (Psalm
23:4).
The petition in the Lord's Prayer, "Give us this
day our daily bread", reminds us of how simple and unadorned are
our basic needs-and reminds us too of our overriding need of that
living bread from heaven which we eat when we share the
self-sacrificing life of our Lord: "The bread that I will give is
my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world", said
Jesus (John 6:51);
"Lord, who Thyself hast bidden us to pray For
daily bread,
We ask thee but for grace and strength this day Our path to
tread."
Practical Consequences
We have already seen that to make our prayers
effective, we need to think in harmony with the mind of God. Right
thinking will have practical consequences. The first commandment is to
love God; the second to love our neighbor. The second is the
consequence of the first and must result in practical concern for the
welfare of others.
"Forgive us our sins", the Lord taught his
disciples to pray. Indeed, without that forgiveness of sins we cannot
enjoy the relationship with God which enables us to address Him as
"Our Father". We have to accept the practical consequence of
asking God for forgiveness. Firstly we are told, "He that
believeth and is baptized shall be saved" (Mark 16:1 6).
Following from this act of faith, we are no more "strangers and
foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household
of God" (Ephesians 2:19). That relationship with those who are
now our brothers and sisters in the Lord makes demands upon us and
requires us to exercise our responsibilities as members of God's
family. And this in its turn requires us to show love and compassion
to all men, preaching the Gospel of forgiveness in Christ by word and
deed.
The Lord emphasized these practical consequences when
he added to the words "Forgive us our sins" the
heart-searching confession, "for we also forgive everyone who
sins against us" (Luke 11:4, N.I.V.). The Bible roundly condemns
those who honor God with their lips but have hearts that are far from
Him. "Let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and
in truth" (1 John 3:18). Prayer cannot be effective if we
are acting in ways that are patently inconsistent with the
relationship we claim with God through our prayers.
A Concern for Others
"I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in
prayer, without anger or disputing", Paul advised Timothy (1
Timothy 2:8, N.I.V.). The person who bears a grudge against his
brother, or is refusing to speak to him, or stirs up trouble against
him, cannot expect God to forgive him. "If thou bring thy gift to
the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against
thee; leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be
reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift"
(Matthew 5:23-24). This is the teaching of Jesus.
The apostle Peter makes a similar point, this time
emphasising the importance of right relationships in our homes and the
exercising of our responsibilities within our families:
"Husbands be considerate as you live with your
wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs
with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing Will hinder
your prayers" (1 Peter 3:7, N.I.V.).
It is good that in our prayers we should bring before
God the needs of others. Not only will this in itself help us to see
our own problems in perspective, but it will remind us of our
responsibility to do something for those about whom we pray. When the
apostle Paul wrote to the Thessalonian believers he recalled how
regularly he prayed on their behalf, but he also recalled the
practical steps he took to minister to their needs when he sent to
them Timothy, "to establish you and to comfort you concerning
your faith" (1 Thessalonians 1:2; 3:1-3; see 3:9-13).
People receive great strength from the knowledge that
prayers are being offered on their behalf and many can testify to the
ways in which prayer has opened up doors of opportunity;
"With confident and humble mind,
Freedom in service I would find,
Praying through every toil assigned,
Thy will be done."
"Lead us not into temptation"
This petition is directly connected with the need for
forgiveness of sins for our relationship with God to be sustained. In
prayer we need to review our spiritual progress before the Lord,
confessing to Him our failures, in the knowledge that those who have
entered into fellowship with Him through the Lord Jesus are assured of
the forgiveness of those sins: "If we confess our sins, he is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9).
Naturally, we are not expected to go straight out and
deliberately commit the same sin, though it is very likely that in
spite of our best endeavors, we shall often fail. There is a distinct
difference between deliberate and calculated sin and sin which recurs
because of weakness. Watching is frequently associated with prayer. It
implies alertness, being on our spiritual guard, a determination to
avoid falling into the snare of sin. So Jesus exhorted his disciples:
"Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit
indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak" (Matthew 26:41). If we
pray for help to avoid sin, we shall certainly receive that help if we
allow ourselves to be influenced and guided by God's Word, if we
associate with our brothers and sisters in the Lord, if we avoid those
situations which we know will weaken our resolve.
When, Where and How?
There is no aspect of the spiritual life which is not
touched by prayer. Therefore to "pray without ceasing" is
not about non-stop talk to God. The point is that every moment of our
lives should be lived in the consciousness of the presence of God.
Nevertheless, we do well to set aside certain times
when we concentrate our minds in communion with God. The law of Moses
prescribed that the High Priest should burn incense, a symbol of
prayer, morning and evening. It is good that we should begin the day
with God and that we should review before Him the day's activities
before we go to bed. Mealtimes provide an opportunity, particularly
when we are with our families, for more than a perfunctory saying of
grace -- an opportunity to speak to God with our families about
various needs and concerns. Other opportunities will arise in
accordance with each person's circumstances and commitments.
It is not necessary to adopt a particular position for
prayer. We may be able to kneel by our bedside at night; in other
circumstances we may be standing, sitting or flat on our backs. When
Nehemiah stood in the presence of the king of Persia and was given the
opportunity to make a request on behalf of his people, he first made a
silent request to God for help (Nehemiah 2:4). How well this reveals
the practical nature of prayer. There is no circumstance in which it
is not helpful.
When we read the life of the Lord Jesus, we see how
much prayer was a part of his daily experience, the source of renewal,
guidance and strength that enabled him to fulfil his taxing r6le. We
have glimpses of him on a mountain alone, spending all night in prayer
before making momentous decisions, or seeking help before an
exhausting preaching tour. If ever there was a man whose life
exemplified the power of prayer, it is the Lord. If, as we should, we
feel inadequate in our efforts to commune with God and to express
those innermost longings that lie in our hearts, then we have the
consolation of knowing that if we have given him our allegiance, he
will bear our feeble efforts into the presence of his Father,
perfecting that which is lacking:
"He is able to save them to the uttermost that
come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for
them" (Hebrews 7:25).
Prayer and Fellowship
We have an individual responsibility to cultivate the
habit of prayer and this responsibility extends to our families. We
have already seen that effective prayer must lead to acceptance of the
Gospel through belief and baptism, with the responsibilities which
follow as a result of becoming members of the family of God. Jesus
himself prayed for the effective witness of those who, through the
preaching of the word of truth, should be united together (John
17:17-23).
Praying Together
Men and women who are united on the basis of the
teaching of the Lord must certainly pray together. We read how those
who were baptized on the day of Pentecost after the preaching of Peter
"continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship,
and in breaking of bread, and in prayers" (Acts 2:42). When the
believers met together, as they did on the first day of the week for
remembering the sacrifice of Christ through the breaking of bread, and
at other times whenever opportunity permitted, prayer was a natural
part of their worship and witness. Some moving scenes are presented to
us in the Acts of the Apostles as the disciples strengthened one
another, often in trying circumstances. We read of the apostle Paul
urgently reminding the elders of Ephesus of their responsibilities:
"And when he had thus spoken, he kneeled down and prayed with
them all" (Acts 20:36). Later on the same journey, Paul and his
companions stopped briefly at Tyre. They did not hesitate to look up
the disciples there and when they came to leave, "they all
brought us on our way, with wives and children, till we were out of
the city; and we kneeled down on the shore and prayed" (Acts
21:5).
It is, of course, possible for a person to live in
isolation from his brothers and sisters in the Lord. Visits, letters,
telephone calls are all possible to help maintain vital fellowship.
But when we can meet regularly together to share in the work and
witness of "the household of faith" we are without excuse if
we shirk our responsibilities. Besides failing in our duty to
strengthen others, we shall ourselves be denied the power which comes
from united prayer and worship:
"Wherever in the world I am, In whatso'er
estate,
I have a fellowship with hearts To keep and cultivate;
A work of lowly love to do For him on whom I wait."
The Blessings of Prayer
What blessings flow from the fellowship which is
possible for those who seek the will of God through His Word and are
united by their association with the person and teaching of the Lord
Jesus Christ! A study of the lives of great men in Bible times reveals
how the practice of prayer was woven into the pattern of their lives.
How wonderfully David, for example, was able to triumph over the
turmoil of his life and achieve a state of calm and joyful assurance
on the basis of his faith in the Lord. The Psalms which he wrote
provide numerous examples of the power of prayer:
"O taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed
is the man that trusteth in him" (Psalm 34:8).
The Lord God Himself challenges us to test for
ourselves the benefits of that trust and obedience which is the basis
of true worship:
"Prove me . . . saith the LORD of hosts, if I
will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing,
that there shall not be room enough to receive it" (Malachi
3:10).
An invitation is extended to each one of us that we,
"by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving" may come to
share the hope of the Gospel, as a result of which "the peace of
God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds
through Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:6-7).
Are you willing to pray the words of the Psalmist that
follow?
"Let thy mercies come also unto me, O LORD, Even
thy salvation, according to thy word" (Psalm 119:41).
Begin the day with God
Kneel down to Him in prayer;
Lift up thy head to His abode,
And seek His love to share.
Open the Book of God;
And read a portion there;
That it may hallow all thy thoughts,
And sweeten all thy care.
Go through the day with God,
Whate'er thy work may be;
Where'er thou art, at home, abroad,
He still is near to thee.
Converse in mind with God;
Thy spirit heavenward raise;
Acknowledge every good bestowed,
And offer grateful praise.
Conclude the day with God;
Thy sins to Him confess;
Trust in the Lord's atoning blood,
And plead His righteousness.
Lie down at night with God,
Who gives His servants sleep;
And when thou tread'st the vale of death,
He will thee guard and keep.
Several of the quotations in italics
are from The Christadelphian Hymn Book, as follows: p. 4, no.
120; p. 14, no. 105; p. 15, no. 106; p. 18, no. 89.