The Cause of Prayerlessness

In an elders’ prayer-meeting, a brother put the question: ‘‘What, then, is the cause of so much prayerlessness? Is it not unbelief?’’

The answer was: ‘‘Certainly; but then comes the question — what is the cause of that unbelief?’’ When the disciples asked the Lord Jesus: ‘‘Why could not we east the devil out?’’ His answer was: ‘‘Because of your unbelief.’’ He went further, and said: ‘‘ Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.’’ If the life is not one of self-denial — of fasting — that is, letting the world go; of prayer — that is, laying hold of heaven, faith cannot be exereised. A life lived according to the flesh, and not according to the Spirit — it is in this that we find the origin of the prayerlessness of which we complain. As we came out of the meeting a brother said to me: ‘‘That is the whole difficulty; we wish to pray in the Spirit, and at the same time walk after the flesh, and this is impossible.’’

If one is sick and desires healing, it is of prime importance that the true cause of the sickness be discovered. This is always the first step towards recovery. If the particular cause is not recognized, and attention is directed to subordinate causes, or supposed but not real causes, healing is out of the question. In like manner, it is of the utmost importance for us to obtain a correct insight into the cause of the sad condition of deadness and failure in prayer in the Inner Chamber, which should be such a blessed place for us. Let us seek to realize fully what is the root of this evil.

Scripture teaches us that there are but two conditions possible for the Christian. One is a walk according to the Spirit, the other a walk according to ‘‘the flesh.’? These two powers are in irreconcilable conflict with each other. So it comes to pass, in the ease of the majority of Christians, that, while we thank God that they are born again through the Spirit, and have received the life of God — yet their ordinary daily life is not lived according to the Spirit, but according to ‘‘the flesh.’? Paul writes to the Galatians: ‘‘Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?’’ (Gal. 3: 3). Their service lay in fleshly outward performances. They did not understand

that where ‘‘the flesh’’ is permitted to influence ‘

their service of God, it soon results in open sin.

So he mentions not only grave sins as the work of ‘‘the flesh,’’ such as adultery, murder, drunkenness; but also the more ordinary sins of daily life — wrath, strife, variance; and he gives the exhortation: ‘‘Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.... If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit’’ (Gal. 5: 16, 25). The Spirit must be honoured not only as the Author of a new life, but also as the leader and Director of our entire walk. Otherwise we are what the Apostle calls ‘‘carnal.’’

The majority of Christians have little understanding of this matter. They have no real knowledge of the deep sinfulness and godlessness of that carnal nature which belongs to them, and to which unconsciously they yield. ‘‘God... condemned sin in the flesh’’ (Rom. 8: 3) — in the cross of Christ. ‘‘ They that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts’’ (Gal. 5: 24). ‘‘The flesh’’ cannot be improved or sanctified. ‘‘The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be’’ (Rom. 8: 7). There is no means of dealing with ‘‘the flesh,’’ save as Christ dealt with it, bearing it to the cross. ‘‘Our old man is crucified with Him’’ (Rom. 6: 6); so we by faith also crucify it, and regard and treat it daily as an accursed thing that finds its rightful place on the accursed cross. i It is saddening to consider how many Christians there are who seldom think or speak earnestly about the deep and immeasurable sinfulness of ‘‘the flesh’’ — ‘‘In me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing’’ (Rom. 7: 18). The man who truly believes

this may well cry out: ‘‘I see... a law in my members.... bringing me into captivity to the law of sin.... O wretched man that I am! Who shall

deliver me from the body of this death?’’ (Rom. 7: 23, 24). Happy is he who can go further and say: ‘*T thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord.... For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death’? (Rom. E25 P 802):

Would that we might understand God’s counsels of grace for us! ‘‘The flesh’? on the cross — the Spirit in the heart and controlling the life.

This spiritual life is too little understood or sought after; yet it is literally what God has promised, and will accomplish in those who unconditionally surrender themselves to Him for this purpose.

Here then we have the deep root of evil as the cause of a prayerless life. ‘‘The flesh’’ can say prayers well enough, calling itself religious for so doing, and thus satisfying conscience. But ‘‘the flesh’? has no desire or strength for the prayer that strives after an intimate knowledge of God; that rejoices in fellowship with Him; and that continues to lay hold of His strength. So, finally, it comes to this — ‘‘the flesh’’ must be denied and crucified..

The Christian who is still carnal has neither dis-|, position nor strength to follow after God. He rests: satisfied with the prayer of habit or custom; but the glory, the blessedness of secret prayer is a hidden thing to him, till some day his eyes are opened, and he begins to see that ‘‘the flesh,’’ in its disposition to turn away from God, is the arch-enemy which makes powerful prayer impossible for him.

I had once, at a conference, spoken on the subject of prayer, and made use of strong expressions about the enmity of ‘‘the flesh’”’ as a cause of prayerlessness. After the address, the minister’s wife said that she thought I had spoken too strongly. She also had to mourn over too little desire for prayer, but she knew her heart was sincerely set on seeking God. I showed her what the Word of God said about ‘‘the flesh,’’ and that everything which prevents the reception of the Spirit is nothing else than a secret work of ‘‘the flesh.’” Adam was created to have fellowship with God, and enjoyed it before his Fall. After the Fall, however, there came immediately, a deep-seated aversion to God, and he fled from Him. This incurable aversion is the characteristic of the unregenerate nature, and the chief cause of our unwillingness to surrender ourselves to fellowship with God in prayer. The following day she told me that bea THE PRAYER-LIFE

God had opened her eyes; she confessed that the enmity and unwillingness of ‘‘the flesh’’ was the hidden hindrance in her defective prayer-life.

Oh, my brethren, do not seek to find in circumstances the explanation of this prayerlessness over which we mourn; seek it where God’s Word declares it to be, in the hidden aversion of the heart to a holy God.

When a Christian does not yield entirely to the leading of the Spirit — and this is certainly the will of God and the work of His grace — he lives, without knowing it, under the power of ‘‘the flesh.’’ This life of ‘‘the fiesh’’ manifests itself in many different ways. It appears in the hastiness of spirit, or the anger which so unexpectedly arises in you, in the lack of love for which you have so often blamed yourself; in the pleasure found in eating and drinking, about which at times your conscience has chidden you; in that seeking for your own will and honour, that confidence in your own wisdom and power, that pleasure in the world, of which you are sometimes ashamed before God. All this is life ‘‘after the flesh.’’? ‘‘Ye are yet carnal’’ (1 Cor. 3: 3) — that text, perhaps, disturbs you at times; you have not full peace and joy in God.

I pray you take time and give an answer to the question : — Have I not found here the cause of my prayerlessness, of my powerlessness to effect any change in the matter? I live in the Spirit, 1 have been born again, but I do not walk after the Spirit — ‘‘the flesh’’ lords it over me. The carnal life cannot possibly pray in the spirit and power. God forgive me. The carnal life is evidently the cause of my sad and shameful prayerlessness.

Tue STORM-CENTRE ON THE BATTLE-FIELD.

Mention was made in conference of the expression ‘‘strategic position’’ used so often in reference to the great strife between the Kingdom of Heaven and the powers of darkness.

When a general chooses the place from which he

intends to strike the enemy, he pays most attention to those points which he thinks most important in the fight. Thus there was on the battle-field of Waterloo a farm-house which Wellington immediately saw was the key to the situation. He did not spare his troops in his endeavor to hold that point: the victory depended on it. So it actually happened. It is the same in the conflict between the believer and the powers of darkness. The Inner Chamber

is the place where the decisive victory is obtained.

The enemy uses all his power to lead the Chris-. tian, and above all the minister, to neglect prayer.:

He knows that however admirable the sermon may be, however attractive the service, however faithful the pastoral visitation, none of these things can damage him or his kingdom, if prayer is neglected. When the Church shuts herself up to the power of the Inner Chamber, and the soldiers of the Lord

have received on their knees ‘‘ power from on High,’’ then the powers of darkness will be shaken, and ’

souls will be delivered. In the Church, on the Mission-field, with the minister and his congregation, everything depends on the faithful exercise of the power of prayer.

In the week of conference I found the following in The Christian : —

Two persons quarrel over a certain point. We

call them Christian and Apollyon. Apollyon notices that Christian has a certain weapon which would give him a sure victory. They meet in deadly strife, and Apollyon resolves to take away the weapon from his opponent, and destroy it. For the moment the main cause of the strife has become subordinate; the great point now is: Who shall get possession of the weapon on which everything depends? It is of vital importance to get hold of that.

So it is in the conflict between Satan and the believer. God’s child can conquer everything by prayer. Is it any wonder that Satan does his utmost to snatch that weapon from the Christian, or —

to hinder him in the use of it?

How now does Satan hinder prayer? By temp-: tation to postpone or curtail it, by bringing in wandering thoughts and all sorts of distractions; through unbelief and hopelessness. Happy is the prayerhero who, through all, takes care to hold fast and use his weapon. Like our Lord in Gethsemane, the more violently the enemy attacked the more earnestly He prayed, and ceased not till He had obtained the victory. After all the other parts of the armour had been named, Paul adds: ‘‘ With. all prayer and supplication in the Spirit’? (Eph. 6: 18). Without prayer, the helmet of salvation, and the shield of faith, and the Sword of the Spirit, which is God’s Word, have no power. All depends on prayer. God teach us to believe and hold this fast!

LE