Concerning Prayer

by G. Jarvie, Glasgow | Category: Concerning Prayer | Mar 1967

In a previous article we considered the subject of assembly, and united prayer, and we considered the blessing and the power that comes when we are one in heart and soul in seeking the Lord. Before God will restore and bless His people Israel, He will first of all pour upon them "the spirit of grace and of supplication" (Zechariah 12.10). United prayer and supplication always precede revival and blessing. The promise to Solomon was "If My people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land" (2 Chronicles 7.14). This promise is for us also, though ours is a spiritual blessing.

Collective prayer has its roots in individual prayer, and the same principles apply. What we are individually is what we will be collectively. We cannot rise higher in our collective supplication than what we are individually in secret. Someone has written:

"Why therefore should we do ourselves, this wrong,

Or others-that we are not always strong,

That we are ever overborne with care,

That we should ever weak or thoughtless be,

Anxious or troubled, when with us is prayer,

And joy, and strength, and courage are with Thee?"

Why do we spend so little time in this vital exercise of supplication and intercession, when so much depends upon it? In his day, Isaiah lamented that "there is none that calleth upon Thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of Thee" (Isaiah 64.7). It is evident that praying men and women were scarce in Isaiah's day!

There is no doubt that secret prayer and supplication is something to which we do not take easily. We find ourselves to be so busy with so many things, that such prayer is often crushed into a very small part of the day, and sometimes it is forgotten altogether. We would much rather work than pray. We find it easier to organize than to agonize. Daniel wrote that he set his face to seek the LORD by prayer and supplications (Daniel 9.3). There is no doubt that Daniel was a very busy man, with many cares on his shoulders. He was one of three presidents whom Darius set over his kingdom. He had no light job! But he set his face to seek the LO~. There was a firm determination in Daniel's heart to spend time with God in the secret place. And so we have that great example of intercessory prayer in Daniel 9, and God's speedy answer in the coming of the angel Gabriel.

Is there such a fixed purpose in our hearts to spend time before God, in humiliation, prayer, and supplication? If so, then we are on the way to victory and power in the Holy Spirit. It is not lack of time that keeps us from such prayer but lack of exercise. We know that we need reviving and the fullness of the Spirit, and yet we are slow to spend time in the only exercise that can bring that reviving. Oh, beloved brethren and sisters, let us set our faces, each of us in secret, to seek the Lord our God. He is waiting to hear us at the Throne of Grace (Isaiah 30.18 and Hebrews 4.16). If need be, let us write down on paper the things we long for most, the things we wish to give thanks for, and let us make confession of all our carelessness and prayerlessness and lovelessness, and all in which we have erred. Let us take time for the Spirit of God to lead us in prayer, according to the will of God (Romans 8.26 and Jude 20).

When we think of such prayer, we think of Jacob wrestling alone with God, at the brook Jabbok (Genesis 32.22-32). He had been a skilful schemer, and he had gained much wealth, but his greatest blessing did not come by his skill in business but by his tears and supplications at the ford of Jabbok. He had set his face to get the blessing which God wanted to give him, and he got it, and became "Israel", the wrestler with God.

We can see clearly that spiritual power and fullness come this way. To fail in this is to fail in our service. How sad indeed if we should sow much and gather little, because we forgot the first and greatest thing, that the work of God can only be done in the power of the Spirit of God (Zechariah 4.6). We must work with God, and to work with Him we must wait for Him in the secret of His presence. Let nothing rob us of our prize. Let not comfort, nor business, nor home duties, nor books, nor other things rob us of the most essential thing in our service, or we will finish our course, and discover that we have attempted much and accomplished little. Let each one of us set a time most convenient to us, and let us keep tryst with God. Then we will prove the truth of the great promise of Isaiah 40.31.

Not only is it necessary for us to have individual prayer and supplication, but it is necessary for us to have family prayer, if our families are to be saved and kept. Wise parents will look ahead and plan for their children, for "the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children" (2 Corinthians 12.14). If parents must think of their children in temporal things, how much more must Christian parents think of their children in spiritual and eternal things! Where best will they learn to read the Scriptures and to pray, than in the freedom of their own home? They must soon go out into a world that is against spiritual life and growth. When they are saved they cannot possibly grow, apart from prayer. Attendance at meetings will not take the place of individual prayer in their lives. "Lord, teach us to pray", said the disciples to the Lord (Luke 11.1). Our children need to be taught, not merely about prayer but to pray. They should be encouraged to take part in family prayer at home. The roots of their spiritual nature must go well beneath the surface or they will not grow to spiritual maturity. Therefore family reading and prayer are essential. It is necessary to fill their young minds before the world does.

It is true that some who have never known family reading and prayer grow to be strong and virile Christians. When that is so, we are likely to find that there have been foster-parents somewhere. Others have taken an interest in them and supplied what was required in their hour of need.

The vital thing is that their roots must go down well beneath the surface. They must be linked with the Eternal One through prayer and faith. When this takes place we need not fear; they will grow. "The LORD is the strength of my life", wrote David (Psalm 27.1). He will be that to us all individually; He will be that to us in our families; and He will be that to us as assemblies of His saints. But He will only be that as we draw our strength from Him in the secret of His presence.

Not for ourselves and our families alone is supplication necessary, but for others. As we give ourselves to prayer and supplication, we will find that the Holy Spirit will lay upon our hearts the deep needs of others, and we will learn also the work of intercession-pleading for others. We lift up our eyes and look on the fields that are white unto harvest.

In Western lands the majority of the people seem to be cold and cynical. A lifeless form of Christianity has brought this about. Bibles are plentiful, but few read them. Only the convicting power of the Spirit of God, in lives made strong through prayer and faith, can reach these cold and cynical ones. Clever reasoning will not reach them.

Farther afield are the millions who have never heard the good news from God. Great multitudes do not know that there is a God who loves them. They grope in the darkness, as Buddha did, six hundred years before the Lord came.

"Who, who will go, salvation's story telling, Looking to Jesus, counting not the cost?"

And then we think of the increasing millions who live behind the man-made curtains of iron and bamboo. What a task we have! What a need for earnest prayer! The night is closing in upon us, that seems evident. But we are not overwhelmed. With God all things are possible. Isaiah 40 is a great help to our faith, and a great incentive to prayer. Someone has written:

"Because you prayed,

The dwellers in the dark have found the light;

The glad good news has banished pagan night;

The message of the Cross, so long delayed,

Has brought them light at last,

Because you prayed."

We cannot forget that to us has also been committed the good news of the kingdom of God, and our collective worship and service in it. We must pray God to send out Spirit-filled servants, and we must uphold them in prayer when they go.

G. Jarvie, Glasgow | Mar 1967
Concerning Prayer