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1 Peter 4:7
Watch unto prayer.
Ephesians 6:18
Praying always, and watching thereunto with all perseverance.
Communion with God was never more needful than now. Feverish activity rules in all spheres of life.
Christian effort is multiplied and systematized beyond all precedent; and all those things make fellowship with God hard to compass.
We are so busy thinking, discussing, defending, enquiring, or preaching and teaching and working, that we have no time, and no leisure of heart for quiet contemplation, without which exercise of the intellect upon Christ’s truth will not feed, and busy activity in Christ’s cause may starve the soul. – Alexander Mclaren.
We must resolutely take time to pray, to get alone with God. Satan will hinder us by crowding other things into our life, if possible.
We need daily to watch unto prayer. Not only have regular seasons of prayer, but fill in the life with many extra seasons.
How much we would gain if we would frequently give a few moments to thinking of God without making any request.
- Daily Meditations for Prayer.
Luke 11:1
And it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, that when He ceased, one of His disciples said to Him, Lord, teach us to pray.
Lord, teach us to pray. Yes, to pray. This is what we need to be taught. Though in its beginnings prayer is so simple that the feeblest child can pray, yet it is at the same time the highest and holiest work to which man can rise.
It is fellowship with the Unseen and MOST Holy One. The powers of the eternal world have been placed at its disposal.
It is the very essence of true religion, the channel of all blessings, the secret of power and life.
Not only for ourselves, but for others, for the Churches, for the world, it is to prayer that God has given the right to take hold of Him and His strength.
It is on prayer that the promises wait for their fulfillment, the kingdom for its coming, the glory of God for its full revelation. – Andrew Murray.
Pray to be taught deeper lessons in the school of prayer. Earnestly and diligently seek to learn those lessons that your prayer-life may be intelligent, trustful, and powerful.
Matthew 6:6
But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thine inner chamber and having shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret.
The first thing in closet prayer is: I must meet my Father. The light that shines in the closet must be: the light of the Father’s countenance.
The fresh air from heaven with which Jesus would have it filled, the atmosphere in which I am to breathe and pray, is: God’s Father-love, God’s infinite Fatherliness.
Thus each thought or petition we breathe out will be simple, hearty, childlike trust in the Father.
This is how the Master teaches us to pray: He brings us into the Father’s living presence. What we pray there must avail ……
To the man who withdraws himself from all that is of the world and man, and prepares to wait upon God alone, the Father will reveal Himself.
As he forsakes and gives up and shuts out the world, and the life of the world, and surrenders himself to be led of Christ into the secret of God’s presence, the light of the Father’s love will light upon him. – Andrew Murray
Matthew 6:6
When thou prayest, enter into thine inner chamber, and having shut the door, pray.
I would not have anybody be bound by rule s concerning the time for being alone with God. But have a time – times if you will, but at least a time.
We shall agree that there is no time like the morning. I must not stay upon this point, but you will not think it unimportant. Have some hour out of the twenty-four; perhaps not the whole hour.
Remember that God can do a wonderful amount of work in five minutes, if you can spare no more time; but He can do nothing in five minutes if you ought to give Him sixty. All that is for you, yourself to decide with Him. But have a place, an inner chamber, a time set apart, and a method.
Find the method of prayer which helps you most, whether it be that of speaking aloud in your loneliness, or allowing your heart to be still so that you hardly speak at all. Standing, sitting, kneeling – no one method is insisted upon in the Scripture of truth; only cultivate this habit of lonely prayer.
Habit, did I say? Yes, dear younger brother or sister, do not forget that the habit of the Christian life must be formed, just as much as the habit of evil is formed; and the thing which at first, perhaps, is trying and difficult, presently becomes second nature until you find, presently, that you can no more live without that place and time and method of personal dealing with God every day, than you could live without that breathing which is the sustenance of your physical life.
But in all these matters, where the place is, whatever the hour may be, what the method may be, the essential thing is time, alone, in absolute seclusion, for prayer. – G. Campbell Morgan: The Practice of Prayer, 1906.
- Daily Thoughts from Keswick: Herbert F. Stevenson, editor.
12And Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread forth his hands.
13For he had made a bronze scaffold, five cubits square and three cubits high, and had set it in the midst of the court; upon it he stood, and he knelt upon his knees before all the assembly of Israel and spread forth his hands toward heaven,
14And said, O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like You in the heavens or in the earth, keeping covenant and showing mercy and loving-kindness to Your servants who walk before You with all their hearts,
15You Who have kept Your promises to my father David and fulfilled with Your hand what You spoke with Your mouth, as it is today.
16Now therefore, O Lord, God of Israel, keep with Your servant David my father that which You promised him, saying, There shall not fail a man in My sight to sit on the throne of Israel, provided your children are careful to walk in My law as you, David, have walked before Me.
17Now then, O Lord, God of Israel, let Your word to Your servant David be verified.
18But will God actually dwell with men on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You; how much less this house which I have built!
19Yet have respect for the prayer of Your servant and for his supplication, O Lord my God, to listen to the cry and the prayer which Your servant prays before You,
20That Your eyes may be open upon this house day and night, toward the place in which You have said You would put Your Name [and the symbol of your presence], to listen to and heed the prayer which Your servant prays facing this place.
21So listen to and heed the requests of Your servant and Your people Israel which they shall make facing this place. Hear from Your dwelling place, heaven; and when You hear, forgive.
22If a man sins against his neighbor, and he is required to take an oath, and the oath comes before Your altar in this house,
23Then hear from heaven and do; and judge Your servants, requiting the wicked by bringing his conduct upon his own head, and justifying the [uncompromisingly] righteous by giving him according to his righteousness (his uprightness and right standing with God).
24If Your people Israel have been defeated before the enemy because they have sinned against You, and shall return, confess Your name [and You Yourself], and pray and make supplication before You in this house,
25Then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your people Israel and bring them again to the land which You gave to them and their fathers.
26When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because Your people have sinned against You, yet if they pray toward this place, confess your name [and You Yourself ], and turn from their sin when You afflict them,
27Then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your servants, [all of ] Your people Israel, when You have taught them the good way in which they should walk. And send rain upon Your land which You have given to Your people for an inheritance.
28If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence, blight, mildew, locusts, or caterpillars, if their enemies besiege them in any of their cities, whatever plague or sickness there may be,
29Then whatever prayer or supplication any man or all of Your people Israel shall make–each knowing his own affliction and his own sorrow and stretching out his hands toward this house–
30Then hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, and forgive, and render to every man according to all his ways, whose heart You know; for You, You only, know men’s hearts,
31That they may fear You and walk in Your ways as long as they live in the land which You gave to our fathers.
32Also concerning the stranger who is not of Your people Israel but has come from a far country for Your great name’s sake and Your mighty power and Your outstretched arm–if he comes and prays toward this house,
33Hear from heaven, from Your dwelling place, and do all for which the stranger calls to You, that all peoples of the earth may know Your name and fear You [reverently and worshipfully], as do Your people Israel, and may know that this house which I have built is called by Your Name.
34If Your people go out to war against their enemies by the way that You send them, and they pray to You facing this city [Jerusalem] which You have chosen and the house which I have built for Your Name,
35Then hear from heaven their prayer and supplication, and maintain their cause.
36If they sin against You–for there is no man who does not sin–and You are angry with them and give them to enemies who take them captive to a land far or near;
37Yet if they repent in the land to which they have been carried captive, and turn and pray there, saying, We have sinned, we have done wrong, and have dealt wickedly;
38If they return to You with all their heart and soul in the land of their captivity, and pray facing their land which You gave to their fathers and toward the city which You have chosen and the house which I have built for Your Name;
39Then hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, their prayer and supplications, and maintain their cause; and forgive Your people, who have sinned against You.
40Now, O my God, I beseech You, let Your eyes be open and Your ears attentive to the prayer offered in this temple.
41So now arise, O Lord God, and come into Your resting place, You and the ark of Your strength and power. Let Your priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation, and let Your saints (Your zealous ones) rejoice in good and in Your goodness.
42O Lord God, [b]turn not away the face of [me] Your anointed one; [earnestly] remember Your good deeds, mercy, and steadfast love for David Your servant. — Amplified Bible
Footnotes:
2 Chronicles 6:42 Young Solomon seems, and doubtless is, utterly sincere as he offers this prayer of which God shows His approval by the miraculous demonstration of His presence in the next verse. It raises the ever-present question, How could Solomon have begun his career like this, and have written his unquestionably divinely inspired books, and yet have fallen eventually into utter defiance of God’s will? Not as the result of one false step, as with David, but as the habit of his life for the remainder of his days! Not broken with unspeakable sorrow for his awful sin, as was his penitent father (Ps. 51), but without ever apparently repenting or confessing his awful defiance of God and His explicit commands and warnings, given specifically to Solomon himself (II Chron. 7:17-22). Possibly in this closing sentence of Solomon’s prayer we detect the fallacy in the young king’s thinking. He seems to be saying in substance, “O Lord God, I am Your responsibility now; it will be for You to see that my face does not turn away from You; and not for my sake, but [since my name is identified with this temple as well as Yours, You must keep my face turned toward You] for Your own sake!” God lost no unnecessary time in attempting to set the young man straight as to whose is the responsibility for sin–in his case specifically (II Chron. 7:12, 17-22). But there is no evidence that Solomon applied it to himself; though he preached a bit to others, he seems to have considered himself exempt from obeying God’s commands–an attitude which has brought disaster upon every person who has ever taken it, however great, or wise, or rich, or otherwise sufficient.
“Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;” – Ephesians 6:18
The Priority of Prayer Referred to over 500 times in the Scriptures, everyone can exercise this fantastic resource. It’s a ministry all of us are called to. In fact, it is the most important activity a Christian can engage in.
It is absolutely incredible that we each have a priority connection directly into the Throne Room of the Universe! It is amazing to realize that this astonishing resource is so available and so rarely used. It is unquestionably the most powerful weapon we could possibly have. And it is the deciding factor in spiritual warfare.
The Elements of Prayer One of the key elements of prayer is worship. This part is the most fun. How glorious it is to simply celebrate the greatness, the beauty, the majesty, of God. And His love. And the precision of His caring.
This leads us to the petition(s). It may surprise us to realize that it is very appropriate to discuss with Him our own needs, and in detail. The “Lord’s Prayer” includes, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Indeed.
Your needs come first, or you can’t help others. “The husbandman that laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits,”( 2 Tim 2:6). When you take a flight on an airline, the flight attendant will point out to you that if the oxygen masks should be released, and you are flying with a child, you first put on your own mask, and then assist the child. You can’t give to others what you haven’t got yourself.
But the real labor of prayer is intercession for others; “…supplication for all saints.”
Artillery in Warfare
You are, in effect, in the position of the “forward controller” in the battlefield, with a direct line to Command Headquarters, and you are commissioned to call in the fire you need.
There are many types of fire. Enfilade: direct, offensive fire. Supporting outreaches. Pulling down of strongholds (2 Cor 10:4). Freeing captives. Removing trammels and shackles. Also, defilade fire: indirect, attacking the enemy’s hidden assets; anticipating where the enemy may be lurking and hiding.
And there is flanking fire. Are you about to be outflanked? An indirect assault from your most vulnerable side? What is your most vulnerable side? Self-_____? (Fill in the blank yourself.) Our “strongest suit” is usually our weakest suit. Remember Peter.
Be very specific. “Win the war” isn’t a very operative petition. “Hit the enemy” isn’t very useful to a squadron commander. Be very specific. Direct the resources with precision. Pick your targets carefully. Use a rifle rather than a shotgun. Satan will yield only what he has to.
Always go for the leverage. Recruit the radical. Interdict the most critical logistics. Go after the foundations. Know your mission and focus.
Be strategic. Even pray for what is prophesied (thus, ostensibly inevitable). Prayer is God’s way of enlisting us in what He is doing. Lord’s Prayer: “Thy Kingdom Come.” Knowing that the 70 years of captivity were almost over, Daniel prayed for his people (Dan 9:2ff). And Gabriel interrupted this prayer by giving Daniel the most fantastic prophecy in the Bible.
Don’t impute any limitations on your HQ. Don’t assume any restrictions on the assets available (Mk 11:22-24; Jn 14:13-14; 15:7; 16:23-24). Don’t ask for small arms fire when a blockbuster may be called for. Only prayer can really change things. The prayer closet is far more effective than the ballot box.
The value of concentration is basic in military strategy. Coordinated fire is always more effective. “Where two or three agree…”
But don’t assume a solution with inadequate G-2. Maybe an accurate assessment is our first priority. Remember, in accordance with His Will. Discover it through His Word. It is to be a dialogue, not a monologue. Always to the Father, through the Son (Matt 18:19, 20).
“With all perseverence.” Hit and run tactics rarely yield any lasting results. Persistence is always a key to victory in any calling. Don’t ever give up.
A Few Hints
You can’t get a clear connection with headquarters with excessive static on the line. This can be the result of unconfessed sin, (Isa 59:1-2; Ps 66:18) an unforgiving spirit, selfishness, (James 4:3) etc.
Be serious and organized. Use a notepad or notebook. Keep a battlefield record and also keep your Headquarters abreast of your awareness of victories!
Don’t be discouraged; that is a victory for the enemy. Realize that God finds many ways – each day – to ask you, “Do you trust me?”
Recognize that God often will veto our requests for our own good. (Moses’ denial of entry into the Promised land, Paul’s “thorn in the flesh,” et al. Even Christ in Gethsemane subjected His petitions to the Father’s will.)
Conclusion
It’s obvious that much more can be said on this crucial topic. However, we don’t need more articles, books, videos, or conferences, on prayer. We need more prayer.
Luke 18:13
And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
The question is often asked, “Shall we get unconverted people to pray?” What do you mean by unconverted people?
If a man is sorry for his sin, and wishes to forsake it and find mercy, and is willing to humble himself before God and ask for pardon, he is taking the very steps by which a man turns around, or is “converted.”
To tell a man he must not pray under such circumstances, is to tell him that he must not be converted until he is converted; that he must not turn until he is turned around.
To get him to pray is just the thing to do. “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” – Romans 10:13 – R.A. Torrey.
Prayer is the most natural thing for a penitent soul. Hast thou sinned, make the fifty-first Psalm thy prayer. The Prodigal’s resolve was “I will arise and go to my father.” The returning of the sinner to God is itself a prayer.
- Daily Meditations for Prayer
[The following article has been excerpted from Nancy Missler's book Private Worship: The Key To Joy.]
The event that finally changed my life was seeing the word “worship” at every turn. You know how it is when God tries to get your attention, He allows you to hear His voice everywhere. So, I began to question myself, “Do I personally really worship the Lord?”
Over time, He answered me: “Nancy, you don’t even know what worship means, and that’s why you have no joy.”
Now, I’ve been a Christian for over 47 years, so you’d think that I would, at least, have a handle on what true worship is. The truth that the Lord showed me was, yes, I praised Him, yes, I read His Word and yes, I confessed and repented of my sins on a daily basis. But, after I did these things, I would get up and go about my business, without so much as a thought about truly worshiping Him. Oh, yes, every once in a while, I would raise my hands in church or fall on my face to pray for something specific, but He showed me that on a daily basis and on a personal level, I had never entered into worshiping Him and adoring Him. As a result, when the trials hit, I lost the joy of my salvation.
Psalm 16:11 links joy and worship together: …”only in [His] presence [through worship], is there fulness of joy.”
What Makes Worship so Important?
Worship is important because, as Tozer once said, “…it’s the reason Christ came, the reason He was crucified and the reason He rose again.” Furthermore, the entire book of Revelation concerns the importance of worship and what God thinks of worship. Listen to Revelation 4:8-11 as an example:
“The four and twenty elders fall down before Him that sat on the throne, and worship Him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for Thou hast created all things and for Thy pleasure they are and were created.”
Other pertinent Scriptures are Revelation 11:16 and 19:4.
There are many other Scriptures in the Word that tell us God is seeking true worshipers. Scriptures like Psalm 95:6-7:
“Oh, come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our maker. For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand…”
And Psalm 99:5:
“Exalt ye the LORD our God, and worship at His footstool; for He is holy.”
Worship is critical because it’s the key to God’s presence. It’s what brings us intimacy with the Father. In other words, worship is a two-way communication. We come into His presence by loving, adoring and exalting Him. He then makes Himself known by communicating His Love and His inspiration (and revelation) back to us. This, of course, results in inexpressible joy for us.
This daily communion is what allows us to endure difficult circumstances. If we are hearing from the Lord and keeping our eyes only on Him, we can withstand anything. Worship, then, is not only the key to intimacy, it’s also the key to withstanding trials and problems and restoring the joy of our salvation.
1 Timothy 2:8
I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.
James 4:3
Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss.
1 John 3:21
Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.
Do you want to have your prayers answered? Walk so that your own heart condemns you not. The obedient child that lives in complacent affection with its parent has no fear in coming up to ask for favors. It knows it will get them. Its own heart does not condemn it. “If our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.”
I defy any man to separate confidence from obedience. If you will not be obedient, you cannot have confidence.
I challenge any Christian to tell me that he can go up to the throne of God in faith for any blessing when his own heart condemns him. He knows he cannot. He has first to get that state of condemnation taken away before he can exercise faith for any blessing.
Walk in the light, and then you shall have fellowship with Him, and His blood will cleanse you from all sin. The Spirit will teach you how to pray, and what to pray for, which the great mass of professors know nothing about. – Catherine Booth.
“Why, why is heaven silent still
When I have prayed so long?
Ah! Answerless the silence speaks,
And tells me that the heart that seeks,
The heart, the heart is wrong. – Paget Wilkes.
The prayer-hour is left standing before God till the other hours come and stand beside it; then, if they are found to be a harmonious sisterhood the prayer is granted. – George Bowen.
- The Christian’s Daily Challenge: E.F. & L. Harvey
One of the main ways to discover a Christian’s deepest concerns is to eavesdrop when he is praying; because if you can overhear a Christian at prayer, you know what concerns him most. Now that is certainly true of this prayer of the apostle Paul.
In chapter 2 he has expounded what God has done in Christ; how He has ended the terrible alienation, and is creating this new society, this redeemed and reconciled community. Now he follows his exposition with a prayer that this wonderful plan of God will be completely fulfilled in their experience.
Glance first at the introduction to the prayer: ‘I bow my knees…’ The normal posture for prayer among the Jews was standing. In Christ’s parable of the Pharisee and the publican, both men stood to pray. So kneeling was unusual; it indicated an unusual degree of earnestness, as when Jesus knelt in the garden of Gethsemane, and fell on His face to the ground, prostrating Himself before His Father.
That’s what Paul was doing now. He bowed His knees; he prostrated himself before God, so intense was his longing about what he was going to pray for.
Scripture lays down no rule about the posture that we should adopt in prayer: it is possible to pray kneeling, or standing, or sitting, or walking, or lying. But I agree with Henriksen that ‘the slouching position of the body while one is supposed to be praying is an abomination to the Lord.’
Paul goes on to say, ‘I bow my knees to the Father.’ He has been talking about the family, the one family of brothers and sister; and now he bows his knees to the Father, of whose family Jews and Gentiles are equal members. It is natural that he should do this; it is to the Father that he prays; to whom he bows his knees. – John R.W. Stott: God’s New Society [ii], 1975.
- Daily Thoughts From Keswick.
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