Prayer: The First Lesson to Learn

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Prayer: The First Lesson to Learn

Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is
willing, but the flesh is weak.
--Matthew 26:41

To pray successfully is the first lesson the preacher must learn if
he is to preach fruitfully; yet prayer is the hardest thing he will
ever be called upon to do and, being human, it is the one act he
will be tempted to do less frequently than any other. He must set
his heart to conquer by prayer, and that will mean that he must
first conquer his own flesh, for it is the flesh that hinders
prayer always.

Almost anything associated with the ministry may be learned with an
average amount of intelligent application. It is not hard to preach
or manage church affairs or pay a social call; weddings and
funerals may be conducted smoothly with a little help from Emily
Post and the Minister's Manual. Sermon making can be learned as
easily as shoemaking--introduction, conclusion and all. And so
with the whole work of the ministry as it is carried on in the
average church today.

But prayer--that is another matter. There Mrs. Post is helpless
and the Minister's Manual can offer no assistance. There the
lonely man of God must wrestle it out alone, sometimes in fasting
and tears and weariness untold. There every man must be an
original, for true prayer cannot be imitated nor can it be learned
from someone else. God Tells the Man Who Cares, 69.

"Lord, I pray that this month might really be a time that would
change my life. I don't want to just learn more about the
importance of prayer. I pray that Your Spirit might change me,
that I might become more and more genuinely a man of prayer.
Amen."
--Insight For Leaders

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Prayer: At Home in the Prayer Chamber

Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in
his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down
on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before
his God, as was his custom since early days.
--Daniel 6:10

Thomas a' Kempis wrote that the man of God ought to be more at home
in his prayer chamber than before the public....

No man should stand before an audience who has not first stood before
God. Many hours of communion should precede one hour in the pulpit.
The prayer chamber should be more familiar than the public platform.
Prayer should be continuous, preaching but intermittent.

It is significant that the schools teach everything about preaching
except the important part, praying. For this weakness the schools
are not to be blamed, for the reason that prayer cannot be taught;
it can only be done. The best any school or any book (or any article)
can do is to recommend prayer and exhort to its practice. Praying
itself must be the work of the individual. That it is the one
religious work which gets done with the least enthusiasm cannot but
be one of the tragedies of our times. God Tells the Man Who Cares,
70-71.

"Lord, I pray today that I might more and more be at home in my
prayer chamber. It's exciting to be in the pulpit; it's vital to be
in the closet. Let me do this work with deeper commitment and
greater enthusiasm. Amen."
--Insight For Leaders

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Prayer: Our First Responsibility

I rise before the dawning of the morning, and cry for help; I hope in
Your word. My eyes are awake through the night watches, that I may
meditate on Your word.
-Psalm 119:147-148

Briefly, the way to escape religion as a front is to make it a fount.
See to it that we pray more than we preach and we will never preach
ourselves out. Stay with God in the secret place longer than we are
with men in the public place and the fountain of our wisdom will
never dry up. Keep our hearts open to the inflowing Spirit and we
will not become exhausted by the outflow. Cultivate the acquaintance
of God more than the friendship of men and we will always have
abundance of bread to give to the hungry.

Our first responsibility is not to the public but to God and our own
souls. God Tells the Man Who Cares, 115-116.

"Lord, why does our first responsibility so easily get crowded out?
Quiet me today that this first thing might get the time and attention
it deserves. Amen."
--Insight For Leaders

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Prayer: The Top Side of Our Souls

And Jesus answered and said to her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried
and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary
has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her."
--Luke 10:41-42

..every real Christian, however practical, is in some degree a
mystic, his mysticism lying on the upper side of his life. He
prays, meditates on spiritual things and communes with God and the
invisible world. Also, every Christian, however he may be dedicated
to the holy art of prayer and worship, must of necessity descend to
work and eat and sleep and pay his taxes and get on somehow with
the hard world around him. And if he follows on to know the Lord he
must serve in every useful way outlined for him in the Scriptures
of truth. To be a Christian it is necessary that he serve his
generation as well as his God.

The big problem is to keep the two elements of the Christian life
in proper balance. Martha and Mary are sisters and we need both....
Today the Christian emphasis falls heavily on the "active" life....
The current vogue favors "Christian action." The favorite brand of
Christianity is that sparked by the man in a hurry, hard hitting,
aggressive and ready with the neat quip. We are neglecting the top
side of our souls. The light in the tower burns dimly while we
hurry about the grounds below, making a great racket and giving the
impression of wonderful devotion to our task. The Price of
Neglect, 45-47.

"Lord, help me to keep the proper balance. Help me especially to
cultivate the top side of my soul. Amen."

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Prayer: Just Wait on God

But the Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence
before Him.
--Habakkuk 2:20

I think we are the busiest bunch of eager beavers ever seen in the
religious world. The idea seems to be that if we are not running in
a circle, breathing down the back of our own neck, we are not
pleasing God!

When Jesus said, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel
to every creature" (Mark 16:15 KJV), Peter probably leaped to his
feet and, no doubt, scooped up his hat on the way out. He was
going to go right then!

But the Lord said, "Peter, come back, and 'stay in the city until
you have been clothed with power from on high' (Luke 24:49)."

I heard a Christian leader warn recently that we are suffering
from a rash of amateurism in Christian circles. Christianity has
leveled down and down and down. We are as light as butterflies--
though we flit, flit, flit around in the sunshine and imagine that
we are eagles flapping our broad wings.

Sometimes I think the Church would be better off if we would call
a moratorium on activity for about six weeks and just wait on God
to see what He is waiting to do for us. That's what they did
before Pentecost. The Counselor, 95.

"Lord, this morning I'll stop for a while at least to 'just wait
on God.' I know You're wanting to work, and I for one am willing
to wait this morning to hear Your voice and discover what You
want to do for me today. Amen."
--Insight For Leaders

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Prayer: Long Before the Lord

But whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with Him, he would
take the veil off until he came out; and he would come out and speak
to the children of Israel whatever he had been commanded.
--Exodus 34:34

It is written of Moses that he "went in before the Lord to speak with
him...and he came out, and spake unto the children of Israel." This
is the Biblical norm from which we depart to our own undoing and to
the everlasting injury of the souls of men. No man has any moral
right to go before the people who has not first been long before the
Lord. No man has any right to speak to men about God who has not
first spoken to God about men. And the prophet of God should spend
more time in the secret place praying than he spends in the public
place preaching....

One swallow does not make a spring nor one hot day a summer; nor will
a few minutes of frantic praying before service bring out the tender
buds or make the flowers to appear on the earth. The field must be
soaked in sunshine over a long period before it will give forth its
treasures. The Christian's heart must be soaked in prayer before the
true spiritual fruits begin to grow. The Root of the Righteous,
121-122.

"Lord, it seems like much of what we've been emphasizing all year
requires that we slow down from our frantic pace. It takes great
spiritual discipline to 'spend more time in the secret place praying
than we spend in the public place preaching.' Quiet my heart today,
slow me down I pray. Amen."

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Prayer: Just Meditate for a Month

But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates
day and night.
--Psalm 1:2

Let the old saints be our example. They came to the Word of God and
meditated. They laid the Bible on the old-fashioned, handmade chair,
got down on the old, scrubbed, board floor and meditated on the Word.
As they waited, faith mounted. The Spirit and faith illuminated.
They had only a Bible with fine print, narrow margins and poor paper,
but they knew their Bible better than some of us do with all of our
helps.

Let's practice the art of Bible meditation.... Let us open our
Bibles, spread them out on a chair and meditate on the Word of God.
It will open itself to us, and the Spirit of God will come and
brood over it.

I do challenge you to meditate, quietly, reverently, prayerfully,
for a month. Put away questions and answers and the filling in of
the blank lines in the portions you haven't been able to understand.
Put all of the cheap trash away and take the Bible, get on your
knees, and in faith, say, "Father, here I am. Begin to teach me!"
The Counselor, 136-137.

"Guide me, Lord, as I take time throughout this whole year to
meditate on You. Tozer is stimulating me, but my real desire is to
hear from You. I'll get on my knees this morning, Lord, in quiet
expectation. Amen."

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Prayer: Overcome Distractions

But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your
door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father
who sees in secret will reward you openly.
--Matthew 6:6

Among the enemies to devotion none is so harmful as distractions.
Whatever excites the curiosity, scatters the thoughts, disquiets the
heart, absorbs the interests or shifts our life focus from the
kingdom of God within us to the world around us--that is a
distraction; and the world is full of them. Our science-based
civilization has given us many benefits but it has multiplied our
distractions and so taken away far more than it has given....

The remedy for distractions is the same now as it was in earlier and
simpler times, viz., prayer, meditation and the cultivation of the
inner life. The psalmist said "Be still, and know," and Christ told
us to enter into our closet, shut the door and pray unto the Father.
It still works....

Distractions must be conquered or they will conquer us. So let us
cultivate simplicity; let us want fewer things; let us walk in the
Spirit; let us fill our minds with the Word of God and our hearts
with praise. In that way we can live in peace even in such a
distraught world as this. "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give
unto you." The Set of the Sail, 129-132.

"Lord, it's certainly harder and harder to shut out the
distractions of an increasingly science-based civilization. Help
me to cultivate simplicity, to be satisfied with fewer things,
and to find the inner peace that You can give in a life of prayer
and meditation. Amen."

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Prayer: Men Who Do Not Pray

Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good
reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint
over this business.
--Acts 6:3

Let us watch that we do not slide imperceptibly to a state where
the women do the praying and the men run the churches. Men who do
not pray have no right to direct church affairs. We believe in the
leadership of men within the spiritual community of the saints,
but that leadership should be won by spiritual worth.

Leadership requires vision, and whence will vision come except
from hours spent in the presence of God in humble and fervent
prayer? All things else being equal, a praying woman will know
the will of God for the church far better than a prayerless man.

We do not here advocate the turning of the churches over to the
women, but we do advocate a recognition of proper spiritual
qualifications for leadership among the men if they are to
continue to decide the direction the churches shall take. The
accident of being a man is not enough. Spiritual manhood alone
qualifies. We Travel an Appointed Way, 16.

"Lord, don't ever let me have leadership that I don't deserve.
Don't ever let me become careless in prayer. Don't ever let me
rely on the women to pray while I lead. Amen."

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Prayer: The Prayer of Faith

..The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
--James 5:16

A second important requirement if the believing church is to be used
in God's ministry is prayer and the response God makes to our prayers
uttered in true faith.... No matter what our stature or status, we
have the authority in the family of God to pray the prayer of faith.
The prayer of faith engages the heart of God, meeting God's
conditions of spiritual life and victory.

Our consideration of the power and efficacy of prayer enters into
the question of why we are part of a Christian congregation and what
that congregation is striving to be and do. We have to consider
whether we are just going around and around--like a religious merry-
go-round. Are we simply holding on to the painted mane of the
painted horse, repeating a trip of very insignificant circles to a
pleasing musical accompaniment?...

All of the advertising we can do will never equal the interest and
participation in the things of God resulting from the gracious
answers to the prayers of faith generated by the Holy Spirit.
Tragedy in the Church: The Missing Gifts, 7-8.

"Lord, don't ever let me be satisfied 'holding on to the painted
mane of the painted horse.' I want to be part of a dynamic Body of
believers, greatly used of You because we're seeing answers to
genuine 'prayers of faith generated by the Holy Spirit.' Amen."

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Prayer: Oh!

Then said I: "Ah, Lord God! Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth."
--Jeremiah 1:6

To be articulate at certain times we are compelled to fall back upon
"Oh!" or "O!"--a primitive exclamatory sound that is hardly a word at
all and that scarcely admits of a definition....

In theology there is no "Oh!" and this is a significant if not
ominous thing. Theology seeks to reduce what may be known of God to
intellectual terms, and as long as the intellect can comprehend it
can find words to express itself. When God Himself appears before the
mind, awesome, vast and incomprehensible, then the mind sinks into
silence and the heart cries out "O Lord God!" There is the difference
between theological knowledge and spiritual experience, the
difference between knowing God by hearsay and knowing Him by
acquaintance. And the difference is not verbal merely; it is real and
serious and vital.

We Christians should watch lest we lose the "Oh!" from our hearts....

When we become too glib in prayer we are most surely talking to
ourselves. When the calm listing of requests and the courteous
giving of proper thanks take the place of the burdened prayer that
finds utterance difficult we should beware the next step, for our
direction is surely down whether we know it or not.
Born After Midnight, pp. 86-87

"Lord, don't ever let me lose the 'Oh!' Amen."

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Prayer: Not Asking for Anything

I love the Lord, because He has heard my voice and my supplications.
Because He has inclined His ear to me, therefore I will call upon Him
as long as I live.
--Psalm 116:1-2

I think that some of the greatest prayer is prayer where you don't
say one single word or ask for anything. Now God does answer and He
does give us what we ask for. That's plain; nobody can deny that
unless he denies the Scriptures. But that's only one aspect of
prayer, and it's not even the important aspect. Sometimes I go to God
and say, "God, if Thou dost never answer another prayer while I live
on this earth I will still worship Thee as long as I live and in the
ages to come for what Thou hast done already." God's already put me
so far in debt that if I were to live one million millenniums I
couldn't pay Him for what He's done for me.

We go to God as we send a boy to a grocery store with a long written
list, "God, give me this, give me this, and give me this," and our
gracious God often does give us what we want. But I think God is
disappointed because we make Him to be no more than a source of what
we want. Even our Lord Jesus is presented too often much as "Someone
who will meet your need." That's the throbbing heart of modern
evangelism. You're in need and Jesus will meet your need. He's the
Need-meeter. Well, He is that indeed; but, ah, He's infinitely more
than that.
Worship: The Missing Jewel, pp. 24-25

"Father, forgive me for so often just coming to You with my grocery
list. You've been so faithful; You've given me so much; You've
blessed so richly. It's time I just came, realizing my incredible
debt to You, and simply worshipped at Your feet. Amen."

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Prayer: Take Time to Listen

The entrance of Your words gives light; it gives understanding to the
simple. I opened my mouth and panted, for I longed for Your
commandments.
-Psalm 119:130-131

The Quakers had many fine ideas about life, and there is a story from
them that illustrates the point I am trying to make. It concerns a
conversation between Samuel Taylor Coleridge and a Quaker woman he
had met. Maybe Coleridge was boasting a bit, but he told the woman
how he had arranged the use of time so he would have no wasted hours.
He said he memorized Greek while dressing and during breakfast. He
went on with his list of other mental activities--making notes,
reading, writing, formulating thoughts and ideas--until bedtime.

The Quaker listened unimpressed. When Coleridge was finished with his
explanation, she asked him a simple, searching question: "My friend,
when dost thee think?"

God is having a difficult time getting through to us because we are
a fast-paced generation. We seem to have no time for contemplation.
We have no time to answer God when He calls.
Jesus, Author of our Faith, p. 46

"Thank You, Lord, that You convicted me some time ago about this
need for time to think, of the need for solitude and silence. Make
this increasingly possible for me, but also for many of my brothers
and sisters who have not discovered the value of this slowing down.
Amen."

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Prayer: Teach Me to Listen

Now the Lord came and stood and called as at other times, "Samuel!
Samuel!" And Samuel answered, "Speak, for Your servant hears."
--1 Samuel 3:10

Lord, teach me to listen. The times are noisy and my ears are weary
with the thousand raucous sounds which continuously assault them.
Give me the spirit of the boy Samuel when he said to Thee, "Speak,
for thy servant heareth." Let me hear Thee speaking in my heart.
Let me get used to the sound of Thy voice, that its tones may be
familiar when the sounds of earth die away and the only sound will
be the music of Thy speaking voice. Amen.
The Pursuit of God, pp. 82-83

"Speak, for Thy servant heareth. Amen."

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Prayer: A Closed Mouth and Silent Heart

My heart was hot within me; while I was musing, the fire burned. Then
I spoke with my tongue....
--Psalm 39:3

Prayer among evangelical Christians is always in danger of
degenerating into a glorified gold rush. Almost every book on prayer
deals with the "get" element mainly. How to get things we want from
God occupies most of the space. Now, we gladly admit that we may ask
for and receive specific gifts and benefits in answer to prayer, but
we must never forget that the highest kind of prayer is never the
making of requests. Prayer at its holiest moment is the entering
into God to a place of such blessed union as makes miracles seem
tame and remarkable answers to prayer appear something very far
short of wonderful by comparison.

Holy men of soberer and quieter times than ours knew well the power
of silence. David said, "I was dumb with silence. I held my peace,
even from good; and my sorrow was stirred. My heart was hot within
me; while I was musing the fire burned; then spake I with my
tongue." There is a tip here for God's modern prophets. The heart
seldom gets hot while the mouth is open. A closed mouth before God
and silent heart are indispensable for the reception of certain
kinds of truth. No man is qualified to speak who has not first
listened.
The Set of the Sail, pp. 14-15


"Lord, teach me to close my mouth. I love to preach; You've given
me opportunities to teach; I'm called on to dispense advice and
counsel. But the sitting in silence before You, with my mouth
closed--I don't do nearly enough of that. Amen."

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Prayer: The File-card Mentality

As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O
God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come
and appear before God?
--Psalm 42:1-2

When religion loses its sovereign character and becomes mere form
this spontaneity is lost also, and in its place come precedent,
propriety, system--and the file-card mentality....

The slave to the file card soon finds that his prayers lose their
freedom and become less spontaneous, less effective. He finds
himself concerned over matters that should give him no concern
whatever--how much time he spent in prayer yesterday, whether he did
or did not cover his prayer list for the day, whether he gets up as
early as he used to do or stays up in prayer as late at night.
Inevitably the calendar crowds out the Spirit and the face of the
clock hides the face of God. Prayer ceases to be the free breath of
a ransomed soul and becomes a duty to be fulfilled. And even if
under such circumstances he succeeds in making his prayer amount to
something, still he is suffering tragic losses and binding upon his
soul a yoke from which Christ died to set him free.
Of God and Men, pp. 79,81

"Oh, Father, I pray that prayer might never become for me 'a duty
to be fulfilled.' In a real love relationship communication is a
delight, never a duty. Fill me with that freedom in my times with
You. Amen."

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Prayer: Prayer Changes the Man

And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father
may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I
will do it.
--John 14:13-14

In all our praying, however, it is important that we keep in mind
that God will not alter His eternal purposes at the word of a man.
We do not pray in order to persuade God to change His mind. Prayer
is not an assault upon the reluctance of God, nor an effort to
secure a suspension of His will for us or for those for whom we
pray. Prayer is not intended to overcome God and "move His arm."
God will never be other than Himself, no matter how many people
pray, nor how long nor how earnestly.

God's love desires the best for all of us, and He desires to give
us the best at any cost. He will open rivers in desert places,
still turbulent waves, quiet the wind, bring water from the rock,
send an angel to release an apostle from prison, feed an
orphanage, open a land long closed to the gospel. All these things
and a thousand others He has done and will do in answer to prayer,
but only because it had been His will to do it from the beginning.
No one persuades Him.

What the praying man does is to bring his will into line with the
will of God so God can do what He has all along been willing to
do. Thus prayer changes the man and enables God to change things
in answer to man's prayer.
The Price of Neglect, pp. 51-52

"Eternal God, I realize that I am in no position to tell You how
to run Your universe--or even my tiny corner of it. Yet somehow
You have given me the awesome privilege of communing with You,
bringing my requests, and waiting upon You to bring my will in
line with Yours. Then somehow You work in answer to my prayer!
Thank You. Amen."

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Prayer: Much Every Way

Ah, Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your
great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You.
--Jeremiah 32:17

When Tennyson wrote "More things are wrought by prayer than this
world dreams of," he probably uttered a truth of vaster significance
than even he understood. While it is not always possible to trace an
act of God to its prayer-cause, it is yet safe to say that prayer is
back of everything that God does for the sons of men here upon earth.
One would gather as much from a simple reading of the Scriptures.

What profit is there in prayer? "Much every way." Whatever God can
do faith can do, and whatever faith can do prayer can do when it is
offered in faith. An invitation to prayer is, therefore, an
invitation to omnipotence, for prayer engages the Omnipotent God
and brings Him into our human affairs. Nothing is impossible to the
man who prays in faith, just as nothing is impossible with God.
This generation has yet to prove all that prayer can do for
believing men and women.
The Set of the Sail, p. 33

"I don't begin to comprehend all the implications of this truth,
Father, but I accept it and thank You and worship You for it. Amen."

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Prayer: Armed With Courage

But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like
a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.
--James 1:6

When entering the prayer chamber, we must come filled with faith and
armed with courage. Nowhere else in the whole field of religious
thought and activity is courage so necessary as in prayer. The
successful prayer must be one without condition. We must believe
that God is love and that, being love, He cannot harm us but must
ever do us good. Then we must throw ourselves before Him and pray
with boldness for whatever we know our good and His glory require,
and the cost is no object! Whatever He in His love and wisdom would
assess against us, we will accept with delight because it pleased
Him. Prayers like that cannot go unanswered. The character and
reputation of God guarantee their fulfillment.

We should always keep in mind the infinite loving kindness of God.
No one need fear to put his life in His hands. His yoke is easy;
His burden is light.
We Travel an Appointed Way, p. 48

"Increase my faith; increase my courage. Amen."

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Prayer: Confidence in Him

Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may
obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
--Hebrews 4:16

You can have this confidence in God, and you can have this respect
for His will. Do not expect God to perform miracles for you so
you can write books about them. Do not ever be caught asking God
to send you toys like that to play around with.

But if you are in trouble and concerned about your situation and
willing to be honest with God, you can have confidence in Him.
You can go to Him in the merit of His Son, claiming His promises,
and He will not let you down. God will help you, and you will
find the way of deliverance.

God will move heaven and earth for you if you will trust Him.
Faith Beyond Reason, p. 49

"Thank You, Father, for the majesty of this truth. It certainly
is only in the merit of Your Son, but in that merit You've given
us a powerful promise. Thank You that You never let us down.
Amen."

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Prayer: If God Answers Prayer

So I said: "Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean
lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my
eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts."
--Isaiah 6:5

Why does God answer prayer? Let's not imagine that it's because
somebody was good. We Protestants think we don't believe in saints,
but we do. We canonize them: we have Saint George Mueller, Saint
C.H. Spurgeon, Saint D.L. Moody and Saint A.B. Simpson. We get the
idea that God answered prayer for them because they were really good.
They would deny that fervently if they were here.

Nobody ever got anything from God on the grounds that he deserved
it. Having fallen, man deserves only punishment and death. So if God
answers prayer it's because God is good. From His goodness, His
lovingkindness, His good-natured benevolence, God does it! That's
the source of everything.
The Attributes of God, pp. 46-47

"Thank You, God, that You are indeed good, You are faithful, You are
gracious, You are full of lovingkindness and benevolence. Thank You
that You do in fact answer prayer! Amen."