THESE words are, without question, addressed to all saints, and express a most important way in which all believers may acceptably help in the service of God―in the ministry of His Word.
It is certain that in answer to the prayers of God’s people, His servants have had rich blessing in their work. In answer to prayer, calamities of all kinds have been again and again averted; freshness of soul has been maintained in the ministry of the gospel; the counsels of the Achithophels have been turned into foolishness; Scripture has been taught without admixture of error; power has been given to win souls to Christ; and guidance in the pathway of service to the Master.
As Christians, we are all interdependent upon one another’s prayers, though the fact of our brethren praying for us does not relieve us of the necessity of praying for ourselves.
We read in Acts 12:55Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him. (Acts 12:5) that “Peter was kept in prison, but prayer was made without ceasing of the Church unto God for him.” Was it not in answer to this prayer that Peter was able to sleep, though in prison, with man planning to execute him on the morrow, and with guards keeping the door of his cell? “God giveth His beloved sleep,” and so relieves them of all kinds of suffering and sorrow. In answer to prayer the angel of the Lord stood by Peter, and “a light shined in his cell.” Light still shines upon our ways in answer to prayer. Peter’s chains fell off from his hands, “the iron gate opened of its own accord,” and thus, through the prayers of God’s people, His servant was “delivered out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the Jews.”
Was it not in order to teach Isaac his dependence upon God, and the importance of prayer to Him, that God allowed Rebekah to be barren? (Gen. 25:2121And Isaac entreated the Lord for his wife, because she was barren: and the Lord was entreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived. (Genesis 25:21)). It would have been as easy for God to give a son to Isaac straightway, without prayer, as He does to others, had He so chosen to do. But we read, “Isaac intreated the Lord for his wife because she was barren, and the Lord was intreated of him.” Were not our own lives, since we believed, barren and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, because we ceased to pray? Continued, prolonged, believing prayer to God is the great remedy for barrenness of soul in Christian life and service. Prayer that prevails is suitably expressed in such words as these, “Our eyes wait upon the Lord our God until He have mercy upon us” (Ps. 123:2).
It is not possible for the poor in this world’s goods to help largely in the work of the Lord by their monetary gifts, though some have been generous beyond their power. It is often the case that the rich among God’s people can plead that they have no special gift of teaching or preaching, and therefore are excused from going forth themselves to labor in the mission field. It often happens that saints of God are very feeble in body, for “those members of the body which seem to be feeble are necessary,” but while some of the children of God may be excused from giving money, others from preaching or teaching, and the feeble with others lawfully detained from our public assemblies, can any Christian be rightly excused from helping by prayer? We must all pray―for others as well as for ourselves―if we would continue to be blessed in our own souls. Even the feeble members must pray. May it not be that they often do pray more than most, and that bedridden saints have frequently been the direct cause of showers of blessing.
But this is not to the credit of those who have the full use of their physical powers. All servants of God whether at home or abroad, if Scripture is to be heard, are dependent, in a very real sense, upon the believing prayers of the saints. Is this fact, call it privilege or responsibility as we may―and it is both―taken sufficiently to heart? Ministry for Christ, written and spoken, whether for saint or sinner, is largely effective in answer to prayer. May we have grace to see this and obey! There were those in apostolic as in later days who learned this salutary lesson. Thus we read, “Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always laboring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God” (Col. 4:1212Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always laboring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. (Colossians 4:12)).
Without lessening the claims in this respect of laborers in the homefield, let us ponder how all foreign workers deserve our attention. When one of these laborers reaches China he finds that for months at least, after arrival, not knowing the language, his mouth must be closed. Before going forth on that distant service his mouth had been opened wide to preach the gospel of God to his own countrymen. It will be easily understood that all foreign laborers had a call to labor at home, before being called abroad. It is their service at home that guides their brethren in encouraging them to go forward. Not being able to preach immediately on arrival, after having found unspeakable joy in such service at home must be a severe trial to most. It is wholesome to find out our own limitations, but we are best sustained in this and all such humbling discoveries by prayer. In thinking of those newly arriving in a foreign field let us bear this in mind, and strengthen them through the temptations of this period by earnest prayer.
Again, at home they enjoyed the privileges of Christian fellowship. They know in some measure the value of uniting together with their brethren in praise and prayer. The ministry, the exhortation, the kindly admonition and criticism of their brethren were appreciated.
But when separated unto the gospel in. China they must forego much of this happy fellowship, and are directly cast upon God for the edification they formerly enjoyed in intimate association with their brethren. If all need the help of the Spirit of God, do not such need Him in a very special way? Without His divine control how easy for them to go astray doctrinally, and in other ways too, in a heathen land where a subtle, strong enemy is everywhere in force, and marks out God’s servants for certain destruction. Yet light shines upon their ways, and they are kept by the power of God in answer to the prayers of God’s people on their behalf.
Think next of the isolation involved. If, as another has said, “Every one of us that has been called of God finds more or less that he is isolate to Him that called him,” consider how isolated a missionary in the great interior of China must be, There is not much in common, especially at first, between him and the heathen among whom he has chosen to live. He learns by experience what it is to be “a stranger in a strange land.” He often misunderstands the people, and is by them misunderstood. Moreover, he is not dead to nature, Natural longings for home and kindred (not to speak of deep desires for the converse of God’s saints) strongly reassert themselves at times. Should we like this to be otherwise? Such natural longings are quite consistent with full confidence in God.
The missionary in these remote regions enjoys the Lord’s presence, and often proves that He can make every burden light, give “beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness”; but he learns, too, that he is indebted to the prayers of his brethren, together with the “much incense” of the Saviour’s intercessions.
The work among heathen peoples is always slow and very difficult. They have not been prepared for the truth as have those to whom we preach—say, in England. There are all kinds of advantages of a Christian kind in this land which are denied to the Chinese. There is everywhere here the help which universal Bible instruction and the circulation of Christian literature gives. Do preachers at home sufficiently appreciate the way in which the ground has been prepared for their cultivation? Let all of them ponder the loss it would be if Bible teaching in our great public schools were to cease. Sermons and gospel addresses would not be as well understood as they are now. We need to pray earnestly for God to avert the threatened famine of the Word of the Lord in England. But we need to pray, too, for laborers in China, whose work is slow because there is no foundation of scripture knowledge in the minds of the Chinese on which to build. This necessitates the using of heathen illustrations instead of scripture types and Old Testament histories. Further, it is not easy in a heathen land, where faithfulness demands that the popular religions be condemned, to be faithful without giving offense, to conciliate prejudice without compromising, to speak the truth in the right way. The Epistles of Paul are largely interspersed with the free expression of his dependence on the saints for their prayers. But his requests are by no means mere sentiment. They are deeply felt needs, which the apostle is led of the Holy Spirit to express, which can really be met only by God, yet always by Him, in answer to our cry. Does not this having to learn a foreign language of great difficulty, not knowing the ways, the habits, and the customs of the people― then the people themselves not having been prepared by family teaching or by education in schools for Christianity, and the fact that the person who teaches is at best a foreigner―does not all this show that the work must be slow and difficult, and does it not appeal to all our hearts as a case which calls for our most earnest prayers?
It often takes a long time to secure tangible results. We must not forget that “the kingdom of God cometh not with observation” (Luke 17:2020And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: (Luke 17:20); margin, “outward show”). But there are always results beyond what is seen. Did not our blessed Lord find results to be slow during His earthly life? It was as if there were none!
“I have labored in vain, and spent My strength for naught.”
It cannot be denied that faithful servants of Christ have again and again labored long in lonely and distant parts of China, and other lands, without seeing many definite conversions to God, yet, as in the case of Noah, who was a preacher of righteousness, without seeing many “results,” their labor was not in vain in the Lord. We can best help these lonely and suffering servants of Christ, not by harshly criticizing them, not by questioning the reality of their call to the work, not by being indifferent to their needs, but by a loving ministry of intercession, and a consideration of the possibilities of prayer on their behalf. Let us ask God to fill them with His Spirit, and with new courage for His work. Let us ask Him to manifest Himself to them continually in their loneliness, and to speak through them the gospel of His grace. And, oh, may the voice of their dire need reach the depths of our inmost hearts, and stir us all up to come in the way of believing, importunate prayer, “to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty.”
T. H.