PRAYER
D.Robertson
One is exercised, beloved brethren, to say something about Anna and her service, especially having in mind the service of prayer. I would love to encourage the saints to take on prayer as a service. It is the most effective service I know, and it is one that is by no means exclusive, being available to every Christian; we can all pray. One's exercise is very simple; it is to encourage the brethren to take on prayer as a service; not merely to pray from time to time but to take it up in an exercised way.
Anna is a very fine person to speak of. The first thing it says of her is that she is a prophetess. I think Anna would be an assuring person – much needed in these days – one who can bring in amongst the saints a note of assurance, a note of confidence, not in a sentimental way but as having light in her soul from God. The prophetic word would involve light from God. There is a great need for that, beloved brethren. It is not limited to brothers, sisters are included in it, and it is not limited to old people because young people could be included in it too; but to be so with God and to have some sense and some measure of God's mind for the present moment, and therefore to bring in a note of confidence and assurance amongst the brethren. It is so easy to bring in despondency and gloom. The test is for all of us that we might be like Anna, a prophetess, and be able to bring in a ring of confidence and a ring of assurance, not falsely, not building up false hopes. I think Anna would be a person who would value the prophetic scriptures. It says of Asher in Jacob's blessing: "his bread shall be fat, And he will give royal dainties", Gen 49: 20. What dainties this woman would give! She would just pick out a bit, perhaps a verse in the Old Testament, that would light up for someone in the circle in which she moved the way ahead, and give guidance, provide a word in season, provide food. Well, let us be exercised, beloved brethren, to be like that.
So we read: "Anna, daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher". You get a sense of the fineness of her movements here; they are not rough and awkward. The need is, as we have said today, that we let our foot be dipped in oil. That is really the power for service, and it is power for movement amongst the brethren. It is a very fine privilege to be included by divine grace to have part in the holy circle of the saints, and let us ensure that our part is not marred by fleshly awkwardness but that our foot may be dipped in oil, so that we are persons who in the secret of our souls have intimacies and links with the Holy Spirit of God, and with the holy anointed system of which our Lord Jesus Christ is the risen and ascended head.
I think too that Anna was acceptable to her brethren as one who was expressive of the truth. That is the kind of acceptance we want. I am sure we would all like to be known as persons who value the truth amongst the saints, and in that sense are acceptable to the brethren; not bringing in wild things or exaggerated expressions of a fleshly character; the truth needs no such support, but the ability just to express the truth, if I may say, in its simple beauty, and to commend it to our brethren. Let us be persons like that. We can be; it is not beyond us, each of us can be like that as being possessed and indwelt by God's Holy Spirit. Her age here is given to us; she has gone on faithfully. I think Anna would be an endurer. Thank God for the old brothers and the old sisters here today; those of us who are younger should value them; they express endurance in the things of God. There is nothing more confirming as to the validity of Christianity than to see an old man and an old woman going on brightly. Even in old age they are vigorous (see Ps 92: 14), they are not jaded; the body may be wearing down, sufferings may be in it, but there is something so fine about the spirit of a person who is an endurer testifying to the value and validity of the truth. It is not better expressed, beloved brethren, than in persons. It is good to read the truth in the Holy Scriptures and to open the books of ministry that we have, but how much better it is to read the saints and to see in them the living expression of the truth. Well, she had gone on a long time. I noticed that it has been thought that she might be one hundred and six years old; a long time she had gone on in faithfulness. At any rate she was an endurer. Then it says: "who did not depart from the temple"; she valued the area where divine light was known. I trust we all value that, especially our younger brethren, but our older brethren too, that we might never think we are ahead of the light that shines in the temple. It is something very fine to come into the temple in a dependent way, in a subject way, in a submissive way, with a heart that is opened to receive a fresh touch from God. That is Anna. She received the freshest touch in her life in this section. The Lord had just appeared as a babe and was in the arms of Simeon. What a holy sight! Judaism never gave a sight like that. The temple even as set up by God never gave a sight like that. It would be a place where the Scriptures were valued, where communications from God were valued, but what a sight, beloved brethren! What possibilities lie in our own day to see Christ in the hands of a man who is morally able to hold Him in the temple, in the place of divine light. Anna saw that that day. It says: "and she coming up the same hour": think of the significance of that! One hundred and six years – if we can go by that – and we might say the whole matter comes down to this wonderful hour. Think of that, one hundred and six years going on in faithfulness and endurance valuing the temple of the Lord; and then "and she coming up the same hour", the very same hour; she call)e up in time to see that beautiful sight of the Holy Thing, the Lord Jesus in babyhood, in the arms of this wonderful man Simeon, this product of God's dealings with man. What a sight! "And she coming up the same hour gave praise to the Lord". Might we do the same, beloved brethren, as we get some impression of God's light shining in the temple illuminating our thoughts and our souls with a touch of Christ. Well may we open up our hearts and give praise to the Lord. What more do you want? I think for us there is a parallel in our experience in the Supper: we come up in that hour, and what do we find? We find time after time that the Lord Jesus presents Himself to us. As the word says, He presented Himself. Wonderful majesty, wonderful thought of dignity, that the Lord Jesus should present Himself to the assembled saints! Well might it bring forth from our hearts this touch of praise to the Lord.
Now I want to come to what it says: "serving night and day with fastings and prayers". Fasting is an important feature in the Christian's life. It is not for you to tell me how often you do it, or for me to tell you how often I do it, but fasting is a needed thing. I leave that word with the brethren, not meaning to emphasize it. What I want to speak about is prayer. It says she served "night and day with fastings and prayers''. Now I want to touch on one or two thoughts about prayer that might stimulate us to take up this service of prayer.
The first great feature of prayer is that we have liberty with God, and that is the result of the sufferings and death of Jesus. What a fine thing that is to carry in your soul as you approach God! We can approach with boldness because of the value and virtue of the accomplished work of our Lord Jesus Christ. What a thing it is that we might have liberty with God! It is one of the great things that will be developed in your life as you take on the service of prayer. I do not believe that persons who pray infrequently have much liberty with God in a conscious sense. Of course, the way in is for every Christian, but the thought is that we might have developed liberty in prayer. It is a fine thing to see a man in liberty in prayer with God. I do not know that I could say much about sisters praying – I mean as to hearing them audibly – but I have no doubt that sisters do pray, and perhaps the service of prayer is carried on by them in a very definite way. I am quite sure that they too will prove, as they are engaged in that service, that they accumulate wonderful knowledge and joy in having liberty with God.
I think that prayer also brings change. A very needed feature amongst us is constant change. If you accustom yourself to the presence of God I think you will become like what may be found in the circumstances of His presence. It is said of the Lord Jesus, who is the pattern and model for praying as He is for everything else, "And as he prayed the fashion of his countenance became different and his raiment white and effulgent", Luke 9: 29. What a contemplation that is for us, beloved, our holy Lord in manhood engaged in prayer and taking on change, taking on the conditions of the glory with which He was surrounded! What an impression it must have left with Peter and James and John! We too become changed as we take up the service of prayer. It is a very practical matter, and it is very important that we should take up this service of prayer and not only find liberty in it but that we ourselves are changed by it; we become different. One might be hard and austere or arrogant, another might be timid and frightened and nervous to an extreme; the possibility is that as we engage in the service of prayer we take on change. Our heart can be changed; it may be in love's outlook on the saints. I have found that if you pray for a brother or a sister with whom you have had some difficulty, you can never again feel the same bitterness towards them. Have you ever felt bitterness towards a brother or a sister? Pray about it. You should not feel that way; pray about it, change comes in.
Another feature of prayer is directness. A person who takes on the service of prayer is able to dispense with unnecessary words, and a very simple directness comes about with one who is accustomed to the service of prayer. In Philippians 4 Paul says "let your requests be made known to God" (v 6). That to me conveys the directness of prayer; you do not need to wrap it up in a whole swell of words. If there is an exercise in your heart about something, let your requests be made known unto God. How wonderfully simple the matter of prayer is! That scripture in Philippians is all the more wonderful if you think of the circumstances of it Paul himself having already been, I think, four years in prison when he wrote those words. Think of a man in prison chained to a Roman guard – for such was the imprisonment in those days – and yet he could tell the saints: "let your requests be made known to God". I have often wondered what these guards would think as they heard Paul pray and make his requests known to God. I have no doubt that Paul, being such an ambassador of Christianity, would pray for the blessing of the very guard to whom he was bound. Would you doubt that God blessed some of them? I would not for one minute. Think of the beauty of being direct in our prayers! I would encourage the brethren to be direct in their prayers. You young people, be direct in your prayers: in one way the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is dependent on your prayer; you must ask for Him you must also obey God in order to get the 'Holy Spirit, but the ultimate in asking is the gift of the Holy Spirit. God gives us many things because of our direct prayers to Him, but the greatest of all His gifts is the gift of the Holy Spirit. If there is any Christian here, any young person who loves the Lord Jesus and who is covered by His precious redemptive blood and has still not the Holy Spirit, I would counsel you to ask in directness to God for the Holy Spirit. You are not complete without the Holy Spirit; there is no Christian complete without the Holy Spirit.
There are other features that enter into prayer. I think power is one of them. The very fact that we express our requests to God in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ involves the power of that Name. Take it on as a service there is power in it; learn like Elijah what it is to pray with prayer, to mean it. That is another great feature of prayer – earnestness. Prayer and supplication would involve earnestness. It says of Elijah's prayer that "The fervent supplication of the righteous man h s much power" Jas 5: 16. There is power m prayer, dear brethren. There is a little verse that says,
'There is not a night so dreary,
But there’s potency in prayer'.
Sometimes we feel, maybe at a time of crisis or when things are shaky, that we do not know. what to do; we can always pray and there 1s power i it, there is potency in prayer. The brethren will have noted in relation to Elijah that it is not the prayer. exactly that is fervent, it is the man that is fervent. Oh, that we might be such persons, to be fervent in taking on this great service of prayer!
Another feature of prayer is fragrance. There is not. only power in the name of Jesus but there 1s fragrance in the name of Jesus; it is sweet to God, sweet to you and me but sweet to God. Not only so, but there is His service at the golden altar where He has the ability to gather up the prayers of the saints in the censer and present it to God: He is the offering One (see Rev 8: 3). You will have noticed in an earlier chapter in Revelation that the elders and the living creatures also have the prayers of the saints, but they only have them as apprec1atmg them. They do not offer the prayers of the saints. We do not need anybody to offer our prayers; there is One there in the presence of God who will present your prayer in fragrance and in perfect beauty and perfect order to His God. So there is power in prayer and fragrance in prayer.
Another great feature in prayer is intimacy and nearness. I could go on, beloved brethren, because I have by no means exhausted the virtues of prayer, but I trust I have said enough to stimulate desire with the saints to take on prayer as a service – as a service to the Lord, as a service to the saints and as a service to the testimony. A praying people is needed, never more so than in our own day. Paul says, I make mention of you always at my prayers (see Philem 4).
Another feature is that it is one of the prime characteristics of the work of God in a person. Ananias, you will remember, was a little worried hearing about Paul; the Lord says to him, Not, Behold he has prayed, but "behold, he is praying", Acts 9: 11. I have often thought of that, the Lord Jesus on the one hand listening to Paul praying, and while Paul was speaking to Him, saying to Ananias, he is praying even now. Ananias moves forward in the simple confidence that prayer is a sure evidence of God's work in a man's soul. Let us be praying people, beloved brethren, not only holy people but praying people. Faith enters into it; James speaks about the prayer of faith, Jude about praying in the Holy Spirit. Prayer is a very alive, alert state of things in the believer's life. A brother said to me recently that he was concerned about his prayer life. I liked that. I like to see believer who is concerned about his prayer life. You might want to do great things for the Lord; 1t might not be His mind that you will ever do them, but it certainly is His mind that you should take on prayer as a service. He loves that; God loves it. I feel there is something most valuable in it. The first time I saw Mr Darby's letter that was published recently was two or three years ago; a brother let me read it and I could see that a wonderful bond had developed between those two holy men, Mr Darby and Mr Wigram; they spoke for so long and their subject was prayer. It would be fine if what they said about prayer had been printed. You could see, as I said already today, the fibre of manhood that was involved in the recovery of the truth; It was not hard arrogant arguers, cold-headed disputers, it was dependent, humble and holy men. May we be such, beloved brethren. I trust I have said enough to encourage and stimulate the brethren to take on prayer as a service. I trust too that what the Lord has given us might help us to go on steadily and faithfully, maybe with a revived confidence in our outlook and a renewed firmness in our step. For the Lord's sake.
SUNBURY
24 November 1984