Prayer

Empty Prayers. — You know that into the inward soul, and marrow, and bowels of devotion you have never yet learned to plunge. You know your devotion is like that ox which was slain once in the time of siege in Rome, and was said to portend ill, because when the augur slew it he declared he could not find a heart anywhere. He looked through all the entrails, and no heart could he discover; and hence, the Romans said their city must be destroyed. It was a solemn augury, they said, when the sacrifice had no heart in it. It is just the same with you. You have done all these things; oh! yes, and there has been as much reality in what you have done as there was devotion in the poor Kalmuck’s windmill, when he tied the prayer to it, and put it up in the garden, and every time it blew round, that wab just one more prayer. There was as much heart in your prayer as there was in his windmill; that is to say, none at all. There it is! How far have you got? Go on no longer with this use less round of performances. I would not have you give the performances up. Stop awhile, and ask God to give you that inward spirit that quickeneth, for that is what is needed, “The flesh profiteth nothing.” Exaltation in Prayer. — I was much struck the other evening at a prayer-meeting, by the prayer of one of our brethren, which came home to my heart. When he prayed, he said,” 0 Lord, give me Mary’s place —

‘Oh! that I might, with Mary sit
For ever at my Master’s feet,
And learn of him.’”

He prayed that he might have her part, and always sit at the feet of Jesus. But, by and by, the good man kindled up in his prayer, and said,” No, my Master, I have not asked enough of thee. Mary’s place is too low for me, if I may have a better. Lift me up higher, Lord; give me John’s place.

‘Oh! that I might, with favored John,
For ever lean my head upon
The bosom of my Lord.’”

Then again he pleaded for that higher degree of communion between the soul and Christ. “Surely,” thought I, “now you have asked enough.” But, suddenly rising up to another flight on the wings of communion, like the eagle taking its last soar into the skies, he said, “No, Lord, John’s place doth not suffice me. Thou hast lifted me from thy feet to thy bosom — now from thy bosom to thy lips.” Then, quoting the words of the spouse — “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, for thy love is better than wine “• — he sweetly paraphrased it thus, “Let the lip of my petitioning meet the lip of thy benediction; let the lip of my praise met the lip of thy acceptance; so shall the kiss be consummated and my joy be complete.” Aye, and when we are favored to go through these stages of fellowship; to go from the foot to the bosom, from the bosom to the lip; to go from the mere learner and to be a friend and companion; and then to go higher still — to be lifted up and to feel our fellow ship with Christ, by standing as high as he does, and being on his lip; it is there the child of God, insensibly almost, receives strength, and, like Elijah smitten by the angel, he rises up and finds his meat baked upon the coals, and eats thereof, and lives upon it for forty days to come. Precious mode of feeding this! Revival Through Prayer. — All the mighty works of God have been attended with great prayer, as well as with great faith. Have ye ever heard of the commencement of the great American revival? A man, unknown and obscure, laid it up in his heart to pray that God would bless his country. After praying and wrestling and making the soul-stirring inquiry, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” he hired a room, and put up an announcement that there would be a prayer-meeting held there at such-and-such an hour of the day. He went at the proper hour, and there was not a single person there; he began to pray, and prayed for half an hour alone. One came in at the end of the half hour, and then two more, and I think he closed with six; the next week came round, and there might have been fifty dropped in at different times. At last the prayer-meeting grew to a hundred; then others began to start prayer-meetings; at last there was scarcely a street in New York that was without a prayer-meeting. Merchants found time to run in, in the middle of the day, to pray. The prayer-meetings became daily ones, lasting for about an hour; petitions and requests were sent up: these were simply asked and offered be fore God, and the answers came; and many were the happy hearts that stood up and testified that the prayer offered last week had been already fulfilled. Then it was when they were all earnest in prayer, suddenly the Spirit of God fell upon the people, and it was rumored that in a certain village a preacher had been preaching in thorough earnest, and there had been hundreds converted in a week. The matter spread into and through the Northern States. These revivals of religion became universal, and it has been sometimes said, that a quarter of a million of people were converted to God through the short space of two or three months.

Praying for the Lost. — In one of Krummacher’s beautiful little parables there is a story like this: “Abraham sat one day in the grove at Mamre, leaning his head on his hand, and sorrowing. Then his son Isaac came to him, and said, l My father, why mournest thou 7 what aileth theel’ Abraham answered and said, ‘My soul mourneth for the people of Canaan, that they know not the Lord, but walk in their own ways, in darkness and foolishness, 4 Oh, my father, answered the son, ‘is it only this?’ Let not thy heart be sorrowful; for are not these their own ways? ‘Then the patriarch rose up from his seat, and said, l Come now, follow me, And he led the youth to a hut, and said to him, ‘Behold.’ There was a child which was imbecile, and the mother sat weeping by it. Abraham asked her, ‘Why weepest thou?’ Then the mother said, ‘Alas, this my son eateth and drinketh, and we minister unto him; but he knows not the face of his father, nor of his mother. Thus his life is lost, and this source of joy is sealed to him,” Is not that a sweet little parable, to teach us how we ought to pray for the many sheep that are not yet of the fold, but which must be brought in? We ought to pray for them, be cause they do not know their Father. Christ has bought them, and they do not know Christ; the Father has loved them from before the foundation of the world, and yet they know not the face of their Father. When thou sayest “Our Father,” think of the many of thy brothers and sisters that are in the back streets of London, that are in the dens and caves of Satan. Think of thy poor brother that is intoxicated with the spirit of the devil; think of him, led astray to infamy, and lust, and perhaps to murder, and in thy prayer pray thou for them who know not the Lord.

A Poor Woman’s Throne. — I had an engraving sent to me the other day which pleased me beyond measure. It was an engraving simply but exquisitely executed. It represented a poor girl in an upper room, with a lean-to roof. There was a post driven in the ground, on which was a piece of wood, standing on which were a candle and a Bible. She was on her knees at a chair, praying, wrestling with God. Every thing in the room had on it the stamp of poverty. There was the mean coverlet to the old stump bedstead; there were the walls that had never been papered, and perhaps scarcely whitewashed. It was an upper story to which she had climbed with aching knees, and where, perhaps, she had worked away till her fingers were worn to the bone, to earn her bread at needle-work. There it was that she was wrestling with God. Some would turn away and laugh at it; but it appeals to the best feelings of man, and moves the heart far more than does the fine engraving of the monarch on his knees in the grand assembly.

A Spiritual Birth-place. — I knew a gray-headed old man, who was in the habit of doing this. He once took a boy to a certain tree, and said, “Now, John, you kneel down at that tree, and I will kneel down with you.” He knelt down and prayed, and asked God to convert him and save his soul. “Now,” said he, “perhaps you will come to this tree again; and if you are not converted, you will remember that I asked under this tree that God would save your soul.” That young man went away, and forgot the old man’s prayer; but it chanced as God would have it that he walked down that field again, and saw a tree. It seemed as if the old man’s name was cut in the bark. He recollected what he prayed for, and that the prayer was not fulfilled; but he dare not pass the tree without kneeling down to pray himself; and there was his spiritual birthplace. The simplest observation of the Christian shall be made a blessing, if God help him. “His leaf also shall not wither” — the simplest word he speaks shall be treasured up; “and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.”

The Pledge of Security. — I have heard an anecdote of two gentlemen travelling together, somewhere in Switzerland. Presently they came into the midst of the forests; and you know the gloomy tales the people tell about the inns there, how dangerous it is to lodge in them. One of them, an infidel, said to the other, who was a Christian, “I don’t like stopping here at all; it is very dangerous in deed.” “Well,” said the other, “let us try.” So they went into a house; but it looked so suspicious that neither of them liked it; and they thought they would prefer being at home in England. Presently the landlord said, “Gentlemen, I always read and pray with my family before going to bed; will you allow me to do so to night?” “Yes,” they said, “with the greatest pleasure.” When they went up-stairs, the infidel said, “I am not at all afraid now.” “Why?” said the Christian. “Be cause our host has prayed.” “Oh!” said the other, “then it seems, after all, you think something of religion; because a man prays, you can go to sleep in his house.” And it was marvelous how both of them did sleep. Sweet dreams they had, for they felt that where the house had been roofed by prayer, and walled with devotion, there could not be found a man living that would commit an injury to them.

Secret Prayer. — Mrs. Berry used to say, “I would not be hired out of my closet for a thousand worlds.” Mr. Jay said, “If the twelve apostles were living near you, and you had access to them, if this intercourse drew you from the closet, they would prove a real injury to your souls.” Prayer is the ship which bringeth home the richest freight. It is the soil which yields the most abundant harvest. Brother, when you rise in the morning your business so presses, that with a hurried word or two, down you go into the world, and at night, jaded and tired, you give God the fag end of the day. The consequence is, that you have no communion with him.

Won Through Prayer. — In one of the States of America there was an infidel who was a great despiser of God, a hater of the Sabbath and all religious institutions. What to do with him the ministers did not know. They met together and prayed for him. But among the rest,

one Elder B resolved to spend a long time in prayer

for the man; after that he got on horseback, and rode down to the man’s forge, for he was a blacksmith. He left his horse outside, and said, “Neighbor, I am under very great concern about your souFs salvation; I tell you I pray day and night for your son’s salvation.” He left him, and rode home on his horse. The man went inside to his house, after a minute or two, and said to one of his infidel friends, “Here’s a new argument; here’s Elder B — - been down here, he did not dispute, and never said a word to me except this, ‘I say, I am under great concern about your soul; I can not bear you igo SPURGEON’S ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES

should be lost, 0! that fellow,” he said, “I can not answer him;” and the tears began to roll down his cheeks. He went to his wife, and said, “I can’t make this out; I never cared about my soul, but here’s an elder, that has no connection with me, but I have always laughed at him, and he has come five miles this morning on horseback just to tell me he is under concern about my salvation.” After a little while he thought it was time he should be under concern about his salvation too. He went in, shut the door, began to pray, and the next day he was at the deacon’s house, telling him that he too was under concern about his salvation, and asking him to tell him what he must do to be saved.

Culture Through Prayer. — God’s grace can save you, and then enlighten you. A brother minister once told me a story of a man who was known in a certain village as a simpleton, and was always considered to be soft in the head; no one thought he could ever understand any thing. But one day he came to hear the gospel preached. He had been a drunken fellow, having wit enough to be wicked, which is a very common kind of wit. The Lord was pleased to bless the Word to his soul, so that he became a changed character; and what was the marvel of all was, his religion gave him a something which began to develop his latent faculties. He found he had some thing to live for, and he began to try what he could do. In the first place he wanted to read his Bible, that he might read his Savior’s name; and after much hammering and spelling away, at last he was able to read a chapter. Then he was asked to pray at a prayer-meeting; here was an exercise of his vocal powers. Five or six words made up his prayer, and down he sat abashed. But by continually praying in his own family at home, he came to pray like the rest of the brethren, and he went on till he became a preacher, and singular enough, he had a fluency — a depth of understanding, and a power of thought, such as are seldom found among ministers who only occasionally occupy pulpits. Strange it was, that grace should even tend to develop his natural powers, giving him an object, setting him devoutly and firmly upon it, and so bringing out all his resources that they were fully shown. Ah, ignorant ones, ye need not despair. He saved them; not for their sakes — there was nothing in them why they should be saved. He saved them, not for their wisdom’s sake; but, ignorant tho they were, understanding not the meaning of his miracles, “he saved them for his name’s sake.”

Weak Through Lack of Prayer. — I know Christian people who used to spend an hour a day in prayer. The hour has dwindled into five minutes. They used to be constant at week-night services. They very seldom gladden us with their presence now; and they are not as happy as they once were. I can read this riddle. If a man were to reduce his meals to eating once a week, we could not warrant his health. I would not guarantee that, if a man never ate except on Sundays, he would grow strong. So I do not think that people who neglect the means of grace, and give up their consecration, can expect to be lively, happy, or vigorous. When the razor gets to work, and the hair of conscience, resolute devotion to God begins to fall on the floor, lock after lock, the strength is departing: and only as that hair begins to grow again, and spiritual consecration returns, can these people expect to be useful, influential, and strong in the Lord.

Led by the Spirit in Prayer. — I was speaking to a brother yesterday about a prayer which my Lord had remarkably answered in my own case, and I could not help saying to him, “But I cannot always pray in that fashion. Not only can I not so pray, but I would not dare to do so, even if I could/* Moved by the Spirit of God, we sometimes pray with a power of faith which can never fail at the mercy-seat; but without such an impulse we must not push our own wills to the front. There are many occasions upon which, if one had all the faith which could move mountains, he would most wisely show it by saying nothing beyond, “Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt.” Had our Lord chosen to do so, he had still in reserve a prayer-power which would have effectually saved him from his enemies. He did not think it right so to use it; but he could have done so had he pleased.

Scoffers at Prayer.- — Those philosophers that sneer at prayer, what do they know about it? They are strangers to prayer, and therefore unable to judge of its power. Suppose a dozen of them should swear that they have prayed, and that God has not heard their prayers, we should believe it; and we should also come to the conclusion that prayers from men of their order ought not to be heard. Surely he that cometh to God must believe that he is; and these gentlemen will not even accept that point as certain. But when we pray, and the Lord hears us, can any form of argument disprove a fact? A fact will stand against all reasoning: it is an unyielding rock, against which the waves of skepticism hurl themselves in vain.

Telling Everything to Jesus. — I remember when once my young heart ached in boyhood, when I first loved the Savior. I was far away from father and mother, and all I loved, and I thought my soul would burst; for I was an usher in a school, in a place where I could meet with no sympathy or help. Well, I went to my chamber, and told my little griefs into the ears of Jesus. They were great griefs to me then, tho they are nothing now. When I just whispered them on my knees into the ear of him who had loved me with an everlasting love, oh! it was so sweet, none can tell. If I had told them to somebody else, they would have told them again; but he, my blessed confidant, he knows my secrets, and he never tells them. Oh! what can you do that have got no Jesus to tell your troubles to?

Praying for Special Things. — When we pray, we should make a point of praying for something distinctly. There is a general kind of praying, which fails from want of precision. It is as if a regiment of soldiers should all fire off their guns anyhow; possibly some body would be killed, but the majority of the enemy would be missed. I believe that at the battle of Waterloo, there were no arms of precision, they had only the old Brown Bass, and tho the battle was won, it has been said it took as much lead to kill a man as the weight of the man’s body. This is a figure of the comparative failure of indistinct, generalizing prayer. If you pray anyhow, if it be with sincerity, a measure of blessing results from it; but it will take a great deal of such praying to accomplish much. But if you plead for certain mercies definitely and distinctly, with firm unstaggering faith, you shall richly succeed.

Definite Aim ir» Prayer. — If a man were using his rifle at Wimbledon in a contest for a prize, if he were told, “It is not that target on the right, but this upon the left which must be aimed at,” if he would continue to shoot towards the right, even tho he should make a center, yet he would not have scored; inasmuch as that was not the target appointed in the competition, his best shots would count for nothing. When a man does not pray in the Lord’s appointed way, nor through Jesus Christ, nor in dependence upon the Holy Spirit, he does not pray at all. However fine his prayer, it is only a splendid sin. If yon employ a servant to do a work, and he obstinately persists in doing another thing, he will not earn his wages. However industriously he works at what you have never set him to do, he will receive nothing at your hands. So if you pray to God in a way which God has never ordained, if you refuse to use the name which he has appointed, if you neglect the cultivation of that holy and humble spirit which the Lord will alone accept, you may pray till your tongue cleaves to the roof of your mouth; but in God’s judgment you have not prayed at all, and you will not receive anything of the Lord.

Prayer About Common Mercies. — Tho your prayer should only be about worldly things, and be nothing more than a merely natural prayer, yet pray it; for “He heareth the young ravens when they cry,” and I am sure they do not pray spiritual prayers. All that ravens can ask for will be worms and flies, and yet he hears them, and feeds them; and you, a man, tho you may but pray at this time for a very commonplace mercy, one of the slighter blessings, yet you may pray with confidence if you have any faith in the gracious Lord.

Praying for Our Friends. — Does it astonish you that a man so rich in grace as Paul should be asking prayers of these unknown saints’? It need not astonish you; for it is the rule with the truly great to think most highly of others. In proportion as a man grows in grace he feels his dependence upon God, and, in a certain sense, his dependence upon God’s people. He decreases in his own esteem, and his brethren increase in his estimation. A flourishing tradesman, a man who has a large business, is the man who needs others, he prospers by setting others to labor on his behalf; the larger his trade, the more he is dependent upon those around him. The apostle was, so to speak, a great master-trader for the Lord Jesus; he did a great business for his Lord, and he felt that he could not carry it on unless he had the cooperation of many helpers. He did not so much want what employers harshly call “hands” to work for him, but he did need hearts to plead for him, and he therefore sent all the way to Rome to seek such assistance. He wrote to those whom he had never seen, and begged their prayers, as if he pleaded for his life.

Frequent Prayer. — I had a dear friend whose company I esteemed, but on a sudden he did not come to see me. He stayed away; and as I knew he had not ceased to love me, I wondered why. At last I found that the good brother had taken it into his head that he might outrun his welcome: he had read those words of Solomon, “Withdraw thy foot from thy neighbor’s house; lest he be weary of thee, and so hate thee.” I admired my friend’s prudence, but I labored hard to make him see that Solomon knew nothing of me, and that I was more wearied when he stopped away than when he came. I hope he made me an exception to a very sensible rule. But never get that thought into your head concerning your God. Will you weary my God also? You may weary him by restraining prayer, but never by abounding in supplication. Abide with your God, and cry to him day and night, and let this be the music of your whole life, “Whereunto I may continually resort.”

Heaven’s Gate Always Open to the Praying Christian. — The Persian kings forbade any one to come near them; and if any ventred into the king’s court, and the monarch did not stretch out the silver scepter, the guards cut them down at once. Yet there were certain favored courtiers who, by special privilege, had the right to approach the king at all times, guard or no guard. These were the noblest in the king’s dominions. Such honor have all the saints. No cherub with naming sword guards the way of aproach to God against any child of the great Father.

A Futile Prayer. — It has been well observed by an old divine, that the man who pleads his own merit does not pray, but demands his due. If I ask a man to pay me a debt, I am not a suppliant, but a plaintiff claiming my rights. The prayer of a man who thinks he is meritorious is like serving the Lord with a writ: it is not offering a request, it is issuing a demand. Merit in effect says, “Pay me that thou owest.” Little will such a man get of God.

Paying and Praying. — I was reading the story of a good old deacon in Maine, in America, who came in to a meeting after there had been a missionaiy collection. The minister there and then asked “our good brother Sewell” to pray. Sewell did not pray, but thrust his hand in his pocket and stood fumbling about. “Bring the box,” he said; and when the box came, and he had put his money into it, the minister said, “Brother Sewell, I did not ask you to give anything, I only wished you to pray.” “Oh,” said he, “I could not pray till I had first given something.” He felt obliged first to do something for the great mission work, and having done that he could pray for it. Oh, that all Christ’s people felt the justice of that course of conduct!

A Prayerless Man. — You may be a very rich man, and have large estates, but I would sooner occupy the place of the poorest believing pauper in the workhouse than take your position without a God and without a throne of grace. How do people live that have no God to go to? If a man were to say to me,” I never get a morsel of bread to eat at all,” I should wonder how he lived. But when a man says, “I never pray, and God never hears me,” I am in equal wonder.

God Listening to Prayer.- A good brother of my acquaintance, a minister of the gospel, going to preach from the text that God will hear prayer, called upon one of his poor people, who said when the visit was over that she had greatly enjoyed his call. He thought to himself, “I have scarcely said a word, and yet she says that I have done her good.” Turning to her, he inquired, “Sister, how can I have done you good, for I have hardly spoken with you 1” “Ah, sir,” she replied, “you have listened so kindly: you have heard all I had to say, and there are very few who will do that.” Just so. People in deep trouble like somebody to hear them all through: even little children are comforted by telling mother all about it. We are in such a hurry with poor troubled spirits that we hasten them on to the end of the sentence, and try to make them skip the dreary details. But to them this seems unkind, for their story is sacred; and therefore, they go slowly on with it, till we are quite tired. I have often hurried on a poor despondent creature till I have seen the uselessness of it: it is always best to let them spin on. It does them good. To tell out the heart to a patient listener is a great relief to a burdened spirit, and the heart must do it in its own way. Here is a sweet assurance, “My God will hear me.” I may be very bad, and what I say may be very broken, and I may groan a good deal, and I may say the same thing over and over again, and my whole ditty may be very stupid; but, “My God will hear me.” He is in no hurry: he is the God of patience. He will listen to my dreary talk, and endure each gloomy particular. I need not hold him as the Ancient Mariner held the wedding guest who was unwilling to hear his weary rhyme of the sea: my God will willingly listen to me right through, from beginning to end, groans and all. “My God will hear me.”

Persistent Prayer. — “Oh!” say you, “I have been praying.” Yes, but a tree does not always drop its fruit at the first shake you give it. Shake it again, man; give it another shake! And sometimes when the tree is loaded, and is pretty firm in the earth, you have to shake it to and fro, and at last you plant your feet, and get hold of it, and shake it with might and main, till you strain every muscle and sinew to get the fruit down. And that is the way to pray. Shake the tree of life until the mercy drops into your lap. Christ loves for men to beg hard. You cannot be too importunate. That which might be disagreeable to your fellow-creatures when you beg of them, will be agreeable to Christ. Oh! get ye to your chambers; get ye to your chambers, ye that -have not found Christ! To your bed-sides, to your little closets, and “seek the Lord while he may be found; call ye upon him while he is near!” May the Spirit of God constrain you to pray. May he constrain you to continue in prayer. Jesus must hear you. The gate of heaven is open to the sturdy knocker that affirms he will not take a denial.

Praying far Individuals. — I remember George Whitfield says when he began to pray, his first prayer was that God would convert those with whom he used to play at cards and waste his Sundays. “And blessed be God,” he says, “I got every one of them.”