The Kneeling Christian Part 3

This is all very delightful, and, in a sense, very true.

If the check were drawn on a Government account, or upon some wealthy corporation, one might be tempted to get all one could. But remember we are coming to a loving Father to Whom we owe all, and Whom we love with all our heart, and to Whom we may come repeatedly. In cas.h.i.+ng our checks at the bank of heaven we desire chiefly His honor and His glory. We wish to do only that which is pleasing in His sight. To cash some of our "checks" --to answer some of our prayers --would only bring dishonor to His name, and discredit and discomfort to us. True, His resources are unlimited; but His honor is a.s.sailable.

But experience makes argument unnecessary! Dear reader, have we not --all of us --often tried this method only to fail?

How many of us dare say we have never come away from the bank of heaven without getting what we asked for, although we have apparently asked "in Christ's name"? Wherein do we fail? Is it because we do not seek to learn G.o.d's will for us? We must not try to exceed His will.

May I give a personal experience of my own which has never been told in public, and which is probably quite unique? It happened over thirty years ago, and now I see why. It makes such a splendid ill.u.s.tration of what we are now trying to learn about prayer.

A well-to-do friend, and an exceedingly busy one, wished to give me one pound towards a certain object. He invited me to his office, and hastily wrote out a check for the amount. He folded the check and handed it to me, saying, "I will not cross it. Will you kindly cash it at the bank?" On arriving at the bank I glanced at my name on the check without troubling to verify the amount, endorsed it, and handed it to a clerk. "This is rather a big sum to cash over the counter," he said, eyeing me narrowly. "Yes, I replied laughingly, "one pound!"

"No," said the clerk: "this is made out for 'one thousand pounds!' "

And so it was! My friend was, no doubt, accustomed to writing big checks; and he had actually written "one thousand" instead of "one" pound. Now, what was my position legally? The check was truly in his name. The signature was all right. My endors.e.m.e.nt was all right. Could I not demand the 1,333333 pounds, provided there was sufficient in the account? The check was written deliberately, if hurriedly, and freely to me --why should I not take the gift?

Why not?

But I was dealing with a friend --a generous friend to whom I owed many deeds of lovingkindness. He had revealed his mind to me. I knew his wishes and desires.

He meant to give me one pound, and no more. I knew his intention, his "mind," and at once took back the all-too-generous check, and in due time I received just one pound, according to his will. Had that donor given me a blank check the result would have been exactly the same. He would have expected me to write in one pound, and my honor would have been at stake in my doing so. Need we draw the lesson? G.o.d has His will for each one of us, and unless we seek to know that will we are likely to ask for "a thousand," when He knows that "one" will be best for us. In our prayers we are coming to a Friend --a loving Father. We owe everything to Him. He bids us come to Him whenever we like for all we need. His resources are infinite.

But He bids us to remember that we should ask only for those things that are according to His will --only for that which will bring glory to His name. John says, "If we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us" (I John v.14). So then our Friend gives us a blank check, and leaves us to fill in "anything"; but He knows that if we truly love Him we shall never put down --never ask for --things He is not willing to give us, because they would be harmful to us.

Perhaps with most of us the fault lies in the other direction. G.o.d gives us a blank check and says, Ask for a pound --and we ask for a s.h.i.+lling! Would not my friend have been insulted had I treated him thus? Do we ask enough? Do we dare to ask "according to His riches in glory"?

The point we are dwelling upon, however, is this --we cannot be sure that we are praying "in His name" unless we learn His will for us.

(3) But even now we have not exhausted the meaning of those words, "In my Name." We all know what it is to ask for a thing "in the name" of another. But we are very careful not to allow anyone to use our name who is not to be trusted, or he might abuse our trust and discredit our name. Gehazi, the trusted servant, dishonestly used Elisha's name when he ran after Naaman. In Elisha's name he secured riches, but also inherited a curse for his wickedness.

A trusted clerk often uses his employer's name and handles great sums of money as if they were his own. But this be does only so long as he is thought to be worthy of such confidence in him. And he uses the money for his master, and not for himself. All our money belongs to our Master, Christ Jesus. We can go to G.o.d for supplies in His name if we use all we get for His glory.

When I go to cash a check payable to me, the banker is quite satisfied if the signature of his client is genuine and that I am the person authorized to receive the money. He does not ask for references to my character. He has no right whatever to enquire whether I am worthy to receive the money or to be trusted to use it aright. It is not so with the Bank of Heaven. Now, this is a point of greatest importance. Do not hurry over what is now to be said.

When I go to heaven's bank in the name of the Lord Jesus, with a check drawn upon the unsearchable riches of Christ, G.o.d demands that I shall be a worthy recipient. Not "worthy" in the sense that I can merit or deserve anything from a holy G.o.d --but worthy in the sense that I am seeking the gift not for m own glory or self-interest, but only for the glory of G.o.d.

Otherwise I may pray and not get. "Ye ask and receive not, because ye ask amiss that ye may spend it in your pleasures" (James iv. 3, R.V.).

The great Heavenly Banker will not cash checks for us if our motives are not right. Is not this why so many fail in prayer? Christ's name is the revelation of His character.

To pray "in His name" is to pray in His character, as His representative sent by Him: it is to pray by His Spirit and according to His will; to have His approval in our asking, to seek what He seeks, to ask help to do what He Himself would wish to be done, and to desire to do it not for our own glorification, but for His glory alone. To pray "in His name" we must have ident.i.ty of interests and purpose. Self and its aims and desires must be entirely controlled by G.o.d's Holy Spirit, so that our wills are in complete harmony with Christ's will.

We must reach the att.i.tude of St. Augustine when he, cried, "O Lord, grant that I may do Thy will as if it were my will, so that Thou mayest do my will as if it were Thy will."

Child of G.o.d, does this seem to make prayer "in His name" quite beyond us?

That was not our Lord's intention. He is not mocking us! Speaking of the Holy Spirit our Lord used these words: "The Comforter . . . Whom the Father will send in my name" (John xiv. 26). Now, our Savior wants us to be so controlled by the Holy Spirit that we may act in Christ's name. "As many as are led by the Spirit of G.o.d, they are the sons of G.o.d" (Rom. viii. 14). And only sons can say, "Our Father."

Our Lord said of Saul of Tarsus: "He is a chosen vessel unto Me to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings, and the children of Israel" (Acts ix. 15). Not to them, but before them. So St. Paul says: "It pleased G.o.d to reveal his Son in me." We cannot pray in Christ's name unless we bear that name before people. And this is only possible so long as we "abide in" Him and His words abide in us. So we come to this --unless the heart is right the prayer must be wrong.

Christ said, "If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you" (John xv. 7).

Those three promises are really identical --they express the same thought in different words. Look at them -- Ask anything in my name, I will do it (John xiv. 13, 14).

Ask what ye will (if ye abide in me and my words abide in you), and it shall be done (John xv. 7).

Ask anything, according to his will, we have the pet.i.tions (I John v. 14).

And we could sum them all up in the words of St. John, "'Whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments and do the things which are pleasing in his sight" (I John iii. 22). When we do what He bids, He does what we ask! Listen to G.o.d and G.o.d will listen to you. Thus our Lord gives us "power of attorney" over His kingdom, the kingdom of heaven, if only we fulfil the condition of abiding in Him.

Oh, what a wonder is this! How eagerly and earnestly we should seek to know His "mind," His wish, His will! --How amazing it is that any one of us should by our own self-seeking miss such unsearchable riches! We know that G.o.d's will is the best for us. We know that He longs to bless us and make us a blessing. We know that to follow our own inclination is absolutely certain to harm us and to hurt us and those whom we love. We know that to turn away from His will for us is to court disaster. O child of G.o.d, why do we not trust Him fully and wholly? Here we are, then, once again brought face to face with a life of holiness. We see with the utmost clearness that our Savior's call to prayer is simply a clarion call to holiness. "Be ye holy!" for without holiness no man can see G.o.d, and prayer cannot be efficacious.

When we confess that we "never get answers to our prayers," we are condemning not G.o.d, or His promises, or the power of prayer, but ourselves. There is no greater test of spirituality than prayer. The man who tries to pray quickly discovers just where he stands in G.o.d's sight.

Unless we are living the Victorious Life we cannot truly pray "in the name" of Christ, and our prayer-life must of necessity be feeble, fitful and oft-times unfruitful.

And "in His name" must be "according to His will." But can we know His will?

a.s.suredly we can. St. Paul not only says, "Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus . . ." (Phil. ii. 5); he also boldly declares, "We have the mind of Christ" (I Cor. ii. 16). How, then, can we get to know G.o.d's will?

We shall remember that "the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him" (Psa. xxv. 14).

In the first place, we must not expect G.o.d to reveal His will to us unless we desire to know that will and intend to do that will. Knowledge of G.o.d's will and the performance of that will go together. We are apt to desire to know G.o.d's will so that we may decide whether we will obey or not. Such an att.i.tude is disastrous. "If any man willeth to do His will, he shall know of the teaching" (John vii. 17).

G.o.d's will is revealed in His Word in Holy Scriptures. What He promises in His Word I may know to be according to His will.

For example, I may confidently ask for wisdom, because His Word says, "If any . . . lack wisdom, let him ask of G.o.d . . . and it shall be given him" (James i. 5). We cannot be men of prevailing prayer unless we study G.o.d's Word to find out His will for us.

But it is the Holy Spirit of G.o.d Who is prayer's great Helper. Read again those wonderful words of St. Paul: "In the same way the Spirit also helps us in our weakness; for we do not know what prayers to offer nor in what way to offer them, but the Spirit Himself pleads for us in yearnings that can find no words, and the Searcher of hearts knows what the Spirit's meaning is, because His intercessions for G.o.d's people are in harmony with G.o.d's will" (Rom. viii. 26, 27; Weymouth).

What comforting words! Ignorance and helplessness in prayer are indeed blessed things if they cast us upon the Holy Spirit. Blessed be the name of the Lord Jesus! We are left without excuse. Pray we must: pray we can.

Remember our Heavenly Father is pledged to give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him (Luke xi. 13) --and any other "good thing" too (Matt. vii. 11).

Child of G.o.d, you have often prayed. You have, no doubt, often bewailed your feebleness and slackness in prayer. But have you really prayed in His name?

It is when we have failed and know not "what prayers to offer" or "in what way," that the Holy Spirit is promised as our Helper.

Is it not worth while to be wholly and whole-heartedly yielded to Christ? The half-and-half Christian is of very little use either to G.o.d or man. G.o.d cannot use him, and man has no use for him, but considers him a hypocrite. One sin allowed in the life wrecks at once our usefulness and our joy, and robs prayer of its power.

Beloved, we have caught a fresh glimpse of the grace and the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is willing and waiting to share with us both His glory and His grace. He is willing to make us channels of blessing. Shall we not wors.h.i.+p G.o.d in sincerity and truth, and cry eagerly and earnestly, "Lord, what shall I do?" (Acts xxii. 10, R.V.) and then, in the power of His might, do it?

St. Paul once shot up that prayer to heaven; "What shall I do?" What answer did he get? Listen! He tells us in his counsel to believers everywhere just what it meant to him, and should mean to us: "Beloved, put on . . . a heart of compa.s.sion, kindness, humility, longsuffering; . . .above all things put on love and let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts. . . . Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom. . . . And whatsoever ye do, in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to G.o.d the Father through him" (Col. iii. 12-17).

It is only when whatsoever we do is done in His name that He will do whatsoever we ask in His name.

Chapter 7: MUST I AGONIZE?.

PRAYER is measured, not by time, but by intensity. Earnest souls who read of men like Praying Hyde are today anxiously asking, "Am I expected to pray like that?"

They hear of others who sometimes remain on their knees before G.o.d all day or all night, refusing food and scorning sleep, whilst they pray and pray and pray. They naturally wonder, "Are we to do the same? Must all of us follow their examples?" We must remember that those men of prayer did not pray by time. They continued so long in prayer because they could not stop praying.

Some have ventured to think that in what has been said in earlier Chap.s I have hinted that we must all follow in their train. Child of G.o.d, do not let any such thought --such fear? --distress you. Just be willing to do what He will have you do --what He leads you to do. Think about it; pray about it. We are bidden by the Lord Jesus to pray to our loving Heavenly Father. We sometimes sing, "Oh, how He loves!" And nothing can fathom that love.

Prayer is not given us as a burden to be borne, or an irksome duty to fulfil, but to be a joy and power to which there is no limit. It is given us that we "may find grace to help us in time of need" (Heb. iv. 16, R.V.). And every time is a "time of need." "Pray ye" is an invitation to be accepted rather than a command to be obeyed. Is it a burden for a child to come to his father to ask for some boon? How a father loves his child, and seeks its highest good! How he s.h.i.+elds that little one from any sorrow or pain or suffering! Our heavenly Father loves us infinitely more than any earthly father. The Lord Jesus loves us infinitely more than any earthly friend. G.o.d forgive me if any words of mine, on such a precious theme as prayer, have wounded the hearts or consciences of those who are yearning to know more about prayer. "Your heavenly Father knoweth," said our Lord: and if He knows, we can but trust and not be afraid.

A schoolmaster may blame a boy for neglected homework, or unpunctual attendance, or frequent absence; but the loving father in the home knows all about it. He knows all about the devoted service of the little laddie in the home circle, where sickness or poverty throws so many loving tasks in his way. Our dear, loving Father knows all about us. He sees. He knows how little leisure some of us have for prolonged periods of prayer.

For some of us G.o.d makes leisure. He makes us lie down (Psa. xxiii. 2) that He may make us look up. Even then, weakness of body often prevents prolonged prayer. Yet I question if any of us, however great and reasonable our excuses, spend enough thought over our prayers. Some of us are bound to be much in prayer. Our very work demands it. We may be looked upon as spiritual leaders; we may have the spiritual welfare or training of others. G.o.d forbid that we should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray enough for them (I Sam. xii. 23). Yes, with some it is our very business --almost our life's workto pray, Others -- Have friends who give them pain, Yet have not sought a friend in Him.

For them they cannot help praying. If we have the burden of souls upon us we shall never ask, "How long need I pray?"

But how well we know the difficulties which surround the prayer-life of many!

A little pile of letters lies before me as I write. They are full of excuses, and kindly protests, and reasonings it is true. But is that why they are written? No!

No! Far from it. In every one of them there is an undercurrent of deep yearning to know G.o.d's will, and how to obey the call to prayer amid all the countless claims of life.

Those letters tell of many who cannot get away from others for times of secret prayer; of those who share even bedrooms; of busy mothers, and maids, and mistresses who scarcely know how to get through the endless was.h.i.+ng and cooking, mending and cleaning, shopping and visiting; of tired workers who are too weary to pray when the day's work is done.

Child of G.o.d, our heavenly Father knows all about it. He is not a taskmaster. He is our Father. if you have no time for prayer, or no chance of secret prayer, why, just tell Him all about it --and you will discover that you are praying!

To those who seem unable to get any solitude at all, or even the opportunity of stealing into a quiet church for a few moments, may we point to the wonderful prayer-life of St. Paul ? Did it ever occur to you that lie was in prison when he wrote most of those marvelous prayers of his which we possess? Picture him. He was chained to a Roman soldier day and night, and was never alone for a moment. Epaphias was there part of the time, and caught something of his master's pa.s.sion for prayer. St. Luke may have been there. What prayer-meetings! No opportunity for secret prayer. No! but how much we owe to the uplifting of those chained hands! You and I may be never, or rarely ever, alone, but at least our hands are not fettered with chains, and our hearts are not fettered, nor our lips.

Can we make time for prayer? I may be wrong, but my own belief is that it is not G.o.d's will for most of us --and perhaps not for any of us --to spend so much time in prayer as to injure our physical health through getting insufficient food or sleep. With very many it is a physical impossibility, because of bodily weakness, to remain long in the spirit of intense prayer.

The posture in which we pray is immaterial. G.o.d will listen whether we kneel, or stand, or sit, or walk, or work.

I am quite aware that many have testified to the fact that G.o.d sometimes gives special strength to those who curtail their hours of rest in order to pray more. At one time the writer tried getting up very early in the morning --and every morning --for prayer and communion with G.o.d. After a time he found that his daily work was suffering in intensity and effectiveness, and that it was difficult to keep awake during the early evening hours! But do we pray as much as we might do? It is a lasting regret to me that I allowed the days of youth and vigor to pa.s.s by without laying more stress upon those early hours of prayer.

Now, the inspired command is clear enough: "Pray without ceasing" (I Thess. v. 17). Our dear Lord said, "Men ought always to pray, and not to faint" --"and never lose heart" (Weymouth) (Luke xviii. 1).

This, of course, cannot mean that we are to be always on our knees. I am convinced that G.o.d does not wish us to neglect rightful work in order to pray. But it is equally certain that we might work better and do more work if we gave less time to work and more to prayer.

Let us work well. We are to be "not slothful in business" (Rom. xii. 11). St. Paul says, "We exhort you, brethren, that ye abound more and more; and that ye. . . do your own business, and to work with your hands. . . that ye may walk honestly . . . and have need of nothing" (I Thess. iv. 11, 12). "If any will not work, neither let him eat" (I Thess. iii. 10).

But are there not endless opportunities during every day of "lifting, up holy hands" --or at least holy hearts --in prayer to our Father? Do we seize the opportunity, as we open our eyes upon each new day, of praising and blessing our Redeemer? Every day is an Easter day to the Christian. We can pray as we dress. Without a reminder we shall often forget. Stick a piece of stamp-paper in the corner of your looking-gla.s.s, bearing the words, --"Pray without ceasing." Try it. We can pray as we go from one duty to another. We can often pray at our work. The was.h.i.+ng and the writing, the mending and the minding, the cooking and the cleaning will be done all the better for it.

Do not children, both young and old, work better and play better when some loved one is watching? Will it not help us ever to remember that the Lord Jesus is always with us, watching? Aye, and helping. The very consciousness of His eye upon us will be the consciousness of His power within us.

Do you not think that St. Paul had in his mind this habitual praying rather than fixed seasons of prayer when he said, "The Lord is at hand" --i.e., is near (Weymouth). "In nothing be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto G.o.d" (Phil. iv. 5, 6)? Does not "in everything" suggest that, as thing after thing befalls us, moment by moment, we should then and there make it a "thing" of prayer and praise to the Lord Who is near? (Why should we limit this "nearness" to the Second Advent?) What a blessed thought: prayer is to a near-G.o.d. When our Lord sent His disciples forth to work, He said, "Lo, I am with you alway."

Sir Thomas Browne, the celebrated physician, had caught this spirit. He made a vow "to pray in all places where quietness inviteth; in any house, highway or street; and to know no street in this city that may not witness that I have not forgotten G.o.d and my Savior in it; and that no town or parish where I have been may not say the like. To take occasion of praying upon the sight of any church which I see as I ride about. To pray daily and particularly for my sick patients, and for all sick people, under whose care soever. And at the entrance into the house of the sick to say, 'The peace and the mercy of G.o.d be upon this house.' After a sermon to make a prayer and desire a blessing, and to pray for the minister."

But we question if this habitual communion with our blessed Lord is possible unless we have times --whether long or brief --of definite prayer. And what of these prayer seasons? We have said earlier that prayer is as simple as a little child asking something of its father. Nor would such a remark need any further comment were it not for the existence of the evil one.

There is no doubt whatever that the devil opposes our approach to G.o.d in prayer, and does all he can to prevent the prayer of faith. His chief way of hindering us is to try to fill our minds with the thought of our needs, so that they shall not be occupied with thoughts of G.o.d, our loving Father, to Whom we pray. He wants us to think more of the gift than of the Giver. The Holy Spirit leads us to pray for a brother. We get as far as "O G.o.d, bless my brother" --and away go our thoughts to the brother, and his affairs, and his difficulties, his hopes and his fears, and away goes prayer!

How hard the devil makes it for us to concentrate our thoughts upon G.o.d!

This is why we urge people to get a realization of the glory of G.o.d, and the power of G.o.d, and the presence of G.o.d, before offering up any pet.i.tion. If there were no devil there would be no difficulty in prayer, but it is the evil one's chief aim to make prayer impossible. That is why most of us find it hard to sympathize with those who profess to condemn what they call "vain repet.i.tions" and "much speaking" in prayer --quoting our Lord's words in His sermon on the mount.

A prominent London vicar said quite recently, "G.o.d does not wish us to waste either His time or ours with long prayers. We must be business-like in our dealings with G.o.d, and just tell Him plainly and briefly what we want, and leave the matter there." But does our friend think that prayer is merely making G.o.d acquainted with our needs? If that is all there is in it, why, there is no need of prayer! "For your Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask him," said our Lord when urging the disciples to pray.

We are aware that Christ Himself condemned some "long prayers" (Matt. xxiii. 14). But they were long prayers made "for a pretense," "for a show" (Luke xx. 47). Dear praying people, believe me, the Lord would equally condemn many of the "long prayers" made every week in some of our prayer-meetings --prayers which kill the prayer-meeting, and which finish up with a plea that G.o.d would hear these "feeble breathings," or "unworthy utterings."

But he never condemns long prayers that are sincere. Let us not forget that our Lord sometimes spent long nights in prayer. We are told of one of these --we do not know how frequently they were (Luke vi. 12). He would sometimes rise a "great while before day" and depart to a solitary place for prayer (Mark i. 35). The perfect Man spent more time in prayer than we do. It would seem an undoubted fact that with G.o.d's saints in all ages nights of prayer with G.o.d have been followed by days of power with men.

Nor did our Lord excuse Himself from prayer --as we, in our ignorance, might think He could have done --because of the pressing calls to service and boundless opportunities of usefulness. After one of His busiest days, at a time when His popularity was at its highest, just when everyone sought His company and His counsel, He turned His back upon them all and retired to a mountain to pray (Matt. xiv. 23).

We are told that once "great mult.i.tudes came together to hear Him, and to be healed of their infirmities." Then comes the remark, "But Jesus himself constantly withdrew into the desert, and there prayed" (Luke v. 15, 16, Weymouth). Why? Because He knew that prayer was then far more potent than "service."

We say we are too busy to pray. But the busier our Lord was, the more He prayed. Sometimes He had no leisure so much as to eat (Mark iii. 20); and sometimes He had no leisure for needed rest and sleep (Mark vi. 31). Yet He always took time to pray. If frequent prayer, and, at times, long hours of prayer, were necessary for our Savior, are they less necessary for us?

I do not write to persuade people to agree with me: that is a very small matter. We only want to know the truth. Spurgeon once said: "There is no need for us to go beating about the bush, and not telling the Lord distinctly what it is that we crave at His hands. Nor will it be seemly for us to make any attempt to use fine language; but let us ask G.o.d in the simplest and most direct manner for just the things we want. . . . I believe in business prayers. I mean prayers in which you take to G.o.d one of the many promises which He has given us in His Word, and expect it to be fulfilled as certainly as we look for the money to be given us when we go to the bank to cash a check. We should not think of going there, lolling over the counter chattering with the clerks on every conceivable subject except the one thing for which we had gone to the bank, and then coming away without the coin we needed; but we should lay before the clerk the promise to pay the bearer a certain sum, tell him in what form we wished to take the amount, count the cash after him, and then go on our way to attend to other business. That is just an ill.u.s.tration of the method in which we should draw supplies from the Bank of Heaven." Splendid!

But --? By all means let us be definite in prayer; by all means let us put eloquence aside --if we have any! By all means let us avoid needless "chatter," and come in faith, expecting to receive.

But would the bank clerk pa.s.s me the money over the counter so readily if there stood by my side a powerful, evil-countenanced, well-armed ruffian whom he recognized to be a desperate criminal waiting to s.n.a.t.c.h the money before my weak hands could grasp it? Would he not wait till the ruffian had gone? This is no fanciful picture. The Bible teaches us that, in some way or other, Satan can hinder our prayers and delay the answer. Does not St. Peter urge certain things upon Christians, that their "prayers be not hindered"? (I Peter iii. 7.) Our prayers can be hindered. "Then cometh the evil one and s.n.a.t.c.heth away that which hath been sown in the heart" (Matt. xiii. 19, R.V.).

Scripture gives us one instance --probably only one out of many --where the evil one actually kept back --delayed --for three weeks an answer to prayer. We only mention this to show the need of repeated prayer, persistence in prayer, and also to call attention to the extraordinary power which Satan possesses. We refer to Daniel x. 12, 13: "Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to humble thyself before G.o.d, thy words were heard: and I am come for thy word's sake. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days. But lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me."

We must not overlook this Satanic opposition and hindrance to our prayers. If we were to be content to ask G.o.d only once for some promised thing or one we deemed necessary, these Chap.s would never have been written. Are we never to ask again? For instance, I know that G.o.d willeth not the death of a sinner. So I come boldly in prayer: "O G.o.d, save my friend." Am I never to ask for his conversion again? George Muller prayed daily --and oftener --for sixty years for the conversion of a friend. But what light does the Bible throw upon "business-like" prayers? Our Lord gave two parables to teach persistence and continuance in prayer. The man who asked three loaves from his friend at midnight received as many as he needed "because of his importunity" --or persistency (Weymouth), i.e., his "shamelessness," as the word literally means (Luke xi. 8). The widow who "troubled" the unjust judge with her "continual coming" at last secured redress. Our Lord adds "And shall not G.o.d avenge his elect which cry unto him day and night, and he is longsuffering over them?" (Luke xviii. 7, R.V.) How delighted our Lord was with the poor Syro-Phoenician woman who would not take refusals or rebuffs for an answer! Because of her continual request He said: "O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt" (Matt. xv. 28). Our dear Lord, in His agony in Gethsemane, found it necessary to repeat even His prayer. "And he left them and went away and prayed a third time, saying again the same words" (Matt. xxvi. 44). And we find St. Paul, the apostle of prayer, asking G.o.d time after time to remove his thorn in the flesh.

"Concerning this thing," says he, "I besought the Lord thrice that it might depart from me" (II Cor. xii. 8).

G.o.d cannot always grant our pet.i.tions immediately. Sometimes we are not fitted to receive the gift. Sometimes He says "No" in order to give us something far better. Think, too, of the days when St. Peter was in prison. If your boy was unjustly imprisoned, expecting death at any moment, would you --could you --be content to pray just once, a "business-like" prayer: "O G.o.d, deliver my boy from the hands of these men"? Would you not be very much in prayer and very much in earnest?

This is how the Church prayed for St. Peter. "Long and fervent prayer was offered to G.o.d by the Church on his behalf" (Acts xii. 5, Weymouth). Bible students will have noticed that the A.V. rendering, "without ceasing," reads "earnestly" in the R.V. Dr. Torrey points out that neither translation gives the full force of the Greek. The word means literally "stretched-out-ed-ly." It represents the soul on the stretch of earnest and intense desire. Intense prayer was made for St. Peter. The very same word is used of our Lord in Gethsemane: "And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat became as it were great drops of blood falling down upon the ground" (Luke xxii. 44).

Ah! there was earnestness, even agony in prayer. Now, what about our prayers? Are we called upon to agonize in prayer? Many of G.o.d's dear saints say "No!" They think such agonizing in us would reveal great want of faith. Yet most of the experiences which befell our Lord are to be ours. We have been crucified with Christ, and we are risen with Him. Shall there be, with us, no travailing for souls?

Come back to human experience. Can we refrain from agonizing in prayer over dearly beloved children who are living in sin? I question if any believer can have the burden of souls upon him --a pa.s.sion for souls --and not agonize in prayer.

Can we help crying out, like John Knox, "O G.o.d, give me Scotland or I die"?

Here again the Bible helps us. Was there no travail of soul and agonizing in prayer when Moses cried out to G.o.d, "O, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made G.o.ds of gold. Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin --; and if not, blot, me, I pray thee, out of thy book"? (Exod. x.x.xii. 32.) Was there no agonizing in prayer when St. Paul said, "I could wish" --("pray," R.V. marg.) --"that I myself were anathema from Christ for my brethren's sake"? (Rom. ix. 3.) We may, at all events, be quite sure that our Lord, Who wept over Jerusalem, and Who "offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears" (Heb. v. 7), will not be grieved if He sees us weeping over erring ones. Nay, will it not rather gladden His heart to see us agonizing over the sin which grieves Him? In fact, may not the paucity of conversions in so many a ministry be due to lack of agonizing in prayer?

We are told that "As soon as Zion travailed she brought forth her children" (Isa. lxvi. 8). Was St. Paul thinking of this pa.s.sage when he wrote to the Galatians, "My little children, of whom I am again in travail until Christ be formed in you"? (Gal. iv. 19.) And will not this be true of spiritual children? Oh, how cold our hearts often are! How little we grieve over the lost! And shall we dare to criticise those who agonize over the peris.h.i.+ng? G.o.d forbid! No; there is such a thing as wrestling in prayer. Not because G.o.d is unwilling to answer, but because of the opposition of the "world-rulers of this darkness" (Eph. vi. 12, R.V.).

The very word used for "striving" in prayer means "a contest." The contest is not between G.o.d and ourselves. He is at one with us in our desires. The contest is with the evil one, although he is a conquered foe (I John iii. 8). He desires to thwart our prayers.

"We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against princ.i.p.alities, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places" (Eph. vi. 12). We, too, are in these "heavenly places in Christ" (Eph. i. 3); and it is only in Christ that we can be victorious. Our wrestling may be a wrestling of our thoughts from thinking Satan's suggestions, and keeping them fixed on Christ our Savior --that is, watching as well as praying (Eph. vi. 18); "watching unto prayer."