The Grace of Prayer

“Some are loath to do good because they feel their hearts rebelling, and duties turn out badly. We should not avoid good actions because of the infirmities attending them. Christ looks more at the good in them which he means to cherish than the ill in them which he means to abolish. Though eating increases a disease, a sick man will still eat, so that nature may gain strength against the disease. So, though sin cleaves to what we do, yet let us do it, since we have to deal with so good a Lord, and the more strife we meet with, the more acceptance we shall have. Christ loves to taste of the good fruits that come from us, even though they will always savor of our old nature.”

“A Christian complains he cannot pray. `Oh, I am troubled with so many distracting thoughts, and never more than now!’ But has he put into your heart a desire to pray? Then he will hear the desires of his own Spirit in you. `We know not what we should pray for as we ought’ (nor how to do anything else as we ought), but the Spirit helps our infirmities with `groanings which cannot be uttered’ (Rom. 8:26), which are not hid from God. `My groaning is not hid from thee’ (Psa. 38:9). God can pick sense out of a confused prayer. These desires cry louder in his ears than your sins. Sometimes a Christian has such confused thoughts that he can say nothing but, as a child, cries, `O Father’, not able to express what he needs, like Moses at the Red Sea. These stirrings of spirit touch the heart of God and melt him into compassion towards us, when they come from the Spirit of adoption, and from a striving to be better.”

“`Oh, but is it possible’, thinks the misgiving heart, `that so holy a God should accept such a prayer?’ Yes, he will accept that which is his own, and pardon that which is ours. Jonah prayed in the fish’s belly (Jon. 2:1), being burdened with the guilt of sin, yet God heard him. Let not, therefore, infirmities discourage us. James takes away this objection (James 5:17). Some might object, `If I were as holy as Elijah, then my prayers might be regarded.’ `But,’ says he, ‘Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are.’ He had his passions as well as we, or do we think that God heard him because he was without fault? Surely not. But look at the promises: `Call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee’ (Psa. 50:15). `Ask, and it shall be given you’ (Matt. 7:7) and others like these. God accepts our prayers, though weak, because we are his own children, and they come from his own Spirit; because they are according to his own will; and because they are offered in Christ’s mediation, and he takes them, and mingles them with his own incense (Rev. 8:3).”

“There is never a holy sigh, never a tear we shed, which is lost. And as every grace increases by exercise of itself, so does the grace of prayer. By prayer we learn to pray. So, likewise, we should take heed of a spirit of discouragement in all other holy duties, since we have so gracious a Saviour. Pray as we are able, hear as we are able, strive as we are able, do as we are able, according to the measure of grace received. God in Christ will cast a gracious eye upon that which is his own.”

Extract from The Bruised Reed by Richard Sibbes.

John Calvin on Prayer

“Prayer has not been instituted that we might arrogantly exalt ourselves before God, nor that we should extol our dignity, but so that we might admit our poverty, groaning like children telling their father about their troubles. Such a way of thinking should, rather be like a spur, moving us to pray even more.”

“There are two things which should really stir us up to pray: first of all, God’s directive which commands us to pray; and then the promise by which he assures us that we will receive what we ask.”

(John Calvin)

S. Lewis Johnson on Prayer

In this 8 part series provided by the SLJ Institute, Dr. S. Lewis Johnson teaches on the theology of prayer in a way that is sadly, and unfortunately, lacking in many (so-called) churches today. Highly recommended for all Christians no matter their stage of spiritual maturity. Each lesson is available here or you can download each MP3 individually below.

1. The Theology of Prayer: the Nature, Object and Grounds of Prayer
2. Prayer and the Attributes, part I (Why Bother and Infinite, Omnipotent God of Love?)
3. Prayer and the Attributes, part II (Does Prayer Change an Unchanging God?)
4. Prayer and the Decrees
5. The Problem of Unanswered Prayer, part I
6. The Problem of Unanswered Prayer, part II
7. The Necessity of Prayer
8. Importunate Prayer

Prayer Not Prayed

How many pray the Lord’s Prayer several thousand times in the course of a year, and if they were to keep on doing so for a thousand years they would not have tasted nor prayed one iota, one dot, of it!

In a word, the Lord’s Prayer is the greatest martyr on earth (as are the name and word of God). Everybody tortures and abuses it; few take comfort and joy in its proper use.

(Martin Luther)

Red Envelope Day

Please help be a voice for hope and change by participating in Red Envelope Day on March 31st, 2009.

…and please remember to pray for the President that his heart and mind will be changed about abortion.

Rule of Prayer

by John Calvin

1. Let the first rule of right prayer then be, to have our heart and mind framed as becomes those who are entering into converse with God. This we shall accomplish in regard to the mind, if, laying aside carnal thoughts and cares which might interfere with the direct and pure contemplation of God, it not only be wholly intent on prayer, but also, as far as possible, be borne and raised above itself. I do not here insist on a mind so disengaged as to feel none of the gnawings of anxiety; on the contrary, it is by much anxiety that the fervor of prayer is inflamed.

2. Another rule of prayer is, that in asking we must always truly feel our wants, and seriously considering that we need all the things which we ask, accompany the prayer with a sincere, nay, ardent desire of obtaining them.

3. The third rule to be added is: that he who comes into the presence of God to pray must divest himself of all vainglorious thoughts, lay aside all idea of worth; in short, discard all self-confidence, humbly giving God the whole glory, lest by arrogating anything, however little, to himself, vain pride cause him to turn away his face.

4. The fourth rule of prayer is, that notwithstanding of our being thus abased and truly humbled, we should be animated to pray with the sure hope of succeeding.

Excerpt from Of Prayer — A Perpetual Exercise Of Faith. The Daily Benefits Derived From It.

Without Christ Without Prayer

“Jacob could not receive the blessing from the father but in the garments of his elder brother; nor can we receive anything from the hands of God but in the robes of Christ. No prayer can be accepted by God but in and through the intercession of Jesus Christ. If Christ is not an intercessor in heaven, no prayer will be heard on earth. In Revelation 8:3, it is written that there was "an angel that came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer, and there was given to him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne." The word in Greek has this purpose: that He should add in prayers to the prayers of the saints. It is as if the prayer of Christ and a believer were all one. In Isaiah 56:7 God promises, "I will bring My people to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer." Our prayers are but as so many ciphers that signify nothing till the intercession of Christ is added to them. Without that they cannot be accepted.”

(From When is Prayer heard? by Christopher Love)

School of Prayer – Lesson 4 Part 2

Thoughts about  the Fourth Lesson of With Christ in the School of Prayer:

Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. (Matthew 6:11-13)

To pray “like this” (Matthew 6:9) means we should pray for that which brings reverence, glory, honor, and worship to Our Father and allows for very little in way of ourselves: only “Give us this day our daily bread”.

(1) We do well to remember the One from whose hands life is sustained. Our daily bread is a gift from Him and when He chooses to provide for our sustenance our response should be one of gratitude and thankfulness. To pray “like this” means that we are also to pray ‘give us’ realizing that our request should always include the needs of others and not just for ourselves.

(2) To pray “like this” means that as often as we pray we are to seek forgiveness for our sin-debit and are reminded of the words of 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”. More than this however, we should, as often as we pray, remember the sacrifice of Jesus “whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood” (Romans 3:25) for our own sin-debit and this only by His grace. Just as we received this grace freely given we should also forgive our fellow debtors for the wrongs committed against us: “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6:14-15). As Matthew Henry observed

“…no one can reasonably imagine himself to be the object of divine forgiveness who is deliberately and habitually unforgiving towards his fellow men, so it is a beautiful provision to make our right to ask and expect daily forgiveness of our daily shortcomings and our final absolution and acquittal at the great day of admission into the kingdom, dependent upon our consciousness of a forgiving disposition towards our fellows, and our preparedness to protest before the Searcher of hearts that we do actually forgive them”.

(3) Finally, to pray “like this” means that we recognize we are completely and totally dependent upon Our Father in heaven for deliverance and safety not only from temptation but from evil and its consequences. It is recognition of the fact that we are more like Peter before the resurrection than we are like Job or Abraham.

O Thou who art the only-begotten Son, teach us, we beseech Thee, to pray, ‘OUR FATHER.’  We thank Thee, Lord, for these Living Blessed Words which Thou has given us.  We thank Thee for the millions who in them have learnt to know and worship the Father, and for what they have been to us.  Lord! it is as if we needed days and weeks in Thy school with each separate petition; so deep and full are they.  But we look to Thee to lead us deeper into their meaning:  do it, we pray Thee, for Thy Name’s sake; Thy name is Son of the Father.

Lord!  Thou didst once say:  ‘No man knoweth the Father save the Son, and he to whom the Son willeth to reveal Him.’  And again:  ‘I made known unto them Thy name, and will make it known, that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them.’  Lord Jesus! reveal to us the Father.  Let His name, His infinite Father-love, the love with which He loved Thee, according to Thy prayer, BE IN US.  Then shall we say aright, ‘OUR FATHER!’  Then shall we apprehend Thy teaching, and the first spontaneous breathing of our heart will be:  ‘Our Father, Thy Name, Thy Kingdom, Thy Will.’  And we shall bring our needs and our sins and our temptations to Him in the confidence that the love of such a Father care for all.

Blessed Lord! we are Thy scholars, we trust Thee; do teach us to pray, ‘OUR FATHER.’  Amen.

School of Prayer – Lesson 4 Part 1

Thoughts about  the Fourth Lesson of With Christ in the School of Prayer:

Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. (Matthew 6:9-10)

Having provided instruction about the right and wrong motivation for prayer, our Lord now instructs His disciples by way of example how we ought to pray: “like this”.

(1) First, we are taught to “Pray to your Father” (v. 6). No room is given for prayer to any other, not to saint and not to angel. Rather, the focus of our prayer and the One to whom our prayers should be addressed is “Our Father”. Through creation God is the Father of all but through adoption (Ephesians 1:3-6) the followers of Christ become His children. Our prayers are addressed then to “our Father” because we “though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another” (Romans 12:5).

(2) We are to pray to “our Father in heaven” reminding ourselves He is altogether separate, Holy, deserving of all reverence, honor, glory, and worship.

(3) True prayer is prayer which places the Father first and above all other interests, concerns, or needs: “hallowed be your name”, “your kingdom come”, “your will be done”. What greater want or need can His children have?  If we are to pray rightly we must learn to “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33).

“In heaven God’s will is done, and the Master teaches the child to ask that the will may be done on earth just as in heaven:  in the spirit of adoring submission and ready obedience.  Because the will of God is the glory of heaven, the doing of it is the blessedness of heaven.  As the will is done, the kingdom of heaven comes into the heart.  And wherever faith has accepted the Father’s love, obedience accepts the Father’s will.  The surrender to, and the prayer for a life of heaven-like obedience, is the spirit of childlike prayer.”

School of Prayer – Lesson 3

Thoughts about  the Third Lesson of With Christ in the School of Prayer:

“And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. ( Matthew 6:5-8 )

“And when you pray…” notice first of all that the practice of prayer is assumed to be a characteristic of the followers of Christ. Prayer is something that should be both natural and common place, something that is not only assumed but understood to be vital in the life of His followers.  About this characteristic of the followers of Christ Matthew Henry commented “You may as soon find a living man that does not breathe, as a living Christian that does not pray.”

Notice secondly that prayer is also an activity regularly and publicly practiced by hypocrites. Another word for hypocrite is pretender and these pretenders could be found in the time of Jesus, just as today, everywhere — street corners, places of worship, and almost any other place they could find to perform for a human audience.

By way of contrast, Jesus also taught about the difference between the right and wrong motivation for prayer: pretenders pray to bring attention to themselves but true prayer is focused on the Father; pretenders pray for the benefit of their human audience but true prayer is an offering of intimate fellowship; the prayers of pretenders are faithless “empty phrases” but true prayer is authored by need, sealed by faith, and confirmed by the Father’s foreknowledge.

If we would learn to pray rightly we will do well to often and regularly enter into our own prayer closet and there learn from the Master in the School of Prayer.

Blessed Saviour!  with my whole heart I do bless Thee for the appointment of the inner chamber, as the school where Thou meetest each of Thy pupils alone, and revealest to him the Father.  O my Lord!  strengthen my faith so in the Father’s tender love and kindness, that as often as I feel sinful or troubled, the first instinctive thought may be to go where I know the Father waits me, and where prayer never can go unblessed.  Let the thought that He knows my need before I ask, bring me, in great restfulness of faith, to trust that He will give what His child requires.  O let the place of secret prayer become to me the most beloved spot of earth.

And, Lord!  hear me as I pray that Thou wouldest everywhere bless the closets of Thy believing people.  Let Thy wonderful revelation of a Father’s tenderness free all young Christians from every thought of secret prayer as a duty or a burden, and lead them to regard it as the highest privilege of their life, a joy and a blessing.  Bring back all who are discouraged, because they cannot find ought to bring Thee in prayer.  O give them to understand that they have only to come with their emptiness to Him who has all to give, and delights to do it.  Not, what they have to bring the Father, but what the Father waits to give them, be their one thought.

And bless especially the inner chamber of all Thy servants who are working for Thee, as the place where God’s truth and God’s grace is revealed to them, where they are daily anointed with fresh oil, where their strength is renewed, and the blessings are received in faith, with which they are to bless their fellow-men.  Lord, draw us all in the closet nearer to Thyself and the Father.  Amen.