PRAYER
I feel impressed, beloved brethren, to say a word as to prayer, prayer characteristically and prayer specifically, both individual and collective, because prayer is one of the most important things that we are called upon to give ourselves to. It is not limited to those who are advanced in the faith, or especially spiritual, for the apostle in writing to the Thessalonian saints who at the time were very young in the faith, only perhaps a few weeks old, said to them, “pray without ceasing”. Moreover, he said to those same saints, “Brethren, pray for us”. It is a remarkable thing that the apostle and his fellowworkers should desire and value the prayers of very young believers, and I would commend that to young believers, to begin early to pray for other needs besides their own personal ones and their own exercises, because to have to do with God and with the Lord in prayer and to begin to take up in prayer divine interests however simply it may be done, will be of great help to oneself as well as, of course, tending to promote the interests of God, for we cannot cultivate being in the presence of God without being greatly helped by it. These are days in which it is of all importance that we should become stable in the truth and happy in it too, that we may have real liberty and also joy, mingled, of course, with right feelings, involving the sorrow, s of the testimony. It is a day in which it is urgent that we should prove the power and reality of Christianity, everyone for himself or herself, and not leave it for a few. We are to pay attention to our roots and foundations, and to cultivate being in the presence of the Lord and of God will go a long way to helping us become stronger spiritually.
Now in the passage I commenced with, in the third chapter of Luke’s gospel, the Lord is presented as praying. It is where He first comes out under public notice in the testimony. He had been under public notice to some extent before, for it is said that He “advanced in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and men”, Luke 2: 52. Men had taken account of Him, but now as He is about to come out and take up His service publicly, He is presented not only as being baptised, but as also praying. We are not told what He was praying about, but the fact is simply stated that He was praying, and we are intended to gather from that, that it was characteristic of Him that He was characterised by prayer, and that indeed is a feature of true manhood. It is man’s glory, true glory, that he is dependent upon God, that he does not assume to be self-supporting or self-sufficient but that he needs God and depends upon Him. That is true glory in manhood, and it was specially set out in the Lord Jesus when He first appeared to take up His service publicly. It was then the voice from heaven said, “Thou art my beloved Son in thee I have found my delight”. God is referring to what Jesus had been under His eye during the period of about thirty years which had then elapsed. That is an important matter to pay attention to dear brethren, that if we are to have liberty and power with God in prayer, it is necessary that we should be pleasing to Him in the circumstances in which He has set us. There is nothing necessarily showy about that, nothing that makes anything of us, nothing that appeals to the natural man, but to be pleasing to God in the circumstances which He has ordered for us, whether it be in home life or business or school life, to be pleasing to Him in them is one of the first things that we have to learn. Dependence upon God, lowliness, and contentment in the acceptance of everything as from Him are features of moral excellence which are depicted in Psalm 16, which sets out for us in detail the various features of moral excellence which were seen in the Lord Jesus in His pathway here amongst men. I have no doubt it was exactly what was of this character under God’s eye during the thirty years of the life of Jesus, that called forth the statement from heaven, “Thou art my beloved son, in thee I have found my delight”. If I may so say, it constituted the basis of the power which the Lord had in prayer with God.
So God takes notice of us individually, dear brethren. Perhaps we are apt to forget that God’s government goes on all the time. If we do what is right, it is in our favour, but if not, it is adverse, and we need to remember that. You remember in Ezekiel 14, God mentions three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job who were outstandingly marked by practical righteousness, and God mentions them in that connection. He had taken account of their lives. Noah and Job had long since passed off the scene, but God was still thinking of them and remembering them by name, so much had their personal lives as characterised by practical righteousness come under His notice. So that centuries afterwards, God refers to them by name. Daniel, on the other hand, was still alive when God spoke thus through Ezekiel and was a comparatively young man. God was taking account of that young man walking in the midst of general departure, and it would seem that he had considerable influence with God. Then in Jeremiah 15, God speaks of Moses and Samuel as men who had had power with Him in intercession. What a thing that is, to have power with God! It is possible, if we have power with God, to exert a far greater influence by means of our prayers than by means of anything we may do or say. God refers to these men to show how bad the state of things was, that even though Moses and Samuel were interceding for the people their state was such that He could not come in on behalf of the people. That was to show how very extreme the position was, but it also indicates that God takes account of what we are, and that it is possible for us to have influence and power with Him.
In Luke 5 we find crowds coming to Jesus, but He withdrew Himself into the desert places and was praying. That is a word for those who serve, that they are to beware of undue publicity or popularity, and if anything of that sort arises, their wisdom is to withdraw to desert places; that is, to withdraw from everything that would pander to the flesh. I am not suggesting, of course, that the Lord Jesus had any occasion to pay attention to that consideration; I am not suggesting that for one moment, but His actions were intended as an example to us. If there is anything in the course of our service that might tend to elate the flesh, then wisdom lies in withdrawing from it and praying. So that we come into the presence of God, and things are seen just as they are, and you are seen just as you are, and that is where safety lies. Then in the following chapter we find that the Lord went into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. There was something special to pray about, something of great importance. It was a question of choosing the twelve, and one of them to be a devil, the son of perdition. You can understand what it would mean to the Lord Jesus to have to select the twelve and that it should be required of Him that one of those twelve should be a son of perdition. There may be occasions when the urgency of the matters to be prayed for and the amount that there is to be prayed for, call for a certain surrender of the time we may normally spend in sleep. You will remember that the altar of incense was part of the service of the tabernacle, and the altar of incense refers to prayer in relation to divine interests, and whenever the lamps were lit and trimmed, the service of the altar of incense had to be carried on. The candlestick has the testimony in view, but it is to be supported by prayer in the Spirit.
So, dear brethren, in chapter 9 of the same gospel we find the Lord praying alone, and further, in verse 28, He took Peter and John and James and went up into a mountain to pray. “And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistering”, showing that if we pray we may find ourselves introduced into heavenly scenes where for a moment, we may leave behind the exercises that call for prayer and find ourselves in a position of privilege. How suggestive it is, that it was “as he prayed the fashion of his countenance was altered”. He took on, as it were, heavenly glory. All these things are delineated for us in the gospel of Luke, which particularly sets out the feature of manhood according to God as presented perfectly in Christ, and intended to be taken account of by His people. Again, in chapter 11, the Lord is seen praying “in a certain place”; that is to say, prayer there has in mind local needs. That is something that every brother and sister ought to take up in prayer not only at the prayer meeting, but privately as well. If I may be permitted, I would like to say to any brother who has not enjoyed much in the way of liberty in thanksgiving and praise in divine service, that I believe that if we cultivate private and specific prayer in relation to divine interests, it will promote liberty with God, and when the time for liberty arises, we shall find ourselves set free.
What comes into view in Luke 11 is not only the importance of praying in relation to local needs but the need of being specific in our prayers. There is prayer as characteristic of us and indicating dependence, but there is also specific prayer. Hence the need of knowing what to ask for, and asking for it. So the Lord says, “If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?” The Lord is suggesting definiteness in prayer, that we are to know whether to ask for bread, or for a fish, or for an egg. All these things are in relation to local needs, and the importance, therefore, of knowing what is needed in the locality, because the whole setting of that passage is that the Lord may come to visit that locality to see what is there, and the one who prays is faced with the possibility that he may have nothing to set before Him when He comes. “Which of you”, the Lord says, “shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him”. It is suggestive of the Lord coming unexpectedly to see what He finds in a certain locality, and the responsibility of those there who are concerned that the Lord will not find an absence of anything He can appreciate. So we are to pray, and know whether the need is food, which the bread might suggest, or whether there is a need for spiritual energy which the fish might suggest, or whether what is needed is, so to speak, life in embryo, which the egg might suggest, the need for the coming generation. The whole point I believe, in the passage is that we should have regard for what the needs are, and be specific in our prayers.
To refer now to the passage in Luke 22, we come to a most solemn moment in the path of the Lord Jesus, and it is a question of how the will of God is to be carried through to completion, for that is what was immediately before the mind of the Lord. The time had arrived when so far as His service was concerned, matters were to be brought to completion. It meant for Him not only the severest suffering at the hands of men, but it involved specially the bearing of sin and being abandoned by His God. In that, of course, He stands alone, but the scene in Gethsemane’s garden is not the actual abandonment, but it is Satan bringing to bear upon the mind and spirit of the Lord Jesus before the moment had actually arrived, what would be involved if He continued right through, and completed the work which had been given Him to do. In that sense, it may become pattern for us, not that we shall ever have to face any test that in the slightest degree approaches to the severity of this test, but at the same time, what is seen is that the Lord was facing the question of carrying through the will of God to completion, and it was the realisation of what was involved in this that He rightly and in holiness shrank from. He was free to pray, “if thou be willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done”. The incident is rather one for contemplation, beloved brethren, than for much to be said upon it, but here is the Lord faced with all that was involved in the carrying through of the will of God to completion, and as understanding all that it meant, in holiness shrinking from it. “Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done”. God would have us watchful that no element of will that is contrary to His has place with us. Then it says that “there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground”. A wonderful passage for us, showing that greater intensity of exercise is right at certain times than at others, not that exercise is not proper at all times, but it is fitting that certain matters should call for it in greater degree.
The Lord says to His disciples in verse 40, “Pray that ye enter not into temptation”. Then in verse 45 it says” when he rose up from prayer, and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow. And said unto them, Why sleep ye? Rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation”. Now the point was that Satan was near, and Satan is near us, and we may rest assured that as the testimony is being carried to completion, he will do his utmost to overcome the saints in some way or another. And hence the need of prayer; “rise and pray”. It is not the time for sleeping. I am not speaking, of course, of literal sleep; it is the time for rising up and praying, and praying that we may not enter into temptation. The dispensation is about to close and the Lord is looking to it that we should carry forward every feature of the truth to completion. It is urgent that we should be constant in prayer and not find ourselves in a position that we have not faith for, and thus be led into temptation and fail in regard of the testimony. There is no reason, of course, why we should fail. The Lord said, “rise and pray that ye enter not into temptation”.
Well now, passing from that, I wanted in the passage in John 15 to show that the Lord contemplates that we should have power with God, and I believe the Lord has in mind in this scripture what will mark us as moving on together. I do not mean necessarily limiting it to collective prayer, though it would include that; but the point the Lord has in mind is that His disciples should be going on together as committed to God’s testimony. And as feeling what is to be in a world in which they are hated, the Lord stresses the importance of loving one another. “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own”. So it is contemplated that as we go on, and the nearer we reach to completion, the more we shall become conscious that the world hates us, but that is not to cause us to surrender or in any way to compromise, but we are to find support in the company of the brethren. The matter is imperative. It is one of the bulwarks of the testimony that whatever has to be met in the outside sphere, the support needed for the position will be found in the circle of the brethren. Hence how important it is that we should cultivate love and enjoy the mutual support and encouragement which the circle of love affords. So the Lord says in verse 7, “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you”. That is a remarkable statement, showing as I said before that it may be possible for us to effect far more by the power we have with God in prayer than by anything we can do ourselves, and this is evidently open to all. It is not a question of those who are gifted, but “if ye abide me”. As abiding in Christ we take character from Him; it develops that which will give us power with God. If ye abide in me ... ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you”. It is a question of asking what we will and having it answered, which involves, of course, that our prayers are in keeping with the will of God and the needs of the moment.
These are very encouraging statements, and then the Lord says, “Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit”, indicating, I believe, that this would be a feature that marked the Lord personally, and now it is to be continued in the disciples. You remember how at the grave of Lazarus the Lord said, “Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always”. Think of that! He had already requested something in relation to the raising of Lazarus, but He says, “I knew that thou hearest me always”. That is, every time He prayed, He was heard, every time He asked, He was asking according to God’s will and it was being answered. Think of the power there is in prayer of that nature! Think of the character of the Lord’s prayer in John 17, beginning at the moment that had then arrived and continuing right to the time when we shall behold His glory!
What possibilities there are, beloved brethren, if we would only seek to cultivate the reality of abiding in Christ. Thus shall we become intelligent and understand what the testimony calls for and what the needs of the moment are, because the Lord will continue speaking to the end of the dispensation. There is no question about that. It is an evidence of His love. He says in His word to Philadelphia “because thou hast a little power, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name ... behold, I will cause that they shall come and shall do homage before thy feet, and shall know that I have loved thee”, Rev 3: 9. Meaning that He will take us out of it to be with Himself; but He places it on the footing that we have kept the word of His patience. We were saying on a previous occasion that the Lord is patient, and we have to be patient. We have to go on with the testimony not knowing when it is coming to an end. Even the Son takes the place of not knowing the day or the hour. We know not what hour the testimony may end, but we may get impressions that the end is near at hand. Throughout the period of Christ’s patience He will speak to those who love Him, and His speaking will give us guidance; and as I was saying, He bases His promise to us on the fact that we have kept the word of His patience. It is for us to see that we do it and that we do it on these lines, that His word abides in us and we abide in Him. We can affect the whole course of things in the company, or in the world of Christian profession, by our prayers, if the testimony demands it. There is no limit to what we may do in our prayers if the testimony requires it. You will remember when Joshua was bringing the people into the land and a battle was being waged against the enemy, and, so to speak, the matter was not completed, Joshua called upon the sun to stand still. There was a man asking what the exigencies of the moment required, in order that God’s thoughts in regard of His people should be carried through then and there to completion. He called upon the sun to stand still, and the result was that the victory was completed, and God came into the matter, so that there were more slain by the hail-stones which came down from heaven than were slain by the children of Israel. God will come into the matter if we pray as those who have power with Him.
In conclusion, I read the passage from Psalm 122 in order to add a little increased definiteness to this matter of our prayers. The psalmist is speaking of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem for us means the assembly. Jerusalem was God’s centre of interest upon earth, and that at the present time is unquestionably the assembly. Jerusalem is not exactly Zion, for I understand that Zion in its typical bearing refers to the assembly according to God’s thoughts regarding it, but Jerusalem is more the concrete expression of those thoughts down here; that is to say, when it refers to Jerusalem, it is the assembly just the same, but viewed as in actual expression amongst the saints. So it says, “Jerusalem is builded as a city that is compact together”, stressing the importance of love among ourselves, for there is nothing so compacting in its influence as love among ourselves. That is something that Satan will always seek to attack, and we must therefore lay ourselves out to preserve love among us.
While I am speaking a great deal about prayer and the importance of making time for it, not only when we are together but also privately, it must not be thought that I am decrying right activity, for there is a call for right activity also. We are told to do whatever our hands find to do, with all our might. In chapter 10 of Luke we see the activities of love in the good Samaritan. “Take care of him; and, whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee”. It is self-sacrificing love in care for the saints. So that while I am emphasising the great importance of prayer, it must not be thought that I am in any way belittling activity; there must be room made for both. We are to realise increasingly that divine things call for our whole time committal to them; there is no time for anything else. There are legitimate duties, of course, that have to be fulfilled, but the time is such, and the truth that the Lord is giving is such, and the state of the world is such, that divine things call for complete committal to them.
Referring again to this matter of Jerusalem being compacted together, each one of us contributes his own part in it, so that if there is any little element of personal disagreement among the saints which would interfere with this compacting together, it must be got rid of. Self-judgment and forgiveness must come in, forgiveness specially marking our day, “forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you”, Eph 4: 32. What a glorious time was the year of jubilee in Israel, and that is what is characteristic of this day of Christianity, the glorious year of jubilee; see Lev 25: 8-10.
Then it says, “Whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the Lord”. That is suggestive of the service of God in the assembly. Thank God, we are being greatly helped in it. “Whither the tribes go up ... to give thanks unto the name of the Lord”. How it speaks to us of the breaking of bread in these last days. I am only indicating certain things in connection with the assembly that may well enter into our prayers, for they are to be preserved to the end. We are to be exercised to exclude everything that would militate against love. And then the service of God in the assembly maintained and taking on the spiritual features that the Lord intended it should take on. How necessary it is that we should understand the truth, in order that it may come into expression in the service of God. All those exercises, dear brethren, may be taken up in the service of prayer.
“There are set thrones of judgment, the thrones of the house of David”. Matters are to be judged according to God and judged in a dignified way, from thrones. It is part of divine glory in the assembly that matters are dealt with according to God in power and with dignity. That is another matter that may well enter into our prayers, that whatever arises it may be dealt with in a way that glorifies God, and if it is a matter that the consciences of the saints should be exercised about, that they might answer to it. All these things are in mind, and so the psalmist says, “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem”. We can rest assured that the more the truth of the assembly is finding expression among the saints, the more will Satan seek to get in by any way he can. And therefore we are to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Conditions may arise in the world that will threaten the peace of Jerusalem. You will remember that when the apostles were threatened in the fourth of Acts, being let go it says, “they went to their own company, and ... they (that is, the company) lifted up their voice to God with one accord”. They all with one accord took up the matter in prayer, and it says that the place was shaken where they were assembled together. God answered them, and the testimony was divinely supported and protected.
Finally, dear brethren, the psalmist says, “Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces”, the walls suggesting the maintenance of divine principles by means of which all that is precious is preserved and all that is evil is excluded. And the palaces representing the side of privilege. So we see again the importance of prayer. You remember how Daniel when he knew that the edict had been signed that there should be no prayer made to God or man, with his windows open towards Jerusalem, he prayed three times a day as was his wont. He was praying for the peace of Jerusalem. Jerusalem was in ruins and he was praying three times a day in relation to it as was his wont, although the edict had been passed. We know how God supported him. In chapter 10 an angel appeared to him and said, “Fear not, Daniel; for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words”. The angel did not come to him till three weeks later, but he told Daniel that from the first day he had prayed, he had been heard. All this is brought before us that we may be encouraged to take up divine interests in prayer and to persevere in it, and if we do, we may know something of what Daniel experienced when he was told that he was a man greatly beloved.
It is open to us in our own measure to take up this service of prayer and pray in relation to divine interests, and as we do so we may become as the Lord says, disciples of His; we shall bear much fruit and in that way become disciples of His.
May the Lord strengthen us and encourage us to this end, for His Name’s sake.
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