THE MINISTRY OF INTERCESSION

 A PLEA FOR MORE PRAYER

 BY THE

 REV. ANDREW MURRAY

 WELLINGTON, S. AFRICA

 AUTHOR OF "THE HOLIEST OF ALL" "ABIDE IN CHRIST" "WAITING ON GOD" "THE LORD'S TABLE" ETC. ETC. 

 "I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that are the Lord's remembrancers, keep not silence, and give Him no rest, till He establish, and till He make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. " ISA. Lxii. 6, 7. 

 _THIRD EDITION_

 London JAMES NISBET & CO. LIMITED 21 BERNERS STREET, W. 1898

 PRINTED BY MORRISON AND GIBB LIMITED EDINBURGH

 TO MY BRETHREN IN THE MINISTRY AND OTHER FELLOW-LABOURERS IN THE GOSPEL

 WHOM IT WAS MY PRIVILEGE TO MEET IN THE CONVENTIONS AT LANGLAAGTE, JOHANNESBURG, AND HEILBRON DURBAN AND PIETERMARITZBURG KING WILLIAM'S TOWN, PORT ELIZABETH AND STELLENBOSCH

 THIS VOLUME IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED

CONTENTS

CHAP. PAGE

 I. THE LACK OF PRAYER 9

 II. THE MINISTRATION OF THE SPIRIT AND PRAYER 20

 III. A MODEL OF INTERCESSION 31

 IV. BECAUSE OF HIS IMPORTUNITY 43

 V. THE LIFE THAT CAN PRAY 55

 VI. RESTRAINING PRAYER--IS IT SIN? 67

 VII. WHO SHALL DELIVER? 78

VIII. WILT THOU BE MADE WHOLE? 91

 IX. THE SECRET OF EFFECTUAL PRAYER 104

 X. THE SPIRIT OF SUPPLICATION 116

 XI. IN THE NAME OF CHRIST 129

 XII. MY GOD WILL HEAR ME 143

XIII. PAUL A PATTERN OF PRAYER 155

 XIV. GOD SEEKS INTERCESSORS 169

 XV. THE COMING REVIVAL 180

 NOTE A 193

 NOTE B 194

 NOTE C 195

 NOTE D 196

 NOTE E 198

 NOTE F 199

 PRAY WITHOUT CEASING: HELPS TO INTERCESSION 201

THE MINISTRY OF INTERCESSION

 There is no holy service But hath its secret bliss: Yet, of all blessèd ministries, Is one so dear as this? The ministry that cannot be A wondering seraph's dower, Enduing mortal weakness With more than angel-power; The ministry of purest love Uncrossed by any fear, That bids us meet At the Master's feet And keeps us very near. 

 God's ministers are many, For this His gracious will, Remembrancers that day and night This holy office fill. While some are hushed in slumber, Some to fresh service wake, And thus the saintly number No change or chance can break. And thus the sacred courses Are evermore fulfilled, The tide of grace By time or place Is never stayed or stilled. 

 Oh, if our ears were opened To hear as angels do The Intercession-chorus Arising full and true, We should hear it soft up-welling In morning's pearly light; Through evening's shadows swelling In grandly gathering might; The sultry silence filling Of noontide's thunderous glow, And the solemn starlight thrilling With ever-deepening flow. 

 We should hear it through the rushing Of the city's restless roar, And trace its gentle gushing O'er ocean's crystal floor: We should hear it far up-floating Beneath the Orient moon, And catch the golden noting From the busy Western noon; And pine-robed heights would echo As the mystic chant up-floats, And the sunny plain Resound again With the myriad-mingling notes. 

 Who are the blessèd ministers Of this world-gathering band? All who have learnt one language, Through each far-parted land; All who have learnt the story Of Jesu's love and grace, And are longing for His glory To shine in every face. All who have known the Father In Jesus Christ our Lord, And know the might And love the light Of the Spirit in the Word. 

 Yet there are some who see not Their calling high and grand, Who seldom pass the portals, And never boldly stand Before the golden altar On the crimson-stainèd floor, Who wait afar and falter, And dare not hope for more. Will ye not join the blessèd ranks In their beautiful array? Let intercession blend with thanks As ye minister to-day!

 There are little ones among them Child-ministers of prayer, White robes of intercession Those tiny servants wear. First for the near and dear ones Is that fair ministry, Then for the poor black children, So far beyond the sea. The busy hands are folded, As the little heart uplifts In simple love, To God above, Its prayer for all good gifts. 

 There are hands too often weary With the business of the day, With God-entrusted duties, Who are toiling while they pray. They bear the golden vials, And the golden harps of praise Through all the daily trials, Through all the dusty ways, These hands, so tired, so faithful, With odours sweet are filled, And in the ministry of prayer Are wonderfully skilled. 

 There are ministers unlettered, Not of Earth's great and wise, Yet mighty and unfettered Their eagle-prayers arise. Free of the heavenly storehouse! For they hold the master-key That opens all the fulness Of God's great treasury. They bring the needs of others, And all things are their own, For their one grand claim Is Jesu's name Before their Father's throne. 

 There are noble Christian workers, The men of faith and power, The overcoming wrestlers Of many a midnight hour; Prevailing princes with their God, Who will not be denied, Who bring down showers of blessing To swell the rising tide. The Prince of Darkness quaileth At their triumphant way, Their fervent prayer availeth To sap his subtle sway. 

 But in this temple service Are sealed and set apart Arch-priests of intercession, Of undivided heart. The fulness of anointing On these is doubly shed, The consecration of their God Is on each low-bowed head. They bear the golden vials With white and trembling hand; In quiet room Or wakeful gloom These ministers must stand, --

 To the Intercession-Priesthood Mysteriously ordained, When the strange dark gift of suffering This added gift hath gained. For the holy hands uplifted In suffering's longest hour Are truly Spirit-gifted With intercession-power. The Lord of Blessing fills them With His uncounted gold, An unseen store, Still more and more, Those trembling hands shall hold. 

 Not always with rejoicing This ministry is wrought, For many a sigh is mingled With the sweet odours brought. Yet every tear bedewing The faith-fed altar fire May be its bright renewing To purer flame, and higher. But when the oil of gladness God graciously outpours, The heavenward blaze, With blended praise, More mightily upsoars. 

 So the incense-cloud ascendeth As through calm, crystal air, A pillar reaching unto heaven Of wreathèd faith and prayer. For evermore the Angel Of Intercession stands In His Divine High Priesthood With fragrance-fillèd hands, To wave the golden censer Before His Father's throne, With Spirit-fire intenser, And incense all His own. 

 And evermore the Father Sends radiantly down All-marvellous responses, His ministers to crown; The incense-cloud returning As golden blessing-showers, We in each drop discerning Some feeble prayer of ours, Transmuted into wealth unpriced, By Him who giveth thus The glory all to Jesus Christ, The gladness all to us!

F. R. HAVERGAL. 

_September_ 1877. 

INTRODUCTION

I have been asked by a friend, who heard of this book being published, what the difference would be between it and the previous one on the samesubject, WITH CHRIST IN THE SCHOOL OF PRAYER. An answer to that questionmay be the best introduction I can give to the present volume. 

Any acceptance the former work has had must be attributed, as far as thecontents go, to the prominence given to two great truths. The one was, the certainty that prayer will be answered. There is with some an ideathat to ask and expect an answer is not the highest form of prayer. Fellowship with God, apart from any request, is more than supplication. About the petition there is something of selfishness and bargaining--toworship is more than to beg. With others the thought that prayer is sooften unanswered is so prominent, that they think more of the spiritualbenefit derived from the exercise of prayer than the actual gifts to beobtained by it. While admitting the measure of truth in these views, when kept in their true place, THE SCHOOL OF PRAYER points out how ourLord continually spoke of prayer as a means of obtaining what we desire, and how He seeks in every possible way to waken in us the confidentexpectation of an answer. I was led to show how prayer, in which a mancould enter into the mind of God, could assert the royal power of arenewed will, and bring down to earth what without prayer would not havebeen given, is the highest proof of his having been made in the likenessof God's Son. He is found worthy of entering into fellowship with Him, not only in adoration and worship, but in having his will actually takenup into the rule of the world, and becoming the intelligent channelthrough which God can fulfil his eternal purpose. The book sought toreiterate and enforce the precious truths Christ preaches socontinually: the blessing of prayer is that you can ask and receive whatyou will: the highest exercise and the glory of prayer is thatpersevering importunity can prevail and obtain what God at first couldnot and would not give. 

With this truth there was a second one that came out very strongly as westudied the Master's words. In answer to the question, But why, if theanswer to prayer is so positively promised, why are there suchnumberless unanswered prayers? we found that Christ taught us that theanswer depended upon certain conditions. He spoke of faith, ofperseverance, of praying in His Name, of praying in the will of God. Butall these conditions were summed up in the one central one: "_If yeabide in Me_, ask whatsoever ye will and it shall be done unto you. " Itbecame clear that the power to pray the effectual prayer of faithdepended _upon the life_. It is only to a man given up to live asentirely in Christ and for Christ as the branch in the vine and for thevine, that these promises can come true. "_In that day_, " Christ said, the day of Pentecost, "ye shall ask in My Name. " It is only in a lifefull of the Holy Spirit that the true power to ask in Christ's Name canbe known. This led to the emphasising the truth that the ordinaryChristian life cannot appropriate these promises. It needs a spirituallife, altogether sound and vigorous, to pray in power. The teachingnaturally led to press the need of a life of entire consecration. Morethan one has told me how it was in the reading of the book that he firstsaw what the better life was that could be lived, and must be lived, ifChrist's wonderful promises are to come true to us. 

In regard to these two truths there is no change in the present volume. One only wishes that one could put them with such clearness and force asto help every beloved fellow-Christian to some right impression of thereality and the glory of our privilege as God's children: "Askwhatsoever ye will, and it shall be done unto you. " The present volumeowes its existence to the desire to enforce two truths, of whichformerly I had no such impression as now. 

The one is--that Christ actually meant prayer to be the great power bywhich His Church should do its work, and that the neglect of prayer isthe great reason the Church has not greater power over the masses inChristian and in heathen countries. In the first chapter I have statedhow my convictions in regard to this have been strengthened, and whatgave occasion to the writing of the book. It is meant to be, on behalfof myself and my brethren in the ministry and all God's people, aconfession of shortcoming and of sin, and, at the same time, a call tobelieve that things can be different, and that Christ waits to fit us byHis Spirit to pray as He would have us. This call, of course, brings meback to what I spoke of in connection with the former volume: that thereis a life in the Spirit, a life of abiding in Christ, within our reach, in which the power of prayer--both the power to pray and the power toobtain the answer--can be realised in a measure which we could not havethought possible before. Any failure in the prayer-life, any desire orhope really to take the place Christ has prepared for us, brings us tothe very root of the doctrine of grace as manifested in the Christianlife. It is only by a full surrender to the life of abiding, by theyielding to the fulness of the Spirit's leading and quickening, that theprayer-life can be restored to a truly healthy state. I feel deeply howlittle I have been able to put this in the volume as I could wish. Ihave prayed and am trusting that God, who chooses the weak things, willuse it for His own glory. 

The second truth which I have sought to enforce is that we have far toolittle conception of the place that intercession, as distinguished fromprayer for ourselves, ought to have in the Church and the Christianlife. In intercession our King upon the throne finds His highest glory;in it we shall find our highest glory too. Through it He continues Hissaving work, and can do nothing without it; through it alone we can doour work, and nothing avails without it. In it He ever receives from theFather the Holy Spirit and all spiritual blessings to impart; in it wetoo are called to receive in ourselves the fulness of God's Spirit, withthe power to impart spiritual blessing to others. The power of theChurch truly to bless rests on intercession--asking and receivingheavenly gifts to carry to men. Because this is so, it is no wonder thatwhere, owing to lack of teaching or spiritual insight, we trust inour own diligence and effort, to the influence of the world and theflesh, and work more than we pray, the presence and power of God are notseen in our work as we would wish. 

Such thoughts have led me to wonder what could be done to rousebelievers to a sense of their high calling in this, and to help andtrain them to take part in it. And so this book differs from the formerone in the attempt to open a practising school, and to invite all whohave never taken systematic part in the great work of intercession tobegin and give themselves to it. There are tens of thousands of workerswho have known and are proving wonderfully what prayer can do. But thereare tens of thousands who work with but little prayer, and as many morewho do not work because they do not know how or where, who might all bewon to swell the host of intercessors who are to bring down theblessings of heaven to earth. For their sakes, and the sake of all whofeel the need of help, I have prepared helps and hints for a school ofintercession for a month (see the Appendix). I have asked those whowould join, to begin by giving at least ten minutes a day definitely tothis work. It is in doing that we learn to do; it is as we take hold andbegin that the help of God's Spirit will come. It is as we daily hearGod's call, and at once put it into practice, that the consciousnesswill begin to live in us, I too am an intercessor; and that we shallfeel the need of living in Christ and being full of the Spirit if we areto do this work aright. Nothing will so test and stimulate the Christianlife as the honest attempt to be an intercessor. It is difficult toconceive how much we ourselves and the Church will be the gainers, ifwith our whole heart we accept the post of honour God is offering us. With regard to the school of intercession, I am confident that theresult of the first month's course will be to awake the feeling of howlittle we know how to intercede. And a second and a third month may onlydeepen the sense of ignorance and unfitness. This will be an unspeakableblessing. The confession, "We know not how to pray as we ought, " is theintroduction to the experience, "The Spirit maketh intercession forus"--our sense of ignorance will lead us to depend upon the Spiritpraying in us, to feel the need of living in the Spirit. 

We have heard a great deal of systematic Bible study, and we praise Godfor thousands on thousands of Bible classes and Bible readings. Let allthe leaders of such classes see whether they could not open prayerclasses--helping their students to pray in secret, and training them tobe, above everything, men of prayer. Let ministers ask what they can doin this. The faith in God's word can nowhere be so exercised andperfected as in the intercession that asks and expects and looks outfor the answer. Throughout Scripture, in the life of every saint, ofGod's own Son, throughout the history of God's Church, God is, first ofall, a prayer-hearing God. Let us try and help God's children to knowtheir God, and encourage all God's servants to labour with theassurance: the chief and most blessed part of my work is to ask andreceive from my Father what I can bring to others. 

It will now easily be understood how what this book contains will benothing but the confirmation and the call to put into practice the twogreat lessons of the former one. "_Ask whatsoever ye will, and it shallbe done to you_"; "_Whatever ye ask, believe that ye have received_":these great prayer-promises, as part of the Church's enduement of powerfor her work, are to be taken as literally and actually true. "_If yeabide in Me, and My words abide in you_"; "_In that day ye shall ask inMy Name_": these great prayer-conditions are universal and unchangeable. A life abiding in Christ and filled with the Spirit, a life entirelygiven up as a branch for the work of the vine, has the power to claimthese promises and to pray the effectual prayer that availeth much. Lord, teach us to pray. 

ANDREW MURRAY. 

WELLINGTON, _1st September 1897_. 

A PLEA FOR MORE PRAYER

CHAPTER I

The Lack of Prayer

 "Ye have not, because ye ask not. "--JAS. Iv. 2. 

 "And He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor. "--ISA. Lix. 16. 

 "There is none that calleth upon Thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of Thee. "--ISA. Lxiv. 7. 

At our last Wellington Convention for the Deepening of the SpiritualLife, in April, the forenoon meetings were devoted to prayer andintercession. Great blessing was found, both in listening to what theWord teaches of their need and power, and in joining in continued unitedsupplication. Many felt that we know too little of perseveringimportunate prayer, and that it is indeed one of the greatest needs ofthe Church. 

During the past two months I have been attending a number ofConventions. At the first, a Dutch Missionary Conference at Langlaagte, Prayer had been chosen as the subject of the addresses. At the next, atJohannesburg, a brother in business gave expression to his deepconviction that the great want of the Church of our day was, more of thespirit and practice of intercession. A week later we had a DutchMinisterial Conference in the Free State, where three days were spent, after two days' services in the congregation on the work of the HolySpirit, in considering the relation of the Spirit to prayer. At theministerial meetings held at most of the succeeding conventions, we wereled to take up the subject, and everywhere there was the confession: Wepray too little! And with this there appeared to be a fear that, withthe pressure of duty and the force of habit, it was almost impossible tohope for any great change. 

I cannot say what a deep impression was made upon me by theseconversations. Most of all, by the thought that there should be anythinglike hopelessness on the part of God's servants as to the prospect of anentire change being effected, and real deliverance found from a failurewhich cannot but hinder our own joy in God, and our power in Hisservice. And I prayed God to give me words that might not only help todirect attention to the evil, but, specially, that might stir up faith, and waken the assurance that God by His Spirit will enable us to pray aswe ought. 

Let me begin, for the sake of those who have never had their attentiondirected to the matter, by stating some of the facts that prove howuniversal is the sense of shortcoming in this respect. 

Last year there appeared a report of an address to ministers by Dr. Whyte, of Free St. George's, Edinburgh. In that he said that, as a youngminister, he had thought that, of the time he had over from pastoralvisitation, he ought to spend as much as possible with his books in hisstudy. He wanted to feed his people with the very best he could preparefor them. But he had now learned that prayer was of more importance thanstudy. He reminded his brethren of the election of deacons to takecharge of the collections, that the twelve might "give themselves toprayer and the ministry of the word, " and said that at times, when thedeacons brought him his salary, he had to ask himself whether he hadbeen as faithful in his engagement as the deacons had been to theirs. He felt as if it were almost too late to regain what he had lost, andurged his brethren to pray more. What a solemn confession and warningfrom one of the high places: We pray too little!

During the Regent Square Convention two years ago the subject came up inconversation with a well-known London minister. He urged that if so muchtime must be given to prayer, it would involve the neglect of theimperative calls of duty "There is the morning post, before breakfast, with ten or twelve letters which _must_ be answered. Then there arecommittee meetings waiting, with numberless other engagements, more thanenough to fill up the day. It is difficult to see how it can be done. "

My answer was, in substance, that it was simply a question of whetherthe call of God for our time and attention was of more importance thanthat of man. If God was waiting to meet us, and to give us blessing andpower from heaven for His work, it was a short-sighted policy to putother work in the place which God and waiting on Him should have. 

At one of our ministerial meetings, the superintendent of a largedistrict put the case thus: "I rise in the morning and have half anhour with God, in the Word and prayer, in my room before breakfast. I goout, and am occupied all day with a multiplicity of engagements. I donot think many minutes elapse without my breathing a prayer for guidanceor help. After my day's work, I return in my evening devotions and speakto God of the day's work. But of the intense, definite, importunateprayer of which Scripture speaks one knows little. " What, he asked, mustI think of such a life?

We all know the difference between a man whose profits are just enoughto maintain his family and keep up his business, and another whoseincome enables him to extend the business and to help others. There maybe an earnest Christian life in which there is prayer enough to keep usfrom going back, and just maintain the position we have attained to, without much of growth in spirituality or Christlikeness. The attitudeis more defensive, seeking to ward off temptation, than aggressive, reaching out after higher attainment. If there is indeed to be a goingfrom strength to strength, with some large experience of God's power tosanctify ourselves and to bring down real blessing on others, there mustbe more definite and persevering prayer. The Scripture teaching aboutcrying day and night, continuing steadfastly in prayer, watching untoprayer, being heard for his importunity, must in some degree become ourexperience if we are really to be intercessors. 

At the very next Convention the same question was put in somewhatdifferent form. "I am at the head of a station, with a large outlyingdistrict to care for. I see the importance of much prayer, and yet mylife hardly leaves room for it. Are we to submit? Or tell us how we canattain to what we desire?" I admitted that the difficulty was universal. I recalled the words of one of our most honoured South Africanmissionaries, now gone to his rest: he had the same complaint. "In themorning at five the sick people are at the door waiting for medicine. Atsix the printers come, and I have to set them to work and teach them. Atnine the school calls me, and till late at night I am kept busy with alarge correspondence. " In my answer I quoted a Dutch proverb: 'What _is_heaviest must _weigh_ heaviest, '--must have the first place. The law ofGod is unchangeable: as on earth, so in our traffic with heaven, we onlyget as we give. Unless we are willing to pay the price, and sacrificetime and attention and what appear legitimate or necessary duties, forthe sake of the heavenly gifts, we need not look for a large experienceof the power of the heavenly world in our work. The whole companypresent joined in the sad confession; it had been thought over, andmourned over, times without number; and yet, somehow, there they were, all these pressing claims, and all the ineffectual resolves to praymore, barring the way. I need not now say to what further thoughts ourconversation led; the substance of them will be found in some of thelater chapters in this volume. 

Let me call just one more witness. In the course of my journey I metwith one of the Cowley Fathers, who had just been holding Retreats forclergy of the English Church. I was interested to hear from him the lineof teaching he follows. In the course of conversation he used theexpression--"the distraction of business, " and it came out that he foundit one of the great difficulties he had to deal with in himself andothers. Of himself, he said that by the vows of his Order he was boundto give himself specially to prayer. But he found it exceedinglydifficult. Every day he had to be at four different points of the townhe lived in; his predecessor had left him the charge of a number ofcommittees where he was expected to do all the work; it was as ifeverything conspired to keep him from prayer. 

All this testimony surely suffices to make clear that prayer has not theplace it ought to have in our ministerial and Christian life; that theshortcoming is one of which all are willing to make confession; and thatthe difficulties in the way of deliverance are such as to make a returnto a true and full prayer-life almost impossible. Blessed be God--"Thethings that are impossible with men are possible with God"! "God is ableto make all grace abound toward you, that ye, always having allsufficiency in all things, may abound to all good work. " Do let usbelieve that God's call to much prayer need not be a burden and cause ofcontinual self-condemnation. He means it to be a joy. He can make it aninspiration, giving us strength for all our work, and bringing down Hispower to work through us in our fellowmen. Let us not fear to admit tothe full the sin that shames us, and then to face it in the name of ourMighty Redeemer. _The light that shows us our sin and condemns us forit, will show us the way out of it, into the life of liberty that iswell-pleasing to God. _ If we allow this one matter, unfaithfulness inprayer, to convict us of the lack in our Christian life which lies atthe root of it, God will use the discovery to bring us not only thepower to pray that we long for, but the joy of a new and healthy life, of which prayer is the spontaneous expression. 

And what is now the way by which our sense of the lack of prayer can bemade the means of blessing, the entrance on a path in which the evil maybe conquered? How can our intercourse with the Father, in continualprayer and intercession, become what it ought to be, if we and the worldaround us are to be blessed? As it appears to me, we must begin by goingback to God's Word, to study what _the place is God means prayer tohave_ in the life of His child and His Church. A fresh sight of whatprayer is _according to the will of God_, of what our prayers can be, _through the grace of God_, will free us from those feeble defectiveviews, in regard to the absolute necessity of continual prayer, whichlie at the root of our failure. As we get an insight into thereasonableness and rightness of this divine appointment, and come underthe full conviction of how wonderfully it fits in with God's love andour own happiness, we shall be freed from the false impression of itsbeing an arbitrary demand. We shall with our whole heart and soulconsent to it and rejoice in it, as the one only possible way for theblessing of heaven to come to earth. All thought of task and burden, ofself-effort and strain, will pass away in the blessed faith that assimple as breathing is in the healthy natural life, will praying be inthe Christian life that is led and filled by the Spirit of God. 

As we occupy ourselves with and accept this teaching of God's Word onprayer, we shall be led to see how our failure in the prayer-life wasowing to failure in the Spirit-life. Prayer is one of the most heavenlyand spiritual of the functions of the Spirit-life. How could we try orexpect to fulfil it so as to please God, except as our soul is inperfect health, and our life truly possessed and moved by God's Spirit?The insight into the place God means prayer to take, and which it onlycan take, in a full Christian life, will show us that we have not beenliving the true, the abundant life, and that any thought of praying moreand effectually will be vain, except as we are brought into a closerrelation to our Blessed Lord Jesus. Christ is our life, Christ liveth inus, in such reality that His life of prayer on earth, and ofintercession in heaven, is breathed into us in just such measure as oursurrender and our faith allow and accept it. Jesus Christ is the Healerof all diseases, the Conqueror of all enemies, the Deliverer from allsin; if our failure teaches us to turn afresh to Him, and find in Himthe grace He gives to pray as we ought, this humiliation may become ourgreatest blessing. Let us all unite in praying God that He would visitour souls and fit us for that work of intercession, which is at thismoment the greatest need of the Church and the world. It is only byintercession that that power can be brought down from Heaven which willenable the Church to conquer the world. Let us stir up the slumberinggift that is lying unused, and seek to gather and train and bandtogether as many as we can, to be God's remembrancers, and to give Himno rest till He makes His Church a joy in the earth. Nothing but intensebelieving prayer can meet the intense spirit of worldliness, of whichcomplaint is everywhere made. 

A PLEA FOR MORE PRAYER

CHAPTER II

The Ministration of the Spirit and Prayer

 "If ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children; how much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?"--LUKE xi. 13. 

Christ had just said (v. 9), "Ask, and it shall be given": God's givingis inseparably connected with our asking. He applies this especially tothe Holy Spirit. As surely as a father on earth gives bread to hischild, so God gives the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him. The wholeministration of the Spirit is ruled by the one great law: God must give, we must ask. When the Holy Spirit was poured out at Pentecost with aflow that never ceases, it was in answer to prayer. The inflow into thebeliever's heart, and His outflow in the rivers of living water, everstill depend upon the law: "Ask, and it shall be given. " In connectionwith our confession of the lack of prayer, we have said that what weneed is some due apprehension of the place it occupies in God's plan ofredemption; we shall perhaps nowhere see this more clearly than in thefirst half of the Acts of the Apostles. The story of the birth of theChurch in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and of the first freshnessof its heavenly life in the power of that Spirit, will teach us how_prayer on earth_, whether as cause or effect, _is the true measure ofthe presence of the Spirit of heaven_. 

We begin with the well-known words (i. 13), "These all continued withone accord in prayer and supplication. " And then there follows: "Andwhen the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accordin one place. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. And the sameday there were added to them about three thousand souls. " The great workof redemption had been accomplished. The Holy Spirit had been promisedby Christ "not many days hence. " He had sat down on His throne andreceived the Spirit from the Father. But all this was not enough. Onething more was needed: the ten days' united continued supplication ofthe disciples. It was intense, continued prayer that prepared thedisciples' hearts, that opened the windows of heaven, that brought downthe promised gift. As little as the power of the Spirit could be givenwithout Christ sitting on the throne, _could it descend without thedisciples on the footstool of the throne_. For all the ages the law islaid down here, at the birth of the Church, that whatever else may befound on earth, the power of the Spirit must be prayed down from heaven. The measure of believing, continued prayer will be the measure of theSpirit's working in the Church. Direct, definite, determined prayer iswhat we need. 

See how this is confirmed in chapter iv. Peter and John had been broughtbefore the Council and threatened with punishment. When they returned totheir brethren, and reported what had been said to them, "all lifted uptheir voice to God with one accord, " and prayed for boldness to speakthe word. "And when they had prayed, the place was shaken, and they wereall filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God withboldness. And the multitude of them that believed were one heart and onesoul. And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrectionof the Lord Jesus; and great grace was upon them all. " It is as if thestory of Pentecost is repeated a second time over, with the prayer, theshaking of the house, the filling with the Spirit, the speaking God'sword with boldness and power, the great grace upon all, themanifestation of unity and love--to imprint it ineffaceably on the heartof the Church: it is prayer that lies at the root of the spiritual lifeand power of the Church. The measure of God's giving the Spirit is ourasking. He gives as a father to him who asks as a child. 

Go on to the sixth chapter. There we find that, when murmurings arose asto the neglect of the Grecian Jews in the distribution of alms, theapostles proposed the appointment of deacons to serve the tables. "We, "they said, "will give ourselves to prayer and the ministry of the word. "It is often said, and rightly said, that there is nothing in honestbusiness, when it is kept in its place as entirely subordinate to thekingdom, which must ever be first, that need prevent fellowship withGod. Least of all ought a work like ministering to the poor hinder thespiritual life. And yet the apostles felt it would hinder them in theirgiving themselves to the ministry of prayer and the word. What doesthis teach? That the maintenance of the spirit of prayer, such as isconsistent with the claims of much work, is not enough for those who arethe leaders of the Church. To keep up the communication with the King onthe throne and the heavenly world clear and fresh; to draw down thepower and blessing of that world, not only for the maintenance of ourown spiritual life, but for those around us; continually to receiveinstruction and empowerment for the great work to be done--the apostles, as the ministers of the word, felt the need of being free from otherduties, that they might give themselves to much prayer. James writes:"Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visitthe fatherless and widows in their affliction. " If ever any work were asacred one, it was that of caring for these Grecian widows. And yet, even such duties might interfere with the special calling to givethemselves to prayer and the ministry of the word. As on earth, so inthe kingdom of heaven, there is power in the division of labour; andwhile some, like the deacons, had specially to care for serving thetables and ministering the alms of the Church here on earth, others hadto be set free for that steadfast continuance in prayer which woulduninterruptedly secure the downflow of the powers of the heavenly world. The minister of Christ is set apart to give himself as much to prayer asto the ministry of the word. In faithful obedience to this law is thesecret of the Church's power and success. As before, so _afterPentecost_, the apostles were men given up to prayer. 

In chapter viii. We have the intimate connection between the Pentecostalgift and prayer, from another point of view. At Samaria, Philip hadpreached with great blessing, and many had believed. But the Holy Ghostwas, as yet, fallen on none of them. The apostles sent down Peter andJohn to pray for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost. The powerfor such prayer was a higher gift than preaching--the work of the menwho had been in closest contact with the Lord in glory, the work thatwas essential to the perfection of the life that preaching and baptism, faith and conversion had only begun. Surely of all the gifts of theearly Church for which we should long there is none more needed than thegift of prayer--prayer that brings down the Holy Ghost on believers. This power is given to the men who say: "We will give ourselves toprayer. "

In the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, in the house of Cornelius atCæsarea, we have another testimony to the wondrous interdependence ofthe action of prayer and the Spirit, and another proof of what will cometo a man who has given himself to prayer. Peter went up at midday topray on the housetop. And what happened? He saw heaven opened, and therecame the vision that revealed to him the cleansing of the Gentiles; withthat came the message of the three men from Cornelius, a man who "prayedalway, " and had heard from an angel, "Thy prayers are come up beforeGod"; and then the voice of the Spirit was heard saying, "Go with them. "It is Peter praying, to whom the will of God is revealed, to whomguidance is given as to going to Cæsarea, and who is brought intocontact with a praying and prepared company of hearers. No wonder thatin answer to all this prayer a blessing comes beyond all expectation, and the Holy Ghost is poured out upon the Gentiles. A much-prayingminister will receive an entrance into God's will he would otherwiseknow nothing of; will be brought to praying people where he does notexpect them; will receive blessing above all he asks or thinks. Theteaching and the power of the Holy Ghost are alike unalterably linked toprayer. 

Our next reference will show us faith in the power that the Church'sprayer has with its glorified King, as it is found, not only in theapostles, but in the Christian community. In chapter xii. We have thestory of Peter in prison on the eve of execution. The death of James hadaroused the Church to a sense of real danger, and the thought of losingPeter too, wakened up all its energies. It betook itself to prayer. "Prayer was made of the Church without ceasing to God for him. " Thatprayer availed much; Peter was delivered. When he came to the house ofMary, he found "many gathered together praying. " Stone walls and doublechains, soldiers and keepers, and the iron gate, all gave way before thepower from heaven that prayer brought down to his rescue. The wholepower of the Roman Empire, as represented by Herod, was impotent inpresence of the power the Church of the Holy Spirit wielded in prayer. They stood in such close and living communication with their Lord inheaven; they knew so well that the words, "all power is given unto Me, "and "Lo I am with you alway, " were absolutely true; they had such faithin His promise to hear them whatever they asked--that they prayed in theassurance that the powers of heaven could work on earth, and would workat their request and on their behalf. The Pentecostal Church believed inprayer, and practised it. 

Just one more illustration of the place and the blessing of prayer amongmen filled with the Holy Spirit. In chapter xiii. We have the names offive men at Antioch who had given themselves specially to ministering tothe Lord with prayer and fasting. Their giving themselves to prayer wasnot in vain: as they ministered to the Lord, the Holy Spirit met them, and gave them new insight into God's plans. He called them to befellow-workers with Himself; there was a work to which He had calledBarnabas and Saul; their part and privilege would be to separate thesemen with renewed fasting and prayer, and to let them go, "sent forth ofthe Holy Ghost. " God in heaven would not send forth His chosen servantswithout the co-operation of His Church; men on earth were to have a realpartnership in the work of God. It was prayer that fitted and preparedthem for this; it was to praying men the Holy Ghost gave authority todo His work and use His name. It was to prayer the Holy Ghost was given. It is still prayer that is the only secret of true Church extension, that is guided from heaven to find and send forth God-called andGod-empowered men. To prayer the Holy Spirit will show the men He hasselected; to prayer that sets them apart under His guidance He will givethe honour of knowing that they are men, "sent forth by the Holy Ghost. "It is prayer which is the link between the King on the throne and theChurch at His footstool--the human link that has its divine strength inthe power of the Holy Ghost, who comes in answer to it. 

As one looks back upon these chapters in the history of the PentecostalChurch, how clear the two great truths stand out: where there is muchprayer there will be much of the Spirit; where there is much of theSpirit there will be ever-increasing prayer. So clear is the livingconnection between the two, that when the Spirit is given in answer toprayer it ever wakens more prayer to prepare for the fuller revelationand communication of His Divine power and grace. If prayer was thus thepower by which the Primitive Church flourished and triumphed, is it notthe one need of the Church of our days? Let us learn what ought to becounted axioms in our Church work:--

Heaven is still as full of stores of spiritual blessing as it was then. God still delights to give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him. Ourlife and work are still as dependent on the direct impartation of Divinepower as they were in Pentecostal times. Prayer is still the appointedmeans for drawing down these heavenly blessings in power on ourselvesand those around us. God still seeks for men and women who will, withall their other work of ministering, specially give themselves topersevering prayer. 

And we--you, my reader, and I--may have the privilege of offeringourselves to God to labour in prayer, and bring down these blessings tothis earth. Shall we not beseech God to make all this truth so living inus that we may not rest till it has mastered us, and our whole heart beso filled with it, that the practice of intercession shall be counted byus our highest privilege, and we find in it the sure and only measurefor blessing on ourselves, on the Church, and on the world?

A PLEA FOR MORE PRAYER

CHAPTER III

A Model of Intercession

 "And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and shall say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine is come unto me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him; and he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: I cannot rise and give thee? I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet, because of his importunity, he will arise and give him as many as he needeth. "--LUKE xi. 5-8. 

 "I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that are the Lord's remembrancers, keep not silence, and give Him no rest. "--ISA. Lxii. 6, 7. 

We have seen in our previous chapter what power prayer has. It is theone power on earth that commands the power of heaven. The story of theearly days of the Church is God's great object-lesson, to teach HisChurch what prayer can do, how it alone, but it most surely, can drawdown the treasures and powers of heaven into the life of earth. 

Just remember the lessons we learnt of how prayer is at onceindispensable and irresistible. Did we not see how unknown and untoldpower and blessing is stored up for us in heaven?--how that power willmake us a blessing to men, and fit us to do any work or face any danger?how it is to be sought in prayer continually and persistently? how theywho have the heavenly power can pray it down upon others? how in all theintercourse of ministers and people, in all the ministrations ofChrist's Church, it is the one secret of success? how it can defy allthe power of the world, and fit men to conquer that world for Christ? Itis the power of the heavenly life, the power of God's own Spirit, thepower of Omnipotence, that waits for prayer to bring it down. 

In all this prayer there was little thought of personal need orhappiness. It was the desire to witness for Christ and bring Him and Hissalvation to others, it was the thought of God's kingdom and glory, thatpossessed these disciples. If we would be delivered from the sin ofrestraining prayer, we must enlarge our hearts for the work ofintercession. The attempt to pray constantly for ourselves must be afailure; it is in intercession for others that our faith and love andperseverance will be aroused, and that power of the Spirit be foundwhich can fit us for saving men. We are asking how we may become morefaithful and successful in prayer; let us see how the Master teaches us, in the parable of the Friend at Midnight, that intercession for theneedy calls forth the highest exercise of our power of believing andprevailing prayer. Intercession is the most perfect form of prayer: itis the prayer Christ ever liveth to pray on His throne. Let us learnwhat the elements of true intercession are. 

1. Notice _the urgent need_: here intercession has its origin. Thefriend came at midnight--an untimely hour. He was hungry, and could notbuy bread. If we are to learn to pray aright we must open eye and heartto the need around us. 

We hear continually of the thousand millions of heathen and Mohammedansliving in midnight darkness, perishing for lack of the bread of life. We hear of five hundred millions of nominal Christians, the greatmajority of them almost as ignorant and indifferent as the heathen. Wesee millions in the Christian Church, not ignorant or indifferent, andyet knowing little of a walk in the light of God or in the power of alife fed by bread from heaven. We have each of us our owncircles--congregations, schools, friends, missions--in which the greatcomplaint is that the light and life of God are too little known. Surely, if we believe what we profess, that God alone is able to help, that God certainly will help in answer to prayer, --all this need oughtto make intercessors of us, people who give their lives to prayer forthose around them. 

Let us take time to consider and realise the need. Each Christless soulgoing down into outer darkness, perishing of hunger, with bread enoughand to spare! Thirty millions a year dying without the knowledge ofChrist! Our own neighbours and friends, souls intrusted to us, dyingwithout hope! Christians around us living a sickly, feeble, fruitlesslife! Surely there is need for prayer. Nothing, nothing but prayer toGod for help, will avail. 

2. Note _the willing love_. --The friend took his weary, hungry friendinto his house, and into his heart too. He did not excuse himself bysaying he had no bread: he gave himself at midnight to seek it for him. He sacrificed his night's rest, his comfort, to find the needed bread. "Love seeketh not its own. " It is the very nature of love to give up andforget itself for the sake of others. It takes their needs and makesthem its own, it finds its real joy in living and dying for others asChrist did. 

It is the love of a mother to her prodigal son that makes her pray forhim. True love to souls will become in us the spirit of intercession. Itis possible to do a great deal of faithful, earnest work for ourfellowmen without true love to them. Just as a lawyer or a physician, from a love of his profession and a high sense of faithfulness to duty, may interest himself most thoroughly in clients or patients without anyspecial love to each, so servants of Christ may give themselves to theirwork with devotion and even self-sacrificing enthusiasm without theChristlike love to souls being strong. It is this lack of love thatcauses so much shortcoming in prayer. It is as love of our professionand work, delight in thoroughness and diligence, sink away in the tendercompassion of Christ, that love will compel us to prayer, because wecannot rest in our work if souls are not saved. True love must pray. 

3. Note _the sense of impotence_. --We often speak of the power of love. In one sense this is true; and yet the truth has its limitations, whichmust not be forgotten. The strongest love may be utterly impotent. Amother might be willing to give her life for her dying child, and yetnot be able to save it. The friend at midnight was most willing to givehis friend bread, but he had none. It was this sense of impotence, ofhis inability to help, that sent him a-begging: "My friend is come tome, and _I have nothing_ to set before him. " It is this sense ofimpotence with God's servants that is the very strength of the life ofintercession. 

"I have nothing to set before them": as this consciousness takespossession of the minister or missionary, the teacher or worker, intercession will become their only hope and refuge. I may haveknowledge and truth, a loving heart, and the readiness to give myselffor those under my charge; but the bread of heaven I cannot give them. With all my love and zeal, "I have nothing to set before them. " Blessedthe man who has made that "I have nothing, " the motto of his ministry. As he thinks of the judgment day and the danger of souls, as he seeswhat a supernatural power and life is needed to save men from sin, as hefeels how utterly insufficient all he can ever do is to give them life, that "_I have nothing_" urges him to pray. Intercession appears to him, as he thinks of the midnight darkness and the hungry souls, as his onlyhope, the one thing in which his love can take refuge. 

Let us take the lesson to heart, for a warning to all who are strong andwise to work, for the encouragement of all who are feeble. The sense ofour impotence is the soul of intercession. The simplest, feeblestChristian can pray down blessing from an Almighty God. 

4. Note _the faith in prayer_. --What he has not himself, another cansupply. He has a rich friend near, who will be both able and willing togive the bread. He is sure that if he only asks, he will receive. Thisfaith makes him leave his home at midnight: if he has not the breadhimself to give, he can ask another. 

It is this simple, confident faith that God will give, that we need:where it really exists, there will surely be no mistake about our notpraying. And in God's word we have everything that can stir andstrengthen such faith in us. Just as the heaven our natural eye can seeis one great ocean of sunshine, with its light and heat, giving beautyand fruitfulness to earth, Scripture shows us God's true heaven, filledwith all spiritual blessings, --divine light and love and life, heavenlyjoy and peace and power, all shining down upon us. It reveals to us Godwaiting, delighting to bestow these blessings _in answer to prayer_. Bya thousand promises and testimonies it calls and urges us to believethat prayer will be heard, that what we cannot possibly do ourselves forthose whom we want to help, _can be got by prayer_. Surely there can beno question as to our believing that prayer will be heard, that throughprayer the poorest and feeblest can dispense blessings to the needy, andeach of us, though poor, may yet be making many rich. 

5. Note _the importunity that prevails_. --The faith of the friend met asudden and unexpected check: the rich friend refuses to hear--"I cannotrise and give thee. " How little the loving heart had counted on thisdisappointment; it cannot consent to accept it. The supplicant presseshis threefold plea: here is my needy friend, you have abundance, I amyour friend; and refuses to accept a denial. The love that opened hishouse at midnight, and then left it to seek help, must win. 

This is the central lesson of the parable. In our intercession we mayfind that there is difficulty and delay with the answer. It may be as ifGod says, "I cannot give thee. " It is not easy, against all appearances, to hold fast our confidence that He will hear, and to persevere in fullassurance that we shall have what we ask. And yet this is what God looksfor from us. He so highly prizes our confidence in Him, it is soessentially the highest honour the creature can render the Creator, thatHe will do anything to train us in the exercise of this trust in Him. Blessed the man who is not staggered by God's delay, or silence, orapparent refusal, but is strong in faith, giving glory to God. Suchfaith perseveres, importunately, if need be, and cannot fail to inheritthe blessing. 

6. Note, last, _the certainty of a rich reward_. --"I say unto you, because of his importunity, he will give him as many as he needeth. " Ohthat we might learn to believe in the certainty of an abundant answer. Aprophet said of old: "Let not your hands be weak; _your work shall berewarded_. " Would that all who feel it difficult to pray much, would fixtheir eye on the recompense of the reward, and in faith learn to countupon the Divine assurance that their prayer cannot be vain. If we willbut believe in God and His faithfulness, intercession will become to usthe very first thing we take refuge in when we seek blessing for others, and the very last thing for which we cannot find time. And it willbecome a thing of joy and hope, because, all the time we pray, we knowthat we are sowing seed that will bring forth fruit an hundredfold. Disappointment is impossible: "I say unto you, He will rise and give himas many as he needeth. "

Let all lovers of souls, and all workers in the service of the gospel, take courage. Time spent in prayer will yield more than that given towork. Prayer alone gives work its worth and its success. Prayer opensthe way for God Himself to do His work in us and through us. Let ourchief work, as God's messengers, be intercession: in it we secure thepresence and power of God to go with us. 

"Which of you shall have a friend at midnight, and shall say to him, Friend, lend me three loaves?" This friend is none other but our God. Dolet us learn that in the darkness of midnight, at the most unlikelytime, and in the greatest need, when we have to say of those we love andcare for, "I have nothing to set before them, " we have a rich Friend inheaven, the Everlasting God and Father, who only waits to be askedaright. Let us confess before Him our lack of prayer. Let us admit thatthe lack of faith, of which it is the proof, is the symptom of a lifethat is not spiritual, that is yet all too much under the power of selfand the flesh and the world. Let us in the faith of the Lord Jesus, whospake this parable, and Himself waits to make every trait of it true inus, give ourselves to be intercessors. Let every sight of souls needinghelp, let every stirring of the spirit of compassion, let every sense ofour own impotence to bless, let every difficulty in the way of ourgetting an answer, just combine to urge us to do this one thing: withimportunity to cry to the God who alone can help, who, in answer to ourprayer, will help. And let us, if we indeed feel that we have failed, doour utmost to train a young generation of Christians, who profit by ourmistake and avoid it. Moses could not enter the land of Canaan, butthere was one thing he could do: he could at God's bidding "chargeJoshua, and encourage him, and strengthen him" (Deut. Iii. 28). If it istoo late for us to make good our failure, let us at least encouragethose who come after us to enter into the good land, the blessed life ofunceasing prayer. 

The Model Intercessor is the Model Christian Worker. First to get fromGod, and then to give to men what we ourselves secure from day to day, is the secret of successful work. Between our Impotence and God'sOmnipotence intercession is the blessed link. 

A PLEA FOR MORE PRAYER

CHAPTER IV

Because of His Importunity

 "I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet _because of his importunity_ he will arise and give him as many as he needeth. "--LUKE xi. 8. 

 "And He spake a parable unto them, to the end, they ought always to pray and not to faint. . . . Hear what the unrighteous judge saith. And shall not God avenge His own elect, which _cry to Him day and night_, and _He is long-suffering with them_? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. "--LUKE xviii. 1-8. 

Our Lord Jesus thought it of such importance that we should know theneed of perseverance and importunity in prayer, that He spake twoparables to teach us this. This is proof sufficient that in this aspectof prayer we have at once its greatest difficulty and its highest power. He would have us know that in prayer all will not be easy and smooth; wemust expect difficulties, which can only be conquered by persistent, determined perseverance. 

In the parables our Lord represents the difficulty as existing on theside of the persons to whom the petition was addressed, and theimportunity as needed to overcome their reluctance to hear. In ourintercourse with God the difficulty is not on His side, but on ours. Inconnection with the first parable He tells us that our Father is morewilling to give good things to those who ask Him than any earthly fatherto give his child bread. In the second, He assures us that God longs toavenge His elect speedily. The need of urgent prayer cannot be becauseGod must be made willing or disposed to bless: the need lies altogetherin ourselves. But because it was not possible to find any earthlyillustration of a loving father or a willing friend from whom the neededlesson of importunity could be taught, He takes the unwilling friend andthe unjust judge to encourage in us the faith, that perseverance canovercome every obstacle. 

The difficulty is not in God's love or power, but in ourselves and ourown incapacity to receive the blessing. And yet, because there is thisdifficulty with us, this lack of spiritual preparedness, there is adifficulty with God too. His wisdom, His righteousness, yea His love, dare not give us what would do us harm, if we received it too soon ortoo easily. The sin, or the consequence of sin, that makes it impossiblefor God to give at once, is a barrier on God's side as well as ours; tobreak through this power of sin in ourselves, or those for whom we pray, is what makes the striving and the conflict of prayer such a reality. And so in all ages men have prayed, and that rightly too, under a sensethat there were difficulties in the heavenly world to overcome. As theypleaded with God for the removal of the unknown obstacles, and in thatpersevering supplication were brought into a state of utter brokennessand helplessness, of entire resignation to Him, of union with His will, and of faith that could take hold of Him, the hindrances in themselvesand in heaven were together overcome. As God conquered them, theyconquered God. As God prevails over us, we prevail with God. 

God has so constituted us that the clearer our insight is into thereasonableness of a demand, the more hearty will be our surrender to it. One great cause of our remissness in prayer is that there appears to besomething arbitrary, or at least something incomprehensible, in the callto such continued prayer. If we could be brought to see that thisapparent difficulty is a Divine necessity, and in the very nature ofthings the source of unspeakable blessing, we should be more ready withgladness of heart to give ourselves to continue in prayer. Let us see ifwe cannot understand how the difficulty that the call to importunitythrows in our way is one of our greatest privileges. 

I do not know whether you have ever noticed what a part difficultiesplay in our natural life. They call out man's powers as nothing elsecan. They strengthen and ennoble character. We are told that one reasonof the superiority of the Northern nations, like Holland and Scotland, in strength of will and purpose, over those of the sunny South, as Italyand Spain, is that the climate of the latter has been too beautiful, andthe life it encourages too easy and relaxing--the difficulties theformer had to contend with have been their greatest boon; how all naturehas been so arranged by God that in sowing and reaping, as in seekingcoal or gold, nothing is found without labour and effort. What iseducation but a daily developing and disciplining of the mind by newdifficulties presented to the pupil to overcome? The moment a lesson hasbecome easy, the pupil is moved on to one that is higher and moredifficult. With the race and the individual, it is in the meeting andthe mastering of difficulties that our highest attainments are found. 

It is even so in our intercourse with God. Just imagine what the resultwould be if the child of God had only to kneel down and ask, and get, and go away. What unspeakable loss to the spiritual life would ensue. Itis in the difficulty and delay that calls for persevering prayer, thatthe true blessing and blessedness of the heavenly life will be found. Wethere learn how little we delight in fellowship with God, and how littlewe have of living faith in Him. We discover how earthly and unspiritualour heart still is, how little we have of God's Holy Spirit. We thereare brought to know our own weakness and unworthiness, and to yield toGod's Spirit to pray in us, to take our place in Christ Jesus, and abidein Him as our only plea with the Father. There our own will and strengthand goodness are crucified. There we rise in Christ to newness of life, with our whole will dependent on God and set upon His glory. Do let usbegin to praise God for the need and the difficulty of importunateprayer, as one of His choicest means of grace. 

Just think what our Lord Jesus owed to the difficulties in His path. InGethsemane it was as if the Father would not hear: He prayed yet moreearnestly, until "He was heard. " In the way He opened up for us, Helearned obedience by the things He suffered, and so was made perfect;His will was given up to God; His faith in God was proved andstrengthened; the prince of this world, with all his temptation, wasovercome. This is the new and living way He consecrated for us; it is inpersevering prayer we walk with and are made partakers of His verySpirit. Prayer is one form of crucifixion, of our fellowship withChrist's Cross, of our giving up our flesh to the death. O Christians!shall we not be ashamed of our reluctance to sacrifice the flesh and ourown will and the world, as it is seen in our reluctance to pray much?Shall we not learn the lesson which nature and Christ alike teach? Thedifficulty of importunate prayer is our highest privilege; thedifficulties to be overcome in it bring us our richest blessings. 

In importunity there are various elements. Of these the chief areperseverance, determination, intensity. It begins with the refusal to atonce accept a denial. It grows to the determination to persevere, tospare no time or trouble, till an answer comes. It rises to theintensity in which the whole being is given to God in supplication, andthe boldness comes to lay hold of God's strength. At one time it isquiet and restful; at another passionate and bold. Now it takes time andis patient; then again it claims at once what it desires. In whateverdifferent shape, it always means and knows--God hears prayer: I must beheard. 

Remember the wonderful instances we have of it in the Old Testamentsaints. Think of Abraham, as he pleads for Sodom. Time after time herenews his prayer until the sixth time he has to say, "Let not my Lordbe angry. " He does not cease until he has learnt to know God'scondescension in each time consenting to his petition, until he haslearnt how far he can go, has entered into God's mind, and now rests inGod's will. And for his sake Lot was saved. "God remembered Abraham, and delivered Lot out of the midst of the overthrow. " And shall not we, who have a redemption and promises for the heathen which Abraham neverknew, begin to plead more with God on their behalf. 

Think of Jacob, when he feared to meet Esau. The angel of the Lord methim in the dark, and wrestled with him. And when the angel saw that heprevailed not, he said, "Let me go. " And Jacob said, "I will not letthee go. " And he blessed him there. And that boldness that said, "I willnot, " and forced from the reluctant angel the blessing, was so pleasingin God's sight, that a new name was there given to him: "Israel, he whostriveth with God, for thou hast striven with God and with men, and hastprevailed. " And through all the ages God's children have understood, what Christ's two parables teach, that God holds Himself back, and seeksto get away from us, until what is of flesh and self and sloth in us isovercome, and we so prevail with Him that He can and must bless us. Oh!why is it that so many of God's children have no desire for thishonour--being princes of God, strivers with God, and prevailing? Whatour Lord taught us, "What things soever ye desire, _believe that yehave received_, " is nothing but His putting of Jacob's words, "I willnot let Thee go except thou bless me. " This is the importunity Heteaches, and we must learn: to claim and take the blessing. 

Think of Moses when Israel had made the golden calf. Moses returned tothe Lord and said, "Oh, this people have sinned a great sin. Yet now, ifThou wilt forgive their sin--; and if not, blot me, I pray Thee, out ofThy book which Thou hast written. " That was importunity, that wouldrather die than not have his people given him. Then, when God had heardhim, and said He would send His angel with the people, Moses came again, and would not be content until, in answer to his prayer that God Himselfshould go with them (xxxiii. 12, 17, 18), He had said, "I will do thisthing also that thou hast spoken. " After that, when in answer to hisprayer, "Show me Thy glory, " God made His goodness pass before him, heat once again began pleading, "Let my Lord, I pray Thee, go among us. "And he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights (Ex. Xxxiv. 28). Of these days he says, "I fell down before the Lord, as at thefirst, forty days and forty nights, I did neither eat bread, nor drinkwater, because of all your sin which ye sinned. " As an intercessor Mosesused importunity with God, and prevailed. He proves that the man whotruly lives near to God, and with whom God speaks face to face, becomespartaker of that same power of intercession which there is in Him who isat God's right hand and ever lives to pray. 

Think of Elijah in his prayer, first for fire, and then for rain. In theformer you have the importunity that claims and receives an immediateanswer. In the latter, bowing himself down to the earth, his facebetween his knees, his answer to the servant who had gone to look towardthe sea, and come with the message, "There is nothing, " was "Go againseven times. " Here was the importunity of perseverance. He had told Ahabthere would be rain; he knew it was coming; and yet he prayed till theseven times were fulfilled. And it is of this Elijah and this prayer weare taught, "Pray for one another. Elijah was a man of like passionswith ourselves. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availethmuch. " Will there not be some who feel constrained to cry out, "Where isthe Lord God of Elijah?"--this God who draws forth such effectualprayer, and hears it so wonderfully. His name be praised: He is stillthe same. Let His people but believe that He still waits to be inquiredof! Faith in a prayer-hearing God will make a prayer-loving Christian. 

We remember the marks of the true intercessor as the parable taught usthem. A sense of the need of souls; a Christlike love in the heart; aconsciousness of personal impotence; faith in the power of prayer;courage to persevere in spite of refusal; and the assurance of anabundant reward;--these are the dispositions that constitute a Christianan intercessor, and call forth the power of prevailing prayer. These arethe dispositions that constitute the beauty and the health of theChristian life, that fit a man for being a blessing in the world, thatmake him a true Christian worker, who does indeed get from God the breadof heaven to dispense to the hungry. These are the dispositions thatcall forth the highest, the heroic virtues of the life of faith. Thereis nothing to which the nobility of natural character owes so much asthe spirit of enterprise and daring which in travel or war, in politicsor science, battles with difficulties and conquers. No labour or expenseis grudged for the sake of victory. And shall we who are Christians notbe able to face the difficulties that we meet in prayer? It is as we"labour" and "strive" in prayer that the renewed will asserts its royalright to claim in the name of Christ what it will, and wields itsGod-given power to influence the destinies of men. Shall men of theworld sacrifice ease and pleasure in their pursuits, and shall we besuch cowards and sluggards as not to fight our way through to the placewhere we can find liberty for the captive and salvation for theperishing? Let each servant of Christ learn to know his calling. HisKing ever lives to pray. The Spirit of the King ever lives in us topray. It is from heaven the blessings, which the world needs, must becalled down in persevering, importunate, believing prayer. It is fromheaven, in answer to prayer, the Holy Spirit will take completepossession of us to do His work through us. Let us acknowledge how vainour much work has been owing to our little prayer. Let us change ourmethod, and let henceforth more prayer, much prayer, unceasing prayer, be the proof that we look for all to God, and that we believe that Heheareth us. 

A PLEA FOR MORE PRAYER

CHAPTER V

The Life that can Pray

 "_If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you_, ask whatsoever ye will, and it shall be done unto you. "--JOHN xv. 7. 

 "The supplication of _a righteous man_ availeth much in its working. "--JAMES v. 16. 

 "Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, we have boldness toward God; and whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, _because_ we keep His commandments, and do the things that are pleasing in His sight. "--1 JOHN iii. 21, 22. 

Here on earth the influence of one who asks a favour for others dependsentirely on his character, and the relationship he bears to him withwhom he is interceding. It is what he is that gives weight to what heasks. It is no otherwise with God. Our power in prayer depends upon ourlife. Where our life is right we shall know how to pray so as to pleaseGod, and prayer will secure the answer. The texts quoted above all pointin this direction. "_If ye abide in Me_, " our Lord says, ye shall ask, and it shall be done unto you. It is the prayer of _a righteous man_, according to James, that availeth much. We receive whatsoever we ask, John says, _because_ we obey and please God. All lack of power to prayaright and perseveringly, all lack of power in prayer with God, pointsto some lack in the Christian life. It is as we learn to live the lifethat pleases God, that God will give what we ask. Let us learn from ourLord Jesus, in the parable of the vine, what the healthy, vigorous lifeis that may ask and receive what it will. Hear His voice, "If ye abidein Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and itshall be done unto you. " And again at the close of the parable: "Ye didnot choose Me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that you should goand bear fruit, and that your fruit should abide: that _whatsoever yeshall ask_ the Father in My name, _He may give it you_. "

And what is now, according to the parable, the life that one must leadto bear fruit, and then ask and receive what we will? What is it we areto be or do, that will enable us to pray as we should, and to receivewhat we ask? The answer is in one word: it is the branch-life that givespower for prayer. We are branches of Christ, the Living Vine. We mustsimply live like branches, and abide in Christ, then we shall ask whatwe will, and it shall be done unto us. 

We all know what a branch is, and what its essential characteristic. Itis simply a growth of the vine, produced by it and appointed to bearfruit. It has only one reason of existence; it is there at the biddingof the vine, that through it the vine may bear and ripen its preciousfruit. Just as the vine only and solely and wholly lives to produce thesap that makes the grape, so the branch has no other aim and object butthis alone, to receive that sap and bear the grape. Its only work is toserve the vine, that through it the vine may do its work. 

And the believer, the branch of Christ the Heavenly Vine, is it to beunderstood that he is as literally, as exclusively, to live only thatChrist may bear fruit through him? Is it meant that a true Christian asa branch is to be just as absorbed in and devoted to the work of bearingfruit to the glory of God as Christ the Vine was on earth, and is now inheaven? This, and nothing less, is indeed what is meant. It is to suchthat the unlimited prayer promises of the parable are given. It is thebranch-life, existing solely for the Vine, that will have the power topray aright. With our life abiding in Him, and His words abiding, keptand obeyed, in our heart and life, transmuted into our very being, therewill be the grace to pray aright, and the faith to receive thewhatsoever we will. 

Do let us connect the two things, and take them both in their simple, literal truth, and their infinite, divine grandeur. The promises of ourLord's farewell discourse, with their wonderful six-fold repetition ofthe unlimited, _anything, whatsoever_ (John xiv. 13, 14; xv. 7, 16; xvi. 23, 24), appear to us altogether too large to be taken literally, andthey are qualified down to meet our human ideas of what appears seemly. It is because we separate them from that life of absolute and unlimiteddevotion to Christ's service to which they were given. God's covenantis ever: Give all and take all. He that is willing to be wholly branch, and nothing but branch, who is ready to place himself absolutely at thedisposal of Jesus the Vine of God, to bear His fruit through him, and tolive every moment only for Him, will receive a Divine liberty to claimChrist's _whatsoever_ in all its fulness, and a Divine wisdom andhumility to use it aright. He will live and pray, and claim the Father'spromises, even as Christ did, only for God's glory in the salvation ofmen. He will use his boldness in prayer only with a view to power inintercession, and getting men blessed. The unlimited devotion of thebranch-life to fruitbearing, and the unlimited access to the treasuresof the Vine life, are inseparable. It is the life abiding wholly inChrist that can pray the effectual prayer in the name of Christ. 

Just think for a moment of the men of prayer in Scripture, and see inthem what the life was that could pray in such power. We spoke ofAbraham as intercessor. What gave Him such boldness? He knew that Godhad chosen and called him away from his home and people to walk beforeHim, that all nations might be blessed in him. He knew that he hadobeyed, and forsaken all for God. Implicit obedience, to the verysacrifice of his son, was the law of his life. He did what God asked: hedared trust God to do what he asked. We spoke of Moses as intercessor. He too had forsaken all for God, "counting the reproach of Christgreater riches than all the treasures of Egypt. " He lived at God'sdisposal: "as a servant he was faithful in all His house. " How often itis written of him, "According to all that the Lord commanded Moses, sodid he. " No wonder that he was very bold: his heart was right with God:he knew God would hear him. No less true is this of Elijah, the man whostood up to plead for the Lord God of Israel. The man who is ready torisk all for God can count upon God to do all for him. 

It is as men live that they pray. It is the life that prays. It is thelife that, with whole-hearted devotion, gives up all for God and to God, that can claim all from God. Our God longs exceedingly to prove Himselfthe Faithful God and Mighty Helper of His people. He only waits forhearts wholly turned from the world to Himself, and open to receive Hisgifts. The man who loses all will find all; he dare ask and take it. The branch that only and truly lives abiding in Christ, the HeavenlyVine, entirely given up, like Christ, to bear fruit in the salvation ofmen, and has His words taken up into and abiding in its life, may anddare ask what it will--it shall be done. And where we have not yetattained to that full devotion to which our Lord had trained Hisdisciples, and cannot equal them in their power of prayer, we may, nevertheless, take courage in remembering that, even in the lower stagesof the Christian life, every new onward step in the striving after theperfect branch-life, and every surrender to live for others inintercession, will be met from above by a corresponding liberty to drawnigh with greater boldness, and expect larger answers. The more we pray, and the more conscious we become of our unfitness to pray in power, themore we shall be urged and helped to press on towards the secret ofpower in prayer--a life abiding in Christ entirely at His disposal. 

And if any are asking, with somewhat of a despair of attainment, whatthe reason may be of the failure in this blessed branch-life, so simpleand yet so mighty, and how they can come to it, let me point them toone of the most precious lessons of the parable of the Vine. It is onethat is all too little noticed. Jesus spake, "I am the true Vine, _andmy Father is the Husbandman_. " We have not only Himself, the glorifiedSon of God, in His divine fulness, out of whose fulness of life andgrace we can draw, --this is very wonderful, --but there is something moreblessed still. We have the Father, as the Husbandman, watching over ourabiding in the Vine, over our growth and fruitbearing. It is not left toour faith or our faithfulness to maintain our union with Christ: theGod, who is the Father of Christ, and who united us with Him, --GodHimself will see to it that the branch is what it should be, will enableus to bring forth just the fruit we were appointed to bear. Hear whatChrist said of this, "Every branch that beareth fruit, He cleanseth it, that it may bear more fruit. " More fruit is what the Father seeks; morefruit is what the Father will Himself provide. It is for this that He, as the Vinedresser, cleanses the branches. 

Just think a moment what this means. It is said that of all fruitbearingplants on earth there is none that produces fruit so full of spirit, from which spirit can be so abundantly distilled, as the vine. And ofall fruitbearing plants there is none that is so ready to run into wildwood, and for which pruning and cleansing are so indispensable. The onegreat work that a vinedresser has to do for the branch every year is toprune it. Other plants can for a time dispense with it, and yet bearfruit: the vine _must_ have it. And so the one thing the branch thatdesires to abide in Christ and bring forth much fruit, and to be able toask whatsoever it will, must do, is to trust in and yield itself to thisDivine cleansing. What is it that the vinedresser cuts away with hispruning-knife? Nothing but the wood that the branch has produced--true, honest wood, with the true vine nature in it. This must be cut away. Andwhy? Because it draws away the strength and life of the vine, andhinders the flow of the juice to the grape. The more it is cut down, theless wood there is in the branch, the more all the sap can go to thegrape. The wood of the branch must decrease, that the fruit for the vinemay increase; in obedience to the law of all nature, that death is theway to life, that gain comes through sacrifice, the rich and luxuriantgrowth of wood must be cut off and cast away, that the life moreabundant may be seen in the cluster. 

Even so, child of God, branch of the Heavenly Vine, there is in theethat which appears perfectly innocent and legitimate, and which yet sodraws out thy interest and thy strength, that it must be pruned andcleansed away. We saw what power in prayer men like Abraham and Mosesand Elijah had, and we know what fruit they bore. But we also know whatit cost them; how God had to separate them from their surroundings, andever again to draw them from any trust in themselves, to seek their lifein Him alone. It is only as our own will, and strength and effort andpleasure, even where these appear perfectly natural and sinless, are cutdown, so that the whole energies of our being are free and open toreceive the sap of the Heavenly Vine, the Holy Spirit, that we shallbear much fruit. It is in the surrender of what nature holds fast, it isin the full and willing submission to God's holy pruning-knife, that weshall come to what Christ chose and appointed us for--to bear fruit, that whatsoever we ask the Father in Christ's name, He may give to us. 

What the pruning-knife is, Christ tells us in the next verse. "Ye are_clean through the word_ which I have spoken to you. " As He says later, "Sanctify them through Thy truth; Thy word is truth. " "The word of Godis sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing ofsoul and spirit. " What heart-searching words Christ had spoken to Hisdisciples on love and humility, on being the least, and, like Himself, the servant of all, on denying self, and taking the cross, and losingthe life. Through His word the Father had cleansed them, cut away allconfidence in themselves or the world, and prepared them for theinflowing and filling of the Spirit of the Heavenly Vine. It is not wewho can cleanse ourselves: God is the Vinedresser: we may confidentlyintrust ourselves to His care. 

Beloved brethren, --ministers, missionaries, teachers, workers, believersold and young, --are you mourning your lack of prayer, and, as aconsequence, your lack of power in prayer? Oh! come and listen to yourbeloved Lord as He tells you, "only be a branch, united to, identifiedwith, the Heavenly Vine, and your prayers will be effectual and muchavailing. " Are you mourning that just this is your trouble--you do not, cannot, live this branch-life, abiding in Him? Oh! come and listenagain. "_More fruit_" is not only your desire, but the Father's too. Heis the Husbandman who cleanseth the fruitful branch, that it may bearmore fruit. Cast yourself upon God, to do in you what is impossible toman. Count upon a Divine cleansing, to cut down and take away all thatself-confidence and self-effort, that has been the cause of yourfailure. The God who gave you His beloved Son to be your Vine, who madeyou His branch, will He not do His work of cleansing to make youfruitful in every good work, in the work of prayer and intercession too?

Here is the life that can pray. A branch entirely given up to the Vineand its aims, with all responsibility for its cleansing cast on theVinedresser; a branch abiding in Christ, trusting and yielding to Godfor His cleansing, can bear much fruit. In the power of such a life weshall love prayer, we shall know how to pray, we shall pray, and receivewhatsoever we ask. 

A PLEA FOR MORE PRAYER

CHAPTER VI

Restraining Prayer: is it Sin?

 "Thou restrainest prayer before God. "--JOB xv. 4. 

 "What profit should we have, if we pray unto Him?"--JOB xxi. 15. 

 "God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you. "--1 SAM. Xii. 23. 

 "Neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you. "--JOSH. Vii. 12. 

Any deep quickening of the spiritual life of the Church will always beaccompanied by a deeper sense of sin. This will not begin with theology;that can only give expression to what God works in the life of Hispeople. Nor does it mean that that deeper sense of sin will only be seenin stronger expressions of self-reproach or penitence: that is sometimesfound to consist with a harbouring of sin, and unbelief as todeliverance. But the true sense of the hatefulness of sin, the hatredof it, will be proved by the intensity of desire for deliverance, andthe struggle to know to the very utmost what God can do in saving fromit--a holy jealousy, in nothing to sin against God. 

If we are to deal effectually with the lack of prayer we must look at itfrom this point of view and ask, Restraining prayer, is it sin? And ifit be, how is it to be dealt with, to be discovered, and confessed, andcast out by man, and cleansed away by God? Jesus is a Saviour from sin. It is only as we know sin truly that we can truly know the power thatsaves from sin. The life that can pray effectually is the life of thecleansed branch--the life that knows deliverance from the power of self. To see that our prayer-sins are indeed sins, is the first step to a trueand Divine deliverance from them. 

In the story of Achan we have one of the strongest proofs in Scripturethat it is sin that robs God's people of His blessing, and that God willnot tolerate it; and at the same time the clearest indication of theprinciples under which God deals with it, and removes it. Let us see inthe light of the story if we can learn how to look at the sin ofprayerlessness, and at the sinfulness that lies at the root of it. Thewords I have quoted above, "Neither will I be with you any more, exceptye put away the accursed thing from among you, " take us into the veryheart of the story, and suggest a series of the most precious lessonsaround the truth they express, that the presence of sin makes thepresence of God impossible. 

1. _The presence of God is the great privilege of God's people, andtheir only power against the enemy. _--God had promised to Moses, _I willbring you in_ unto the land. Moses proved that he understood this whenGod, after the sin of the golden calf, spoke of withdrawing His presenceand sending an angel. He refused to accept anything less than God'spresence. "For whereby shall it be known that I and Thy people havefound grace in Thy sight? Is it not that _Thou goest with us_?" It wasthis gave Caleb and Joshua their confidence: The Lord is with us. It wasthis gave Israel their victory over Jericho: the presence of God. Thisis throughout Scripture the great central promise: I am with thee. Thismarks off the whole-hearted believer from the worldling and worldlyChristians around him: he lives consciously hidden in the secret ofGod's presence. 

2. _Defeat and failure are always owing to the loss of God'spresence. _--It was thus at Ai. God had brought His people into Canaanwith the promise to give them the land. When the defeat at Ai took placeJoshua felt at once that the cause must be in the withdrawal of God'spower. He had not fought for them. His presence had been withheld. 

In the Christian life and the work of the Church, defeat is ever a signof the loss of God's presence. If we apply this to our failure in theprayer-life, and as a result of that to our failure in work for God, weare led to see that all is simply owing to our not standing in clear andfull fellowship with God. His nearness, His immediate presence, has notbeen the chief thing sought after and trusted in. He could not work inus as He would. Loss of blessing and power is ever caused by the loss ofGod's presence. 

3. _The loss of God's presence is always owing to some hiddensin. _--Just as pain is ordered in nature to warn of some hidden evil inthe system, defeat is God's voice telling us there is something wrong. He has given Himself so wholly to His people, He delights so in beingwith them, and would so fain reveal in them His love and power, that Henever withdraws Himself unless they compel Him by sin. 

Throughout the Church there is a complaint of defeat. The Church has solittle power over the masses, or the educated classes. Powerfulconversions are comparatively rare. The fewness of holy, consecrated, spiritual Christians, devoted to the service of God and their fellowmen, is felt everywhere. The power of the Church for the preaching of thegospel to the heathen is paralysed by the scarcity of money and men; andall owing to the lack of the effectual prayer which brings the HolySpirit in power, first on ministers and believers, then on missionariesand the heathen. Can we deny it that the lack of prayer is the sin onaccount of which God's presence and power are not more manifestly seenamong us?

4. _God Himself will discover the hidden sin. _--We may think we knowwhat the sin is: it is only God who can discover its real deep meaning. When He spoke to Joshua, before naming the sin of Achan, God first said, "They have transgressed My covenant which I commanded them. " God hadcommanded (vi. 19) that all the booty of Jericho, gold and silver andall that was in it, was to be a devoted thing, consecrated unto theLord, and to come into His treasury. And Israel had broken thisconsecration vow: it had not given God His due; it had robbed God. 

It is this we need: God must discover to us how the lack of prayer isthe indication of unfaithfulness to our consecration vow, that Godshould have all our heart and life. We must see that this restrainingprayer, with the excuses we make for it, is greater sin than we havethought; for what does it mean? That we have little taste or relish forfellowship with God; that our faith rests more on our own work andefforts than on the power of God; that we have little sense of theheavenly blessing God waits to shower down; that we are not ready tosacrifice the ease and confidence of the flesh for persevering waitingon God; that the spirituality of our life, and our abiding in Christ, isaltogether too feeble to make us prevail in prayer. When the pressure ofwork for Christ is allowed to be the excuse for our not finding time toseek and secure His own presence and power in it, as our chief need, itsurely proves that there is no right sense of our absolute dependenceupon God; no deep apprehension of the Divine and supernatural work ofGod in which we are only His instruments, no true entrance into theheavenly, altogether other-worldly, character of our mission and aims, no full surrender to and delight in Christ Jesus Himself. 

If we were to yield to God's Spirit to show us that all this is in verydeed the meaning of remissness in prayer, and of our allowing otherthings to crowd it out, all our excuses would fall away, and we shouldfall down and cry, "We have sinned! we have sinned!" Samuel once said, "As for me, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing topray for you. " Ceasing from prayer is sin against God. May God discoverthis to us. (Note A. )

5. _When God discovers sin, it must be confessed and cast out. _--Whenthe defeat at Ai came, Joshua and Israel were ignorant of the cause. Goddealt with Israel as a nation, as one body, and the sin of one memberwas visited on all. Israel as a whole was ignorant of the sin, and yetsuffered for it. The Church may be ignorant of the greatness of this sinof restraining prayer, individual ministers or believers may never havelooked upon it as actual transgression, none the less does it bring itspunishment. But when the sin is no more hidden, when the Holy Spiritbegins to convince of it, then comes the time of heart-searching. In ourstory the combination of individual and united responsibility is verysolemn. The individual: as we find it in the expression, "man for man";each man felt himself under the eye of God, to be dealt with. And whenAchan had been taken, he had to make confession. The united: as we seeit in all Israel first suffering and dealt with by God, then takingAchan, and his family, and the accursed thing, and destroying them outof their midst. 

If we have reason to think this is the sin that is in the camp, let usbegin with personal and united confession. And then let us come beforeGod to put away and destroy the sin. Here stands at the very thresholdof Israel's history in Canaan the heap of stones in the valley of Achor, to tell us that God cannot bear sin, that God will not dwell with sin, and that if _we really want God's presence in power, sin must be putaway_. Let us look the solemn fact in the face. There may be other sins, but here is certainly one that causes the loss of God's presence--we donot pray as Christ and Scripture teach us. Let us bring it out beforeGod, and give up this sin to the death. Let us yield ourselves to Godto obey His voice. Let no fear of past failure, let no threatening arrayof temptations, or duties, or excuses, keep us back. It is a simplequestion of obedience. Are we going to give up ourselves to God and HisSpirit to live a life in prayer, well-pleasing to Him? Surely, if it isGod who has been withholding His presence, who has been discovering thesin, who is calling for its destruction, and a return to obedience, surely we can count upon His grace to accept and strengthen for the lifeHe asks of us. It is not a question of what you can do; it is thequestion of whether you now, with your whole heart, turn to give God Hisdue, and give yourself to let His will and grace have their way withyou. 

6. _With sin cast out God's presence is restored. _--From this dayonwards there is not a word in Joshua of defeat in battle. The storyshows them going on from victory to victory. God's presence securedgives power to overcome every enemy. 

This truth is so simple that the very ease with which we acquiesce in itrobs it of its power. Let us pause and think what it implies. God'spresence restored means victory secured. Then, we are responsible fordefeat. Then, there must be sin somewhere causing it. Then, we ought atonce to find out and put away the sin. We may confidently expect God'spresence the moment the sin is put away. Surely each one is under thesolemn obligation to search his life and see what part he may have inthis evil. 

God never speaks to His people of sin except with a view to saving themfrom it. _The same light that shows the sin will show the way out ofit. _ The same power that breaks down and condemns will, if humblyyielded to and waited on in confession and faith, give the power to riseup and conquer. It is GOD who is speaking to His Church and to us aboutthis sin: "HE WONDERED that there was no intercessor. " "I WONDERED thatthere was none to uphold. " "I SOUGHT for a man that should stand in thegap before Me, and found none. " The God who speaks thus is He who willwork the change for His children who seek His face. He will make thevalley of Achor, of trouble and shame, of sin confessed and cast out, adoor of hope. Let us not fear, let us not cling to the excuses andexplanations which circumstances suggest, but simply confess, "We havesinned; we are sinning; we dare not sin longer. " In this matter ofprayer we are sure God does not demand of us impossibilities. He doesnot weary us with an impracticable ideal. He asks us to pray no morethan He gives grace to enable us to. He will give the grace to do whatHe asks, and so to pray that our intercessions shall, day by day, be apleasure to Him and to us, a source of strength to our conscience andour work, and a channel of blessing to those for whom we labour. 

God dealt personally with Joshua, with Israel, with Achan. Let each ofus allow Him to deal personally with us concerning this sin, ofrestraining prayer, and its consequences in our life and work;concerning the deliverance from sin, its certainty and blessedness. Justbow in stillness and wait before God, until, as God, He overshadow youwith His presence, lead you out of that region of argument as to humanpossibilities, where conviction of sin can never be deep, and fulldeliverance can never come. Take quiet time, and be still before God, that He may take this matter in hand. "Sit still, for He will not be inrest until He have finished this thing this day. " Leave yourself inGod's hands. 

A PLEA FOR MORE PRAYER

CHAPTER VII

Who shall Deliver?

 "Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?"--JER. Viii. 22. 

 "Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto Thee; for Thou art the Lord our God. "-JER. Iii. 22. 

 "Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed. "-JER. Xii. 14. 

 "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me out of the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and death. "-ROM. Vii. 24, viii. 2. 

During one of our conventions a gentleman called upon me to ask adviceand help. He was evidently an earnest and well-instructed Christian man. He had for some years been in most difficult surroundings, trying towitness for Christ. The result was a sense of failure and unhappiness. His complaint was that he had no relish for the Word, and that though heprayed, it was as if his heart was not in it. If he spoke to others, orgave a tract, it was under a sense of duty: the love and the joy werenot present. He longed to be filled with God's Spirit, but the more hesought it, the farther off it appeared to be. What was he to think ofhis state, and was there any way out of it?

My answer was, that the whole matter appeared to me very simple; he wasliving under the law and not under grace. As long as he did so, therecould be no change. He listened attentively, but could not exactly seewhat I meant. 

I reminded him of the difference, the utter contrariety, between law andgrace. Law demands; grace bestows. Law commands, but gives no strengthto obey; grace promises, and performs, does all we need to do. Lawburdens, and casts down and condemns; grace comforts, and makes strongand glad. Law appeals to self, to do its utmost; grace points to Christto do all. Law calls to effort and strain, and urges us towards a goalwe never can reach; grace works in us all God's blessed will. I pointedout to him how his first step should be, instead of striving againstall this failure, fully to accept of it, and the lesson of his ownimpotence, as God had been seeking to teach it him, and, with thisconfession, to sink down before God in utter helplessness. There wouldbe the place where he would learn that, unless grace gave himdeliverance and strength, he never could do better than he had done, andthat grace would indeed work all for him. He must come out from underlaw and self and effort, and take his place under grace, allowing God todo all. 

In later conversations he told me the diagnosis of the disease had beencorrect. He admitted grace must do all. And yet, so deep was the thoughtthat we must do something, that we must at least bring our faithfulnessto secure the work of grace, he feared that his life would not be verydifferent; he would not be equal to the strain of new difficulties intowhich he was now going. There was, amid all the intense earnestness, anundertone of despair; he could not live as he knew he ought to. I havealready said, in the opening chapter, that in some of our meetings I hadnoticed this tone of hopelessness. And no minister who has come intoclose contact with souls seeking to live wholly for God, to "walkworthy of the Lord unto all well pleasing, " but knows that this renderstrue progress impossible. To speak specially of the lack of prayer, andthe desire of living a fuller prayer-life, how many are the difficultiesto be met! We have so often resolved to pray more and better, and havefailed. We have not the strength of will some have, with one resolve toturn round and change our habits. The press of duty is as great as everit was; it is so difficult to find time for more prayer; real enjoymentin prayer, which would enable us to persevere, is what we do not feel;we do not possess the power to supplicate and to plead, as we should;our prayers, instead of being a joy and a strength, are a source ofcontinual self-condemnation and doubt. We have at times mourned andconfessed and resolved; but, to tell the honest truth, we do not expect, for we do not see the way to, any great change. 

It is evident that as long as this spirit prevails, there can be verylittle prospect of improvement. Discouragement must bring defeat. One ofthe first objects of a physician is ever to waken hope; without this heknows his medicines will often profit little. No teaching from God'sWord as to the duty, the urgent need, the blessed privilege of moreprayer, of effectual prayer, will avail, while the secret whisper isheard: There is no hope. Our first care must be to find out the hiddencause of the failure and despair, and then to show how divinely suredeliverance is. We must, unless we are to rest content with our state, listen to and join in the question, "Is there no balm in Gilead; isthere no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter ofmy people restored?" We must listen, and receive into our heart, theDivine promise with the response it met with: "Return, ye backslidingchildren, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto Thee, for Thou art the Lord our God. " We must come with the personal prayer, and the faith that there will be a personal answer. Shall we not evennow begin to claim it in regard to the lack of prayer, and believe thatGod will help us: "Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed. "

It is always of consequence to distinguish between the symptoms of adisease and the disease itself. Feebleness and failure in prayer is asign of feebleness in the spiritual life. If a patient were to ask aphysician to give him something to stimulate his feeble pulse, he wouldbe told that this would do him little good. The pulse is the index ofthe state of the heart and the whole system: the physician strives tohave health restored. What everyone who would fain pray more faithfullyand effectually must learn is this, that his whole spiritual life is ina sickly state, and needs restoration. It is as he comes to look, notonly at his shortcomings in prayer, but at the lack in the life offaith, of which this is the symptom, that he will become fully alive tothe serious nature of the disease. He will then see the need of aradical change in his whole life and walk, if his prayer-life, which issimply the pulse of the spiritual system, is to indicate health andvigour. God has so created us that the exercise of every healthyfunction causes joy. Prayer is meant to be as simple and natural asbreathing or working to a healthy man. The reluctance we feel, and thefailure we confess, are God's own voice calling us to acknowledge ourdisease, and to come to Him for the healing He has promised. 

And what is now the disease of which the lack of prayer is the symptom?We cannot find a better answer than is pointed out in the words, "Yeare not under the law, but under grace. "

Here we have suggested the possibility of two types of Christian life. There may be a life partly under the law and partly under grace; or, alife entirely under grace, in the full liberty from self-effort, and thefull experience of the Divine strength which it can give. A truebeliever may still be living partly under the law, in the power ofself-effort, striving to do what he cannot accomplish. The continuedfailure in his Christian life to which he confesses is owing to this onething: he trusts in himself, and tries to do his best. He does, indeed, pray and look to God for help, but still it is he in his strength, helped by God, who is to do the work. In the Epistles to the Romans, andCorinthians, and Galatians, we know how Paul tells them that they havenot received the spirit of bondage again, that they are free from thelaw, that they are no more servants but sons; that they must beware ofnothing so much as to be entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Everywhere it is the contrast between the law and grace, between theflesh, which is under the law, and the Spirit, who is the gift of grace, and through whom grace does all its work. In our days, just as in thosefirst ages, the great danger is living under the law, and serving God inthe strength of the flesh. With the great majority of Christians itappears to be the state in which they remain all their lives. Hence thelack to such a large extent of true holy living and power in prayer. They do not know that all failure can have but one cause: _Men seek todo themselves what grace alone can do in them_, what grace mostcertainly will do. 

Many will not be prepared to admit that this is their disease, that theyare not living "under grace. " Impossible, they say. "From the depth ofmy heart, " a Christian cries, "I believe and know that there is no goodin me, and that I owe everything to grace alone. " "I have spent mylife, " a minister says, "and found my glory in preaching and exaltingthe doctrines of free grace. " "And I, " a missionary answers, "how couldI ever have thought of seeing the heathen saved, if my only confidencehad not been in the message I brought, and the power I trusted, of God'sabounding grace. " Surely you cannot say that our failures in prayer, andwe sadly confess to them, are owing to our not living "under grace"?This cannot be our disease. 

We know how often a man may be suffering from a disease without knowingit. What he counts a slight ailment turns out to be a dangerouscomplaint. Do not let us be too sure that we are not, to a large extent, still living "under the law, " while considering ourselves to be livingwholly "under grace. " Very frequently the reason of this mistake is thelimited meaning attached to the word "grace. " Just as we limit GodHimself, by our little or unbelieving thoughts of Him, so we limit Hisgrace at the very moment that we are delighting in terms like the"riches of grace, " "grace exceeding abundant. " Has not the very term, "grace abounding, " from Bunyan's book downward, been confined to the onegreat blessed truth of free justification with ever renewed pardon andeternal glory for the vilest of sinners, while the other equally blessedtruth of "grace abounding" in sanctification is not fully known. Paulwrites: "Much more shall they which receive the abundance of grace reignin life through Jesus Christ. " That reigning in life, as conqueror oversin, is even here on earth. "Where sin abounded" in the heart and life, "grace did abound more exceedingly, that grace might reign throughrighteousness" in the whole life and being of the believer. It is ofthis reign of grace in the soul that Paul asks, "Shall we sin because weare under grace?" and answers, "God forbid. " Grace is not only pardonof, but power over, sin; grace takes the place sin had in the life, andundertakes, as sin had reigned within in the power of death, to reign inthe power of Christ's life. It is of this grace that Christ spoke, "Mygrace is sufficient for thee, " and Paul answered, "I will glory in myweakness; for, when I am weak, then am I strong. " It is of this grace, which, when we are willing to confess ourselves utterly impotent andhelpless, comes in to work all in us, that Paul elsewhere teaches, "Godis able to make _all grace_ abound unto you, that ye, _always_ having_all sufficiency_ in _all things_, may abound unto _all good works_. "

It has often happened that a seeker after God and salvation has read hisBible long, and yet never seen the truth of a free and full andimmediate justification by faith. When once his eyes were opened, and heaccepted it, he was amazed to find it everywhere. Even so manybelievers, who hold the doctrines of free grace as applied to pardon, have never seen its wondrous meaning as it undertakes to work our wholelife in us, and _actually give us strength every moment_ for whateverthe Father would have us be and do. When God's light shines into ourheart with this blessed truth, we know what Paul means, "Not I, but thegrace of God. " There again you have the twofold Christian life. The one, in which that "Not I"--I am nothing, I can do nothing--has not yetbecome a reality. The other, when the wondrous exchange has been made, and grace has taken the place of our effort, and we say and know, "Ilive, yet no longer I, but Christ liveth in me. " It may then become alifelong experience: "The grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant, withfaith and love which is in Christ Jesus. "

Beloved child of God! what think you, is it not possible that this hasbeen the want in your life, the cause of your failure in prayer? Youknew not how grace would enable you to pray, if once the whole life wereunder its power. You sought by earnest effort to conquer your reluctanceor deadness in prayer, but failed. You strove by every motive of shameor love you could think of to stir yourself to it, but it would nothelp. Is it not worth while asking the Lord whether the message I bringyou as His servant may not be more true for you than you think? Yourlack of prayer is owing to a diseased state of life, and the disease isnothing but this--you have not accepted, for daily life and every duty, the full salvation which the word brings: "Ye are not under the law, butunder grace. " As universal and deep-reaching as the demand of the lawand the reign of sin, yea, more exceeding abundant, is the provision ofgrace and the power by which it makes us reign in life. (Note B. )

In the chapter that follows that in which Paul wrote, "Ye are not underthe law, but under grace, " he gives us a picture of a believer's lifeunder law, with the bitter experience in which it ends: "O wretched manthat I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" His answerto the question, "I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord, " shows thatthere is deliverance from a life held captive under evil habits thathave been struggled against in vain. That deliverance is by the HolySpirit giving the full experience of what the life of Christ can work inus: "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me freefrom the law of sin and death. " The law of God could only deliver usinto the power of the law of sin and death. The grace of God can bringus into, and keep us in, the liberty of the Spirit. We can be made freefrom the sad life under the power that led us captive, so that we didnot what we would. The Spirit of life in Christ can free us from ourcontinual failure in prayer, and enable us in this, too, to walk worthyof the Lord unto all well-pleasing. 

Oh! be not hopeless, be not despondent; there is a balm in Gilead; thereis a Physician there; there is healing for our sickness. What isimpossible with man is possible with God. What you see no possibility ofdoing, grace will do. Confess the disease; trust the Physician; claimthe healing; pray the prayer of faith, "Heal me, and I shall be healed. "You too can become a man of prayer, and pray the effectual prayer thatavaileth much. [1]

[1] I ought to say, for the encouragement of all, that the gentleman ofwhom I spoke, at a Convention a fortnight later, saw and claimed therest of faith in trusting God for all, and a letter from England tellsthat he has found that His grace is sufficient. 

A PLEA FOR MORE PRAYER

CHAPTER VIII

Wilt Thou be made Whole?

 "Jesus saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole? The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool. Jesus saith unto him, Rise and walk. Immediately the man was made whole, and walked. "--JOHN v. 6-9. 

 "Peter said, In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. . . . The faith which is by Him hath given this man this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. "--ACTS iii. 6, 16. 

 "Peter said, Æneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole: arise. And he arose immediately. "--ACTS ix. 34. 

Feebleness in prayer is the mark of disease. Impotence to walk is, inthe Christian, as in the natural life, a terrible proof of some evil inthe system that needs a physician. The lack of power to walk joyfully inthe new and living way that leads to the Father and the throne of graceis specially grievous. Christ is the great Physician, who comes toevery Bethesda where impotent folk are gathered, and speaks out hisloving, searching question, Wilt thou be made whole? For all who arestill clinging to their hope in the pool, or are looking for some man toput them in, who are hoping, in course of time, somehow to be helped byjust continuing in the use of the ordinary means of grace, His questionpoints to a better way. He offers them healing in a way of power theyhave never understood. And to all who are willing to confess, not onlytheir own impotence, but their failure to find any man to help them, Hisquestion brings the sure and certain hope of a near deliverance. We haveseen that our weakness in prayer is part of a life smitten withspiritual impotence. Let us listen to our Lord as He offers to restoreour spiritual strength, to fit us for walking like healthy, strong menin all the ways of the Lord, and so be fit rightly to fill our place inthe great work of intercession. As we see what the wholeness is Heoffers, how He gives it, and what He asks of us, we shall be preparedfor giving a willing answer to His question. 

WHAT THE HEALTH THAT JESUS OFFERS. 

I might mention many marks of spiritual health. Our text leads us totake one, --walking. Jesus said to the sick man, Rise and walk, and withthat restored him to his place among men in full health and vigour, ableto take his part in all the work of life. It is a wonderfully suggestivepicture of the restoration of spiritual health. To the healthy, walkingis a pleasure; to the sick, a burden, if not an impossibility. How manyChristians there are to whom, like the maimed and the halt and the lameand the impotent, movement and progress in God's way is indeed an effortand a weariness. Christ comes to say, and with the word He gives thepower, Rise and walk. 

Just think of this walk to which He restores and empowers us. It is alife like that of Enoch and Noah, who "walked with God. " A life likethat of Abraham, to whom God said, "Walk before Me, " and who himselfspake, "The Lord before whom I walk. " A life of which David sings, "Theyshall walk in the light of Thy countenance, " and Isaiah prophesies, "They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall runand not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. " Even as God theCreator fainteth not nor is weary, shall they who walk with Him, waitingon Him, never be exhausted or feeble. It is a life concerning which itcould be said of the last of the Old Testament saints, Zacharias andElisabeth, "They were both righteous before God, walking in all thecommandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. " This is the walkJesus came to make possible and true to His people in greater power thanever before. 

Hear what the New Testament speaks of it: "That like as Christ wasraised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also should walkin newness of life. " It is the Risen One who says to us, Rise and walk:He gives the power of the resurrection life. It is a walk in Christ. "Asye have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye also in Him. " It is awalk like Christ. "He that saith he abideth in Him ought so to walk evenas He walked. " It is a walk by the Spirit and after the Spirit. "Walk bythe Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh. " "Who walknot after the flesh, but after the Spirit. " It is a walk worthy of Godand well pleasing to Him. "That ye would walk worthy of the Lord, untoall well pleasing, being fruitful in every good work. " "I beseech you, that as ye received of us, how ye should walk and please God, _even asye do walk_, that ye would abound more and more. " It is a walk inheavenly love. "Walk in love, even as Christ loved you. " It is a "walkin the light, as He is in the light. " It is a walk of faith, all itspower coming simply from God and Christ and the Holy Spirit, to the soulturned away from the world. "We walk by faith, and not by sight. "

How many believers there are who regard such a walk as an impossiblething--so impossible that they do not feel it a sin that they "walkotherwise"; and so they do not long for this walk in newness of life. They have become so accustomed to the life of impotence, that the lifeand walk in God's strength has little attraction. But some there arewith whom it is not thus. They do wonder if these words really mean whatthey say, and if the wonderful life each one of them speaks of is simplyan unattainable ideal, or meant to be realised in flesh and blood. Themore they study them, the more they feel that they are spoken as fordaily life. And yet they appear too high. Oh that they would believethat God sent his Almighty Son, and His Holy Spirit, indeed to bring usand fit us for a life and walk from heaven beyond all that man coulddare to think or hope for. 

HOW JESUS MAKES US WHOLE. 

When a physician heals a patient, he acts on him from without, and doessomething which is, if possible, ever after to render him independent ofhis aid. He restores him to perfect health, and leaves him. With thework of our Lord Jesus it is in both respects the very opposite. Jesusworks not from without, but from within, by entering Himself in thepower of His Spirit into our very life. And instead of, as in the bodilyhealing, being rendered, if possible, independent of a physician for thefuture, Christ's one purpose in healing is, as we said, the exactopposite. His one condition of success, is to bring us into _suchdependence upon Himself as that we shall not be able one single momentto do without Him_. Christ Jesus Himself is our life, in a sense thatmany Christians have no conception of. The prevailing feeble and sicklylife is entirely owing to the lack of the apprehension of the Divinetruth, that as long as we expect Christ continually to do something forus from heaven, in single acts of grace from time to time, and each timetrust Him to give us what will last a little while, we cannot berestored to perfect health. But when once we see how there is to benothing of our own for a single moment, and it is to be all Christmoment by moment, and learn to accept it from Him and trust Him for it, the life of Christ becomes the health of our soul. Health is nothing butlife in its normal, undisturbed action. Christ gives us health by givingus Himself as our life; so He becomes our strength for our walk. Isaiah's words find their New Testament fulfilment: They that wait onthe Lord shall walk and not faint, because Christ is now the strength oftheir life. 

It is strange how believers sometimes think this life of dependence toogreat a strain, and a loss of our personal liberty. They admit a need ofdependence, of much dependence, but with room left for our own will andenergy. They do not see that even a partial dependence makes us debtors, and leaves us nothing to boast of. They forget that our relationship toGod, and co-operation with Him, is not that He does the larger part andwe the lesser, but that God does all and we do all--God all in us, weall through God. This dependence upon God secures our true independence;when our will seeks nothing but the Divine will, we reach a Divinenobility, the true independence of all that is created. He that has notseen this must remain a sickly Christian, letting self do part andChrist part. He that accepts the life of unceasing dependence on Christ, as life and health and strength, is made whole. As God, Christ can enterand become the life of His creature. As the Glorified One who receivedthe Holy Spirit from the Father to bestow, He can renew the heart of thesinful creature and make it His home, and by His presence maintain it infull health and strength. 

O ye all who would fain walk and please God, and in your prayer-life nothave your heart condemn you, listen to Christ's words: "Wilt thou bemade whole?" He can give soul-health. He can give a life that can pray, and know that it is well-pleasing to the Father. If you would have this, come and hear how you can receive it. 

WHAT CHRIST ASKS OF US. 

The story invites us to notice three things very specially. Christ'squestion first appeals to the will, and asks for the expression of itsconsent. He then listens to man's confession of his utter helplessness. Then comes the ready obedience to Christ's command, that rises up andwalks. 

1. Wilt thou be made whole? About the answer of the impotent man therecould be no doubt. Who would not be willing to have his sicknessremoved? But, alas, in the spiritual life what need to press thequestion. Some will not admit that they are so sick. And some will notbelieve that Christ can make a man whole. And some will believe it forothers, but they are sure it is not for them. At the root of all liesthe fear of the self-denial and the sacrifice which will be needed. Theyare not willing to forsake entirely the walk after the course of thisworld, to give up all self-will, and self-confidence, and self-pleasing. The walk in Christ and like Christ is too straight and hard: they do notwill it, they do not will to be made whole. My brother, if thou artwilling, speak it out: "Lord! at any price, I will!" From Christ's sidethe act is one of the will: "I will, be thou clean. " From your sideequally: "Be it unto thee as thou wilt. " If you would be delivered fromyour impotence--oh, fear not to say, "I will, I will!"

Then comes the second step. Christ wants us to look up to him as ouronly Helper. "I have no man to put me in, " must be our cry. Here onearth there is no help for me. Weakness may grow into strength in theordinary use of means, if all the organs and functions are in a soundstate. Sickness needs special measures. Your soul is sick; yourimpotence to walk joyfully the Christian walk in God's way is a sign ofdisease; fear not to confess it, and to admit that there is no hope forrestoration unless by an act of Christ's mercy healing you. Give up theidea of growing out of your sickly into a healthy state, of growing outfrom under the law into a life under grace. A few days ago I heard astudent plead the cause of the Volunteer Pledge. "The pledge calls you, "he said, "to a decision. Do not think of growing into a missionary:unless God forbids you, take the step; the decision will bring joy andstrength, will set you free to grow up in all needed for a missionary, and will be a help to others. " It is even so in the Christian life. Delay and struggle will equally hinder you; do confess that you cannotbring yourself to pray as you would, because you cannot give yourselfthe healthy, heavenly life that loves to pray, and that knows to countupon God's Spirit to pray in us. Come to Christ to heal you. He can inone moment make you whole. Not in the sense of working a sudden changein your feelings, or in what you are in yourself, but in the heavenlyreality of coming in, in response to your surrender and faith, andtaking charge of your inner life, and filling it with Himself andSpirit. 

The third thing Christ asks is this, the surrender of faith. When Hespoke to the impotent man His word of command had to be obeyed. The manbelieved that there was truth and power in Christ's word; in that faithhe rose and walked. By faith he obeyed. And what Christ said to otherswas for him too--"Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. " Of us, too, Christ asks this faith, that His word changes our impotence intostrength, and fits us for that walk in newness of life for which we havebeen quickened in Him. If we do not believe this, if we will not takecourage and say, with Paul, "I can do all things in Christ, whichstrengtheneth me, " we cannot obey. But if we will listen to the wordthat tells us of the walk that is not only possible, but has been provedand seen in God's saints from of old, if we will fix our eye on themighty, living, loving Christ, who speaks in power, "Rise and walk, " weshall take courage and obey. We shall rise and begin to walk in Him andHis strength. In faith, apart from and above all feeling, we shallaccept and trust an unseen Christ as our strength, and go on in thestrength of the Lord God. We shall know Christ as the strength of ourlife. We shall know, and tell, and prove that Jesus Christ hath made uswhole. 

Can it indeed be? Yes, it can. He has done it for many: He will do itfor you. Beware of forming wrong conceptions of what must take place. When the impotent man was made whole he had still all to learn as to theuse of his new-found strength. If he wanted to dig, or build, or learn atrade, he had to begin at the beginning. Do not expect at once to be aproficient in prayer or any part of the Christian life. No; but expectand be confident of this one thing, that, as you have trusted yourselfto Christ to be your health and strength, He will lead and teach you. Begin to pray in a quiet sense of your ignorance and weakness, but in ajoyful assurance that He will work in you what you need. Rise and walkeach day in a holy confidence that He is with you and in you. Justaccept Jesus Christ the Living One, and trust Him to do His work. 

Will you do it? Have you done it? Even now Jesus speaks, "Rise andwalk. " "Amen, Lord! at Thy word I come. I rise to walk with Thee, and inThee, and like Thee. "

A PLEA FOR MORE PRAYER

CHAPTER IX

The Secret of Effectual Prayer

 "What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye have received them, and ye shall have them. "--MARK xi. 24. 

Here we have a summary of the teaching of our Lord Jesus on prayer. Nothing will so much help to convince us of the sin of our remissness inprayer, to discover its causes, and to give us courage to expect entiredeliverance, as the careful study and then the believing acceptance ofthat teaching. The more heartily we enter into the mind of our blessedLord, and set ourselves simply just to think about prayer as He thought, the more surely will His words be as living seeds. They will grow andproduce in us their fruit, --a life and practice exactly corresponding tothe Divine truth they contain. Do let us believe this: Christ, theliving Word of God, gives in His words a Divine quickening power whichbrings what they say, which works in us what He asks, which actuallyfits and enables for all He demands. Learn to look upon His teaching onprayer as a definite promise of what He, by His Holy Spirit dwelling inyou, is going to work into your very being and character. 

Our Lord gives us the five marks, or essential elements, of true prayer. There must be, first, the heart's _desire_; then the expression of thatdesire in _prayer_; with that, the _faith_ that carries the prayer toGod; in that faith, the _acceptance of God's answer_; then comes _theexperience_ of the desired blessing. It may help to give definiteness toour thought, if we each take a definite request in regard to which wewould fain learn to pray believingly. Or, perhaps better still, we mightall unite and take the one thing that has been occupying our attention. We have been speaking of failure in prayer; why should we not take asthe object of desire and supplication the "grace of supplication, " andsay, I want to ask and receive in faith the power to pray just as, andas much as, my God expects of me? Let us meditate on our Lord's words, in the confidence that He will teach us how to pray for this blessing. 

1. "What things soever _ye desire_. "--Desire is the secret power thatmoves the whole world of living men, and directs the course of each. Andso desire is the soul of prayer, and the cause of insufficient orunsuccessful prayer is very much to be found in the lack or feeblenessof desire. Some may doubt this: they are sure that they have veryearnestly desired what they ask. But if they consider whether theirdesire has indeed been as whole-hearted as God would have it, as theheavenly worth of these blessings demands, they may come to see that itwas indeed the lack of desire that was the cause of failure. What istrue of God is true of each of his blessings, and is the more true themore spiritual the blessing: "Ye shall seek Me, and shall find, when yeshall search for Me with all your heart" (Jer. Xxix. 13). Of Judah inthe days of Asa it is written, "They sought Him with _their wholedesire_" (2 Chron. Xv. 15). A Christian may often have very earnestdesires for spiritual blessings. But alongside of these there are otherdesires in his daily life occupying a large place in his interests andaffections. The spiritual desires are not all-absorbing. He wondersthat his prayer is not heard. It is simply that God wants the wholeheart. "The Lord thy God is _one Lord_, therefore thou shalt love theLord thy God with _all thy heart_. " The law is unchangeable: God offersHimself, gives Himself away, to the whole-hearted who give themselveswholly away to Him. He always gives us according to our heart's desire. But not as we think it, but as He sees it. If there be other desireswhich are more at home with us, which have our heart more than Himselfand His presence, He allows these to be fulfilled, and the desires thatengage us at the hour of prayer cannot be granted. 

We desire the gift of intercession, grace and power to pray aright. Ourhearts must be drawn away from other desires: we must give ourselveswholly to this one. We must be willing to live wholly in intercessionfor the kingdom. By fixing our eye on the blessedness and the need ofthis grace, by thinking of the certainty that God will give it us, bygiving ourselves up to it, for the sake of the perishing world, desiremay be strengthened, and the first step taken towards the possession ofthe coveted blessing. Let us seek the grace of prayer, as we seek theGod with whom it will link us, "with our whole desire"; we may dependupon the promise, "He will fulfil the desire of them that fear Him. " Letus not fear to say to Him, "I desire it with my whole heart. "

2. "What things soever ye desire when _ye pray_. "--The desire of theheart must become the expression of the lips. Our Lord Jesus more thanonce asked those who cried to Him for mercy, "What wilt thou?" He wantedthem to say what they would. To speak it out roused their whole beinginto action, brought them into contact with Him, and wakened theirexpectation. To pray is to enter into God's presence, to claim andsecure His attention, to have distinct dealing with Him in regard tosome request, to commit our need to His faithfulness and to leave itthere: it is in so doing that we become fully conscious of what we areseeking. 

There are some who often carry strong desires in their heart, withoutbringing them to God in the clear expression of definite and repeatedprayer. There are others who go to the Word and its promises tostrengthen their faith, but do not give sufficient place to that pointedasking of God which helps the soul to the assurance that the matter hasbeen put into God's hands. Still others come in prayer with so manyrequests and desires, that it is difficult for themselves to say whatthey really expect God to do. If you would obtain from God this greatgift of faithfulness in prayer and power to pray aright, begin byexercising yourself in prayer in regard to it. Say of it to yourself andto God: "Here is something I have asked, and am continuing to ask till Ireceive. As plain and pointed as words can make it, I am saying, 'MyFather! I do desire, I do ask of Thee, and expect of Thee, the grace ofprayer and intercession. '"

3. "What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, _believe_. "--As it isonly by faith that we can know God, or receive Jesus Christ, or live theChristian life, so faith is the life and power of prayer. If we are toenter upon a life of intercession, in which there is to be joy and powerand blessing, if we are to have our prayer for the grace of prayeranswered, we must learn anew what faith is, and begin to live and prayin faith as never before. 

Faith is the opposite of sight, and the two are contrary the one to theother. "We walk by faith, and not by sight. " If the unseen is to getfull possession of us, and heart and life and prayer are to be full offaith, there must be a withdrawal from, a denial of, the visible. Thespirit that seeks to enjoy as much as possible of what is innocent orlegitimate, that gives the first place to the calls and duties of dailylife, is inconsistent with a strong faith and close intercourse with thespiritual world. "We _look not_ at the things that are seen"--thenegative side needs to be emphasised if the positive, "but at the thingswhich are not seen, " is to become natural to us. In praying, faithdepends upon our living in the invisible world. 

This faith has specially to do with God. The great reason of our lack offaith is our lack of knowledge of God and intercourse with Him. "Havefaith in God, " Jesus said when He spoke of removing mountains. It is asa soul knows God, is occupied with His power, love, and faithfulness, comes away out of self and the world, and allows the light of God toshine on it, that unbelief will become impossible. All the mysteries anddifficulties connected with answers to prayer will, however little wemay be able to solve them intellectually, be swallowed up in the adoringassurance: "This God is our God. He will bless us. He does indeedanswer prayer. And the grace to pray I am asking for He will delight togive. " (Note C. )

4. "What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that _ye havereceived_, " now as you pray. --_Faith has to accept the answer, as givenby God in heaven, before it is found or felt upon earth. _ This pointcauses difficulty, and yet it is of the very essence of believingprayer, its real secret. Try and take it in. Spiritual things can onlybe spiritually apprehended or appropriated. The spiritual heavenlyblessing of God's answer to your prayer must be spiritually recognisedand accepted before you feel anything of it. It is faith does this. Asoul that not only seeks an answer, but seeks first the God who givesthe answer, receives the power to know that it has what it has asked ofHim. If it knows that it has asked according to His will and promises, and that it has come to and found Himself to give it, it does believethat it has received. "We know that He heareth us. "

There is nothing so heart-searching as this faith, "_Believe that yehave received. _" As we strive to believe, and find we cannot, it leadsus to discover what there is that hinders. Blessed is the man who holdsnothing back, and lets nothing hold him back, but, with his eye andheart on God alone, refuses to rest till he has believed what our Lordbids him, "that he has received. " Here is the place where Jacob becomesIsrael, and the power of prevailing prayer is born out of human weaknessand despair. Here comes in the real need for persevering andever-importunate prayer, that will not rest, or go away, or give up, till it knows it is heard, and believes that it has received. 

You pray for "the Spirit of grace and supplication"? As you ask for itin strong desire, and believe in God who hears prayer, do not be afraidto press on and believe that your life can indeed be changed, that theworld with its press of duties, whether religious or not, hinderingprayer, can be overcome, and that God gives you your heart's desire, grace to pray both in measure and in spirit, just as the Father wouldhave His child do. "Believe that you have received. "

5. "What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye havereceived, and _ye shall have them_. "--The receiving from God in faith, the believing acceptance of the answer with the perfect, praisingassurance that it has been given, is not necessarily the experience orsubjective possession of the gift we have asked for. At times there maybe a considerable, or even a long, interval. In other cases thebelieving supplicant may at once enter upon the actual enjoyment of whathe has received. It is specially in the former case that we have need offaith and patience: faith to rejoice in the assurance of the answerbestowed and received, and to begin and act upon that answer thoughnothing be felt; patience to wait if there be for the present nosensible proof of its presence. We can count upon it: _Ye shall have_, in actual enjoyment. 

If we apply this to the prayer for the power of faithful intercession, the grace to pray earnestly and perseveringly for souls around us, letus learn to hold fast the Divine assurance that, as surely as we believewe receive, and that faith therefore, apart from all failing, mayrejoice in the certainty of an answered prayer. The more we praise Godfor it, the sooner will the experience come. We may begin at once topray for others, in the confidence that grace will be given us to praymore perseveringly and more believingly than we have done before. If wedo not find any special enlargement or power in prayer, this must nothinder or discourage us. We have accepted, apart from feeling, aspiritual Divine gift by faith; in that faith we are to pray, nothingdoubting. The Holy Spirit may for a little time be hiding Himself withinus; we may count upon Him, even though it be with groanings which cannotfind expression, to pray in us; in due time we shall become conscious ofHis presence and power. As sure as there is desire and prayer and faith, and faith's acceptance of the gift, there will be, too, themanifestation and experience of the blessing we sought. 

Beloved brother! do you truly desire that God should enable you so topray that your life may be free from continual self-condemnation, andthat the power of His Spirit may come down in answer to your petition?Come and _ask it of God_. Kneel down and pray for it in a singledefinite sentence. When you have done so, kneel still in faith, believing in God who answers. Believe that you do now receive what youhave prayed: believe that you have received. If you find it difficult todo this, kneel still, and say that you do it on the strength of His ownword. If it cost time, and struggle, and doubt--fear not; at His feet, looking up into His face, faith will come. "Believe that you havereceived": at His bidding you dare claim the answer. Begin in thatfaith, even though it be feeble, a new prayer-life, with this onethought as its strength: "You have asked and received grace in Christ toprepare you, step by step, to be faithful in prayer and intercession. The more simply you hold to this, and expect the Holy Spirit to work itin you, the more surely and fully will the word be made true to you: Yeshall have it. God Himself who gave the answer will work it in you. "

A PLEA FOR MORE PRAYER

CHAPTER X

The Spirit of Supplication

 "I will pour upon the house of David the Spirit of grace and of supplication. "--ZECH. Xii. 10. 

 "The Spirit also helpeth our infirmity; for we know not how to pray as we ought: but the Spirit Himself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because He maketh intercession for the saints according to God. "--ROM. Viii. 26, 27. 

 "With all prayer and supplication praying at all seasons in the Spirit, and watching thereunto in all perseverance and supplication for all the saints. "--EPH. Vi. 18. 

 "Praying in the Holy Spirit. "--JUDE 20. 

The Holy Spirit has been given to every child of God to be his life. Hedwells in him, not as a separate Being in one part of his nature, but ashis very life. He is the Divine power or energy by which his life ismaintained and strengthened. All that a believer is called to be or todo, the Holy Spirit can and will work in him. If he does not know oryield to the Holy Guest, the Blessed Spirit cannot work, and his life isa sickly one, full of failure and of sin. As he yields, and waits, andobeys the leading of the Spirit, God works in him all that is pleasingin His sight. 

This Holy Spirit is, in the first place, a Spirit of prayer. He waspromised as a "Spirit of grace and supplication, " the grace forsupplication. He was sent forth into our hearts as "the Spirit ofadoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. " He enables us to say, in truefaith and growing apprehension of its meaning, Our Father which art inheaven. "He maketh intercession for the saints according to God. " And aswe pray in the Spirit, our worship is as God seeks it to be, "in spiritand in truth. " Prayer is just the breathing of the Spirit in us; powerin prayer comes from the power of the Spirit in us, waited on andtrusted in. Failure in prayer comes from feebleness of the Spirit's workin us. Our prayer is the index of the measure of the Spirit's work inus. To pray aright, the life of the Spirit must be right in us. Forpraying the effectual, much-availing prayer of the righteous maneverything depends on being full of the Spirit. 

There are three very simple lessons that the believer, who would enjoythe blessing of being taught to pray by the Spirit of prayer, must know. The first is: _Believe that the Spirit dwells in you_ (Eph. I. 13). Deepin the inmost recesses of his being, hidden and unfelt, every child ofGod has the Holy, Mighty Spirit of God dwelling in him. He knows it byfaith, the faith that, accepting God's word, realises that of which hesees as yet no sign. "We receive the promise of the Spirit by faith. " Aslong as we measure our power, for praying aright and perseveringly, bywhat we feel, or think we can accomplish, we shall be discouraged whenwe hear of how much we ought to pray. But when we quietly believe that, in the midst of all our conscious weakness, the Holy Spirit as a Spiritof supplication is dwelling within us, _for the very purpose of enablingus to pray in such manner and measure as God would have us_, our heartswill be filled with hope. We shall be strengthened in the assurancewhich lies at the very root of a happy and fruitful Christian life, that_God has made an abundant provision for our being what He wants us tobe_. We shall begin to lose our sense of burden and fear anddiscouragement about our ever praying sufficiently, because we see thatthe Holy Spirit Himself will pray, is praying, in us. 

The second lesson is: _Beware above everything of grieving the HolySpirit_ (Eph. Iv. 30). If you do, how can He work in you the quiet, trustful, and blessed sense of that union with Christ which makes yourprayers well pleasing to the Father? Beware of grieving Him by sin, byunbelief, by selfishness, by unfaithfulness to His voice in conscience. Do not think grieving Him a necessity: that cuts away the very sinews ofyour strength. Do not consider it impossible to obey the command, "Grieve not the Holy Spirit. " He Himself is the very power of God tomake you obedient. The sin that comes up in you against your will, thetendency to sloth, or pride, or self-will, or passion that rises in theflesh, your will can, in the power of the Spirit, at once reject, andcast upon Christ and His blood, and your communion with God isimmediately restored. Accept each day the Holy Spirit as your Leader andLife and Strength; you can count upon Him to do in your heart all thatought to be done there. He, the Unseen and Unfelt One, but known byfaith, gives there, unseen and unfelt, the love and the faith and thepower of obedience you need, because He reveals Christ unseen withinyou, as actually your Life and Strength. Grieve not the Holy Spirit bydistrusting Him, because you do not feel His presence in you. 

Especially in the matter of prayer grieve Him not. Do not expect, whenyou trust Christ to bring you into a new, healthy prayer-life, that youwill be able all at once to pray as easily and powerfully and joyfullyas you fain would. No; it may not come at once. But just bow quietlybefore God in your ignorance and weakness. That is the best and truestprayer, to put yourself before God just as you are, and to count on thehidden Spirit praying in you. "We know not what to pray as we ought";ignorance, difficulty, struggle, marks our prayer all along. But, "theSpirit helpeth our infirmities. " How? "The Spirit Himself, " deeper downthan our thoughts or feelings, "maketh intercession for us withgroanings which cannot be uttered. " When you cannot find words, whenyour words appear cold and feeble, just believe: The Holy Spirit ispraying in me. Be quiet before God, and give Him time and opportunity;in due season you will learn to pray. Beware of grieving the Spirit ofprayer, by not honouring Him in patient, trustful surrender to Hisintercession in you. 

The third lesson: "_Be filled with the Spirit_" (Eph. V. 18). I thinkthat we have seen the meaning of the great truth: It is only the healthyspiritual life that can pray aright. The command comes to each of us:"Be filled with the Spirit. " That implies that while some rest contentwith the beginning, with a small measure of the Spirit's working, it isGod's will that we should be filled with the Spirit. That means, fromour side, that our whole being ought to be entirely yielded up to theHoly Spirit, to be possessed and controlled by Him alone. And, fromGod's side, that we may count upon and expect the Holy Spirit to takepossession and fill us. Has not our failure in prayer evidently beenowing to our not having accepted the Spirit of prayer to be our life; toour not having yielded wholly to Him, whom the Father gave as the Spiritof His Son, to work the life of the Son in us? Let us, to say the veryleast, be willing to receive Him, to yield ourselves to God and trustHim for it. Let us not again wilfully grieve the Holy Spirit bydeclining, by neglecting, by hesitating to seek to have Him as fully asHe is willing to give Himself to us. If we have at all seen that prayeris the great need of our work and of the Church, if we have at alldesired or resolved to pray more, let us turn to the very source of allpower and blessing--let us believe that the Spirit of prayer, even inHis fulness, is for us. 

We all admit the place the Father and the Son have in our prayer. It isto the Father we pray, and from whom we expect the answer. It is in themerit, and name, and life of the Son, abiding in Him and He in us, thatwe trust to be heard. But have we understood that in the Holy Trinityall the Three Persons have an equal place in prayer, and that the faithin the Holy Spirit of intercession as praying in us is as indispensableas the faith in the Father and the Son? How clearly we have this in thewords, "Through Christ we have access by one Spirit to the Father. " Asmuch as prayer must be _to_ the Father, and _through_ the Son, it mustbe _by_ the Spirit. And the Spirit can pray in no other way in us, thanas He lives in us. It is only as we give ourselves to the Spirit livingand praying in us, that the glory of the prayer-hearing God, and theever-blessed and most effectual mediation of the Son, can be known by usin their power. (Note D. )

Our last lesson: _Pray in the Spirit for all saints_ (Eph. Vi. 18). TheSpirit, who is called "the Spirit of supplication, " is also and veryspecially the Spirit of intercession. It is said of Him, "the SpiritHimself maketh intercession for us with groanings that cannot beuttered. " "He maketh intercession for the saints. " It is the same wordas is used of Christ, "who also maketh intercession for us. " The thoughtis essentially that of mediation--one pleading for another. When theSpirit of intercession takes full possession of us, all selfishness, asif we wanted Him separate from His intercession for others, and have Himfor ourselves alone, is banished, and we begin to avail ourselves of ourwonderful privilege to plead for men. We long to live the Christ-life ofself-consuming sacrifice for others, as our heart unceasingly yieldsitself to God to obtain His blessing for those around us. Intercessionthen becomes, not an incident or an occasional part of our prayers, buttheir one great object. Prayer for ourselves then takes its true place, simply as a means for fitting us better for exercising our ministry ofintercession more effectually. 

May I be allowed to speak a very personal word to each of my readers? Ihave humbly besought God to give me what I may give them--Divine lightand help truly to forsake the life of failure in prayer, and to enter, even now, and at once, upon the life of intercession which the HolySpirit can enable them to lead. It can be done by a simple act of faith, claiming the fulness of the Spirit, that is, the full measure of theSpirit which you are capable in God's sight of receiving, and He istherefore willing to bestow. Will you not, even now, accept of this byfaith?

Let me remind you of what takes place at conversion. Most of us, youprobably too, for a time sought peace in efforts and struggles to giveup sin and please God. But you did not find it thus. The peace of God'spardon came by faith, trusting God's word concerning Christ and Hissalvation. You had heard of Christ as the gift of His love, you knewthat He was for you too, you had felt the movings and drawings of Hisgrace; but never till in faith in God's word you accepted Him as God'sgift to you, did you know the peace and joy that He can give. Believingin Him and His saving love made all the difference, and changed yourrelation from one who had ever grieved Him, to one who loved and servedHim. And yet, after a time, you have a thousand times wondered you loveand serve Him so ill. 

At the time of your conversion you knew little about the Holy Spirit. Later on you heard of His dwelling in you, and His being the power ofGod in you for all the Father intends you to be, and yet His indwellingand inworking have been something vague and indefinite, and hardly asource of joy or strength. At conversion you did not yet know your needof Him, and still less what you might expect of Him. But your failureshave taught it you. And now you begin to see how you have been grievingHim, by not trusting and not following Him, by not allowing Him to workin you all God's pleasure. 

All this can be changed. Just as you, after seeking Christ, and prayingto Him, and trying without success to serve Him, found rest in acceptingHim by faith, just so you may even now yield yourself to the fullguidance of the Holy Spirit, and claim and accept Him to work in youwhat God would have. Will you not do it? Just accept Him in faith asChrist's gift, to be the Spirit of your whole life, of your prayer-lifetoo, and you can count upon Him to take charge. You can then begin, however feeble you feel, and unable to pray aright, to bow before God insilence, with the assurance that He will teach you to pray. 

My dear brother, as you consciously by faith accepted Christ, to pardon, you can consciously now in the like faith accept of Christ who gives theHoly Spirit to do His work in you. "Christ redeemed us that we mightreceive the promise of the Spirit by faith. " Kneel down, and simplybelieve that the Lord Christ, who baptizeth with the Holy Spirit, doesnow, in response to your faith, begin in you the blessed life of a fullexperience of the power of the indwelling Spirit. Depend mostconfidently upon Him, apart from all feeling or experience, as theSpirit of supplication and intercession to do His work. Renew that actof faith each morning, each time you pray; trust Him, against allappearances, to work in you, --be sure He is working, --and He will giveyou to know what the joy of the Holy Spirit is as the power of yourlife. 

"I will pour out the Spirit of supplication. " Do you not begin to seethat the mystery of prayer is the mystery of the Divine indwelling. Godin heaven gives His Spirit in our hearts to be there the Divine powerpraying in us, and drawing us upward to our God. God is a Spirit, andnothing but a like life and Spirit within us can hold communion withHim. It was for this man was created, that God might dwell and work inHim, and be the life of his life. It was this Divine indwelling that sinlost. It was this that Christ came to exhibit in His life, to win backfor us in His death, and then to impart to us by coming again fromheaven in the Spirit to live in His disciples. It is this, theindwelling of God through the Spirit, that alone can explain and enableus to appropriate the wonderful promises given to prayer. God gives theSpirit as a Spirit of Supplication, too, to maintain His Divine lifewithin us as a life out of which prayer ever rises upward. 

Without the Holy Spirit no man can call Jesus Lord, or cry, Abba, Father; no man can worship in spirit and truth, or pray without ceasing. The Holy Spirit is given the believer to be and do in him all that Godwants him to be or do. He is given him especially as the Spirit ofprayer and supplication. Is it not clear that everything in prayerdepends upon our trusting the Holy Spirit to do His work in us; yieldingourselves to His leading, depending only and wholly on Him?

We read, "Stephen was a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit. " The twoever go together, in exact proportion to each other. As our faith seesand trusts the Spirit in us to pray, and waits on Him, He will do Hiswork; and it is the longing desire, and the earnest supplication, andthe definite faith the Father seeks. Do let us know Him, and in thefaith of Christ who unceasingly gives Him, cultivate the assuredconfidence, we can learn to pray as the Father would have us. 

A PLEA FOR MORE PRAYER

CHAPTER XI

In the Name of Christ

 "Whatsoever ye shall ask _in My Name_, that will I do. If ye shall ask anything _in My Name_, I will do it. I have appointed you, that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father _in My Name_, He may give it you. Verily, verily I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall ask the Father _in My Name_, He will give it you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing _in My Name_; ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. At that day ye shall ask _in My Name_. "--JOHN xiv. 13, 14, xv. 16, xvi. 23, 24, 26. 

In my name--repeated six times over. Our Lord knew how slow our heartswould be to take it in, and He so longed that we should really believethat His Name is the power in which every knee should bow, and in whichevery prayer could be heard, that He did not weary of saying it over andover: _In My Name!_ Between the wonderful _whatsoever ye shall ask_, andthe Divine _I will do it, the Father will give it_, this one word isthe simple link: _In My Name. _ Our asking and the Father's giving are tobe equally in the Name of Christ. Everything in prayer depends upon ourapprehending this--_In My Name. _

We know what a name is: a word by which we call up to our mind the wholebeing and nature of an object. When I speak of a lamb or a lion, thename at once suggests the different nature peculiar to each. The Name ofGod is meant to express His whole Divine nature and glory. And so theName of Christ means His whole nature, His person and work, Hisdisposition and Spirit. To ask in the Name of Christ is to pray in unionwith Him. When first a sinner believes in Christ, he only knows andthinks of His merit and intercession. And to the very end that is theone foundation of our confidence. And yet, as the believer grows ingrace and enters more deeply and truly into union with Christ--that is, as he abides in Him--he learns that to pray in the Name of Christ alsomeans in His Spirit, and in the possession of His nature, as the HolySpirit imparts it to us. As we grasp the meaning of the words, "_At thatday_ ye shall ask in My Name"--the day when in the Holy Spirit Christcame to live in His disciples--we shall no longer be staggered at thegreatness of the promise: "_Whatsoever_ ye shall ask in My Name, I willdo it. " We shall get some insight into the unchangeable necessity andcertainty of the law: what is asked in the Name of Christ, in union withHim, out of His nature and Spirit, must be given. As Christ'sprayer-nature lives in us, His prayer-power becomes ours too. Not thatthe measure of our attainment or experience is the ground of ourconfidence, but the honesty and whole-heartedness of our surrender toall that we see that Christ seeks to be in us, will be the measure ofour spiritual fitness and power to pray in His Name. "If ye abide inMe, " He says, "ye shall ask what ye will. " As we live in Him, we get thespiritual power to avail ourselves of His Name. As the branch whollygiven up to the life and service of the Vine can count upon all its sapand strength for its fruit, so the believer, who in faith has acceptedthe fulness of the Spirit to possess his whole life, can indeed availhimself of all the power of Christ's Name. 

Here on earth Christ as man came to reveal what prayer is. To pray inthe Name of Christ we must pray as He prayed on earth; as He taught usto pray; in union with Him, as He now prays in heaven. We must in lovestudy, and in faith accept, Him as our Example, our Teacher, ourIntercessor. 

CHRIST OUR EXAMPLE. 

Prayer in Christ on earth and in us cannot be two different things. Justas there is but one God, who is a Spirit, who hears prayer, there is butone spirit of acceptable prayer. When we realise what time Christ spentin prayer, and how the great events of His life were all connected withspecial prayer, we learn the necessity of absolute dependence on andunceasing direct communication with the heavenly world, if we are tolive a heavenly life, or to exercise heavenly power around us. We seehow foolish and fruitless the attempt must be to do work for God andheaven, without in the first place in prayer getting the life and thepower of heaven to possess us. Unless this truth lives in us, we cannotavail ourselves aright of the mighty power of the Name of Christ. Hisexample must teach us the meaning of His Name. 

Of His baptism we read, "Jesus having been baptized, _and praying_, theheaven was opened. " It was in prayer heaven was opened to Him, thatheaven came down to Him with the Spirit and the voice of the Father. Inthe power of these He was led into the wilderness, in fasting and prayerto have them tested and fully appropriated. Early in His ministry Markrecords (i. 35), "And in the morning, a great while before day, He roseand departed into a desert place, _and there prayed_. " And somewhatlater Luke tells (v. 16), "Multitudes came together to hear and to behealed. _But He withdrew Himself into the desert, and prayed. _" He knewhow the holiest service, preaching and healing, can exhaust the spirit;how too much intercourse with men could cloud the fellowship with God;how time, time, full time, is needed if the spirit is to rest and rootin Him; how no pressure of duty among men can free from the absoluteneed of much prayer. If anyone could have been satisfied with alwaysliving and working in the spirit of prayer, it would have been ourMaster. But He could not; He needed to have His supplies replenished bycontinual and long-continued seasons of prayer. To use Christ's Name inprayer surely includes this, to follow His example and to pray as Hedid. 

Of the night before choosing His apostles we read (Luke vi. 12), "Hewent out into the mountain _to pray, and continued all night in prayerto God_. " The first step towards the constitution of the Church, and theseparation of men to be His witnesses and successors, called Him tospecial long-continued prayer. All had to be done according to thepattern on the mount. "The Son can do nothing of Himself: the Fathershoweth Him all things that Himself doeth. " It was in the night ofprayer it was shown Him. 

In the night between the feeding of the five thousand, when Jesus knewthat they wanted to take Him by force and make Him King, and the walkingon the sea, "He withdrew again into the mountain, Himself alone, _topray_" (Matt. Xiv. 23; Mark vi. 46; John vi. 15). It was God's will Hewas come to do, and God's power He was to show forth. He had it not as apossession of His own; it had to be prayed for and received from above. The first announcement of His approaching death, after He had elicitedfrom Peter the confession that He was the Christ, is introduced by thewords (Luke ix. 15), "And it came to pass that _He was praying alone_. "The introduction to the story of the Transfiguration is (Luke ix. 28), "He went up into the mountain _to pray_. " The request of the disciples, "Lord, teach us to pray" (Luke xi. 1), follows on, "It came to pass _asHe was praying_ in a certain place. " In His own personal life, in Hisintercourse with the Father, in all He is and does for men, the Christwhose name we are to use is a Man of prayer. It is prayer gives Him Hispower of blessing, and transfigures His very body with the glory ofheaven. It is His own prayer-life makes Him the teacher of others how topray. How much more must it be prayer, prayer alone, much prayer, thatcan fit us to share His glory of a transfigured life, or make us thechannel of heavenly blessing and teaching to others. To pray in the Nameof Christ is to pray as He prays. 

As the end approaches, it is still more prayer. When the Greeks asked tosee Him, and He spoke of His approaching death, He prayed. At Lazarus'grave He prayed. In the last night He prayed His prayer as ourHigh-Priest, that we might know what His sacrifice would win, and whatHis everlasting intercession on the throne would be. In Gethsemane Heprayed His prayer as Victim, the Lamb giving itself to the slaughter. Onthe Cross it is still all prayer--the prayer of compassion for Hismurderers; the prayer of atoning suffering in the thick darkness; theprayer in death of confiding resignation of His spirit to the Father. (Note E. )

Christ's life and work, His suffering and death--it was all prayer, alldependence on God, trust in God, receiving from God, surrender to God. Thy redemption, O believer, is a redemption wrought out by prayer andintercession: thy Christ is a praying Christ: the life He lived forthee, the life He lives in thee, is a praying life, that delights towait on God and receive all from Him. To pray in His Name is to pray asHe prayed. Christ is only our example because He is our Head, ourSaviour, and our Life. In virtue of His Deity and of His Spirit He canlive in us: we can pray in His Name, because we abide in Him and He inus. 

CHRIST OUR TEACHER. 

Christ was what He taught. All His teaching was just the revelation ofhow He lived, and--praise God--of the life He was to live in us. Histeaching of the disciples was first to awaken desire, and so preparethem for what He would by the Holy Spirit be and work in them. Let usbelieve very confidently: all He was in prayer, and all He taught, HeHimself will give. He came to fulfil the law; much more will He fulfilthe gospel in all He taught us, as to what to pray, and how. 

_What to pray. _--It has sometimes been said that direct petitions, ascompared with the exercise of fellowship with God, are but a subordinatepart of prayer, and that "in the prayer of those who pray best and most, they occupy but an inconsiderable place. " If we carefully study all thatour Lord spoke of prayer, we shall see that this is not His teaching. Inthe Lord's Prayer, in the parables on prayer, in the illustration of achild asking bread, of our seeking and knocking, in the central thoughtof the prayer of faith, "Whatsoever ye pray, believe that ye havereceived, " in the oft-repeated "_whatsoever_" of the lastevening--everywhere our Lord urges and encourages us to offer definitepetitions, and to expect definite answers. It is only because we havetoo much confined prayer to our own needs, that it has been thoughtneedful to free it from the appearance of selfishness, by giving thepetitions a subordinate place. If once believers were to awake to theglory of the work of intercession, and to see that in it, and thedefinite pleading for definite gifts on definite spheres and persons, lie our highest fellowship with our glorified Lord, and our only realpower to bless men, it would be seen that there can be no truerfellowship with God than these definite petitions and their answers, bywhich we become the channel of His grace and life to men. Then ourfellowship with the Father is even such as the Son has in Hisintercession. 

_How to pray. _--Our Lord taught us to pray in secret, in simplicity, with the eye on God alone, in humility, in the spirit of forgiving love. But the chief truth He reiterated was ever this: to pray in faith. AndHe defined that faith, not only as a trust in God's goodness or power, but as the definite assurance that we have received the very thing weask. And then, in view of the delay in the answer, He insisted onperseverance and urgency. We must be followers of those "who throughfaith and patience inherit the promises"--the faith that accepts thepromise, and knows it has what it has asked--the patience that obtainsthe promise and inherits the blessing. We shall then learn to understandwhy God, who promises to avenge His elect speedily, bears with them inseeming delay. It is that their faith may be purified from all that isof the flesh, and tested and strengthened to become that spiritual powerthat can do all things--can even cast mountains into the heart of thesea. 

CHRIST AS OUR INTERCESSOR. 

We have gazed on Christ in His prayers; we have listened to His teachingas to how we must pray; to know fully what it is to pray in His Name, wemust know Him too in His heavenly intercession. 

Just think what it means: that all His saving work wrought from heavenis still carried on, just as on earth, in unceasing communication with, and direct intercession to the Father, who worketh all in all, who isAll in All. Every act of grace in Christ has been preceded by, and owesits power to, intercession. God has been honoured and acknowledged asits Author. On the throne of God, Christ's highest fellowship with theFather, and His partnership in His rule of the world, is inintercession. Every blessing that comes down to us from above bears uponit the stamp from God: through Christ's intercession. His intercessionis nothing but the fruit and the glory of His atonement. When He gaveHimself a sacrifice to God for men, He proved that His whole heart hadthe one object: the glory of God, in the salvation of men. In Hisintercession this great purpose is realised: He glorifies the Father byasking and receiving all of Him; He saves men by bestowing what He hasobtained from the Father. Christ's intercession is the Father's glory, His own glory, our glory. 

And now, this Christ, the Intercessor, is our life; He is our Head, andwe are His body; His Spirit and life breathe in us. As in heaven so onearth, intercession is God's chosen, God's only channel of blessing. Letus learn from Christ what glory there is in it; what the way to exercisethis wondrous power; what the part it is to take in work for God. 

_The glory of it. _--By it, beyond anything, we glorify God. By it weglorify Christ. By it we bring blessing to the Church and the world. Byit we obtain our highest nobility--the Godlike power of saving men. 

_The way to it. _--Paul writes, "Walk in love, even as Christ loved us, and gave Himself a sacrifice to God for us. " If we live as Christlived, we will, as He did, give ourselves, for our whole life, to God, to be used by Him for men. When once we have done this, given ourselves, no more to seek anything for ourselves, but for men, and that to God, for Him to use us, and to impart to us what we can bestow on others, intercession will become to us, as it is in Christ in heaven, the greatwork of our life. And if ever the thought comes that the call is toohigh, or the work too great, the faith in Christ, the IntercedingChrist, who lives in us, will give us the victory. We will listen to Himwho said, "The works that I do, shall ye do; and greater works shall yedo. " We shall remember that we are not under the law, with itsimpotence, but under grace with its omnipotence, working all in us. Weshall believe again in Him who said to us, Rise and walk, and gaveus--and we received it--His life as our strength. We shall claim afreshthe fulness of God's Spirit as His sufficient provision for our need, and count Him to be in us the Spirit of Intercession, who makes us onewith Christ in His. Oh! let us only keep our place--giving up ourselves, like Him, in Him, to God for men. 

Then we shall understand the part intercession is to take in God's workthrough us. We shall no longer try to work for God, and ask Him tofollow it with His blessing. We shall do what the friend at midnightdid, what Christ did on earth, and ever does in heaven--we shall firstget from God, and then turn to men to give what He gave us. As withChrist, we shall make our chief work, we shall count no time or troubletoo great, to receive from the Father; giving to men will then be inpower. 

Servants of Christ! children of God! be of good courage. Let no fear offeebleness or poverty make you afraid--ask in the Name of Christ. HisName is Himself, in all His perfection and power. He is the livingChrist, and will Himself make His Name a power in you. Fear not to pleadthe Name; His promise is a threefold cord that cannot be broken:_Whatsoever ye ask--in My Name_--IT SHALL BE DONE UNTO YOU. 

A PLEA FOR MORE PRAYER

CHAPTER XII

My God will hear Me

 "Therefore will the Lord wait, that He may be gracious unto you. Blessed are all they that wait for Him. He will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry; when He shall hear it, He will answer thee. "--ISA. Xxx. 18, 19. 

 "The Lord will hear when _I call_ upon Him. "--PS. Iv. 3. 

 "I have called upon Thee, for Thou _wilt hear me_, O God!"--PS. Xvii. 6. 

 "I will look unto the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God _will hear me_. "--MIC. Vii. 7. 

The power of prayer rests in the faith that God hears it. In more thanone sense this is true. It is this faith that gives a man courage topray. It is this faith that gives him power to prevail with God. Themoment I am assured that God hears _me_ too, I feel drawn to pray and topersevere in prayer. I feel strong to claim and to take in faith theanswer God gives. One great reason of lack of prayer is the want of theliving, joyous assurance: "My God will hear me. " If once God's servantsgot a vision of the living God waiting to grant their request, and tobestow all the heavenly gifts of the Spirit they are in need of, forthemselves or those they are serving, how everything would be set asideto make time and room for this one only power that can ensure heavenlyblessing--the prayer of faith!

When a man can, and does say, in living faith, "My God will hear me!"surely nothing can keep him from prayer. He knows that what he cannot door get done on earth, can and will be done for him from heaven. Let eachone of us bow in stillness before God, and wait on Him to reveal Himselfas the prayer-hearing God. In His presence the wondrous thoughtsgathering round the central truth will unfold themselves to us. 

1. "_My God will hear me. _"--_What a blessed certainty!_--We have God'sword for it in numberless promises. We have thousands of witnesses tothe fact that they have found it true. We have had experience of it inour lives. We have had the Son of God come from heaven with the messagethat if we ask, the Father will give. We have had Himself praying onearth, and being heard. And we have Him in heaven now, sitting at theright hand of God and making intercession for us. God hears prayer--Goddelights to hear prayer. He has allowed His people a thousand times overto be tried, that they might be compelled to cry to Him, and learn toknow Him as the Hearer of Prayer. 

Let us confess with shame how little we have believed this wondroustruth, in the sense of receiving it into our heart, and allowing it topossess and control our whole being. That we accept a truth is notenough; the living God, of whom the truth speaks, must in its light sobe revealed, that our whole life is spent in His presence, with theconsciousness as clear as in a little child towards its earthlyparent--I know for certain my father hears me. 

Beloved child of God! you know by experience how little an intellectualapprehension of truth has profited you. Beseech God to reveal Himself toyou. If you want to live a different prayer-life, bow each time ere youpray in silence to worship this God; to wait till there rests on yousome right sense of His nearness and readiness to answer. So will youbegin to pray with the words, "My God will hear me!"

2. "_My God will hear me. _" _What a wondrous grace!_--Think of God inHis infinite majesty, His altogether incomprehensible glory, Hisunapproachable holiness, sitting on a throne of grace, waiting to begracious, inviting, encouraging you to pray with His promise: "Call uponMe, and I will answer thee. " Think of yourself, in your nothingness andhelplessness as a creature; in your wretchedness and transgressions as asinner; in your feebleness and unworthiness as a saint; and praise theglory of that grace which allows you to say boldly of your prayer foryourself and others, "My God will hear me. " Think of how you are notleft to yourself, and what you can accomplish, in this wonderfulintercourse with God. God has united you with Christ; in Him and HisName you have your confidence; on the throne He prays with you and foryou; on the footstool of the throne you pray with Him and in Him. Hisworth, and the Father's delight in hearing Him, are the measure of yourconfidence, your assurance of being heard. There is more. Think of theHoly Spirit, the Spirit of God's own Son, sent into your heart to cry, Abba, Father, and to be _in you_ a Spirit of Supplication, when you knownot what to pray as you ought. Think, in all your insignificance andunworthiness, of your being as acceptable as Christ Himself. Think inall your ignorance and feebleness, of the Spirit making intercessionaccording to God within you, and cry out, "What wondrous grace! ThroughChrist I have access to the Father, by the Spirit. I can, I do believeit: 'My God will hear me. '"

3. "_My God will hear me. _"--_What a deep mystery!_--There aredifficulties that cannot but at times arise and perplex even the honestheart. There is the question as to God's sovereign, all-wise, all-disposing will. How can our wishes, often so foolish, and our will, often so selfish, overrule or change that perfect will? Were it notbetter to leave all to His disposal, who knows what is best, and lovesto give us the very best? Or how can our prayer change what He hasordained before? Then there is the question as to the need ofpersevering prayer, and long waiting for the answer. If God be InfiniteLove, and delighting more to give than we to receive, where the need forthe pleading and wrestling, the urgency, and the long delay of whichScripture and experience speak? Arising out of this there is stillanother question--that of the multitude of apparently vain andunanswered prayers. How many have pleaded for loved ones, and they dieunsaved. How many cry for years for spiritual blessing, and no answercomes. To think of all this tries our faith, and makes us hesitate as wesay, "My God will hear me. "

Beloved! prayer, in its power with God, and His faithfulness to Hispromise to hear it, is a deep spiritual mystery. To the questions putabove answers can be given that remove some of the difficulty. But, after all, the first and the last that must be said is this: As littleas we can comprehend God can we comprehend this, one of the most blessedof His attributes, that He hears prayer. It is a spiritualmystery--nothing less than the mystery of the Holy Trinity. God hearsbecause we pray in His Son, because the Holy Spirit prays in us. If wehave believed and claimed the life of Christ as our health, and thefulness of the Spirit as our strength, let us not hesitate to believe inthe power of our prayer too. The Holy Spirit can enable us to believeand rejoice in it, even where every question is not yet answered. Hewill do this, as we lay our questionings in God's bosom, trust Hisfaithfulness, and give ourselves humbly to obey His command to praywithout ceasing. Every art unfolds its secrets and its beauty only tothe man who practises it. To the humble soul who prays in the obedienceof faith, who practises prayer and intercession diligently, because Godasks it, the secret of the Lord will be revealed, and the thought of thedeep mystery of prayer, instead of being a weary problem, will be asource of rejoicing, adoration, and faith, in which the unceasingrefrain is ever heard: "_My God will hear me!_"

4. "_My God will hear me. _" _What a solemn responsibility!_--How oftenwe complain of darkness, of feebleness, of failure, as if there was nohelp for it. And God has promised in answer to our prayer to supply ourevery need, and give us His light and strength and peace. Would that werealised the responsibility of having such a God, and such promises, with the sin and shame of not availing ourselves of them to the utmost. How confident we should feel that the grace, which we have accepted andtrusted to enable us to pray as we should, will be given. 

There is more. This access to a prayer-hearing God is specially meant tomake us intercessors for our fellowmen. Even as Christ obtained Hisright of prevailing intercession by His giving Himself a sacrifice toGod for men, and through it receives the blessings He dispenses, so, ifwe have truly with Christ given ourselves to God for men, we share Hisright of intercession, and are able to obtain the powers of the heavenlyworld for them too. The power of life and death is in our hands (1 Johnv. 16). In answer to prayer the Spirit can be poured out, souls can beconverted, believers can be established. In prayer the kingdom ofdarkness can be conquered, souls brought out of prison into the libertyof Christ, and the glory of God be revealed. Through prayer, the swordof the Spirit, which is the Word of God, can be wielded in power, and, in public preaching as in private speaking, the most rebellious made tobow at Jesus' feet. 

What a responsibility on the Church to give herself to the work ofintercession! What a responsibility on every minister, missionary, worker, set apart for the saving of souls, to yield himself wholly toact out and prove his faith: "My God will hear me!" And what a call onevery believer, instead of burying and losing this talent, to seek tothe very utmost to use it in prayer and supplication for all saints andfor all men. My God will hear me: The deeper our entrance into the truthof this wondrous power God hath given to men, the more whole-heartedwill be our surrender to the work of intercession. 

5. "_My God will hear me. _" _What a blessed prospect!_--I see it--allthe failures of my past life have been owing to the lack of this faith. My failure, especially in the work of intercession, has had its deepestroot in this--I did not live in the full faith of the blessed assurance, "_My God will hear me!_" Praise God! I begin to see it--I believe it. All can be different. Or, rather, I see Him, I believe Him. "_My Godwill hear me!_" Yes, me, even me! Commonplace and insignificant though Ibe, filling but a very little place, so that I will scarce be missedwhen I go--even I have access to this Infinite God, with the confidencethat He heareth me. One with Christ, led by the Holy Spirit, I dare tosay: "I will pray for others, for I am sure my God will listen to me:'_My God will hear me. _'" What a blessed prospect before me--everyearthly and spiritual anxiety exchanged for the peace of God, who caresfor all and hears prayer. What a blessed prospect in my work--to knowthat even when the answer is long delayed, and there is a call for muchpatient, persevering prayer, the truth remains infallibly sure--"_My Godwill hear me!_"

And what a blessed prospect for Christ's Church if we could but all giveprayer its place, give faith in God its place, or, rather, _give theprayer-hearing God His place_! Is not this the one great thing, those, who in some little measure begin to see the urgent need of prayer, oughtin the first place to pray for. When God, at the first, time after time, poured forth the Spirit on His praying people, He laid down the law forall time: as much of prayer, so much of the Spirit. Let each one who cansay, "_My God will hear me_, " join in the fervent supplication, thatthroughout the Church that truth may be restored to its true place, andthe blessed prospect will be realised: a praying Church endued with thepower of the Holy Ghost. 

6. "_My God will hear me. _" _What a need of Divine teaching!_--We needthis, both to enable us to hold this word in living faith, and to makefull use of it in intercession. It has been said, and it cannot be saidtoo often or too earnestly, that the one thing needful for the Church ofour day is, the power of the Holy Spirit. It is just because this isso, from the Divine side, that we may also say as truly that, from thehuman side, the one thing needful is, more prayer, more believing, persevering prayer. In speaking of lack of the Spirit's power, and thecondition for receiving it, someone used the expression--the block isnot on the perpendicular, but on the horizontal line. It is to be fearedthat it is on both. There is much to be confessed and taken away in usif the Spirit is to work freely. But it is specially on theperpendicular line that the block is--the upward look, and the deepdependence, and the strong crying to God, and the effectual prayer offaith that avails--all this is sadly lacking. And just this is the onething needful. 

Shall we not all set ourselves to learn the lesson which will makeprevailing prayer possible--the lesson of a faith that always sings, "_My God will hear me_"? Simple and elementary as it is, it needspractice and patience, it needs time and heavenly teaching, to learn itaright. Under the impression of a bright thought, or a blessedexperience, it may look as if we knew the lesson perfectly. But everagain the need will recur of making this our first prayer--that God whohears prayer would teach us to believe it, and so to pray aright. If wedesire it we can count upon Him He who delights in hearing prayer andanswering it, He who gave His Son that He might ever pray for us andwith us, and His Holy Spirit to pray in us, we can be sure there is nota prayer that He will hear more certainly than this: that He so revealHimself as the prayer-hearing God, that our whole being may respond, "_My God will hear me. _"

A PLEA FOR MORE PRAYER

CHAPTER XIII

Paul a Pattern of Prayer

 "Go and inquire for one called Saul of Tarsus: for, _behold, he prayeth_. "--ACTS ix. 11. 

 "For this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all long-suffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on Him to life everlasting. "--1 TIM. I. 16. 

God took His own Son, and made Him our Example and our Pattern. Itsometimes is as if the power of Christ's example is lost in the thoughtthat He, in whom is no sin, is not man as we are. Our Lord took Paul, aman of like passions with ourselves, and made him a pattern of what hecould do for one who was the chief of sinners. And Paul, the man who, more than any other, has set his mark on the Church, has ever beenappealed to as a pattern man. In his mastery of Divine truth, and histeaching of it; in his devotion to his Lord, and his self-consuming zealin His service; in his deep experience of the power of the indwellingChrist and the fellowship of his cross; in the sincerity of hishumility, and the simplicity and boldness of his faith; in hismissionary enthusiasm and endurance--in all this, and so much more, "thegrace of our Lord Jesus was exceeding abundant in him. " Christ gave him, and the Church has accepted him, as a pattern of what Christ would have, of what Christ would work. Seven times Paul speaks of believersfollowing him: (1 Cor. Iv. 16), "Wherefore I beseech you, be yefollowers of me"; (xi. 1), "Be ye followers of me, even as I am ofChrist"; Phil, iii. 17, iv. 9; 1 Thess. I. 6; 2 Thess. Iii. 7-9. 

If Paul, as a pattern of prayer, is not as much studied or appealed toas he is in other respects, it is not because he is not in this too asremarkable a proof of what grace can do, or because we do not, in thisrespect, as much stand in need of the help of his example. A study ofPaul as a pattern of prayer will bring a rich reward of instruction andencouragement. The words our Lord used of him at his conversion, "Beholdhe prayeth, " may be taken as the keynote of his life. The heavenlyvision which brought him to his knees ever after ruled his life. Christat the right hand of God, in whom we are blessed with all spiritualblessings, was everything to him; to pray and expect the heavenly powerin his work and on his work, from heaven direct by prayer, was thesimple outcome of his faith in the Glorified One. In this, too, Christmeant him to be a pattern, that we might learn that, just in the measurein which the heavenliness of Christ and His gifts, the unworldliness ofthe powers that work for salvation, are known and believed, will prayerbecome the spontaneous rising of the heart to the only source of itslife. Let us see what we know of Paul. 

PAUL'S HABITS OF PRAYER. 

These are revealed almost unconsciously. He writes (Rom. I. 9), "God ismy witness, that without ceasing I make mention of you _always in myprayers_. For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you somespiritual gift, to the end ye may be established. " Rom. X. 1, ix. 2, 3:"My _heart's desire and prayer to God_ for Israel is, that they may besaved"; "I have great heaviness and _continual sorrow of heart_; for Icould wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren. " 1Cor. I. 4: "I thank my God _always_ on your behalf, for the grace of Godwhich is given you by Jesus Christ. " 2 Cor. Vi. 4, 6: "Approvingourselves as the ministers of Christ, _in watchings_, _in fastings_. "Gal. Iv. 19: "My little children, of whom _I travail in birth again_till Christ be formed in you. " Eph. I. 16: "_I cease not_ to give thanksfor you, making mention of you _in my prayers_. " Eph. Iii. 14: "_I bowmy knees_ to the Father, that He would grant you to be strengthened withmight by His Spirit in the inner man. " Phil. I. 3, 4, 8, 9: "I thank myGod _upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine_making request for you all with joy. For God is my record, how greatly Ilong after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ. And this _Ipray_"--Col. I. 3, 9: "We give thanks to God, _praying always for you_. For this cause also, since the day we heard it, we _do not cease to prayfor you_, and to desire"--Col. Ii. 1: "I would that ye knew what _greatconflict_ I have for you, and for as many as have not seen my face inthe flesh. " 1 Thess. I. 2: "We give thanks to God _always_ for you all, making mention of you _in our prayers_. " iii. 9: "We joy for your sakesbefore God; _night and day praying exceedingly_ that we might perfectthat which is lacking in your faith. " 2 Thess. I. 3: "We are bound tothank God _always_ for you. Wherefore also _we always pray_ for you. " 2Tim. I. 3: "I thank God, that _without ceasing_ I have remembrance ofthee night and day. " Philem. 4: "I thank my God, making mention of thee_always in my prayers_. "

These passages taken together give us the picture of a man whose words, "Pray without ceasing, " were simply the expression of his daily life. Hehad such a sense of the insufficiency of simple conversion; of the needof the grace and the power of heaven being brought down for the youngconverts in prayer; of the need of much and unceasing prayer, day andnight, to bring it down; of the certainty that prayer would bring itdown--that his life was continual and most definite prayer. He had sucha sense that everything must come from above, and such a faith that itwould come in answer to prayer, that prayer was neither a duty nor aburden, but the natural turning of the heart to the only place whence itcould possibly obtain what it sought for others. 

THE CONTENTS OF PAUL'S PRAYERS. 

It is of as much importance to know _what_ Paul prayed, as howfrequently and earnestly he did so. Intercession is a spiritual work. Our confidence in it will depend much on our knowing that we askaccording to the will of God. The more distinctly we ask heavenlythings, which we feel at once God alone can bestow, which we are sure Hewill bestow, the more direct and urgent will our appeal be to God alone. The more impossible the things are that we seek, the more we will turnfrom all human work to prayer and to God alone. 

In the Epistles, in addition to expressions in which he speaks of hispraying, we have a number of distinct prayers in which Paul givesutterance to his heart's desire for those to whom he writes. In these wesee that his first desire was always that they might be "established" inthe Christian life. Much as he praised God when he heard of conversion, he knew how feeble the young converts were, and how for theirestablishing nothing would avail without the grace of the Spirit prayeddown. If we notice some of the principal of these prayers we shall seewhat he asked and obtained. 

Take the two prayers in Ephesians--the one for light, the other forstrength. In the former (i. 15), he prays for the Spirit of wisdom toenlighten them to know what their calling was, what their inheritance, what the mighty power of God working in them. Spiritual enlightenmentand knowledge was their great need, to be obtained for them by prayer. In the latter (iii. 15) he asks that the power they had been led to seein Christ might work in them, and they be strengthened with Divinemight, so as to have the indwelling Christ, and the love that passethknowledge, and the fulness of God actually come on them. These werethings that could only come direct from heaven; these were things heasked and expected. If we want to learn Paul's art of intercession, wemust ask nothing less for believers in our days. 

Look at the prayer in Philippians (i. 9-11). There, too, it is first forspiritual knowledge; then comes a blameless life, and then a fruitfullife to the glory of God. So also in the beautiful prayer in Colossians(i. 9-11). First, spiritual knowledge and understanding of God's will, then the strengthening with all might to all patience and joy. 

Or take the two prayers in 1 Thessalonians (iii. 12, 13, and v. 23). Theone: "God so increase your love to one another, that He may stablishyour _hearts unblameable in holiness_. " The other: "God _sanctify youwholly_, and preserve you blameless. " The very words are so high that wehardly understand, still less believe, still less experience what theymean. Paul so lived in the heavenly world, he was so at home in theholiness and omnipotence of God and His love, that such prayers were thenatural expression of what he knew God could and would do. "God stablishyour hearts unblameable in holiness, " "God sanctify you wholly"--the manwho believes in these things and desires them, will pray for them forothers. The prayers are all a proof that he seeks for them the very lifeof heaven upon earth. No wonder that he is not tempted to trust in anyhuman means, but looks for it from heaven alone. Again, I say, the morewe take Paul's prayers as our pattern, and make his desires our own forbelievers for whom we pray, the more will prayer to the God of heavenbecome as our daily breath. 

PAUL'S REQUESTS FOR PRAYER. 

These are no less instructive than his own prayers for the saints. Theyprove that he does not count prayer any special prerogative of anapostle; he calls the humblest and simplest believer to claim his right. They prove that he does not think that only the new converts or feebleChristians need prayer; he himself is, as a member of the body, dependent upon his brethren and their prayers. After he had preached thegospel for twenty years, he still asks for prayer that he may speak ashe ought to speak. Not once for all, not for a time, but day by day, andthat without ceasing, must grace be sought and brought down from heavenfor his work. United, continued waiting on God is to Paul the only hopeof the Church. With the Holy Spirit a heavenly life, the life of theLord in heaven, entered the world; nothing but unbroken communicationwith heaven can keep it up. 

Listen how he asks for prayer, and with what earnestness--Rom. Xv. 30:"_I beseech you_, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and forthe love of the Spirit, that ye _strive together with me in yourprayers_ to God for me; that I may be delivered from them which do notbelieve in Judæa; and may come unto you with joy by the will of God. "How remarkably both prayers were answered: Rom. Xv. 5, 6, 13. Theremarkable fact that the Roman world-power, which in Pilate with Christ, in Herod with Peter, at Philippi, had proved its antagonism to God'skingdom, all at once becomes Paul's protector, and secures him a safeconvoy to Rome, can only be accounted for by these prayers. 

2 Cor. I. 10, 11: "In whom we trust that He will yet deliver us, _yealso helping together by prayer_ for us. " Eph. Vi. 18, 19: "Prayingalways with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, for all saints;_and for me_ that I may open my mouth boldly, that therein I may speakboldly as I ought to speak. " Phil. I. 19: "I know that this (trouble)shall turn to my salvation, _through your prayer_, and the supply of theSpirit of Jesus Christ. " Col. Iv. 2, 3, 4: "Continue in prayer; withalalso _praying for us_, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ: that I may make it manifest as I oughtto speak. " 1 Thess. V. 25: "Brethren, pray for us. " Philem. 22: "Itrust that through your prayers I shall be given to you. "

We saw how Christ prayed, and taught His disciples to pray. We see howPaul prayed, and taught the churches to pray. As the Master, so theservant calls us to believe and to prove that prayer is the power alikeof the ministry and the Church. Of his faith we have a summary in theseremarkable words concerning something that caused him grief: "This shallturn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the Spiritof Jesus Christ. " As much as he looked to his Lord in heaven did he lookto his brethren on earth, to secure the supply of that Spirit for him. The Spirit from heaven and prayer on earth were to him, as to the twelveafter Pentecost, inseparably linked. We speak often of apostolic zealand devotion and power--may God give us a revival of apostolic prayer. 

Let me once again ask the question: Does the work of intercession takethe place in the Church it ought to have? Is it a thing commonlyunderstood in the Lord's work, that everything depends upon getting fromGod that "supply of the Spirit of Christ" for and in ourselves that cangive our work its real power to bless. This is Christ's Divine order forall work, His own and that of His servants; this is the order Paulfollowed: first come every day, as having nothing, and receive from God"the supply of the Spirit" in intercession--then go and impart what hascome to thee from heaven. 

In all His instructions, our Lord Jesus spake much oftener to Hisdisciples about their praying than their preaching. In the farewelldiscourse, He said little about preaching, but much about the HolySpirit, and their asking whatsoever they would in His Name. If we are toreturn to this life of the first apostles and of Paul, and really acceptthe truth every day--my first work, my only strength is intercession, tosecure the power of God on the souls entrusted to me--we must have thecourage to confess past sin, and to believe that there is deliverance. To break through old habits, to resist the clamour of pressing dutiesthat have always had their way, to make every other call subordinate tothis one, whether others approve or not, will not be easy at first. Butthe men or women who are faithful will not only have a rewardthemselves, but become benefactors to their brethren. "Thou shalt becalled the repairer of the breach, the restorer of paths to dwell in. "

But is it really possible? Can it indeed be that those who have neverbeen able to face, much less to overcome the difficulty, can yet becomemighty in prayer? Tell me, was it really possible for Jacob to becomeIsrael--a prince who prevailed with God? It was. The things that areimpossible with men are possible with God. Have you not in very deedreceived from the Father, as the great fruit of Christ's redemption, theSpirit of supplication, the Spirit of intercession? Just pause and thinkwhat that means. And will you still doubt whether God is able to makeyou "strivers with God, " princes who prevail with Him? Oh, let us banishall fear, and in faith claim the grace for which we have the Holy Spiritdwelling in us, the grace of supplication, the grace of intercession. Let us quietly, perseveringly believe that He lives in us, and willenable us to do our work. Let us in faith not fear to accept and yieldto the great truth that intercession, as it is the great work of theKing on the throne, _is the great work of His servants on earth_. Wehave the Holy Spirit, who brings the Christ-life into our hearts, to fitus for this work. Let us at once begin and stir up the gift within us. As we set aside each day our time for intercession, and count upon theSpirit's enabling power, the confidence will grow that we can, in ourmeasure, follow Paul even as he followed Christ. 

A PLEA FOR MORE PRAYER

CHAPTER XIV

God seeks Intercessors

 "I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night. Ye that are the Lord's remembrancers, keep not silence, and give Him no rest till He make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. "--ISA. Lxii. 6, 7. 

 "And He saw that there was _no man_, and wondered that there was _no intercessor_. "--ISA. Lix. 16. 

 "And I looked, and there was _none to help_; and I wondered, and there was _none to uphold_. "--ISA. Lxiii. 5. 

 "There is _none_ that calleth upon Thy name, that stirreth himself to take hold of Thee. "--ISA. Lxiv. 7. 

 "And I sought for a man that should stand in the gap before Me for the land, that I should not destroy it; but _I found none_. "--EZEK. Xxii. 30. 

 "I chose you, and appointed you, that ye should go and bear fruit: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in My name, He may give it you. "--JOHN xv. 16. 

In the study of the starry heavens, how much depends upon a dueapprehension of magnitudes. Without some sense of the size of theheavenly bodies, that appear so small to the eye, and yet are so great, and of the almost illimitable extent of the regions in which they move, though they appear so near and so familiar, there can be no trueknowledge of the heavenly world or its relation to this earth. It iseven so with the spiritual heavens, and the heavenly life in which weare called to live. It is specially so in the life of intercession, thatmost wondrous intercourse between heaven and earth. Everything dependsupon the due apprehension of magnitudes. 

Just think of the three that come first: There is a world, with itsneeds entirely dependent on and waiting to be helped by intercession;there is a God in heaven, with His all-sufficient supply for all thoseneeds, waiting to be asked; there is a Church, with its wondrous callingand its sure promises, waiting to be roused to a sense of its wondrousresponsibility and power. 

_God seeks intercessors. _--There is a world with its perishing millions, with intercession as its only hope. How much of love and work iscomparatively vain, because there is so little intercession. A thousandmillions living as if there never had been a Son of God to die forthem. Thirty millions every year passing into the outer darkness withouthope. Fifty millions bearing the Christian name, and the great majorityliving in utter ignorance or indifference. Millions of feeble, sicklyChristians; thousands of wearied workers, who could be blessed byintercession, could help themselves to become mighty in intercession. Churches and missions sacrificing life and labour often with littleresult, for lack of intercession. Souls, each one worth more thanworlds, worth nothing less than the price paid for them in Christ'sblood, and within reach of the power that can be won by intercession. Wesurely have no conception of the magnitude of the work to be done byGod's intercessors, or we should cry to God above everything to givefrom heaven the spirit of intercession. 

_God seeks intercessors. _--There is a God of glory able to meet allthese needs. We are told that He delights in mercy, that He waits to begracious, that He longs to pour out His blessing; that the love thatgave the Son to death is the measure of the love that each moment hoversover every human being. And yet He does not help. And there they perish, a million a month in China alone, and it is as if God does not move. IfHe does so love and long to bless, there must be some inscrutable reasonfor His holding back. What can it be? Scripture says, because of yourunbelief. It is the faithlessness and consequent unfaithfulness of God'speople. He has taken them up into partnership with Himself; He hashonoured them, and bound Himself, by making their prayers one of thestandard measures of the working of His power. Lack of intercession isone of the chief causes of lack of blessing. Oh, that we would turn eyeand heart from everything else and fix them upon this God who hearsprayer, until the magnificence of His promises, and His power, and Hispurpose of love overwhelmed us! How our whole life and heart wouldbecome intercession. 

_God seeks intercessors. _--There is a third magnitude to which our eyesmust be opened: the wondrous privilege and power of the intercessors. There is a false humility, which makes a great virtue ofself-depreciation, because it has never seen its utter nothingness. Ifit knew that, it would never apologise for its feebleness, but glory inits utter weakness, as the one condition of Christ's power resting onit. It would judge of itself, its power and influence before God inprayer, as little by what it sees or feels, as we judge of the size ofthe sun or stars by what the eye can see. Faith sees man created inGod's image and likeness to be God's representative in this world andhave dominion over it. Faith sees man redeemed and lifted into unionwith Christ, abiding in Him, identified with Him, and clothed with Hispower in intercession. Faith sees the Holy Spirit dwelling and prayingin the heart, making, in our sighings, intercession according to God. Faith sees the intercession of the saints to be part of the life of theHoly Trinity--the believer as God's child asking of the Father, in theSon, through the Spirit. Faith sees something of the Divine fitness andbeauty of this scheme of salvation through intercession, wakens the soulto a consciousness of its wondrous destiny, and girds it with strengthfor the blessed self-sacrifice it calls to. 

_God seeks intercessors. _--When He called His people out of Egypt, Heseparated the priestly tribe, to draw nigh to Him, and stand before Him, and bless the people in His name. From time to time He sought and foundand honoured intercessors, for whose sake He spared or blessed Hispeople. When our Lord left the earth He said to the inner circle He hadgathered around Him--an inner circle of special devotion to His service, to which access is still free to every disciple: "I chose you, andappointed you, that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in My Name, Hemay give it you. " We have already noticed the six times repeated threewonderful words--_Whatsoever_--_In My Name_--_It shall be done_. In themChrist placed the powers of the heavenly world at their disposal--notfor their own selfish use, but in the interests of His kingdom. Howwondrously they used it we know. And since that time, down through theages, these men have had their successors, men who have proved howsurely God works in answer to prayer. And we may praise God that, in ourdays too, there is an ever-increasing number who begin to see and provethat in church and mission, in large societies and little circles andindividual effort, intercession is the chief thing, the power that movesGod and opens heaven. They are learning, and long to learn better, andthat all may learn, that in all work for souls intercession must takethe first place, and that those who in it have received from heaven, inthe power of the Holy Ghost, what they are to communicate to others, will be best able to do the Lord's work. 

_God seeks intercessors. _--Though God had His appointed servants inIsrael, watchmen set by Himself to cry to Him day and night and give Himno rest, He often had to wonder and complain that there was nointercessor, none to stir himself up to take hold of His strength. AndHe still waits and wonders in our day, that there are not moreintercessors, that all His children do not give themselves to thishighest and holiest work, that many of them who do so, do not engage init more intensely and perseveringly. He wonders to find ministers of Hisgospel complaining that their duties do not allow them to find time forthis, which He counts their first, their highest, their most delightful, their alone effective work. He wonders to find His sons and daughters, who have forsaken home and friends for His sake and the gospel's, comeso short in what He meant to be their abiding strength--receiving day byday all they needed to impart to the dark heathen. He wonders to findmultitudes of His children who have hardly any conception of whatintercession is. He wonders to find multitudes more who have learnedthat it is their duty, and seek to obey it, but confess that they knowbut little of taking hold upon God or prevailing with Him. 

_God seeks intercessors. _--He longs to dispense larger blessings. Helongs to reveal His power and glory as God, His saving love, moreabundantly. He seeks intercessors in larger number, in greater power, toprepare the way of the Lord. He seeks them. Where could He seek them butin His Church? And how does He expect to find them? He intrusted to HisChurch the task of telling of their Lord's need, the task of encouragingand training, and preparing them for His holy service. And He ever comesagain, seeking fruit, seeking intercessors. In His Word He has spoken ofthe "widows indeed, who trust in God, and continue in supplication nightand day. " He looks if the Church is training the great army of aged menand women, whose time of outward work is past, but who can strengthenthe army of the "elect, who cry to Him day and night. " He looks to thegreat host of the Christian Endeavour, the three or four million ofyoung lives that have given themselves away in the solemn pledge, "Ipromise the Lord Jesus Christ that I will strive to do whatever Hewould like to have me do, " and wonders how many are being trained topass from the brightness of the weekly prayer-meeting and its confessionof loyalty, to swell the secret intercession that is to save souls. Helooks to the thousands of young men and young women in training for thework of ministry and mission, and gazes longingly to see if the Churchis teaching them that intercession, power with God, must be their firstcare, and in seeking to train and help them to it. He looks to seewhether ministers and missionaries are understanding their opportunity, and labouring to train the believers of their congregation into thosewho can "help together" by their prayer, and can "strive with them intheir prayers. " As Christ seeks the lost sheep until He find it, Godsseeks intercessors. (Note F. )

_God seeks intercessors. _--He will not, He cannot, take the work out ofthe hands of His Church. And so He comes, calling and pleading in manyways. Now by a man whom He raises up to live a life of faith in Hisservice, and to prove how actually and abundantly He answers prayer. Then by the story of a church which makes prayer for souls itsstarting-point, and bears testimony to God's faithfulness. Sometimes ina mission which proves how special prayer can meet special need, andbring down the power of the Spirit. And sometimes again by a season ofrevival coming in answer to united urgent supplication. In these andmany other ways God is showing us what intercession can do, andbeseeching us to waken up and train His great host to be, every one, apeople of intercessors. 

_God seeks intercessors. _--He sends His servants out to call them. Letministers make this a part of their duty. Let them make their church atraining school of intercession. Give the people definite objects forprayer. Encourage them to take a definite time to it, if it were onlyten minutes every day. Help them to understand the boldness they may usewith God. Teach them to expect and look out for answers. Show them whatit is first to pray and get an answer in secret, and then carry theanswer and impart the blessing. Tell everyone who is master of his owntime that he is as the angels, free to tarry before the throne and thengo out and minister to the heirs of salvation. Sound out the blessedtidings that this honour is for all God's people. There is nodifference. That servant girl, this day labourer, that bedriddeninvalid, this daughter in her mother's home, these men and young men inbusiness--all are called, all, all are needed. God seeks intercessors. 

_God seeks intercessors. _--As ministers take up the work of finding andtraining them it will urge themselves to pray more. Christ gave Paul tobe a pattern of His grace before He made him a preacher of it. It hasbeen well said, "The first duty of a clergyman is humbly to beg of Godthat all he would have done in his people may be first truly and fullydone in himself. " The effort to bring this message of God may cause muchheart-searching and humiliation. All the better. The best practice indoing a thing is helping others to do it. O ye servants of Christ, setas watchmen to cry to God day and night, let us awake to our holycalling. Let us believe in the power of intercession. Let us practiseit. Let us seek on behalf of our people to get from God Himself theSpirit and the Life we preach. With our spirit and life given up to Godin intercession, the Spirit and Life that God gives them through uscannot fail to be the Life of Intercession too. 

A PLEA FOR MORE PRAYER

CHAPTER XV

The Coming Revival

 "Wilt Thou not revive us again: that Thy people may rejoice in Thee?"--PS. Lxxxv. 6. 

 "O Lord, revive Thy work in the midst of the years. "--HAB. Iii. 2. 

 "Though I walk in the midst of trouble, Thou wilt revive me: Thy right hand shall save me. "--PS. Cxxxviii. 7. 

 "I dwell with him that is of a humble and contrite heart, to revive the heart of the contrite ones. "--ISA. Lvii. 15. 

 "Come, and let us return to the Lord: for He hath torn, and He will heal us. He will revive us. "--HOS. Vi. 1, 2. 

_The Coming Revival_--one frequently hears the word. There are teachersnot a few who see the tokens of its approach, and confidently herald itsspeedy appearance. In the increase of mission interest, in the tidingsof revivals in places where all were dead or cold, in the hosts of ouryoung gathered into Students' and other Associations or ChristianEndeavour Societies, in doors everywhere opened in the Christian and theheathen world, in victories already secured in the fields white unto theharvest, wherever believing, hopeful workers enter, they find theassurance of a time of power and blessing such as we have not known. TheChurch is about to enter on a new era of increasing spirituality andlarger extension. 

There are others who, while admitting the truth of some of these facts, yet fear that the conclusions drawn from them are one-sided andpremature. They see the interest in missions increased, but point out tohow small a circle it is confined, and how utterly out of proportion itis to what it ought to be. To the great majority of Church members, tothe greater part of the Church, it is as yet anything but a lifequestion. They remind us of the power of worldliness and formality, ofthe increase of the money-making and pleasure-loving spirit amongprofessing Christians, to the lack of spirituality in so many, many ofour churches, and the continuing and apparently increasing estrangementof multitudes from God's Day and Word, as proof that the great revivalhas certainly not begun, and is hardly thought of by the most. They saythat they do not see the deep humiliation, the intense desire, thefervent prayer which appear as the forerunners of every true revival. 

There are right-hand and left-hand errors which are equally dangerous. We must seek as much to be kept from the superficial Optimism, whichnever is able to gauge the extent of the evil, as from the hopelessPessimism which can neither praise God for what He has done, nor trustHim for what He is ready to do. The former will lose itself in a happyself-gratulation, as it rejoices in its zeal and diligence and apparentsuccess, and never see the need of confession and great striving inprayer, ere we are prepared to meet and conquer the hosts of darkness. The latter virtually gives over the world to Satan, and almost prays andrejoices to see things get worse, to hasten the coming of Him who is toput all right. May God keep us from either error, and fulfil thepromise, "Thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is theway, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn tothe left. " Let us listen to the lessons suggested by the passages wehave quoted; they may help us to pray the prayer aright: "Revive Thywork, O Lord!"

1. "_Revive Thy work, O Lord!_"--Read again the passages of Scripture, and see how they all contain the one thought: Revival is God's work; Healone can give it; it must come from above. We are frequently in dangerof looking to what God has done and is doing, and to count on that asthe pledge that He will at once do more. And all the time it may be truethat He is blessing us up to the measure of our faith or self-sacrifice, and cannot give larger measure, until there has been a new discovery andconfession of what is hindering Him. Or we may be looking to all thesigns of life and good around us, and congratulating ourselves on allthe organisations and agencies that are being created, while the need ofGod's mighty and direct interposition is not rightly felt, and theentire dependence upon Him not cultivated. Regeneration, the giving ofDivine life, we all acknowledge to be God's act, a miracle of His power. The restoring or reviving of the Divine life, in a soul or a Church, isas much a supernatural work. To have the spiritual discernment that canunderstand the signs of the heavens, and prognosticate the comingrevival, we need to enter deep into God's mind and will as to itsconditions, and the preparedness of those who pray for it or are to beused to bring it about. "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but Herevealeth His secret unto his servants the prophets. " It is God who isto give the revival; it is God who reveals His secret; it is the spiritof absolute dependence upon God, giving Him the honour and the glory, that will prepare for it. 

2. "_Revive Thy work, O Lord!_"--A second lesson suggested is, that therevival God is to give will be given in answer to prayer. It must beasked and received direct from God Himself. Those who know anything ofthe history of revivals will remember how often this has beenproved--both larger and more local revivals have been distinctly tracedto special prayer. In our own day there are numbers of congregations andmissions where special or permanent revivals are--all glory be toGod--connected with systematic, believing prayer. The coming revivalwill be no exception. An extraordinary spirit of prayer, urgingbelievers to much secret and united prayer, pressing them to "labourfervently" in their supplications, will be one of the surest signs ofapproaching showers and floods of blessing. 

Let all who are burdened with the lack of spirituality, with the lowstate of the life of God in believers, listen to the call that comes toall. If there is to be revival, --a mighty, Divine revival, --it willneed, on our part, corresponding whole-heartedness in prayer and faith. Let not one believer think himself too weak to help, or imagine that hewill not be missed. If he first begin, the gift that is in him may be sostirred that, for his circle or neighbourhood, he shall be God's chosenintercessor. Let us think of the need of souls, of all the sins andfailings among God's people, of the little power there is in so much ofthe preaching, and begin to cry every day, "Wilt Thou not revive usagain, that Thy people may rejoice in Thee?" And let us have the truthgraven deep in our hearts: every revival comes, as Pentecost came, asthe fruit of united, continued prayer. The coming revival must beginwith a great prayer revival. It is in the closet, with the door shut, that the sound of abundance of rain will be first heard. An increase ofsecret prayer with ministers and members, will be the sure harbinger ofblessing. 

3. "_Revive Thy work, O Lord!_"--A third lesson our texts teach is thatit is to the humble and contrite that the revival is promised. We wantthe revival to come upon the proud and the self-satisfied, to break themdown and save them. God will give this, but only on the condition thatthose who see and feel the sin of others take their burden of confessionand bear it, and that all who pray for and claim in faith God's revivingpower for His Church, shall humble themselves with the confession of itssins. The need of revival always points to previous decline; and declinewas always caused by sin. Humiliation and contrition have ever been theconditions of revival. In all intercession confession of man's sin andGod's righteous judgment is ever an essential element. 

Throughout the history of Israel we continually see this. It comes outin the reformations under the pious Kings of Judah. We hear it in theprayer of men like Ezra and Nehemiah and Daniel. In Isaiah and Jeremiahand Ezekiel, as well as in the minor prophets, it is the keynote of allthe warning as of all the promise. If there be no humiliation andforsaking of sin there can be no revival or deliverance: "These men haveset up their idols in their hearts. Shall I at all be inquired of bythem?" "To this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of acontrite spirit, and that trembleth at My word. " Amid the most graciouspromises of Divine visitation there is ever this note: "Be ashamed andconfounded for your ways, O House of Israel. "

We find the same in the New Testament. The Sermon on the Mount promisesthe kingdom to the poor and them that mourn. In the Epistles to theCorinthians and Galatians the religion of man, of worldly wisdom andconfidence in the flesh, is exposed and denounced; without its beingconfessed and forsaken, all the promises of grace and the Spirit will bevain. In the Epistles to the seven churches we find five of which He, out of whose mouth goes the sharp, two-edged sword, says, that He hassomething against them. In each of these the keyword of His messageis--not to the unconverted, but to the Church--Repent! All the gloriouspromises which each of these Epistles contain, down to the last one, with its "Open the door and I will come in"; "He that overcometh shallsit with Me on My throne, " are dependent on that one word--Repent!

And if there is to be a revival, not among the unsaved, but in ourchurches, to give a holy, spiritual membership, will not that trumpetsound need to be heard--Repent? Was it only in Israel, in the ministryof kings and prophets, that there was so much evil in God's people to becleansed away? Was it only in the Church of the first century, that Pauland James and our Lord Himself had to speak such sharp words? Or isthere not in the Church of our days an idolatry of money and talent andculture, a worldly spirit, making it unfaithful to its one only Husbandand Lord, a confidence in the flesh which grieves and resists God's HolySpirit? Is there not almost everywhere a confession of the lack ofspirituality and spiritual power? Let all who long for the comingrevival, and seek to hasten it by their prayers, pray this aboveeverything, that the Lord may prepare His prophets to go before Him atHis bidding: "Cry aloud and spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show My people their transgression. " Every deep revival among God'speople must have its roots in a deep sense and confession of sin. Untilthose who would lead the Church in the path of revival bear faithfultestimony against the sins of the Church, it is to feared that it willfind people unprepared. Men would fain have a revival as the outgrowthof their agencies and progress. God's way is the opposite: it is out ofdeath, acknowledged as the desert of sin, confessed as utterhelplessness, that He revives. He revives the heart of the contrite one. 

4. "_Revive Thy work, O Lord!_"--There is a last thought, suggested bythe text from Hosea. It is as we return to _the Lord_ that revival willcome; for if we had not wandered from Him, His life would be among us inpower. "Come and let us return to the Lord: for He hath torn, He willheal us: He hath smitten; He will bind us up: _He will revive us_, andwe shall live in His sight. " As we have said, there can be no return tothe Lord, where there is no sense or confession of wandering. _Let usreturn to the Lord_ must be the keynote of the revival. Let us return, acknowledging and forsaking whatever there has been in the Church thatis not entirely according to His mind and spirit. Let us return, yielding up and casting out whatever there has been in our religion oralong with it of the power of God's two great enemies--confidence in theflesh or the spirit of the world. Let us return, in the acknowledgmentof how undividedly God must have us, to fill us with His Spirit, and useus for the kingdom of His Son. Oh, let us return, in the surrender of adependence and a devotion which has no measure but the absolute claim ofHim who is the Lord! Let us return to the Lord with our whole heart, that He may make and keep us wholly His. He will revive us, and we shalllive in His sight. Let us turn to the God of Pentecost, as Christ ledhis disciples to turn to Him, and the God of Pentecost will turn to us. 

It is for this returning to the Lord that the great work of intercessionis needed. It is here the coming revival must find its strength. Let usbegin as individuals in secret to plead with God, confessing whatever wesee of sin or hindrance, in ourselves or others. If there were not oneother sin, surely in the lack of prayer there is matter enough forrepentance and confession and returning to the Lord. Let us seek tofoster the spirit of confession and supplication and intercession inthose around us. Let us help to encourage and to train those who thinkthemselves too feeble. Let us lift up our voice to proclaim the greattruths. The revival must come from above; the revival must be receivedin faith from above and brought down by prayer; the revival comes to thehumble and contrite, for them to carry to others; if we return to theLord with our whole heart, He will revive us. On those who see thesetruths, rests the solemn responsibility of giving themselves up towitness for them and to act them out. 

And as each of us pleads for the revival throughout the Church, let usspecially, at the same time, cry to God for our own neighbourhood orsphere of work. Let, with every minister and worker, there be "greatsearchings of heart, " as to whether they are ready to give suchproportion of time and strength to prayer as God would have. Let them, even as in public they are leaders of their larger or smaller circles, give themselves in secret to take their places in the front rank of thegreat intercession host, that must prevail with God, ere the greatrevival, the floods of blessing can come. Of all who speak or think of, or long for, revival, let not one hold back in this great work ofhonest, earnest, definite pleading: Revive Thy work, O Lord! Wilt Thounot revive us again?

Come and let us return to the Lord: He will revive us! And let us know, let us follow on to know the Lord. "_His going forth_ is sure as themorning; and _He shall come unto us_ as the rain, as the latter rainthat watereth the earth. " Amen. So be it. 

NOTES

NOTE A, Chap. VI. P. 73

Just this day I have been meeting a very earnest lady missionary fromIndia. She confesses and mourns the lack of prayer. But--in India atleast--it can hardly be otherwise. You have only the morning hours, fromsix to eleven, for your work. Some have attempted to rise at four, andget the time they think they need, and have suffered, and had to give itup. Some have tried to take time after lunch, and been found asleep ontheir knees. You are not your own master, and must act with others. Noone who has not been in India can understand the difficulty; sufficienttime for much intercession cannot be secured. 

Were it only in the heat of India the difficulty existed, one might besilent. But, alas! in the coldest winter in London, and in the moderateclimate of South Africa, there is the same trouble everywhere. If oncewe really felt--_intercession is the most important part of our work_, the securing of God's presence and power in full measure is theessential thing, this is our first duty--our hours of work would all bemade subordinate to this one thing. 

May God show us all whether there indeed be an insuperable difficultyfor which we are not responsible, whether it be only a mistake we aremaking, or a sin by which we are grieving Him and hindering His Spirit!

If we ask the question George Muller once asked of a Christian, whocomplained that he could not find time sufficient for the study of theWord and prayer, whether an hour less work, say four hours, with thesoul dwelling in the full light of God, would not be more prosperousand effective than five hours with the depressing consciousness ofunfaithfulness, and the loss of the power that could be obtained inprayer, the answer will not be difficult. The more we think of it themore we feel that when earnest, godly workers allow, against theirbetter will, the spiritual to be crowded out by incessant occupation andthe fatigue it brings, it must be because the spiritual life is notsufficiently strong in them to bid the lever stand aside till thepresence of God in Christ and the power of the Spirit have been fullysecured. 

Let us listen to Christ saying, "_Render unto Cæsar the things that areCæsar's_"--let duty and work have their place--"and unto God the thingsthat are God's. " Let the worship in the Spirit, the entire dependenceand continued waiting upon God for the full experience of His presenceand power every day, and the strength of Christ working in us, ever havethe first place. The whole question is simply this, Is God to have theplace, the love, the trust, the time for personal fellowship He claims, so that all our working shall be God working in us?

NOTE B, Chap. VII. P. 89

Let me tell here a story that occurs in one of Dr. Boardman's works. Hehad been invited by a lady of good position, well known as a successfulworker among her husband's dependents, to come and address them. "Andthen, " she added, "I want to speak to you about a bit of bondage of myown. " When he had addressed her meeting, and found many brought toChrist through her, he wondered what her trouble might be. She soon toldhim. God had blessed her work, but, alas, the enjoyment she once had hadin God's word and secret prayer had been lost. And she had tried herutmost to get it back, and had failed. "Ah! that is just your mistake, "he said. "How that? Ought I not to do my best to have the coldnessremoved?" "Tell me, " he said, "were you saved by doing your best?" "Oh, no! I tried long to do that, but only found rest when I ceased trying, and trusted Christ. " "And that is what you need to do now. Enter yourcloset at the appointed time, however dull you feel, and place yourselfbefore your Lord. Do not try to rouse an earnestness you do not feel;but quietly say to Him that He sees how all is wrong, how helpless youare, and trust Him to bless you. He will do it; as you trust quietly, His Spirit will work. "

The simple story may teach many a Christian a most blessed lesson in thelife of prayer. You have accepted of Christ Jesus to make you whole, andgive you strength to walk in newness of life; you have claimed the HolySpirit to be in you the Spirit of Supplication and Intercession; but donot wonder if your feelings are not all at once changed, or if yourpower of prayer does not come in the way you would like. It is a life offaith. By faith we receive the Holy Spirit and all His workings. Faithregards neither sight nor feeling, but rests, even when there appears tobe no power to pray, in the assurance that the Spirit is praying in usas we bow quietly before God. He that thus waits in faith, and honoursthe Holy Spirit, and yields himself to Him, will soon find that prayerwill begin to come. And he that perseveres in the faith that throughChrist and by the Spirit each prayer, however feeble, is acceptable toGod, will learn the lesson that it is possible to be taught by theSpirit, and led to walk worthy of the Lord to all well pleasing. 

NOTE C, Chap. IX. P. 111

Just yesterday again--three days after the conversation mentioned in thenote to chap. Vii. --I met a devoted young missionary lady from theinterior. As a conversation on prayer was proceeding, she interposedunasked with the remark, "But it is really impossible to find the timeto pray as we wish to. " I could only answer, "Time is a quantity thataccommodates itself to our will; what our hearts really consider of_first importance_ in the day, we will soon succeed in finding timefor. " It must surely be that the ministry of intercession has never beenput before our students in Theological Halls and Missionary TrainingHomes as the most important part of their life-work. We have thought ofour work in preaching or visiting as our real duty, and of prayer as asubordinate means to do this work successfully. Would not the wholeposition be changed if we regarded the ministry of intercession as thechief thing--_getting the blessing and power of God_ for the soulsentrusted to us? Then our work would take its right place, and becomethe subordinate one of really dispensing blessings which we had receivedfrom God. It was when the friend at midnight, in answer to his prayer, had received from Another as much as he needed, that he could supply hishungry friend. It was the intercession, going out and importuning, thatwas the difficult work; returning home with his rich supply to impartwas easy, joyful work. This is Christ's divine order for all thy work, my brother: First come, in utter poverty, every day, and get from Godthe blessing in intercession, go then rejoicingly to impart it. 

NOTE D, Chap. X. P. 123

Let me once again refer my readers to William Law, and repeat what Ihave said before, that no book has so helped me to an insight into theplace and work of the Holy Spirit in the economy of redemption as hisADDRESS TO THE CLERGY. [2]

The way in which he opens up how God's one object was to dwell in man, making him partaker of His goodness and glory, other way than by himselfliving and working in him, gives one the key to what Pentecost and thesending forth of the Spirit of God's Son into our hearts really means. It is Christ in God's name really regaining and retaking possession ofthe home He had created for Himself. It is God entering into the secretdepths of our nature there to "work to will and to do, " to "work thatwhich is pleasing in His sight in Christ Jesus. " It is as this truthenters into us, and we see that there is and can be no good in us butwhat God works, that we shall see light on the Divine mystery of prayer, and believe in the Holy Spirit as breathing within us desires which Godwill fulfil when we yield to them, and believingly present them in thename of Christ. We shall then see that just as wonderful and prevailingas the intercession and prayer passing from the Incarnate Son to theFather in heaven is our intercourse with God; the Spirit, who is God, breathing and praying in us amid all our feebleness His heaven-bornDivine petitions: what a heavenly thing prayer becomes. 

The latter part of the above-mentioned book consists of extracts fromLaw's letters. These have been published separately as a little shillingvolume. [3] No one who will take the time quietly to read and master theso simple but deep teaching they contain, without being wonderfullystrengthened in the confidence which is needed, if we are to pray muchand boldly. As we learn that the Holy Spirit is within us to revealChrist there, to make us in living reality partakers of His death, Hislife, His merit, His disposition, so that He is formed within us, wewill begin to see how Divinely right and sure it is that ourintercessions in His name must be heard; his own Spirit maintains theliving union with Himself, in whom we are brought nigh to God, and givesus boldness of access; what I have so feebly said in the chapter on theSpirit of Supplication will get new meaning; and, what is more, theexercise of prayer a new attractiveness; its solemn Divine mystery willhumble us, its unspeakable privilege lift us up in faith and adoration. 

[2] _The Power of the Spirit: An Address to the Clergy. _ By WILLIAM LAW. With additional Extracts and an Introduction by Rev. A. M. James Nisbet& Co. 2s. 6d. 

[3] _The Divine Indwelling. _ Selections from the Letters of William Law. With Introduction by A. M. James Nisbet & Co. 

NOTE E, Chap. XI. P. 136

There is a question, the deepest of all, on which I have not entered inthis book. I have spoken of the lack of prayer in the individualChristian as a symptom of a disease. But what shall we say of it, thatthere is such a widespread prevalence of this failure to give a dueproportion of time and strength to prayer? Do we not need to inquire, How comes it that the Church of Christ, endued with the Holy Ghost, cannot train its ministers and workers and members to place first whatis first? How comes it that the confession of too little prayer, and thecall for more prayer, is so frequently heard, and yet the evilcontinues? The Spirit of God, the Spirit of Supplication andIntercession, is in the Church and in every believer. There must surelybe some other spirit of great power resisting and hindering this Spiritof God. It is indeed so. The spirit of the world, which under all itsbeautiful and even religious activities is the spirit of the god of thisworld, is the great hindrance. Everything that is done on earth, whetherwithin or without the Church, is done by either of these two spirits. What is in the individual the flesh, is in mankind as a whole the spiritof the world; and all the power the flesh has in the individual is owingto the place given to the spirit of this world in the Church and inChristian life. It is the spirit of the world is the great hindrance tothe spirit of prayer. All our most earnest calls to men to pray morewill be vain except this evil be acknowledged and combated and overcome. The believer and the Church must be entirely freed from the spirit ofthe world. 

And how is this to be done? There is but one way--the Cross of Christ, "by which, " as Paul says, "the world is crucified unto me, and I untothe world. " It is only through death to the world that we can be freedfrom its spirit. The separation must be vital and entire. It is onlythrough the acceptance of our crucifixion with Christ that we can liveout this confession, and, as crucified to the world, maintain theposition of irreconcilable hostility to whatever is of its spirit andnot of the Spirit of God; and it is only God Himself who, by His Divinepower, can lead us into and keep us daily dead to sin, and alive untoGod in Christ Jesus. The cross, with its shame and its separation fromthe world, and its death to all that is of flesh and of self, is theonly power that can conquer the spirit of the world. 

I have felt so strongly that the truth needs to be anew asserted, that Ihope, if it please God, to publish a volume, _The Cross of Christ_, withthe inquiry into what God's word teaches as to our actual participationwith Christ in His crucifixion. Christ prayed on the way to the cross. He prayed Himself to the cross. He prayed on the cross. He prays ever asthe fruit of the cross. As the Church lives on the cross, and the crosslives in the Church, the spirit of prayer will be given. In Christ itwas the crucifixion spirit and death that was the source of theIntercession Spirit and Power. With us it can be no otherwise. 

NOTE F, Chap. XIV. P. 177

I have more than once spoken of the need of training Christians to thework of intercession. In a previous note I have asked the questionwhether, in the teaching of our Theological Halls and Mission TrainingHouses, sufficient attention is given to prayer as the most important, and in some senses the most difficult part of the work for which thestudents are being prepared. I have wondered whether it might not bepossible to offer those who are willing, during their student life, toput themselves under a course of training, some help in the way of hintsand suggestions as to what is needed to give prayer the place and thepower in our ministry it ought to have. 

As a rule, it is in the student life that the character must be formedfor future years, and it is in the present student world that the Churchof the future must be influenced. If God allows me to carry out a planthat is hardly quite mature yet, I would wish to publish a volume, THESTUDENT'S PRAYER MANUAL, combining the teaching of Scripture as to whatis most needed to make men of prayer of us, with such practicaldirections as may help a young Christian, preparing to devote his lifeto God's service successfully, to cultivate such a spirit and habit ofprayer as shall abide with him through all his coming life and labours. 

 PRAY WITHOUT CEASING

 HELPS TO INTERCESSION

 PRAYING ALWAYS WITH ALL PRAYER AND SUPPLICATION IN THE SPIRIT AND WATCHING THEREUNTO WITH ALL PERSEVERANCE AND SUPPLICATION FOR ALL SAINTS AND FOR ME

 I EXHORT THAT FIRST OF ALL SUPPLICATIONS, PRAYERS, INTERCESSIONS GIVING OF THANKS BE MADE FOR ALL MEN FOR KINGS, AND ALL THAT ARE IN AUTHORITY

 PRAY FOR ONE ANOTHER

 _These "Helps" are issued as a separate Tract by Messrs. Nisbet &. Co. , price 2d. _

 _Anyone is at liberty to have the Tract reprinted, with such modifications as may be desired. _

PRAY WITHOUT CEASING

Helps to Intercession

=Pray without Ceasing. =--Who can do this? How can one do it who issurrounded by the cares of daily life?--How can a mother love her childwithout ceasing? How can the eyelid without ceasing hold itself ready toprotect the eye? How can I breathe and feel and hear without ceasing?Because all these are the functions of a healthy, natural life. And so, if the spiritual life be healthy, under the full power of the HolySpirit, praying without ceasing will be natural. 

=Pray without Ceasing. =--Does it refer to continual acts of prayer, inwhich we are to persevere till we obtain, or to the spirit ofprayerfulness that should animate us all the day? It includes both. Theexample of our Lord Jesus shows us this. We have to enter our closet forspecial seasons of prayer; we are at times to persevere there inimportunate prayer. We are also all the day to walk in God's presence, with the whole heart set upon heavenly things. Without set times ofprayer the spirit of prayer will be dull and feeble. Without thecontinual prayerfulness the set times will not avail. 

=Pray without Ceasing. =--Does that refer to prayer for ourselves orothers? To both. It is because many confine it to themselves that theyfail so in practising it. It is only when the branch gives itself tobear fruit, more fruit, much fruit, that it can live a healthy life, andexpect a rich inflow of sap. The death of Christ brought Him to theplace of everlasting intercession. Your death with Him to sin and selfsets you free from the care of self, and elevates you to the dignity ofintercessor--one who can get life and blessing from God for others. Knowyour calling; begin this your work. Give yourself wholly to it, and ereyou know you will be finding something of this "_Praying always_" withinyou. 

=Pray without Ceasing. =--How can I learn it? The best way of learning todo a thing--in fact the only way--is _to do it_. Begin by setting apartsome time every day, say ten or fifteen minutes, in which you say toGod and to yourself, that you come to Him now as intercessor for others. Let it be after your morning or evening prayer, or any other time. Ifyou cannot secure the same time every day, be not troubled. Only seethat you do your work. Christ chose you and appointed you to pray forothers. 

If at first you do not feel any special urgency or faith or power inyour prayers, let not that hinder you. Quietly tell your Lord Jesus ofyour feebleness; believe that the Holy Spirit is in you to teach you topray, and be assured that if you begin, God will help you. God cannothelp you unless you begin and keep on. 

=Pray without Ceasing. =--How do I know what to pray for? If once youbegin, and think of all the needs around you, you will soon find enough. But to help you this little tract is issued, with subjects and hints forprayer for a month. It is meant that we should use it month by month, until we know more fully to follow the Spirit's leading, and havelearnt, if need be, to make our own list of subjects, and can dispensewith it. In regard to the use of these helps a few words may be needed. 

=1. How to Pray. =--You notice for every day two headings--the one =Whatto Pray=; the other, =How to Pray=. If the subjects were only given, onemight fall into the routine of mentioning names and things before God, and the work become a burden. The hints under the heading =How to Pray=are meant to remind of the spiritual nature of the work, of the need ofDivine help, and to encourage faith in the certainty that God, throughthe Spirit, will give us grace to pray aright, and will also hear ourprayer. One does not at once learn to take his place boldly, and to dareto believe that he will be heard. Therefore take a few moments each dayto listen to God's voice reminding you of how certainly even you will beheard, and calling on you to pray in that faith in your Father, to claimand take the blessing you plead for. And let these words about =How toPray= enter your hearts and occupy your thoughts at other times too. Thework of intercession is Christ's great work on earth, intrusted to Himbecause He gave Himself a sacrifice to God for men. The work ofintercession is the greatest work a Christian can do. Give yourself asacrifice to God for men, and the work will become your glory and yourjoy too. 

=2. What to Pray. =--Scripture calls us to pray for many things: for allsaints; for all men; for kings and all rulers; for all who are inadversity; for the sending forth of labourers; for those who labour inthe gospel; for all converts; for believers who have fallen into sin;for one another in our own immediate circles. The Church is now so muchlarger than when the New Testament was written; the number of forms ofwork and workers is so much greater; the needs of the Church and theworld are so much better known, that we need to take time and thought tosee where prayer is needed, and to what our heart is most drawn out. The Scripture calls to prayer demand a large heart, taking in allsaints, and all men, and all needs. An attempt has been made in thesehelps to indicate what the chief subjects are that need prayer, and thatought to interest every Christian. 

It will be felt difficult by many to pray for such large spheres as aresometimes mentioned. Let it be understood that in each case we may makespecial intercession for our own circle of interest coming under thatheading. And it is hardly needful to say, further, that where onesubject appears of more special interest or urgency than another we arefree for a time day after day to take up that subject. If only time bereally given to intercession, and the spirit of believing intercessionbe cultivated, the object is attained. While, on the one hand, the heartmust be enlarged at times to take in all, the more pointed and definiteour prayer can be the better. With this view paper is left blank inwhich we can write down special petitions we desire to urge before God. 

=3. Answers to Prayer. =--More than one little book has been published inwhich Christians may keep a register of their petitions, and note whenthey were answered. Room has been left on every page for this, so thatmore definite petitions with regard to individual souls or specialspheres of work may be recorded, and the answer looked for. When we prayfor all saints, or for missions in general, it is difficult to know whenor how our prayer is answered, or whether our prayer has had any part inbringing the answer. It is of extreme importance that we should provethat God hears us, and to this end take note of what answers we lookfor, and when they come. On the day of praying for all saints, take thesaints in your congregation, or in your prayer-meeting, and ask for arevival among them. Take, in connection with missions, some specialstation or missionary you are interested in, or more than one, and pleadfor blessing. And expect and look for its coming, that you may praiseGod. 

=4. Prayer Circles. =--There is no desire in publishing this invitationto intercession to add another to the many existing prayer unions orpraying bands. The first object is to stir the many Christians whopractically, through ignorance of their calling, or unbelief as to theirprayer availing much, take but very little part in the work ofintercession; and then to help those who do pray to some fullerapprehension of the greatness of the work, and the need of giving theirwhole strength to it. There is a circle of prayer which asks for prayeron the first day of every month for the fuller manifestation of thepower of the Holy Spirit throughout the Church. I have given the wordsof that invitation as subject for the first day, and taken the samethought as keynote all through. The more one thinks of the need and thepromise, and the greatness of the obstacles to be overcome in prayer, the more one feels it must become our life-work day by day, that towhich every other interest is subordinated. 

But while not forming a large prayer union, it is suggested that it maybe found helpful to have small prayer circles to unite in prayer, eitherfor one month, with some special object introduced daily along with theothers, or through a year or longer, with the view of strengthening eachother in the grace of intercession. If a minister were to invite some ofhis neighbouring brethren to join for some special requests along withthe printed subjects for supplication, or a number of the more earnestmembers of his congregation to unite in prayer for revival, some mightbe trained to take their place in the great work of intercession, whonow stand idle because no man hath hired them. 

=5. Who is sufficient for these things?=--The more we study and try topractise this grace of intercession, the more we become overwhelmed byits greatness and our feebleness. Let every such impression lead us tolisten: =My grace is sufficient for thee=, and to answer truthfully:=Our sufficiency is of God=. Take courage; it is in the intercession ofChrist you are called to take part. The burden and the agony, thetriumph and the victory are all His. Learn from Him, yield to His Spiritin you, to know how to pray. He gave Himself a sacrifice to God for men, that He might have the right and power of intercession. "He bare the sinof many, and made intercession for the transgressors. " Let your faithrest boldly on His finished work. Let your heart wholly identify itselfwith Him in His death and His life. =Like Him=, give yourself =to God= asacrifice for men: it is your highest nobility, it is your true and fullunion to Him; it will be to you, as to Him, your power of intercession. Beloved Christian! come and give your whole heart and life tointercession, and you will know its blessedness and its power. God asksnothing less; the world needs nothing less; Christ asks nothing less;let nothing less be what we offer to God. 

FIRST DAY

WHAT TO PRAY. --For the Power of the Holy Spirit

 ="I bow my knees unto the Father, that He would grant you that ye may be strengthened with power through His Spirit. "=--EPH. Iii. 16. 

 ="Wait for the promise of the Father. "=--ACTS i. 4. 

"The fuller manifestation of the grace and energy of the Blessed Spiritof God, in the removal of all that is contrary to God's revealed will, so that we grieve not the Holy Spirit, but that He may work in mightierpower in the Church, for the exaltation of Christ and the blessing ofsouls. "

God has one promise to and through His exalted Son; our Lord has onegift to His Church; the Church has one need; all prayer unites in theone petition--the power of the Holy Spirit. Make it your one prayer. 

HOW TO PRAY. --As a Child asks a Father

 ="If a son ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? How much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?"=--LUKE xi. 11, 13. 

Ask as simply and trustfully as a child asks bread. You can do thisbecause ="God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your heart, crying, Abba, Father. "= This Spirit is in you to give you childlikeconfidence. In the faith of His praying in you, ask for the power ofthat holy Spirit everywhere. Mention places or circles where youspecially ask it to be seen. 

SPECIAL PETITIONS

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

SECOND DAY

WHAT TO PRAY. --For the Spirit of Supplication

 ="The Spirit Himself maketh intercession for us. "=--ROM. Viii. 26. 

 ="I will pour out the Spirit of Supplication. "=--ZECH. Xii. 10. 

"The evangelisation of the world depends first of all upon a revival ofprayer. Deeper than the need for men--ay, deep down at the bottom of ourspiritless life--is the need for the forgotten secret of prevailing, world-wide prayer. "

Every child of God has the Holy Spirit in him to pray. God waits to givethe Spirit in full measure. Ask for yourself, and all who join, theoutpouring of the Spirit of Supplication. Ask it for your own prayercircle. 

HOW TO PRAY. --In the Spirit

 ="With all prayer and supplication, praying at all seasons in the Spirit. "=--EPH. Vi. 18. 

 ="Praying in the Holy Spirit. "=--JUDE 20. 

Our Lord gave His disciples on His resurrection day the Holy Spirit toenable them to wait for the full outpouring on the day of Pentecost. Itis only in the power of the Spirit already in us, acknowledged andyielded to, that we can pray for His fuller manifestation. Say to theFather, it is the Spirit of His Son in you is urging you to plead Hispromise. 

SPECIAL PETITIONS

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

THIRD DAY

WHAT TO PRAY. --For all Saints

 ="With all prayer and supplication praying at all seasons, and watching thereunto in all perseverance and supplication for all saints. "=--EPH. Vi. 18. 

Every member of a body is interested in the welfare of the whole, andexists to help and complete the others. Believers are one body, andought to pray, not so much for the welfare of their own church orsociety, but, first of all, for all saints. This large, unselfish loveis the proof that Christ's Spirit and Love is teaching them to pray. Pray first for all and then for the believers around you. 

HOW TO PRAY. --In the Love of the Spirit

 ="By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another. "=--JOHN xiii. 35. 

 ="I pray that they all may be one, that the world may believe that Thou didst send Me. "=--JOHN xvii. 21. 

 ="I beseech you, brethren, by the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me. "=--ROM. Xv. 30. 

 ="Above all things being fervent in your love among yourselves. "=--1 PET. Iv. 8. 

If we are to pray we must love. Let us say to God we do love all Hissaints; let us say we love specially every child of His we know. Let uspray with fervent love, in the love of the Spirit. 

SPECIAL PETITIONS

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

FOURTH DAY

WHAT TO PRAY, --For the Spirit of Holiness

God is the Holy One. His people is a holy people. He speaks: I am holy:I am the Lord which make you holy. Christ prayed: Sanctify them. Makethem holy through =Thy Truth=. Paul prayed: "God establish your heartsunblamable in holiness. " "God sanctify you wholly!"

Pray for all saints--God's holy ones--throughout the Church, that theSpirit of holiness may rule them. Specially for new converts. For thesaints in your own neighbourhood or congregation. For any you arespecially interested in. Think of their special need, weakness, or sin, and pray that God may make them holy. 

HOW TO PRAY. --Trusting in God's Omnipotence

The things that are impossible with men are possible with God. When wethink of the great things we ask for, of how little likelihood there isof their coming, of our own insignificance. Prayer is not only wishing, or asking, but believing and accepting. Be still before God and ask Himto give you to know Him as the Almighty One, and leave your petitionswith Him who doeth wonders. 

SPECIAL PETITIONS

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

FIFTH DAY

WHAT TO PRAY. --That God's People may be kept from the World

="Holy Father, keep through Thine own name those whom Thou hast givenMe. I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world, but thatThou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, as Iam not of the world. "=--JOHN xvii. 11, 15, 16. 

In the last night Christ asked three things for His disciples: that theymight be kept as those who are not of the world; that they might besanctified; that they might be one in love. You cannot do better thanpray as Jesus prayed. Ask for God's people that they may be keptseparate from the world and its spirit; that they, by the Holy Spirit, may live as those who are not of the world. 

HOW TO PRAY. --Having Confidence before God

="Beloved, if our hearts condemn us not, then have we confidence towardGod. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep Hiscommandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. "=--1JOHN iii. 21, 22. 

Learn these words by heart. Get them into your heart. Join the ranks ofthose who, with John, draw nigh to God with =an assured heart=, that=does not condemn= them, =having confidence toward God=. In this spiritpray for your brother who sins (1 John v. 16). In the quiet confidenceof an obedient child plead for those of your brethren who may be givingway to sin. Pray for all to be kept from the evil. And say often, ="Whatwe ask, we receive, because we keep and do. "=

SPECIAL PETITIONS

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

SIXTH DAY

WHAT TO PRAY. --For the Spirit of Love in the Church

 ="I pray that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them and Thou in Me; that the world may know that Thou didst send Me, and hast loved them as Thou hast loved Me . . . That the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them, and I in them. "=--JOHN xvii. 23. 

 ="The fruit of the Spirit is love. "=--GAL. V. 22. 

Believers are one in Christ, as He is one with the Father. The love ofGod rests on them, and can dwell in them. Pray that the power of theHoly Ghost may so work this love in believers, that the world may seeand know God's love in them. Pray much for this. 

HOW TO PRAY. --As one of God's Remembrancers

 ="I have set watchmen on thy walls, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that are the Lord's remembrancers, keep not silence, and give Him no rest. "=--ISA. Lxii. 6. 

Study these words until your whole soul be filled with theconsciousness, I am appointed intercessor. Enter God's presence in thatfaith. Study the world's need with that thought--it is my work tointercede; the Holy Spirit will teach me for what and how. Let it be anabiding consciousness: My great life-work, like Christ's, isintercession--to pray for believers and those who do not yet know God. 

SPECIAL PETITIONS

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

SEVENTH DAY

WHAT TO PRAY. --For the Power of the Holy Spirit on Ministers

 ="I beseech you that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me. "=--ROM. Xv. 30. 

 ="He will deliver us; ye also helping together by your supplication on our behalf. "=--2 COR. I. 10, 11. 

What a great host of ministers there are in Christ's Church. What needthey have of prayer. What a power they might be, if they were allclothed with the power of the Holy Ghost. Pray definitely for this; longfor it. Think of your own minister, and ask it very specially for him. Connect every thought of the ministry, in your town or neighbourhood orthe world, with the prayer that all may be filled with the Spirit. Pleadfor them the promise, ="Tarry till ye be clothed with power from onhigh. " "Ye shall receive power, when the Holy Ghost is come upon you. "=

HOW TO PRAY. --In Secret

 ="But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy inner chamber, and having shut to thy door, pray to the Father which is in secret. "=--MATT. Vi. 6. 

 ="He withdrew again into the mountain to pray, _Himself alone_. "=--MATT. Xiv. 23; JOHN vi. 15. 

Take time and realise, when you are alone with God: Here am I now, faceto face with God, to intercede for His servants. Do not think you haveno influence, or that your prayer will not be missed. Your prayer andfaith will make a difference. Cry in secret to God for His ministers. 

SPECIAL PETITIONS

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

EIGHTH DAY

WHAT TO PRAY. --For the Spirit on all Christian Workers

 ="Ye also helping together on our behalf; that for the gift bestowed upon us by means of many, thanks may be given by many on our behalf. "=--2 COR. I. 11. 

What multitudes of workers in connection with our churches and missions, our railways and postmen, our soldiers and sailors, our young men andyoung women, our fallen men and women, our poor and sick. God be praisedfor this! What could they accomplish if each were living in the fulnessof the Holy Spirit? Pray for them; it makes you a partner in their work, and you will praise God each time you hear of blessing anywhere. 

HOW TO PRAY. --With definite Petitions

 ="What wilt thou that I should do unto thee?"=--LUKE xviii. 41. 

The Lord knew what the man wanted, and yet He asked him. The utteranceof our wish gives point to the transaction in which we are engaged withGod, and so awakens faith and expectation. Be very definite in yourpetitions, so as to know what answer you may look for. Just think of thegreat host of workers, and ask and expect God definitely to bless themin answer to the prayers of His people. Then ask still more definitelyfor workers around you. Intercession is not the breathing out of piouswishes; its aim is, in believing, persevering prayer, to receive andbring down blessing. 

SPECIAL PETITIONS

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

NINTH DAY

WHAT TO PRAY. --For God's Spirit on our Mission Work

 "The evangelisation of the world depends first of all upon a revival of prayer. Deeper than the need for men--ay, deep down at the bottom of our spiritless life, is the need for the forgotten secret of prevailing, world-wide prayer. "

 ="As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate Me Barnabas and Saul. Then when they had fasted and prayed, they sent them away. So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed. "=--ACTS xiii. 2, 3, 4. 

Pray that our mission work may all be done in this spirit--waiting onGod, hearing the voice of the Spirit, sending forth men with fasting andprayer. Pray that in our churches our mission interest and mission workmay be in the power of the Holy Spirit and of prayer. It is aSpirit-filled, praying Church will send out Spirit-filled missionaries, mighty in prayer. 

HOW TO PRAY. --Take Time

 ="I give myself unto prayer. "=--PS. Cix. 4. 

 ="We will give ourselves continually to prayer. "=--ACTS vi. 4. 

 ="Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before God. "=--ECCLES. V. 2. 

 ="And He continued all night in prayer to God. "=--LUKE vi. 12. 

Time is one of the chief standards of value. The time we give is a proofof the interest we feel. 

We need time with God--to realise His presence; to wait for Him to makeHimself known; to consider and feel the needs we plead for; to take ourplace in Christ; to pray till we can believe that we have received. Taketime in prayer, and pray down blessing on the mission work of theChurch. 

SPECIAL PETITIONS

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

TENTH DAY

WHAT TO PRAY. --For God's Spirit on our Missionaries

 "What the world needs to-day is, not only more missionaries, but the outpouring of God's Spirit on everyone whom He has sent out to work for Him in the foreign field. "

 ="Ye shall receive power, when the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be My witnesses unto the uttermost parts of the earth. "=--ACTS i. 8. 

God always gives His servants power equal to the work He asks of them. Think of the greatness and difficulty of this work, --casting out Satanout of his strongholds, --and pray that everyone who takes part in it mayreceive and do all his work in the power of the Holy Ghost. Think of thedifficulties of your missionaries, and pray for them. 

HOW TO PRAY. --Trusting God's Faithfulness

 ="He is faithful that promised. " "She counted Him faithful who promised. "=--HEB. X. 23, xi. 11. 

Just think of God's promises to His Son, concerning His kingdom; to theChurch, concerning the heathen; to His servants, concerning their work;to yourself, concerning your prayer; and pray in the assurance that Heis faithful, and only waits for prayer and faith to fulfil them. ="Faithful is He that calleth you"= (to pray), "who also will do it"(what He has promised). 

Take up individual missionaries, make yourself one with them, and praytill you know that you are heard. Oh, begin to live for Christ's kingdomas the one thing worth living for!

SPECIAL PETITIONS

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

ELEVENTH DAY

WHAT TO PRAY. --For more Labourers

 ="Pray ye the Lord of the harvest, that He send forth labourers into His harvest. "=--MATT. Ix. 38. 

What a remarkable call of the =Lord Jesus= for help from His disciplesin getting the need supplied. What an honour put upon prayer. What aproof that God wants prayer and will hear it. 

Pray for labourers, for all students in theological seminaries, traininghomes, Bible institutes, that they may not go, unless He fits them andsends them forth; that our churches may train their students to seek forthe sending forth of the Holy Spirit; that all believers may holdthemselves ready to be sent forth, or to pray for those who can go. 

HOW TO PRAY. --In Faith, nothing Doubting

 ="Jesus saith unto them, Have faith in God. Whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that what he saith shall come to pass, he shall have it. "=--MARK xi. 22, 23. 

=Have faith in God!= Ask Him to make Himself known to you as thefaithful, mighty God, who worketh all in all; and you will be encouragedto believe that He can give suitable and sufficient labourers, howeverimpossible this appears. But, remember, in answer to prayer and faith. 

Apply this to every opening where a good worker is needed. The work isGod's. He can give the right workman. =But He must be asked and waitedon. =

SPECIAL PETITIONS

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

TWELFTH DAY

WHAT TO PRAY. --For the Spirit to convince the World of Sin

 ="I will send the Comforter to you. And He, when He is come, will convict the world in respect of sin. "=--JOHN xvi. 7, 8. 

God's one desire, the one object of Christ's being manifested, is totake away sin. The first work of the Spirit on the world is convictionof sin. Without that, no deep or abiding revival, no powerfulconversion. Pray for it, that the gospel may be preached in such powerof the Spirit, that men may see that they have rejected and crucifiedChrist, and cry out, What shall we do?

Pray most earnestly for a mighty power of conviction of sin wherever thegospel is preached. 

HOW TO PRAY. --Stir up yourself to take hold of God's Strength

 ="Let him take hold of My strength, that he may make peace with Me. "=--ISA. Xxvii. 5. 

 ="There is none that calleth upon Thy name, that stirreth himself to take hold of Thee. "=--ISA. Lxiv. 7. 

 ="Stir up the gift of God which is in thee. "=--2 TIM. I. 6. 

First, take hold of God's strength. God is a Spirit. I cannot take holdof Him, and hold Him fast, but by the Spirit. Take hold of God'sstrength, and hold on till it has done for you what He has promised. Pray for the power of the Spirit to convict of sin. 

Second, stir up yourself, the power that is in you by the Holy Spirit, to take hold. Give your whole heart and will to it, and say, =I will notlet Thee go except Thou bless me=. 

SPECIAL PETITIONS

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

THIRTEENTH DAY

WHAT TO PRAY. --For the Spirit of Burning

 ="And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion shall be called holy: when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, by the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning. "=--ISA. Iv. 3, 4. 

A washing by fire! a cleansing by judgment! He that has passed throughthis shall be called holy. The power of blessing for the world, thepower of work and intercession that will avail, depends upon thespiritual state of the Church; and that can only rise higher as sin isdiscovered and put away. Judgment must begin at the house of God. Theremust be conviction of sin for sanctification. Beseech God to give HisSpirit as a spirit of judgment and a spirit of burning--to discover andburn out sin in His people. 

HOW TO PRAY. --In the Name of Christ

 ="Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do. If ye shall ask Me anything in My name, that will I do. "=--JOHN xiv. 13, 14. 

Ask in the name of your Redeemer God, who sits upon the throne. Ask whatHe has promised, what He gave His blood for, that sin may be put awayfrom among His people. Ask--the prayer is after His own heart--for thespirit of deep conviction of sin to come among His people. Ask for thespirit of burning. Ask in the faith of His name--the faith of what Hewills, of what He can do--and look for the answer. Pray that the Churchmay be blessed, to be made a blessing in the world. 

SPECIAL PETITIONS

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

FOURTEENTH DAY

WHAT TO PRAY. --For the Church of the Future

 ="That the children might not be as their fathers, a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not steadfast with God. "=--PS. Lxxviii. 8. 

 ="I will pour My Spirit upon thy seed, and My blessing upon thy offspring. "=--ISA. Xliv. 3. 

Pray for the rising generation, who are to come after us. Think of theyoung men and young women and children of this age, and pray for all theagencies at work among them; that in association and societies andunions, in homes and schools, Christ may be honoured, and the HolySpirit get possession of them. Pray for the young of your ownneighbourhood. 

HOW TO PRAY. --With the Whole Heart

 ="The Lord grant thee according to thine own heart. "=--PS. Xx. 4. 

 ="Thou hast given him his heart's desire. "=--PS. Xxi. 2. 

 ="I cried with my whole heart; hear me, O Lord. "=--PS. Cxix. 145. 

God lives, and listens to every petition with His whole heart. Each timewe pray the whole Infinite God is there to hear. He asks that in eachprayer the whole man shall be there too; that we shall cry with ourwhole heart. Christ gave Himself to God for men; and so He takes upevery need into His intercession. If once we seek God with our wholeheart, the whole heart will be in every prayer with which we come tothis God. Pray with your whole heart for the young. 

SPECIAL PETITIONS

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

FIFTEENTH DAY

WHAT TO PRAY. --For Schools and Colleges

 ="As for Me, this is My covenant with them, saith the Lord: My Spirit that is upon thee, and My words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and for ever. "=--ISA. Lix. 21. 

The future of the Church and the world depends, to an extent we littleconceive, on the education of the day. The Church may be seeking toevangelise the heathen, and be giving up her own children to secular andmaterialistic influences. Pray for schools and colleges, and that theChurch may realise and fulfil its momentous duty of caring for itschildren. Pray for godly teachers. 

HOW TO PRAY. --Not Limiting God

 ="They limited the Holy One of Israel. "=--PS. Lxxviii. 41. 

 ="He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief. "=--MATT. Xiii. 58. 

 ="Is anything too hard for the Lord?"=--GEN. Xviii. 14. 

 ="Ah, Lord God! Thou hast made the heaven and the earth by Thy great power; there is nothing too hard for Thee. Behold, I am the Lord: is there anything too hard for Me?"=--JER. Xxxii. 17, 27. 

Beware, in your prayer, above everything, of limiting God, not only byunbelief, but by fancying that you know what He can do. Expectunexpected things, above all that we ask or think. Each time youintercede, be quiet first and worship God in his glory. Think of what Hecan do, of how He delights to hear Christ, of your place in Christ, andexpect great things. 

SPECIAL PETITIONS

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

SIXTEENTH DAY

WHAT TO PRAY. --For the Power of the Holy Spirit in our Sabbath Schools

 ="Thus saith the Lord, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children. "=--ISA. Xlix. 25. 

Every part of the work of God's Church is His work. He must do it. Prayer is the confession that He will, the surrender of ourselves intoHis hands to let Him, work in us and through us. Pray for the hundredsof thousands of Sunday-school teachers, that those who know God may befilled with His Spirit. Pray for your own Sunday school. Pray for thesalvation of the children. 

HOW TO PRAY. --Boldly

 ="We have a great High Priest, Jesus the Son of God. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace. "=--HEB. Iv. 14, 16. 

These hints to help us in our work of intercession--what are they doingfor us? Making us conscious of our feebleness in prayer? Thank God forthis. It is the very first lesson we need on the way to pray theeffectual prayer that availeth much. Let us persevere, taking eachsubject boldly to the throne of grace. As we pray we shall learn topray, and to believe, and to expect with increasing boldness. Hold fastyour assurance: it is at God's command you come as an intercessor. Christ will give you grace to pray aright. 

SPECIAL PETITIONS

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

SEVENTEENTH DAY

WHAT TO PRAY. --For Kings and Rulers

 ="I exhort therefore, first of all, that supplications, prayers, intercessions, thanksgiving, be made for all men; for kings, and all that are in high places; that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and gravity. "=--1 TIM. Ii. 1, 2. 

What a faith in the power of prayer! A few feeble and despisedChristians are to influence the mighty Roman emperors, and help insecuring peace and quietness. Let us believe that prayer is a power thatis taken up by God in His rule of the world. Let us pray for our countryand its rulers; for all the rulers of the world; for rulers in cities ordistricts in which we are interested. When God's people unite in this, they may count upon their prayer effecting in the unseen world more thanthey know. Let faith hold this fast. 

HOW TO PRAY. --The Prayer before God as Incense

 ="And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should add it unto the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel's hand. And the angel taketh the censer; and he filled it with the fire upon the altar, and cast it upon the earth: and there followed thunder, and voices, and lightning, and an earthquake. "=--REV. Viii. 3-5. 

The same censer brings the prayer of the saints before God and castsfire upon the earth. The prayers that go up to heaven have their sharein the history of this earth. Be sure that thy prayers enter God'spresence. 

SPECIAL PETITIONS

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

EIGHTEENTH DAY

WHAT TO PRAY. --For Peace

 ="I exhort therefore, first of all, that supplication be made for kings and all that are in high places; that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and gravity. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour. "=--1 TIM. Ii. 1-3. 

 ="He maketh wars to cease to the end of the earth. "=--PS. Xlvi. 9. 

What a terrible sight!--the military armaments in which the nations findtheir pride. What a terrible thought!--the evil passions that may at anymoment bring on war. And what a prospect the suffering and desolationthat must come. God can, in answer to the prayer of His people, givepeace. Let us pray for it, and for the rule of righteousness on whichalone it can be stablished. 

HOW TO PRAY. --With the Understanding

 ="What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding. "=--1 COR. Xiv. 15. 

We need to pray with the spirit, as the vehicle of the intercession ofGod's Spirit, if we are to take hold of God in faith and power. We needto pray with the understanding, if we are really to enter deeply intothe needs we bring before Him. Take time to apprehend intelligently, ineach subject, the nature, the extent, the urgency of the request, theground and way and certainty of God's promise as revealed in His Word. Let the mind affect the heart. Pray with the understanding and with thespirit. 

SPECIAL PETITIONS

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

NINETEENTH DAY

WHAT TO PRAY. --For the Holy Spirit on Christendom

 ="Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. "=--2 TIM. Iii. 5. 

 ="Thou hast a name that thou livest, and thou art dead. "=--REV. Iii. 1. 

There are five hundred millions of nominal Christians. The state of themajority is unspeakably awful. Formality, worldliness, ungodliness, rejection of Christ's service, ignorance, and indifference--to what anextent does all this prevail. We pray for the heathen--oh! do let uspray for those bearing Christ's name, many in worse than heathendarkness. 

Does not one feel as if one ought to begin to give up his life, and tocry day and night to God for souls! In answer to prayer God gives thepower of the Holy Ghost. 

HOW TO PRAY. --In deep Stillness of Soul

 ="My soul is silent unto God: from Him cometh my salvation. "=--PS. Lxii. 1. 

Prayer has its power in God alone. The nearer a man comes to GodHimself, the deeper he enters into God's will; the more he takes hold ofGod, the more power in prayer. 

God must reveal Himself. If it please Him to make Himself known, He canmake the heart conscious of His presence. Our posture must be that ofholy reverence, of quiet waiting and adoration. 

As your month of intercession passes on, and you feel the greatness ofyour work, be still before God. Thus you will get power to pray. 

SPECIAL PETITIONS

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

TWENTIETH DAY

WHAT TO PRAY. --For God's Spirit on the Heathen

 ="Behold, these shall come from far; and these from the land of Sinim. "=--ISA. Xlix. 12. 

 ="Princes shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia shall haste to stretch out her hands to God. "=--PS. Lxviii. 31. 

 ="I the Lord will hasten it in His time. "=--ISA. Lx. 22. 

Pray for the heathen, who are yet without the word. Think of China, withher three hundred millions--a million a month dying without Christ. Think of Dark Africa, with its two hundred millions. Think of thirtymillions a year going down into the thick darkness. If Christ gave Hislife for them, will you not do so? You can give yourself up to intercedefor them. Just begin, if you have never yet begun, with this simplemonthly school of intercession. The ten minutes you give will make youfeel this is not enough. God's Spirit will draw you on. Persevere, however feeble you are. Ask God to give you some country or tribe topray for. Can anything be nobler than to do as Christ did? Give yourlife for the heathen. 

HOW TO PRAY. --With Confident Expectation of an Answer

 ="Call unto Me, and I will answer thee, and will shew thee great things and difficult, which thou knowest not. "=--JER. Xxxiii. 3. 

 ="Thus saith the Lord God: I will yet be inquired of, that I do it. "=--EZEK. Xxxvi. 37. 

Both texts refer to promises definitely made, but their fulfilment woulddepend upon prayer: God would be inquired of to do it. 

Pray for God's fulfilment of His promises to His Son and His Church, andexpect the answer. Plead for the heathen: plead God's Promises. 

SPECIAL PETITIONS

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

TWENTY-FIRST DAY

WHAT TO PRAY. --For God's Spirit on the Jews

 ="I will pour out upon the house of David, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and Supplication; and they shall look unto Me whom they pierced. "=--ZECH. Xii. 10. 

 ="Brethren, my heart's desire and my supplication to God is for them, that they may be saved. "=--ROM. X. 1. 

Pray for the Jews. Their return to the God of their fathers standsconnected, in a way we cannot tell, with wonderful blessing to theChurch, and with the coming of our Lord Jesus. Let us not think that Godhas foreordained all this, and that we cannot hasten it. In a divine andmysterious way God has connected His fulfilment of His promise with ourprayer. His Spirit's intercession in us is God's forerunner of blessing. Pray for Israel and the work done among them. And pray too: Amen. Evenso, come, Lord Jesus!

HOW TO PRAY. --With the Intercession of the Holy Spirit

 ="We know not how to pray as we ought; but the Spirit Himself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. "=--ROM. Viii. 26. 

In your ignorance and feebleness believe in the secret indwelling andintercession of the Holy Spirit within you. Yield yourself to His lifeand leading habitually. He will help your infirmities in prayer. Pleadthe promises of God even where you do not see how they are to befulfilled. God knows the mind of the Spirit, because He makethintercession for the saints according to the will of God. Pray with thesimplicity of a little child; pray with the holy awe and reverence ofone in whom God's Spirit dwells and prays. 

SPECIAL PETITIONS

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

TWENTY-SECOND DAY

WHAT TO PRAY. --For all who are in Suffering

 ="Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; them that are evil entreated, as being yourselves in the body. "=--HEB. Xiii. 3. 

What a world of suffering we live in! How Jesus sacrificed all andidentified Himself with it! Let us in our measure do so too. Thepersecuted Stundists and Armenians and Jews, the famine-strickenmillions of India, the hidden slavery of Africa, the poverty andwretchedness of our great cities--and so much more: what suffering amongthose who know God and who know Him not. And then in smaller circles, inten thousand homes and hearts, what sorrow. In our own neighbourhood, how many needing help or comfort. Let us have a heart for, let us thinkof the suffering. It will stir us to pray, to work, to hope, to lovemore. And in a way and time we know not God will hear our prayer. 

HOW TO PRAY. --Praying always, and not fainting

 ="He spake unto them a parable to the end that they ought always to pray, and not to faint. "=--LUKE xviii. 1. 

Do you not begin to feel prayer is really the help for this sinfulworld? What a need there is of unceasing prayer? The very greatness ofthe task makes us despair! What can our ten minutes of intercessionavail? It is right we feel this: this is the way in which God is callingand preparing us to give our life to prayer. Give yourself wholly to Godfor men, and amid all your work, your heart will be drawn out to men inlove, and drawn up to God in dependence and expectation. To a heart thusled by the Holy Spirit, it is possible to pray always and not to faint. 

SPECIAL PETITIONS

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

TWENTY-THIRD DAY

WHAT TO PRAY. --For the Holy Spirit in your own Work

 ="I labour, striving according to His working, which worketh in me mightily. "=--COL. I. 29. 

You have your own special work; make it a work of intercession. Paullaboured, striving according to the working of God in him. Remember, Godis not only the Creator, but the Great Workman, who worketh all in all. You can only do your work in His strength, by Him working in you throughthe Spirit. Intercede much for those among whom you work, till God givesyou life for them. 

Let us all intercede too for each other, for every worker throughoutGod's Church, however solitary or unknown. 

HOW TO PRAY. --In God's very Presence

 ="Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you. "=--JAS. Iv. 8. 

The nearness of God gives rest and power in prayer. The nearness of Godis given to him who makes it his first object. "Draw nigh to God"; seekthe nearness to Him, and He will give it; "He will draw nigh to you. "Then it becomes easy to pray in faith. 

Remember that when first God takes you into the school of intercessionit is almost more for your own sake than that of others. You have to betrained to love, and wait, and pray, and believe. Only persevere. Learnto set yourself in His presence, to wait quietly for the assurance thatHe draws nigh. Enter His holy presence, tarry there, and spread yourwork before Him. Intercede for the souls you are working among. Get ablessing from God, His Spirit into your own heart, for them. 

SPECIAL PETITIONS

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

TWENTY-FOURTH DAY

WHAT TO PRAY. --For the Spirit on your own Congregation

 ="Beginning at Jerusalem. "=--LUKE xxiv. 47. 

Each one of us is connected with some congregation or circle ofbelievers, who are to us the part of Christ's body with which we comeinto most direct contact. They have a special claim on our intercession. Let it be a settled matter between God and you that you are to labour inprayer on its behalf. Pray for the minister and all leaders or workersin it. Pray for the believers according to their needs. Pray forconversions. Pray for the power of the Spirit to manifest itself. Bandyourself with others to join in secret in definite petitions. Letintercession be a definite work, carried on as systematically aspreaching or Sunday school. And pray, expecting an answer. 

HOW TO PRAY. --Continually

 ="Watchmen, that shall never hold their peace day nor night. "=--ISA. Lxii. 6. 

 ="His own elect, that cry to Him day and night. "=--LUKE xviii. 7. 

 ="Night and day praying exceedingly, that we may perfect that which is lacking in your faith. "=--1 THESS. Iii. 10. 

 ="A widow indeed, hath her hope set in God, and continueth in supplications night and day. "=--1 TIM. V. 5. 

When the glory of God, and the love of Christ, and the need of souls arerevealed to us, the fire of this unceasing intercession will begin toburn in us for those who are near and those who are far off. 

SPECIAL PETITIONS

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

TWENTY-FIFTH DAY

WHAT TO PRAY. --For more Conversions

 ="He is able to save completely, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession. "=--HEB. Vii. 25. 

 ="We will give ourselves continually to prayer and the ministry of the word. . . . And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied exceedingly. "=--ACTS vi. 4, 7. 

Christ's power to save, and save completely, depends on His unceasingintercession. The apostles withdrawing themselves from other work togive themselves continually to prayer was followed by the number of thedisciples multiplying exceedingly. As we, in our day, give ourselves tointercession, we shall have more and mightier conversions. Let us pleadfor this. Christ is exalted to give repentance. The Church exists withthe Divine purpose and promise of having conversions. Let us not beashamed to confess our sin and feebleness, and cry to God for moreconversions in Christian and heathen lands, of those too whom you knowand love. Plead for the salvation of sinners. 

HOW TO PRAY. --In deep Humility

 ="Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs. . . . O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. "=--MATT. Xv. 27, 28. 

You feel unworthy and unable to pray aright. To accept this heartily, and to be content still to come and be blest in your unworthiness, istrue humility. It proves its integrity by not seeking for anything, butsimply trusting His grace. And so it is the very strength of a greatfaith, and gets a full answer. "Yet the dogs"--let that be your plea asyou persevere for someone possibly possessed of the devil. Let not yourlittleness hinder you for a moment. 

SPECIAL PETITIONS

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

TWENTY-SIXTH DAY

WHAT TO PRAY. --For the Holy Spirit on Young Converts

 ="Peter and John prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost; for as yet He was fallen upon none of them: only they had been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. "=--ACTS viii. 15, 16. 

 ="Now He which establisheth us with you in Christ, and anointed us, is God; who also gave us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. "=--2 COR. I. 21, 22. 

How many new converts who remain feeble; how many who fall into sin; howmany who backslide entirely. If we pray for the Church, its growth inholiness and devotion to God's service, pray specially for the youngconverts. How many stand alone, surrounded by temptation; how many haveno teaching on the Spirit in them, and the power of God to establishthem; how many in heathen lands, surrounded by Satan's power. If youpray for the power of the Spirit in the Church, pray specially thatevery young convert may know that he may claim and receive the fulnessof the Spirit. 

HOW TO PRAY. --Without Ceasing

 ="As for me, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you. "=--1 SAM. Xii. 23. 

It is sin against the Lord to cease praying for others. When once webegin to see how absolutely indispensable intercession is, just as mucha duty as loving God or believing in Christ, and how we are called andbound to it as believers, we shall feel that to cease intercession isgrievous sin. Let us ask for grace to take up our place as priests withjoy, and give our life to bring down the blessing of heaven. 

SPECIAL PETITIONS

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

TWENTY-SEVENTH DAY

WHAT TO PRAY. --That God's People may Realise their Calling

 ="I will bless thee; and be thou a blessing: _in thee_ shall _all the families of the earth_ be blessed. "=--GEN. Xii. 2, 3. 

 ="God be merciful _unto us_, and bless _us_; and cause His face to shine _upon us_. That Thy way may be known _upon earth_, Thy saving health _among all nations_. "=--PS. Lxvii. 1, 2. 

Abraham was only blessed that he might be a blessing to all the earth. Israel prays for blessing, that God may be known among all nations. Every believer, just as much as Abraham, is only blessed that he maycarry God's blessing to the world. 

Cry to God that His people may know this, that every believer is only tolive for the interests of God and His kingdom. If this truth werepreached and believed and practised, what a revolution it would bring inour mission work. What a host of willing intercessors we should have. Plead with God to work it by the Holy Spirit. 

HOW TO PRAY. --As One who has Accepted for Himself what he Asks forOthers

 ="Peter said, What I have, I give unto thee. . . . The Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning. . . . God gave them the like gift, as He gave unto us. "=--ACTS iii. 6, xi. 15, 17. 

As you pray for this great blessing on God's people, the Holy Spirittaking entire possession of them for God's service, yield yourself toGod, and claim the gift anew in faith. Let each thought of feebleness orshortcoming only make you the more urgent in prayer for others; as theblessing comes to them, you too will be helped. With every prayer forconversions or mission work, pray that God's people may know how whollythey belong to Him. 

SPECIAL PETITIONS

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

TWENTY-EIGHTH DAY

WHAT TO PRAY. --That all God's People may know the Holy Spirit

 ="The Spirit of truth, whom the world knoweth not; but ye know Him; for He abideth with you, and shall be in you. "=--JOHN xiv. 17. 

 ="Know ye not that your body is a temple of the Holy Ghost?"=--1 COR. Vi. 19. 

The Holy Spirit is the power of God for the salvation of men. He onlyworks as He dwells in the Church. He is given to enable believers tolive wholly as God would have them live, in the full experience andwitness of Him who saves completely. Pray God that every one of Hispeople may know the Holy Spirit!--That He, in all His fulness, is givento them! that they cannot expect to live as their Father would have, without having Him in His fulness, without being filled with Him! Praythat all God's people, even away in churches gathered out of heathendom, may learn to say: I believe in the Holy Ghost. 

HOW TO PRAY. --Labouring fervently in Prayer

 ="Epaphras, who is one of you, saluteth you, always labouring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. "=--COL. Iv. 12. 

To a healthy man labour is a delight; in what interests him he laboursfervently. The believer who is in full health, whose heart is filledwith God's Spirit, labours fervently in prayer. For what? That hisbrethren may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God; thatthey may know what God wills for them, how He calls them to live, and beled and walk by the Holy Ghost. Labour fervently in prayer that allGod's children may know this, as possible, as divinely sure. 

SPECIAL PETITIONS

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

TWENTY-NINTH DAY

WHAT TO PRAY. --For the Spirit of Intercession

 ="I chose you, and appointed you, that ye should go and bear fruit; that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in My name, He may give it you. "=--JOHN xv. 16. 

 ="Hitherto ye have asked nothing in My name. In that day ye shall ask in My name. "=--JOHN xvi. 24, 26. 

Has not our school of intercession taught us how little we have prayedin the name of Jesus? He promised His disciples: In that day, when theHoly Spirit comes upon you, ye shall ask in My name. Are there not tensof thousands with us mourning the lack of the power of intercession? Letour intercession to-day be for them and all God's children, that Christmay teach us that the Holy Spirit is in us; and what it is to live inHis fulness, and to yield ourselves to His intercession work within us. The Church and the world need nothing so much as a mighty Spirit ofIntercession to bring down the power of God on earth. Pray for thedescent from heaven of the Spirit of Intercession for a great prayerrevival. 

HOW TO PRAY. --Abiding in Christ

 ="If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatsoever ye will, and it shall be done to you. "=--JOHN xv. 7. 

Our acceptance with God, our access to Him, is all in Christ. As weconsciously abide in Him we have the liberty, not a liberty to our oldnature or our self-will, but the Divine liberty from all self-will, toask what we will, in the power of the new nature, and it shall be done. Let us keep this place, and believe even now that our intercession isheard, and that the Spirit of Supplication will be given all around us. 

SPECIAL PETITIONS

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

THIRTIETH DAY

WHAT TO PRAY. --For the Holy Spirit with the Word of God

 ="Our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance. "=--1 THESS. I. 5. 

 ="Those who preached unto you the gospel with the Holy Ghost sent forth from heaven. "=--1 PET. I. 12. 

What numbers of Bibles are being circulated. What numbers of sermons onthe Bible are being preached. What numbers of Bibles are being read inhome and school. How little blessing when it comes "in word" only; whatDivine blessing and power when it comes "in the Holy Ghost, " when it ispreached "with the Holy Ghost sent forth from heaven. " Pray for Biblecirculation, and preaching and teaching and reading, that it may all bein the Holy Ghost, with much prayer. Pray for the power of the Spiritwith the word in your own neighbourhood, wherever it is being read orheard. Let every mention of "The Word of God" waken intercession. 

HOW TO PRAY. --Watching and Praying

 ="Continue steadfastly in prayer, watching therein with thanksgiving; withal praying for us also, that God may open for us a door for the word. "=--COL. Iv. 2, 3. 

Do you not see how all depends upon God and prayer? As long as He livesand loves, and hears and works, as long as there are souls with heartsclosed to the word, as long as there is work to be done in carrying theword--=Pray without ceasing. Continue steadfastly in prayer, watchingtherein with thanksgiving. These words are for every Christian. =

SPECIAL PETITIONS

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

THIRTY-FIRST DAY

WHAT TO PRAY. --For the Spirit of Christ in His People

 ="I am the Vine, ye are the branches. "=--JOHN xv. 5. 

 ="That ye should do as I have done to you. "=--JOHN xiii. 15. 

As branches we are to be so like the Vine, so entirely identified withit, that all may see that we have the same nature, and life, and spirit. When we pray for the Spirit, let us not only think of a Spirit of power, but the very disposition and temper of Christ Jesus. Ask and expectnothing less: for yourself, and all God's children, cry for it. 

HOW TO PRAY. --Striving in Prayer

 ="That ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me. "=--ROM. Xv. 30. 

 ="I would ye knew what great conflict I have for you. "=--COL. Ii. 1. 

All the powers of evil seek to hinder us in prayer. Prayer is a conflictwith opposing forces. It needs the whole heart and all our strength. MayGod give us grace to strive in prayer till we prevail. 

SPECIAL PETITIONS

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES

=Bold= and _italic_ words in the original text have been marked in thisversion with equals signs and underscores respectively. 

Minor errors and inconsistencies in punctuation and hyphenation havebeen silently corrected. 

On page 6, the original text had "we the trust in our own diligence". 

On page 93, "WHAT THE HEALTH THAT JESUS OFFERS. " is as in the original. 

As explained in the section on "Answers to Prayer", on each daily page inthe tract "Pray Without Ceasing", several lines are ruled to leave roomfor the reader's "SPECIAL PETITIONS". In this version, these arerepresented by six lines of underscores.