This Month's Subject: The Prayers of Scripture

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The subject worked out for this month is—
The Prayers of Scripture, giving as far as possible a summary of their contents, and the answers granted wherever recorded.
Without anticipating the remarks to be made next month, we would just observe, that, in arranging the papers for the result, we have been struck with the comprehensiveness of the word Prayer as used in Scripture. We are often in the habit of limiting it (as in the subject proposed) to the expression of our needs, and the desire that they should be met, but it would seem to include the soul’s intercourse with God and the unburdening of the heart before Him. Might we not almost say, all that passes between our hearts and God that is not included in the word praise?
We have been obliged to make the summary of each separate prayer rather more brief than the example given in the July number, as the subject would otherwise have exceeded our limits.
Prayers in The Old Testament.
1.—Prayers answered.
Abraham’s servant prays that he may meet at the well the woman who is appointed as Isaac’s wife, and he meets Rebekah. Genesis 24:10-2710And the servant took ten camels of the camels of his master, and departed; for all the goods of his master were in his hand: and he arose, and went to Mesopotamia, unto the city of Nahor. 11And he made his camels to kneel down without the city by a well of water at the time of the evening, even the time that women go out to draw water. 12And he said, O Lord God of my master Abraham, I pray thee, send me good speed this day, and show kindness unto my master Abraham. 13Behold, I stand here by the well of water; and the daughters of the men of the city come out to draw water: 14And let it come to pass, that the damsel to whom I shall say, Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink; and she shall say, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also: let the same be she that thou hast appointed for thy servant Isaac; and thereby shall I know that thou hast showed kindness unto my master. 15And it came to pass, before he had done speaking, that, behold, Rebekah came out, who was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother, with her pitcher upon her shoulder. 16And the damsel was very fair to look upon, a virgin, neither had any man known her: and she went down to the well, and filled her pitcher, and came up. 17And the servant ran to meet her, and said, Let me, I pray thee, drink a little water of thy pitcher. 18And she said, Drink, my lord: and she hasted, and let down her pitcher upon her hand, and gave him drink. 19And when she had done giving him drink, she said, I will draw water for thy camels also, until they have done drinking. 20And she hasted, and emptied her pitcher into the trough, and ran again unto the well to draw water, and drew for all his camels. 21And the man wondering at her held his peace, to wit whether the Lord had made his journey prosperous or not. 22And it came to pass, as the camels had done drinking, that the man took a golden earring of half a shekel weight, and two bracelets for her hands of ten shekels weight of gold; 23And said, Whose daughter art thou? tell me, I pray thee: is there room in thy father's house for us to lodge in? 24And she said unto him, I am the daughter of Bethuel the son of Milcah, which she bare unto Nahor. 25She said moreover unto him, We have both straw and provender enough, and room to lodge in. 26And the man bowed down his head, and worshipped the Lord. 27And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, who hath not left destitute my master of his mercy and his truth: I being in the way, the Lord led me to the house of my master's brethren. (Genesis 24:10‑27). Isaac prays for Rebekah, and Esau and Jacob are born. Genesis 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). Jacob prays that he may find favor in the sight of Esau, and his prayer is granted. Genesis 32:11-12; 33:411Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me, and the mother with the children. 12And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude. (Genesis 32:11‑12)
4And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him: and they wept. (Genesis 33:4).
Moses entreats that the presence of the Lord may go with the children o f Israel, and it is promised. Exodus 33:12-17; 34:9-1112And Moses said unto the Lord, See, thou sayest unto me, Bring up this people: and thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me. Yet thou hast said, I know thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in my sight. 13Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, show me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight: and consider that this nation is thy people. 14And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. 15And he said unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence. 16For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? is it not in that thou goest with us? so shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth. 17And the Lord said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name. (Exodus 33:12‑17)
9And he said, If now I have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray thee, go among us; for it is a stiffnecked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for thine inheritance. 10And he said, Behold, I make a covenant: before all thy people I will do marvels, such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation: and all the people among which thou art shall see the work of the Lord: for it is a terrible thing that I will do with thee. 11Observe thou that which I command thee this day: behold, I drive out before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite. (Exodus 34:9‑11).
Solomon’s prayer at the dedication of the temple. 1 Kings 8.
3rd. That if Israel were smitten before their enemies and repented or confessed their sins, they should be restored. See 2 Chronicles 33:11-1311Wherefore the Lord brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, which took Manasseh among the thorns, and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon. 12And when he was in affliction, he besought the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, 13And prayed unto him: and he was entreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord he was God. (2 Chronicles 33:11‑13), Nehemiah 1:4-114And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven, 5And said, I beseech thee, O Lord God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments: 6Let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee now, day and night, for the children of Israel thy servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee: both I and my father's house have sinned. 7We have dealt very corruptly against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments, which thou commandedst thy servant Moses. 8Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commandedst thy servant Moses, saying, If ye transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations: 9But if ye turn unto me, and keep my commandments, and do them; though there were of you cast out unto the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there. 10Now these are thy servants and thy people, whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power, and by thy strong hand. 11O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, who desire to fear thy name: and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. For I was the king's cupbearer. (Nehemiah 1:4‑11). To be perfectly fulfilled hereafter, see Romans 11:2626And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: (Romans 11:26).
5th. That if there should be famine, pestilence, or a foreign invasion, they should be relieved on confession. See 2 Kings 19; Isaiah 37
6th. That if a stranger should come and pray toward the temple, he should be heard. See Acts 8:27-4027And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship, 28Was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet. 29Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot. 30And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest? 31And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him. 32The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth: 33In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth. 34And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man? 35Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus. 36And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? 37And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. 38And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him. 39And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing. 40But Philip was found at Azotus: and passing through he preached in all the cities, till he came to Caesarea. (Acts 8:27‑40).
8th. That if they were carried away captive and confessed their sins, and returned to Him, He would cause their captors to be merciful to them-fulfilled in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah.
Asa prays for help when in battle with the Ethiopians, who are defeated.
Ezra and his companions pray that a right way may be opened for their return to Jerusalem; they are delivered from those that lay in wait for them. Ezra 8:21-3221Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river of Ahava, that we might afflict ourselves before our God, to seek of him a right way for us, and for our little ones, and for all our substance. 22For I was ashamed to require of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy in the way: because we had spoken unto the king, saying, The hand of our God is upon all them for good that seek him; but his power and his wrath is against all them that forsake him. 23So we fasted and besought our God for this: and he was entreated of us. 24Then I separated twelve of the chief of the priests, Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their brethren with them, 25And weighed unto them the silver, and the gold, and the vessels, even the offering of the house of our God, which the king, and his counsellors, and his lords, and all Israel there present, had offered: 26I even weighed unto their hand six hundred and fifty talents of silver, and silver vessels an hundred talents, and of gold an hundred talents; 27Also twenty basons of gold, of a thousand drams; and two vessels of fine copper, precious as gold. 28And I said unto them, Ye are holy unto the Lord; the vessels are holy also; and the silver and the gold are a freewill offering unto the Lord God of your fathers. 29Watch ye, and keep them, until ye weigh them before the chief of the priests and the Levites, and chief of the fathers of Israel, at Jerusalem, in the chambers of the house of the Lord. 30So took the priests and the Levites the weight of the silver, and the gold, and the vessels, to bring them to Jerusalem unto the house of our God. 31Then we departed from the river of Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month, to go unto Jerusalem: and the hand of our God was upon us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy, and of such as lay in wait by the way. 32And we came to Jerusalem, and abode there three days. (Ezra 8:21‑32).
Nehemiah and his companions pray for deliverance from those who oppose the rebuilding of the wall, and they are heard. Nehemiah 4; 6.
Jeremiah repeatedly prays for the men of Judah, see Chapter 14: 7-9, 20, 21; 15:15; 32:15-25, and in response he receives communications from God in reference to his prayer.
Amos prays for the house of Jacob, and the Lord repents of the evil he had determined. Chapter 7:2-6.
Jonah prays while in the belly of the fish, and is heard, and delivered. Jonah 2
The Children of Israel cry to God many times when in distress or danger and they are delivered; but we are not told what was their prayer on those occasions. See Exodus 14:10-2810And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid: and the children of Israel cried out unto the Lord. 11And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt? 12Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness. 13And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever. 14The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace. 15And the Lord said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward: 16But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. 17And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them: and I will get me honor upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen. 18And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gotten me honor upon Pharaoh, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen. 19And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them: 20And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the night. 21And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. 22And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left. 23And the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. 24And it came to pass, that in the morning watch the Lord looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians, 25And took off their chariot wheels, that they drave them heavily: so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for the Lord fighteth for them against the Egyptians. 26And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen. 27And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. 28And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them. (Exodus 14:10‑28); Judges 3:9; 4:3; 6:7; 10:109And when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer to the children of Israel, who delivered them, even Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother. (Judges 3:9)
3And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord: for he had nine hundred chariots of iron; and twenty years he mightily oppressed the children of Israel. (Judges 4:3)
7And it came to pass, when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord because of the Midianites, (Judges 6:7)
10And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, saying, We have sinned against thee, both because we have forsaken our God, and also served Baalim. (Judges 10:10), &c.
Habakkuk cries to God (chaps. 1 & 3.) and in the end he is able to “rejoice in the Lord.”
2. —Prayers not answered.
Moses prays that he might enter the land, but is forbidden, because he did
Jonah prays that he may die, being displeased at the forbearance of God toward Nineveh, but God teaches him the justice of this by the lesson of the gourd. Chapter 4.
Prayers In The New Testament.
1.—Prayers answered.
The leper (Matthew 8:22And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. (Matthew 8:2)), the centurion (8:8-13), the ruler (9:18-25), the two blind men (9:27-29), the Syrophoenician woman (15:22-28), Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46-62), pray for temporal mercies, either for themselves or others, and they are heard.
It is recorded many times (seven in the gospel of Luke) that our Lord prayed.
In John 17 we are permitted to read the outpouring of His heart to His Father.
After being charged by the chief priests and elders not to speak any more in the name of Jesus, the Apostles pray that boldness may be given to speak God’s word. Acts 4:29, 3129And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word, (Acts 4:29)
31And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness. (Acts 4:31). In the following Chapter they continue preaching without fear.
Stephen prays “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.” Acts 7:6060And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. (Acts 7:60). May not the immediate conversion of Saul be an answer to this?
Cornelius, who “prayed to God alway,” receives the assurance that his prayers are heard, and Peter is sent to lead him to the knowledge of salvation. Acts 10
Peter having been cast into prison by Herod, instant and earnest prayer (margin) is made by the Church on his behalf, and it is answered by his miraculous deliverance. Acts 12
Besides these, many prayers are recorded without details. Peter on the house top at Joppa, (Acts 10:99On the morrow, as they went on their journey, and drew nigh unto the city, Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour: (Acts 10:9)): the Church in sending forth Barnabas and Saul 3), Paul and Silas in prison (16:25); Paul with the elders at Ephesus (20:36); Paul and the disciples (21:5), &c.
2.-Prayers not answered.
Paul prays for deliverance from those who did not believe in Judea (Romans 15:3131That I may be delivered from them that do not believe in Judea; and that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be accepted of the saints; (Romans 15:31)), but soon after arriving at Jerusalem, he is put into prison.
Paul prays thrice that the thorn in the flesh may be taken away from him 2 Corinthians 12:88For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. (2 Corinthians 12:8)). This request is not granted, but he is told by the Lord, “My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.”
In the Epistles we do not find an historical account of events that took place, and consequently there are but few prayers, the answers to which are recorded. We read however the outpourings of the Apostles hearts and learn what were their desires for their fellow believers, and, as these afford us happy instructions as to what may now be the character of the prayers of those who have the welfare of God’s people at heart, we have selected from the researches of the class such passages as seemed the most deeply interesting. Embracing as these prayers did, the whole Church of God, we may believe that they were abundantly answered as regards many, of whose lives we have no record, but whose record is on high.
The prayers of Paul.
That they might be sanctified wholly, that their whole spirit, soul, and body might be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Thessalonians 5:2323And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Thessalonians 5:23).
That they might be comforted, and stablished in every good word and work. 2 Thessalonians 2:1717Comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work. (2 Thessalonians 2:17).
That their hearts might be directed into the love of God, and the patience of Christ—Revelation 2, Thessalonians 3:5.
Paul’s prayers for particular saints.
Christ...who in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers supplications with strong crying and tears unto Him that was able and to save Him from death, and was heard in that He feared. Hebrews 5:77Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; (Hebrews 5:7).
PRAY WITHOUT CEASING.