{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_29296/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_29296","id":"gutenberg_29296","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/29296","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Religion/Spirituality","Intercessory prayer -- Christianity"],"text":"Produced by Heiko Evermann, Nigel Blower and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This\nfile was produced from images generously made available\nby The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n                          THE\n                MINISTRY OF INTERCESSION\n\n                 A PLEA FOR MORE PRAYER\n\n                         BY THE\n\n                    REV. ANDREW MURRAY\n\n                  WELLINGTON, S. AFRICA\n\n                        AUTHOR OF\n          \"THE HOLIEST OF ALL\" \"ABIDE IN CHRIST\"\n           \"WAITING ON GOD\" \"THE LORD'S TABLE\"\n                        ETC. ETC.\n\n    \"I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem,\n    which shall never hold their peace day nor night:\n    ye that are the Lord's remembrancers, keep not\n    silence, and give Him no rest, till He establish,\n    and till He make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.\"\n    ISA. lxii. 6, 7.\n\n                     _THIRD EDITION_\n\n                          London\n                JAMES NISBET & CO. LIMITED\n                   21 BERNERS STREET, W.\n                           1898\n\n\n                        PRINTED BY\n                 MORRISON AND GIBB LIMITED\n                        EDINBURGH\n\n\n\n\n                            TO\n                MY BRETHREN IN THE MINISTRY\n                           AND\n           OTHER FELLOW-LABOURERS IN THE GOSPEL\n\n             WHOM IT WAS MY PRIVILEGE TO MEET\n                  IN THE CONVENTIONS AT\n          LANGLAAGTE, JOHANNESBURG, AND HEILBRON\n               DURBAN AND PIETERMARITZBURG\n           KING WILLIAM'S TOWN, PORT ELIZABETH\n                     AND STELLENBOSCH\n\n                       THIS VOLUME\n               IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED\n\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\nCHAP.                                             PAGE\n\n   I. THE LACK OF PRAYER                             9\n\n  II. THE MINISTRATION OF THE SPIRIT AND PRAYER     20\n\n III. A MODEL OF INTERCESSION                       31\n\n  IV. BECAUSE OF HIS IMPORTUNITY                    43\n\n   V. THE LIFE THAT CAN PRAY                        55\n\n  VI. RESTRAINING PRAYER--IS IT SIN?                67\n\n VII. WHO SHALL DELIVER?                            78\n\nVIII. WILT THOU BE MADE WHOLE?                      91\n\n  IX. THE SECRET OF EFFECTUAL PRAYER               104\n\n   X. THE SPIRIT OF SUPPLICATION                   116\n\n  XI. IN THE NAME OF CHRIST                        129\n\n XII. MY GOD WILL HEAR ME                          143\n\nXIII. PAUL A PATTERN OF PRAYER                     155\n\n XIV. GOD SEEKS INTERCESSORS                       169\n\n  XV. THE COMING REVIVAL                           180\n\n      NOTE A                                       193\n\n      NOTE B                                       194\n\n      NOTE C                                       195\n\n      NOTE D                                       196\n\n      NOTE E                                       198\n\n      NOTE F                                       199\n\n      PRAY WITHOUT CEASING: HELPS TO INTERCESSION  201\n\n\n\n\nTHE MINISTRY OF INTERCESSION\n\n\n      There is no holy service\n        But hath its secret bliss:\n      Yet, of all blessed ministries,\n        Is one so dear as this?\n      The ministry that cannot be\n        A wondering seraph's dower,\n      Enduing mortal weakness\n        With more than angel-power;\n      The ministry of purest love\n        Uncrossed by any fear,\n    That bids us meet  At the Master's feet\n        And keeps us very near.\n\n      God's ministers are many,\n        For this His gracious will,\n      Remembrancers that day and night\n        This holy office fill.\n      While some are hushed in slumber,\n        Some to fresh service wake,\n      And thus the saintly number\n        No change or chance can break.\n      And thus the sacred courses\n        Are evermore fulfilled,\n    The tide of grace  By time or place\n      Is never stayed or stilled.\n\n      Oh, if our ears were opened\n        To hear as angels do\n      The Intercession-chorus\n        Arising full and true,\n      We should hear it soft up-welling\n        In morning's pearly light;\n      Through evening's shadows swelling\n        In grandly gathering might;\n      The sultry silence filling\n        Of noontide's thunderous glow,\n      And the solemn starlight thrilling\n        With ever-deepening flow.\n\n      We should hear it through the rushing\n        Of the city's restless roar,\n      And trace its gentle gushing\n        O'er ocean's crystal floor:\n      We should hear it far up-floating\n        Beneath the Orient moon,\n      And catch the golden noting\n        From the busy Western noon;\n      And pine-robed heights would echo\n        As the mystic chant up-floats,\n    And the sunny plain  Resound again\n        With the myriad-mingling notes.\n\n      Who are the blessed ministers\n        Of this world-gathering band?\n      All who have learnt one language,\n        Through each far-parted land;\n      All who have learnt the story\n        Of Jesu's love and grace,\n      And are longing for His glory\n        To shine in every face.\n      All who have known the Father\n        In Jesus Christ our Lord,\n    And know the might  And love the light\n        Of the Spirit in the Word.\n\n      Yet there are some who see not\n        Their calling high and grand,\n      Who seldom pass the portals,\n        And never boldly stand\n      Before the golden altar\n        On the crimson-stained floor,\n      Who wait afar and falter,\n        And dare not hope for more.\n      Will ye not join the blessed ranks\n        In their beautiful array?\n      Let intercession blend with thanks\n        As ye minister to-day!\n\n      There are little ones among them\n        Child-ministers of prayer,\n      White robes of intercession\n        Those tiny servants wear.\n      First for the near and dear ones\n        Is that fair ministry,\n      Then for the poor black children,\n        So far beyond the sea.\n      The busy hands are folded,\n        As the little heart uplifts\n    In simple love,  To God above,\n        Its prayer for all good gifts.\n\n      There are hands too often weary\n        With the business of the day,\n      With God-entrusted duties,\n        Who are toiling while they pray.\n      They bear the golden vials,\n        And the golden harps of praise\n      Through all the daily trials,\n        Through all the dusty ways,\n      These hands, so tired, so faithful,\n        With odours sweet are filled,\n      And in the ministry of prayer\n        Are wonderfully skilled.\n\n      There are ministers unlettered,\n        Not of Earth's great and wise,\n      Yet mighty and unfettered\n        Their eagle-prayers arise.\n      Free of the heavenly storehouse!\n        For they hold the master-key\n      That opens all the fulness\n        Of God's great treasury.\n      They bring the needs of others,\n        And all things are their own,\n    For their one grand claim  Is Jesu's name\n        Before their Father's throne.\n\n      There are noble Christian workers,\n        The men of faith and power,\n      The overcoming wrestlers\n        Of many a midnight hour;\n      Prevailing princes with their God,\n        Who will not be denied,\n      Who bring down showers of blessing\n        To swell the rising tide.\n      The Prince of Darkness quaileth\n        At their triumphant way,\n      Their fervent prayer availeth\n        To sap his subtle sway.\n\n      But in this temple service\n        Are sealed and set apart\n      Arch-priests of intercession,\n        Of undivided heart.\n      The fulness of anointing\n        On these is doubly shed,\n      The consecration of their God\n        Is on each low-bowed head.\n      They bear the golden vials\n        With white and trembling hand;\n    In quiet room  Or wakeful gloom\n        These ministers must stand,--\n\n      To the Intercession-Priesthood\n        Mysteriously ordained,\n      When the strange dark gift of suffering\n        This added gift hath gained.\n      For the holy hands uplifted\n        In suffering's longest hour\n      Are truly Spirit-gifted\n        With intercession-power.\n      The Lord of Blessing fills them\n        With His uncounted gold,\n    An unseen store,  Still more and more,\n        Those trembling hands shall hold.\n\n      Not always with rejoicing\n        This ministry is wrought,\n      For many a sigh is mingled\n        With the sweet odours brought.\n      Yet every tear bedewing\n        The faith-fed altar fire\n      May be its bright renewing\n        To purer flame, and higher.\n      But when the oil of gladness\n        God graciously outpours,\n    The heavenward blaze,  With blended praise,\n        More mightily upsoars.\n\n      So the incense-cloud ascendeth\n        As through calm, crystal air,\n      A pillar reaching unto heaven\n        Of wreathed faith and prayer.\n      For evermore the Angel\n        Of Intercession stands\n      In His Divine High Priesthood\n        With fragrance-filled hands,\n      To wave the golden censer\n        Before His Father's throne,\n      With Spirit-fire intenser,\n        And incense all His own.\n\n      And evermore the Father\n        Sends radiantly down\n      All-marvellous responses,\n        His ministers to crown;\n      The incense-cloud returning\n        As golden blessing-showers,\n      We in each drop discerning\n        Some feeble prayer of ours,\n      Transmuted into wealth unpriced,\n        By Him who giveth thus\n      The glory all to Jesus Christ,\n        The gladness all to us!\n\nF. R. HAVERGAL.\n\n_September_ 1877.\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\n\nI have been asked by a friend, who heard of this book being published,\nwhat the difference would be between it and the previous one on the same\nsubject, WITH CHRIST IN THE SCHOOL OF PRAYER. An answer to that question\nmay be the best introduction I can give to the present volume.\n\nAny acceptance the former work has had must be attributed, as far as the\ncontents go, to the prominence given to two great truths. The one was,\nthe certainty that prayer will be answered. There is with some an idea\nthat to ask and expect an answer is not the highest form of prayer.\nFellowship with God, apart from any request, is more than supplication.\nAbout the petition there is something of selfishness and bargaining--to\nworship is more than to beg. With others the thought that prayer is so\noften unanswered is so prominent, that they think more of the spiritual\nbenefit derived from the exercise of prayer than the actual gifts to be\nobtained by it. While admitting the measure of truth in these views,\nwhen kept in their true place, THE SCHOOL OF PRAYER points out how our\nLord continually spoke of prayer as a means of obtaining what we desire,\nand how He seeks in every possible way to waken in us the confident\nexpectation of an answer. I was led to show how prayer, in which a man\ncould enter into the mind of God, could assert the royal power of a\nrenewed will, and bring down to earth what without prayer would not have\nbeen given, is the highest proof of his having been made in the likeness\nof God's Son. He is found worthy of entering into fellowship with Him,\nnot only in adoration and worship, but in having his will actually taken\nup into the rule of the world, and becoming the intelligent channel\nthrough which God can fulfil his eternal purpose. The book sought to\nreiterate and enforce the precious truths Christ preaches so\ncontinually: the blessing of prayer is that you can ask and receive what\nyou will: the highest exercise and the glory of prayer is that\npersevering importunity can prevail and obtain what God at first could\nnot and would not give.\n\nWith this truth there was a second one that came out very strongly as we\nstudied the Master's words. In answer to the question, But why, if the\nanswer to prayer is so positively promised, why are there such\nnumberless unanswered prayers? we found that Christ taught us that the\nanswer depended upon certain conditions. He spoke of faith, of\nperseverance, of praying in His Name, of praying in the will of God. But\nall these conditions were summed up in the one central one: \"_If ye\nabide in Me_, ask whatsoever ye will and it shall be done unto you.\" It\nbecame clear that the power to pray the effectual prayer of faith\ndepended _upon the life_. It is only to a man given up to live as\nentirely in Christ and for Christ as the branch in the vine and for the\nvine, that these promises can come true. \"_In that day_,\" Christ said,\nthe day of Pentecost, \"ye shall ask in My Name.\" It is only in a life\nfull of the Holy Spirit that the true power to ask in Christ's Name can\nbe known. This led to the emphasising the truth that the ordinary\nChristian life cannot appropriate these promises. It needs a spiritual\nlife, altogether sound and vigorous, to pray in power. The teaching\nnaturally led to press the need of a life of entire consecration. More\nthan one has told me how it was in the reading of the book that he first\nsaw what the better life was that could be lived, and must be lived, if\nChrist's wonderful promises are to come true to us.\n\nIn regard to these two truths there is no change in the present volume.\nOne only wishes that one could put them with such clearness and force as\nto help every beloved fellow-Christian to some right impression of the\nreality and the glory of our privilege as God's children: \"Ask\nwhatsoever ye will, and it shall be done unto you.\" The present volume\nowes its existence to the desire to enforce two truths, of which\nformerly I had no such impression as now.\n\nThe one is--that Christ actually meant prayer to be the great power by\nwhich His Church should do its work, and that the neglect of prayer is\nthe great reason the Church has not greater power over the masses in\nChristian and in heathen countries. In the first chapter I have stated\nhow my convictions in regard to this have been strengthened, and what\ngave occasion to the writing of the book. It is meant to be, on behalf\nof myself and my brethren in the ministry and all God's people, a\nconfession of shortcoming and of sin, and, at the same time, a call to\nbelieve that things can be different, and that Christ waits to fit us by\nHis Spirit to pray as He would have us. This call, of course, brings me\nback to what I spoke of in connection with the former volume: that there\nis a life in the Spirit, a life of abiding in Christ, within our reach,\nin which the power of prayer--both the power to pray and the power to\nobtain the answer--can be realised in a measure which we could not have\nthought possible before. Any failure in the prayer-life, any desire or\nhope really to take the place Christ has prepared for us, brings us to\nthe very root of the doctrine of grace as manifested in the Christian\nlife. It is only by a full surrender to the life of abiding, by the\nyielding to the fulness of the Spirit's leading and quickening, that the\nprayer-life can be restored to a truly healthy state. I feel deeply how\nlittle I have been able to put this in the volume as I could wish. I\nhave prayed and am trusting that God, who chooses the weak things, will\nuse it for His own glory.\n\nThe second truth which I have sought to enforce is that we have far too\nlittle conception of the place that intercession, as distinguished from\nprayer for ourselves, ought to have in the Church and the Christian\nlife. In intercession our King upon the throne finds His highest glory;\nin it we shall find our highest glory too. Through it He continues His\nsaving work, and can do nothing without it; through it alone we can do\nour work, and nothing avails without it. In it He ever receives from the\nFather the Holy Spirit and all spiritual blessings to impart; in it we\ntoo are called to receive in ourselves the fulness of God's Spirit, with\nthe power to impart spiritual blessing to others. The power of the\nChurch truly to bless rests on intercession--asking and receiving\nheavenly gifts to carry to men. Because this is so, it is no wonder that\nwhere, owing to lack of teaching or spiritual insight, we trust in\nour own diligence and effort, to the influence of the world and the\nflesh, and work more than we pray, the presence and power of God are not\nseen in our work as we would wish.\n\nSuch thoughts have led me to wonder what could be done to rouse\nbelievers to a sense of their high calling in this, and to help and\ntrain them to take part in it. And so this book differs from the former\none in the attempt to open a practising school, and to invite all who\nhave never taken systematic part in the great work of intercession to\nbegin and give themselves to it. There are tens of thousands of workers\nwho have known and are proving wonderfully what prayer can do. But there\nare tens of thousands who work with but little prayer, and as many more\nwho do not work because they do not know how or where, who might all be\nwon to swell the host of intercessors who are to bring down the\nblessings of heaven to earth. For their sakes, and the sake of all who\nfeel the need of help, I have prepared helps and hints for a school of\nintercession for a month (see the Appendix). I have asked those who\nwould join, to begin by giving at least ten minutes a day definitely to\nthis work. It is in doing that we learn to do; it is as we take hold and\nbegin that the help of God's Spirit will come. It is as we daily hear\nGod's call, and at once put it into practice, that the consciousness\nwill begin to live in us, I too am an intercessor; and that we shall\nfeel the need of living in Christ and being full of the Spirit if we are\nto do this work aright. Nothing will so test and stimulate the Christian\nlife as the honest attempt to be an intercessor. It is difficult to\nconceive how much we ourselves and the Church will be the gainers, if\nwith our whole heart we accept the post of honour God is offering us.\nWith regard to the school of intercession, I am confident that the\nresult of the first month's course will be to awake the feeling of how\nlittle we know how to intercede. And a second and a third month may only\ndeepen the sense of ignorance and unfitness. This will be an unspeakable\nblessing. The confession, \"We know not how to pray as we ought,\" is the\nintroduction to the experience, \"The Spirit maketh intercession for\nus\"--our sense of ignorance will lead us to depend upon the Spirit\npraying in us, to feel the need of living in the Spirit.\n\nWe have heard a great deal of systematic Bible study, and we praise God\nfor thousands on thousands of Bible classes and Bible readings. Let all\nthe leaders of such classes see whether they could not open prayer\nclasses--helping their students to pray in secret, and training them to\nbe, above everything, men of prayer. Let ministers ask what they can do\nin this. The faith in God's word can nowhere be so exercised and\nperfected as in the intercession that asks and expects and looks out\nfor the answer. Throughout Scripture, in the life of every saint, of\nGod's own Son, throughout the history of God's Church, God is, first of\nall, a prayer-hearing God. Let us try and help God's children to know\ntheir God, and encourage all God's servants to labour with the\nassurance: the chief and most blessed part of my work is to ask and\nreceive from my Father what I can bring to others.\n\nIt will now easily be understood how what this book contains will be\nnothing but the confirmation and the call to put into practice the two\ngreat lessons of the former one. \"_Ask whatsoever ye will, and it shall\nbe done to you_\"; \"_Whatever ye ask, believe that ye have received_\":\nthese great prayer-promises, as part of the Church's enduement of power\nfor her work, are to be taken as literally and actually true. \"_If ye\nabide in Me, and My words abide in you_\"; \"_In that day ye shall ask in\nMy Name_\": these great prayer-conditions are universal and unchangeable.\nA life abiding in Christ and filled with the Spirit, a life entirely\ngiven up as a branch for the work of the vine, has the power to claim\nthese promises and to pray the effectual prayer that availeth much.\nLord, teach us to pray.\n\nANDREW MURRAY.\n\nWELLINGTON, _1st September 1897_.\n\n\n\n\nA PLEA FOR MORE PRAYER\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I\n\nThe Lack of Prayer\n\n    \"Ye have not, because ye ask not.\"--JAS. iv. 2.\n\n    \"And He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no\n    intercessor.\"--ISA. lix. 16.\n\n    \"There is none that calleth upon Thy name, that stirreth up himself\n    to take hold of Thee.\"--ISA. lxiv. 7.\n\n\nAt our last Wellington Convention for the Deepening of the Spiritual\nLife, in April, the forenoon meetings were devoted to prayer and\nintercession. Great blessing was found, both in listening to what the\nWord teaches of their need and power, and in joining in continued united\nsupplication. Many felt that we know too little of persevering\nimportunate prayer, and that it is indeed one of the greatest needs of\nthe Church.\n\nDuring the past two months I have been attending a number of\nConventions. At the first, a Dutch Missionary Conference at Langlaagte,\nPrayer had been chosen as the subject of the addresses. At the next, at\nJohannesburg, a brother in business gave expression to his deep\nconviction that the great want of the Church of our day was, more of the\nspirit and practice of intercession. A week later we had a Dutch\nMinisterial Conference in the Free State, where three days were spent,\nafter two days' services in the congregation on the work of the Holy\nSpirit, in considering the relation of the Spirit to prayer. At the\nministerial meetings held at most of the succeeding conventions, we were\nled to take up the subject, and everywhere there was the confession: We\npray too little! And with this there appeared to be a fear that, with\nthe pressure of duty and the force of habit, it was almost impossible to\nhope for any great change.\n\nI cannot say what a deep impression was made upon me by these\nconversations. Most of all, by the thought that there should be anything\nlike hopelessness on the part of God's servants as to the prospect of an\nentire change being effected, and real deliverance found from a failure\nwhich cannot but hinder our own joy in God, and our power in His\nservice. And I prayed God to give me words that might not only help to\ndirect attention to the evil, but, specially, that might stir up faith,\nand waken the assurance that God by His Spirit will enable us to pray as\nwe ought.\n\nLet me begin, for the sake of those who have never had their attention\ndirected to the matter, by stating some of the facts that prove how\nuniversal is the sense of shortcoming in this respect.\n\nLast year there appeared a report of an address to ministers by Dr.\nWhyte, of Free St. George's, Edinburgh. In that he said that, as a young\nminister, he had thought that, of the time he had over from pastoral\nvisitation, he ought to spend as much as possible with his books in his\nstudy. He wanted to feed his people with the very best he could prepare\nfor them. But he had now learned that prayer was of more importance than\nstudy. He reminded his brethren of the election of deacons to take\ncharge of the collections, that the twelve might \"give themselves to\nprayer and the ministry of the word,\" and said that at times, when the\ndeacons brought him his salary, he had to ask himself whether he had\nbeen as faithful in his engagement as the deacons had been to theirs.\nHe felt as if it were almost too late to regain what he had lost, and\nurged his brethren to pray more. What a solemn confession and warning\nfrom one of the high places: We pray too little!\n\nDuring the Regent Square Convention two years ago the subject came up in\nconversation with a well-known London minister. He urged that if so much\ntime must be given to prayer, it would involve the neglect of the\nimperative calls of duty \"There is the morning post, before breakfast,\nwith ten or twelve letters which _must_ be answered. Then there are\ncommittee meetings waiting, with numberless other engagements, more than\nenough to fill up the day. It is difficult to see how it can be done.\"\n\nMy answer was, in substance, that it was simply a question of whether\nthe call of God for our time and attention was of more importance than\nthat of man. If God was waiting to meet us, and to give us blessing and\npower from heaven for His work, it was a short-sighted policy to put\nother work in the place which God and waiting on Him should have.\n\nAt one of our ministerial meetings, the superintendent of a large\ndistrict put the case thus: \"I rise in the morning and have half an\nhour with God, in the Word and prayer, in my room before breakfast. I go\nout, and am occupied all day with a multiplicity of engagements. I do\nnot think many minutes elapse without my breathing a prayer for guidance\nor help. After my day's work, I return in my evening devotions and speak\nto God of the day's work. But of the intense, definite, importunate\nprayer of which Scripture speaks one knows little.\" What, he asked, must\nI think of such a life?\n\nWe all know the difference between a man whose profits are just enough\nto maintain his family and keep up his business, and another whose\nincome enables him to extend the business and to help others. There may\nbe an earnest Christian life in which there is prayer enough to keep us\nfrom going back, and just maintain the position we have attained to,\nwithout much of growth in spirituality or Christlikeness. The attitude\nis more defensive, seeking to ward off temptation, than aggressive,\nreaching out after higher attainment. If there is indeed to be a going\nfrom strength to strength, with some large experience of God's power to\nsanctify ourselves and to bring down real blessing on others, there must\nbe more definite and persevering prayer. The Scripture teaching about\ncrying day and night, continuing steadfastly in prayer, watching unto\nprayer, being heard for his importunity, must in some degree become our\nexperience if we are really to be intercessors.\n\nAt the very next Convention the same question was put in somewhat\ndifferent form. \"I am at the head of a station, with a large outlying\ndistrict to care for. I see the importance of much prayer, and yet my\nlife hardly leaves room for it. Are we to submit? Or tell us how we can\nattain to what we desire?\" I admitted that the difficulty was universal.\nI recalled the words of one of our most honoured South African\nmissionaries, now gone to his rest: he had the same complaint. \"In the\nmorning at five the sick people are at the door waiting for medicine. At\nsix the printers come, and I have to set them to work and teach them. At\nnine the school calls me, and till late at night I am kept busy with a\nlarge correspondence.\" In my answer I quoted a Dutch proverb: 'What _is_\nheaviest must _weigh_ heaviest,'--must have the first place. The law of\nGod is unchangeable: as on earth, so in our traffic with heaven, we only\nget as we give. Unless we are willing to pay the price, and sacrifice\ntime and attention and what appear legitimate or necessary duties, for\nthe sake of the heavenly gifts, we need not look for a large experience\nof the power of the heavenly world in our work. The whole company\npresent joined in the sad confession; it had been thought over, and\nmourned over, times without number; and yet, somehow, there they were,\nall these pressing claims, and all the ineffectual resolves to pray\nmore, barring the way. I need not now say to what further thoughts our\nconversation led; the substance of them will be found in some of the\nlater chapters in this volume.\n\nLet me call just one more witness. In the course of my journey I met\nwith one of the Cowley Fathers, who had just been holding Retreats for\nclergy of the English Church. I was interested to hear from him the line\nof teaching he follows. In the course of conversation he used the\nexpression--\"the distraction of business,\" and it came out that he found\nit one of the great difficulties he had to deal with in himself and\nothers. Of himself, he said that by the vows of his Order he was bound\nto give himself specially to prayer. But he found it exceedingly\ndifficult. Every day he had to be at four different points of the town\nhe lived in; his predecessor had left him the charge of a number of\ncommittees where he was expected to do all the work; it was as if\neverything conspired to keep him from prayer.\n\nAll this testimony surely suffices to make clear that prayer has not the\nplace it ought to have in our ministerial and Christian life; that the\nshortcoming is one of which all are willing to make confession; and that\nthe difficulties in the way of deliverance are such as to make a return\nto a true and full prayer-life almost impossible. Blessed be God--\"The\nthings that are impossible with men are possible with God\"! \"God is able\nto make all grace abound toward you, that ye, always having all\nsufficiency in all things, may abound to all good work.\" Do let us\nbelieve that God's call to much prayer need not be a burden and cause of\ncontinual self-condemnation. He means it to be a joy. He can make it an\ninspiration, giving us strength for all our work, and bringing down His\npower to work through us in our fellowmen. Let us not fear to admit to\nthe full the sin that shames us, and then to face it in the name of our\nMighty Redeemer. _The light that shows us our sin and condemns us for\nit, will show us the way out of it, into the life of liberty that is\nwell-pleasing to God._ If we allow this one matter, unfaithfulness in\nprayer, to convict us of the lack in our Christian life which lies at\nthe root of it, God will use the discovery to bring us not only the\npower to pray that we long for, but the joy of a new and healthy life,\nof which prayer is the spontaneous expression.\n\nAnd what is now the way by which our sense of the lack of prayer can be\nmade the means of blessing, the entrance on a path in which the evil may\nbe conquered? How can our intercourse with the Father, in continual\nprayer and intercession, become what it ought to be, if we and the world\naround us are to be blessed? As it appears to me, we must begin by going\nback to God's Word, to study what _the place is God means prayer to\nhave_ in the life of His child and His Church. A fresh sight of what\nprayer is _according to the will of God_, of what our prayers can be,\n_through the grace of God_, will free us from those feeble defective\nviews, in regard to the absolute necessity of continual prayer, which\nlie at the root of our failure. As we get an insight into the\nreasonableness and rightness of this divine appointment, and come under\nthe full conviction of how wonderfully it fits in with God's love and\nour own happiness, we shall be freed from the false impression of its\nbeing an arbitrary demand. We shall with our whole heart and soul\nconsent to it and rejoice in it, as the one only possible way for the\nblessing of heaven to come to earth. All thought of task and burden, of\nself-effort and strain, will pass away in the blessed faith that as\nsimple as breathing is in the healthy natural life, will praying be in\nthe Christian life that is led and filled by the Spirit of God.\n\nAs we occupy ourselves with and accept this teaching of God's Word on\nprayer, we shall be led to see how our failure in the prayer-life was\nowing to failure in the Spirit-life. Prayer is one of the most heavenly\nand spiritual of the functions of the Spirit-life. How could we try or\nexpect to fulfil it so as to please God, except as our soul is in\nperfect health, and our life truly possessed and moved by God's Spirit?\nThe insight into the place God means prayer to take, and which it only\ncan take, in a full Christian life, will show us that we have not been\nliving the true, the abundant life, and that any thought of praying more\nand effectually will be vain, except as we are brought into a closer\nrelation to our Blessed Lord Jesus. Christ is our life, Christ liveth in\nus, in such reality that His life of prayer on earth, and of\nintercession in heaven, is breathed into us in just such measure as our\nsurrender and our faith allow and accept it. Jesus Christ is the Healer\nof all diseases, the Conqueror of all enemies, the Deliverer from all\nsin; if our failure teaches us to turn afresh to Him, and find in Him\nthe grace He gives to pray as we ought, this humiliation may become our\ngreatest blessing. Let us all unite in praying God that He would visit\nour souls and fit us for that work of intercession, which is at this\nmoment the greatest need of the Church and the world. It is only by\nintercession that that power can be brought down from Heaven which will\nenable the Church to conquer the world. Let us stir up the slumbering\ngift that is lying unused, and seek to gather and train and band\ntogether as many as we can, to be God's remembrancers, and to give Him\nno rest till He makes His Church a joy in the earth. Nothing but intense\nbelieving prayer can meet the intense spirit of worldliness, of which\ncomplaint is everywhere made.\n\n\n\n\nA PLEA FOR MORE PRAYER\n\nCHAPTER II\n\nThe Ministration of the Spirit and Prayer\n\n    \"If ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children;\n    how much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to\n    them that ask Him?\"--LUKE xi. 13.\n\n\nChrist had just said (v. 9), \"Ask, and it shall be given\": God's giving\nis inseparably connected with our asking. He applies this especially to\nthe Holy Spirit. As surely as a father on earth gives bread to his\nchild, so God gives the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him. The whole\nministration of the Spirit is ruled by the one great law: God must give,\nwe must ask. When the Holy Spirit was poured out at Pentecost with a\nflow that never ceases, it was in answer to prayer. The inflow into the\nbeliever's heart, and His outflow in the rivers of living water, ever\nstill depend upon the law: \"Ask, and it shall be given.\" In connection\nwith our confession of the lack of prayer, we have said that what we\nneed is some due apprehension of the place it occupies in God's plan of\nredemption; we shall perhaps nowhere see this more clearly than in the\nfirst half of the Acts of the Apostles. The story of the birth of the\nChurch in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and of the first freshness\nof its heavenly life in the power of that Spirit, will teach us how\n_prayer on earth_, whether as cause or effect, _is the true measure of\nthe presence of the Spirit of heaven_.\n\nWe begin with the well-known words (i. 13), \"These all continued with\none accord in prayer and supplication.\" And then there follows: \"And\nwhen the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord\nin one place. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. And the same\nday there were added to them about three thousand souls.\" The great work\nof redemption had been accomplished. The Holy Spirit had been promised\nby Christ \"not many days hence.\" He had sat down on His throne and\nreceived the Spirit from the Father. But all this was not enough. One\nthing more was needed: the ten days' united continued supplication of\nthe disciples. It was intense, continued prayer that prepared the\ndisciples' hearts, that opened the windows of heaven, that brought down\nthe promised gift. As little as the power of the Spirit could be given\nwithout Christ sitting on the throne, _could it descend without the\ndisciples on the footstool of the throne_. For all the ages the law is\nlaid down here, at the birth of the Church, that whatever else may be\nfound on earth, the power of the Spirit must be prayed down from heaven.\nThe measure of believing, continued prayer will be the measure of the\nSpirit's working in the Church. Direct, definite, determined prayer is\nwhat we need.\n\nSee how this is confirmed in chapter iv. Peter and John had been brought\nbefore the Council and threatened with punishment. When they returned to\ntheir brethren, and reported what had been said to them, \"all lifted up\ntheir voice to God with one accord,\" and prayed for boldness to speak\nthe word. \"And when they had prayed, the place was shaken, and they were\nall filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with\nboldness. And the multitude of them that believed were one heart and one\nsoul. And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection\nof the Lord Jesus; and great grace was upon them all.\" It is as if the\nstory of Pentecost is repeated a second time over, with the prayer, the\nshaking of the house, the filling with the Spirit, the speaking God's\nword with boldness and power, the great grace upon all, the\nmanifestation of unity and love--to imprint it ineffaceably on the heart\nof the Church: it is prayer that lies at the root of the spiritual life\nand power of the Church. The measure of God's giving the Spirit is our\nasking. He gives as a father to him who asks as a child.\n\nGo on to the sixth chapter. There we find that, when murmurings arose as\nto the neglect of the Grecian Jews in the distribution of alms, the\napostles proposed the appointment of deacons to serve the tables. \"We,\"\nthey said, \"will give ourselves to prayer and the ministry of the word.\"\nIt is often said, and rightly said, that there is nothing in honest\nbusiness, when it is kept in its place as entirely subordinate to the\nkingdom, which must ever be first, that need prevent fellowship with\nGod. Least of all ought a work like ministering to the poor hinder the\nspiritual life. And yet the apostles felt it would hinder them in their\ngiving themselves to the ministry of prayer and the word. What does\nthis teach? That the maintenance of the spirit of prayer, such as is\nconsistent with the claims of much work, is not enough for those who are\nthe leaders of the Church. To keep up the communication with the King on\nthe throne and the heavenly world clear and fresh; to draw down the\npower and blessing of that world, not only for the maintenance of our\nown spiritual life, but for those around us; continually to receive\ninstruction and empowerment for the great work to be done--the apostles,\nas the ministers of the word, felt the need of being free from other\nduties, that they might give themselves to much prayer. James writes:\n\"Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit\nthe fatherless and widows in their affliction.\" If ever any work were a\nsacred one, it was that of caring for these Grecian widows. And yet,\neven such duties might interfere with the special calling to give\nthemselves to prayer and the ministry of the word. As on earth, so in\nthe kingdom of heaven, there is power in the division of labour; and\nwhile some, like the deacons, had specially to care for serving the\ntables and ministering the alms of the Church here on earth, others had\nto be set free for that steadfast continuance in prayer which would\nuninterruptedly secure the downflow of the powers of the heavenly world.\nThe minister of Christ is set apart to give himself as much to prayer as\nto the ministry of the word. In faithful obedience to this law is the\nsecret of the Church's power and success. As before, so _after\nPentecost_, the apostles were men given up to prayer.\n\nIn chapter viii. we have the intimate connection between the Pentecostal\ngift and prayer, from another point of view. At Samaria, Philip had\npreached with great blessing, and many had believed. But the Holy Ghost\nwas, as yet, fallen on none of them. The apostles sent down Peter and\nJohn to pray for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost. The power\nfor such prayer was a higher gift than preaching--the work of the men\nwho had been in closest contact with the Lord in glory, the work that\nwas essential to the perfection of the life that preaching and baptism,\nfaith and conversion had only begun. Surely of all the gifts of the\nearly Church for which we should long there is none more needed than the\ngift of prayer--prayer that brings down the Holy Ghost on believers.\nThis power is given to the men who say: \"We will give ourselves to\nprayer.\"\n\nIn the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, in the house of Cornelius at\nCaesarea, we have another testimony to the wondrous interdependence of\nthe action of prayer and the Spirit, and another proof of what will come\nto a man who has given himself to prayer. Peter went up at midday to\npray on the housetop. And what happened? He saw heaven opened, and there\ncame the vision that revealed to him the cleansing of the Gentiles; with\nthat came the message of the three men from Cornelius, a man who \"prayed\nalway,\" and had heard from an angel, \"Thy prayers are come up before\nGod\"; and then the voice of the Spirit was heard saying, \"Go with them.\"\nIt is Peter praying, to whom the will of God is revealed, to whom\nguidance is given as to going to Caesarea, and who is brought into\ncontact with a praying and prepared company of hearers. No wonder that\nin answer to all this prayer a blessing comes beyond all expectation,\nand the Holy Ghost is poured out upon the Gentiles. A much-praying\nminister will receive an entrance into God's will he would otherwise\nknow nothing of; will be brought to praying people where he does not\nexpect them; will receive blessing above all he asks or thinks. The\nteaching and the power of the Holy Ghost are alike unalterably linked to\nprayer.\n\nOur next reference will show us faith in the power that the Church's\nprayer has with its glorified King, as it is found, not only in the\napostles, but in the Christian community. In chapter xii. we have the\nstory of Peter in prison on the eve of execution. The death of James had\naroused the Church to a sense of real danger, and the thought of losing\nPeter too, wakened up all its energies. It betook itself to prayer.\n\"Prayer was made of the Church without ceasing to God for him.\" That\nprayer availed much; Peter was delivered. When he came to the house of\nMary, he found \"many gathered together praying.\" Stone walls and double\nchains, soldiers and keepers, and the iron gate, all gave way before the\npower from heaven that prayer brought down to his rescue. The whole\npower of the Roman Empire, as represented by Herod, was impotent in\npresence of the power the Church of the Holy Spirit wielded in prayer.\nThey stood in such close and living communication with their Lord in\nheaven; they knew so well that the words, \"all power is given unto Me,\"\nand \"Lo I am with you alway,\" were absolutely true; they had such faith\nin His promise to hear them whatever they asked--that they prayed in the\nassurance that the powers of heaven could work on earth, and would work\nat their request and on their behalf. The Pentecostal Church believed in\nprayer, and practised it.\n\nJust one more illustration of the place and the blessing of prayer among\nmen filled with the Holy Spirit. In chapter xiii. we have the names of\nfive men at Antioch who had given themselves specially to ministering to\nthe Lord with prayer and fasting. Their giving themselves to prayer was\nnot in vain: as they ministered to the Lord, the Holy Spirit met them,\nand gave them new insight into God's plans. He called them to be\nfellow-workers with Himself; there was a work to which He had called\nBarnabas and Saul; their part and privilege would be to separate these\nmen with renewed fasting and prayer, and to let them go, \"sent forth of\nthe Holy Ghost.\" God in heaven would not send forth His chosen servants\nwithout the co-operation of His Church; men on earth were to have a real\npartnership in the work of God. It was prayer that fitted and prepared\nthem for this; it was to praying men the Holy Ghost gave authority to\ndo His work and use His name. It was to prayer the Holy Ghost was given.\nIt is still prayer that is the only secret of true Church extension,\nthat is guided from heaven to find and send forth God-called and\nGod-empowered men. To prayer the Holy Spirit will show the men He has\nselected; to prayer that sets them apart under His guidance He will give\nthe honour of knowing that they are men, \"sent forth by the Holy Ghost.\"\nIt is prayer which is the link between the King on the throne and the\nChurch at His footstool--the human link that has its divine strength in\nthe power of the Holy Ghost, who comes in answer to it.\n\nAs one looks back upon these chapters in the history of the Pentecostal\nChurch, how clear the two great truths stand out: where there is much\nprayer there will be much of the Spirit; where there is much of the\nSpirit there will be ever-increasing prayer. So clear is the living\nconnection between the two, that when the Spirit is given in answer to\nprayer it ever wakens more prayer to prepare for the fuller revelation\nand communication of His Divine power and grace. If prayer was thus the\npower by which the Primitive Church flourished and triumphed, is it not\nthe one need of the Church of our days? Let us learn what ought to be\ncounted axioms in our Church work:--\n\nHeaven is still as full of stores of spiritual blessing as it was then.\nGod still delights to give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him. Our\nlife and work are still as dependent on the direct impartation of Divine\npower as they were in Pentecostal times. Prayer is still the appointed\nmeans for drawing down these heavenly blessings in power on ourselves\nand those around us. God still seeks for men and women who will, with\nall their other work of ministering, specially give themselves to\npersevering prayer.\n\nAnd we--you, my reader, and I--may have the privilege of offering\nourselves to God to labour in prayer, and bring down these blessings to\nthis earth. Shall we not beseech God to make all this truth so living in\nus that we may not rest till it has mastered us, and our whole heart be\nso filled with it, that the practice of intercession shall be counted by\nus our highest privilege, and we find in it the sure and only measure\nfor blessing on ourselves, on the Church, and on the world?\n\n\n\n\nA PLEA FOR MORE PRAYER\n\nCHAPTER III\n\nA Model of Intercession\n\n    \"And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall\n    go unto him at midnight, and shall say unto him, Friend, lend me\n    three loaves; for a friend of mine is come unto me from a journey,\n    and I have nothing to set before him; and he from within shall\n    answer and say, Trouble me not: I cannot rise and give thee? I say\n    unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his\n    friend, yet, because of his importunity, he will arise and give him\n    as many as he needeth.\"--LUKE xi. 5-8.\n\n    \"I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never\n    hold their peace day nor night: ye that are the Lord's\n    remembrancers, keep not silence, and give Him no rest.\"--ISA. lxii.\n    6, 7.\n\n\nWe have seen in our previous chapter what power prayer has. It is the\none power on earth that commands the power of heaven. The story of the\nearly days of the Church is God's great object-lesson, to teach His\nChurch what prayer can do, how it alone, but it most surely, can draw\ndown the treasures and powers of heaven into the life of earth.\n\nJust remember the lessons we learnt of how prayer is at once\nindispensable and irresistible. Did we not see how unknown and untold\npower and blessing is stored up for us in heaven?--how that power will\nmake us a blessing to men, and fit us to do any work or face any danger?\nhow it is to be sought in prayer continually and persistently? how they\nwho have the heavenly power can pray it down upon others? how in all the\nintercourse of ministers and people, in all the ministrations of\nChrist's Church, it is the one secret of success? how it can defy all\nthe power of the world, and fit men to conquer that world for Christ? It\nis the power of the heavenly life, the power of God's own Spirit, the\npower of Omnipotence, that waits for prayer to bring it down.\n\nIn all this prayer there was little thought of personal need or\nhappiness. It was the desire to witness for Christ and bring Him and His\nsalvation to others, it was the thought of God's kingdom and glory, that\npossessed these disciples. If we would be delivered from the sin of\nrestraining prayer, we must enlarge our hearts for the work of\nintercession. The attempt to pray constantly for ourselves must be a\nfailure; it is in intercession for others that our faith and love and\nperseverance will be aroused, and that power of the Spirit be found\nwhich can fit us for saving men. We are asking how we may become more\nfaithful and successful in prayer; let us see how the Master teaches us,\nin the parable of the Friend at Midnight, that intercession for the\nneedy calls forth the highest exercise of our power of believing and\nprevailing prayer. Intercession is the most perfect form of prayer: it\nis the prayer Christ ever liveth to pray on His throne. Let us learn\nwhat the elements of true intercession are.\n\n1. Notice _the urgent need_: here intercession has its origin. The\nfriend came at midnight--an untimely hour. He was hungry, and could not\nbuy bread. If we are to learn to pray aright we must open eye and heart\nto the need around us.\n\nWe hear continually of the thousand millions of heathen and Mohammedans\nliving in midnight darkness, perishing for lack of the bread of life.\nWe hear of five hundred millions of nominal Christians, the great\nmajority of them almost as ignorant and indifferent as the heathen. We\nsee millions in the Christian Church, not ignorant or indifferent, and\nyet knowing little of a walk in the light of God or in the power of a\nlife fed by bread from heaven. We have each of us our own\ncircles--congregations, schools, friends, missions--in which the great\ncomplaint is that the light and life of God are too little known.\nSurely, if we believe what we profess, that God alone is able to help,\nthat God certainly will help in answer to prayer,--all this need ought\nto make intercessors of us, people who give their lives to prayer for\nthose around them.\n\nLet us take time to consider and realise the need. Each Christless soul\ngoing down into outer darkness, perishing of hunger, with bread enough\nand to spare! Thirty millions a year dying without the knowledge of\nChrist! Our own neighbours and friends, souls intrusted to us, dying\nwithout hope! Christians around us living a sickly, feeble, fruitless\nlife! Surely there is need for prayer. Nothing, nothing but prayer to\nGod for help, will avail.\n\n2. Note _the willing love_.--The friend took his weary, hungry friend\ninto his house, and into his heart too. He did not excuse himself by\nsaying he had no bread: he gave himself at midnight to seek it for him.\nHe sacrificed his night's rest, his comfort, to find the needed bread.\n\"Love seeketh not its own.\" It is the very nature of love to give up and\nforget itself for the sake of others. It takes their needs and makes\nthem its own, it finds its real joy in living and dying for others as\nChrist did.\n\nIt is the love of a mother to her prodigal son that makes her pray for\nhim. True love to souls will become in us the spirit of intercession. It\nis possible to do a great deal of faithful, earnest work for our\nfellowmen without true love to them. Just as a lawyer or a physician,\nfrom a love of his profession and a high sense of faithfulness to duty,\nmay interest himself most thoroughly in clients or patients without any\nspecial love to each, so servants of Christ may give themselves to their\nwork with devotion and even self-sacrificing enthusiasm without the\nChristlike love to souls being strong. It is this lack of love that\ncauses so much shortcoming in prayer. It is as love of our profession\nand work, delight in thoroughness and diligence, sink away in the tender\ncompassion of Christ, that love will compel us to prayer, because we\ncannot rest in our work if souls are not saved. True love must pray.\n\n3. Note _the sense of impotence_.--We often speak of the power of love.\nIn one sense this is true; and yet the truth has its limitations, which\nmust not be forgotten. The strongest love may be utterly impotent. A\nmother might be willing to give her life for her dying child, and yet\nnot be able to save it. The friend at midnight was most willing to give\nhis friend bread, but he had none. It was this sense of impotence, of\nhis inability to help, that sent him a-begging: \"My friend is come to\nme, and _I have nothing_ to set before him.\" It is this sense of\nimpotence with God's servants that is the very strength of the life of\nintercession.\n\n\"I have nothing to set before them\": as this consciousness takes\npossession of the minister or missionary, the teacher or worker,\nintercession will become their only hope and refuge. I may have\nknowledge and truth, a loving heart, and the readiness to give myself\nfor those under my charge; but the bread of heaven I cannot give them.\nWith all my love and zeal, \"I have nothing to set before them.\" Blessed\nthe man who has made that \"I have nothing,\" the motto of his ministry.\nAs he thinks of the judgment day and the danger of souls, as he sees\nwhat a supernatural power and life is needed to save men from sin, as he\nfeels how utterly insufficient all he can ever do is to give them life,\nthat \"_I have nothing_\" urges him to pray. Intercession appears to him,\nas he thinks of the midnight darkness and the hungry souls, as his only\nhope, the one thing in which his love can take refuge.\n\nLet us take the lesson to heart, for a warning to all who are strong and\nwise to work, for the encouragement of all who are feeble. The sense of\nour impotence is the soul of intercession. The simplest, feeblest\nChristian can pray down blessing from an Almighty God.\n\n4. Note _the faith in prayer_.--What he has not himself, another can\nsupply. He has a rich friend near, who will be both able and willing to\ngive the bread. He is sure that if he only asks, he will receive. This\nfaith makes him leave his home at midnight: if he has not the bread\nhimself to give, he can ask another.\n\nIt is this simple, confident faith that God will give, that we need:\nwhere it really exists, there will surely be no mistake about our not\npraying. And in God's word we have everything that can stir and\nstrengthen such faith in us. Just as the heaven our natural eye can see\nis one great ocean of sunshine, with its light and heat, giving beauty\nand fruitfulness to earth, Scripture shows us God's true heaven, filled\nwith all spiritual blessings,--divine light and love and life, heavenly\njoy and peace and power, all shining down upon us. It reveals to us God\nwaiting, delighting to bestow these blessings _in answer to prayer_. By\na thousand promises and testimonies it calls and urges us to believe\nthat prayer will be heard, that what we cannot possibly do ourselves for\nthose whom we want to help, _can be got by prayer_. Surely there can be\nno question as to our believing that prayer will be heard, that through\nprayer the poorest and feeblest can dispense blessings to the needy, and\neach of us, though poor, may yet be making many rich.\n\n5. Note _the importunity that prevails_.--The faith of the friend met a\nsudden and unexpected check: the rich friend refuses to hear--\"I cannot\nrise and give thee.\" How little the loving heart had counted on this\ndisappointment; it cannot consent to accept it. The supplicant presses\nhis threefold plea: here is my needy friend, you have abundance, I am\nyour friend; and refuses to accept a denial. The love that opened his\nhouse at midnight, and then left it to seek help, must win.\n\nThis is the central lesson of the parable. In our intercession we may\nfind that there is difficulty and delay with the answer. It may be as if\nGod says, \"I cannot give thee.\" It is not easy, against all appearances,\nto hold fast our confidence that He will hear, and to persevere in full\nassurance that we shall have what we ask. And yet this is what God looks\nfor from us. He so highly prizes our confidence in Him, it is so\nessentially the highest honour the creature can render the Creator, that\nHe will do anything to train us in the exercise of this trust in Him.\nBlessed the man who is not staggered by God's delay, or silence, or\napparent refusal, but is strong in faith, giving glory to God. Such\nfaith perseveres, importunately, if need be, and cannot fail to inherit\nthe blessing.\n\n6. Note, last, _the certainty of a rich reward_.--\"I say unto you,\nbecause of his importunity, he will give him as many as he needeth.\" Oh\nthat we might learn to believe in the certainty of an abundant answer. A\nprophet said of old: \"Let not your hands be weak; _your work shall be\nrewarded_.\" Would that all who feel it difficult to pray much, would fix\ntheir eye on the recompense of the reward, and in faith learn to count\nupon the Divine assurance that their prayer cannot be vain. If we will\nbut believe in God and His faithfulness, intercession will become to us\nthe very first thing we take refuge in when we seek blessing for others,\nand the very last thing for which we cannot find time. And it will\nbecome a thing of joy and hope, because, all the time we pray, we know\nthat we are sowing seed that will bring forth fruit an hundredfold.\nDisappointment is impossible: \"I say unto you, He will rise and give him\nas many as he needeth.\"\n\nLet all lovers of souls, and all workers in the service of the gospel,\ntake courage. Time spent in prayer will yield more than that given to\nwork. Prayer alone gives work its worth and its success. Prayer opens\nthe way for God Himself to do His work in us and through us. Let our\nchief work, as God's messengers, be intercession: in it we secure the\npresence and power of God to go with us.\n\n\"Which of you shall have a friend at midnight, and shall say to him,\nFriend, lend me three loaves?\" This friend is none other but our God. Do\nlet us learn that in the darkness of midnight, at the most unlikely\ntime, and in the greatest need, when we have to say of those we love and\ncare for, \"I have nothing to set before them,\" we have a rich Friend in\nheaven, the Everlasting God and Father, who only waits to be asked\naright. Let us confess before Him our lack of prayer. Let us admit that\nthe lack of faith, of which it is the proof, is the symptom of a life\nthat is not spiritual, that is yet all too much under the power of self\nand the flesh and the world. Let us in the faith of the Lord Jesus, who\nspake this parable, and Himself waits to make every trait of it true in\nus, give ourselves to be intercessors. Let every sight of souls needing\nhelp, let every stirring of the spirit of compassion, let every sense of\nour own impotence to bless, let every difficulty in the way of our\ngetting an answer, just combine to urge us to do this one thing: with\nimportunity to cry to the God who alone can help, who, in answer to our\nprayer, will help. And let us, if we indeed feel that we have failed, do\nour utmost to train a young generation of Christians, who profit by our\nmistake and avoid it. Moses could not enter the land of Canaan, but\nthere was one thing he could do: he could at God's bidding \"charge\nJoshua, and encourage him, and strengthen him\" (Deut. iii. 28). If it is\ntoo late for us to make good our failure, let us at least encourage\nthose who come after us to enter into the good land, the blessed life of\nunceasing prayer.\n\nThe Model Intercessor is the Model Christian Worker. First to get from\nGod, and then to give to men what we ourselves secure from day to day,\nis the secret of successful work. Between our Impotence and God's\nOmnipotence intercession is the blessed link.\n\n\n\n\nA PLEA FOR MORE PRAYER\n\nCHAPTER IV\n\nBecause of His Importunity\n\n    \"I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is\n    his friend, yet _because of his importunity_ he will arise and give\n    him as many as he needeth.\"--LUKE xi. 8.\n\n    \"And He spake a parable unto them, to the end, they ought always to\n    pray and not to faint.... Hear what the unrighteous judge saith. And\n    shall not God avenge His own elect, which _cry to Him day and\n    night_, and _He is long-suffering with them_? I tell you that He\n    will avenge them speedily.\"--LUKE xviii. 1-8.\n\n\nOur Lord Jesus thought it of such importance that we should know the\nneed of perseverance and importunity in prayer, that He spake two\nparables to teach us this. This is proof sufficient that in this aspect\nof prayer we have at once its greatest difficulty and its highest power.\nHe would have us know that in prayer all will not be easy and smooth; we\nmust expect difficulties, which can only be conquered by persistent,\ndetermined perseverance.\n\nIn the parables our Lord represents the difficulty as existing on the\nside of the persons to whom the petition was addressed, and the\nimportunity as needed to overcome their reluctance to hear. In our\nintercourse with God the difficulty is not on His side, but on ours. In\nconnection with the first parable He tells us that our Father is more\nwilling to give good things to those who ask Him than any earthly father\nto give his child bread. In the second, He assures us that God longs to\navenge His elect speedily. The need of urgent prayer cannot be because\nGod must be made willing or disposed to bless: the need lies altogether\nin ourselves. But because it was not possible to find any earthly\nillustration of a loving father or a willing friend from whom the needed\nlesson of importunity could be taught, He takes the unwilling friend and\nthe unjust judge to encourage in us the faith, that perseverance can\novercome every obstacle.\n\nThe difficulty is not in God's love or power, but in ourselves and our\nown incapacity to receive the blessing. And yet, because there is this\ndifficulty with us, this lack of spiritual preparedness, there is a\ndifficulty with God too. His wisdom, His righteousness, yea His love,\ndare not give us what would do us harm, if we received it too soon or\ntoo easily. The sin, or the consequence of sin, that makes it impossible\nfor God to give at once, is a barrier on God's side as well as ours; to\nbreak through this power of sin in ourselves, or those for whom we pray,\nis what makes the striving and the conflict of prayer such a reality.\nAnd so in all ages men have prayed, and that rightly too, under a sense\nthat there were difficulties in the heavenly world to overcome. As they\npleaded with God for the removal of the unknown obstacles, and in that\npersevering supplication were brought into a state of utter brokenness\nand helplessness, of entire resignation to Him, of union with His will,\nand of faith that could take hold of Him, the hindrances in themselves\nand in heaven were together overcome. As God conquered them, they\nconquered God. As God prevails over us, we prevail with God.\n\nGod has so constituted us that the clearer our insight is into the\nreasonableness of a demand, the more hearty will be our surrender to it.\nOne great cause of our remissness in prayer is that there appears to be\nsomething arbitrary, or at least something incomprehensible, in the call\nto such continued prayer. If we could be brought to see that this\napparent difficulty is a Divine necessity, and in the very nature of\nthings the source of unspeakable blessing, we should be more ready with\ngladness of heart to give ourselves to continue in prayer. Let us see if\nwe cannot understand how the difficulty that the call to importunity\nthrows in our way is one of our greatest privileges.\n\nI do not know whether you have ever noticed what a part difficulties\nplay in our natural life. They call out man's powers as nothing else\ncan. They strengthen and ennoble character. We are told that one reason\nof the superiority of the Northern nations, like Holland and Scotland,\nin strength of will and purpose, over those of the sunny South, as Italy\nand Spain, is that the climate of the latter has been too beautiful, and\nthe life it encourages too easy and relaxing--the difficulties the\nformer had to contend with have been their greatest boon; how all nature\nhas been so arranged by God that in sowing and reaping, as in seeking\ncoal or gold, nothing is found without labour and effort. What is\neducation but a daily developing and disciplining of the mind by new\ndifficulties presented to the pupil to overcome? The moment a lesson has\nbecome easy, the pupil is moved on to one that is higher and more\ndifficult. With the race and the individual, it is in the meeting and\nthe mastering of difficulties that our highest attainments are found.\n\nIt is even so in our intercourse with God. Just imagine what the result\nwould be if the child of God had only to kneel down and ask, and get,\nand go away. What unspeakable loss to the spiritual life would ensue. It\nis in the difficulty and delay that calls for persevering prayer, that\nthe true blessing and blessedness of the heavenly life will be found. We\nthere learn how little we delight in fellowship with God, and how little\nwe have of living faith in Him. We discover how earthly and unspiritual\nour heart still is, how little we have of God's Holy Spirit. We there\nare brought to know our own weakness and unworthiness, and to yield to\nGod's Spirit to pray in us, to take our place in Christ Jesus, and abide\nin Him as our only plea with the Father. There our own will and strength\nand goodness are crucified. There we rise in Christ to newness of life,\nwith our whole will dependent on God and set upon His glory. Do let us\nbegin to praise God for the need and the difficulty of importunate\nprayer, as one of His choicest means of grace.\n\nJust think what our Lord Jesus owed to the difficulties in His path. In\nGethsemane it was as if the Father would not hear: He prayed yet more\nearnestly, until \"He was heard.\" In the way He opened up for us, He\nlearned obedience by the things He suffered, and so was made perfect;\nHis will was given up to God; His faith in God was proved and\nstrengthened; the prince of this world, with all his temptation, was\novercome. This is the new and living way He consecrated for us; it is in\npersevering prayer we walk with and are made partakers of His very\nSpirit. Prayer is one form of crucifixion, of our fellowship with\nChrist's Cross, of our giving up our flesh to the death. O Christians!\nshall we not be ashamed of our reluctance to sacrifice the flesh and our\nown will and the world, as it is seen in our reluctance to pray much?\nShall we not learn the lesson which nature and Christ alike teach? The\ndifficulty of importunate prayer is our highest privilege; the\ndifficulties to be overcome in it bring us our richest blessings.\n\nIn importunity there are various elements. Of these the chief are\nperseverance, determination, intensity. It begins with the refusal to at\nonce accept a denial. It grows to the determination to persevere, to\nspare no time or trouble, till an answer comes. It rises to the\nintensity in which the whole being is given to God in supplication, and\nthe boldness comes to lay hold of God's strength. At one time it is\nquiet and restful; at another passionate and bold. Now it takes time and\nis patient; then again it claims at once what it desires. In whatever\ndifferent shape, it always means and knows--God hears prayer: I must be\nheard.\n\nRemember the wonderful instances we have of it in the Old Testament\nsaints. Think of Abraham, as he pleads for Sodom. Time after time he\nrenews his prayer until the sixth time he has to say, \"Let not my Lord\nbe angry.\" He does not cease until he has learnt to know God's\ncondescension in each time consenting to his petition, until he has\nlearnt how far he can go, has entered into God's mind, and now rests in\nGod's will. And for his sake Lot was saved. \"God remembered Abraham,\nand delivered Lot out of the midst of the overthrow.\" And shall not we,\nwho have a redemption and promises for the heathen which Abraham never\nknew, begin to plead more with God on their behalf.\n\nThink of Jacob, when he feared to meet Esau. The angel of the Lord met\nhim in the dark, and wrestled with him. And when the angel saw that he\nprevailed not, he said, \"Let me go.\" And Jacob said, \"I will not let\nthee go.\" And he blessed him there. And that boldness that said, \"I will\nnot,\" and forced from the reluctant angel the blessing, was so pleasing\nin God's sight, that a new name was there given to him: \"Israel, he who\nstriveth with God, for thou hast striven with God and with men, and hast\nprevailed.\" And through all the ages God's children have understood,\nwhat Christ's two parables teach, that God holds Himself back, and seeks\nto get away from us, until what is of flesh and self and sloth in us is\novercome, and we so prevail with Him that He can and must bless us. Oh!\nwhy is it that so many of God's children have no desire for this\nhonour--being princes of God, strivers with God, and prevailing? What\nour Lord taught us, \"What things soever ye desire, _believe that ye\nhave received_,\" is nothing but His putting of Jacob's words, \"I will\nnot let Thee go except thou bless me.\" This is the importunity He\nteaches, and we must learn: to claim and take the blessing.\n\nThink of Moses when Israel had made the golden calf. Moses returned to\nthe Lord and said, \"Oh, this people have sinned a great sin. Yet now, if\nThou wilt forgive their sin--; and if not, blot me, I pray Thee, out of\nThy book which Thou hast written.\" That was importunity, that would\nrather die than not have his people given him. Then, when God had heard\nhim, and said He would send His angel with the people, Moses came again,\nand would not be content until, in answer to his prayer that God Himself\nshould go with them (xxxiii. 12, 17, 18), He had said, \"I will do this\nthing also that thou hast spoken.\" After that, when in answer to his\nprayer, \"Show me Thy glory,\" God made His goodness pass before him, he\nat once again began pleading, \"Let my Lord, I pray Thee, go among us.\"\nAnd he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights (Ex. xxxiv.\n28). Of these days he says, \"I fell down before the Lord, as at the\nfirst, forty days and forty nights, I did neither eat bread, nor drink\nwater, because of all your sin which ye sinned.\" As an intercessor Moses\nused importunity with God, and prevailed. He proves that the man who\ntruly lives near to God, and with whom God speaks face to face, becomes\npartaker of that same power of intercession which there is in Him who is\nat God's right hand and ever lives to pray.\n\nThink of Elijah in his prayer, first for fire, and then for rain. In the\nformer you have the importunity that claims and receives an immediate\nanswer. In the latter, bowing himself down to the earth, his face\nbetween his knees, his answer to the servant who had gone to look toward\nthe sea, and come with the message, \"There is nothing,\" was \"Go again\nseven times.\" Here was the importunity of perseverance. He had told Ahab\nthere would be rain; he knew it was coming; and yet he prayed till the\nseven times were fulfilled. And it is of this Elijah and this prayer we\nare taught, \"Pray for one another. Elijah was a man of like passions\nwith ourselves. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth\nmuch.\" Will there not be some who feel constrained to cry out, \"Where is\nthe Lord God of Elijah?\"--this God who draws forth such effectual\nprayer, and hears it so wonderfully. His name be praised: He is still\nthe same. Let His people but believe that He still waits to be inquired\nof! Faith in a prayer-hearing God will make a prayer-loving Christian.\n\nWe remember the marks of the true intercessor as the parable taught us\nthem. A sense of the need of souls; a Christlike love in the heart; a\nconsciousness of personal impotence; faith in the power of prayer;\ncourage to persevere in spite of refusal; and the assurance of an\nabundant reward;--these are the dispositions that constitute a Christian\nan intercessor, and call forth the power of prevailing prayer. These are\nthe dispositions that constitute the beauty and the health of the\nChristian life, that fit a man for being a blessing in the world, that\nmake him a true Christian worker, who does indeed get from God the bread\nof heaven to dispense to the hungry. These are the dispositions that\ncall forth the highest, the heroic virtues of the life of faith. There\nis nothing to which the nobility of natural character owes so much as\nthe spirit of enterprise and daring which in travel or war, in politics\nor science, battles with difficulties and conquers. No labour or expense\nis grudged for the sake of victory. And shall we who are Christians not\nbe able to face the difficulties that we meet in prayer? It is as we\n\"labour\" and \"strive\" in prayer that the renewed will asserts its royal\nright to claim in the name of Christ what it will, and wields its\nGod-given power to influence the destinies of men. Shall men of the\nworld sacrifice ease and pleasure in their pursuits, and shall we be\nsuch cowards and sluggards as not to fight our way through to the place\nwhere we can find liberty for the captive and salvation for the\nperishing? Let each servant of Christ learn to know his calling. His\nKing ever lives to pray. The Spirit of the King ever lives in us to\npray. It is from heaven the blessings, which the world needs, must be\ncalled down in persevering, importunate, believing prayer. It is from\nheaven, in answer to prayer, the Holy Spirit will take complete\npossession of us to do His work through us. Let us acknowledge how vain\nour much work has been owing to our little prayer. Let us change our\nmethod, and let henceforth more prayer, much prayer, unceasing prayer,\nbe the proof that we look for all to God, and that we believe that He\nheareth us.\n\n\n\n\nA PLEA FOR MORE PRAYER\n\nCHAPTER V\n\nThe Life that can Pray\n\n    \"_If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you_, ask whatsoever ye\n    will, and it shall be done unto you.\"--JOHN xv. 7.\n\n    \"The supplication of _a righteous man_ availeth much in its\n    working.\"--JAMES v. 16.\n\n    \"Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, we have boldness toward God;\n    and whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, _because_ we keep His\n    commandments, and do the things that are pleasing in His sight.\"--1\n    JOHN iii. 21, 22.\n\n\nHere on earth the influence of one who asks a favour for others depends\nentirely on his character, and the relationship he bears to him with\nwhom he is interceding. It is what he is that gives weight to what he\nasks. It is no otherwise with God. Our power in prayer depends upon our\nlife. Where our life is right we shall know how to pray so as to please\nGod, and prayer will secure the answer. The texts quoted above all point\nin this direction. \"_If ye abide in Me_,\" our Lord says, ye shall ask,\nand it shall be done unto you. It is the prayer of _a righteous man_,\naccording to James, that availeth much. We receive whatsoever we ask,\nJohn says, _because_ we obey and please God. All lack of power to pray\naright and perseveringly, all lack of power in prayer with God, points\nto some lack in the Christian life. It is as we learn to live the life\nthat pleases God, that God will give what we ask. Let us learn from our\nLord Jesus, in the parable of the vine, what the healthy, vigorous life\nis that may ask and receive what it will. Hear His voice, \"If ye abide\nin Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it\nshall be done unto you.\" And again at the close of the parable: \"Ye did\nnot choose Me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that you should go\nand bear fruit, and that your fruit should abide: that _whatsoever ye\nshall ask_ the Father in My name, _He may give it you_.\"\n\nAnd what is now, according to the parable, the life that one must lead\nto bear fruit, and then ask and receive what we will? What is it we are\nto be or do, that will enable us to pray as we should, and to receive\nwhat we ask? The answer is in one word: it is the branch-life that gives\npower for prayer. We are branches of Christ, the Living Vine. We must\nsimply live like branches, and abide in Christ, then we shall ask what\nwe will, and it shall be done unto us.\n\nWe all know what a branch is, and what its essential characteristic. It\nis simply a growth of the vine, produced by it and appointed to bear\nfruit. It has only one reason of existence; it is there at the bidding\nof the vine, that through it the vine may bear and ripen its precious\nfruit. Just as the vine only and solely and wholly lives to produce the\nsap that makes the grape, so the branch has no other aim and object but\nthis alone, to receive that sap and bear the grape. Its only work is to\nserve the vine, that through it the vine may do its work.\n\nAnd the believer, the branch of Christ the Heavenly Vine, is it to be\nunderstood that he is as literally, as exclusively, to live only that\nChrist may bear fruit through him? Is it meant that a true Christian as\na branch is to be just as absorbed in and devoted to the work of bearing\nfruit to the glory of God as Christ the Vine was on earth, and is now in\nheaven? This, and nothing less, is indeed what is meant. It is to such\nthat the unlimited prayer promises of the parable are given. It is the\nbranch-life, existing solely for the Vine, that will have the power to\npray aright. With our life abiding in Him, and His words abiding, kept\nand obeyed, in our heart and life, transmuted into our very being, there\nwill be the grace to pray aright, and the faith to receive the\nwhatsoever we will.\n\nDo let us connect the two things, and take them both in their simple,\nliteral truth, and their infinite, divine grandeur. The promises of our\nLord's farewell discourse, with their wonderful six-fold repetition of\nthe unlimited, _anything, whatsoever_ (John xiv. 13, 14; xv. 7, 16; xvi.\n23, 24), appear to us altogether too large to be taken literally, and\nthey are qualified down to meet our human ideas of what appears seemly.\nIt is because we separate them from that life of absolute and unlimited\ndevotion to Christ's service to which they were given. God's covenant\nis ever: Give all and take all. He that is willing to be wholly branch,\nand nothing but branch, who is ready to place himself absolutely at the\ndisposal of Jesus the Vine of God, to bear His fruit through him, and to\nlive every moment only for Him, will receive a Divine liberty to claim\nChrist's _whatsoever_ in all its fulness, and a Divine wisdom and\nhumility to use it aright. He will live and pray, and claim the Father's\npromises, even as Christ did, only for God's glory in the salvation of\nmen. He will use his boldness in prayer only with a view to power in\nintercession, and getting men blessed. The unlimited devotion of the\nbranch-life to fruitbearing, and the unlimited access to the treasures\nof the Vine life, are inseparable. It is the life abiding wholly in\nChrist that can pray the effectual prayer in the name of Christ.\n\nJust think for a moment of the men of prayer in Scripture, and see in\nthem what the life was that could pray in such power. We spoke of\nAbraham as intercessor. What gave Him such boldness? He knew that God\nhad chosen and called him away from his home and people to walk before\nHim, that all nations might be blessed in him. He knew that he had\nobeyed, and forsaken all for God. Implicit obedience, to the very\nsacrifice of his son, was the law of his life. He did what God asked: he\ndared trust God to do what he asked. We spoke of Moses as intercessor.\nHe too had forsaken all for God, \"counting the reproach of Christ\ngreater riches than all the treasures of Egypt.\" He lived at God's\ndisposal: \"as a servant he was faithful in all His house.\" How often it\nis written of him, \"According to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so\ndid he.\" No wonder that he was very bold: his heart was right with God:\nhe knew God would hear him. No less true is this of Elijah, the man who\nstood up to plead for the Lord God of Israel. The man who is ready to\nrisk all for God can count upon God to do all for him.\n\nIt is as men live that they pray. It is the life that prays. It is the\nlife that, with whole-hearted devotion, gives up all for God and to God,\nthat can claim all from God. Our God longs exceedingly to prove Himself\nthe Faithful God and Mighty Helper of His people. He only waits for\nhearts wholly turned from the world to Himself, and open to receive His\ngifts. The man who loses all will find all; he dare ask and take it.\nThe branch that only and truly lives abiding in Christ, the Heavenly\nVine, entirely given up, like Christ, to bear fruit in the salvation of\nmen, and has His words taken up into and abiding in its life, may and\ndare ask what it will--it shall be done. And where we have not yet\nattained to that full devotion to which our Lord had trained His\ndisciples, and cannot equal them in their power of prayer, we may,\nnevertheless, take courage in remembering that, even in the lower stages\nof the Christian life, every new onward step in the striving after the\nperfect branch-life, and every surrender to live for others in\nintercession, will be met from above by a corresponding liberty to draw\nnigh with greater boldness, and expect larger answers. The more we pray,\nand the more conscious we become of our unfitness to pray in power, the\nmore we shall be urged and helped to press on towards the secret of\npower in prayer--a life abiding in Christ entirely at His disposal.\n\nAnd if any are asking, with somewhat of a despair of attainment, what\nthe reason may be of the failure in this blessed branch-life, so simple\nand yet so mighty, and how they can come to it, let me point them to\none of the most precious lessons of the parable of the Vine. It is one\nthat is all too little noticed. Jesus spake, \"I am the true Vine, _and\nmy Father is the Husbandman_.\" We have not only Himself, the glorified\nSon of God, in His divine fulness, out of whose fulness of life and\ngrace we can draw,--this is very wonderful,--but there is something more\nblessed still. We have the Father, as the Husbandman, watching over our\nabiding in the Vine, over our growth and fruitbearing. It is not left to\nour faith or our faithfulness to maintain our union with Christ: the\nGod, who is the Father of Christ, and who united us with Him,--God\nHimself will see to it that the branch is what it should be, will enable\nus to bring forth just the fruit we were appointed to bear. Hear what\nChrist said of this, \"Every branch that beareth fruit, He cleanseth it,\nthat it may bear more fruit.\" More fruit is what the Father seeks; more\nfruit is what the Father will Himself provide. It is for this that He,\nas the Vinedresser, cleanses the branches.\n\nJust think a moment what this means. It is said that of all fruitbearing\nplants on earth there is none that produces fruit so full of spirit,\nfrom which spirit can be so abundantly distilled, as the vine. And of\nall fruitbearing plants there is none that is so ready to run into wild\nwood, and for which pruning and cleansing are so indispensable. The one\ngreat work that a vinedresser has to do for the branch every year is to\nprune it. Other plants can for a time dispense with it, and yet bear\nfruit: the vine _must_ have it. And so the one thing the branch that\ndesires to abide in Christ and bring forth much fruit, and to be able to\nask whatsoever it will, must do, is to trust in and yield itself to this\nDivine cleansing. What is it that the vinedresser cuts away with his\npruning-knife? Nothing but the wood that the branch has produced--true,\nhonest wood, with the true vine nature in it. This must be cut away. And\nwhy? Because it draws away the strength and life of the vine, and\nhinders the flow of the juice to the grape. The more it is cut down, the\nless wood there is in the branch, the more all the sap can go to the\ngrape. The wood of the branch must decrease, that the fruit for the vine\nmay increase; in obedience to the law of all nature, that death is the\nway to life, that gain comes through sacrifice, the rich and luxuriant\ngrowth of wood must be cut off and cast away, that the life more\nabundant may be seen in the cluster.\n\nEven so, child of God, branch of the Heavenly Vine, there is in thee\nthat which appears perfectly innocent and legitimate, and which yet so\ndraws out thy interest and thy strength, that it must be pruned and\ncleansed away. We saw what power in prayer men like Abraham and Moses\nand Elijah had, and we know what fruit they bore. But we also know what\nit cost them; how God had to separate them from their surroundings, and\never again to draw them from any trust in themselves, to seek their life\nin Him alone. It is only as our own will, and strength and effort and\npleasure, even where these appear perfectly natural and sinless, are cut\ndown, so that the whole energies of our being are free and open to\nreceive the sap of the Heavenly Vine, the Holy Spirit, that we shall\nbear much fruit. It is in the surrender of what nature holds fast, it is\nin the full and willing submission to God's holy pruning-knife, that we\nshall come to what Christ chose and appointed us for--to bear fruit,\nthat whatsoever we ask the Father in Christ's name, He may give to us.\n\nWhat the pruning-knife is, Christ tells us in the next verse. \"Ye are\n_clean through the word_ which I have spoken to you.\" As He says later,\n\"Sanctify them through Thy truth; Thy word is truth.\" \"The word of God\nis sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing of\nsoul and spirit.\" What heart-searching words Christ had spoken to His\ndisciples on love and humility, on being the least, and, like Himself,\nthe servant of all, on denying self, and taking the cross, and losing\nthe life. Through His word the Father had cleansed them, cut away all\nconfidence in themselves or the world, and prepared them for the\ninflowing and filling of the Spirit of the Heavenly Vine. It is not we\nwho can cleanse ourselves: God is the Vinedresser: we may confidently\nintrust ourselves to His care.\n\nBeloved brethren,--ministers, missionaries, teachers, workers, believers\nold and young,--are you mourning your lack of prayer, and, as a\nconsequence, your lack of power in prayer? Oh! come and listen to your\nbeloved Lord as He tells you, \"only be a branch, united to, identified\nwith, the Heavenly Vine, and your prayers will be effectual and much\navailing.\" Are you mourning that just this is your trouble--you do not,\ncannot, live this branch-life, abiding in Him? Oh! come and listen\nagain. \"_More fruit_\" is not only your desire, but the Father's too. He\nis the Husbandman who cleanseth the fruitful branch, that it may bear\nmore fruit. Cast yourself upon God, to do in you what is impossible to\nman. Count upon a Divine cleansing, to cut down and take away all that\nself-confidence and self-effort, that has been the cause of your\nfailure. The God who gave you His beloved Son to be your Vine, who made\nyou His branch, will He not do His work of cleansing to make you\nfruitful in every good work, in the work of prayer and intercession too?\n\nHere is the life that can pray. A branch entirely given up to the Vine\nand its aims, with all responsibility for its cleansing cast on the\nVinedresser; a branch abiding in Christ, trusting and yielding to God\nfor His cleansing, can bear much fruit. In the power of such a life we\nshall love prayer, we shall know how to pray, we shall pray, and receive\nwhatsoever we ask.\n\n\n\n\nA PLEA FOR MORE PRAYER\n\nCHAPTER VI\n\nRestraining Prayer: is it Sin?\n\n    \"Thou restrainest prayer before God.\"--JOB xv. 4.\n\n    \"What profit should we have, if we pray unto Him?\"--JOB xxi. 15.\n\n    \"God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray\n    for you.\"--1 SAM. xii. 23.\n\n    \"Neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed\n    from among you.\"--JOSH. vii. 12.\n\n\nAny deep quickening of the spiritual life of the Church will always be\naccompanied by a deeper sense of sin. This will not begin with theology;\nthat can only give expression to what God works in the life of His\npeople. Nor does it mean that that deeper sense of sin will only be seen\nin stronger expressions of self-reproach or penitence: that is sometimes\nfound to consist with a harbouring of sin, and unbelief as to\ndeliverance. But the true sense of the hatefulness of sin, the hatred\nof it, will be proved by the intensity of desire for deliverance, and\nthe struggle to know to the very utmost what God can do in saving from\nit--a holy jealousy, in nothing to sin against God.\n\nIf we are to deal effectually with the lack of prayer we must look at it\nfrom this point of view and ask, Restraining prayer, is it sin? And if\nit be, how is it to be dealt with, to be discovered, and confessed, and\ncast out by man, and cleansed away by God? Jesus is a Saviour from sin.\nIt is only as we know sin truly that we can truly know the power that\nsaves from sin. The life that can pray effectually is the life of the\ncleansed branch--the life that knows deliverance from the power of self.\nTo see that our prayer-sins are indeed sins, is the first step to a true\nand Divine deliverance from them.\n\nIn the story of Achan we have one of the strongest proofs in Scripture\nthat it is sin that robs God's people of His blessing, and that God will\nnot tolerate it; and at the same time the clearest indication of the\nprinciples under which God deals with it, and removes it. Let us see in\nthe light of the story if we can learn how to look at the sin of\nprayerlessness, and at the sinfulness that lies at the root of it. The\nwords I have quoted above, \"Neither will I be with you any more, except\nye put away the accursed thing from among you,\" take us into the very\nheart of the story, and suggest a series of the most precious lessons\naround the truth they express, that the presence of sin makes the\npresence of God impossible.\n\n1. _The presence of God is the great privilege of God's people, and\ntheir only power against the enemy._--God had promised to Moses, _I will\nbring you in_ unto the land. Moses proved that he understood this when\nGod, after the sin of the golden calf, spoke of withdrawing His presence\nand sending an angel. He refused to accept anything less than God's\npresence. \"For whereby shall it be known that I and Thy people have\nfound grace in Thy sight? Is it not that _Thou goest with us_?\" It was\nthis gave Caleb and Joshua their confidence: The Lord is with us. It was\nthis gave Israel their victory over Jericho: the presence of God. This\nis throughout Scripture the great central promise: I am with thee. This\nmarks off the whole-hearted believer from the worldling and worldly\nChristians around him: he lives consciously hidden in the secret of\nGod's presence.\n\n2. _Defeat and failure are always owing to the loss of God's\npresence._--It was thus at Ai. God had brought His people into Canaan\nwith the promise to give them the land. When the defeat at Ai took place\nJoshua felt at once that the cause must be in the withdrawal of God's\npower. He had not fought for them. His presence had been withheld.\n\nIn the Christian life and the work of the Church, defeat is ever a sign\nof the loss of God's presence. If we apply this to our failure in the\nprayer-life, and as a result of that to our failure in work for God, we\nare led to see that all is simply owing to our not standing in clear and\nfull fellowship with God. His nearness, His immediate presence, has not\nbeen the chief thing sought after and trusted in. He could not work in\nus as He would. Loss of blessing and power is ever caused by the loss of\nGod's presence.\n\n3. _The loss of God's presence is always owing to some hidden\nsin._--Just as pain is ordered in nature to warn of some hidden evil in\nthe system, defeat is God's voice telling us there is something wrong.\nHe has given Himself so wholly to His people, He delights so in being\nwith them, and would so fain reveal in them His love and power, that He\nnever withdraws Himself unless they compel Him by sin.\n\nThroughout the Church there is a complaint of defeat. The Church has so\nlittle power over the masses, or the educated classes. Powerful\nconversions are comparatively rare. The fewness of holy, consecrated,\nspiritual Christians, devoted to the service of God and their fellowmen,\nis felt everywhere. The power of the Church for the preaching of the\ngospel to the heathen is paralysed by the scarcity of money and men; and\nall owing to the lack of the effectual prayer which brings the Holy\nSpirit in power, first on ministers and believers, then on missionaries\nand the heathen. Can we deny it that the lack of prayer is the sin on\naccount of which God's presence and power are not more manifestly seen\namong us?\n\n4. _God Himself will discover the hidden sin._--We may think we know\nwhat the sin is: it is only God who can discover its real deep meaning.\nWhen He spoke to Joshua, before naming the sin of Achan, God first said,\n\"They have transgressed My covenant which I commanded them.\" God had\ncommanded (vi. 19) that all the booty of Jericho, gold and silver and\nall that was in it, was to be a devoted thing, consecrated unto the\nLord, and to come into His treasury. And Israel had broken this\nconsecration vow: it had not given God His due; it had robbed God.\n\nIt is this we need: God must discover to us how the lack of prayer is\nthe indication of unfaithfulness to our consecration vow, that God\nshould have all our heart and life. We must see that this restraining\nprayer, with the excuses we make for it, is greater sin than we have\nthought; for what does it mean? That we have little taste or relish for\nfellowship with God; that our faith rests more on our own work and\nefforts than on the power of God; that we have little sense of the\nheavenly blessing God waits to shower down; that we are not ready to\nsacrifice the ease and confidence of the flesh for persevering waiting\non God; that the spirituality of our life, and our abiding in Christ, is\naltogether too feeble to make us prevail in prayer. When the pressure of\nwork for Christ is allowed to be the excuse for our not finding time to\nseek and secure His own presence and power in it, as our chief need, it\nsurely proves that there is no right sense of our absolute dependence\nupon God; no deep apprehension of the Divine and supernatural work of\nGod in which we are only His instruments, no true entrance into the\nheavenly, altogether other-worldly, character of our mission and aims,\nno full surrender to and delight in Christ Jesus Himself.\n\nIf we were to yield to God's Spirit to show us that all this is in very\ndeed the meaning of remissness in prayer, and of our allowing other\nthings to crowd it out, all our excuses would fall away, and we should\nfall down and cry, \"We have sinned! we have sinned!\" Samuel once said,\n\"As for me, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to\npray for you.\" Ceasing from prayer is sin against God. May God discover\nthis to us. (Note A.)\n\n5. _When God discovers sin, it must be confessed and cast out._--When\nthe defeat at Ai came, Joshua and Israel were ignorant of the cause. God\ndealt with Israel as a nation, as one body, and the sin of one member\nwas visited on all. Israel as a whole was ignorant of the sin, and yet\nsuffered for it. The Church may be ignorant of the greatness of this sin\nof restraining prayer, individual ministers or believers may never have\nlooked upon it as actual transgression, none the less does it bring its\npunishment. But when the sin is no more hidden, when the Holy Spirit\nbegins to convince of it, then comes the time of heart-searching. In our\nstory the combination of individual and united responsibility is very\nsolemn. The individual: as we find it in the expression, \"man for man\";\neach man felt himself under the eye of God, to be dealt with. And when\nAchan had been taken, he had to make confession. The united: as we see\nit in all Israel first suffering and dealt with by God, then taking\nAchan, and his family, and the accursed thing, and destroying them out\nof their midst.\n\nIf we have reason to think this is the sin that is in the camp, let us\nbegin with personal and united confession. And then let us come before\nGod to put away and destroy the sin. Here stands at the very threshold\nof Israel's history in Canaan the heap of stones in the valley of Achor,\nto tell us that God cannot bear sin, that God will not dwell with sin,\nand that if _we really want God's presence in power, sin must be put\naway_. Let us look the solemn fact in the face. There may be other sins,\nbut here is certainly one that causes the loss of God's presence--we do\nnot pray as Christ and Scripture teach us. Let us bring it out before\nGod, and give up this sin to the death. Let us yield ourselves to God\nto obey His voice. Let no fear of past failure, let no threatening array\nof temptations, or duties, or excuses, keep us back. It is a simple\nquestion of obedience. Are we going to give up ourselves to God and His\nSpirit to live a life in prayer, well-pleasing to Him? Surely, if it is\nGod who has been withholding His presence, who has been discovering the\nsin, who is calling for its destruction, and a return to obedience,\nsurely we can count upon His grace to accept and strengthen for the life\nHe asks of us. It is not a question of what you can do; it is the\nquestion of whether you now, with your whole heart, turn to give God His\ndue, and give yourself to let His will and grace have their way with\nyou.\n\n6. _With sin cast out God's presence is restored._--From this day\nonwards there is not a word in Joshua of defeat in battle. The story\nshows them going on from victory to victory. God's presence secured\ngives power to overcome every enemy.\n\nThis truth is so simple that the very ease with which we acquiesce in it\nrobs it of its power. Let us pause and think what it implies. God's\npresence restored means victory secured. Then, we are responsible for\ndefeat. Then, there must be sin somewhere causing it. Then, we ought at\nonce to find out and put away the sin. We may confidently expect God's\npresence the moment the sin is put away. Surely each one is under the\nsolemn obligation to search his life and see what part he may have in\nthis evil.\n\nGod never speaks to His people of sin except with a view to saving them\nfrom it. _The same light that shows the sin will show the way out of\nit._ The same power that breaks down and condemns will, if humbly\nyielded to and waited on in confession and faith, give the power to rise\nup and conquer. It is GOD who is speaking to His Church and to us about\nthis sin: \"HE WONDERED that there was no intercessor.\" \"I WONDERED that\nthere was none to uphold.\" \"I SOUGHT for a man that should stand in the\ngap before Me, and found none.\" The God who speaks thus is He who will\nwork the change for His children who seek His face. He will make the\nvalley of Achor, of trouble and shame, of sin confessed and cast out, a\ndoor of hope. Let us not fear, let us not cling to the excuses and\nexplanations which circumstances suggest, but simply confess, \"We have\nsinned; we are sinning; we dare not sin longer.\" In this matter of\nprayer we are sure God does not demand of us impossibilities. He does\nnot weary us with an impracticable ideal. He asks us to pray no more\nthan He gives grace to enable us to. He will give the grace to do what\nHe asks, and so to pray that our intercessions shall, day by day, be a\npleasure to Him and to us, a source of strength to our conscience and\nour work, and a channel of blessing to those for whom we labour.\n\nGod dealt personally with Joshua, with Israel, with Achan. Let each of\nus allow Him to deal personally with us concerning this sin, of\nrestraining prayer, and its consequences in our life and work;\nconcerning the deliverance from sin, its certainty and blessedness. Just\nbow in stillness and wait before God, until, as God, He overshadow you\nwith His presence, lead you out of that region of argument as to human\npossibilities, where conviction of sin can never be deep, and full\ndeliverance can never come. Take quiet time, and be still before God,\nthat He may take this matter in hand. \"Sit still, for He will not be in\nrest until He have finished this thing this day.\" Leave yourself in\nGod's hands.\n\n\n\n\nA PLEA FOR MORE PRAYER\n\nCHAPTER VII\n\nWho shall Deliver?\n\n    \"Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then\n    is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?\"--JER.\n    viii. 22.\n\n    \"Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings.\n    Behold, we come unto Thee; for Thou art the Lord our God.\"-JER. iii.\n    22.\n\n    \"Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed.\"-JER. xii. 14.\n\n    \"O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me out of the body of\n    this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. The law of\n    the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin\n    and death.\"-ROM. vii. 24, viii. 2.\n\n\nDuring one of our conventions a gentleman called upon me to ask advice\nand help. He was evidently an earnest and well-instructed Christian man.\nHe had for some years been in most difficult surroundings, trying to\nwitness for Christ. The result was a sense of failure and unhappiness.\nHis complaint was that he had no relish for the Word, and that though he\nprayed, it was as if his heart was not in it. If he spoke to others, or\ngave a tract, it was under a sense of duty: the love and the joy were\nnot present. He longed to be filled with God's Spirit, but the more he\nsought it, the farther off it appeared to be. What was he to think of\nhis state, and was there any way out of it?\n\nMy answer was, that the whole matter appeared to me very simple; he was\nliving under the law and not under grace. As long as he did so, there\ncould be no change. He listened attentively, but could not exactly see\nwhat I meant.\n\nI reminded him of the difference, the utter contrariety, between law and\ngrace. Law demands; grace bestows. Law commands, but gives no strength\nto obey; grace promises, and performs, does all we need to do. Law\nburdens, and casts down and condemns; grace comforts, and makes strong\nand glad. Law appeals to self, to do its utmost; grace points to Christ\nto do all. Law calls to effort and strain, and urges us towards a goal\nwe never can reach; grace works in us all God's blessed will. I pointed\nout to him how his first step should be, instead of striving against\nall this failure, fully to accept of it, and the lesson of his own\nimpotence, as God had been seeking to teach it him, and, with this\nconfession, to sink down before God in utter helplessness. There would\nbe the place where he would learn that, unless grace gave him\ndeliverance and strength, he never could do better than he had done, and\nthat grace would indeed work all for him. He must come out from under\nlaw and self and effort, and take his place under grace, allowing God to\ndo all.\n\nIn later conversations he told me the diagnosis of the disease had been\ncorrect. He admitted grace must do all. And yet, so deep was the thought\nthat we must do something, that we must at least bring our faithfulness\nto secure the work of grace, he feared that his life would not be very\ndifferent; he would not be equal to the strain of new difficulties into\nwhich he was now going. There was, amid all the intense earnestness, an\nundertone of despair; he could not live as he knew he ought to. I have\nalready said, in the opening chapter, that in some of our meetings I had\nnoticed this tone of hopelessness. And no minister who has come into\nclose contact with souls seeking to live wholly for God, to \"walk\nworthy of the Lord unto all well pleasing,\" but knows that this renders\ntrue progress impossible. To speak specially of the lack of prayer, and\nthe desire of living a fuller prayer-life, how many are the difficulties\nto be met! We have so often resolved to pray more and better, and have\nfailed. We have not the strength of will some have, with one resolve to\nturn round and change our habits. The press of duty is as great as ever\nit was; it is so difficult to find time for more prayer; real enjoyment\nin prayer, which would enable us to persevere, is what we do not feel;\nwe do not possess the power to supplicate and to plead, as we should;\nour prayers, instead of being a joy and a strength, are a source of\ncontinual self-condemnation and doubt. We have at times mourned and\nconfessed and resolved; but, to tell the honest truth, we do not expect,\nfor we do not see the way to, any great change.\n\nIt is evident that as long as this spirit prevails, there can be very\nlittle prospect of improvement. Discouragement must bring defeat. One of\nthe first objects of a physician is ever to waken hope; without this he\nknows his medicines will often profit little. No teaching from God's\nWord as to the duty, the urgent need, the blessed privilege of more\nprayer, of effectual prayer, will avail, while the secret whisper is\nheard: There is no hope. Our first care must be to find out the hidden\ncause of the failure and despair, and then to show how divinely sure\ndeliverance is. We must, unless we are to rest content with our state,\nlisten to and join in the question, \"Is there no balm in Gilead; is\nthere no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of\nmy people restored?\" We must listen, and receive into our heart, the\nDivine promise with the response it met with: \"Return, ye backsliding\nchildren, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto Thee,\nfor Thou art the Lord our God.\" We must come with the personal prayer,\nand the faith that there will be a personal answer. Shall we not even\nnow begin to claim it in regard to the lack of prayer, and believe that\nGod will help us: \"Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed.\"\n\nIt is always of consequence to distinguish between the symptoms of a\ndisease and the disease itself. Feebleness and failure in prayer is a\nsign of feebleness in the spiritual life. If a patient were to ask a\nphysician to give him something to stimulate his feeble pulse, he would\nbe told that this would do him little good. The pulse is the index of\nthe state of the heart and the whole system: the physician strives to\nhave health restored. What everyone who would fain pray more faithfully\nand effectually must learn is this, that his whole spiritual life is in\na sickly state, and needs restoration. It is as he comes to look, not\nonly at his shortcomings in prayer, but at the lack in the life of\nfaith, of which this is the symptom, that he will become fully alive to\nthe serious nature of the disease. He will then see the need of a\nradical change in his whole life and walk, if his prayer-life, which is\nsimply the pulse of the spiritual system, is to indicate health and\nvigour. God has so created us that the exercise of every healthy\nfunction causes joy. Prayer is meant to be as simple and natural as\nbreathing or working to a healthy man. The reluctance we feel, and the\nfailure we confess, are God's own voice calling us to acknowledge our\ndisease, and to come to Him for the healing He has promised.\n\nAnd what is now the disease of which the lack of prayer is the symptom?\nWe cannot find a better answer than is pointed out in the words, \"Ye\nare not under the law, but under grace.\"\n\nHere we have suggested the possibility of two types of Christian life.\nThere may be a life partly under the law and partly under grace; or, a\nlife entirely under grace, in the full liberty from self-effort, and the\nfull experience of the Divine strength which it can give. A true\nbeliever may still be living partly under the law, in the power of\nself-effort, striving to do what he cannot accomplish. The continued\nfailure in his Christian life to which he confesses is owing to this one\nthing: he trusts in himself, and tries to do his best. He does, indeed,\npray and look to God for help, but still it is he in his strength,\nhelped by God, who is to do the work. In the Epistles to the Romans, and\nCorinthians, and Galatians, we know how Paul tells them that they have\nnot received the spirit of bondage again, that they are free from the\nlaw, that they are no more servants but sons; that they must beware of\nnothing so much as to be entangled again with the yoke of bondage.\nEverywhere it is the contrast between the law and grace, between the\nflesh, which is under the law, and the Spirit, who is the gift of grace,\nand through whom grace does all its work. In our days, just as in those\nfirst ages, the great danger is living under the law, and serving God in\nthe strength of the flesh. With the great majority of Christians it\nappears to be the state in which they remain all their lives. Hence the\nlack to such a large extent of true holy living and power in prayer.\nThey do not know that all failure can have but one cause: _Men seek to\ndo themselves what grace alone can do in them_, what grace most\ncertainly will do.\n\nMany will not be prepared to admit that this is their disease, that they\nare not living \"under grace.\" Impossible, they say. \"From the depth of\nmy heart,\" a Christian cries, \"I believe and know that there is no good\nin me, and that I owe everything to grace alone.\" \"I have spent my\nlife,\" a minister says, \"and found my glory in preaching and exalting\nthe doctrines of free grace.\" \"And I,\" a missionary answers, \"how could\nI ever have thought of seeing the heathen saved, if my only confidence\nhad not been in the message I brought, and the power I trusted, of God's\nabounding grace.\" Surely you cannot say that our failures in prayer, and\nwe sadly confess to them, are owing to our not living \"under grace\"?\nThis cannot be our disease.\n\nWe know how often a man may be suffering from a disease without knowing\nit. What he counts a slight ailment turns out to be a dangerous\ncomplaint. Do not let us be too sure that we are not, to a large extent,\nstill living \"under the law,\" while considering ourselves to be living\nwholly \"under grace.\" Very frequently the reason of this mistake is the\nlimited meaning attached to the word \"grace.\" Just as we limit God\nHimself, by our little or unbelieving thoughts of Him, so we limit His\ngrace at the very moment that we are delighting in terms like the\n\"riches of grace,\" \"grace exceeding abundant.\" Has not the very term,\n\"grace abounding,\" from Bunyan's book downward, been confined to the one\ngreat blessed truth of free justification with ever renewed pardon and\neternal glory for the vilest of sinners, while the other equally blessed\ntruth of \"grace abounding\" in sanctification is not fully known. Paul\nwrites: \"Much more shall they which receive the abundance of grace reign\nin life through Jesus Christ.\" That reigning in life, as conqueror over\nsin, is even here on earth. \"Where sin abounded\" in the heart and life,\n\"grace did abound more exceedingly, that grace might reign through\nrighteousness\" in the whole life and being of the believer. It is of\nthis reign of grace in the soul that Paul asks, \"Shall we sin because we\nare under grace?\" and answers, \"God forbid.\" Grace is not only pardon\nof, but power over, sin; grace takes the place sin had in the life, and\nundertakes, as sin had reigned within in the power of death, to reign in\nthe power of Christ's life. It is of this grace that Christ spoke, \"My\ngrace is sufficient for thee,\" and Paul answered, \"I will glory in my\nweakness; for, when I am weak, then am I strong.\" It is of this grace,\nwhich, when we are willing to confess ourselves utterly impotent and\nhelpless, comes in to work all in us, that Paul elsewhere teaches, \"God\nis able to make _all grace_ abound unto you, that ye, _always_ having\n_all sufficiency_ in _all things_, may abound unto _all good works_.\"\n\nIt has often happened that a seeker after God and salvation has read his\nBible long, and yet never seen the truth of a free and full and\nimmediate justification by faith. When once his eyes were opened, and he\naccepted it, he was amazed to find it everywhere. Even so many\nbelievers, who hold the doctrines of free grace as applied to pardon,\nhave never seen its wondrous meaning as it undertakes to work our whole\nlife in us, and _actually give us strength every moment_ for whatever\nthe Father would have us be and do. When God's light shines into our\nheart with this blessed truth, we know what Paul means, \"Not I, but the\ngrace of God.\" There again you have the twofold Christian life. The one,\nin which that \"Not I\"--I am nothing, I can do nothing--has not yet\nbecome a reality. The other, when the wondrous exchange has been made,\nand grace has taken the place of our effort, and we say and know, \"I\nlive, yet no longer I, but Christ liveth in me.\" It may then become a\nlifelong experience: \"The grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant, with\nfaith and love which is in Christ Jesus.\"\n\nBeloved child of God! what think you, is it not possible that this has\nbeen the want in your life, the cause of your failure in prayer? You\nknew not how grace would enable you to pray, if once the whole life were\nunder its power. You sought by earnest effort to conquer your reluctance\nor deadness in prayer, but failed. You strove by every motive of shame\nor love you could think of to stir yourself to it, but it would not\nhelp. Is it not worth while asking the Lord whether the message I bring\nyou as His servant may not be more true for you than you think? Your\nlack of prayer is owing to a diseased state of life, and the disease is\nnothing but this--you have not accepted, for daily life and every duty,\nthe full salvation which the word brings: \"Ye are not under the law, but\nunder grace.\" As universal and deep-reaching as the demand of the law\nand the reign of sin, yea, more exceeding abundant, is the provision of\ngrace and the power by which it makes us reign in life. (Note B.)\n\nIn the chapter that follows that in which Paul wrote, \"Ye are not under\nthe law, but under grace,\" he gives us a picture of a believer's life\nunder law, with the bitter experience in which it ends: \"O wretched man\nthat I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?\" His answer\nto the question, \"I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord,\" shows that\nthere is deliverance from a life held captive under evil habits that\nhave been struggled against in vain. That deliverance is by the Holy\nSpirit giving the full experience of what the life of Christ can work in\nus: \"The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free\nfrom the law of sin and death.\" The law of God could only deliver us\ninto the power of the law of sin and death. The grace of God can bring\nus into, and keep us in, the liberty of the Spirit. We can be made free\nfrom the sad life under the power that led us captive, so that we did\nnot what we would. The Spirit of life in Christ can free us from our\ncontinual failure in prayer, and enable us in this, too, to walk worthy\nof the Lord unto all well-pleasing.\n\nOh! be not hopeless, be not despondent; there is a balm in Gilead; there\nis a Physician there; there is healing for our sickness. What is\nimpossible with man is possible with God. What you see no possibility of\ndoing, grace will do. Confess the disease; trust the Physician; claim\nthe healing; pray the prayer of faith, \"Heal me, and I shall be healed.\"\nYou too can become a man of prayer, and pray the effectual prayer that\navaileth much.[1]\n\n[1] I ought to say, for the encouragement of all, that the gentleman of\nwhom I spoke, at a Convention a fortnight later, saw and claimed the\nrest of faith in trusting God for all, and a letter from England tells\nthat he has found that His grace is sufficient.\n\n\n\n\nA PLEA FOR MORE PRAYER\n\nCHAPTER VIII\n\nWilt Thou be made Whole?\n\n    \"Jesus saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole? The impotent man\n    answered him, Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool. Jesus\n    saith unto him, Rise and walk. Immediately the man was made whole,\n    and walked.\"--JOHN v. 6-9.\n\n    \"Peter said, In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and\n    walk.... The faith which is by Him hath given this man this perfect\n    soundness in the presence of you all.\"--ACTS iii. 6, 16.\n\n    \"Peter said, AEneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole: arise. And he\n    arose immediately.\"--ACTS ix. 34.\n\n\nFeebleness in prayer is the mark of disease. Impotence to walk is, in\nthe Christian, as in the natural life, a terrible proof of some evil in\nthe system that needs a physician. The lack of power to walk joyfully in\nthe new and living way that leads to the Father and the throne of grace\nis specially grievous. Christ is the great Physician, who comes to\nevery Bethesda where impotent folk are gathered, and speaks out his\nloving, searching question, Wilt thou be made whole? For all who are\nstill clinging to their hope in the pool, or are looking for some man to\nput them in, who are hoping, in course of time, somehow to be helped by\njust continuing in the use of the ordinary means of grace, His question\npoints to a better way. He offers them healing in a way of power they\nhave never understood. And to all who are willing to confess, not only\ntheir own impotence, but their failure to find any man to help them, His\nquestion brings the sure and certain hope of a near deliverance. We have\nseen that our weakness in prayer is part of a life smitten with\nspiritual impotence. Let us listen to our Lord as He offers to restore\nour spiritual strength, to fit us for walking like healthy, strong men\nin all the ways of the Lord, and so be fit rightly to fill our place in\nthe great work of intercession. As we see what the wholeness is He\noffers, how He gives it, and what He asks of us, we shall be prepared\nfor giving a willing answer to His question.\n\n\nWHAT THE HEALTH THAT JESUS OFFERS.\n\nI might mention many marks of spiritual health. Our text leads us to\ntake one,--walking. Jesus said to the sick man, Rise and walk, and with\nthat restored him to his place among men in full health and vigour, able\nto take his part in all the work of life. It is a wonderfully suggestive\npicture of the restoration of spiritual health. To the healthy, walking\nis a pleasure; to the sick, a burden, if not an impossibility. How many\nChristians there are to whom, like the maimed and the halt and the lame\nand the impotent, movement and progress in God's way is indeed an effort\nand a weariness. Christ comes to say, and with the word He gives the\npower, Rise and walk.\n\nJust think of this walk to which He restores and empowers us. It is a\nlife like that of Enoch and Noah, who \"walked with God.\" A life like\nthat of Abraham, to whom God said, \"Walk before Me,\" and who himself\nspake, \"The Lord before whom I walk.\" A life of which David sings, \"They\nshall walk in the light of Thy countenance,\" and Isaiah prophesies,\n\"They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall run\nand not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.\" Even as God the\nCreator fainteth not nor is weary, shall they who walk with Him, waiting\non Him, never be exhausted or feeble. It is a life concerning which it\ncould be said of the last of the Old Testament saints, Zacharias and\nElisabeth, \"They were both righteous before God, walking in all the\ncommandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.\" This is the walk\nJesus came to make possible and true to His people in greater power than\never before.\n\nHear what the New Testament speaks of it: \"That like as Christ was\nraised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also should walk\nin newness of life.\" It is the Risen One who says to us, Rise and walk:\nHe gives the power of the resurrection life. It is a walk in Christ. \"As\nye have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye also in Him.\" It is a\nwalk like Christ. \"He that saith he abideth in Him ought so to walk even\nas He walked.\" It is a walk by the Spirit and after the Spirit. \"Walk by\nthe Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh.\" \"Who walk\nnot after the flesh, but after the Spirit.\" It is a walk worthy of God\nand well pleasing to Him. \"That ye would walk worthy of the Lord, unto\nall well pleasing, being fruitful in every good work.\" \"I beseech you,\nthat as ye received of us, how ye should walk and please God, _even as\nye do walk_, that ye would abound more and more.\" It is a walk in\nheavenly love. \"Walk in love, even as Christ loved you.\" It is a \"walk\nin the light, as He is in the light.\" It is a walk of faith, all its\npower coming simply from God and Christ and the Holy Spirit, to the soul\nturned away from the world. \"We walk by faith, and not by sight.\"\n\nHow many believers there are who regard such a walk as an impossible\nthing--so impossible that they do not feel it a sin that they \"walk\notherwise\"; and so they do not long for this walk in newness of life.\nThey have become so accustomed to the life of impotence, that the life\nand walk in God's strength has little attraction. But some there are\nwith whom it is not thus. They do wonder if these words really mean what\nthey say, and if the wonderful life each one of them speaks of is simply\nan unattainable ideal, or meant to be realised in flesh and blood. The\nmore they study them, the more they feel that they are spoken as for\ndaily life. And yet they appear too high. Oh that they would believe\nthat God sent his Almighty Son, and His Holy Spirit, indeed to bring us\nand fit us for a life and walk from heaven beyond all that man could\ndare to think or hope for.\n\n\nHOW JESUS MAKES US WHOLE.\n\nWhen a physician heals a patient, he acts on him from without, and does\nsomething which is, if possible, ever after to render him independent of\nhis aid. He restores him to perfect health, and leaves him. With the\nwork of our Lord Jesus it is in both respects the very opposite. Jesus\nworks not from without, but from within, by entering Himself in the\npower of His Spirit into our very life. And instead of, as in the bodily\nhealing, being rendered, if possible, independent of a physician for the\nfuture, Christ's one purpose in healing is, as we said, the exact\nopposite. His one condition of success, is to bring us into _such\ndependence upon Himself as that we shall not be able one single moment\nto do without Him_. Christ Jesus Himself is our life, in a sense that\nmany Christians have no conception of. The prevailing feeble and sickly\nlife is entirely owing to the lack of the apprehension of the Divine\ntruth, that as long as we expect Christ continually to do something for\nus from heaven, in single acts of grace from time to time, and each time\ntrust Him to give us what will last a little while, we cannot be\nrestored to perfect health. But when once we see how there is to be\nnothing of our own for a single moment, and it is to be all Christ\nmoment by moment, and learn to accept it from Him and trust Him for it,\nthe life of Christ becomes the health of our soul. Health is nothing but\nlife in its normal, undisturbed action. Christ gives us health by giving\nus Himself as our life; so He becomes our strength for our walk.\nIsaiah's words find their New Testament fulfilment: They that wait on\nthe Lord shall walk and not faint, because Christ is now the strength of\ntheir life.\n\nIt is strange how believers sometimes think this life of dependence too\ngreat a strain, and a loss of our personal liberty. They admit a need of\ndependence, of much dependence, but with room left for our own will and\nenergy. They do not see that even a partial dependence makes us debtors,\nand leaves us nothing to boast of. They forget that our relationship to\nGod, and co-operation with Him, is not that He does the larger part and\nwe the lesser, but that God does all and we do all--God all in us, we\nall through God. This dependence upon God secures our true independence;\nwhen our will seeks nothing but the Divine will, we reach a Divine\nnobility, the true independence of all that is created. He that has not\nseen this must remain a sickly Christian, letting self do part and\nChrist part. He that accepts the life of unceasing dependence on Christ,\nas life and health and strength, is made whole. As God, Christ can enter\nand become the life of His creature. As the Glorified One who received\nthe Holy Spirit from the Father to bestow, He can renew the heart of the\nsinful creature and make it His home, and by His presence maintain it in\nfull health and strength.\n\nO ye all who would fain walk and please God, and in your prayer-life not\nhave your heart condemn you, listen to Christ's words: \"Wilt thou be\nmade whole?\" He can give soul-health. He can give a life that can pray,\nand know that it is well-pleasing to the Father. If you would have this,\ncome and hear how you can receive it.\n\n\nWHAT CHRIST ASKS OF US.\n\nThe story invites us to notice three things very specially. Christ's\nquestion first appeals to the will, and asks for the expression of its\nconsent. He then listens to man's confession of his utter helplessness.\nThen comes the ready obedience to Christ's command, that rises up and\nwalks.\n\n1. Wilt thou be made whole? About the answer of the impotent man there\ncould be no doubt. Who would not be willing to have his sickness\nremoved? But, alas, in the spiritual life what need to press the\nquestion. Some will not admit that they are so sick. And some will not\nbelieve that Christ can make a man whole. And some will believe it for\nothers, but they are sure it is not for them. At the root of all lies\nthe fear of the self-denial and the sacrifice which will be needed. They\nare not willing to forsake entirely the walk after the course of this\nworld, to give up all self-will, and self-confidence, and self-pleasing.\nThe walk in Christ and like Christ is too straight and hard: they do not\nwill it, they do not will to be made whole. My brother, if thou art\nwilling, speak it out: \"Lord! at any price, I will!\" From Christ's side\nthe act is one of the will: \"I will, be thou clean.\" From your side\nequally: \"Be it unto thee as thou wilt.\" If you would be delivered from\nyour impotence--oh, fear not to say, \"I will, I will!\"\n\nThen comes the second step. Christ wants us to look up to him as our\nonly Helper. \"I have no man to put me in,\" must be our cry. Here on\nearth there is no help for me. Weakness may grow into strength in the\nordinary use of means, if all the organs and functions are in a sound\nstate. Sickness needs special measures. Your soul is sick; your\nimpotence to walk joyfully the Christian walk in God's way is a sign of\ndisease; fear not to confess it, and to admit that there is no hope for\nrestoration unless by an act of Christ's mercy healing you. Give up the\nidea of growing out of your sickly into a healthy state, of growing out\nfrom under the law into a life under grace. A few days ago I heard a\nstudent plead the cause of the Volunteer Pledge. \"The pledge calls you,\"\nhe said, \"to a decision. Do not think of growing into a missionary:\nunless God forbids you, take the step; the decision will bring joy and\nstrength, will set you free to grow up in all needed for a missionary,\nand will be a help to others.\" It is even so in the Christian life.\nDelay and struggle will equally hinder you; do confess that you cannot\nbring yourself to pray as you would, because you cannot give yourself\nthe healthy, heavenly life that loves to pray, and that knows to count\nupon God's Spirit to pray in us. Come to Christ to heal you. He can in\none moment make you whole. Not in the sense of working a sudden change\nin your feelings, or in what you are in yourself, but in the heavenly\nreality of coming in, in response to your surrender and faith, and\ntaking charge of your inner life, and filling it with Himself and\nSpirit.\n\nThe third thing Christ asks is this, the surrender of faith. When He\nspoke to the impotent man His word of command had to be obeyed. The man\nbelieved that there was truth and power in Christ's word; in that faith\nhe rose and walked. By faith he obeyed. And what Christ said to others\nwas for him too--\"Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole.\" Of us,\ntoo, Christ asks this faith, that His word changes our impotence into\nstrength, and fits us for that walk in newness of life for which we have\nbeen quickened in Him. If we do not believe this, if we will not take\ncourage and say, with Paul, \"I can do all things in Christ, which\nstrengtheneth me,\" we cannot obey. But if we will listen to the word\nthat tells us of the walk that is not only possible, but has been proved\nand seen in God's saints from of old, if we will fix our eye on the\nmighty, living, loving Christ, who speaks in power, \"Rise and walk,\" we\nshall take courage and obey. We shall rise and begin to walk in Him and\nHis strength. In faith, apart from and above all feeling, we shall\naccept and trust an unseen Christ as our strength, and go on in the\nstrength of the Lord God. We shall know Christ as the strength of our\nlife. We shall know, and tell, and prove that Jesus Christ hath made us\nwhole.\n\nCan it indeed be? Yes, it can. He has done it for many: He will do it\nfor you. Beware of forming wrong conceptions of what must take place.\nWhen the impotent man was made whole he had still all to learn as to the\nuse of his new-found strength. If he wanted to dig, or build, or learn a\ntrade, he had to begin at the beginning. Do not expect at once to be a\nproficient in prayer or any part of the Christian life. No; but expect\nand be confident of this one thing, that, as you have trusted yourself\nto Christ to be your health and strength, He will lead and teach you.\nBegin to pray in a quiet sense of your ignorance and weakness, but in a\njoyful assurance that He will work in you what you need. Rise and walk\neach day in a holy confidence that He is with you and in you. Just\naccept Jesus Christ the Living One, and trust Him to do His work.\n\nWill you do it? Have you done it? Even now Jesus speaks, \"Rise and\nwalk.\" \"Amen, Lord! at Thy word I come. I rise to walk with Thee, and in\nThee, and like Thee.\"\n\n\n\n\nA PLEA FOR MORE PRAYER\n\nCHAPTER IX\n\nThe Secret of Effectual Prayer\n\n    \"What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye have\n    received them, and ye shall have them.\"--MARK xi. 24.\n\n\nHere we have a summary of the teaching of our Lord Jesus on prayer.\nNothing will so much help to convince us of the sin of our remissness in\nprayer, to discover its causes, and to give us courage to expect entire\ndeliverance, as the careful study and then the believing acceptance of\nthat teaching. The more heartily we enter into the mind of our blessed\nLord, and set ourselves simply just to think about prayer as He thought,\nthe more surely will His words be as living seeds. They will grow and\nproduce in us their fruit,--a life and practice exactly corresponding to\nthe Divine truth they contain. Do let us believe this: Christ, the\nliving Word of God, gives in His words a Divine quickening power which\nbrings what they say, which works in us what He asks, which actually\nfits and enables for all He demands. Learn to look upon His teaching on\nprayer as a definite promise of what He, by His Holy Spirit dwelling in\nyou, is going to work into your very being and character.\n\nOur Lord gives us the five marks, or essential elements, of true prayer.\nThere must be, first, the heart's _desire_; then the expression of that\ndesire in _prayer_; with that, the _faith_ that carries the prayer to\nGod; in that faith, the _acceptance of God's answer_; then comes _the\nexperience_ of the desired blessing. It may help to give definiteness to\nour thought, if we each take a definite request in regard to which we\nwould fain learn to pray believingly. Or, perhaps better still, we might\nall unite and take the one thing that has been occupying our attention.\nWe have been speaking of failure in prayer; why should we not take as\nthe object of desire and supplication the \"grace of supplication,\" and\nsay, I want to ask and receive in faith the power to pray just as, and\nas much as, my God expects of me? Let us meditate on our Lord's words,\nin the confidence that He will teach us how to pray for this blessing.\n\n1. \"What things soever _ye desire_.\"--Desire is the secret power that\nmoves the whole world of living men, and directs the course of each. And\nso desire is the soul of prayer, and the cause of insufficient or\nunsuccessful prayer is very much to be found in the lack or feebleness\nof desire. Some may doubt this: they are sure that they have very\nearnestly desired what they ask. But if they consider whether their\ndesire has indeed been as whole-hearted as God would have it, as the\nheavenly worth of these blessings demands, they may come to see that it\nwas indeed the lack of desire that was the cause of failure. What is\ntrue of God is true of each of his blessings, and is the more true the\nmore spiritual the blessing: \"Ye shall seek Me, and shall find, when ye\nshall search for Me with all your heart\" (Jer. xxix. 13). Of Judah in\nthe days of Asa it is written, \"They sought Him with _their whole\ndesire_\" (2 Chron. xv. 15). A Christian may often have very earnest\ndesires for spiritual blessings. But alongside of these there are other\ndesires in his daily life occupying a large place in his interests and\naffections. The spiritual desires are not all-absorbing. He wonders\nthat his prayer is not heard. It is simply that God wants the whole\nheart. \"The Lord thy God is _one Lord_, therefore thou shalt love the\nLord thy God with _all thy heart_.\" The law is unchangeable: God offers\nHimself, gives Himself away, to the whole-hearted who give themselves\nwholly away to Him. He always gives us according to our heart's desire.\nBut not as we think it, but as He sees it. If there be other desires\nwhich are more at home with us, which have our heart more than Himself\nand His presence, He allows these to be fulfilled, and the desires that\nengage us at the hour of prayer cannot be granted.\n\nWe desire the gift of intercession, grace and power to pray aright. Our\nhearts must be drawn away from other desires: we must give ourselves\nwholly to this one. We must be willing to live wholly in intercession\nfor the kingdom. By fixing our eye on the blessedness and the need of\nthis grace, by thinking of the certainty that God will give it us, by\ngiving ourselves up to it, for the sake of the perishing world, desire\nmay be strengthened, and the first step taken towards the possession of\nthe coveted blessing. Let us seek the grace of prayer, as we seek the\nGod with whom it will link us, \"with our whole desire\"; we may depend\nupon the promise, \"He will fulfil the desire of them that fear Him.\" Let\nus not fear to say to Him, \"I desire it with my whole heart.\"\n\n2. \"What things soever ye desire when _ye pray_.\"--The desire of the\nheart must become the expression of the lips. Our Lord Jesus more than\nonce asked those who cried to Him for mercy, \"What wilt thou?\" He wanted\nthem to say what they would. To speak it out roused their whole being\ninto action, brought them into contact with Him, and wakened their\nexpectation. To pray is to enter into God's presence, to claim and\nsecure His attention, to have distinct dealing with Him in regard to\nsome request, to commit our need to His faithfulness and to leave it\nthere: it is in so doing that we become fully conscious of what we are\nseeking.\n\nThere are some who often carry strong desires in their heart, without\nbringing them to God in the clear expression of definite and repeated\nprayer. There are others who go to the Word and its promises to\nstrengthen their faith, but do not give sufficient place to that pointed\nasking of God which helps the soul to the assurance that the matter has\nbeen put into God's hands. Still others come in prayer with so many\nrequests and desires, that it is difficult for themselves to say what\nthey really expect God to do. If you would obtain from God this great\ngift of faithfulness in prayer and power to pray aright, begin by\nexercising yourself in prayer in regard to it. Say of it to yourself and\nto God: \"Here is something I have asked, and am continuing to ask till I\nreceive. As plain and pointed as words can make it, I am saying, 'My\nFather! I do desire, I do ask of Thee, and expect of Thee, the grace of\nprayer and intercession.'\"\n\n3. \"What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, _believe_.\"--As it is\nonly by faith that we can know God, or receive Jesus Christ, or live the\nChristian life, so faith is the life and power of prayer. If we are to\nenter upon a life of intercession, in which there is to be joy and power\nand blessing, if we are to have our prayer for the grace of prayer\nanswered, we must learn anew what faith is, and begin to live and pray\nin faith as never before.\n\nFaith is the opposite of sight, and the two are contrary the one to the\nother. \"We walk by faith, and not by sight.\" If the unseen is to get\nfull possession of us, and heart and life and prayer are to be full of\nfaith, there must be a withdrawal from, a denial of, the visible. The\nspirit that seeks to enjoy as much as possible of what is innocent or\nlegitimate, that gives the first place to the calls and duties of daily\nlife, is inconsistent with a strong faith and close intercourse with the\nspiritual world. \"We _look not_ at the things that are seen\"--the\nnegative side needs to be emphasised if the positive, \"but at the things\nwhich are not seen,\" is to become natural to us. In praying, faith\ndepends upon our living in the invisible world.\n\nThis faith has specially to do with God. The great reason of our lack of\nfaith is our lack of knowledge of God and intercourse with Him. \"Have\nfaith in God,\" Jesus said when He spoke of removing mountains. It is as\na soul knows God, is occupied with His power, love, and faithfulness,\ncomes away out of self and the world, and allows the light of God to\nshine on it, that unbelief will become impossible. All the mysteries and\ndifficulties connected with answers to prayer will, however little we\nmay be able to solve them intellectually, be swallowed up in the adoring\nassurance: \"This God is our God. He will bless us. He does indeed\nanswer prayer. And the grace to pray I am asking for He will delight to\ngive.\" (Note C.)\n\n4. \"What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that _ye have\nreceived_,\" now as you pray.--_Faith has to accept the answer, as given\nby God in heaven, before it is found or felt upon earth._ This point\ncauses difficulty, and yet it is of the very essence of believing\nprayer, its real secret. Try and take it in. Spiritual things can only\nbe spiritually apprehended or appropriated. The spiritual heavenly\nblessing of God's answer to your prayer must be spiritually recognised\nand accepted before you feel anything of it. It is faith does this. A\nsoul that not only seeks an answer, but seeks first the God who gives\nthe answer, receives the power to know that it has what it has asked of\nHim. If it knows that it has asked according to His will and promises,\nand that it has come to and found Himself to give it, it does believe\nthat it has received. \"We know that He heareth us.\"\n\nThere is nothing so heart-searching as this faith, \"_Believe that ye\nhave received._\" As we strive to believe, and find we cannot, it leads\nus to discover what there is that hinders. Blessed is the man who holds\nnothing back, and lets nothing hold him back, but, with his eye and\nheart on God alone, refuses to rest till he has believed what our Lord\nbids him, \"that he has received.\" Here is the place where Jacob becomes\nIsrael, and the power of prevailing prayer is born out of human weakness\nand despair. Here comes in the real need for persevering and\never-importunate prayer, that will not rest, or go away, or give up,\ntill it knows it is heard, and believes that it has received.\n\nYou pray for \"the Spirit of grace and supplication\"? As you ask for it\nin strong desire, and believe in God who hears prayer, do not be afraid\nto press on and believe that your life can indeed be changed, that the\nworld with its press of duties, whether religious or not, hindering\nprayer, can be overcome, and that God gives you your heart's desire,\ngrace to pray both in measure and in spirit, just as the Father would\nhave His child do. \"Believe that you have received.\"\n\n5. \"What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye have\nreceived, and _ye shall have them_.\"--The receiving from God in faith,\nthe believing acceptance of the answer with the perfect, praising\nassurance that it has been given, is not necessarily the experience or\nsubjective possession of the gift we have asked for. At times there may\nbe a considerable, or even a long, interval. In other cases the\nbelieving supplicant may at once enter upon the actual enjoyment of what\nhe has received. It is specially in the former case that we have need of\nfaith and patience: faith to rejoice in the assurance of the answer\nbestowed and received, and to begin and act upon that answer though\nnothing be felt; patience to wait if there be for the present no\nsensible proof of its presence. We can count upon it: _Ye shall have_,\nin actual enjoyment.\n\nIf we apply this to the prayer for the power of faithful intercession,\nthe grace to pray earnestly and perseveringly for souls around us, let\nus learn to hold fast the Divine assurance that, as surely as we believe\nwe receive, and that faith therefore, apart from all failing, may\nrejoice in the certainty of an answered prayer. The more we praise God\nfor it, the sooner will the experience come. We may begin at once to\npray for others, in the confidence that grace will be given us to pray\nmore perseveringly and more believingly than we have done before. If we\ndo not find any special enlargement or power in prayer, this must not\nhinder or discourage us. We have accepted, apart from feeling, a\nspiritual Divine gift by faith; in that faith we are to pray, nothing\ndoubting. The Holy Spirit may for a little time be hiding Himself within\nus; we may count upon Him, even though it be with groanings which cannot\nfind expression, to pray in us; in due time we shall become conscious of\nHis presence and power. As sure as there is desire and prayer and faith,\nand faith's acceptance of the gift, there will be, too, the\nmanifestation and experience of the blessing we sought.\n\nBeloved brother! do you truly desire that God should enable you so to\npray that your life may be free from continual self-condemnation, and\nthat the power of His Spirit may come down in answer to your petition?\nCome and _ask it of God_. Kneel down and pray for it in a single\ndefinite sentence. When you have done so, kneel still in faith,\nbelieving in God who answers. Believe that you do now receive what you\nhave prayed: believe that you have received. If you find it difficult to\ndo this, kneel still, and say that you do it on the strength of His own\nword. If it cost time, and struggle, and doubt--fear not; at His feet,\nlooking up into His face, faith will come. \"Believe that you have\nreceived\": at His bidding you dare claim the answer. Begin in that\nfaith, even though it be feeble, a new prayer-life, with this one\nthought as its strength: \"You have asked and received grace in Christ to\nprepare you, step by step, to be faithful in prayer and intercession.\nThe more simply you hold to this, and expect the Holy Spirit to work it\nin you, the more surely and fully will the word be made true to you: Ye\nshall have it. God Himself who gave the answer will work it in you.\"\n\n\n\n\nA PLEA FOR MORE PRAYER\n\nCHAPTER X\n\nThe Spirit of Supplication\n\n    \"I will pour upon the house of David the Spirit of grace and of\n    supplication.\"--ZECH. xii. 10.\n\n    \"The Spirit also helpeth our infirmity; for we know not how to pray\n    as we ought: but the Spirit Himself maketh intercession for us with\n    groanings which cannot be uttered. And He that searcheth the hearts\n    knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because He maketh\n    intercession for the saints according to God.\"--ROM. viii. 26, 27.\n\n    \"With all prayer and supplication praying at all seasons in the\n    Spirit, and watching thereunto in all perseverance and supplication\n    for all the saints.\"--EPH. vi. 18.\n\n    \"Praying in the Holy Spirit.\"--JUDE 20.\n\n\nThe Holy Spirit has been given to every child of God to be his life. He\ndwells in him, not as a separate Being in one part of his nature, but as\nhis very life. He is the Divine power or energy by which his life is\nmaintained and strengthened. All that a believer is called to be or to\ndo, the Holy Spirit can and will work in him. If he does not know or\nyield to the Holy Guest, the Blessed Spirit cannot work, and his life is\na sickly one, full of failure and of sin. As he yields, and waits, and\nobeys the leading of the Spirit, God works in him all that is pleasing\nin His sight.\n\nThis Holy Spirit is, in the first place, a Spirit of prayer. He was\npromised as a \"Spirit of grace and supplication,\" the grace for\nsupplication. He was sent forth into our hearts as \"the Spirit of\nadoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.\" He enables us to say, in true\nfaith and growing apprehension of its meaning, Our Father which art in\nheaven. \"He maketh intercession for the saints according to God.\" And as\nwe pray in the Spirit, our worship is as God seeks it to be, \"in spirit\nand in truth.\" Prayer is just the breathing of the Spirit in us; power\nin prayer comes from the power of the Spirit in us, waited on and\ntrusted in. Failure in prayer comes from feebleness of the Spirit's work\nin us. Our prayer is the index of the measure of the Spirit's work in\nus. To pray aright, the life of the Spirit must be right in us. For\npraying the effectual, much-availing prayer of the righteous man\neverything depends on being full of the Spirit.\n\nThere are three very simple lessons that the believer, who would enjoy\nthe blessing of being taught to pray by the Spirit of prayer, must know.\nThe first is: _Believe that the Spirit dwells in you_ (Eph. i. 13). Deep\nin the inmost recesses of his being, hidden and unfelt, every child of\nGod has the Holy, Mighty Spirit of God dwelling in him. He knows it by\nfaith, the faith that, accepting God's word, realises that of which he\nsees as yet no sign. \"We receive the promise of the Spirit by faith.\" As\nlong as we measure our power, for praying aright and perseveringly, by\nwhat we feel, or think we can accomplish, we shall be discouraged when\nwe hear of how much we ought to pray. But when we quietly believe that,\nin the midst of all our conscious weakness, the Holy Spirit as a Spirit\nof supplication is dwelling within us, _for the very purpose of enabling\nus to pray in such manner and measure as God would have us_, our hearts\nwill be filled with hope. We shall be strengthened in the assurance\nwhich lies at the very root of a happy and fruitful Christian life, that\n_God has made an abundant provision for our being what He wants us to\nbe_. We shall begin to lose our sense of burden and fear and\ndiscouragement about our ever praying sufficiently, because we see that\nthe Holy Spirit Himself will pray, is praying, in us.\n\nThe second lesson is: _Beware above everything of grieving the Holy\nSpirit_ (Eph. iv. 30). If you do, how can He work in you the quiet,\ntrustful, and blessed sense of that union with Christ which makes your\nprayers well pleasing to the Father? Beware of grieving Him by sin, by\nunbelief, by selfishness, by unfaithfulness to His voice in conscience.\nDo not think grieving Him a necessity: that cuts away the very sinews of\nyour strength. Do not consider it impossible to obey the command,\n\"Grieve not the Holy Spirit.\" He Himself is the very power of God to\nmake you obedient. The sin that comes up in you against your will, the\ntendency to sloth, or pride, or self-will, or passion that rises in the\nflesh, your will can, in the power of the Spirit, at once reject, and\ncast upon Christ and His blood, and your communion with God is\nimmediately restored. Accept each day the Holy Spirit as your Leader and\nLife and Strength; you can count upon Him to do in your heart all that\nought to be done there. He, the Unseen and Unfelt One, but known by\nfaith, gives there, unseen and unfelt, the love and the faith and the\npower of obedience you need, because He reveals Christ unseen within\nyou, as actually your Life and Strength. Grieve not the Holy Spirit by\ndistrusting Him, because you do not feel His presence in you.\n\nEspecially in the matter of prayer grieve Him not. Do not expect, when\nyou trust Christ to bring you into a new, healthy prayer-life, that you\nwill be able all at once to pray as easily and powerfully and joyfully\nas you fain would. No; it may not come at once. But just bow quietly\nbefore God in your ignorance and weakness. That is the best and truest\nprayer, to put yourself before God just as you are, and to count on the\nhidden Spirit praying in you. \"We know not what to pray as we ought\";\nignorance, difficulty, struggle, marks our prayer all along. But, \"the\nSpirit helpeth our infirmities.\" How? \"The Spirit Himself,\" deeper down\nthan our thoughts or feelings, \"maketh intercession for us with\ngroanings which cannot be uttered.\" When you cannot find words, when\nyour words appear cold and feeble, just believe: The Holy Spirit is\npraying in me. Be quiet before God, and give Him time and opportunity;\nin due season you will learn to pray. Beware of grieving the Spirit of\nprayer, by not honouring Him in patient, trustful surrender to His\nintercession in you.\n\nThe third lesson: \"_Be filled with the Spirit_\" (Eph. v. 18). I think\nthat we have seen the meaning of the great truth: It is only the healthy\nspiritual life that can pray aright. The command comes to each of us:\n\"Be filled with the Spirit.\" That implies that while some rest content\nwith the beginning, with a small measure of the Spirit's working, it is\nGod's will that we should be filled with the Spirit. That means, from\nour side, that our whole being ought to be entirely yielded up to the\nHoly Spirit, to be possessed and controlled by Him alone. And, from\nGod's side, that we may count upon and expect the Holy Spirit to take\npossession and fill us. Has not our failure in prayer evidently been\nowing to our not having accepted the Spirit of prayer to be our life; to\nour not having yielded wholly to Him, whom the Father gave as the Spirit\nof His Son, to work the life of the Son in us? Let us, to say the very\nleast, be willing to receive Him, to yield ourselves to God and trust\nHim for it. Let us not again wilfully grieve the Holy Spirit by\ndeclining, by neglecting, by hesitating to seek to have Him as fully as\nHe is willing to give Himself to us. If we have at all seen that prayer\nis the great need of our work and of the Church, if we have at all\ndesired or resolved to pray more, let us turn to the very source of all\npower and blessing--let us believe that the Spirit of prayer, even in\nHis fulness, is for us.\n\nWe all admit the place the Father and the Son have in our prayer. It is\nto the Father we pray, and from whom we expect the answer. It is in the\nmerit, and name, and life of the Son, abiding in Him and He in us, that\nwe trust to be heard. But have we understood that in the Holy Trinity\nall the Three Persons have an equal place in prayer, and that the faith\nin the Holy Spirit of intercession as praying in us is as indispensable\nas the faith in the Father and the Son? How clearly we have this in the\nwords, \"Through Christ we have access by one Spirit to the Father.\" As\nmuch as prayer must be _to_ the Father, and _through_ the Son, it must\nbe _by_ the Spirit. And the Spirit can pray in no other way in us, than\nas He lives in us. It is only as we give ourselves to the Spirit living\nand praying in us, that the glory of the prayer-hearing God, and the\never-blessed and most effectual mediation of the Son, can be known by us\nin their power. (Note D.)\n\nOur last lesson: _Pray in the Spirit for all saints_ (Eph. vi. 18). The\nSpirit, who is called \"the Spirit of supplication,\" is also and very\nspecially the Spirit of intercession. It is said of Him, \"the Spirit\nHimself maketh intercession for us with groanings that cannot be\nuttered.\" \"He maketh intercession for the saints.\" It is the same word\nas is used of Christ, \"who also maketh intercession for us.\" The thought\nis essentially that of mediation--one pleading for another. When the\nSpirit of intercession takes full possession of us, all selfishness, as\nif we wanted Him separate from His intercession for others, and have Him\nfor ourselves alone, is banished, and we begin to avail ourselves of our\nwonderful privilege to plead for men. We long to live the Christ-life of\nself-consuming sacrifice for others, as our heart unceasingly yields\nitself to God to obtain His blessing for those around us. Intercession\nthen becomes, not an incident or an occasional part of our prayers, but\ntheir one great object. Prayer for ourselves then takes its true place,\nsimply as a means for fitting us better for exercising our ministry of\nintercession more effectually.\n\nMay I be allowed to speak a very personal word to each of my readers? I\nhave humbly besought God to give me what I may give them--Divine light\nand help truly to forsake the life of failure in prayer, and to enter,\neven now, and at once, upon the life of intercession which the Holy\nSpirit can enable them to lead. It can be done by a simple act of faith,\nclaiming the fulness of the Spirit, that is, the full measure of the\nSpirit which you are capable in God's sight of receiving, and He is\ntherefore willing to bestow. Will you not, even now, accept of this by\nfaith?\n\nLet me remind you of what takes place at conversion. Most of us, you\nprobably too, for a time sought peace in efforts and struggles to give\nup sin and please God. But you did not find it thus. The peace of God's\npardon came by faith, trusting God's word concerning Christ and His\nsalvation. You had heard of Christ as the gift of His love, you knew\nthat He was for you too, you had felt the movings and drawings of His\ngrace; but never till in faith in God's word you accepted Him as God's\ngift to you, did you know the peace and joy that He can give. Believing\nin Him and His saving love made all the difference, and changed your\nrelation from one who had ever grieved Him, to one who loved and served\nHim. And yet, after a time, you have a thousand times wondered you love\nand serve Him so ill.\n\nAt the time of your conversion you knew little about the Holy Spirit.\nLater on you heard of His dwelling in you, and His being the power of\nGod in you for all the Father intends you to be, and yet His indwelling\nand inworking have been something vague and indefinite, and hardly a\nsource of joy or strength. At conversion you did not yet know your need\nof Him, and still less what you might expect of Him. But your failures\nhave taught it you. And now you begin to see how you have been grieving\nHim, by not trusting and not following Him, by not allowing Him to work\nin you all God's pleasure.\n\nAll this can be changed. Just as you, after seeking Christ, and praying\nto Him, and trying without success to serve Him, found rest in accepting\nHim by faith, just so you may even now yield yourself to the full\nguidance of the Holy Spirit, and claim and accept Him to work in you\nwhat God would have. Will you not do it? Just accept Him in faith as\nChrist's gift, to be the Spirit of your whole life, of your prayer-life\ntoo, and you can count upon Him to take charge. You can then begin,\nhowever feeble you feel, and unable to pray aright, to bow before God in\nsilence, with the assurance that He will teach you to pray.\n\nMy dear brother, as you consciously by faith accepted Christ, to pardon,\nyou can consciously now in the like faith accept of Christ who gives the\nHoly Spirit to do His work in you. \"Christ redeemed us that we might\nreceive the promise of the Spirit by faith.\" Kneel down, and simply\nbelieve that the Lord Christ, who baptizeth with the Holy Spirit, does\nnow, in response to your faith, begin in you the blessed life of a full\nexperience of the power of the indwelling Spirit. Depend most\nconfidently upon Him, apart from all feeling or experience, as the\nSpirit of supplication and intercession to do His work. Renew that act\nof faith each morning, each time you pray; trust Him, against all\nappearances, to work in you,--be sure He is working,--and He will give\nyou to know what the joy of the Holy Spirit is as the power of your\nlife.\n\n\"I will pour out the Spirit of supplication.\" Do you not begin to see\nthat the mystery of prayer is the mystery of the Divine indwelling. God\nin heaven gives His Spirit in our hearts to be there the Divine power\npraying in us, and drawing us upward to our God. God is a Spirit, and\nnothing but a like life and Spirit within us can hold communion with\nHim. It was for this man was created, that God might dwell and work in\nHim, and be the life of his life. It was this Divine indwelling that sin\nlost. It was this that Christ came to exhibit in His life, to win back\nfor us in His death, and then to impart to us by coming again from\nheaven in the Spirit to live in His disciples. It is this, the\nindwelling of God through the Spirit, that alone can explain and enable\nus to appropriate the wonderful promises given to prayer. God gives the\nSpirit as a Spirit of Supplication, too, to maintain His Divine life\nwithin us as a life out of which prayer ever rises upward.\n\nWithout the Holy Spirit no man can call Jesus Lord, or cry, Abba,\nFather; no man can worship in spirit and truth, or pray without ceasing.\nThe Holy Spirit is given the believer to be and do in him all that God\nwants him to be or do. He is given him especially as the Spirit of\nprayer and supplication. Is it not clear that everything in prayer\ndepends upon our trusting the Holy Spirit to do His work in us; yielding\nourselves to His leading, depending only and wholly on Him?\n\nWe read, \"Stephen was a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit.\" The two\never go together, in exact proportion to each other. As our faith sees\nand trusts the Spirit in us to pray, and waits on Him, He will do His\nwork; and it is the longing desire, and the earnest supplication, and\nthe definite faith the Father seeks. Do let us know Him, and in the\nfaith of Christ who unceasingly gives Him, cultivate the assured\nconfidence, we can learn to pray as the Father would have us.\n\n\n\n\nA PLEA FOR MORE PRAYER\n\nCHAPTER XI\n\nIn the Name of Christ\n\n    \"Whatsoever ye shall ask _in My Name_, that will I do. If ye shall\n    ask anything _in My Name_, I will do it. I have appointed you, that\n    whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father _in My Name_, He may give it\n    you. Verily, verily I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall ask the\n    Father _in My Name_, He will give it you. Hitherto have ye asked\n    nothing _in My Name_; ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may\n    be full. At that day ye shall ask _in My Name_.\"--JOHN xiv. 13, 14,\n    xv. 16, xvi. 23, 24, 26.\n\n\nIn my name--repeated six times over. Our Lord knew how slow our hearts\nwould be to take it in, and He so longed that we should really believe\nthat His Name is the power in which every knee should bow, and in which\nevery prayer could be heard, that He did not weary of saying it over and\nover: _In My Name!_ Between the wonderful _whatsoever ye shall ask_, and\nthe Divine _I will do it, the Father will give it_, this one word is\nthe simple link: _In My Name._ Our asking and the Father's giving are to\nbe equally in the Name of Christ. Everything in prayer depends upon our\napprehending this--_In My Name._\n\nWe know what a name is: a word by which we call up to our mind the whole\nbeing and nature of an object. When I speak of a lamb or a lion, the\nname at once suggests the different nature peculiar to each. The Name of\nGod is meant to express His whole Divine nature and glory. And so the\nName of Christ means His whole nature, His person and work, His\ndisposition and Spirit. To ask in the Name of Christ is to pray in union\nwith Him. When first a sinner believes in Christ, he only knows and\nthinks of His merit and intercession. And to the very end that is the\none foundation of our confidence. And yet, as the believer grows in\ngrace and enters more deeply and truly into union with Christ--that is,\nas he abides in Him--he learns that to pray in the Name of Christ also\nmeans in His Spirit, and in the possession of His nature, as the Holy\nSpirit imparts it to us. As we grasp the meaning of the words, \"_At that\nday_ ye shall ask in My Name\"--the day when in the Holy Spirit Christ\ncame to live in His disciples--we shall no longer be staggered at the\ngreatness of the promise: \"_Whatsoever_ ye shall ask in My Name, I will\ndo it.\" We shall get some insight into the unchangeable necessity and\ncertainty of the law: what is asked in the Name of Christ, in union with\nHim, out of His nature and Spirit, must be given. As Christ's\nprayer-nature lives in us, His prayer-power becomes ours too. Not that\nthe measure of our attainment or experience is the ground of our\nconfidence, but the honesty and whole-heartedness of our surrender to\nall that we see that Christ seeks to be in us, will be the measure of\nour spiritual fitness and power to pray in His Name. \"If ye abide in\nMe,\" He says, \"ye shall ask what ye will.\" As we live in Him, we get the\nspiritual power to avail ourselves of His Name. As the branch wholly\ngiven up to the life and service of the Vine can count upon all its sap\nand strength for its fruit, so the believer, who in faith has accepted\nthe fulness of the Spirit to possess his whole life, can indeed avail\nhimself of all the power of Christ's Name.\n\nHere on earth Christ as man came to reveal what prayer is. To pray in\nthe Name of Christ we must pray as He prayed on earth; as He taught us\nto pray; in union with Him, as He now prays in heaven. We must in love\nstudy, and in faith accept, Him as our Example, our Teacher, our\nIntercessor.\n\n\nCHRIST OUR EXAMPLE.\n\nPrayer in Christ on earth and in us cannot be two different things. Just\nas there is but one God, who is a Spirit, who hears prayer, there is but\none spirit of acceptable prayer. When we realise what time Christ spent\nin prayer, and how the great events of His life were all connected with\nspecial prayer, we learn the necessity of absolute dependence on and\nunceasing direct communication with the heavenly world, if we are to\nlive a heavenly life, or to exercise heavenly power around us. We see\nhow foolish and fruitless the attempt must be to do work for God and\nheaven, without in the first place in prayer getting the life and the\npower of heaven to possess us. Unless this truth lives in us, we cannot\navail ourselves aright of the mighty power of the Name of Christ. His\nexample must teach us the meaning of His Name.\n\nOf His baptism we read, \"Jesus having been baptized, _and praying_, the\nheaven was opened.\" It was in prayer heaven was opened to Him, that\nheaven came down to Him with the Spirit and the voice of the Father. In\nthe power of these He was led into the wilderness, in fasting and prayer\nto have them tested and fully appropriated. Early in His ministry Mark\nrecords (i. 35), \"And in the morning, a great while before day, He rose\nand departed into a desert place, _and there prayed_.\" And somewhat\nlater Luke tells (v. 16), \"Multitudes came together to hear and to be\nhealed. _But He withdrew Himself into the desert, and prayed._\" He knew\nhow the holiest service, preaching and healing, can exhaust the spirit;\nhow too much intercourse with men could cloud the fellowship with God;\nhow time, time, full time, is needed if the spirit is to rest and root\nin Him; how no pressure of duty among men can free from the absolute\nneed of much prayer. If anyone could have been satisfied with always\nliving and working in the spirit of prayer, it would have been our\nMaster. But He could not; He needed to have His supplies replenished by\ncontinual and long-continued seasons of prayer. To use Christ's Name in\nprayer surely includes this, to follow His example and to pray as He\ndid.\n\nOf the night before choosing His apostles we read (Luke vi. 12), \"He\nwent out into the mountain _to pray, and continued all night in prayer\nto God_.\" The first step towards the constitution of the Church, and the\nseparation of men to be His witnesses and successors, called Him to\nspecial long-continued prayer. All had to be done according to the\npattern on the mount. \"The Son can do nothing of Himself: the Father\nshoweth Him all things that Himself doeth.\" It was in the night of\nprayer it was shown Him.\n\nIn the night between the feeding of the five thousand, when Jesus knew\nthat they wanted to take Him by force and make Him King, and the walking\non the sea, \"He withdrew again into the mountain, Himself alone, _to\npray_\" (Matt. xiv. 23; Mark vi. 46; John vi. 15). It was God's will He\nwas come to do, and God's power He was to show forth. He had it not as a\npossession of His own; it had to be prayed for and received from above.\nThe first announcement of His approaching death, after He had elicited\nfrom Peter the confession that He was the Christ, is introduced by the\nwords (Luke ix. 15), \"And it came to pass that _He was praying alone_.\"\nThe introduction to the story of the Transfiguration is (Luke ix. 28),\n\"He went up into the mountain _to pray_.\" The request of the disciples,\n\"Lord, teach us to pray\" (Luke xi. 1), follows on, \"It came to pass _as\nHe was praying_ in a certain place.\" In His own personal life, in His\nintercourse with the Father, in all He is and does for men, the Christ\nwhose name we are to use is a Man of prayer. It is prayer gives Him His\npower of blessing, and transfigures His very body with the glory of\nheaven. It is His own prayer-life makes Him the teacher of others how to\npray. How much more must it be prayer, prayer alone, much prayer, that\ncan fit us to share His glory of a transfigured life, or make us the\nchannel of heavenly blessing and teaching to others. To pray in the Name\nof Christ is to pray as He prays.\n\nAs the end approaches, it is still more prayer. When the Greeks asked to\nsee Him, and He spoke of His approaching death, He prayed. At Lazarus'\ngrave He prayed. In the last night He prayed His prayer as our\nHigh-Priest, that we might know what His sacrifice would win, and what\nHis everlasting intercession on the throne would be. In Gethsemane He\nprayed His prayer as Victim, the Lamb giving itself to the slaughter. On\nthe Cross it is still all prayer--the prayer of compassion for His\nmurderers; the prayer of atoning suffering in the thick darkness; the\nprayer in death of confiding resignation of His spirit to the Father.\n(Note E.)\n\nChrist's life and work, His suffering and death--it was all prayer, all\ndependence on God, trust in God, receiving from God, surrender to God.\nThy redemption, O believer, is a redemption wrought out by prayer and\nintercession: thy Christ is a praying Christ: the life He lived for\nthee, the life He lives in thee, is a praying life, that delights to\nwait on God and receive all from Him. To pray in His Name is to pray as\nHe prayed. Christ is only our example because He is our Head, our\nSaviour, and our Life. In virtue of His Deity and of His Spirit He can\nlive in us: we can pray in His Name, because we abide in Him and He in\nus.\n\n\nCHRIST OUR TEACHER.\n\nChrist was what He taught. All His teaching was just the revelation of\nhow He lived, and--praise God--of the life He was to live in us. His\nteaching of the disciples was first to awaken desire, and so prepare\nthem for what He would by the Holy Spirit be and work in them. Let us\nbelieve very confidently: all He was in prayer, and all He taught, He\nHimself will give. He came to fulfil the law; much more will He fulfil\nthe gospel in all He taught us, as to what to pray, and how.\n\n_What to pray._--It has sometimes been said that direct petitions, as\ncompared with the exercise of fellowship with God, are but a subordinate\npart of prayer, and that \"in the prayer of those who pray best and most,\nthey occupy but an inconsiderable place.\" If we carefully study all that\nour Lord spoke of prayer, we shall see that this is not His teaching. In\nthe Lord's Prayer, in the parables on prayer, in the illustration of a\nchild asking bread, of our seeking and knocking, in the central thought\nof the prayer of faith, \"Whatsoever ye pray, believe that ye have\nreceived,\" in the oft-repeated \"_whatsoever_\" of the last\nevening--everywhere our Lord urges and encourages us to offer definite\npetitions, and to expect definite answers. It is only because we have\ntoo much confined prayer to our own needs, that it has been thought\nneedful to free it from the appearance of selfishness, by giving the\npetitions a subordinate place. If once believers were to awake to the\nglory of the work of intercession, and to see that in it, and the\ndefinite pleading for definite gifts on definite spheres and persons,\nlie our highest fellowship with our glorified Lord, and our only real\npower to bless men, it would be seen that there can be no truer\nfellowship with God than these definite petitions and their answers, by\nwhich we become the channel of His grace and life to men. Then our\nfellowship with the Father is even such as the Son has in His\nintercession.\n\n_How to pray._--Our Lord taught us to pray in secret, in simplicity,\nwith the eye on God alone, in humility, in the spirit of forgiving love.\nBut the chief truth He reiterated was ever this: to pray in faith. And\nHe defined that faith, not only as a trust in God's goodness or power,\nbut as the definite assurance that we have received the very thing we\nask. And then, in view of the delay in the answer, He insisted on\nperseverance and urgency. We must be followers of those \"who through\nfaith and patience inherit the promises\"--the faith that accepts the\npromise, and knows it has what it has asked--the patience that obtains\nthe promise and inherits the blessing. We shall then learn to understand\nwhy God, who promises to avenge His elect speedily, bears with them in\nseeming delay. It is that their faith may be purified from all that is\nof the flesh, and tested and strengthened to become that spiritual power\nthat can do all things--can even cast mountains into the heart of the\nsea.\n\n\nCHRIST AS OUR INTERCESSOR.\n\nWe have gazed on Christ in His prayers; we have listened to His teaching\nas to how we must pray; to know fully what it is to pray in His Name, we\nmust know Him too in His heavenly intercession.\n\nJust think what it means: that all His saving work wrought from heaven\nis still carried on, just as on earth, in unceasing communication with,\nand direct intercession to the Father, who worketh all in all, who is\nAll in All. Every act of grace in Christ has been preceded by, and owes\nits power to, intercession. God has been honoured and acknowledged as\nits Author. On the throne of God, Christ's highest fellowship with the\nFather, and His partnership in His rule of the world, is in\nintercession. Every blessing that comes down to us from above bears upon\nit the stamp from God: through Christ's intercession. His intercession\nis nothing but the fruit and the glory of His atonement. When He gave\nHimself a sacrifice to God for men, He proved that His whole heart had\nthe one object: the glory of God, in the salvation of men. In His\nintercession this great purpose is realised: He glorifies the Father by\nasking and receiving all of Him; He saves men by bestowing what He has\nobtained from the Father. Christ's intercession is the Father's glory,\nHis own glory, our glory.\n\nAnd now, this Christ, the Intercessor, is our life; He is our Head, and\nwe are His body; His Spirit and life breathe in us. As in heaven so on\nearth, intercession is God's chosen, God's only channel of blessing. Let\nus learn from Christ what glory there is in it; what the way to exercise\nthis wondrous power; what the part it is to take in work for God.\n\n_The glory of it._--By it, beyond anything, we glorify God. By it we\nglorify Christ. By it we bring blessing to the Church and the world. By\nit we obtain our highest nobility--the Godlike power of saving men.\n\n_The way to it._--Paul writes, \"Walk in love, even as Christ loved us,\nand gave Himself a sacrifice to God for us.\" If we live as Christ\nlived, we will, as He did, give ourselves, for our whole life, to God,\nto be used by Him for men. When once we have done this, given ourselves,\nno more to seek anything for ourselves, but for men, and that to God,\nfor Him to use us, and to impart to us what we can bestow on others,\nintercession will become to us, as it is in Christ in heaven, the great\nwork of our life. And if ever the thought comes that the call is too\nhigh, or the work too great, the faith in Christ, the Interceding\nChrist, who lives in us, will give us the victory. We will listen to Him\nwho said, \"The works that I do, shall ye do; and greater works shall ye\ndo.\" We shall remember that we are not under the law, with its\nimpotence, but under grace with its omnipotence, working all in us. We\nshall believe again in Him who said to us, Rise and walk, and gave\nus--and we received it--His life as our strength. We shall claim afresh\nthe fulness of God's Spirit as His sufficient provision for our need,\nand count Him to be in us the Spirit of Intercession, who makes us one\nwith Christ in His. Oh! let us only keep our place--giving up ourselves,\nlike Him, in Him, to God for men.\n\nThen we shall understand the part intercession is to take in God's work\nthrough us. We shall no longer try to work for God, and ask Him to\nfollow it with His blessing. We shall do what the friend at midnight\ndid, what Christ did on earth, and ever does in heaven--we shall first\nget from God, and then turn to men to give what He gave us. As with\nChrist, we shall make our chief work, we shall count no time or trouble\ntoo great, to receive from the Father; giving to men will then be in\npower.\n\nServants of Christ! children of God! be of good courage. Let no fear of\nfeebleness or poverty make you afraid--ask in the Name of Christ. His\nName is Himself, in all His perfection and power. He is the living\nChrist, and will Himself make His Name a power in you. Fear not to plead\nthe Name; His promise is a threefold cord that cannot be broken:\n_Whatsoever ye ask--in My Name_--IT SHALL BE DONE UNTO YOU.\n\n\n\n\nA PLEA FOR MORE PRAYER\n\nCHAPTER XII\n\nMy God will hear Me\n\n    \"Therefore will the Lord wait, that He may be gracious unto you.\n    Blessed are all they that wait for Him. He will be very gracious\n    unto thee at the voice of thy cry; when He shall hear it, He will\n    answer thee.\"--ISA. xxx. 18, 19.\n\n    \"The Lord will hear when _I call_ upon Him.\"--PS. iv. 3.\n\n    \"I have called upon Thee, for Thou _wilt hear me_, O God!\"--PS.\n    xvii. 6.\n\n    \"I will look unto the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation:\n    my God _will hear me_.\"--MIC. vii. 7.\n\n\nThe power of prayer rests in the faith that God hears it. In more than\none sense this is true. It is this faith that gives a man courage to\npray. It is this faith that gives him power to prevail with God. The\nmoment I am assured that God hears _me_ too, I feel drawn to pray and to\npersevere in prayer. I feel strong to claim and to take in faith the\nanswer God gives. One great reason of lack of prayer is the want of the\nliving, joyous assurance: \"My God will hear me.\" If once God's servants\ngot a vision of the living God waiting to grant their request, and to\nbestow all the heavenly gifts of the Spirit they are in need of, for\nthemselves or those they are serving, how everything would be set aside\nto make time and room for this one only power that can ensure heavenly\nblessing--the prayer of faith!\n\nWhen a man can, and does say, in living faith, \"My God will hear me!\"\nsurely nothing can keep him from prayer. He knows that what he cannot do\nor get done on earth, can and will be done for him from heaven. Let each\none of us bow in stillness before God, and wait on Him to reveal Himself\nas the prayer-hearing God. In His presence the wondrous thoughts\ngathering round the central truth will unfold themselves to us.\n\n1. \"_My God will hear me._\"--_What a blessed certainty!_--We have God's\nword for it in numberless promises. We have thousands of witnesses to\nthe fact that they have found it true. We have had experience of it in\nour lives. We have had the Son of God come from heaven with the message\nthat if we ask, the Father will give. We have had Himself praying on\nearth, and being heard. And we have Him in heaven now, sitting at the\nright hand of God and making intercession for us. God hears prayer--God\ndelights to hear prayer. He has allowed His people a thousand times over\nto be tried, that they might be compelled to cry to Him, and learn to\nknow Him as the Hearer of Prayer.\n\nLet us confess with shame how little we have believed this wondrous\ntruth, in the sense of receiving it into our heart, and allowing it to\npossess and control our whole being. That we accept a truth is not\nenough; the living God, of whom the truth speaks, must in its light so\nbe revealed, that our whole life is spent in His presence, with the\nconsciousness as clear as in a little child towards its earthly\nparent--I know for certain my father hears me.\n\nBeloved child of God! you know by experience how little an intellectual\napprehension of truth has profited you. Beseech God to reveal Himself to\nyou. If you want to live a different prayer-life, bow each time ere you\npray in silence to worship this God; to wait till there rests on you\nsome right sense of His nearness and readiness to answer. So will you\nbegin to pray with the words, \"My God will hear me!\"\n\n2. \"_My God will hear me._\" _What a wondrous grace!_--Think of God in\nHis infinite majesty, His altogether incomprehensible glory, His\nunapproachable holiness, sitting on a throne of grace, waiting to be\ngracious, inviting, encouraging you to pray with His promise: \"Call upon\nMe, and I will answer thee.\" Think of yourself, in your nothingness and\nhelplessness as a creature; in your wretchedness and transgressions as a\nsinner; in your feebleness and unworthiness as a saint; and praise the\nglory of that grace which allows you to say boldly of your prayer for\nyourself and others, \"My God will hear me.\" Think of how you are not\nleft to yourself, and what you can accomplish, in this wonderful\nintercourse with God. God has united you with Christ; in Him and His\nName you have your confidence; on the throne He prays with you and for\nyou; on the footstool of the throne you pray with Him and in Him. His\nworth, and the Father's delight in hearing Him, are the measure of your\nconfidence, your assurance of being heard. There is more. Think of the\nHoly Spirit, the Spirit of God's own Son, sent into your heart to cry,\nAbba, Father, and to be _in you_ a Spirit of Supplication, when you know\nnot what to pray as you ought. Think, in all your insignificance and\nunworthiness, of your being as acceptable as Christ Himself. Think in\nall your ignorance and feebleness, of the Spirit making intercession\naccording to God within you, and cry out, \"What wondrous grace! Through\nChrist I have access to the Father, by the Spirit. I can, I do believe\nit: 'My God will hear me.'\"\n\n3. \"_My God will hear me._\"--_What a deep mystery!_--There are\ndifficulties that cannot but at times arise and perplex even the honest\nheart. There is the question as to God's sovereign, all-wise,\nall-disposing will. How can our wishes, often so foolish, and our will,\noften so selfish, overrule or change that perfect will? Were it not\nbetter to leave all to His disposal, who knows what is best, and loves\nto give us the very best? Or how can our prayer change what He has\nordained before? Then there is the question as to the need of\npersevering prayer, and long waiting for the answer. If God be Infinite\nLove, and delighting more to give than we to receive, where the need for\nthe pleading and wrestling, the urgency, and the long delay of which\nScripture and experience speak? Arising out of this there is still\nanother question--that of the multitude of apparently vain and\nunanswered prayers. How many have pleaded for loved ones, and they die\nunsaved. How many cry for years for spiritual blessing, and no answer\ncomes. To think of all this tries our faith, and makes us hesitate as we\nsay, \"My God will hear me.\"\n\nBeloved! prayer, in its power with God, and His faithfulness to His\npromise to hear it, is a deep spiritual mystery. To the questions put\nabove answers can be given that remove some of the difficulty. But,\nafter all, the first and the last that must be said is this: As little\nas we can comprehend God can we comprehend this, one of the most blessed\nof His attributes, that He hears prayer. It is a spiritual\nmystery--nothing less than the mystery of the Holy Trinity. God hears\nbecause we pray in His Son, because the Holy Spirit prays in us. If we\nhave believed and claimed the life of Christ as our health, and the\nfulness of the Spirit as our strength, let us not hesitate to believe in\nthe power of our prayer too. The Holy Spirit can enable us to believe\nand rejoice in it, even where every question is not yet answered. He\nwill do this, as we lay our questionings in God's bosom, trust His\nfaithfulness, and give ourselves humbly to obey His command to pray\nwithout ceasing. Every art unfolds its secrets and its beauty only to\nthe man who practises it. To the humble soul who prays in the obedience\nof faith, who practises prayer and intercession diligently, because God\nasks it, the secret of the Lord will be revealed, and the thought of the\ndeep mystery of prayer, instead of being a weary problem, will be a\nsource of rejoicing, adoration, and faith, in which the unceasing\nrefrain is ever heard: \"_My God will hear me!_\"\n\n4. \"_My God will hear me._\" _What a solemn responsibility!_--How often\nwe complain of darkness, of feebleness, of failure, as if there was no\nhelp for it. And God has promised in answer to our prayer to supply our\nevery need, and give us His light and strength and peace. Would that we\nrealised the responsibility of having such a God, and such promises,\nwith the sin and shame of not availing ourselves of them to the utmost.\nHow confident we should feel that the grace, which we have accepted and\ntrusted to enable us to pray as we should, will be given.\n\nThere is more. This access to a prayer-hearing God is specially meant to\nmake us intercessors for our fellowmen. Even as Christ obtained His\nright of prevailing intercession by His giving Himself a sacrifice to\nGod for men, and through it receives the blessings He dispenses, so, if\nwe have truly with Christ given ourselves to God for men, we share His\nright of intercession, and are able to obtain the powers of the heavenly\nworld for them too. The power of life and death is in our hands (1 John\nv. 16). In answer to prayer the Spirit can be poured out, souls can be\nconverted, believers can be established. In prayer the kingdom of\ndarkness can be conquered, souls brought out of prison into the liberty\nof Christ, and the glory of God be revealed. Through prayer, the sword\nof the Spirit, which is the Word of God, can be wielded in power, and,\nin public preaching as in private speaking, the most rebellious made to\nbow at Jesus' feet.\n\nWhat a responsibility on the Church to give herself to the work of\nintercession! What a responsibility on every minister, missionary,\nworker, set apart for the saving of souls, to yield himself wholly to\nact out and prove his faith: \"My God will hear me!\" And what a call on\nevery believer, instead of burying and losing this talent, to seek to\nthe very utmost to use it in prayer and supplication for all saints and\nfor all men. My God will hear me: The deeper our entrance into the truth\nof this wondrous power God hath given to men, the more whole-hearted\nwill be our surrender to the work of intercession.\n\n5. \"_My God will hear me._\" _What a blessed prospect!_--I see it--all\nthe failures of my past life have been owing to the lack of this faith.\nMy failure, especially in the work of intercession, has had its deepest\nroot in this--I did not live in the full faith of the blessed assurance,\n\"_My God will hear me!_\" Praise God! I begin to see it--I believe it.\nAll can be different. Or, rather, I see Him, I believe Him. \"_My God\nwill hear me!_\" Yes, me, even me! Commonplace and insignificant though I\nbe, filling but a very little place, so that I will scarce be missed\nwhen I go--even I have access to this Infinite God, with the confidence\nthat He heareth me. One with Christ, led by the Holy Spirit, I dare to\nsay: \"I will pray for others, for I am sure my God will listen to me:\n'_My God will hear me._'\" What a blessed prospect before me--every\nearthly and spiritual anxiety exchanged for the peace of God, who cares\nfor all and hears prayer. What a blessed prospect in my work--to know\nthat even when the answer is long delayed, and there is a call for much\npatient, persevering prayer, the truth remains infallibly sure--\"_My God\nwill hear me!_\"\n\nAnd what a blessed prospect for Christ's Church if we could but all give\nprayer its place, give faith in God its place, or, rather, _give the\nprayer-hearing God His place_! Is not this the one great thing, those,\nwho in some little measure begin to see the urgent need of prayer, ought\nin the first place to pray for. When God, at the first, time after time,\npoured forth the Spirit on His praying people, He laid down the law for\nall time: as much of prayer, so much of the Spirit. Let each one who can\nsay, \"_My God will hear me_,\" join in the fervent supplication, that\nthroughout the Church that truth may be restored to its true place, and\nthe blessed prospect will be realised: a praying Church endued with the\npower of the Holy Ghost.\n\n6. \"_My God will hear me._\" _What a need of Divine teaching!_--We need\nthis, both to enable us to hold this word in living faith, and to make\nfull use of it in intercession. It has been said, and it cannot be said\ntoo often or too earnestly, that the one thing needful for the Church of\nour day is, the power of the Holy Spirit. It is just because this is\nso, from the Divine side, that we may also say as truly that, from the\nhuman side, the one thing needful is, more prayer, more believing,\npersevering prayer. In speaking of lack of the Spirit's power, and the\ncondition for receiving it, someone used the expression--the block is\nnot on the perpendicular, but on the horizontal line. It is to be feared\nthat it is on both. There is much to be confessed and taken away in us\nif the Spirit is to work freely. But it is specially on the\nperpendicular line that the block is--the upward look, and the deep\ndependence, and the strong crying to God, and the effectual prayer of\nfaith that avails--all this is sadly lacking. And just this is the one\nthing needful.\n\nShall we not all set ourselves to learn the lesson which will make\nprevailing prayer possible--the lesson of a faith that always sings,\n\"_My God will hear me_\"? Simple and elementary as it is, it needs\npractice and patience, it needs time and heavenly teaching, to learn it\naright. Under the impression of a bright thought, or a blessed\nexperience, it may look as if we knew the lesson perfectly. But ever\nagain the need will recur of making this our first prayer--that God who\nhears prayer would teach us to believe it, and so to pray aright. If we\ndesire it we can count upon Him He who delights in hearing prayer and\nanswering it, He who gave His Son that He might ever pray for us and\nwith us, and His Holy Spirit to pray in us, we can be sure there is not\na prayer that He will hear more certainly than this: that He so reveal\nHimself as the prayer-hearing God, that our whole being may respond,\n\"_My God will hear me._\"\n\n\n\n\nA PLEA FOR MORE PRAYER\n\nCHAPTER XIII\n\nPaul a Pattern of Prayer\n\n    \"Go and inquire for one called Saul of Tarsus: for, _behold, he\n    prayeth_.\"--ACTS ix. 11.\n\n    \"For this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ\n    might show forth all long-suffering, for a pattern to them which\n    should hereafter believe on Him to life everlasting.\"--1 TIM. i. 16.\n\n\nGod took His own Son, and made Him our Example and our Pattern. It\nsometimes is as if the power of Christ's example is lost in the thought\nthat He, in whom is no sin, is not man as we are. Our Lord took Paul, a\nman of like passions with ourselves, and made him a pattern of what he\ncould do for one who was the chief of sinners. And Paul, the man who,\nmore than any other, has set his mark on the Church, has ever been\nappealed to as a pattern man. In his mastery of Divine truth, and his\nteaching of it; in his devotion to his Lord, and his self-consuming zeal\nin His service; in his deep experience of the power of the indwelling\nChrist and the fellowship of his cross; in the sincerity of his\nhumility, and the simplicity and boldness of his faith; in his\nmissionary enthusiasm and endurance--in all this, and so much more, \"the\ngrace of our Lord Jesus was exceeding abundant in him.\" Christ gave him,\nand the Church has accepted him, as a pattern of what Christ would have,\nof what Christ would work. Seven times Paul speaks of believers\nfollowing him: (1 Cor. iv. 16), \"Wherefore I beseech you, be ye\nfollowers of me\"; (xi. 1), \"Be ye followers of me, even as I am of\nChrist\"; Phil, iii. 17, iv. 9; 1 Thess. i. 6; 2 Thess. iii. 7-9.\n\nIf Paul, as a pattern of prayer, is not as much studied or appealed to\nas he is in other respects, it is not because he is not in this too as\nremarkable a proof of what grace can do, or because we do not, in this\nrespect, as much stand in need of the help of his example. A study of\nPaul as a pattern of prayer will bring a rich reward of instruction and\nencouragement. The words our Lord used of him at his conversion, \"Behold\nhe prayeth,\" may be taken as the keynote of his life. The heavenly\nvision which brought him to his knees ever after ruled his life. Christ\nat the right hand of God, in whom we are blessed with all spiritual\nblessings, was everything to him; to pray and expect the heavenly power\nin his work and on his work, from heaven direct by prayer, was the\nsimple outcome of his faith in the Glorified One. In this, too, Christ\nmeant him to be a pattern, that we might learn that, just in the measure\nin which the heavenliness of Christ and His gifts, the unworldliness of\nthe powers that work for salvation, are known and believed, will prayer\nbecome the spontaneous rising of the heart to the only source of its\nlife. Let us see what we know of Paul.\n\n\nPAUL'S HABITS OF PRAYER.\n\nThese are revealed almost unconsciously. He writes (Rom. i. 9), \"God is\nmy witness, that without ceasing I make mention of you _always in my\nprayers_. For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some\nspiritual gift, to the end ye may be established.\" Rom. x. 1, ix. 2, 3:\n\"My _heart's desire and prayer to God_ for Israel is, that they may be\nsaved\"; \"I have great heaviness and _continual sorrow of heart_; for I\ncould wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren.\" 1\nCor. i. 4: \"I thank my God _always_ on your behalf, for the grace of God\nwhich is given you by Jesus Christ.\" 2 Cor. vi. 4, 6: \"Approving\nourselves as the ministers of Christ, _in watchings_, _in fastings_.\"\nGal. iv. 19: \"My little children, of whom _I travail in birth again_\ntill Christ be formed in you.\" Eph. i. 16: \"_I cease not_ to give thanks\nfor you, making mention of you _in my prayers_.\" Eph. iii. 14: \"_I bow\nmy knees_ to the Father, that He would grant you to be strengthened with\nmight by His Spirit in the inner man.\" Phil. i. 3, 4, 8, 9: \"I thank my\nGod _upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine_\nmaking request for you all with joy. For God is my record, how greatly I\nlong after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ. And this _I\npray_\"--Col. i. 3, 9: \"We give thanks to God, _praying always for you_.\nFor this cause also, since the day we heard it, we _do not cease to pray\nfor you_, and to desire\"--Col. ii. 1: \"I would that ye knew what _great\nconflict_ I have for you, and for as many as have not seen my face in\nthe flesh.\" 1 Thess. i. 2: \"We give thanks to God _always_ for you all,\nmaking mention of you _in our prayers_.\" iii. 9: \"We joy for your sakes\nbefore God; _night and day praying exceedingly_ that we might perfect\nthat which is lacking in your faith.\" 2 Thess. i. 3: \"We are bound to\nthank God _always_ for you. Wherefore also _we always pray_ for you.\" 2\nTim. i. 3: \"I thank God, that _without ceasing_ I have remembrance of\nthee night and day.\" Philem. 4: \"I thank my God, making mention of thee\n_always in my prayers_.\"\n\nThese passages taken together give us the picture of a man whose words,\n\"Pray without ceasing,\" were simply the expression of his daily life. He\nhad such a sense of the insufficiency of simple conversion; of the need\nof the grace and the power of heaven being brought down for the young\nconverts in prayer; of the need of much and unceasing prayer, day and\nnight, to bring it down; of the certainty that prayer would bring it\ndown--that his life was continual and most definite prayer. He had such\na sense that everything must come from above, and such a faith that it\nwould come in answer to prayer, that prayer was neither a duty nor a\nburden, but the natural turning of the heart to the only place whence it\ncould possibly obtain what it sought for others.\n\n\nTHE CONTENTS OF PAUL'S PRAYERS.\n\nIt is of as much importance to know _what_ Paul prayed, as how\nfrequently and earnestly he did so. Intercession is a spiritual work.\nOur confidence in it will depend much on our knowing that we ask\naccording to the will of God. The more distinctly we ask heavenly\nthings, which we feel at once God alone can bestow, which we are sure He\nwill bestow, the more direct and urgent will our appeal be to God alone.\nThe more impossible the things are that we seek, the more we will turn\nfrom all human work to prayer and to God alone.\n\nIn the Epistles, in addition to expressions in which he speaks of his\npraying, we have a number of distinct prayers in which Paul gives\nutterance to his heart's desire for those to whom he writes. In these we\nsee that his first desire was always that they might be \"established\" in\nthe Christian life. Much as he praised God when he heard of conversion,\nhe knew how feeble the young converts were, and how for their\nestablishing nothing would avail without the grace of the Spirit prayed\ndown. If we notice some of the principal of these prayers we shall see\nwhat he asked and obtained.\n\nTake the two prayers in Ephesians--the one for light, the other for\nstrength. In the former (i. 15), he prays for the Spirit of wisdom to\nenlighten them to know what their calling was, what their inheritance,\nwhat the mighty power of God working in them. Spiritual enlightenment\nand knowledge was their great need, to be obtained for them by prayer.\nIn the latter (iii. 15) he asks that the power they had been led to see\nin Christ might work in them, and they be strengthened with Divine\nmight, so as to have the indwelling Christ, and the love that passeth\nknowledge, and the fulness of God actually come on them. These were\nthings that could only come direct from heaven; these were things he\nasked and expected. If we want to learn Paul's art of intercession, we\nmust ask nothing less for believers in our days.\n\nLook at the prayer in Philippians (i. 9-11). There, too, it is first for\nspiritual knowledge; then comes a blameless life, and then a fruitful\nlife to the glory of God. So also in the beautiful prayer in Colossians\n(i. 9-11). First, spiritual knowledge and understanding of God's will,\nthen the strengthening with all might to all patience and joy.\n\nOr take the two prayers in 1 Thessalonians (iii. 12, 13, and v. 23). The\none: \"God so increase your love to one another, that He may stablish\nyour _hearts unblameable in holiness_.\" The other: \"God _sanctify you\nwholly_, and preserve you blameless.\" The very words are so high that we\nhardly understand, still less believe, still less experience what they\nmean. Paul so lived in the heavenly world, he was so at home in the\nholiness and omnipotence of God and His love, that such prayers were the\nnatural expression of what he knew God could and would do. \"God stablish\nyour hearts unblameable in holiness,\" \"God sanctify you wholly\"--the man\nwho believes in these things and desires them, will pray for them for\nothers. The prayers are all a proof that he seeks for them the very life\nof heaven upon earth. No wonder that he is not tempted to trust in any\nhuman means, but looks for it from heaven alone. Again, I say, the more\nwe take Paul's prayers as our pattern, and make his desires our own for\nbelievers for whom we pray, the more will prayer to the God of heaven\nbecome as our daily breath.\n\n\nPAUL'S REQUESTS FOR PRAYER.\n\nThese are no less instructive than his own prayers for the saints. They\nprove that he does not count prayer any special prerogative of an\napostle; he calls the humblest and simplest believer to claim his right.\nThey prove that he does not think that only the new converts or feeble\nChristians need prayer; he himself is, as a member of the body,\ndependent upon his brethren and their prayers. After he had preached the\ngospel for twenty years, he still asks for prayer that he may speak as\nhe ought to speak. Not once for all, not for a time, but day by day, and\nthat without ceasing, must grace be sought and brought down from heaven\nfor his work. United, continued waiting on God is to Paul the only hope\nof the Church. With the Holy Spirit a heavenly life, the life of the\nLord in heaven, entered the world; nothing but unbroken communication\nwith heaven can keep it up.\n\nListen how he asks for prayer, and with what earnestness--Rom. xv. 30:\n\"_I beseech you_, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for\nthe love of the Spirit, that ye _strive together with me in your\nprayers_ to God for me; that I may be delivered from them which do not\nbelieve in Judaea; and may come unto you with joy by the will of God.\"\nHow remarkably both prayers were answered: Rom. xv. 5, 6, 13. The\nremarkable fact that the Roman world-power, which in Pilate with Christ,\nin Herod with Peter, at Philippi, had proved its antagonism to God's\nkingdom, all at once becomes Paul's protector, and secures him a safe\nconvoy to Rome, can only be accounted for by these prayers.\n\n2 Cor. i. 10, 11: \"In whom we trust that He will yet deliver us, _ye\nalso helping together by prayer_ for us.\" Eph. vi. 18, 19: \"Praying\nalways with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, for all saints;\n_and for me_ that I may open my mouth boldly, that therein I may speak\nboldly as I ought to speak.\" Phil. i. 19: \"I know that this (trouble)\nshall turn to my salvation, _through your prayer_, and the supply of the\nSpirit of Jesus Christ.\" Col. iv. 2, 3, 4: \"Continue in prayer; withal\nalso _praying for us_, that God would open unto us a door of utterance,\nto speak the mystery of Christ: that I may make it manifest as I ought\nto speak.\" 1 Thess. v. 25: \"Brethren, pray for us.\" Philem. 22: \"I\ntrust that through your prayers I shall be given to you.\"\n\nWe saw how Christ prayed, and taught His disciples to pray. We see how\nPaul prayed, and taught the churches to pray. As the Master, so the\nservant calls us to believe and to prove that prayer is the power alike\nof the ministry and the Church. Of his faith we have a summary in these\nremarkable words concerning something that caused him grief: \"This shall\nturn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit\nof Jesus Christ.\" As much as he looked to his Lord in heaven did he look\nto his brethren on earth, to secure the supply of that Spirit for him.\nThe Spirit from heaven and prayer on earth were to him, as to the twelve\nafter Pentecost, inseparably linked. We speak often of apostolic zeal\nand devotion and power--may God give us a revival of apostolic prayer.\n\nLet me once again ask the question: Does the work of intercession take\nthe place in the Church it ought to have? Is it a thing commonly\nunderstood in the Lord's work, that everything depends upon getting from\nGod that \"supply of the Spirit of Christ\" for and in ourselves that can\ngive our work its real power to bless. This is Christ's Divine order for\nall work, His own and that of His servants; this is the order Paul\nfollowed: first come every day, as having nothing, and receive from God\n\"the supply of the Spirit\" in intercession--then go and impart what has\ncome to thee from heaven.\n\nIn all His instructions, our Lord Jesus spake much oftener to His\ndisciples about their praying than their preaching. In the farewell\ndiscourse, He said little about preaching, but much about the Holy\nSpirit, and their asking whatsoever they would in His Name. If we are to\nreturn to this life of the first apostles and of Paul, and really accept\nthe truth every day--my first work, my only strength is intercession, to\nsecure the power of God on the souls entrusted to me--we must have the\ncourage to confess past sin, and to believe that there is deliverance.\nTo break through old habits, to resist the clamour of pressing duties\nthat have always had their way, to make every other call subordinate to\nthis one, whether others approve or not, will not be easy at first. But\nthe men or women who are faithful will not only have a reward\nthemselves, but become benefactors to their brethren. \"Thou shalt be\ncalled the repairer of the breach, the restorer of paths to dwell in.\"\n\nBut is it really possible? Can it indeed be that those who have never\nbeen able to face, much less to overcome the difficulty, can yet become\nmighty in prayer? Tell me, was it really possible for Jacob to become\nIsrael--a prince who prevailed with God? It was. The things that are\nimpossible with men are possible with God. Have you not in very deed\nreceived from the Father, as the great fruit of Christ's redemption, the\nSpirit of supplication, the Spirit of intercession? Just pause and think\nwhat that means. And will you still doubt whether God is able to make\nyou \"strivers with God,\" princes who prevail with Him? Oh, let us banish\nall fear, and in faith claim the grace for which we have the Holy Spirit\ndwelling in us, the grace of supplication, the grace of intercession.\nLet us quietly, perseveringly believe that He lives in us, and will\nenable us to do our work. Let us in faith not fear to accept and yield\nto the great truth that intercession, as it is the great work of the\nKing on the throne, _is the great work of His servants on earth_. We\nhave the Holy Spirit, who brings the Christ-life into our hearts, to fit\nus for this work. Let us at once begin and stir up the gift within us.\nAs we set aside each day our time for intercession, and count upon the\nSpirit's enabling power, the confidence will grow that we can, in our\nmeasure, follow Paul even as he followed Christ.\n\n\n\n\nA PLEA FOR MORE PRAYER\n\nCHAPTER XIV\n\nGod seeks Intercessors\n\n    \"I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never\n    hold their peace day nor night. Ye that are the Lord's\n    remembrancers, keep not silence, and give Him no rest till He make\n    Jerusalem a praise in the earth.\"--ISA. lxii. 6, 7.\n\n    \"And He saw that there was _no man_, and wondered that there was _no\n    intercessor_.\"--ISA. lix. 16.\n\n    \"And I looked, and there was _none to help_; and I wondered, and\n    there was _none to uphold_.\"--ISA. lxiii. 5.\n\n    \"There is _none_ that calleth upon Thy name, that stirreth himself\n    to take hold of Thee.\"--ISA. lxiv. 7.\n\n    \"And I sought for a man that should stand in the gap before Me for\n    the land, that I should not destroy it; but _I found none_.\"--EZEK.\n    xxii. 30.\n\n    \"I chose you, and appointed you, that ye should go and bear fruit:\n    that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in My name, He may give\n    it you.\"--JOHN xv. 16.\n\n\nIn the study of the starry heavens, how much depends upon a due\napprehension of magnitudes. Without some sense of the size of the\nheavenly bodies, that appear so small to the eye, and yet are so great,\nand of the almost illimitable extent of the regions in which they move,\nthough they appear so near and so familiar, there can be no true\nknowledge of the heavenly world or its relation to this earth. It is\neven so with the spiritual heavens, and the heavenly life in which we\nare called to live. It is specially so in the life of intercession, that\nmost wondrous intercourse between heaven and earth. Everything depends\nupon the due apprehension of magnitudes.\n\nJust think of the three that come first: There is a world, with its\nneeds entirely dependent on and waiting to be helped by intercession;\nthere is a God in heaven, with His all-sufficient supply for all those\nneeds, waiting to be asked; there is a Church, with its wondrous calling\nand its sure promises, waiting to be roused to a sense of its wondrous\nresponsibility and power.\n\n_God seeks intercessors._--There is a world with its perishing millions,\nwith intercession as its only hope. How much of love and work is\ncomparatively vain, because there is so little intercession. A thousand\nmillions living as if there never had been a Son of God to die for\nthem. Thirty millions every year passing into the outer darkness without\nhope. Fifty millions bearing the Christian name, and the great majority\nliving in utter ignorance or indifference. Millions of feeble, sickly\nChristians; thousands of wearied workers, who could be blessed by\nintercession, could help themselves to become mighty in intercession.\nChurches and missions sacrificing life and labour often with little\nresult, for lack of intercession. Souls, each one worth more than\nworlds, worth nothing less than the price paid for them in Christ's\nblood, and within reach of the power that can be won by intercession. We\nsurely have no conception of the magnitude of the work to be done by\nGod's intercessors, or we should cry to God above everything to give\nfrom heaven the spirit of intercession.\n\n_God seeks intercessors._--There is a God of glory able to meet all\nthese needs. We are told that He delights in mercy, that He waits to be\ngracious, that He longs to pour out His blessing; that the love that\ngave the Son to death is the measure of the love that each moment hovers\nover every human being. And yet He does not help. And there they perish,\na million a month in China alone, and it is as if God does not move. If\nHe does so love and long to bless, there must be some inscrutable reason\nfor His holding back. What can it be? Scripture says, because of your\nunbelief. It is the faithlessness and consequent unfaithfulness of God's\npeople. He has taken them up into partnership with Himself; He has\nhonoured them, and bound Himself, by making their prayers one of the\nstandard measures of the working of His power. Lack of intercession is\none of the chief causes of lack of blessing. Oh, that we would turn eye\nand heart from everything else and fix them upon this God who hears\nprayer, until the magnificence of His promises, and His power, and His\npurpose of love overwhelmed us! How our whole life and heart would\nbecome intercession.\n\n_God seeks intercessors._--There is a third magnitude to which our eyes\nmust be opened: the wondrous privilege and power of the intercessors.\nThere is a false humility, which makes a great virtue of\nself-depreciation, because it has never seen its utter nothingness. If\nit knew that, it would never apologise for its feebleness, but glory in\nits utter weakness, as the one condition of Christ's power resting on\nit. It would judge of itself, its power and influence before God in\nprayer, as little by what it sees or feels, as we judge of the size of\nthe sun or stars by what the eye can see. Faith sees man created in\nGod's image and likeness to be God's representative in this world and\nhave dominion over it. Faith sees man redeemed and lifted into union\nwith Christ, abiding in Him, identified with Him, and clothed with His\npower in intercession. Faith sees the Holy Spirit dwelling and praying\nin the heart, making, in our sighings, intercession according to God.\nFaith sees the intercession of the saints to be part of the life of the\nHoly Trinity--the believer as God's child asking of the Father, in the\nSon, through the Spirit. Faith sees something of the Divine fitness and\nbeauty of this scheme of salvation through intercession, wakens the soul\nto a consciousness of its wondrous destiny, and girds it with strength\nfor the blessed self-sacrifice it calls to.\n\n_God seeks intercessors._--When He called His people out of Egypt, He\nseparated the priestly tribe, to draw nigh to Him, and stand before Him,\nand bless the people in His name. From time to time He sought and found\nand honoured intercessors, for whose sake He spared or blessed His\npeople. When our Lord left the earth He said to the inner circle He had\ngathered around Him--an inner circle of special devotion to His service,\nto which access is still free to every disciple: \"I chose you, and\nappointed you, that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in My Name, He\nmay give it you.\" We have already noticed the six times repeated three\nwonderful words--_Whatsoever_--_In My Name_--_It shall be done_. In them\nChrist placed the powers of the heavenly world at their disposal--not\nfor their own selfish use, but in the interests of His kingdom. How\nwondrously they used it we know. And since that time, down through the\nages, these men have had their successors, men who have proved how\nsurely God works in answer to prayer. And we may praise God that, in our\ndays too, there is an ever-increasing number who begin to see and prove\nthat in church and mission, in large societies and little circles and\nindividual effort, intercession is the chief thing, the power that moves\nGod and opens heaven. They are learning, and long to learn better, and\nthat all may learn, that in all work for souls intercession must take\nthe first place, and that those who in it have received from heaven, in\nthe power of the Holy Ghost, what they are to communicate to others,\nwill be best able to do the Lord's work.\n\n_God seeks intercessors._--Though God had His appointed servants in\nIsrael, watchmen set by Himself to cry to Him day and night and give Him\nno rest, He often had to wonder and complain that there was no\nintercessor, none to stir himself up to take hold of His strength. And\nHe still waits and wonders in our day, that there are not more\nintercessors, that all His children do not give themselves to this\nhighest and holiest work, that many of them who do so, do not engage in\nit more intensely and perseveringly. He wonders to find ministers of His\ngospel complaining that their duties do not allow them to find time for\nthis, which He counts their first, their highest, their most delightful,\ntheir alone effective work. He wonders to find His sons and daughters,\nwho have forsaken home and friends for His sake and the gospel's, come\nso short in what He meant to be their abiding strength--receiving day by\nday all they needed to impart to the dark heathen. He wonders to find\nmultitudes of His children who have hardly any conception of what\nintercession is. He wonders to find multitudes more who have learned\nthat it is their duty, and seek to obey it, but confess that they know\nbut little of taking hold upon God or prevailing with Him.\n\n_God seeks intercessors._--He longs to dispense larger blessings. He\nlongs to reveal His power and glory as God, His saving love, more\nabundantly. He seeks intercessors in larger number, in greater power, to\nprepare the way of the Lord. He seeks them. Where could He seek them but\nin His Church? And how does He expect to find them? He intrusted to His\nChurch the task of telling of their Lord's need, the task of encouraging\nand training, and preparing them for His holy service. And He ever comes\nagain, seeking fruit, seeking intercessors. In His Word He has spoken of\nthe \"widows indeed, who trust in God, and continue in supplication night\nand day.\" He looks if the Church is training the great army of aged men\nand women, whose time of outward work is past, but who can strengthen\nthe army of the \"elect, who cry to Him day and night.\" He looks to the\ngreat host of the Christian Endeavour, the three or four million of\nyoung lives that have given themselves away in the solemn pledge, \"I\npromise the Lord Jesus Christ that I will strive to do whatever He\nwould like to have me do,\" and wonders how many are being trained to\npass from the brightness of the weekly prayer-meeting and its confession\nof loyalty, to swell the secret intercession that is to save souls. He\nlooks to the thousands of young men and young women in training for the\nwork of ministry and mission, and gazes longingly to see if the Church\nis teaching them that intercession, power with God, must be their first\ncare, and in seeking to train and help them to it. He looks to see\nwhether ministers and missionaries are understanding their opportunity,\nand labouring to train the believers of their congregation into those\nwho can \"help together\" by their prayer, and can \"strive with them in\ntheir prayers.\" As Christ seeks the lost sheep until He find it, Gods\nseeks intercessors. (Note F.)\n\n_God seeks intercessors._--He will not, He cannot, take the work out of\nthe hands of His Church. And so He comes, calling and pleading in many\nways. Now by a man whom He raises up to live a life of faith in His\nservice, and to prove how actually and abundantly He answers prayer.\nThen by the story of a church which makes prayer for souls its\nstarting-point, and bears testimony to God's faithfulness. Sometimes in\na mission which proves how special prayer can meet special need, and\nbring down the power of the Spirit. And sometimes again by a season of\nrevival coming in answer to united urgent supplication. In these and\nmany other ways God is showing us what intercession can do, and\nbeseeching us to waken up and train His great host to be, every one, a\npeople of intercessors.\n\n_God seeks intercessors._--He sends His servants out to call them. Let\nministers make this a part of their duty. Let them make their church a\ntraining school of intercession. Give the people definite objects for\nprayer. Encourage them to take a definite time to it, if it were only\nten minutes every day. Help them to understand the boldness they may use\nwith God. Teach them to expect and look out for answers. Show them what\nit is first to pray and get an answer in secret, and then carry the\nanswer and impart the blessing. Tell everyone who is master of his own\ntime that he is as the angels, free to tarry before the throne and then\ngo out and minister to the heirs of salvation. Sound out the blessed\ntidings that this honour is for all God's people. There is no\ndifference. That servant girl, this day labourer, that bedridden\ninvalid, this daughter in her mother's home, these men and young men in\nbusiness--all are called, all, all are needed. God seeks intercessors.\n\n_God seeks intercessors._--As ministers take up the work of finding and\ntraining them it will urge themselves to pray more. Christ gave Paul to\nbe a pattern of His grace before He made him a preacher of it. It has\nbeen well said, \"The first duty of a clergyman is humbly to beg of God\nthat all he would have done in his people may be first truly and fully\ndone in himself.\" The effort to bring this message of God may cause much\nheart-searching and humiliation. All the better. The best practice in\ndoing a thing is helping others to do it. O ye servants of Christ, set\nas watchmen to cry to God day and night, let us awake to our holy\ncalling. Let us believe in the power of intercession. Let us practise\nit. Let us seek on behalf of our people to get from God Himself the\nSpirit and the Life we preach. With our spirit and life given up to God\nin intercession, the Spirit and Life that God gives them through us\ncannot fail to be the Life of Intercession too.\n\n\n\n\nA PLEA FOR MORE PRAYER\n\nCHAPTER XV\n\nThe Coming Revival\n\n    \"Wilt Thou not revive us again: that Thy people may rejoice in\n    Thee?\"--PS. lxxxv. 6.\n\n    \"O Lord, revive Thy work in the midst of the years.\"--HAB. iii. 2.\n\n    \"Though I walk in the midst of trouble, Thou wilt revive me: Thy\n    right hand shall save me.\"--PS. cxxxviii. 7.\n\n    \"I dwell with him that is of a humble and contrite heart, to revive\n    the heart of the contrite ones.\"--ISA. lvii. 15.\n\n    \"Come, and let us return to the Lord: for He hath torn, and He will\n    heal us. He will revive us.\"--HOS. vi. 1, 2.\n\n\n_The Coming Revival_--one frequently hears the word. There are teachers\nnot a few who see the tokens of its approach, and confidently herald its\nspeedy appearance. In the increase of mission interest, in the tidings\nof revivals in places where all were dead or cold, in the hosts of our\nyoung gathered into Students' and other Associations or Christian\nEndeavour Societies, in doors everywhere opened in the Christian and the\nheathen world, in victories already secured in the fields white unto the\nharvest, wherever believing, hopeful workers enter, they find the\nassurance of a time of power and blessing such as we have not known. The\nChurch is about to enter on a new era of increasing spirituality and\nlarger extension.\n\nThere are others who, while admitting the truth of some of these facts,\nyet fear that the conclusions drawn from them are one-sided and\npremature. They see the interest in missions increased, but point out to\nhow small a circle it is confined, and how utterly out of proportion it\nis to what it ought to be. To the great majority of Church members, to\nthe greater part of the Church, it is as yet anything but a life\nquestion. They remind us of the power of worldliness and formality, of\nthe increase of the money-making and pleasure-loving spirit among\nprofessing Christians, to the lack of spirituality in so many, many of\nour churches, and the continuing and apparently increasing estrangement\nof multitudes from God's Day and Word, as proof that the great revival\nhas certainly not begun, and is hardly thought of by the most. They say\nthat they do not see the deep humiliation, the intense desire, the\nfervent prayer which appear as the forerunners of every true revival.\n\nThere are right-hand and left-hand errors which are equally dangerous.\nWe must seek as much to be kept from the superficial Optimism, which\nnever is able to gauge the extent of the evil, as from the hopeless\nPessimism which can neither praise God for what He has done, nor trust\nHim for what He is ready to do. The former will lose itself in a happy\nself-gratulation, as it rejoices in its zeal and diligence and apparent\nsuccess, and never see the need of confession and great striving in\nprayer, ere we are prepared to meet and conquer the hosts of darkness.\nThe latter virtually gives over the world to Satan, and almost prays and\nrejoices to see things get worse, to hasten the coming of Him who is to\nput all right. May God keep us from either error, and fulfil the\npromise, \"Thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the\nway, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to\nthe left.\" Let us listen to the lessons suggested by the passages we\nhave quoted; they may help us to pray the prayer aright: \"Revive Thy\nwork, O Lord!\"\n\n1. \"_Revive Thy work, O Lord!_\"--Read again the passages of Scripture,\nand see how they all contain the one thought: Revival is God's work; He\nalone can give it; it must come from above. We are frequently in danger\nof looking to what God has done and is doing, and to count on that as\nthe pledge that He will at once do more. And all the time it may be true\nthat He is blessing us up to the measure of our faith or self-sacrifice,\nand cannot give larger measure, until there has been a new discovery and\nconfession of what is hindering Him. Or we may be looking to all the\nsigns of life and good around us, and congratulating ourselves on all\nthe organisations and agencies that are being created, while the need of\nGod's mighty and direct interposition is not rightly felt, and the\nentire dependence upon Him not cultivated. Regeneration, the giving of\nDivine life, we all acknowledge to be God's act, a miracle of His power.\nThe restoring or reviving of the Divine life, in a soul or a Church, is\nas much a supernatural work. To have the spiritual discernment that can\nunderstand the signs of the heavens, and prognosticate the coming\nrevival, we need to enter deep into God's mind and will as to its\nconditions, and the preparedness of those who pray for it or are to be\nused to bring it about. \"Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but He\nrevealeth His secret unto his servants the prophets.\" It is God who is\nto give the revival; it is God who reveals His secret; it is the spirit\nof absolute dependence upon God, giving Him the honour and the glory,\nthat will prepare for it.\n\n2. \"_Revive Thy work, O Lord!_\"--A second lesson suggested is, that the\nrevival God is to give will be given in answer to prayer. It must be\nasked and received direct from God Himself. Those who know anything of\nthe history of revivals will remember how often this has been\nproved--both larger and more local revivals have been distinctly traced\nto special prayer. In our own day there are numbers of congregations and\nmissions where special or permanent revivals are--all glory be to\nGod--connected with systematic, believing prayer. The coming revival\nwill be no exception. An extraordinary spirit of prayer, urging\nbelievers to much secret and united prayer, pressing them to \"labour\nfervently\" in their supplications, will be one of the surest signs of\napproaching showers and floods of blessing.\n\nLet all who are burdened with the lack of spirituality, with the low\nstate of the life of God in believers, listen to the call that comes to\nall. If there is to be revival,--a mighty, Divine revival,--it will\nneed, on our part, corresponding whole-heartedness in prayer and faith.\nLet not one believer think himself too weak to help, or imagine that he\nwill not be missed. If he first begin, the gift that is in him may be so\nstirred that, for his circle or neighbourhood, he shall be God's chosen\nintercessor. Let us think of the need of souls, of all the sins and\nfailings among God's people, of the little power there is in so much of\nthe preaching, and begin to cry every day, \"Wilt Thou not revive us\nagain, that Thy people may rejoice in Thee?\" And let us have the truth\ngraven deep in our hearts: every revival comes, as Pentecost came, as\nthe fruit of united, continued prayer. The coming revival must begin\nwith a great prayer revival. It is in the closet, with the door shut,\nthat the sound of abundance of rain will be first heard. An increase of\nsecret prayer with ministers and members, will be the sure harbinger of\nblessing.\n\n3. \"_Revive Thy work, O Lord!_\"--A third lesson our texts teach is that\nit is to the humble and contrite that the revival is promised. We want\nthe revival to come upon the proud and the self-satisfied, to break them\ndown and save them. God will give this, but only on the condition that\nthose who see and feel the sin of others take their burden of confession\nand bear it, and that all who pray for and claim in faith God's reviving\npower for His Church, shall humble themselves with the confession of its\nsins. The need of revival always points to previous decline; and decline\nwas always caused by sin. Humiliation and contrition have ever been the\nconditions of revival. In all intercession confession of man's sin and\nGod's righteous judgment is ever an essential element.\n\nThroughout the history of Israel we continually see this. It comes out\nin the reformations under the pious Kings of Judah. We hear it in the\nprayer of men like Ezra and Nehemiah and Daniel. In Isaiah and Jeremiah\nand Ezekiel, as well as in the minor prophets, it is the keynote of all\nthe warning as of all the promise. If there be no humiliation and\nforsaking of sin there can be no revival or deliverance: \"These men have\nset up their idols in their hearts. Shall I at all be inquired of by\nthem?\" \"To this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a\ncontrite spirit, and that trembleth at My word.\" Amid the most gracious\npromises of Divine visitation there is ever this note: \"Be ashamed and\nconfounded for your ways, O House of Israel.\"\n\nWe find the same in the New Testament. The Sermon on the Mount promises\nthe kingdom to the poor and them that mourn. In the Epistles to the\nCorinthians and Galatians the religion of man, of worldly wisdom and\nconfidence in the flesh, is exposed and denounced; without its being\nconfessed and forsaken, all the promises of grace and the Spirit will be\nvain. In the Epistles to the seven churches we find five of which He,\nout of whose mouth goes the sharp, two-edged sword, says, that He has\nsomething against them. In each of these the keyword of His message\nis--not to the unconverted, but to the Church--Repent! All the glorious\npromises which each of these Epistles contain, down to the last one,\nwith its \"Open the door and I will come in\"; \"He that overcometh shall\nsit with Me on My throne,\" are dependent on that one word--Repent!\n\nAnd if there is to be a revival, not among the unsaved, but in our\nchurches, to give a holy, spiritual membership, will not that trumpet\nsound need to be heard--Repent? Was it only in Israel, in the ministry\nof kings and prophets, that there was so much evil in God's people to be\ncleansed away? Was it only in the Church of the first century, that Paul\nand James and our Lord Himself had to speak such sharp words? Or is\nthere not in the Church of our days an idolatry of money and talent and\nculture, a worldly spirit, making it unfaithful to its one only Husband\nand Lord, a confidence in the flesh which grieves and resists God's Holy\nSpirit? Is there not almost everywhere a confession of the lack of\nspirituality and spiritual power? Let all who long for the coming\nrevival, and seek to hasten it by their prayers, pray this above\neverything, that the Lord may prepare His prophets to go before Him at\nHis bidding: \"Cry aloud and spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet,\nand show My people their transgression.\" Every deep revival among God's\npeople must have its roots in a deep sense and confession of sin. Until\nthose who would lead the Church in the path of revival bear faithful\ntestimony against the sins of the Church, it is to feared that it will\nfind people unprepared. Men would fain have a revival as the outgrowth\nof their agencies and progress. God's way is the opposite: it is out of\ndeath, acknowledged as the desert of sin, confessed as utter\nhelplessness, that He revives. He revives the heart of the contrite one.\n\n4. \"_Revive Thy work, O Lord!_\"--There is a last thought, suggested by\nthe text from Hosea. It is as we return to _the Lord_ that revival will\ncome; for if we had not wandered from Him, His life would be among us in\npower. \"Come and let us return to the Lord: for He hath torn, He will\nheal us: He hath smitten; He will bind us up: _He will revive us_, and\nwe shall live in His sight.\" As we have said, there can be no return to\nthe Lord, where there is no sense or confession of wandering. _Let us\nreturn to the Lord_ must be the keynote of the revival. Let us return,\nacknowledging and forsaking whatever there has been in the Church that\nis not entirely according to His mind and spirit. Let us return,\nyielding up and casting out whatever there has been in our religion or\nalong with it of the power of God's two great enemies--confidence in the\nflesh or the spirit of the world. Let us return, in the acknowledgment\nof how undividedly God must have us, to fill us with His Spirit, and use\nus for the kingdom of His Son. Oh, let us return, in the surrender of a\ndependence and a devotion which has no measure but the absolute claim of\nHim who is the Lord! Let us return to the Lord with our whole heart,\nthat He may make and keep us wholly His. He will revive us, and we shall\nlive in His sight. Let us turn to the God of Pentecost, as Christ led\nhis disciples to turn to Him, and the God of Pentecost will turn to us.\n\nIt is for this returning to the Lord that the great work of intercession\nis needed. It is here the coming revival must find its strength. Let us\nbegin as individuals in secret to plead with God, confessing whatever we\nsee of sin or hindrance, in ourselves or others. If there were not one\nother sin, surely in the lack of prayer there is matter enough for\nrepentance and confession and returning to the Lord. Let us seek to\nfoster the spirit of confession and supplication and intercession in\nthose around us. Let us help to encourage and to train those who think\nthemselves too feeble. Let us lift up our voice to proclaim the great\ntruths. The revival must come from above; the revival must be received\nin faith from above and brought down by prayer; the revival comes to the\nhumble and contrite, for them to carry to others; if we return to the\nLord with our whole heart, He will revive us. On those who see these\ntruths, rests the solemn responsibility of giving themselves up to\nwitness for them and to act them out.\n\nAnd as each of us pleads for the revival throughout the Church, let us\nspecially, at the same time, cry to God for our own neighbourhood or\nsphere of work. Let, with every minister and worker, there be \"great\nsearchings of heart,\" as to whether they are ready to give such\nproportion of time and strength to prayer as God would have. Let them,\neven as in public they are leaders of their larger or smaller circles,\ngive themselves in secret to take their places in the front rank of the\ngreat intercession host, that must prevail with God, ere the great\nrevival, the floods of blessing can come. Of all who speak or think of,\nor long for, revival, let not one hold back in this great work of\nhonest, earnest, definite pleading: Revive Thy work, O Lord! Wilt Thou\nnot revive us again?\n\nCome and let us return to the Lord: He will revive us! And let us know,\nlet us follow on to know the Lord. \"_His going forth_ is sure as the\nmorning; and _He shall come unto us_ as the rain, as the latter rain\nthat watereth the earth.\" Amen. So be it.\n\n\n\n\nNOTES\n\n\nNOTE A, Chap. VI. p. 73\n\nJust this day I have been meeting a very earnest lady missionary from\nIndia. She confesses and mourns the lack of prayer. But--in India at\nleast--it can hardly be otherwise. You have only the morning hours, from\nsix to eleven, for your work. Some have attempted to rise at four, and\nget the time they think they need, and have suffered, and had to give it\nup. Some have tried to take time after lunch, and been found asleep on\ntheir knees. You are not your own master, and must act with others. No\none who has not been in India can understand the difficulty; sufficient\ntime for much intercession cannot be secured.\n\nWere it only in the heat of India the difficulty existed, one might be\nsilent. But, alas! in the coldest winter in London, and in the moderate\nclimate of South Africa, there is the same trouble everywhere. If once\nwe really felt--_intercession is the most important part of our work_,\nthe securing of God's presence and power in full measure is the\nessential thing, this is our first duty--our hours of work would all be\nmade subordinate to this one thing.\n\nMay God show us all whether there indeed be an insuperable difficulty\nfor which we are not responsible, whether it be only a mistake we are\nmaking, or a sin by which we are grieving Him and hindering His Spirit!\n\nIf we ask the question George Muller once asked of a Christian, who\ncomplained that he could not find time sufficient for the study of the\nWord and prayer, whether an hour less work, say four hours, with the\nsoul dwelling in the full light of God, would not be more prosperous\nand effective than five hours with the depressing consciousness of\nunfaithfulness, and the loss of the power that could be obtained in\nprayer, the answer will not be difficult. The more we think of it the\nmore we feel that when earnest, godly workers allow, against their\nbetter will, the spiritual to be crowded out by incessant occupation and\nthe fatigue it brings, it must be because the spiritual life is not\nsufficiently strong in them to bid the lever stand aside till the\npresence of God in Christ and the power of the Spirit have been fully\nsecured.\n\nLet us listen to Christ saying, \"_Render unto Caesar the things that are\nCaesar's_\"--let duty and work have their place--\"and unto God the things\nthat are God's.\" Let the worship in the Spirit, the entire dependence\nand continued waiting upon God for the full experience of His presence\nand power every day, and the strength of Christ working in us, ever have\nthe first place. The whole question is simply this, Is God to have the\nplace, the love, the trust, the time for personal fellowship He claims,\nso that all our working shall be God working in us?\n\n\nNOTE B, Chap. VII. p. 89\n\nLet me tell here a story that occurs in one of Dr. Boardman's works. He\nhad been invited by a lady of good position, well known as a successful\nworker among her husband's dependents, to come and address them. \"And\nthen,\" she added, \"I want to speak to you about a bit of bondage of my\nown.\" When he had addressed her meeting, and found many brought to\nChrist through her, he wondered what her trouble might be. She soon told\nhim. God had blessed her work, but, alas, the enjoyment she once had had\nin God's word and secret prayer had been lost. And she had tried her\nutmost to get it back, and had failed. \"Ah! that is just your mistake,\"\nhe said. \"How that? Ought I not to do my best to have the coldness\nremoved?\" \"Tell me,\" he said, \"were you saved by doing your best?\" \"Oh,\nno! I tried long to do that, but only found rest when I ceased trying,\nand trusted Christ.\" \"And that is what you need to do now. Enter your\ncloset at the appointed time, however dull you feel, and place yourself\nbefore your Lord. Do not try to rouse an earnestness you do not feel;\nbut quietly say to Him that He sees how all is wrong, how helpless you\nare, and trust Him to bless you. He will do it; as you trust quietly,\nHis Spirit will work.\"\n\nThe simple story may teach many a Christian a most blessed lesson in the\nlife of prayer. You have accepted of Christ Jesus to make you whole, and\ngive you strength to walk in newness of life; you have claimed the Holy\nSpirit to be in you the Spirit of Supplication and Intercession; but do\nnot wonder if your feelings are not all at once changed, or if your\npower of prayer does not come in the way you would like. It is a life of\nfaith. By faith we receive the Holy Spirit and all His workings. Faith\nregards neither sight nor feeling, but rests, even when there appears to\nbe no power to pray, in the assurance that the Spirit is praying in us\nas we bow quietly before God. He that thus waits in faith, and honours\nthe Holy Spirit, and yields himself to Him, will soon find that prayer\nwill begin to come. And he that perseveres in the faith that through\nChrist and by the Spirit each prayer, however feeble, is acceptable to\nGod, will learn the lesson that it is possible to be taught by the\nSpirit, and led to walk worthy of the Lord to all well pleasing.\n\n\nNOTE C, Chap. IX. p. 111\n\nJust yesterday again--three days after the conversation mentioned in the\nnote to chap. vii.--I met a devoted young missionary lady from the\ninterior. As a conversation on prayer was proceeding, she interposed\nunasked with the remark, \"But it is really impossible to find the time\nto pray as we wish to.\" I could only answer, \"Time is a quantity that\naccommodates itself to our will; what our hearts really consider of\n_first importance_ in the day, we will soon succeed in finding time\nfor.\" It must surely be that the ministry of intercession has never been\nput before our students in Theological Halls and Missionary Training\nHomes as the most important part of their life-work. We have thought of\nour work in preaching or visiting as our real duty, and of prayer as a\nsubordinate means to do this work successfully. Would not the whole\nposition be changed if we regarded the ministry of intercession as the\nchief thing--_getting the blessing and power of God_ for the souls\nentrusted to us? Then our work would take its right place, and become\nthe subordinate one of really dispensing blessings which we had received\nfrom God. It was when the friend at midnight, in answer to his prayer,\nhad received from Another as much as he needed, that he could supply his\nhungry friend. It was the intercession, going out and importuning, that\nwas the difficult work; returning home with his rich supply to impart\nwas easy, joyful work. This is Christ's divine order for all thy work,\nmy brother: First come, in utter poverty, every day, and get from God\nthe blessing in intercession, go then rejoicingly to impart it.\n\n\nNOTE D, Chap. X. p. 123\n\nLet me once again refer my readers to William Law, and repeat what I\nhave said before, that no book has so helped me to an insight into the\nplace and work of the Holy Spirit in the economy of redemption as his\nADDRESS TO THE CLERGY.[2]\n\nThe way in which he opens up how God's one object was to dwell in man,\nmaking him partaker of His goodness and glory, other way than by himself\nliving and working in him, gives one the key to what Pentecost and the\nsending forth of the Spirit of God's Son into our hearts really means.\nIt is Christ in God's name really regaining and retaking possession of\nthe home He had created for Himself. It is God entering into the secret\ndepths of our nature there to \"work to will and to do,\" to \"work that\nwhich is pleasing in His sight in Christ Jesus.\" It is as this truth\nenters into us, and we see that there is and can be no good in us but\nwhat God works, that we shall see light on the Divine mystery of prayer,\nand believe in the Holy Spirit as breathing within us desires which God\nwill fulfil when we yield to them, and believingly present them in the\nname of Christ. We shall then see that just as wonderful and prevailing\nas the intercession and prayer passing from the Incarnate Son to the\nFather in heaven is our intercourse with God; the Spirit, who is God,\nbreathing and praying in us amid all our feebleness His heaven-born\nDivine petitions: what a heavenly thing prayer becomes.\n\nThe latter part of the above-mentioned book consists of extracts from\nLaw's letters. These have been published separately as a little shilling\nvolume.[3] No one who will take the time quietly to read and master the\nso simple but deep teaching they contain, without being wonderfully\nstrengthened in the confidence which is needed, if we are to pray much\nand boldly. As we learn that the Holy Spirit is within us to reveal\nChrist there, to make us in living reality partakers of His death, His\nlife, His merit, His disposition, so that He is formed within us, we\nwill begin to see how Divinely right and sure it is that our\nintercessions in His name must be heard; his own Spirit maintains the\nliving union with Himself, in whom we are brought nigh to God, and gives\nus boldness of access; what I have so feebly said in the chapter on the\nSpirit of Supplication will get new meaning; and, what is more, the\nexercise of prayer a new attractiveness; its solemn Divine mystery will\nhumble us, its unspeakable privilege lift us up in faith and adoration.\n\n[2] _The Power of the Spirit: An Address to the Clergy._ By WILLIAM LAW.\nWith additional Extracts and an Introduction by Rev. A. M. James Nisbet\n& Co. 2s. 6d.\n\n[3] _The Divine Indwelling._ Selections from the Letters of William Law.\nWith Introduction by A. M. James Nisbet & Co.\n\n\nNOTE E, Chap. XI. p. 136\n\nThere is a question, the deepest of all, on which I have not entered in\nthis book. I have spoken of the lack of prayer in the individual\nChristian as a symptom of a disease. But what shall we say of it, that\nthere is such a widespread prevalence of this failure to give a due\nproportion of time and strength to prayer? Do we not need to inquire,\nHow comes it that the Church of Christ, endued with the Holy Ghost,\ncannot train its ministers and workers and members to place first what\nis first? How comes it that the confession of too little prayer, and the\ncall for more prayer, is so frequently heard, and yet the evil\ncontinues? The Spirit of God, the Spirit of Supplication and\nIntercession, is in the Church and in every believer. There must surely\nbe some other spirit of great power resisting and hindering this Spirit\nof God. It is indeed so. The spirit of the world, which under all its\nbeautiful and even religious activities is the spirit of the god of this\nworld, is the great hindrance. Everything that is done on earth, whether\nwithin or without the Church, is done by either of these two spirits.\nWhat is in the individual the flesh, is in mankind as a whole the spirit\nof the world; and all the power the flesh has in the individual is owing\nto the place given to the spirit of this world in the Church and in\nChristian life. It is the spirit of the world is the great hindrance to\nthe spirit of prayer. All our most earnest calls to men to pray more\nwill be vain except this evil be acknowledged and combated and overcome.\nThe believer and the Church must be entirely freed from the spirit of\nthe world.\n\nAnd how is this to be done? There is but one way--the Cross of Christ,\n\"by which,\" as Paul says, \"the world is crucified unto me, and I unto\nthe world.\" It is only through death to the world that we can be freed\nfrom its spirit. The separation must be vital and entire. It is only\nthrough the acceptance of our crucifixion with Christ that we can live\nout this confession, and, as crucified to the world, maintain the\nposition of irreconcilable hostility to whatever is of its spirit and\nnot of the Spirit of God; and it is only God Himself who, by His Divine\npower, can lead us into and keep us daily dead to sin, and alive unto\nGod in Christ Jesus. The cross, with its shame and its separation from\nthe world, and its death to all that is of flesh and of self, is the\nonly power that can conquer the spirit of the world.\n\nI have felt so strongly that the truth needs to be anew asserted, that I\nhope, if it please God, to publish a volume, _The Cross of Christ_, with\nthe inquiry into what God's word teaches as to our actual participation\nwith Christ in His crucifixion. Christ prayed on the way to the cross.\nHe prayed Himself to the cross. He prayed on the cross. He prays ever as\nthe fruit of the cross. As the Church lives on the cross, and the cross\nlives in the Church, the spirit of prayer will be given. In Christ it\nwas the crucifixion spirit and death that was the source of the\nIntercession Spirit and Power. With us it can be no otherwise.\n\n\nNOTE F, Chap. XIV. p. 177\n\nI have more than once spoken of the need of training Christians to the\nwork of intercession. In a previous note I have asked the question\nwhether, in the teaching of our Theological Halls and Mission Training\nHouses, sufficient attention is given to prayer as the most important,\nand in some senses the most difficult part of the work for which the\nstudents are being prepared. I have wondered whether it might not be\npossible to offer those who are willing, during their student life, to\nput themselves under a course of training, some help in the way of hints\nand suggestions as to what is needed to give prayer the place and the\npower in our ministry it ought to have.\n\nAs a rule, it is in the student life that the character must be formed\nfor future years, and it is in the present student world that the Church\nof the future must be influenced. If God allows me to carry out a plan\nthat is hardly quite mature yet, I would wish to publish a volume, THE\nSTUDENT'S PRAYER MANUAL, combining the teaching of Scripture as to what\nis most needed to make men of prayer of us, with such practical\ndirections as may help a young Christian, preparing to devote his life\nto God's service successfully, to cultivate such a spirit and habit of\nprayer as shall abide with him through all his coming life and labours.\n\n\n\n\n\n                   PRAY WITHOUT CEASING\n\n                   HELPS TO INTERCESSION\n\n\n                      PRAYING ALWAYS\n             WITH ALL PRAYER AND SUPPLICATION\n                       IN THE SPIRIT\n       AND WATCHING THEREUNTO WITH ALL PERSEVERANCE\n             AND SUPPLICATION FOR ALL SAINTS\n                        AND FOR ME\n\n                I EXHORT THAT FIRST OF ALL\n           SUPPLICATIONS, PRAYERS, INTERCESSIONS\n                     GIVING OF THANKS\n                    BE MADE FOR ALL MEN\n          FOR KINGS, AND ALL THAT ARE IN AUTHORITY\n\n                    PRAY FOR ONE ANOTHER\n\n\n    _These \"Helps\" are issued as a separate Tract by\n              Messrs. Nisbet &. Co., price 2d._\n\n  _Anyone is at liberty to have the Tract reprinted, with\n           such modifications as may be desired._\n\n\n\n\nPRAY WITHOUT CEASING\n\nHelps to Intercession\n\n\n=Pray without Ceasing.=--Who can do this? How can one do it who is\nsurrounded by the cares of daily life?--How can a mother love her child\nwithout ceasing? How can the eyelid without ceasing hold itself ready to\nprotect the eye? How can I breathe and feel and hear without ceasing?\nBecause all these are the functions of a healthy, natural life. And so,\nif the spiritual life be healthy, under the full power of the Holy\nSpirit, praying without ceasing will be natural.\n\n=Pray without Ceasing.=--Does it refer to continual acts of prayer, in\nwhich we are to persevere till we obtain, or to the spirit of\nprayerfulness that should animate us all the day? It includes both. The\nexample of our Lord Jesus shows us this. We have to enter our closet for\nspecial seasons of prayer; we are at times to persevere there in\nimportunate prayer. We are also all the day to walk in God's presence,\nwith the whole heart set upon heavenly things. Without set times of\nprayer the spirit of prayer will be dull and feeble. Without the\ncontinual prayerfulness the set times will not avail.\n\n=Pray without Ceasing.=--Does that refer to prayer for ourselves or\nothers? To both. It is because many confine it to themselves that they\nfail so in practising it. It is only when the branch gives itself to\nbear fruit, more fruit, much fruit, that it can live a healthy life, and\nexpect a rich inflow of sap. The death of Christ brought Him to the\nplace of everlasting intercession. Your death with Him to sin and self\nsets you free from the care of self, and elevates you to the dignity of\nintercessor--one who can get life and blessing from God for others. Know\nyour calling; begin this your work. Give yourself wholly to it, and ere\nyou know you will be finding something of this \"_Praying always_\" within\nyou.\n\n=Pray without Ceasing.=--How can I learn it? The best way of learning to\ndo a thing--in fact the only way--is _to do it_. Begin by setting apart\nsome time every day, say ten or fifteen minutes, in which you say to\nGod and to yourself, that you come to Him now as intercessor for others.\nLet it be after your morning or evening prayer, or any other time. If\nyou cannot secure the same time every day, be not troubled. Only see\nthat you do your work. Christ chose you and appointed you to pray for\nothers.\n\nIf at first you do not feel any special urgency or faith or power in\nyour prayers, let not that hinder you. Quietly tell your Lord Jesus of\nyour feebleness; believe that the Holy Spirit is in you to teach you to\npray, and be assured that if you begin, God will help you. God cannot\nhelp you unless you begin and keep on.\n\n=Pray without Ceasing.=--How do I know what to pray for? If once you\nbegin, and think of all the needs around you, you will soon find enough.\nBut to help you this little tract is issued, with subjects and hints for\nprayer for a month. It is meant that we should use it month by month,\nuntil we know more fully to follow the Spirit's leading, and have\nlearnt, if need be, to make our own list of subjects, and can dispense\nwith it. In regard to the use of these helps a few words may be needed.\n\n=1. How to Pray.=--You notice for every day two headings--the one =What\nto Pray=; the other, =How to Pray=. If the subjects were only given, one\nmight fall into the routine of mentioning names and things before God,\nand the work become a burden. The hints under the heading =How to Pray=\nare meant to remind of the spiritual nature of the work, of the need of\nDivine help, and to encourage faith in the certainty that God, through\nthe Spirit, will give us grace to pray aright, and will also hear our\nprayer. One does not at once learn to take his place boldly, and to dare\nto believe that he will be heard. Therefore take a few moments each day\nto listen to God's voice reminding you of how certainly even you will be\nheard, and calling on you to pray in that faith in your Father, to claim\nand take the blessing you plead for. And let these words about =How to\nPray= enter your hearts and occupy your thoughts at other times too. The\nwork of intercession is Christ's great work on earth, intrusted to Him\nbecause He gave Himself a sacrifice to God for men. The work of\nintercession is the greatest work a Christian can do. Give yourself a\nsacrifice to God for men, and the work will become your glory and your\njoy too.\n\n=2. What to Pray.=--Scripture calls us to pray for many things: for all\nsaints; for all men; for kings and all rulers; for all who are in\nadversity; for the sending forth of labourers; for those who labour in\nthe gospel; for all converts; for believers who have fallen into sin;\nfor one another in our own immediate circles. The Church is now so much\nlarger than when the New Testament was written; the number of forms of\nwork and workers is so much greater; the needs of the Church and the\nworld are so much better known, that we need to take time and thought to\nsee where prayer is needed, and to what our heart is most drawn out.\nThe Scripture calls to prayer demand a large heart, taking in all\nsaints, and all men, and all needs. An attempt has been made in these\nhelps to indicate what the chief subjects are that need prayer, and that\nought to interest every Christian.\n\nIt will be felt difficult by many to pray for such large spheres as are\nsometimes mentioned. Let it be understood that in each case we may make\nspecial intercession for our own circle of interest coming under that\nheading. And it is hardly needful to say, further, that where one\nsubject appears of more special interest or urgency than another we are\nfree for a time day after day to take up that subject. If only time be\nreally given to intercession, and the spirit of believing intercession\nbe cultivated, the object is attained. While, on the one hand, the heart\nmust be enlarged at times to take in all, the more pointed and definite\nour prayer can be the better. With this view paper is left blank in\nwhich we can write down special petitions we desire to urge before God.\n\n=3. Answers to Prayer.=--More than one little book has been published in\nwhich Christians may keep a register of their petitions, and note when\nthey were answered. Room has been left on every page for this, so that\nmore definite petitions with regard to individual souls or special\nspheres of work may be recorded, and the answer looked for. When we pray\nfor all saints, or for missions in general, it is difficult to know when\nor how our prayer is answered, or whether our prayer has had any part in\nbringing the answer. It is of extreme importance that we should prove\nthat God hears us, and to this end take note of what answers we look\nfor, and when they come. On the day of praying for all saints, take the\nsaints in your congregation, or in your prayer-meeting, and ask for a\nrevival among them. Take, in connection with missions, some special\nstation or missionary you are interested in, or more than one, and plead\nfor blessing. And expect and look for its coming, that you may praise\nGod.\n\n=4. Prayer Circles.=--There is no desire in publishing this invitation\nto intercession to add another to the many existing prayer unions or\npraying bands. The first object is to stir the many Christians who\npractically, through ignorance of their calling, or unbelief as to their\nprayer availing much, take but very little part in the work of\nintercession; and then to help those who do pray to some fuller\napprehension of the greatness of the work, and the need of giving their\nwhole strength to it. There is a circle of prayer which asks for prayer\non the first day of every month for the fuller manifestation of the\npower of the Holy Spirit throughout the Church. I have given the words\nof that invitation as subject for the first day, and taken the same\nthought as keynote all through. The more one thinks of the need and the\npromise, and the greatness of the obstacles to be overcome in prayer,\nthe more one feels it must become our life-work day by day, that to\nwhich every other interest is subordinated.\n\nBut while not forming a large prayer union, it is suggested that it may\nbe found helpful to have small prayer circles to unite in prayer, either\nfor one month, with some special object introduced daily along with the\nothers, or through a year or longer, with the view of strengthening each\nother in the grace of intercession. If a minister were to invite some of\nhis neighbouring brethren to join for some special requests along with\nthe printed subjects for supplication, or a number of the more earnest\nmembers of his congregation to unite in prayer for revival, some might\nbe trained to take their place in the great work of intercession, who\nnow stand idle because no man hath hired them.\n\n=5. Who is sufficient for these things?=--The more we study and try to\npractise this grace of intercession, the more we become overwhelmed by\nits greatness and our feebleness. Let every such impression lead us to\nlisten: =My grace is sufficient for thee=, and to answer truthfully:\n=Our sufficiency is of God=. Take courage; it is in the intercession of\nChrist you are called to take part. The burden and the agony, the\ntriumph and the victory are all His. Learn from Him, yield to His Spirit\nin you, to know how to pray. He gave Himself a sacrifice to God for men,\nthat He might have the right and power of intercession. \"He bare the sin\nof many, and made intercession for the transgressors.\" Let your faith\nrest boldly on His finished work. Let your heart wholly identify itself\nwith Him in His death and His life. =Like Him=, give yourself =to God= a\nsacrifice for men: it is your highest nobility, it is your true and full\nunion to Him; it will be to you, as to Him, your power of intercession.\nBeloved Christian! come and give your whole heart and life to\nintercession, and you will know its blessedness and its power. God asks\nnothing less; the world needs nothing less; Christ asks nothing less;\nlet nothing less be what we offer to God.\n\n\n\n\nFIRST DAY\n\n\nWHAT TO PRAY.--For the Power of the Holy Spirit\n\n    =\"I bow my knees unto the Father, that He would grant you that ye\n    may be strengthened with power through His Spirit.\"=--EPH. iii. 16.\n\n    =\"Wait for the promise of the Father.\"=--ACTS i. 4.\n\n\n\"The fuller manifestation of the grace and energy of the Blessed Spirit\nof God, in the removal of all that is contrary to God's revealed will,\nso that we grieve not the Holy Spirit, but that He may work in mightier\npower in the Church, for the exaltation of Christ and the blessing of\nsouls.\"\n\nGod has one promise to and through His exalted Son; our Lord has one\ngift to His Church; the Church has one need; all prayer unites in the\none petition--the power of the Holy Spirit. Make it your one prayer.\n\n\nHOW TO PRAY.--As a Child asks a Father\n\n    =\"If a son ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give\n    him a stone? How much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy\n    Spirit to them that ask Him?\"=--LUKE xi. 11, 13.\n\nAsk as simply and trustfully as a child asks bread. You can do this\nbecause =\"God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your heart,\ncrying, Abba, Father.\"= This Spirit is in you to give you childlike\nconfidence. In the faith of His praying in you, ask for the power of\nthat holy Spirit everywhere. Mention places or circles where you\nspecially ask it to be seen.\n\n\nSPECIAL PETITIONS\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n\n\n\nSECOND DAY\n\n\nWHAT TO PRAY.--For the Spirit of Supplication\n\n    =\"The Spirit Himself maketh intercession for us.\"=--ROM. viii. 26.\n\n    =\"I will pour out the Spirit of Supplication.\"=--ZECH. xii. 10.\n\n\"The evangelisation of the world depends first of all upon a revival of\nprayer. Deeper than the need for men--ay, deep down at the bottom of our\nspiritless life--is the need for the forgotten secret of prevailing,\nworld-wide prayer.\"\n\nEvery child of God has the Holy Spirit in him to pray. God waits to give\nthe Spirit in full measure. Ask for yourself, and all who join, the\noutpouring of the Spirit of Supplication. Ask it for your own prayer\ncircle.\n\n\nHOW TO PRAY.--In the Spirit\n\n    =\"With all prayer and supplication, praying at all seasons in the\n    Spirit.\"=--EPH. vi. 18.\n\n    =\"Praying in the Holy Spirit.\"=--JUDE 20.\n\nOur Lord gave His disciples on His resurrection day the Holy Spirit to\nenable them to wait for the full outpouring on the day of Pentecost. It\nis only in the power of the Spirit already in us, acknowledged and\nyielded to, that we can pray for His fuller manifestation. Say to the\nFather, it is the Spirit of His Son in you is urging you to plead His\npromise.\n\n\nSPECIAL PETITIONS\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n\n\n\nTHIRD DAY\n\n\nWHAT TO PRAY.--For all Saints\n\n    =\"With all prayer and supplication praying at all seasons, and\n    watching thereunto in all perseverance and supplication for all\n    saints.\"=--EPH. vi. 18.\n\nEvery member of a body is interested in the welfare of the whole, and\nexists to help and complete the others. Believers are one body, and\nought to pray, not so much for the welfare of their own church or\nsociety, but, first of all, for all saints. This large, unselfish love\nis the proof that Christ's Spirit and Love is teaching them to pray.\nPray first for all and then for the believers around you.\n\n\nHOW TO PRAY.--In the Love of the Spirit\n\n    =\"By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have\n    love one to another.\"=--JOHN xiii. 35.\n\n    =\"I pray that they all may be one, that the world may believe that\n    Thou didst send Me.\"=--JOHN xvii. 21.\n\n    =\"I beseech you, brethren, by the love of the Spirit, that ye strive\n    together with me in your prayers to God for me.\"=--ROM. xv. 30.\n\n    =\"Above all things being fervent in your love among yourselves.\"=--1\n    PET. iv. 8.\n\nIf we are to pray we must love. Let us say to God we do love all His\nsaints; let us say we love specially every child of His we know. Let us\npray with fervent love, in the love of the Spirit.\n\n\nSPECIAL PETITIONS\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n\n\n\nFOURTH DAY\n\n\nWHAT TO PRAY,--For the Spirit of Holiness\n\nGod is the Holy One. His people is a holy people. He speaks: I am holy:\nI am the Lord which make you holy. Christ prayed: Sanctify them. Make\nthem holy through =Thy Truth=. Paul prayed: \"God establish your hearts\nunblamable in holiness.\" \"God sanctify you wholly!\"\n\nPray for all saints--God's holy ones--throughout the Church, that the\nSpirit of holiness may rule them. Specially for new converts. For the\nsaints in your own neighbourhood or congregation. For any you are\nspecially interested in. Think of their special need, weakness, or sin,\nand pray that God may make them holy.\n\n\nHOW TO PRAY.--Trusting in God's Omnipotence\n\nThe things that are impossible with men are possible with God. When we\nthink of the great things we ask for, of how little likelihood there is\nof their coming, of our own insignificance. Prayer is not only wishing,\nor asking, but believing and accepting. Be still before God and ask Him\nto give you to know Him as the Almighty One, and leave your petitions\nwith Him who doeth wonders.\n\n\nSPECIAL PETITIONS\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n\n\n\nFIFTH DAY\n\n\nWHAT TO PRAY.--That God's People may be kept from the World\n\n=\"Holy Father, keep through Thine own name those whom Thou hast given\nMe. I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that\nThou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, as I\nam not of the world.\"=--JOHN xvii. 11, 15, 16.\n\nIn the last night Christ asked three things for His disciples: that they\nmight be kept as those who are not of the world; that they might be\nsanctified; that they might be one in love. You cannot do better than\npray as Jesus prayed. Ask for God's people that they may be kept\nseparate from the world and its spirit; that they, by the Holy Spirit,\nmay live as those who are not of the world.\n\n\nHOW TO PRAY.--Having Confidence before God\n\n=\"Beloved, if our hearts condemn us not, then have we confidence toward\nGod. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His\ncommandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.\"=--1\nJOHN iii. 21, 22.\n\nLearn these words by heart. Get them into your heart. Join the ranks of\nthose who, with John, draw nigh to God with =an assured heart=, that\n=does not condemn= them, =having confidence toward God=. In this spirit\npray for your brother who sins (1 John v. 16). In the quiet confidence\nof an obedient child plead for those of your brethren who may be giving\nway to sin. Pray for all to be kept from the evil. And say often, =\"What\nwe ask, we receive, because we keep and do.\"=\n\n\nSPECIAL PETITIONS\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n\n\n\nSIXTH DAY\n\n\nWHAT TO PRAY.--For the Spirit of Love in the Church\n\n    =\"I pray that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them and\n    Thou in Me; that the world may know that Thou didst send Me, and\n    hast loved them as Thou hast loved Me ... that the love wherewith\n    Thou hast loved Me may be in them, and I in them.\"=--JOHN xvii. 23.\n\n    =\"The fruit of the Spirit is love.\"=--GAL. v. 22.\n\nBelievers are one in Christ, as He is one with the Father. The love of\nGod rests on them, and can dwell in them. Pray that the power of the\nHoly Ghost may so work this love in believers, that the world may see\nand know God's love in them. Pray much for this.\n\n\nHOW TO PRAY.--As one of God's Remembrancers\n\n    =\"I have set watchmen on thy walls, which shall never hold their\n    peace day nor night: ye that are the Lord's remembrancers, keep not\n    silence, and give Him no rest.\"=--ISA. lxii. 6.\n\nStudy these words until your whole soul be filled with the\nconsciousness, I am appointed intercessor. Enter God's presence in that\nfaith. Study the world's need with that thought--it is my work to\nintercede; the Holy Spirit will teach me for what and how. Let it be an\nabiding consciousness: My great life-work, like Christ's, is\nintercession--to pray for believers and those who do not yet know God.\n\n\nSPECIAL PETITIONS\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n\n\n\nSEVENTH DAY\n\n\nWHAT TO PRAY.--For the Power of the Holy Spirit on Ministers\n\n    =\"I beseech you that ye strive together with me in your prayers to\n    God for me.\"=--ROM. xv. 30.\n\n    =\"He will deliver us; ye also helping together by your supplication\n    on our behalf.\"=--2 COR. i. 10, 11.\n\nWhat a great host of ministers there are in Christ's Church. What need\nthey have of prayer. What a power they might be, if they were all\nclothed with the power of the Holy Ghost. Pray definitely for this; long\nfor it. Think of your own minister, and ask it very specially for him.\nConnect every thought of the ministry, in your town or neighbourhood or\nthe world, with the prayer that all may be filled with the Spirit. Plead\nfor them the promise, =\"Tarry till ye be clothed with power from on\nhigh.\" \"Ye shall receive power, when the Holy Ghost is come upon you.\"=\n\n\nHOW TO PRAY.--In Secret\n\n    =\"But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy inner chamber, and\n    having shut to thy door, pray to the Father which is in\n    secret.\"=--MATT. vi. 6.\n\n    =\"He withdrew again into the mountain to pray, _Himself\n    alone_.\"=--MATT. xiv. 23; JOHN vi. 15.\n\nTake time and realise, when you are alone with God: Here am I now, face\nto face with God, to intercede for His servants. Do not think you have\nno influence, or that your prayer will not be missed. Your prayer and\nfaith will make a difference. Cry in secret to God for His ministers.\n\n\nSPECIAL PETITIONS\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n\n\n\nEIGHTH DAY\n\n\nWHAT TO PRAY.--For the Spirit on all Christian Workers\n\n    =\"Ye also helping together on our behalf; that for the gift bestowed\n    upon us by means of many, thanks may be given by many on our\n    behalf.\"=--2 COR. i. 11.\n\nWhat multitudes of workers in connection with our churches and missions,\nour railways and postmen, our soldiers and sailors, our young men and\nyoung women, our fallen men and women, our poor and sick. God be praised\nfor this! What could they accomplish if each were living in the fulness\nof the Holy Spirit? Pray for them; it makes you a partner in their work,\nand you will praise God each time you hear of blessing anywhere.\n\n\nHOW TO PRAY.--With definite Petitions\n\n    =\"What wilt thou that I should do unto thee?\"=--LUKE xviii. 41.\n\nThe Lord knew what the man wanted, and yet He asked him. The utterance\nof our wish gives point to the transaction in which we are engaged with\nGod, and so awakens faith and expectation. Be very definite in your\npetitions, so as to know what answer you may look for. Just think of the\ngreat host of workers, and ask and expect God definitely to bless them\nin answer to the prayers of His people. Then ask still more definitely\nfor workers around you. Intercession is not the breathing out of pious\nwishes; its aim is, in believing, persevering prayer, to receive and\nbring down blessing.\n\n\nSPECIAL PETITIONS\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n\n\n\nNINTH DAY\n\n\nWHAT TO PRAY.--For God's Spirit on our Mission Work\n\n    \"The evangelisation of the world depends first of all upon a revival\n    of prayer. Deeper than the need for men--ay, deep down at the bottom\n    of our spiritless life, is the need for the forgotten secret of\n    prevailing, world-wide prayer.\"\n\n    =\"As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said,\n    Separate Me Barnabas and Saul. Then when they had fasted and prayed,\n    they sent them away. So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost,\n    departed.\"=--ACTS xiii. 2, 3, 4.\n\nPray that our mission work may all be done in this spirit--waiting on\nGod, hearing the voice of the Spirit, sending forth men with fasting and\nprayer. Pray that in our churches our mission interest and mission work\nmay be in the power of the Holy Spirit and of prayer. It is a\nSpirit-filled, praying Church will send out Spirit-filled missionaries,\nmighty in prayer.\n\n\nHOW TO PRAY.--Take Time\n\n    =\"I give myself unto prayer.\"=--PS. cix. 4.\n\n    =\"We will give ourselves continually to prayer.\"=--ACTS vi. 4.\n\n    =\"Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to\n    utter anything before God.\"=--ECCLES. v. 2.\n\n    =\"And He continued all night in prayer to God.\"=--LUKE vi. 12.\n\nTime is one of the chief standards of value. The time we give is a proof\nof the interest we feel.\n\nWe need time with God--to realise His presence; to wait for Him to make\nHimself known; to consider and feel the needs we plead for; to take our\nplace in Christ; to pray till we can believe that we have received. Take\ntime in prayer, and pray down blessing on the mission work of the\nChurch.\n\n\nSPECIAL PETITIONS\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n\n\n\nTENTH DAY\n\n\nWHAT TO PRAY.--For God's Spirit on our Missionaries\n\n    \"What the world needs to-day is, not only more missionaries, but the\n    outpouring of God's Spirit on everyone whom He has sent out to work\n    for Him in the foreign field.\"\n\n    =\"Ye shall receive power, when the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and\n    ye shall be My witnesses unto the uttermost parts of the\n    earth.\"=--ACTS i. 8.\n\nGod always gives His servants power equal to the work He asks of them.\nThink of the greatness and difficulty of this work,--casting out Satan\nout of his strongholds,--and pray that everyone who takes part in it may\nreceive and do all his work in the power of the Holy Ghost. Think of the\ndifficulties of your missionaries, and pray for them.\n\n\nHOW TO PRAY.--Trusting God's Faithfulness\n\n    =\"He is faithful that promised.\" \"She counted Him faithful who\n    promised.\"=--HEB. x. 23, xi. 11.\n\nJust think of God's promises to His Son, concerning His kingdom; to the\nChurch, concerning the heathen; to His servants, concerning their work;\nto yourself, concerning your prayer; and pray in the assurance that He\nis faithful, and only waits for prayer and faith to fulfil them.\n=\"Faithful is He that calleth you\"= (to pray), \"who also will do it\"\n(what He has promised).\n\nTake up individual missionaries, make yourself one with them, and pray\ntill you know that you are heard. Oh, begin to live for Christ's kingdom\nas the one thing worth living for!\n\n\nSPECIAL PETITIONS\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n\n\n\nELEVENTH DAY\n\n\nWHAT TO PRAY.--For more Labourers\n\n    =\"Pray ye the Lord of the harvest, that He send forth labourers into\n    His harvest.\"=--MATT. ix. 38.\n\nWhat a remarkable call of the =Lord Jesus= for help from His disciples\nin getting the need supplied. What an honour put upon prayer. What a\nproof that God wants prayer and will hear it.\n\nPray for labourers, for all students in theological seminaries, training\nhomes, Bible institutes, that they may not go, unless He fits them and\nsends them forth; that our churches may train their students to seek for\nthe sending forth of the Holy Spirit; that all believers may hold\nthemselves ready to be sent forth, or to pray for those who can go.\n\n\nHOW TO PRAY.--In Faith, nothing Doubting\n\n    =\"Jesus saith unto them, Have faith in God. Whosoever shall say unto\n    this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and\n    shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that what he saith\n    shall come to pass, he shall have it.\"=--MARK xi. 22, 23.\n\n=Have faith in God!= Ask Him to make Himself known to you as the\nfaithful, mighty God, who worketh all in all; and you will be encouraged\nto believe that He can give suitable and sufficient labourers, however\nimpossible this appears. But, remember, in answer to prayer and faith.\n\nApply this to every opening where a good worker is needed. The work is\nGod's. He can give the right workman. =But He must be asked and waited\non.=\n\n\nSPECIAL PETITIONS\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n\n\n\nTWELFTH DAY\n\n\nWHAT TO PRAY.--For the Spirit to convince the World of Sin\n\n    =\"I will send the Comforter to you. And He, when He is come, will\n    convict the world in respect of sin.\"=--JOHN xvi. 7, 8.\n\nGod's one desire, the one object of Christ's being manifested, is to\ntake away sin. The first work of the Spirit on the world is conviction\nof sin. Without that, no deep or abiding revival, no powerful\nconversion. Pray for it, that the gospel may be preached in such power\nof the Spirit, that men may see that they have rejected and crucified\nChrist, and cry out, What shall we do?\n\nPray most earnestly for a mighty power of conviction of sin wherever the\ngospel is preached.\n\n\nHOW TO PRAY.--Stir up yourself to take hold of God's Strength\n\n    =\"Let him take hold of My strength, that he may make peace with\n    Me.\"=--ISA. xxvii. 5.\n\n    =\"There is none that calleth upon Thy name, that stirreth himself to\n    take hold of Thee.\"=--ISA. lxiv. 7.\n\n    =\"Stir up the gift of God which is in thee.\"=--2 TIM. i. 6.\n\nFirst, take hold of God's strength. God is a Spirit. I cannot take hold\nof Him, and hold Him fast, but by the Spirit. Take hold of God's\nstrength, and hold on till it has done for you what He has promised.\nPray for the power of the Spirit to convict of sin.\n\nSecond, stir up yourself, the power that is in you by the Holy Spirit,\nto take hold. Give your whole heart and will to it, and say, =I will not\nlet Thee go except Thou bless me=.\n\n\nSPECIAL PETITIONS\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n\n\n\nTHIRTEENTH DAY\n\n\nWHAT TO PRAY.--For the Spirit of Burning\n\n    =\"And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion shall be\n    called holy: when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the\n    daughters of Zion, by the spirit of judgment and the spirit of\n    burning.\"=--ISA. iv. 3, 4.\n\nA washing by fire! a cleansing by judgment! He that has passed through\nthis shall be called holy. The power of blessing for the world, the\npower of work and intercession that will avail, depends upon the\nspiritual state of the Church; and that can only rise higher as sin is\ndiscovered and put away. Judgment must begin at the house of God. There\nmust be conviction of sin for sanctification. Beseech God to give His\nSpirit as a spirit of judgment and a spirit of burning--to discover and\nburn out sin in His people.\n\n\nHOW TO PRAY.--In the Name of Christ\n\n    =\"Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do. If ye shall\n    ask Me anything in My name, that will I do.\"=--JOHN xiv. 13, 14.\n\nAsk in the name of your Redeemer God, who sits upon the throne. Ask what\nHe has promised, what He gave His blood for, that sin may be put away\nfrom among His people. Ask--the prayer is after His own heart--for the\nspirit of deep conviction of sin to come among His people. Ask for the\nspirit of burning. Ask in the faith of His name--the faith of what He\nwills, of what He can do--and look for the answer. Pray that the Church\nmay be blessed, to be made a blessing in the world.\n\n\nSPECIAL PETITIONS\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n\n\n\nFOURTEENTH DAY\n\n\nWHAT TO PRAY.--For the Church of the Future\n\n    =\"That the children might not be as their fathers, a generation that\n    set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not steadfast with\n    God.\"=--PS. lxxviii. 8.\n\n    =\"I will pour My Spirit upon thy seed, and My blessing upon thy\n    offspring.\"=--ISA. xliv. 3.\n\nPray for the rising generation, who are to come after us. Think of the\nyoung men and young women and children of this age, and pray for all the\nagencies at work among them; that in association and societies and\nunions, in homes and schools, Christ may be honoured, and the Holy\nSpirit get possession of them. Pray for the young of your own\nneighbourhood.\n\n\nHOW TO PRAY.--With the Whole Heart\n\n    =\"The Lord grant thee according to thine own heart.\"=--PS. xx. 4.\n\n    =\"Thou hast given him his heart's desire.\"=--PS. xxi. 2.\n\n    =\"I cried with my whole heart; hear me, O Lord.\"=--PS. cxix. 145.\n\nGod lives, and listens to every petition with His whole heart. Each time\nwe pray the whole Infinite God is there to hear. He asks that in each\nprayer the whole man shall be there too; that we shall cry with our\nwhole heart. Christ gave Himself to God for men; and so He takes up\nevery need into His intercession. If once we seek God with our whole\nheart, the whole heart will be in every prayer with which we come to\nthis God. Pray with your whole heart for the young.\n\n\nSPECIAL PETITIONS\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n\n\n\nFIFTEENTH DAY\n\n\nWHAT TO PRAY.--For Schools and Colleges\n\n    =\"As for Me, this is My covenant with them, saith the Lord: My\n    Spirit that is upon thee, and My words which I have put in thy\n    mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of\n    thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the Lord,\n    from henceforth and for ever.\"=--ISA. lix. 21.\n\nThe future of the Church and the world depends, to an extent we little\nconceive, on the education of the day. The Church may be seeking to\nevangelise the heathen, and be giving up her own children to secular and\nmaterialistic influences. Pray for schools and colleges, and that the\nChurch may realise and fulfil its momentous duty of caring for its\nchildren. Pray for godly teachers.\n\n\nHOW TO PRAY.--Not Limiting God\n\n    =\"They limited the Holy One of Israel.\"=--PS. lxxviii. 41.\n\n    =\"He did not many mighty works there because of their\n    unbelief.\"=--MATT. xiii. 58.\n\n    =\"Is anything too hard for the Lord?\"=--GEN. xviii. 14.\n\n    =\"Ah, Lord God! Thou hast made the heaven and the earth by Thy great\n    power; there is nothing too hard for Thee. Behold, I am the Lord: is\n    there anything too hard for Me?\"=--JER. xxxii. 17, 27.\n\nBeware, in your prayer, above everything, of limiting God, not only by\nunbelief, but by fancying that you know what He can do. Expect\nunexpected things, above all that we ask or think. Each time you\nintercede, be quiet first and worship God in his glory. Think of what He\ncan do, of how He delights to hear Christ, of your place in Christ, and\nexpect great things.\n\n\nSPECIAL PETITIONS\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n\n\n\nSIXTEENTH DAY\n\n\nWHAT TO PRAY.--For the Power of the Holy Spirit in our Sabbath Schools\n\n    =\"Thus saith the Lord, Even the captives of the mighty shall be\n    taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I\n    will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy\n    children.\"=--ISA. xlix. 25.\n\nEvery part of the work of God's Church is His work. He must do it.\nPrayer is the confession that He will, the surrender of ourselves into\nHis hands to let Him, work in us and through us. Pray for the hundreds\nof thousands of Sunday-school teachers, that those who know God may be\nfilled with His Spirit. Pray for your own Sunday school. Pray for the\nsalvation of the children.\n\n\nHOW TO PRAY.--Boldly\n\n    =\"We have a great High Priest, Jesus the Son of God. Let us\n    therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace.\"=--HEB. iv. 14, 16.\n\nThese hints to help us in our work of intercession--what are they doing\nfor us? Making us conscious of our feebleness in prayer? Thank God for\nthis. It is the very first lesson we need on the way to pray the\neffectual prayer that availeth much. Let us persevere, taking each\nsubject boldly to the throne of grace. As we pray we shall learn to\npray, and to believe, and to expect with increasing boldness. Hold fast\nyour assurance: it is at God's command you come as an intercessor.\nChrist will give you grace to pray aright.\n\n\nSPECIAL PETITIONS\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n\n\n\nSEVENTEENTH DAY\n\n\nWHAT TO PRAY.--For Kings and Rulers\n\n    =\"I exhort therefore, first of all, that supplications, prayers,\n    intercessions, thanksgiving, be made for all men; for kings, and all\n    that are in high places; that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life\n    in all godliness and gravity.\"=--1 TIM. ii. 1, 2.\n\nWhat a faith in the power of prayer! A few feeble and despised\nChristians are to influence the mighty Roman emperors, and help in\nsecuring peace and quietness. Let us believe that prayer is a power that\nis taken up by God in His rule of the world. Let us pray for our country\nand its rulers; for all the rulers of the world; for rulers in cities or\ndistricts in which we are interested. When God's people unite in this,\nthey may count upon their prayer effecting in the unseen world more than\nthey know. Let faith hold this fast.\n\n\nHOW TO PRAY.--The Prayer before God as Incense\n\n    =\"And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden\n    censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should\n    add it unto the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar\n    which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the\n    prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel's hand.\n    And the angel taketh the censer; and he filled it with the fire upon\n    the altar, and cast it upon the earth: and there followed thunder,\n    and voices, and lightning, and an earthquake.\"=--REV. viii. 3-5.\n\nThe same censer brings the prayer of the saints before God and casts\nfire upon the earth. The prayers that go up to heaven have their share\nin the history of this earth. Be sure that thy prayers enter God's\npresence.\n\n\nSPECIAL PETITIONS\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n\n\n\nEIGHTEENTH DAY\n\n\nWHAT TO PRAY.--For Peace\n\n    =\"I exhort therefore, first of all, that supplication be made for\n    kings and all that are in high places; that we may lead a tranquil\n    and quiet life in all godliness and gravity. For this is good and\n    acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour.\"=--1 TIM. ii. 1-3.\n\n    =\"He maketh wars to cease to the end of the earth.\"=--PS. xlvi. 9.\n\nWhat a terrible sight!--the military armaments in which the nations find\ntheir pride. What a terrible thought!--the evil passions that may at any\nmoment bring on war. And what a prospect the suffering and desolation\nthat must come. God can, in answer to the prayer of His people, give\npeace. Let us pray for it, and for the rule of righteousness on which\nalone it can be stablished.\n\n\nHOW TO PRAY.--With the Understanding\n\n    =\"What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with\n    the understanding.\"=--1 COR. xiv. 15.\n\nWe need to pray with the spirit, as the vehicle of the intercession of\nGod's Spirit, if we are to take hold of God in faith and power. We need\nto pray with the understanding, if we are really to enter deeply into\nthe needs we bring before Him. Take time to apprehend intelligently, in\neach subject, the nature, the extent, the urgency of the request, the\nground and way and certainty of God's promise as revealed in His Word.\nLet the mind affect the heart. Pray with the understanding and with the\nspirit.\n\n\nSPECIAL PETITIONS\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n\n\n\nNINETEENTH DAY\n\n\nWHAT TO PRAY.--For the Holy Spirit on Christendom\n\n    =\"Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.\"=--2\n    TIM. iii. 5.\n\n    =\"Thou hast a name that thou livest, and thou art dead.\"=--REV. iii.\n    1.\n\nThere are five hundred millions of nominal Christians. The state of the\nmajority is unspeakably awful. Formality, worldliness, ungodliness,\nrejection of Christ's service, ignorance, and indifference--to what an\nextent does all this prevail. We pray for the heathen--oh! do let us\npray for those bearing Christ's name, many in worse than heathen\ndarkness.\n\nDoes not one feel as if one ought to begin to give up his life, and to\ncry day and night to God for souls! In answer to prayer God gives the\npower of the Holy Ghost.\n\n\nHOW TO PRAY.--In deep Stillness of Soul\n\n    =\"My soul is silent unto God: from Him cometh my salvation.\"=--PS.\n    lxii. 1.\n\nPrayer has its power in God alone. The nearer a man comes to God\nHimself, the deeper he enters into God's will; the more he takes hold of\nGod, the more power in prayer.\n\nGod must reveal Himself. If it please Him to make Himself known, He can\nmake the heart conscious of His presence. Our posture must be that of\nholy reverence, of quiet waiting and adoration.\n\nAs your month of intercession passes on, and you feel the greatness of\nyour work, be still before God. Thus you will get power to pray.\n\n\nSPECIAL PETITIONS\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n\n\n\nTWENTIETH DAY\n\n\nWHAT TO PRAY.--For God's Spirit on the Heathen\n\n    =\"Behold, these shall come from far; and these from the land of\n    Sinim.\"=--ISA. xlix. 12.\n\n    =\"Princes shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia shall haste to stretch\n    out her hands to God.\"=--PS. lxviii. 31.\n\n    =\"I the Lord will hasten it in His time.\"=--ISA. lx. 22.\n\nPray for the heathen, who are yet without the word. Think of China, with\nher three hundred millions--a million a month dying without Christ.\nThink of Dark Africa, with its two hundred millions. Think of thirty\nmillions a year going down into the thick darkness. If Christ gave His\nlife for them, will you not do so? You can give yourself up to intercede\nfor them. Just begin, if you have never yet begun, with this simple\nmonthly school of intercession. The ten minutes you give will make you\nfeel this is not enough. God's Spirit will draw you on. Persevere,\nhowever feeble you are. Ask God to give you some country or tribe to\npray for. Can anything be nobler than to do as Christ did? Give your\nlife for the heathen.\n\n\nHOW TO PRAY.--With Confident Expectation of an Answer\n\n    =\"Call unto Me, and I will answer thee, and will shew thee great\n    things and difficult, which thou knowest not.\"=--JER. xxxiii. 3.\n\n    =\"Thus saith the Lord God: I will yet be inquired of, that I do\n    it.\"=--EZEK. xxxvi. 37.\n\nBoth texts refer to promises definitely made, but their fulfilment would\ndepend upon prayer: God would be inquired of to do it.\n\nPray for God's fulfilment of His promises to His Son and His Church, and\nexpect the answer. Plead for the heathen: plead God's Promises.\n\n\nSPECIAL PETITIONS\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n\n\n\nTWENTY-FIRST DAY\n\n\nWHAT TO PRAY.--For God's Spirit on the Jews\n\n    =\"I will pour out upon the house of David, and the inhabitants of\n    Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and Supplication; and they shall look\n    unto Me whom they pierced.\"=--ZECH. xii. 10.\n\n    =\"Brethren, my heart's desire and my supplication to God is for\n    them, that they may be saved.\"=--ROM. x. 1.\n\nPray for the Jews. Their return to the God of their fathers stands\nconnected, in a way we cannot tell, with wonderful blessing to the\nChurch, and with the coming of our Lord Jesus. Let us not think that God\nhas foreordained all this, and that we cannot hasten it. In a divine and\nmysterious way God has connected His fulfilment of His promise with our\nprayer. His Spirit's intercession in us is God's forerunner of blessing.\nPray for Israel and the work done among them. And pray too: Amen. Even\nso, come, Lord Jesus!\n\n\nHOW TO PRAY.--With the Intercession of the Holy Spirit\n\n    =\"We know not how to pray as we ought; but the Spirit Himself maketh\n    intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.\"=--ROM.\n    viii. 26.\n\nIn your ignorance and feebleness believe in the secret indwelling and\nintercession of the Holy Spirit within you. Yield yourself to His life\nand leading habitually. He will help your infirmities in prayer. Plead\nthe promises of God even where you do not see how they are to be\nfulfilled. God knows the mind of the Spirit, because He maketh\nintercession for the saints according to the will of God. Pray with the\nsimplicity of a little child; pray with the holy awe and reverence of\none in whom God's Spirit dwells and prays.\n\n\nSPECIAL PETITIONS\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n\n\n\nTWENTY-SECOND DAY\n\n\nWHAT TO PRAY.--For all who are in Suffering\n\n    =\"Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; them that are\n    evil entreated, as being yourselves in the body.\"=--HEB. xiii. 3.\n\nWhat a world of suffering we live in! How Jesus sacrificed all and\nidentified Himself with it! Let us in our measure do so too. The\npersecuted Stundists and Armenians and Jews, the famine-stricken\nmillions of India, the hidden slavery of Africa, the poverty and\nwretchedness of our great cities--and so much more: what suffering among\nthose who know God and who know Him not. And then in smaller circles, in\nten thousand homes and hearts, what sorrow. In our own neighbourhood,\nhow many needing help or comfort. Let us have a heart for, let us think\nof the suffering. It will stir us to pray, to work, to hope, to love\nmore. And in a way and time we know not God will hear our prayer.\n\n\nHOW TO PRAY.--Praying always, and not fainting\n\n    =\"He spake unto them a parable to the end that they ought always to\n    pray, and not to faint.\"=--LUKE xviii. 1.\n\nDo you not begin to feel prayer is really the help for this sinful\nworld? What a need there is of unceasing prayer? The very greatness of\nthe task makes us despair! What can our ten minutes of intercession\navail? It is right we feel this: this is the way in which God is calling\nand preparing us to give our life to prayer. Give yourself wholly to God\nfor men, and amid all your work, your heart will be drawn out to men in\nlove, and drawn up to God in dependence and expectation. To a heart thus\nled by the Holy Spirit, it is possible to pray always and not to faint.\n\n\nSPECIAL PETITIONS\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n\n\n\nTWENTY-THIRD DAY\n\n\nWHAT TO PRAY.--For the Holy Spirit in your own Work\n\n    =\"I labour, striving according to His working, which worketh in me\n    mightily.\"=--COL. i. 29.\n\nYou have your own special work; make it a work of intercession. Paul\nlaboured, striving according to the working of God in him. Remember, God\nis not only the Creator, but the Great Workman, who worketh all in all.\nYou can only do your work in His strength, by Him working in you through\nthe Spirit. Intercede much for those among whom you work, till God gives\nyou life for them.\n\nLet us all intercede too for each other, for every worker throughout\nGod's Church, however solitary or unknown.\n\n\nHOW TO PRAY.--In God's very Presence\n\n    =\"Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you.\"=--JAS. iv. 8.\n\nThe nearness of God gives rest and power in prayer. The nearness of God\nis given to him who makes it his first object. \"Draw nigh to God\"; seek\nthe nearness to Him, and He will give it; \"He will draw nigh to you.\"\nThen it becomes easy to pray in faith.\n\nRemember that when first God takes you into the school of intercession\nit is almost more for your own sake than that of others. You have to be\ntrained to love, and wait, and pray, and believe. Only persevere. Learn\nto set yourself in His presence, to wait quietly for the assurance that\nHe draws nigh. Enter His holy presence, tarry there, and spread your\nwork before Him. Intercede for the souls you are working among. Get a\nblessing from God, His Spirit into your own heart, for them.\n\n\nSPECIAL PETITIONS\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n\n\n\nTWENTY-FOURTH DAY\n\n\nWHAT TO PRAY.--For the Spirit on your own Congregation\n\n    =\"Beginning at Jerusalem.\"=--LUKE xxiv. 47.\n\nEach one of us is connected with some congregation or circle of\nbelievers, who are to us the part of Christ's body with which we come\ninto most direct contact. They have a special claim on our intercession.\nLet it be a settled matter between God and you that you are to labour in\nprayer on its behalf. Pray for the minister and all leaders or workers\nin it. Pray for the believers according to their needs. Pray for\nconversions. Pray for the power of the Spirit to manifest itself. Band\nyourself with others to join in secret in definite petitions. Let\nintercession be a definite work, carried on as systematically as\npreaching or Sunday school. And pray, expecting an answer.\n\nHOW TO PRAY.--Continually\n\n    =\"Watchmen, that shall never hold their peace day nor night.\"=--ISA.\n    lxii. 6.\n\n    =\"His own elect, that cry to Him day and night.\"=--LUKE xviii. 7.\n\n    =\"Night and day praying exceedingly, that we may perfect that which\n    is lacking in your faith.\"=--1 THESS. iii. 10.\n\n    =\"A widow indeed, hath her hope set in God, and continueth in\n    supplications night and day.\"=--1 TIM. v. 5.\n\nWhen the glory of God, and the love of Christ, and the need of souls are\nrevealed to us, the fire of this unceasing intercession will begin to\nburn in us for those who are near and those who are far off.\n\n\nSPECIAL PETITIONS\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n\n\n\nTWENTY-FIFTH DAY\n\n\nWHAT TO PRAY.--For more Conversions\n\n    =\"He is able to save completely, seeing He ever liveth to make\n    intercession.\"=--HEB. vii. 25.\n\n    =\"We will give ourselves continually to prayer and the ministry of\n    the word.... And the word of God increased; and the number of the\n    disciples multiplied exceedingly.\"=--ACTS vi. 4, 7.\n\nChrist's power to save, and save completely, depends on His unceasing\nintercession. The apostles withdrawing themselves from other work to\ngive themselves continually to prayer was followed by the number of the\ndisciples multiplying exceedingly. As we, in our day, give ourselves to\nintercession, we shall have more and mightier conversions. Let us plead\nfor this. Christ is exalted to give repentance. The Church exists with\nthe Divine purpose and promise of having conversions. Let us not be\nashamed to confess our sin and feebleness, and cry to God for more\nconversions in Christian and heathen lands, of those too whom you know\nand love. Plead for the salvation of sinners.\n\n\nHOW TO PRAY.--In deep Humility\n\n    =\"Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs.... O woman, great is\n    thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt.\"=--MATT. xv. 27, 28.\n\nYou feel unworthy and unable to pray aright. To accept this heartily,\nand to be content still to come and be blest in your unworthiness, is\ntrue humility. It proves its integrity by not seeking for anything, but\nsimply trusting His grace. And so it is the very strength of a great\nfaith, and gets a full answer. \"Yet the dogs\"--let that be your plea as\nyou persevere for someone possibly possessed of the devil. Let not your\nlittleness hinder you for a moment.\n\n\nSPECIAL PETITIONS\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n\n\n\nTWENTY-SIXTH DAY\n\n\nWHAT TO PRAY.--For the Holy Spirit on Young Converts\n\n    =\"Peter and John prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy\n    Ghost; for as yet He was fallen upon none of them: only they had\n    been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.\"=--ACTS viii. 15, 16.\n\n    =\"Now He which establisheth us with you in Christ, and anointed us,\n    is God; who also gave us the earnest of the Spirit in our\n    hearts.\"=--2 COR. i. 21, 22.\n\nHow many new converts who remain feeble; how many who fall into sin; how\nmany who backslide entirely. If we pray for the Church, its growth in\nholiness and devotion to God's service, pray specially for the young\nconverts. How many stand alone, surrounded by temptation; how many have\nno teaching on the Spirit in them, and the power of God to establish\nthem; how many in heathen lands, surrounded by Satan's power. If you\npray for the power of the Spirit in the Church, pray specially that\nevery young convert may know that he may claim and receive the fulness\nof the Spirit.\n\n\nHOW TO PRAY.--Without Ceasing\n\n    =\"As for me, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in\n    ceasing to pray for you.\"=--1 SAM. xii. 23.\n\nIt is sin against the Lord to cease praying for others. When once we\nbegin to see how absolutely indispensable intercession is, just as much\na duty as loving God or believing in Christ, and how we are called and\nbound to it as believers, we shall feel that to cease intercession is\ngrievous sin. Let us ask for grace to take up our place as priests with\njoy, and give our life to bring down the blessing of heaven.\n\n\nSPECIAL PETITIONS\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n\n\n\nTWENTY-SEVENTH DAY\n\n\nWHAT TO PRAY.--That God's People may Realise their Calling\n\n    =\"I will bless thee; and be thou a blessing: _in thee_ shall _all\n    the families of the earth_ be blessed.\"=--GEN. xii. 2, 3.\n\n    =\"God be merciful _unto us_, and bless _us_; and cause His face to\n    shine _upon us_. That Thy way may be known _upon earth_, Thy saving\n    health _among all nations_.\"=--PS. lxvii. 1, 2.\n\nAbraham was only blessed that he might be a blessing to all the earth.\nIsrael prays for blessing, that God may be known among all nations.\nEvery believer, just as much as Abraham, is only blessed that he may\ncarry God's blessing to the world.\n\nCry to God that His people may know this, that every believer is only to\nlive for the interests of God and His kingdom. If this truth were\npreached and believed and practised, what a revolution it would bring in\nour mission work. What a host of willing intercessors we should have.\nPlead with God to work it by the Holy Spirit.\n\n\nHOW TO PRAY.--As One who has Accepted for Himself what he Asks for\nOthers\n\n    =\"Peter said, What I have, I give unto thee.... The Holy Ghost fell\n    on them, as on us at the beginning.... God gave them the like gift,\n    as He gave unto us.\"=--ACTS iii. 6, xi. 15, 17.\n\nAs you pray for this great blessing on God's people, the Holy Spirit\ntaking entire possession of them for God's service, yield yourself to\nGod, and claim the gift anew in faith. Let each thought of feebleness or\nshortcoming only make you the more urgent in prayer for others; as the\nblessing comes to them, you too will be helped. With every prayer for\nconversions or mission work, pray that God's people may know how wholly\nthey belong to Him.\n\n\nSPECIAL PETITIONS\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n\n\n\nTWENTY-EIGHTH DAY\n\n\nWHAT TO PRAY.--That all God's People may know the Holy Spirit\n\n    =\"The Spirit of truth, whom the world knoweth not; but ye know Him;\n    for He abideth with you, and shall be in you.\"=--JOHN xiv. 17.\n\n    =\"Know ye not that your body is a temple of the Holy Ghost?\"=--1\n    COR. vi. 19.\n\nThe Holy Spirit is the power of God for the salvation of men. He only\nworks as He dwells in the Church. He is given to enable believers to\nlive wholly as God would have them live, in the full experience and\nwitness of Him who saves completely. Pray God that every one of His\npeople may know the Holy Spirit!--That He, in all His fulness, is given\nto them! that they cannot expect to live as their Father would have,\nwithout having Him in His fulness, without being filled with Him! Pray\nthat all God's people, even away in churches gathered out of heathendom,\nmay learn to say: I believe in the Holy Ghost.\n\n\nHOW TO PRAY.--Labouring fervently in Prayer\n\n    =\"Epaphras, who is one of you, saluteth you, always labouring\n    fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete\n    in all the will of God.\"=--COL. iv. 12.\n\nTo a healthy man labour is a delight; in what interests him he labours\nfervently. The believer who is in full health, whose heart is filled\nwith God's Spirit, labours fervently in prayer. For what? That his\nbrethren may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God; that\nthey may know what God wills for them, how He calls them to live, and be\nled and walk by the Holy Ghost. Labour fervently in prayer that all\nGod's children may know this, as possible, as divinely sure.\n\n\nSPECIAL PETITIONS\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n\n\n\nTWENTY-NINTH DAY\n\n\nWHAT TO PRAY.--For the Spirit of Intercession\n\n    =\"I chose you, and appointed you, that ye should go and bear fruit;\n    that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in My name, He may give\n    it you.\"=--JOHN xv. 16.\n\n    =\"Hitherto ye have asked nothing in My name. In that day ye shall\n    ask in My name.\"=--JOHN xvi. 24, 26.\n\nHas not our school of intercession taught us how little we have prayed\nin the name of Jesus? He promised His disciples: In that day, when the\nHoly Spirit comes upon you, ye shall ask in My name. Are there not tens\nof thousands with us mourning the lack of the power of intercession? Let\nour intercession to-day be for them and all God's children, that Christ\nmay teach us that the Holy Spirit is in us; and what it is to live in\nHis fulness, and to yield ourselves to His intercession work within us.\nThe Church and the world need nothing so much as a mighty Spirit of\nIntercession to bring down the power of God on earth. Pray for the\ndescent from heaven of the Spirit of Intercession for a great prayer\nrevival.\n\n\nHOW TO PRAY.--Abiding in Christ\n\n    =\"If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatsoever ye\n    will, and it shall be done to you.\"=--JOHN xv. 7.\n\nOur acceptance with God, our access to Him, is all in Christ. As we\nconsciously abide in Him we have the liberty, not a liberty to our old\nnature or our self-will, but the Divine liberty from all self-will, to\nask what we will, in the power of the new nature, and it shall be done.\nLet us keep this place, and believe even now that our intercession is\nheard, and that the Spirit of Supplication will be given all around us.\n\n\nSPECIAL PETITIONS\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n\n\n\nTHIRTIETH DAY\n\n\nWHAT TO PRAY.--For the Holy Spirit with the Word of God\n\n    =\"Our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and\n    in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance.\"=--1 THESS. i. 5.\n\n    =\"Those who preached unto you the gospel with the Holy Ghost sent\n    forth from heaven.\"=--1 PET. i. 12.\n\nWhat numbers of Bibles are being circulated. What numbers of sermons on\nthe Bible are being preached. What numbers of Bibles are being read in\nhome and school. How little blessing when it comes \"in word\" only; what\nDivine blessing and power when it comes \"in the Holy Ghost,\" when it is\npreached \"with the Holy Ghost sent forth from heaven.\" Pray for Bible\ncirculation, and preaching and teaching and reading, that it may all be\nin the Holy Ghost, with much prayer. Pray for the power of the Spirit\nwith the word in your own neighbourhood, wherever it is being read or\nheard. Let every mention of \"The Word of God\" waken intercession.\n\n\nHOW TO PRAY.--Watching and Praying\n\n    =\"Continue steadfastly in prayer, watching therein with\n    thanksgiving; withal praying for us also, that God may open for us a\n    door for the word.\"=--COL. iv. 2, 3.\n\nDo you not see how all depends upon God and prayer? As long as He lives\nand loves, and hears and works, as long as there are souls with hearts\nclosed to the word, as long as there is work to be done in carrying the\nword--=Pray without ceasing. Continue steadfastly in prayer, watching\ntherein with thanksgiving. These words are for every Christian.=\n\n\nSPECIAL PETITIONS\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n\n\n\nTHIRTY-FIRST DAY\n\n\nWHAT TO PRAY.--For the Spirit of Christ in His People\n\n    =\"I am the Vine, ye are the branches.\"=--JOHN xv. 5.\n\n    =\"That ye should do as I have done to you.\"=--JOHN xiii. 15.\n\nAs branches we are to be so like the Vine, so entirely identified with\nit, that all may see that we have the same nature, and life, and spirit.\nWhen we pray for the Spirit, let us not only think of a Spirit of power,\nbut the very disposition and temper of Christ Jesus. Ask and expect\nnothing less: for yourself, and all God's children, cry for it.\n\n\nHOW TO PRAY.--Striving in Prayer\n\n    =\"That ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for\n    me.\"=--ROM. xv. 30.\n\n    =\"I would ye knew what great conflict I have for you.\"=--COL. ii. 1.\n\nAll the powers of evil seek to hinder us in prayer. Prayer is a conflict\nwith opposing forces. It needs the whole heart and all our strength. May\nGod give us grace to strive in prayer till we prevail.\n\n\nSPECIAL PETITIONS\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n________________________________________________________________________\n\n\n\n\n\nTRANSCRIBER'S NOTES\n\n\n=Bold= and _italic_ words in the original text have been marked in this\nversion with equals signs and underscores respectively.\n\nMinor errors and inconsistencies in punctuation and hyphenation have\nbeen silently corrected.\n\nOn page 6, the original text had \"we the trust in our own diligence\".\n\nOn page 93, \"WHAT THE HEALTH THAT JESUS OFFERS.\" is as in the original.\n\nAs explained in the section on \"Answers to Prayer\", on each daily page in\nthe tract \"Pray Without Ceasing\", several lines are ruled to leave room\nfor the reader's \"SPECIAL PETITIONS\". In this version, these are\nrepresented by six lines of underscores.","title":"The Ministry of Intercession: A Plea for More Prayer","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":55084}