Prayer: August 2005
Table of Contents
Prayer
How blessed is the subject of prayer! What a privilege to be free anytime, anywhere to speak to our God and to ask Him to do something or thank Him for something. What a blessed opportunity to draw upon His heart, His wisdom, His power, His mercy and His grace. Our Lord Jesus said of this privilege, “Hitherto have ye asked nothing in My name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.”
J. N. Darby remarked, “Prayer is founded on the immense privilege of having common interests with God both as to ourselves and as to all that are His, yea, even as to Christ’s glory. Wondrous thought! Unspeakable grace!”
Prayer expresses our dependence upon our God. We are not sufficient in ourselves; only God is self-sufficient. By prayer we express our need and count upon His strength.
In this issue we take up prayer in connection with the Holy Spirit, intercession, fasting, our moral state that helps or hinders our prayers, and the prayer meeting.
May we be challenged to make prayer a more coveted part of our daily fellowship with God and let nothing into our lives that would hinder our requests or God’s answers to them.
The Holy Spirit and Prayer
It is necessary to recognize the function or office of the Holy Spirit in prayer. Consider the magnitude of the fact that the Holy Spirit came down at Pentecost and abides with us forever (John 14:16). He dwells in the individual believer (1 Cor. 6:19). Such a fact is immensely important. We find that the indwelling Spirit is our Instructor and Guide in prayer, and all true prayer is in the Spirit. “Praying in the Holy Ghost” (Jude 20). “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit” (Eph. 6:18).
The Spirit’s Intercession
When Christ was with His disciples, He taught them to pray; John had similarly taught his disciples. But now all that is changed. It was expedient for the disciples that Christ should go away in order that the Holy Spirit should come, and He being here, He takes the office of forming our minds and hearts in prayer. Truly, we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself who dwells in us makes intercession. The words “for us” in Romans 8:26 are not in the best texts and only mar the sense. They give the idea that the blessed Spirit and the saints are two distinct parties, and that the Spirit externally makes intercession for us. This is not the sense, as is clear from the next words — “He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because He maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God” (vs. 27). God, who looks down into the heart, sees what the Spirit has wrought in our desires and prayers. He knows the intercession which the Spirit makes on behalf of the saints, and they are according to God. The structure of this scripture (Rom. 8:2627) is remarkable. As regards ourselves, the Spirit is so identified with us that God, in searching the hearts, finds there the mind of the Spirit, and this is what He graciously takes up, not the workings of the flesh. But as regards God — whatever may be the Spirit’s condescension to us — the Spirit stands in all His own power and dignity as a Person of the Godhead, to plead for the saints. What solemnity, what divine value, clothes the prayer of saints, when the form in which they come before God is that of intercession by the Spirit Himself! On our side the prayer may come down to an inarticulate groan, but to God it rises to the height of the Spirit’s own intercession.
Our Comforter in Prayer
The bearing of this upon prayer is most encouraging. Here we find the Holy Spirit as dwelling in us, graciously identifying Himself in tender sympathy with our weakness, with our infirmities. The church which Christ has purchased with His own blood is so precious that the blessed Spirit must come and dwell there and look after it. Being here, He is our Paraclete, that is, the manager of our affairs. He opposes the flesh in us (Gal. 5:17), helps our infirmities, condescends to our ignorance, and enters into our sorrows with groanings which cannot be uttered. We do not think enough of the sympathy of the Spirit of God with us. He is that other Comforter [Paraclete] who, the Lord said, was to replace Himself on earth. Jesus took our infirmities, and the Spirit helps our infirmities; Jesus groaned at Lazarus’s grave, and the Spirit intercedes for the saints with groanings which cannot be uttered. How great must be the interest of the Holy Spirit in us when He can come and dwell in us, not discontinuing His stay, although our ways so often grieve Him (Eph. 4:30).
The Lord, indeed, taught the disciples to pray, and He did so perfectly. But the office of intercessor on earth He has now relinquished to the Holy Spirit, to whose guidance, therefore, we are committed. Let us seek to be “praying in the Holy Ghost”—knowing that the Spirit enters with fullest sympathy into all our infirmities and all our circumstances, and He will give us desires, sentiments and expressions appropriate to every experience, either happy or sad, through which the soul can pass. We have the Holy Spirit Himself now, to indite [compose] our prayers.
Confidence in Prayer
“This is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us: and if we know that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him” (1 John 5:14-15). We know that the formative power in the heart, of the words of Christ dwelling there, and an upright, uncondemning heart with confidence in God are the conditions of successful prayer. In the present verses, all that is assumed. It is supposed that we are asking according to His will, and what we have here is that, so asking, God always hears us. He is not like man, often occupied so that he cannot listen, or careless so that he will not. It is a precious and wonderful thing for the creature, man, notwithstanding the fall, to be so restored to moral harmony with God as to be able, under the guidance of the Spirit, to ask according to His omniscient will. Surely this is a proof of God’s desire that man should enjoy communion with Himself. May we prize this privilege as we should!
Prayer When We Do Not Know God’s Mind
Our spirits are not, however, always up to this level, and Romans 8:2628 recognizes this case. We know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit helps our infirmities. And He who searches our hearts knows how to take up all that is of His own Spirit in those hearts. As to the result, “we know” that all things work together for good to them that love God. And this gives peace, whether our requests are granted or not. So we are not to restrain prayer because we are not on the highest plane of communion. On the contrary, it is our privilege—in everything — to let our requests be made known unto God (Phil. 4:6). An instructive example of this is Paul’s prayer about the thorn in the flesh (2 Cor. 12:89). For this thing he besought the Lord that it might depart from him. But his prayer was not in the intelligence of God’s mind, who had a better thing in store for Paul, which Paul would have lost had his request been granted.
The believer may, as a chastisement, receive that which in unbrokenness he clamors for, but the result will not be happiness. We read, “He gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul” (Psa. 106:15). To present our requests, with submission, is, however, always our privilege. The example of Paul shows this. He besought the Lord for his desire not once only, but thrice. In result, such submission was wrought, in his soul, that ultimately he took pleasure in the very infirmities which he had implored the Lord to remove. Now, a discontented and unsubject heart may reproach God for not answering its prayers, but in the retrospect of eternity, how much cause for praise may be discovered in the requests which our gracious God now refuses to grant.
E. J. Thomas, from
Practical Remarks on Prayer
The Tenor and Subjects of Prayer
The tenor and subjects of our prayers will ever be in accordance with our knowledge and apprehension of God and of the relation in which we recognize Him as standing towards us and we to Him.
G. V. Wigram
Prayer and Fasting
Fasting is mentioned many times in the Word of God, in both the Old and New Testaments. It is often connected intimately with prayer, especially in the New Testament, where prayer is a special privilege of every believer. Should fasting have a place in the lives of believers today? Is it something that should be done routinely, or only on certain occasions? Does fasting associated with prayer make that prayer more acceptable in the sight of God? If we fast, how long should we do so?
The first mention of fasting in the Bible is found in Judges 20:26, where Israel wept and fasted in the Lord’s presence after being twice defeated by the tribe of Benjamin. Again, in the time of Samuel, when Israel was afraid of the Philistines (1 Sam. 7:6), they fasted before the Lord and confessed their sins. On another occasion, when Saul and Jonathan were killed on Mt. Gilboa, those who buried them fasted seven days. David and his men also fasted and mourned when they heard the sad news. Later, Esther fasted before she went in to King Ahasuerus to plead for her people. It is significant that there was no commandment in the law to do such a thing. Rather, they felt that in their effort to humble themselves in the Lord’s presence, fasting was appropriate to the occasion. Even though prayer is not specifically mentioned, each occasion was marked by sorrow, humiliation in God’s presence, a sense of utter dependence on Him, and a felt need of the Lord’s help.
We see all of this carried out by our blessed Lord in His pathway down here, as He walked in perfect dependence before His Father. We find Him fasting for forty days and nights before being tempted of the devil. Likewise, He could point out that when He was taken from them, His people would fast (Matt. 9:15).
Wrong Reasons
On the other hand, fasting was sometimes done for the wrong reasons, and this could not have God’s approval. When she wished to have Naboth executed, Jezebel gave orders that a fast be proclaimed, while at the same time ordering that false witnesses be arranged to accuse him of blasphemy so that he might be stoned to death (1 Kings 21:910). Through the prophet Isaiah the Lord could say to some in Israel, “Ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness,” and ask, “Wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord?” (Isa. 58:45). Likewise, the Lord Jesus rebuked those who made a public show of wearing a sad countenance and disfiguring their faces while fasting, calling them hypocrites. Thus we see that fasting is an outward act that depends for its value on an inward state of soul that answers to God and to the significance of such fasting.
In this same connection, we know that fasting was carried to an extreme in the early church, after the apostles had been called home. Paul could warn Timothy that in the latter times some would depart from the faith, “giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils” (1 Tim. 4:1). One of these doctrines of demons would be “commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving” (1 Tim. 4:3). We know that such legalized fasting began as a custom, but then eventually became a command that was enforced in many cases by law. Up to and even after the reformation, people were executed for disobeying the laws about fasting.
Fasting of the Lord’s Disciples
Despite these abuses of the practice, the positive references to fasting should exercise us. When the disciples asked the Lord Jesus why they were unable to cast the demon out of the lunatic boy, He told them, “This kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting” (Matt. 17:21). After the church was formed, fasting was evidently done by those in responsibility and leadership in the assembly at Antioch, and when they felt led to send out Barnabas and Saul for the work of the Lord, they fasted and prayed before doing so. Fasting was also done by Paul and Barnabas when they used their apostolic authority to ordain elders in the various assemblies (Acts 14:23). Also, Paul could speak about a husband and wife separating for a time in order to give themselves to “fasting and prayer” (1 Cor. 7:5). Thus it seems clear that fasting definitely has God’s approval in this dispensation of His grace, and it was practiced in the days of the apostles.
Right Reasons
In light of the various Scriptures we have considered, I would suggest the following thoughts about fasting. First, as has been mentioned earlier, fasting is an outward act that is of no value in the sight of God unless accompanied by an inward state of soul that answers to the act. Fasting as a matter of routine or on command has no Scriptural backing. We cannot have unjudged sin on our conscience or be indifferent to God’s claims, and then perform an outward act in order to get His ear.
Second, fasting is almost always connected with prayer. This is important, for fasting speaks of our abstinence from all human means of help, while prayer expresses our dependence upon God. The purest form of fasting is not so much a conscious act, but the result of the spiritual nature being so occupied with heavenly subjects that the desire for food is unheeded for the moment. If our hearts are burdened about a matter in the sight of God, then our natural desires will give way to our concern about the situation before us, and we will not feel the same desire for food.
Third, while fasting is connected with food and thus is something with which we can all identify, I would suggest that the principle is not limited to food. This is shown clearly in 1 Corinthians 7:5, already referred to, where the normal enjoyment of the relationship of husband and wife is also set aside for a time of prayer. For some it may be some other natural desire or need, not wrong in itself, but which gives place to a special burden that transcends that need. As an example of this, we find our blessed Master more than once spending time at night in prayer to His Father, when no doubt sleep would have been very welcome to His weary body.
Fourth, let us remember that fasting must be done privately and out of the public eye to be acceptable to God. Doubtless those in Antioch who fasted did so collectively, and thus knew about one another’s actions, but it does not seem that the whole assembly was involved. Rather, those who had a burden on their hearts were before the Lord and fasted. If the matter becomes a public thing, some may take part in it without being really exercised and burdened in the Lord’s presence. Also, there is the real danger of pride getting in the way, and as we have seen, the Lord Jesus condemned this in the strongest terms.
In view of all these considerations, we can see that fasting is definitely not forbidden today, but is rather encouraged by the examples we have looked at in the Word of God. We also see that there cannot be a rule for fasting. To make it a rule and to seek to enforce it only spoils it in the sight of God. Neither in the Old nor in the New Testament was it a direct command, but rather that which was felt to be suited to particular situations and encouraged by God under those circumstances. For us to fast must be a personal exercise in the Lord’s presence, and this includes the timing of fasting as well as the length of time that one fasts.
Finally, let us point out that prayer in its essence is the privilege of having common interests with God. If we felt situations more as He feels them, surely our hearts would be more burdened before Him, and fasting would be more common among believers. If our thoughts were more in tune with God’s thoughts, surely we would more frequently deny ourselves those natural things, which we all need, while we were taken up with His interests. Mephibosheth “neither dressed his feet, nor trimmed his beard, nor washed his clothes” (2 Sam. 19:24) until David returned again in peace. No one told him to do this, but David’s interests were his interests, and he felt it that his king was rejected and absent. May the absence of our Lord Jesus — the absence of our Bridegroom — be more real to us, and may His interests so occupy our hearts down here that we are ready to forget our natural desires to be occupied with Him! W. J. Prost
Prayer and Thanksgiving
“Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving” (Col. 4:2). How often when the well of prayer seems dried, thanksgiving will cause the stream to flow! The recollection of mercies received and blessings in possession refreshes the soul, begets the sense that we are in communion with a giving God, and imparts new courage to approach Him with our requests. E. J. Thomas
Seven Hindrances to Prayer
The Problems and Solutions
“When I cry and shout, He shutteth out my prayer. Thou hast covered Thyself with a cloud, that our prayer should not pass through” (Lam. 3:8,44).
1. Unjudged Sin in My Life
Problem: “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me” (Psa. 66:18).
Solution: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
2. Doubts in My Requests
Problem: “Let not that [doubting] man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord” (James 1:7).
Solution: “All things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive” (Matt. 21:22).
3. Unconcern for the Needs of Others
Problem: “Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard” (Prov. 21:13).
Solution: “Give, and it shall be given unto you” (Luke 6:38).
4. Ignoring the Will of God
Problem: “He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination” (Prov. 28:9).
Solution: “If any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth His will, him He heareth” (John 9:31).
5. Asking for My Own Will
Problem: “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts” (James 4:3).
Solution: “Delight thyself also in the Lord; and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart” (Psa. 37:4).
6. Without Brotherly Love
Problem: “Whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother” (1 John 3:10). “Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart” (Lev. 19:17).
Solution: “This commandment have we from Him, that he who loveth God love his brother also” (1 John 4:21).
7. An Unforgiving Spirit
Problem: “If ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses” (Mark 11:26).
Solution: “When ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses” (Mark 11:25).
Prayer and the Prayer Meeting
In considering the most important subject of prayer, our thoughts are directed first of all to the moral basis of collective prayer, and then to its moral conditions.
The Moral Basis of Prayer
A number of verses give us the moral basis of prayer, and we will mention a few of them. “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 15:7). Again, “Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight” (1 John 3:21-22). When the Apostle Paul solicits the prayers of the saints, he says, “Pray for us; for we trust we have a good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly” (Heb. 13:18).
From these verses we see that effectual prayer is connected with an obedient heart, an upright mind and a good conscience. How important this is, for we must walk in communion with God in order to pray effectively. Likewise, when we ask others to pray for us, may we be exercised before the Lord about our own condition of soul! Are we really abiding in Christ and keeping His commandments? May our hearts be searched by these questions, for sometimes there is unreality in our prayers — a vast amount of “asking amiss.” The psalmist could say, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me” (Psa. 66:18). This is solemn, for the Lord will have us to be real with Him, as He is real with us.
Our prayers may degenerate into orations and statements of doctrine, instead of real petitions. Do we sometimes use the prayer meeting for the fluent utterances of acknowledged truths and principles, rather than real prayer? The prayer meeting should be a place of expressed need and expected blessing—the place of expressed weakness and expected power. Surely those who come do not come to hear long, preaching prayers, but rather real needs expressed before the Lord.
Also, there may be a lack of reverence in our prayer meetings. We know, of course, that the great question is to have our hearts in a right attitude. However, let us remember that our physical position often betrays our hearts. We ought to kneel down when we can, for such a posture expresses reverence and prostration. The blessed Master “kneeled down and prayed” (Luke 22:41), and Paul did the same, as we read in Acts 20:36, “When he had thus spoken, he kneeled down and prayed with them all.” We recognize that those who are older or infirm may not be able to do so, and also that lack of space occasionally prevents kneeling.
Moral Conditions of Collective Prayer
We now come to the moral attributes of prayer. In considering these, we must have the authority of the Word of God for everything. Let us never forget this.
Unity
We read in Matthew 18:19, “Again I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of My Father which is in heaven.” Here we learn that unanimity — cordial agreement — is a necessary condition of prayer. It will not do for each to have some special thought of his own to carry out. We must come before the throne of grace in holy harmony of mind and spirit, else we cannot claim an answer. This is of immense moral weight and cannot be overestimated. We read in Acts 1:14, concerning the early disciples, “These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication.” They prayed with one accord and had one definite object before their hearts.
Suppose a situation where withering formalism seems to have settled down upon the place where we are. Let us, even if there are but two who really feel the condition of things, get together with one accord and pour out our hearts to God. Let us not yield to one-sided theology which says, “God is sovereign, and we must wait His time.” There is indeed a measure of truth in this, but it is not the whole truth. Let us not fold our hands in cold indifference, for nothing can touch the precious truth of Matthew 18:19. Prayer is the grand remedy. Let us wait on God in holy accord, and the blessing is sure to come.
Faith
In Matthew 21:22, we find another of the essential conditions of effective prayer: “All things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.” This is a marvelous statement and opens the very treasures of heaven to faith. Likewise, in James 1:6, in connection with asking for wisdom, we read, “Let him ask in faith, nothing wavering.” From both of 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 of prayer, but another thing altogether to have the settled assurance that we shall have what we ask for.
Specific Requests
In Luke 11:510, we read of the man who went to his friend at midnight with the request, “Friend, lend me three loaves.” The Lord’s comment on this was, “Ask, and it shall be given you . . . for every one that asketh receiveth.” In these verses we are taught to be definite in our prayers. There is a positive need, and he confines himself to this need. He makes no rambling statements, but a direct and pointed request. No doubt it was an untoward time to come, but he presses his need. He must have those three loaves.
Do we not often mention a whole host of things of which we do not really feel the need? Surely it would give a freshness and glow to the prayer meeting if we came with something definite on our hearts! How much better it is to bring some object before God, earnestly urge it, and pause so that the Holy Spirit may lead out others!
Do not our prayer meetings suffer from long, rambling prayers? Long prayers are often wearisome, and while we would not trespass on the Holy Spirit’s leading in prayer, it is noteworthy that the prayers in Scripture are brief and pointed. Thus long prayers in public are not the rule in Scripture, and they are referred to in Mark 12:40 with withering disapproval. They exert a depressing influence upon all, while short prayers impart freshness and interest to the prayer meeting.
Persistence
Another moral condition brought out in Luke 11 is importunity. The man gains his object by his earnest persistence. Do we understand this great lesson? God encourages importunity, and it will often be found that a lack of definiteness is connected with a lack of importunity. The two go very much together. Often we are too vague and indifferent in our prayers, and this renders our prayer meetings pithless, pointless and powerless. Let us be thoroughly aroused as to this question, that we may be people who ask for what they want, and wait for what they ask.
Perseverance
This brings us to another moral condition of prayer, found in Luke 18:1, “He spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint.” Here we find perseverance, and this is intimately connected with definiteness and importunity. If we want a certain thing, we perseveringly wait on God until He graciously sends an answer. We must not faint (lose heart), but must persevere. This exercise is good and morally healthful, and it brings us into the presence of God. Sometimes God sees fit to withhold the answer to our prayers, if only to prove the reality of our request. Thus we read in Ephesians 6:18, “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.”
In Conclusion, “Let Us . . . ”
We have considered our lack of confidence, our failure to have unanimity, and the absence of definiteness and importunity and perseverance. We have spoken of the wrong of long, tiresome prayers. All of this may well tend to make the Lord’s people stay away from the prayer meeting, feeling that they can pray better at home. But surely this is not the way to remedy the evils we have recounted. If it is right to come together for prayer, surely it is not right for us to stay away because of the failure of some who may take part in the meeting. Let us remember that we do not go merely for our own profit and blessing. We must think of the Lord’s glory, seek to do His blessed will, and promote the good of others. If we are there in a right spirit, we will do much to help the tone of such a meeting. Let us remember that the one who is in a bad state of soul will absent himself from the prayer meeting on purpose, while the healthy and diligent soul will be found there.
All this demands our serious consideration. Do we not feel the lack of power in our prayer meetings? Let us unite in cordial, earnest, united prayer and supplication. Let us persevere with God for the revival of His work, the progress of the gospel, and the ingathering and upbuilding of His beloved people. Let our prayer meetings be really prayer meetings, where God’s people assemble with one accord, in order to get into the very treasury of heaven. May the Holy Spirit stir us all up and press upon our souls the value, importance and urgent necessity of unanimity, confidence, definiteness, importunity and perseverance in our prayers and prayer meetings!
C. H. Mackintosh, adapted from
Prayer and the Prayer Meeting
Prayer and Intercession
Daniel was often found praying; it was characteristic of him as a man of God. In the second chapter of Daniel, when the king had dreamed a dream and none could interpret it to him, Daniel prayed and asked his friends to pray with him for the same purpose—that the God of heaven would grant them mercies concerning this secret. When the answer came, he did not rush in to tell the king, but he stopped and thanked the Lord first.
In the sixth chapter of Daniel, a decree was fostered and promoted by the enemies of Daniel. The king was persuaded to sign the decree, stating that whosoever should ask a petition of any god or man except the king for thirty days should be cast into the den of lions. Daniel went into his house, kneeled upon his knees and prayed three times a day, “as he did aforetime.” He wasn’t moved by the decree; he did not alter his ordinary course of living; “he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed . . . as he did aforetime.” He was a man of prayer, and where you find a man of God, you will find a man of prayer.
So Daniel, in the ninth chapter, began to pray. It was “in the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus.” What set him praying at this time was the fact that he found out that the children of Israel were to be in captivity in Babylon for seventy years. He knew the seventy years were about up. He believed what God said by His prophet Jeremiah, and he expected the people to return to the land when the years were fulfilled. Being a man of faith, a man of prayer and a man of the Book, he set himself to pray.
When the appointed years had run their course, God raised up Cyrus, a righteous man of the East, named 175 years before his birth, for the purpose of sending them back. He not only raised up Cyrus, but He raised up Daniel at the right time to confess the sins of the people as his own. In Isaiah 59:16 we read, “He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor.”
Identification With the People of God
This man Daniel was raised up to pray for the people of God. In like manner, men like Samuel, David and many others pleaded with God for His people. What was the condition of the people? Did Daniel overlook their failure, which brought God’s governmental dealings upon them? Not in the least. He sought “by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes.” It was no superficial work with Daniel, no feigned identification with His people. He felt their failure as his own, and it brought him low in sackcloth and ashes, in prayer and supplication (continuing in prayer). He said, “O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love Him, and to them that keep His commandments” (Dan. 9:4). Notice the next word: “We [not they] have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from Thy precepts and from Thy judgments.” He fully identifies himself with all the people. If there was one man among the captives in Babylon free from blame, it was Daniel. He was taken there as a young captive through no fault of his own, and he lived for God there. He led a life of devotedness from a young man to a very old man; he was a faithful man. He purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself. It wasn’t an outward thing — it was purpose of heart. He wanted to please God. He saw in Babylon things that would defile him as a godly Jew, and he separated from them for God’s glory. He had Scripture for what he did. May we have purpose of heart to seek grace from God to put far from us that which would defile us.
Daniel is now an old man who has gone on faithfully. Now he identifies himself with the sins of the people and prays. There is another thing about his prayer in verse 7: “O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto Thee, but unto us confusion of faces.” We must always bear in mind that God is righteous; He never makes any mistakes. Daniel takes all the blame for himself and his people. Notice again in the eighth verse: “O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against Thee.”
Let us remember, dear fellow-Christian, we are living in a day of ruin — in the last days of the history of the church of God on earth. Not in the days that began so brightly on the day of Pentecost, but we are in the days of 2 Timothy, when the house of God is spoken of as a “great house,” in which are not only vessels to honor, but also vessels to dishonor. What are we to do? We cannot walk out of the “great house”; the “great house” is the profession of Christianity on earth. You cannot get out of it unless you give up Christianity.
Our Part of the Failure of Christendom
May I say a few words to those who are gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ? Let us beware of setting ourselves up as those who have not failed. I tremble when I see any tendency to exalt ourselves and say that we have kept the truth, or that the truth is kept by us. Brethren, this is to not have learned our lesson well. We are a part of the ruin, and we need to be in the spirit of Daniel as found in this Scripture. I am persuaded that if we set ourselves up to be something, God will show us that we are nothing. He will definitely blow upon pride. “These six things doth the Lord hate; yea, seven are an abomination unto Him.” The first thing mentioned is “a proud look” (Prov. 6:1617). Let us beware of setting ourselves up to be something, or of claiming to be superior to someone else. Let us give a word of caution: There is a path for faith, a path of obedience, and if we walk in that path, may we do it conscious of the fact that we are part of the failure that has come in. There is a way of maintaining the truth in these last days, but we need bowed heads in the sense that we are a part of the failure of Christendom.
Self-Denial
“In those days I Daniel was mourning three full weeks. I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled” (Dan. 10:23).
Fellow-Christian, what do we know about real prayer and intercession before God? Sometimes the question is asked about “fasting.” In the previous chapter fasting is mentioned. And here in verse 3, he was in the spirit of fasting and mourning. The question is often asked, “Is there such a thing as fasting today?” May we not say that if we were in earnest before God, we might know more of self-denial? In this day of prosperity and luxury, how much do we know of self-denial? Is that not the reason we so seldom hear of answered prayer? James tells us, “Ye have not, because ye ask not,” and, again, “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.” But there is such a thing as being in the state of fasting before God — walking in humiliation and self-judgment, owning the failure in particular, with self-denial.
Daniel waited three full weeks. Many a dear saint of God has asked for a thing he has not seen in this life. God has not promised to answer our prayers in our lifetime. The answer here came in God’s own due time. We cannot hurry God.
May we know something of walking in the spirit that characterized Daniel — realizing our sad part in the failure, interceding for the people of God and seeking grace to go on in obedience to His Word. Obedience to the Word of God if it takes us into the path of separation is one thing, but if we lift up our heads and seek to be something, that is another thing. Let us put pride far from us.
Let us seek grace to have purpose of heart and devotedness, if left here, to be kept in the path of faith until the moment we hear the shout. It is not far off!
P. Wilson, adapted from
Prayer and the Unseen World
Prayer and the Christian Warfare
In the warfare against the “spiritual wickedness in high places” (Eph. 6:12), prayer is a distinct weapon, a part of the armor of God. Prayer, the last mentioned piece in the armor, is the active expression of the essential principle of the conflict, namely, dependence. Man has no strength against Satan, and in nature he is Satan’s willing slave. The Christian’s resource is to lay hold upon a strength which is divine and which alone can cope with the power of Satan.
E. J. Thomas