PRAYER

Israel—Signifies—A Wrestler My dear Israel:

THE interesting exercise upon which I am about to offer you a few remarks, is the distinguishing privilege of the family of God, and the characteristic mark of the awakened sinner, of whom it may always be said, as soon as God begins his gracious work upon the heart, “Behold he prayeth.”

To give an explanation of that which the Holy Spirit has already taught you, might seem superfluous, if we did not know something of the artifice of the prince of darkness whereby he distresses praying souls; but as he has so often insinuated that you never prayed in earnest, and disturbed the peace of your mind by his suggestions, I am anxiously concerned to fortify you against his devices.

I shall not attempt to prescribe any form of prayer or give human rules and directions for it; but simply invite your attention to a few of the most prominent scriptural expressions, which seem to describe its nature; reminding you at the same time, that the spirit of prayer must come from God, and whenever that is bestowed, the very expressions which I shall now transcribe for your perusal, will most forcibly set forth the emotions of the soul.

The first which occurs to my mind, and one of the most common in scripture, is that of “crying” to the Lord, and this is most strikingly descriptive of that keen distress, which the praying soul feels under its awakenings; so that the first expression of prayer is generally the cry of distress, which is invariably produced by the discovery of guilt and danger, made by the sinner when the Holy Spirit convinces him of sin; and though it may be so inarticulate as to be understood by none but God who inspired it, yet, it is the genuine testimony of the new birth; yea, the infallible evidence of spiritual life, and is always attended to by its divine Author, whose “ears are open to their cry.”

“Asking,” is also a phrase frequently employed in the sacred volume, to describe the exercise of prayer, and denotes the sense of need, which is felt by the praying soul: as soon as the eyes of the mind are opened by divine influence, a thousand wants are discovered, he needs pardon, purity, strength, health, life, righteousness, peace, and security; in short, every thing that the covenant of grace contains, and the word of God specifies; and having no other means of getting his wants supplied, he goes to God as an impoverished helpless creature, asking for the things which the exigencies of his case require; thus he is furnished with an errand from himself, and he obtains his authority from him who has said, “ask and it shall be given you.”

Pleading, is descriptive of this important privilege, which intimates that the praying soul has something to urge before God as a ground or reason for approaching him, and that he has some hope of succeeding; now the sinner can have nothing of his own or in himself to plead, he must therefore look out of himself for a plea to urge before God. This he finds in the suretyship of Jesus, which he presents before the throne, crying “Behold, O God, our Shield, and look upon the face of thine Anointed.” Nor is such pleading in vain; for whenever the sinner presents himself before God in his true character, and makes mention of the righteousness of Christ as the ground of his acceptance, he can in no wise be cast out, or denied the mercy for which he pleads.

“Wrestling,” must not be omitted as one of the scriptural representations of prayer; and your very name, my dear Israel, reminds me of it, and conveys an idea of holy fervour in prayer, to which I trust you are no stranger. A cold careless repetition of WORDS (however excellent) will not satisfy your mind; you feel, or you long to feel in earnest—you crave an answer—you exercise a holy vehemence—and you become so intent and earnest, that your whole soul is engaged with God, resolving and exclaiming “I will not let thee go except thou bless me.”

“Drawing near to God,” is likewise among the sweetest descriptions of prayer, as it intimates a holy familiarity between God and the soul; in the exercise of which, the inmost emotions of the spirit are expressed before God, and the secrets of his love are made known in return; there is a simple unbosoming of the mind to God, and a receiving from him strength, comfort, and life itself. Relationship is recognized—intimacy is cherished and the sweet correspondence is opened and maintained, so that the praying soul exclaims, “Truly my fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.”

“Pouring out the soul,” is still stronger description of prayer, which is understood only by such as are melted in contrition by the Spirit of God. The prayer of such is simply the giving vent to the vehement desire—the pious grief—the tender affection—and the sacred hope of the soul. How different is this to the vain repetitions so solemnly exposed by the prophet, “This people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men.” The Lord deliver you, my dear young friend, from such solemn mockery, and “pour upon you the Spirit of grace, and of supplication,” that you, like pious Hannah, may habitually pour out your soul before the Lord.

“Taking hold of God” stands among the most bold descriptions of prayer, in the page of inspiration, and brings in the aid of living faith and strong confidence in our approaches to God; taking hold of his covenant—of his strength— of his promises—and of his endearing relations. Then it is that we approach him in the spirit of adoption, believing we have the things we ask, and taking even the spirit of prayer as the pledge of the things prayed for. Can faith be too strong, or confidence rise too high when presenting God’s own promises to him for fulfillment? No! my dear brother, go to your Father with “thou saidst” as wrestling Jacob did, and be assured, that like him you shall be a prevailing Israel; and as a prince you shall have power with God, even the power with which the God of Israel endows the helpless sinner, “that stirreth up himself to take hold of God.”

There is yet one more scriptural representation of prayer, to which I must invite your attention, viz. “Groanings which cannot be uttered;” this is a description of prayer known to all the family of God, and proves that words are not essential, but that the soul is often engaged with God, when it has not language to express its sacred emotions. Is not this frequently the case with you, my dear brother, when engaged in business, when walking the streets, or when exposed to temptations, as well as when bowing the knee in the closet? Depend upon it, these secret and momentary goings out of the soul after God, are pre-eminently entitled to the epithets employed by the apostle James, “effectual, fervent prayer,” and have more of the genuine nature of prayer in them, than is frequently found in the more stated exercises of the Christian.

From these few remarks, I trust you will perceive that prayer is a real correspondence habitually kept up, between God and the soul, in which “simplicity, and godly sincerity are of infinite importance.

It is awful to hear vain worms complimenting Jehovah with pompous expressions, or merely repeating a string of common-place phrases: but it is truly delightful to hear a disciple of Christ, in the simplicity of his heart, breathing out his earnest desires, as the Spirit gives him utterance. Be not discouraged, beloved, by the smallness of your gifts, but bless God if he has communicated the grace of prayer; and be assured that, to have the heart engaged with God for one moment, is infinitely more desirable than being able to occupy an hour with a flow of language, in which there is no pleading—wrestling—or pouring out of the soul.

Never forget, that divine teaching is essential to real prayer; and while you look up for the influence of the Holy Spirit to teach you to pray, take encouragement to believe that you are under it, from the very disposition you feel to seek the Lord by prayer; for such a disposition you never could have possessed, if it had not been given you from above. A praying soul is a renewed one —a renewed soul is a justified one—a justified soul is an elect one—an elect soul shall be a glorified one; so that you may consider even your “groanings which cannot be uttered,” and your breathings of spiritual desire, as demonstrations of spiritual life—fruits of electing love—and pledges of glorification.

Maintain an abiding sense of the importance of associating with praying souls in this delightful exercise; the promise of Christ affords great encouragement to this practice and gives a divine sanction to prayer-meetings, which should stimulate you to constancy in attending them, “I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.” The sacred design of social prayer is not to display talent, or exercise gifts, but for the disciples of Jesus to agree in spirit in sending up their united desires to the throne of God, and I trust you have often felt the spirit of prayer corresponding with the language of the minister or brother who has stood up as mouth for the congregation to God, and the silent emotions of your soul have gone up with the public supplications of the speaker, while mutual delight and profit have been receiving in waiting upon God. Is it not grevious to hear professing Christians excuse themselves from going to the house of God by saying, “It is ONLY a prayer meeting?” as if united prayer were of little or no importance; surely such persons must have lost sight of the Redeemer’s promise and of their own souls’ profit.

I shall close this epistle, by submitting the apostolic injunction to your notice: “Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving.” Never allow the want of a spiritual frame of mind to induce you to omit your stated seasons of communion with God; this would be tempting the Lord, and giving place to the devil; put your self in a praying posture, and wait, and ask, and look for the spirit of prayer from on high. Watch in the same against unbelief, impatience, and pride. Be thankful for the privilege, for the grace, and for the answers to prayer; and when you obtain the nearer access to God, and most intimate fellowship with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ, then remember, and plead for your

Affectionate Pastor,

What wondrous grace! who knows its full extent
A creature, dust and ashes speaks with God!—
Tells all his woes—enumerates his wants—
Yea, pleads with Deity, and gains relief.
‘Tis prayer, yes, ‘Tis “Effectual fervent prayer,”
Puts dignity on worms—proves life divine—
Makes demons tremble—breaks the darkest cloud,
And with a princely power prevails with God!
And shall this privilege become a task?
My God, forbid! pour out thy Spirit’s grace,
Draw me by love, and teach me how to pray.
Yea, let thy holy unction from above,
Beget, extend, maintain my intercourse
With FATHER, SON, and SPIRIT, Israel’s God,
Until petitions are exchanged for praise.

Deze tekst is geautomatiseerd gemaakt en kan nog fouten bevatten. Digibron werkt voortdurend aan correctie. Klik voor het origineel door naar de pdf. Voor opmerkingen, vragen, informatie: contact.

Op Digibron -en alle daarin opgenomen content- is het databankrecht van toepassing. Gebruiksvoorwaarden. Data protection law applies to Digibron and the content of this database. Terms of use.

Printen