Paul a Pattern of Prayer
"Go and inquire for one called Saul of Tarsus: for, _behold, he
prayeth_."--ACTS ix. 11.
"For this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ
might show forth all long-suffering, for a pattern to them which
should hereafter believe on Him to life everlasting."--1 TIM. i. 16.
God took His own Son, and made Him our Example and our Pattern. It
sometimes is as if the power of Christ's example is lost in the thought
that He, in whom is no sin, is not man as we are. Our Lord took Paul, a
man of like passions with ourselves, and made him a pattern of what he
could do for one who was the chief of sinners. And Paul, the man who,
more than any other, has set his mark on the Church, has ever been
appealed to as a pattern man. In his mastery of Divine truth, and his
teaching of it; in his devotion to his Lord, and his self-consuming zeal
in His service; in his deep experience of the power of the indwelling
Christ and the fellowship of his cross; in the sincerity of his
humility, and the simplicity and boldness of his faith; in his
missionary enthusiasm and endurance--in all this, and so much more, "the
grace of our Lord Jesus was exceeding abundant in him." Christ gave him,
and the Church has accepted him, as a pattern of what Christ would have,
of what Christ would work. Seven times Paul speaks of believers
following him: (1 Cor. iv. 16), "Wherefore I beseech you, be ye
followers of me"; (xi. 1), "Be ye followers of me, even as I am of
Christ"; Phil, iii. 17, iv. 9; 1 Thess. i. 6; 2 Thess. iii. 7-9.
If Paul, as a pattern of prayer, is not as much studied or appealed to
as he is in other respects, it is not because he is not in this too as
remarkable a proof of what grace can do, or because we do not, in this
respect, as much stand in need of the help of his example. A study of
Paul as a pattern of prayer will bring a rich reward of instruction and
encouragement. The words our Lord used of him at his conversion, "Behold
he prayeth," may be taken as the keynote of his life. The heavenly
vision which brought him to his knees ever after ruled his life. Christ
at the right hand of God, in whom we are blessed with all spiritual
blessings, was everything to him; to pray and expect the heavenly power
in his work and on his work, from heaven direct by prayer, was the
simple outcome of his faith in the Glorified One. In this, too, Christ
meant him to be a pattern, that we might learn that, just in the measure
in which the heavenliness of Christ and His gifts, the unworldliness of
the powers that work for salvation, are known and believed, will prayer
become the spontaneous rising of the heart to the only source of its
life. Let us see what we know of Paul.
PAUL'S HABITS OF PRAYER.
These are revealed almost unconsciously. He writes (Rom. i. 9), "God is
my witness, that without ceasing I make mention of you _always in my
prayers_. For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some
spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established." Rom. x. 1, ix. 2, 3:
"My _heart's desire and prayer to God_ for Israel is, that they may be
saved"; "I have great heaviness and _continual sorrow of heart_; for I
could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren." 1
Cor. i. 4: "I thank my God _always_ on your behalf, for the grace of God
which is given you by Jesus Christ." 2 Cor. vi. 4, 6: "Approving
ourselves as the ministers of Christ, _in watchings_, _in fastings_."
Gal. iv. 19: "My little children, of whom _I travail in birth again_
till Christ be formed in you." Eph. i. 16: "_I cease not_ to give thanks
for you, making mention of you _in my prayers_." Eph. iii. 14: "_I bow
my knees_ to the Father, that He would grant you to be strengthened with
might by His Spirit in the inner man." Phil. i. 3, 4, 8, 9: "I thank my
God _upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine_
making request for you all with joy. For God is my record, how greatly I
long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ. And this _I
pray_"--Col. i. 3, 9: "We give thanks to God, _praying always for you_.
For this cause also, since the day we heard it, we _do not cease to pray
for you_, and to desire"--Col. ii. 1: "I would that ye knew what _great
conflict_ I have for you, and for as many as have not seen my face in
the flesh." 1 Thess. i. 2: "We give thanks to God _always_ for you all,
making mention of you _in our prayers_." iii. 9: "We joy for your sakes
before God; _night and day praying exceedingly_ that we might perfect
that which is lacking in your faith." 2 Thess. i. 3: "We are bound to
thank God _always_ for you. Wherefore also _we always pray_ for you." 2
Tim. i. 3: "I thank God, that _without ceasing_ I have remembrance of
thee night and day." Philem. 4: "I thank my God, making mention of thee
_always in my prayers_."
These passages taken together give us the picture of a man whose words,
"Pray without ceasing," were simply the expression of his daily life. He
had such a sense of the insufficiency of simple conversion; of the need
of the grace and the power of heaven being brought down for the young
converts in prayer; of the need of much and unceasing prayer, day and
night, to bring it down; of the certainty that prayer would bring it
down--that his life was continual and most definite prayer. He had such
a sense that everything must come from above, and such a faith that it
would come in answer to prayer, that prayer was neither a duty nor a
burden, but the natural turning of the heart to the only place whence it
could possibly obtain what it sought for others.
THE CONTENTS OF PAUL'S PRAYERS.
It is of as much importance to know _what_ Paul prayed, as how
frequently and earnestly he did so. Intercession is a spiritual work.
Our confidence in it will depend much on our knowing that we ask
according to the will of God. The more distinctly we ask heavenly
things, which we feel at once God alone can bestow, which we are sure He
will bestow, the more direct and urgent will our appeal be to God alone.
The more impossible the things are that we seek, the more we will turn
from all human work to prayer and to God alone.
In the Epistles, in addition to expressions in which he speaks of his
praying, we have a number of distinct prayers in which Paul gives
utterance to his heart's desire for those to whom he writes. In these we
see that his first desire was always that they might be "established" in
the Christian life. Much as he praised God when he heard of conversion,
he knew how feeble the young converts were, and how for their
establishing nothing would avail without the grace of the Spirit prayed
down. If we notice some of the principal of these prayers we shall see
what he asked and obtained.
Take the two prayers in Ephesians--the one for light, the other for
strength. In the former (i. 15), he prays for the Spirit of wisdom to
enlighten them to know what their calling was, what their inheritance,
what the mighty power of God working in them. Spiritual enlightenment
and knowledge was their great need, to be obtained for them by prayer.
In the latter (iii. 15) he asks that the power they had been led to see
in Christ might work in them, and they be strengthened with Divine
might, so as to have the indwelling Christ, and the love that passeth
knowledge, and the fulness of God actually come on them. These were
things that could only come direct from heaven; these were things he
asked and expected. If we want to learn Paul's art of intercession, we
must ask nothing less for believers in our days.
Look at the prayer in Philippians (i. 9-11). There, too, it is first for
spiritual knowledge; then comes a blameless life, and then a fruitful
life to the glory of God. So also in the beautiful prayer in Colossians
(i. 9-11). First, spiritual knowledge and understanding of God's will,
then the strengthening with all might to all patience and joy.
Or take the two prayers in 1 Thessalonians (iii. 12, 13, and v. 23). The
one: "God so increase your love to one another, that He may stablish
your _hearts unblameable in holiness_." The other: "God _sanctify you
wholly_, and preserve you blameless." The very words are so high that we
hardly understand, still less believe, still less experience what they
mean. Paul so lived in the heavenly world, he was so at home in the
holiness and omnipotence of God and His love, that such prayers were the
natural expression of what he knew God could and would do. "God stablish
your hearts unblameable in holiness," "God sanctify you wholly"--the man
who believes in these things and desires them, will pray for them for
others. The prayers are all a proof that he seeks for them the very life
of heaven upon earth. No wonder that he is not tempted to trust in any
human means, but looks for it from heaven alone. Again, I say, the more
we take Paul's prayers as our pattern, and make his desires our own for
believers for whom we pray, the more will prayer to the God of heaven
become as our daily breath.
PAUL'S REQUESTS FOR PRAYER.
These are no less instructive than his own prayers for the saints. They
prove that he does not count prayer any special prerogative of an
apostle; he calls the humblest and simplest believer to claim his right.
They prove that he does not think that only the new converts or feeble
Christians need prayer; he himself is, as a member of the body,
dependent upon his brethren and their prayers. After he had preached the
gospel for twenty years, he still asks for prayer that he may speak as
he ought to speak. Not once for all, not for a time, but day by day, and
that without ceasing, must grace be sought and brought down from heaven
for his work. United, continued waiting on God is to Paul the only hope
of the Church. With the Holy Spirit a heavenly life, the life of the
Lord in heaven, entered the world; nothing but unbroken communication
with heaven can keep it up.
Listen how he asks for prayer, and with what earnestness--Rom. xv. 30:
"_I beseech you_, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for
the love of the Spirit, that ye _strive together with me in your
prayers_ to God for me; that I may be delivered from them which do not
believe in Judaea; and may come unto you with joy by the will of God."
How remarkably both prayers were answered: Rom. xv. 5, 6, 13. The
remarkable fact that the Roman world-power, which in Pilate with Christ,
in Herod with Peter, at Philippi, had proved its antagonism to God's
kingdom, all at once becomes Paul's protector, and secures him a safe
convoy to Rome, can only be accounted for by these prayers.
2 Cor. i. 10, 11: "In whom we trust that He will yet deliver us, _ye
also helping together by prayer_ for us." Eph. vi. 18, 19: "Praying
always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, for all saints;
_and for me_ that I may open my mouth boldly, that therein I may speak
boldly as I ought to speak." Phil. i. 19: "I know that this (trouble)
shall turn to my salvation, _through your prayer_, and the supply of the
Spirit of Jesus Christ." Col. iv. 2, 3, 4: "Continue in prayer; withal
also _praying for us_, that God would open unto us a door of utterance,
to speak the mystery of Christ: that I may make it manifest as I ought
to speak." 1 Thess. v. 25: "Brethren, pray for us." Philem. 22: "I
trust that through your prayers I shall be given to you."
We saw how Christ prayed, and taught His disciples to pray. We see how
Paul prayed, and taught the churches to pray. As the Master, so the
servant calls us to believe and to prove that prayer is the power alike
of the ministry and the Church. Of his faith we have a summary in these
remarkable words concerning something that caused him grief: "This shall
turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit
of Jesus Christ." As much as he looked to his Lord in heaven did he look
to his brethren on earth, to secure the supply of that Spirit for him.
The Spirit from heaven and prayer on earth were to him, as to the twelve
after Pentecost, inseparably linked. We speak often of apostolic zeal
and devotion and power--may God give us a revival of apostolic prayer.
Let me once again ask the question: Does the work of intercession take
the place in the Church it ought to have? Is it a thing commonly
understood in the Lord's work, that everything depends upon getting from
God that "supply of the Spirit of Christ" for and in ourselves that can
give our work its real power to bless. This is Christ's Divine order for
all work, His own and that of His servants; this is the order Paul
followed: first come every day, as having nothing, and receive from God
"the supply of the Spirit" in intercession--then go and impart what has
come to thee from heaven.
In all His instructions, our Lord Jesus spake much oftener to His
disciples about their praying than their preaching. In the farewell
discourse, He said little about preaching, but much about the Holy
Spirit, and their asking whatsoever they would in His Name. If we are to
return to this life of the first apostles and of Paul, and really accept
the truth every day--my first work, my only strength is intercession, to
secure the power of God on the souls entrusted to me--we must have the
courage to confess past sin, and to believe that there is deliverance.
To break through old habits, to resist the clamour of pressing duties
that have always had their way, to make every other call subordinate to
this one, whether others approve or not, will not be easy at first. But
the men or women who are faithful will not only have a reward
themselves, but become benefactors to their brethren. "Thou shalt be
called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of paths to dwell in."
But is it really possible? Can it indeed be that those who have never
been able to face, much less to overcome the difficulty, can yet become
mighty in prayer? Tell me, was it really possible for Jacob to become
Israel--a prince who prevailed with God? It was. The things that are
impossible with men are possible with God. Have you not in very deed
received from the Father, as the great fruit of Christ's redemption, the
Spirit of supplication, the Spirit of intercession? Just pause and think
what that means. And will you still doubt whether God is able to make
you "strivers with God," princes who prevail with Him? Oh, let us banish
all fear, and in faith claim the grace for which we have the Holy Spirit
dwelling in us, the grace of supplication, the grace of intercession.
Let us quietly, perseveringly believe that He lives in us, and will
enable us to do our work. Let us in faith not fear to accept and yield
to the great truth that intercession, as it is the great work of the
King on the throne, _is the great work of His servants on earth_. We
have the Holy Spirit, who brings the Christ-life into our hearts, to fit
us for this work. Let us at once begin and stir up the gift within us.
As we set aside each day our time for intercession, and count upon the
Spirit's enabling power, the confidence will grow that we can, in our
measure, follow Paul even as he followed Christ.
A PLEA FOR MORE PRAYER