"Some years ago a man was travelling in the wilds
of Kentucky. He had with him a large sum of money and was well armed.
He put up at a log-house one night, but was much concerned with the rough
appearance of the men who came and went from this abode. He retired early
but not to sleep. At midnight he heard the dogs barking furiously and
the sound of someone entering the cabin. Peering through a chink in the
boards of his room, he saw a stranger with a gun in his hand. Another
man sat before the fire. The traveller concluded they were planning to
rob him, and prepared to defend himself and his property. Presently the
newcomer took down a copy of the Bible, read a chapter aloud, and then
knelt down and prayed. The traveller dismissed his fears, put his revolver
away and lay down, to sleep peacefully until morning light. And all because
a Bible was in the cabin, and its owner a man of prayer." --
REV. F. F. SHOUP.
PRAYER has all to do with the success of the preaching of the Word. This,
Paul clearly teaches in that familiar and pressing request he made to the
Thessalonians:
"Finally, brethren, pray for us that the Word of the
Lord may have free course, and be glorified."
Prayer opens the way for the Word of God to run without let or hindrance,
and creates the atmosphere which is favourable to the word accomplishing
its purpose. Prayer puts wheels under God's Word, and gives wings to the
angel of the Lord "having the everlasting Gospel to preach unto them
that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and
people." Prayer greatly helps the Word of the Lord.
The Parable of the Sower is a notable study of preaching, showing its differing
effects and describing the diversity of hearers. The wayside hearers are
legion. The soil lies all unprepared either by previous thought or prayer;
as a consequence, the devil easily takes away the seed (which is the Word
of God) and dissipating all good impressions, renders the work of the sower
futile. No one for a moment believes, that so much of present-day sowing
would go fruitless if only the hearers would prepare the ground of their
hearts beforehand by prayer and meditation.
Similarly with the stony-ground hearers, and the thorny-ground hearers.
Although the word lodges in their hearts and begins to sprout, yet all is
lost, chiefly because there is no prayer or watchfulness or cultivation
following. The good-ground hearers are profited by the sowing, simply because
their minds have been prepared for the reception of the seed, and that,
after hearing, they have cultivated the seed sown in their hearts, by the
exercise of prayer. All this gives peculiar emphasis to the conclusion of
this striking parable: "Take heed, therefore, how ye hear." And
in order that we may take heed how we hear, it is needful to give
ourselves continually to prayer.
We have got to believe that underlying God's Word is prayer, and
upon prayer, its final success will depend. In the Book of Isaiah
we read:
"So shall My word be that goeth out of My mouth; it
shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please,
and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it."
In Psalm 19, David magnifies the Word of God in six statements concerning
it. It converts the soul, makes wise the simple, rejoices the heart, enlightens
the eyes, endures eternally, and is true and righteous altogether. The Word
of God is perfect, sure, right, pure. It is heart-searching, and at the
same time purifying, in its effect. It is no surprise therefore that after
considering the deep spirituality of the Word of God, its power to search
the inner nature of man, and its deep purity, the Psalmist should close
his dissertation with this passage:
"Who can understand his errors?" And then praying
after this fashion: "Cleanse Thou me from secret faults. Keep back
Thy servant also from presumptuous sins. Let them not have dominion over
me. Let the words of my mouth, and the meditations of my heart be acceptable
in Thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer."
James recognizes the deep spirituality of the Word, and its inherent saving
power, in the following exhortation:
"Wherefore, lay apart all filthiness and superfluity
of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is
able to save your souls."
And Peter talks along the same line, when describing the saving power of
the Word of God:
"Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of
incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever."
Not only does Peter speak of being born again, by the incorruptible Word
of God, but he informs us that to grow in grace we must be like new-born
babes, desiring or feeding upon the "sincere milk of the Word."
That is not to say, however, that the mere form of words as they occur in
the Bible have in them any saving efficacy. But the Word of God, be it remembered,
is impregnated with the Holy Spirit. And just as there is a Divine element
in the words of Scripture, so also is the same Divine element to be found
in all true preaching of the Word, which is able to save and convert the
soul.
Prayer invariably begets a love for the Word of God, and sets people to
the reading of it. Prayer leads people to obey the Word of God, and puts
into the heart which obeys a joy unspeakable. Praying people and Bible-reading
people are the same sort of folk. The God of the Bible and the God of prayer
are one. God speaks to man in the Bible; man speaks to God in prayer. One
reads the Bible to discover God's will; he prays in order that he may receive
power to do that will. Bible-reading and praying are the distinguishing
traits of those who strive to know and please God. And just as prayer begets
a love for the Scriptures, and sets people to reading the Bible, so, also,
does prayer cause men and women to visit the house of God, to hear the Scriptures
expounded. Church-going is closely connected with the Bible, not so much
because the Bible cautions us against "forsaking the assembling of
ourselves together as the manner of some is," but because in God's
house, God's chosen minister declares His Word to dying men, explains the
Scriptures, and enforces their teachings upon his hearers. And prayer germinates
a resolve, in those who practise it, not to forsake the house of God.
Prayer begets a church-going conscience, a church-loving heart, a church-supporting
spirit. It is the praying people, who make it a matter of conscience, to
attend the preaching of the Word; who delight in its reading; exposition;
who support it with their influence and their means. Prayer exalts the Word
of God and gives it preeminence in the estimation of those who faithfully
and wholeheartedly call upon the Name of the Lord.
Prayer draws its very life from the Bible, and has no standing ground outside
of the warrant of the Scriptures. Its very existence and character is dependent
on revelation made by God to man in His holy Word. Prayer, in turn, exalts
this same revelation, and turns men toward that Word. The nature, necessity
and all-comprehending character of prayer, is based on the Word of God.
Psalm 119 is a directory of God's Word. With three or four exceptions, each
verse contains a word which identifies, or locates, the Word of God. Quite
often, the writer breaks out into supplication, several times praying, "Teach
me Thy statutes." So deeply impressed is he with the wonders of God's
Word, and of the need for Divine illumination wherewith to see and understand
the wonderful things recorded therein, that he fervently prays:
"Open Thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things
out of Thy law."
From the opening of this wonderful Psalm to its close, prayer and God's
Word are intertwined. Almost every phase of God's Word is touched upon by
this inspired writer. So thoroughly convinced was the Psalmist of the deep
spiritual power of the Word of God that he makes this declaration:
"Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin
against Thee."
Here the Psalmist found his protection against sinning. By having God's
Word hidden in his heart; in having his whole being thoroughly impregnated
with that Word; in being brought completely under its benign and gracious
influence, he was enabled to walk to and fro in the earth, safe from the
attack of the Evil One, and fortified against a proneness to wander out
of the way.
We find, furthermore, the power of prayer to create a real love for the
Scriptures, and to put within men a nature which will take pleasure in the
Word. In holy ecstasy he cries, "O, how I love Thy law! It is my meditation
all the day." And again: "How sweet are Thy words to my taste!
Yea, sweeter than honey to my taste."
Would we have a relish for God's Word? Then let us give ourselves continually
to prayer. He who would have a heart for the reading of the Bible must not
-- dare not -- forget to pray. The man of whom it can be said, "His
delight is in the law of the Lord," is the man who can truly say, "I
delight to visit the place of prayer." No man loves the Bible, who
does not love to pray. No man loves to pray, who does not delight in the
law of the Lord.
Our Lord was a man of prayer, and He magnified the Word of God, quoting
often from the Scriptures. Right through His earthly life Jesus observed
Sabbath-keeping, church-going and the reading of the Word of God, and had
prayer intermingled with them all:
"And He came to Nazareth where He had been brought
up, and as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath Day,
and stood up to read."
Here, let it be said, that no two things are more essential to a spirit-filled
life than Bible-reading and secret prayer; no two things more helpful to
growth in grace; to getting the largest joy out of a Christian life; toward
establishing one in the ways of eternal peace. The neglect of these all-important
duties, presages leanness of soul, loss of joy, absence of peace, dryness
of spirit, decay in all that pertains to spiritual life. Neglecting these
things paves the way for apostasy, and gives the Evil One an advantage such
as he is not likely to ignore. Reading God's Word regularly, and praying
habitually in the secret place of the Most High puts one where he is absolutely
safe from the attacks of the enemy of souls, and guarantees him salvation
and final victory, through the overcoming power of the Lamb.
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