Prayer
Our Heavenly Father, we beseech thee this evening that thou wilt grant a special blessing to us as we are here for the study of, thy Word. May we lose all fear of men and thought of men, and see no man save Jesus only.
We beseech thee, our Heavenly Father, that, as to this study we give ourselves, we shall come to know that we are standing in the secret place of the Most High and are living by the influence of the Spirit in the very presence of God.
Grant thy blessing, we beseech thee, upon the ministers gathered here, and the denominations represented, and look upon all who are longing to see the interests of the kingdom of God advanced.
We pray that thou wilt take away from our minds all that might offend the Spirit, and that thou wilt lead us to accept any truth which may be founded upon the Word of God. Fill each one with the spirit of teachableness, that we may turn from theories of our own to the truth as thou shalt reveal it to us. Our Heavenly JPather, let us know thy will to do it, and thy truth to receive it.
We thank thee for the great privilege we have of preaching. We know there is not an angel in the sky but would gladly leave the highest heaven to stand where we stand, and yet thou hast called us poor weak men to preach the gospel. O God, help us to know what a field that is, and help us to walk circumspectly before thee. Our Father, thou knowest the life we are compelled to live. We are always giving out and trying to help those who need it, and now we are together to study thy Word, and to wait for a blessing that shall send us back to our churches, and people, and homes, filled with the Holy Ghost.
“Come, Holy Spirit, heavenly Dove,
With all thy quickening powers.
Kindle a flame of sacred love
In these cold hearts of ours.”
Hear us, and answer us, and we will give thee all the praise, through Jesus Christ our blessed Redeemer. Amen.
SUBJECT — “PRAYER.”
I should like to say, in the first place, how very much I appreciate the honor of this invitation. When it came to me almost a year ago in the form of a suggestion that such a meeting as this might be profitable for the church, I felt then that possibly it might be that I could accept, and when the time came nearer, and I found that to accept it would mean to sacrifice a half month’s time from the church to which I am now going as a pastor, I yet counted it a great privilege to give up any time, and make any sacrifice in order that I might have the privilege of speaking to you of the things that have helped my own life, and, under God, have been a blessing to other people as I have presented it to them before they had found it in the Word of God for themselves.
I shall often mention Mr. Moody. I owe a great deal to him. Mr. Moody has been a spiritual father to me, and because of what he has done for me I love him. And then- I want to speak of Mr. Meyer. I think Mr. Meyer led me to know the Spirit of God as Mr. Moody led me to know the Son of God, and when these lessons were learned, the Bible was a new book. It made preaching a new passion, and made the winning of the souls of lost men a perfect delight. I am sure you will bear with me if over and over and over again, I repeat these names. And yet I would have linger with you, not the name of Mr. Moody or Mr. Meyer, or of myself or any other man, but I would like to have you ministers and students go away from this conference and say you love Christ better. I wish we might go back to our pulpits and say we love the Holy Spirit more. And if this shall be the result of this conference I shall never cease to thank God for this privilege of meeting together.
You will notice as you come to the services that one follows upon another, and I am sure you will bear with me if what I say this evening you take exception to, for if you follow the subjects in the order in which I shall endeavor to present them, you will see that they follow consecutively, and when you see the whole truth, I know you will receive it.
This evening I start with the subject of “Prayer.” I have learned, as many of you have learned, that a man never really comes to know God until he knows how to pray. To know God we must know what real prayer is. And again I say, one never lives a life of constant fellowship until he knows how to pray. Then his life is a prayer. It is about this life I am to speak to you.
Luke 11:1, “Lord, teach us to pray.” I would ten thousand times rather know how to pray than to preach. When a man knows how to preach, he moves man; but when he knows how to pray, he moves God. So I say to the students, it is infinitely better, (with all due respect to the professors in the seminary, and I bless God for my profsors in the seminary), I say it is better to know how to pray than how to preach. And so, uniting in the text, as elders, ministers, bishops, students, and Christian workers, let us say, “Lord, teach us to pray.”
Prayer is the most essential exercise for a Christian, To live physically there must be exercise. We count prayer a privilege; but, my dear friends, if we have not learned that prayer is an exercise, and that without it we are weak Christians, we have not yet come into the place where we may live the life of blessing. I believe there is no subject upon which there is more discussion than prayer. Some say, “Why should we pray? God knows all we have need of.” And I am very free to say that once in a while there are texts that seem to support such views. Then there are others who think that prayer is fellowship with God. They say that when a man prays he comes close to God, and that is blessing. Prayer, they say, is simply fellowship. Then some cay that prayer is a good thing, but you cannot get what you ask for. “You cannot ask God to change his plans for you,” they say. You ask for what you want, but God gives you something else. It is a blessed thing to have fellowship with God, but they say, ^‘Do not get the idea that in prayer we are to get what we ask God for.” These are the sayings of men, and you and I in these days are not to ask what man thinks; we want to know what God says.
Turn to John 14: 12-14. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.”
Then if you want another text of the same kind, take Matt. 7:7, 8, and you will find words with which you are perfectly familiar; but we may know them so well as to lose the sweetness of the truth in them. “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: for every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketb findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened.”
If there is any question about this verse, a man put it there. God said, shall receive,” ‘“I will do it,” I don’t know whether it is Andrew Murray or not who says that “ask, seek, knock” convey a progressive experience. One grows out of another. Ask, and receive the gift. Seek, and find the Giver. Knock, and the door shall be opened, and you shall have fellowship with the Giver himself.
But there is something infinitely beyond fellowship. ‘’Ye shall receive,”
You know the disciples said, “Lord, teach us to pray.” He knew how to pray. It was as if they had said, “Lord, John taught his disciples; Lord, teach us to pray.” I have often thought that if one could sit at the feet of Patti, one might learn to sing. When I was in Cincinnati, I heard her sing that aria, ‘T know that my Kedeemer liveth,” and the people sprang to
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their feet and cheered until the building resounded. Ah, if we could sit at her feet and learn, we could sing.
When Paganini, the master violinist, came to London, and stepped before an audience and began to play, one string snapped, he never faltered; a second string snapped, but he paid no attention; the third broke, but he played on and on, and he won a triumph. He drew the bow across the one string, and made it cry like a child and sing like a nightingale and sob like a man in distress, until the whole building sounded with cheers. Only, one string, but there was Paganini using it. If I could be at the feet of a master like that, I could play.
I believe if I could have sat at the feet of Mr. Spurgeon I could preach. I have in my study a picture of Mr. Spurgeon, and I often look at it and say, “Dear servant of God, if I could have heard you preach, I could preach myself.” This .was the spirit of the disciples when they said, ‘’Lord, teach us to pray.” His life was a prayer. They had only to follow him, and they would learn to pray. And is it not a marvelous thing that this book is full of his life and you can turn over the pages and learn how to pray? In the four Gospels you will find four illustrations:
Let us turn to Mark 1: 35, “And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.”
Do you begin your day like that? You went away this morning, and before ten oclock you were impatient. At noon the whole sky of your life seemed to be overclouded; and this has been the most unpleasant day of your life. I will give you the reason: It is because early in the morning you failed to
kneel before God for a little time. Dear brother, do you keep the Quiet Hour? Do you set apart an hour, or twenty minutes, or ten minutes each morning, when your household would no more dare to knock at your door than to disturb the President of the United States? John G. Paton says: “If there is any blessing in my life, it is due to my father. Three times a day we passed the little closet where my father was before God. We went on tiptoe, lest we should disturb him. We knew that the high priest of the family was standing in the holy of holies.’’ Lord, teach us to pray like that.
It was on this day, begun in prayer, that Christ met the leper and healed him. Do we prepare for our work by a fellowship with God?
Turn with me again to Matt. 14:23, “And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone.”
Ah, there is a rich truth there! ‘”When he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray!* Why, he had just fed the multitude. Do you ever realize that it is more difficult to use a victory than to gain one? I have. You have gone down on your knees and said, God, let power be upon me.” Afterwards do you always say, “Lord, for. this I thank thee; help me to walk in the power of a messenger of thine”? That was the way of the Son of God. He broke the bread until five thousand were fed, and then prayed again.
Kow turn to John 11:41-44: Then they took away the
stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said. Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always, but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them. Loose him and let him go.”
This, I think, is the finest thing in the Gospel on prayer. Now watch it, “And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said. Father, 1 thank thee that thou hast heard me.” And when he had prayed, he said, “Lazarus, come forth.” Mr. Moody said that Jesus said Lazarus because if he hadn’t, everybody that was dead would have come forth to meet him, and so he said, ‘’Lazarus, come forth.”
I got a postal card enclosed in a letter one time, and the writer asked me to write on the card the rules for soul-winning. He wanted to know, “How shall we know how to win souls It was a strange request, but we can write in one sentence on a postal card how to win souls. It is, “Lord, teach us to pray.” And when he had prayed, he said, “Lazarus, come forth.”
And now if you will turn for a last reference on prayer, read Luke 9: 28-30: “And it came to pass about an eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray. And as he prayed the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistering. And, behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elias.”
God pity us for our negligence. Why, the fact is, if you read the life of Jesus, it is praying all the time. And they who are mighty in power with God are they who pray much to God. Mr. Spurgeon was favored of God, and that is why he was such a preacher. If for thirty minutes in the day he was without the presence of God, he used to say, “I go alone and I say, ‘Lord God, what have I done that thou hast left me alone V”
I am now defining the life of blessing. I do not hold to the doctrine of sinlessness, but I do hold that if the power of God comes upon man, it is a possible thing to live so close to Christ that you may come to look like him. “And as he prayed the fashion of his countenance was altered.” Oh, if my people in the new church, when I come, could say that about me — if your people would say that when you come back, “He has a different look.” Lord, give that to us! We are longing for a revival; and I think this gathering of ministers and bishops is the most hopeful thing, I know. In 1857, in the midst of the great revival, the Episcopal minister. Canon Kyle, said, look through the Bible, and whenever I find a man of power, I find a man of prayer,” This is also true in the history of the church. Wherever I have found men and women of prayer they have been full of power. Some, I found, were rich, some poor; some ignorant, some educated; but wherever I found men and women of power, I found men and women who know how to pray. Do you wonder, then, brethren, that I say to you that the foundation of it all is prayer?
‘’Lord, teach us to pray,” Oh, what a teacher we have in Jesus Christ! I bless God that we have a Teacher who can change us as he changed Peter. He was so patient; his disciples were always misunderstanding him. They took his words and brought them down to their narrow comprehension, and tried to make them fit their own ideas. But he was patient. I think one of the best illustrations was when he took them to the Garden of Gethsemane. Doubtless he wanted them for sympathy; it would be good to hear them speak to him; but behold, he finds them sleeping. Did you ever notice what the Holy Spirit puts in there? “Their eyes were heavy.” “Poor men,” I can hear him say, “they have not had a night’s sleep for three nights.” How patient he has been with you and me. Often have I said, “This one thing I will do — I will lead a different life,” and have no sooner made the resolution than I have broken it; and so have you. Did you notice how the blessed Lord excused the disciples? I think he is doing the same now. I can hear him say, “My Father, there is some excuse for them.” Isn’t he patient?
Then the teacher must have love for his scholars, or he had better not be teaching. Andrew Murray’s book on “With Christ in the School of Prayer” is a good book for all of us. This is the school-room for the school of prayer, and this is the first lesson. Let us read Matt. 6: 6, “But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.”
I got a Bible of one of my friends the other day, and this is what I found on the margin:
^Teriod for prayer — When thou prayest/
^Tlace for prayer — ‘Enter into thy closet/
“Privacy of prayer — ‘Shut thy door/
“Persons in prayer — ‘Pray to thy Father/
“Promise for prayer — ‘He shall reward thee/
Have you a closet in your home for prayer? “Enter in, shut the door, pray to thy Father,” “Why,” you say, when you rise from your knees, “I don’t believe he heard it. I don’t believe he heard a word.” I don’t believe he heard it, either. The trouble is with your haste, my brother. You cannot enter unceremoniously into the presence of the President of the United States; how much more must you revere the presence of God? My prayer-life must be the life that Jesus Christ would live. Then it must be in his name. When I have “surrendered all,” as we sang, I have the right to use his name, and “he shall reward me.” He has promised it. There are three things that give us the right to use a name:
1. A legal union. I have the right to use the name of my partner.
2. A life union. It is my privilege to use the name of my father.
3. A love union. My wife has a perfect right to use my name.
For all of these reasons we have the right to the use of the name of Christ.
There is a name that is above every name. It sets the angels singing. Plead it; plead it. ‘’Lord, teach us to pray.” Oh, teach me. Thou didst teach George Mueller and Andrew Murray — teach me. Can you say it, my brother, and mean it — “Lord, teach me to pray”?
I have been told that when the old president of Hamilton College was dying, and the family physician stood by him, he said to those around, “He will be dead in half an hour.” The old president heard it and said: ^‘Doctor, is it no longer than
half an hour? Then take me out of bed and put me on my knees, and let me die praying for the students.” And the old man prayed, “O God, save Hamilton, save Hamilton.” And when the doctor said, ‘Hie is going,” they stooped to lift him up, but the angels had taken him and born him up and up and up to the very presence of God, and almost the whole of Hamilton College came sweeping into the kingdom.
Now, dear brethren, would we have a revival in our church? I know your hearts are burning for it. Let us put aside the seeking of power with men and looking for an experience; put away all thought of being great preachers, and let us remember that it is the man who knows how to pray that has power with God. Let us remember that we cannot have power with men until we first have power with God.
Now we will stand, and let us spend a few minutes in silent prayer. “Lord God, teach me to pray.”
And now, those of us who will, before the morning service, set apart fifteen minutes to go alone with God and say, “Lord God, speak to me,” and wait before him in prayer, while our heads are bowed, say, “I will.”
Our Heavenly Father, we know that thou wilt meet with us. Thou hast never disappointed us, but we have disappointed thee. Thou dost never disappoint us. Apply this truth. All we ask to-night is in J esus’ name. Amen.