PERSEVERANCE IN PRAYER
E. E. Hoyte
I am somewhat affected by this prayer, the quality of it. I was thinking of the early Acts, after the Lord had gone up and the Spirit had come down. What results took place, results for God, thousands coming into the truth. What is said about them is the point I have in mind, it says,
“they persevered”. These persons newly brought into the truth “persevered in the teaching and fellowship of the apostles, in breaking of bread and prayers”, Acts 2: 42. Notice that. It is remarkable how the Spirit of God puts things for us; they continued in the teaching of the apostles. You might say they were newly converted, brought into the truth. What an exhibition it was, the Spirit having come down and these three thousand persons, as a result of the speaking of Peter, brought into the truth. The question was continuance; was this going to continue? So the Spirit tells us the result, “they persevered”. Perseverance means that you go through the circumstance; you are not hindered. It requires effort. They persevered not only in the teaching, the fellowship, and the breaking of bread, but in prayers.
You will notice too what a prominent place prayer has in the Acts. At the beginning times were critical; the Lord had just been crucified and the devil was still busy, and the Spirit says, “they persevered in prayers”. It means that they were dependent people; that is what the prayers mean; they had the apostles with them, they had the teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread—
what happy thoughts!—but also prayers. They were not independent; they felt the need for prayer. We find a lot of that, dear brethren, among us at the present time, independence.
Every one wants to do his own will, what he thinks he should do. This is against that; they continued in prayers. Why? They felt the need of it; the times were critical, very critical. The disciples had to appeal to God for help in prayer. They were attacked by the enemy. What happened? They prayed, and “the place in which they were assembled shook”, Acts 4: 31.
The place shook from that prayer; in other words, power came in.
We have been reading in Judges—what a different condition is in 1 Samuel! In Judges every one did what was right in his own sight, and I am afraid that is very prominent amongst us at the present time, just doing what is right in their own sight, and they give a reason for it too
—irrespective of the commandment of the Lord.
So you find in Acts that prayer continued, and there was a wide area for it because the devil was .busy. They were critical times. You find Stephen comes on the scene and the attack was such that they stoned him. But they stoned Stephen praying. What a dependent man he was!
His ministry was so powerful. What an effect it had upon them. And then Paul comes along; he is converted and the word about him was, “behold, he is praying”, Acts 9: 12. You are struck with Paul’s prayers for the brethren, for the saints. In the epistle to the Colossians, for instance, he says that they were doing well, getting on, growing, but he said, ‘I am continually in prayer for you’. Another word he uses is “combat” for the saints, combat means that it is a matter of fervency in prayer. It says of the Lord Jesus, “And being in conflict he prayed more intently”, Luke 22: 44.
Now here in 1 Samuel 2 is a woman who is brought to our attention, and it is very encouraging—over against the previous book of Judges. Of course Ruth comes in, but I am referring to the conditions that existed, critical conditions, people doing their own will, in Judges. You find a sort of recovery in this woman. She is praying; she is characterised by prayer. It is found in a woman. What does that mean? It means the subjective work in our souls, dear brethren, what is going on inwardly. She was a great sufferer; chapter 1 shows that; she was, you might say, in conflict, combat, because of conditions that were about her.
But she overcame; what a woman she was! This chapter gives us the result of what went on in her soul and the knowledge of God she acquired through the suffering through which she passed. So it is called a prayer—some of us speak of it as a song. It is not so much asking for things here, it is really prophetic. It is more or less a song; it is a celebration of something, that is what it is; she is celebrating what God had done in coming in for her. She had prayed for a son. What troubles she had, what sorrows!
Dear brethren, we are in the midst of critical conditions at the present time and if you are not a suffering person in it you are not rightly in it. If you find no cause of suffering in the present condition of the testimony you are not in it. We all know what is proceeding; are we with God in it? This woman was with God. The priest misrepresented her, did not understand her. She was praying in secret, as the Lord Himself said. Are we doing that, dear brethren? The Lord said, “Enter into thy chamber, and having shut thy door, pray to thy Father who is in secret”, Matthew 6: 6. That is individual. That is open to us, dear brethren. Are we praying? Well, thank God we have been praying and we have seen results too, have we not? We have been praying for results in this city for a long time. Shall we continue to pray? Certainly! We have seen results, actual results, dear brethren. We thank God for that.
So we are like the apostles in the early Acts, we are persevering not only in the teaching, not only in the fellowship, not only in the breaking of bread, but in prayers. We want to continue with it, dear brethren.
I read the whole prayer, and what a high tone is in it. Hannah is not asking for anything now; she did that in the first chapter, she asked for a son. This is the result, that is what she told the priest, a man child, and now she is celebrating the way God has come in. She has got a greater apprehension of God in her soul and she is magnifying God; that is what she is doing here. Think of this language, ‘My heart exulteth in my son that I have got’? No! “My heart exulteth in Jehovah, my horn is lifted up in Jehovah; my mouth is opened wide over mine enemies”—what an enemy she had in the previous chapter!—“for I rejoice in thy salvation”. The Spirit says she is praying; in other words she is in touch with God and she is celebrating what He has done.
I do not think I need to read the whole thing, but just let us look at it—“There is none holy as Jehovah, for there is none beside thee, neither is there any rock like our God”. See what she is saying of God! You do not see this language coming from Eli; maybe he spoke of it, but it comes from this woman who has gone through suffering, real sorrow. She is a woman of sorrow and tears, but in it she acquired a knowledge of God. “Do not multiply your words of pride, let not vainglory come out of your mouth; for Jehovah is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed”.
She does not bring in rebuff as to Peninnah but she is taking account of how God acts, “by him actions are weighed”. Let none of us think He does not see and hear things; He weighs actions. We do not have to say things; that is, any act I do God weighs it; “by him actions are weighed”. Now she goes on to show, “The bow of the mighty is broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength. They that were full have hired themselves out for bread”.
Things have been reversed, you see, “the hungry are so no more: Even the barren beareth seven, and she that hath many children is waxed feeble. Jehovah killeth, and maketh alive; he bringeth down to Sheol, and bringeth up. Jehovah maketh poor, and maketh rich”—just permit me to read it again, dear brethren—“he bringeth low, also he lifteth up”. Notice this language—“He raiseth up the poor out of the dust; from the dung-hill he lifteth up the needy”. This is a woman’s language who has gone through sorrow, and this is the result; and every exercise and discipline we have under the hand of God is to produce this result. It is to increase our praise and worship to divine Persons. That is what she is engaged in. Listen what she says, “He raiseth up the poor out of the dust; from the dung-hill he lifteth up the needy.
To set him among nobles; and he maketh them inherit a throne of glory”—that is what God does; it is like Him—“For the pillars of the earth are Jehovah’s, and he hath set the world upon them. He keepeth the feet of his saints, but the wicked are silenced in darkness; ... Jehovah will judge the ends of the earth; and he will give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed”. Now she goes forward, this is prophetic, she is talking about the King.
Dear brethren, I just commit this to us, this prayer, and we are to persevere in it. We want to do it individually; we do it in our prayer meetings of course, but we need to continue in it, to persevere in it. We see results locally as the result of continual prayer, and we have to pray for the rest of our brethren who are still in bondage; their eyes need to be opened. Continue in prayer, dear brethren, persevere in it, and do not let us give it up.
Word in meeting for ministry, Brooklyn, N.Y.
12 September 1978