"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. |