If we turn to Matt. 21:22, we shall find another of the essential conditions of effectual prayer. " And all things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive." This is a truly marvelous statement. It opens the very treasury of heaven to faith. There is absolutely no limit. Our blessed Lord assures us that we shall receive whatsoever we ask in simple faith.
The apostle James, under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, gives us a similar assurance, in reference to the matter of asking for wisdom. "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But"—here is the moral condition—"let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall obtain anything of the Lord."
From both these passages we learn that if our prayers are to have an answer, they must be prayers of faith. It is one thing to utter words in the form of prayer, and another thing altogether to pray in simple faith, in the full, clear, and settled assurance that we shall have what we are asking for. It is greatly to be feared that many of our so-called prayers never go beyond the ceiling of the room. In order to reach the throne of God, they must be borne on the wings of faith, and proceed from hearts united and minds agreed, in one holy purpose, to wait on our God for the things which we really require.
Now, the question is, are not our prayers and prayer-meetings sadly deficient on this point? Is not the deficiency manifest from the fact that we see so little re-suit from our prayers? Ought we not to examine ourselves as to how far we really understand these two conditions of prayer, namely, unanimity and confidence? If it be true—and it is true, for Christ has said it—that two persons agreed to ask in faith can have whatsoever they ask, why do we not see more abundant answers to our prayers? Must not the fault be in us? Are we not deficient in concord and confidence?
Our Lord, in Matt. 18:19, comes down, as we say, to the very smallest plurality—the smallest congregation—even to "two;" but, of course, the promise applies to dozens, scores, or hundreds. The grand point is to be thoroughly agreed, and fully persuaded, that we shall get what we are asking for. This would give a different tone and character altogether to our reunions for prayer. It would make them very much more real than our ordinary prayer-meeting, which, alas! alas! is often poor, cold, dead, objectless, and desultory, exhibiting anything but cordial agreement and unwavering faith.
How vastly different it would be if our prayer-meetings were the result of a cordial agreement on the part of two or more believing souls, to come together, and wait upon God for a certain thing, and to persevere in prayer until they receive an answer. How little we see of this! We attend the prayer-meeting from week to week—and very right we should;—but ought we not to be exercised before God as to how far we are agreed in reference to the object or objects which are to be laid before the throne? The answer to this question links itself on to another of the moral conditions of prayer.
Let us turn to Luke 11 " And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him? And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. I say unto you, though he will not rise and give him because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth. And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened." Verse 5-10.
These words are of the very highest possible importance, inasmuch as they contain part of our Lord's reply to the request of His disciples, " Lord, teach us to pray." Let no one imagine for a moment that we would dare to take it upon ourselves to teach people how to pray. God forbid! Nothing is further from our thoughts. We are merely seeking to bring the souls of our readers into direct contact with the word of God—the veritable sayings of our blessed Lord and Master—so that, in the light of those sayings, they may judge for themselves as to how far our prayers and our prayer-meetings come up to the divine standard.
What, then, do we learn from Luke 11? What are the moral conditions which it sets before us? In the first place, it teaches us to be definite in our prayers. "Friend, lend me three loaves." There is a positive need felt and expressed. There is the one thing before the mind, and on the heart; and to this one thing he confines himself. It is not a long, rambling, desultory statement about all sorts of things. It is distinct, direct, and pointed. I want three loaves; I cannot do without them; I must have them; I am shut up; the case is urgent; the time of night—all the circumstances give definiteness and earnestness to the appeal. He cannot wander from the one point, " Friend, lend me three loaves."
No doubt it seems a very untoward time to come—"midnight." Everything looks discouraging. The friend has retired for the night—the door is shut—his children are with him in bed—he cannot rise. All this is very depressing; but still the definite need is pressed. He must have the three loaves.
Now, we cannot but judge that there is a great practical lesson here which may be applied, with immense profit, to our prayers and our prayer-meetings. Must we not admit that our reunions for prayer suffer sadly from long, rambling, desultory prayers? Do we not frequently give utterance to a whole host of things of which we do not really feel the need, and which we have no notion of waiting for at all? Should we not sometimes be taken very much aback were the Lord to appear to us, at the close of our prayer-meeting, and ask us, "What do you really want me to give or to do?"
We feel most thoroughly persuaded that all this demands our serious consideration. We believe it would impart great earnestness, freshness, glow, depth, reality, and power to our prayer-meetings, were we to attend with something definite on our hearts, as to which we could invite the fellowship of our brethren. Some of us seem to think it necessary to make one long prayer about all sorts of things—many of them very right and very good, no doubt—but the mind gets bewildered by the multiplicity of subjects. How much better to bring some one object before the throne, earnestly urge it, and pause, so that the Holy Spirit may lead out others, in like manner, either for this same thing, or something else equally definite.
Long prayers are terribly wearisome; indeed, in many cases, they are a positive infliction. It will, perhaps, be said that we must not prescribe any time to the Holy Spirit. Far away be the monstrous thought! Who would venture upon such a piece of daring blasphemy? But how is it that we never find long prayers in scripture? The most marvelous prayer that ever was uttered in this world can be slowly, calmly, and impressively read in less than five minutes. We refer to the Lord's prayer, in John 17 And as to the prayer which our Lord taught His disciples, it can be uttered in less than a minute. See also the comprehensive prayer of the disciples, in Acts 4:24-30; and those two marvelous prayers of the inspired apostle, in Eph. 1; 3 Indeed, we may say, without exaggeration, that if all the prayers recorded in the New Testament were read consecutively, they would not occupy nearly so much time as we have frequently known to be occupied by a single prayer in some of our so-called prayer-meetings.
Are we presuming to dictate to the Holy Ghost? Again we emphatically exclaim, "Far away be the horrible idea!" We are simply comparing what we find in scripture with what we too often—not always, thank God!—find in our prayer-meetings.
Let it, then, be distinctly borne in mind, that "long prayers" are not to be found in scripture. They are referred to, no doubt, but it is in terms of withering disapproval. And we may further add, that, during very many years of close observation, we have invariably noticed that the prayers of our most spiritual, devoted, intelligent, and experienced brethren have been characterized by brevity, definiteness, and simplicity. This is right and good. It is according to scripture, and it tends to edification, comfort, and blessing. Brief, fervent, pointed prayers impart great freshness and interest to the prayer-meeting; but, on the other hand, as a general rule, long and desultory prayers exert a most depressing influence upon all.
But there is another very important moral condition set forth in our Lord's teaching, in Luke 11, and that is "importunity" He tells us that the man succeeds in gaining his object simply by his importunate earnestness. He is not to be put off; he must get the three loaves. Importunity prevails even where the claims of friendship prove inoperative. The man is bent on his object; he has no alternative. There is a demand, and he has nothing to meet it: "I have nothing to set before my traveling friend." In short, he will not take a refusal.
Now the question is, how far do we understand this great lesson? It is not, blessed be God, that He will ever answer us " from within." He will never say to us, " Trouble me not"—" I cannot rise and give thee." He is ever our true and ready " Friend"—" a cheerful, liberal, and un-upbraiding Giver." All praise to His holy name! Still, He encourages importunity, and we need to ponder His teaching. There is a sad lack of it in our prayer-meetings. Indeed, it will be found that in proportion to the lack of definiteness is the lack of importunity. The two go very much together. Where the thing sought is as definite as the "three loaves," there will generally be the importunate asking for it, and the firm purpose to get it.
The simple fact is, we are too vague and, as a consequence, too indifferent in our prayers and prayer-meetings. We do not seem like people asking for what they want, and waiting for what they ask. This is what destroys our prayer-meetings, rendering them pithless, pointless, powerless; turning them into teaching or talking meetings, rather than deep-toned, earnest prayer-meetings. We feel convinced that the whole church of God needs to be thoroughly aroused in reference to this great question; and this conviction it is which compels us to offer these hints and suggestions, with which we are not yet done.
(To be continued, if the Lord will.)