Prayer

Frankly, I’m not quite sure what kind of writing will follow here. But I know that many sources have aligned to point out to me that of late, my emphasis on prayer has been lacking to say the least; and this is such a vital subject I thought it necessary to jot down a few of the thoughts that have come up.

Yesterday saw the last two straws in my realisation that I must give prayer more, and more serious, attention. My pastor gave a sermon as part of our series through Mark. His “big idea” was that “even Jesus prayed, and so we must pray.” Drawing from Mark 1:35, “And rising early in the morning, while it was still dark, [Jesus] departed and went out to a desolate place, and there He prayed,” his sermon had two main points. First, in the Incarnation, Jesus Himself had to learn to pray for the first time, meaning that when we pray to Him, He truly can empathise with our broken-heartedness. Second, Jesus prioritised prayer. He “gave up the good things that are sleep and warmth for the better thing that is quiet time with His Father.” How often, though, I find myself treasuring other goods over my relationship with God. How often we presume ourselves to be higher, or greater, than Christ by disregarding the gift of prayer He Himself so cherished.

After that sermon, I was on the phone with a friend. I mentioned to her some struggles that I have been undergoing and some weak areas I see in myself as I approach marriage. I wanted insight into getting better, of course, but in my head it was from a self-help perspective. But before I had so much as finished explaining my malady, she was telling me — “That’s spiritual attack, and the only weapon you have is prayer.” Prayer! I had realised, of course, that my weaknesses and flaws are dangerous. But to be told so blatantly, There is nothing you can do against this attack but pray and wait, was a warning call for me.

It is a staggering symptom of my depravity that, even then, my immediate response was still not to pray. Instead, I thought, “Oh, I was just reading about that!” and I went to look at my sources. Mercifully, God used even this weakness of mine to drive me back to Himself in more continual and earnest prayer.

Many of Andrew Bonar’s thoughts were particularly convicting to me. “Meditation is letting God speak to us till our heart is throbbing.” “When we pray in the morning to be filled with the Spirit, may we expect to be filled all day with thoughts of Christ.” “Let us seek to be delivered from trifling prayer, and contentment with trifling answers.” When was the last time I asked to be filled with the Spirit and was richly answered with a sense of God’s presence and a deepening desire to do His will? Have I ever heard His Word until my heart throbs? Have I ever asked for more than trifles?

Bonar also spoke to the sacrifice that prayer may be. “O brother, pray,” he urged; “in spite of Satan, pray; spend hours in prayer, rather neglect friends than not pray; rather fast, and lose breakfast, dinner, tea, and supper — and sleep too — than not pray. And we must not talk about prayer; we must pray in right earnest.” On the hardship of prayer, D.M. Lloyd-Jones adds, “If you have never had difficulty in prayer, it is absolutely certain that you have never prayed. . . . Everything we do in the Christian life is easier than prayer.” Bending our knees before God should be painful as well as joyful.

For all its weight, prayer is an essential part of the Christian life. It is “the thread that stitches your life to God’s” — or even to Reality itself. In prayer, we come to the Person Whose Word created and sustained both us, and reality writ large. D.A. Carson suggests that “[B]oth God’s sovereignty and God’s personhood, rightly applied, become an incentive to pray.” If He were a person, but not sovereign, our prayers might be heard, but He would have no real power to answer. If He were sovereign, but not truly a Person, He would have no particular incentive to answer prayers one way or another. But as He is both sovereign and personal, we can come to God with confidence that He hears and acts.

Scripture and testimony make it clear that we are to pray for our needs and desires. I have a translation of Philippians 4:6-7 on my bookshelf that reminds me daily, “Pray first. Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done.” When Jesus taught us to pray, He included “Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts” (Luke 11:3-4). We are to bring our needs before God, humbly, with the assurance that He will provide. 

But this is not all prayer encapsulates. Throughout Scripture, prayers included range from songs of praise to laments. We recognise God’s greatness and our own ineptitude; we confess our sins and pray for one another (James 5:16); we mourn and groan (Romans 8:26). And throughout all this, we are strengthened for God’s service, drawn closer to Him, and reformed in His likeness. 

Prayer is vital for any holiness. It has a guarding influence on our hearts. John Witherspoon wrote that “Prayer and watchfulness have a reciprocal influence upon one another. Neglect of prayer will make you yield to temptation, and the indulgence of sin will make you afraid to pray. But habitual watchfulness will carry you with comfort to the hour of prayer, both in thankfulness for the past mercies, and reliance upon Him for future strength.” 

Even our idea of prayer itself is limited. Elizabeth Prentiss remarked, “I see now that it is not always best for us to have the light of God’s countenance. Do not spend your time and strength in asking for me this blessing but this — that I may be transformed into the image of Christ in His own time, in His own way.” We pray, then, to be renewed, so that the prayers we pray will more and more closely align with God’s will for our lives. 

And, as Arthur Pierson points out, prayer prepares us to serve and follow God in a depraved world. “The Lord said first to Elijah, ‘Go, hide thyself,’ then, ‘Go, show thyself.’ He who does not first hide himself in the secret place to be alone with God, is unfit to show himself in the public place to move among men.”

Prayer itself is part of the testimony we must display to the world. One thing that struck me as I read was how important parents’ prayer is to their children — a fact that I can attest to from my own childhood as well. There was nothing so comforting, sombre and joyous, as knowing that my father and mother were and always had been praying for me. “Accustom yourself to turn all of your wants, cares and trials into prayers,” wrote Prentiss. “If anything troubled or annoyed my mother she went straight to the ‘spare room,’ no matter how cold the weather, and we children knew it was to pray. I shall never forget its influence over me.” Missionary John G. Paton wrote of the importance of his father’s example as well: “If anything really serious required to be punished, he retired first to his ‘closet’ for prayer, and we boys got to understand that he was laying the whole matter before God; and that was the severest part of the penalty to bear! I could have defied any amount of mere penalty, but this spoke to my conscience as a message from God.” I don’t have children of my own yet, but for myself, my siblings, friends, and others, I should be praying faithfully — with the expectation that God can work through these prayers in more ways than one.

I have more I could add, but this is already longer than I intended. I’ll conclude with the words of The Valley of Vision.

O Thou that hearest prayer,

Teach me to pray.

I confess that in religious exercises

  the language of my lips and the feelings

  of my heart have not always agreed,

that I have frequently taken carelessly upon 

  my tongue a name neveer pronounced above 

  without reverence and dignity, . . . 

Let thy Spirit help my infirmities,

  for I know not what to pray for as I ought.

Let him produce in me wise desires by which

  I may ask right things,

  then I shall know thou hearest me. . . .

May I seek first thy kingdom and its righteousness. 

May I value things in relation to eternity.

May my spiritual warfare be my chief solicitude. . . . 

And may I seek my happiness in thy favour,

  image, presence, service.

Amen.