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."