The Need For Prayer

Friends, secret devotion is as necessary, even more necessary, for us than it was for the patriarch. Why? We have more sin to confess and more needs to supply. And of all kinds of prayer, secret devotion is the first and most essential.

As matters stand today, no intelligent and right-hearted man is satisfied with the state of his own soul, nor the condition of his family, the state of the congregation of which he is a member, or the denomination to which he belongs, the country he inhabits, or the world at large.

All, therefore, who have right apprehensions of these things will join heartily in the need for prayers to be presented for “the Spirit from on high,” in private, in family worship, in social assemblies, and above all in the house of God.

Would to God there were many who, as Jacob did in days of old, “wrestled with God in prayer till the dawning of the day.” True, his principal supplications centered at that time around his own health and safety, and the preservation and prosperity of his family and substance. But I have not these particularly in mind, because they are least likely to be neglected.

What I want specially to press upon your attention is the state of your own soul and those of your family, the congregation with which you are connected, and the church to which you belong; in fact, the condition of all professedly Christian churches as well as the work of propagating religion throughout the world.

You will ask: “How are we to perform this tremendous task of placing all these matters before the Throne of Grace?” Perhaps we may do well to follow old Jacob’s example here, too! He sought retirement for devotion. He went to the other side of the brook and spent the night in prayer and supplication. Or better still, what do we read of the blessed Redeemer? He sent his disciples away in a ship and He himself went alone into a mountain to pray.

Is our situation really that serious? Friends, secret devotion is as necessary, even more necessary, for us than it was for the patriarch. Why? We have more sin to confess and more needs to supply. And of all kinds of prayer, secret devotion is the first and most essential.

Do we feel the need personally of a supply of the Holy Spirit to enable us to engage with advantage in prayer meetings and in the prayers in the church services? We should therefore, morning and evening, retire from the world, chase away its care from our minds, and “pray to our Father in secret, who seeth in secret and will reward us openly.” But let us not be guilty of doing as some who spend a few minutes in formal and distracted prayer, in which not even the understanding, and still less the heart, is engaged!

Our own personal needs and those of our family and relatives will come first to mind. Nevertheless, how can we ever forget to most earnestly pray for those men called to be God’s servants to proclaim the grand message of salvation and to send forth the warnings and blessings coming from the throne of God? Let it not be said of us, that the minister finds the heavens to be of brass, and his message seems to fall on deaf ears. They are God’s messengers and in an especial manner they need the prayers of the congregation.

We are also solemnly called upon to remember in our prayers those who rule over us, so we may lead quiet and peacable lives. And we need only go to the history of our nation and of the world at large to know that it is of the Lord’s mercy that we are not consumed.

May the Spirit of God help our infirmities; for “we know not what we should pray for as we ought.” But may the Spirit of God make intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

Dr. Robert Smith, a Scottish divine, wrote this “contemporary” message in 1848! May we be given such “prayer days” not only annually, as on March 9, but daily, out of free grace.

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