Man's proper place is one of dependence upon God, and this the Lord, though God as well as man, frequently manifested in His own life on earth. He prayed; He spent a whole night in prayer; He prayed earnestly; He prayed in secret; He prayed openly. In the wilderness, on the mount, on Jordan's brink, and in the gar-den of Gethsemane the Lord Jesus Christ poured out His soul in prayer to God.
Prayer too, public and private, characterized the early Christians. Of the first converts we read, "They continued steadfastly in the apostles' doc-trine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers." Acts 2:42. Their enjoyment of the grace of God did not lead to forgetfulness of their dependence upon God; nor in the hour of God's interposition on their behalf did they fail to remember how all their resources were in Him. For when Peter and John, who had been taken before the council_ were restored to their own company, the hostility of the ecclesiastical rulers to the spread of the truth having now become manifest, the whole company, to whom the two apostles reported all that the chief priests an rulers had said to them, lifted up their voice with one accord to God for the continued successful prosecution of the work (Act., 4:24).
Again, when Peter was in prison, arrested by the political power which at that time had sway at Jerusalem, and his martyrdom was determined upon for the morrow, fervent prayer was made on his be-half; and a prayer meeting was held for that purpose in the house of Mary the mother of John, surnamed Mark (Acts 12). And that meeting had not broken up, though it was past the hour of midnight when Peter in person announced to them how their prayer had been heard and his release had been effected.
Nor was it only in Jerusalem that meetings for prayer were held; for when the Holy Ghost had marked out Barnabas and Paul at Antioch for the work to which He had called them, many prophets and teachers there assembled laid their hands on them, after fasting and prayer, recommending them to the grace of God for the work they had been called on to undertake (Acts 13:3; 14:26). On another occasion, at Tire, when Paul was on his way to Jerusalem for his last visit there of which we have any record, the whole assembly, including the wives and children, knelt down in prayer outside the city, on the seashore, with those of Paul's company (Acts 21:5). A refreshment, doubtless, this must have been to the Apostle's heart—a service, too, well-pleasing to God.
Besides these instances of common prayer in which the whole company took part, we learn from Scripture how repeatedly saints were wont to resort to it. The twelve, when exercising their apostolic powers in appointing the seven deacons, engaged in prayer before they laid their hands upon them (Acts 6:6). Similarly, Paul and Barnabas, when appointing elders in every city, prayed with fasting, and commended them to the Lord on whom they had believed (Acts 14:23). And Peter and John, in Samaria, prayed that the converts might receive the Holy Ghost (Acts 8:15). Peter, too, when raising up Dorcas from the dead (Acts 9:40), and Paul, when about to heal the father of Publius (Acts 28:8), alike confessed their entire dependence upon God for the exercise of such powers on man's behalf. Of Stephen we read that his latest utterance was one of intercession for his murderers (Acts 7:60).
Of Paul we learn that, though the character of his future work was told him at his conversion ere he rose up from the ground (Acts 26:17, 18), yet it was when engaged in prayer in the temple at Jerusalem that he received his directions to depart to the Gentiles (Acts 22:17-21). In the house which was left desolate to the Jews, for the presence of the Lord was not there, the divine command to depart to the Gentiles was communicated directly to the vessel fitted for the service.
On another occasion, in a place and under circumstances very different from the last, Paul and Silas in the prison at Philippi with their feet made fast in the stocks, at midnight prayed and sang praises to God. Their bodies were subjected to the power and malice of man. Their spirits were free and unfettered. They prayed and they sang praises to God (Acts 16:25), and an answer came. God acted in power and in grace. An earthquake shook the prison, opened its doors, and set the prisoners free; and the word of God by Paul and Silas converted the jailer and his household. Again, at Miletus, the Apostle did not bring to a close his farewell interview with the Ephesian elders until he had prayed with them (Acts 20). Prayer characterized him, as his epistles demonstrate (Rom. 1:9, 10; Eph. 1:16; 3:14; Phil. 1:4; Col. 1:3; 1 Thess. 1:2; 2 Tim. 1:3; Philem. 1:4).
Paul valued the prayers of others, and counted on them, as his epistles also teach us (Rom. 15:30; Eph. 6:18; Phil. 1:7; Col. 4:3; 1 Thess. 5:25; 2 Thess. 3:1; Philem. 1:22; Heb. 13:18). But he seems not to have asked the prayers of any who were walking in ways that he had to reprove. To the Galatians he made no request for their fellowship with him in prayer, though we cannot doubt from the tone of his letter that he prayed for them (Gal. 4:19). Nor did he solicit the prayers of the Corinthians till Titus had assured him of their godly sorrow. A silence of this kind on the part of the
Apostle surely has a voice for us. To ask for the prayers of others should never be a matter of form on our part.
Prayer for oneself (Jas. 5:13); prayer for others, for saints (Eph. 6:18), and for all men (1 Tim. 2:1); prayer too for the work of God upon earth (Col. 4:3, 4)—with such requests are we permitted to approach God. Nor is this anything new; for saints in Old Testament times addressed Him, and in accordance with the revelation of their day drew nigh to God as the Almighty (Job 8:5), or as Jehovah God of Israel (1 Kings 8:23) who dwells between the cherubim (2 Kings 19:15). As seated on His earthly throne, Israel addressed to Him their supplications. Christians, however, are privileged to call on God as their Father who is in the heavens, and to pray likewise to the Lord Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 12:8); but nowhere are they authorized in Scripture to pray to the Holy Ghost. Praying in the Holy Ghost (Jude 20; Eph. 6:18) is what Christians are exhorted to do; but never are they told to pray to Him. Praying in the Holy Ghost, we shall express the desires which the Spirit of God has formed in our hearts, and as the Spirit would lead us to present them; and, as having access to the heavenly sanctuary, we pray to Him who is in the heavens. Prayer then should ever be in accordance with the revelation vouchsafed to God's saints. What was suited to Solomon and Hezekiah would not be fitting for us. We should not address God as the God of Israel, nor speak to Him as dwelling between the cherubim.
The old Jewish form of prayer clearly no longer suited the disciples of Christ. The prayer, or prayers, John taught his disciples ceased to be the proper expression of the hearts of Christ's disciples when they had learned from the Son about the Father. It is plain, then, that prayer should always be in harmony with, and based upon, the revelation of God which has been vouchsafed us. Souls in those days felt that. The Lord then endorsed the thought as correct, and afterward abundantly confirmed it; for just before His departure, on the night previous to His crucifixion, unasked by the eleven, He discoursed in a marked way on this important subject. Of the power of prayer, when offered up in faith, He had taught them only a few days before (Matt. 21:21, 22; Mark 11:22-24). Now, in the immediate prospect of His departure, He teaches them a good deal more. He was about to leave them to go to the Father, henceforth to be hidden from their sight. They should, however, have a clear proof that He was where He had told them that He was going; for they should do greater works than He had done, and whatsoever they should ask in His name, that He would do, that the Father might be glorified in the Son, adding, "If ye shall ask anything in My name, I will do it." (John 14:12-14.) The world, the Jews, might taunt them with trusting to a crucified man; but as answers came to prayers offered up in His name, they would have abundant proof, both that He was with the Father, accepted on high, though rejected on earth, and also that He was caring for His own.
Now here for the first time we read of prayer to be offered up in His name. When He gave the disciples the prayer of Matt. 6, He did not tell them to present their petitions in His name; and in John 16:24 we distinctly learn from His own lips that this was something quite new. "Hitherto," He said, "have ye asked nothing in My name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full."