Definition.--Prayer is the communion of man with God. It is not first
of all the means of getting something from God, but the realization of
Him in the soul. "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His
righteousness" (Matthew 6:33). The glory of a man is in his
uprightness of character, the purity of his spirit and his nearness
and likeness to God. Man becomes like that which he thinks about the
most often and with which he most frequently communes in the secret
recesses of his heart. Prayer is not merely, then, a matter of stated
times and seasons, although these should be observed, but a constant
walking with God and a realization of His presence at all times and in
all places (Luke 18:1; Romans 12:12; 1 Thessalonians 5:17). The man
who thus communes with God will lay before Him his plans and purposes
and will ask for direction and guidance in them; he will expect help
from God as a partner in all his enterprises; he will grasp the power
unseen to work great things in the seen. There will be special needs
and occasions when a man, in harmony with God (James 5:16), will
require special help and for this aid from God he will make strong and
earnest petitions to Him. "Call upon Me in the day of trouble: I will
deliver thee and thou shalt glorify Me" (Psalm 50:15; James 1:17;
Psalm 19:14; Ephesians 3:20,21).
The Different Kinds of Prayer.--They are adoration, thanksgiving,
intercession, petition and praise (1 Timothy 2:1).
The Different Places of Prayer.--1. In the public assemblage (Psalm
122:1,2; Acts 3:1; Hebrews 10:25). 2. In the social and family
gathering (Matthew 18:19,20; Acts 1:14; 2:46; 12:12). 3. In private
(Matthew 6:6; Mark 1:35; Psalm 55:17; Daniel 6:10).
The Approach of Man to God.--"All men pray at some time or other,
whether fitfully or constantly, in weakness or in strength, in sorrow
or in joy. Some men pray because it is their chiefest delight to do
so, and some pray because necessity drives them to it; but they all
pray. Prayer is a constant element, and the impulse to pray is ever
present to human nature." Man has been called "a religious and
praying animal," because of this universal desire of men to come into
some touch with the power over them. This tendency is shown in lands
where the true spiritual knowledge of God is lacking and where men
deify and adore objects of nature. The sun, the earth, the stars,
trees, mountains, waters, winds and carved images have all been made
divine objects of adoration and prayer, because of the desire of man
to find or place the supernatural in them. Paul said to the men of
Athens when he saw the altar to the "Unknown God": "Whom therefore ye
ignorantly worship Him declare I unto you" (Acts 17:23). All the
research of natural science is to find out what is the Ultimate Power
behind all the phenomena of nature. Man by his very nature seeks to
approach God. He is driven by an inward impulse to come to Him. Hence,
where men do not have the true light by which to approach God or
reject it there are found all sorts and kinds of caricatures of
religion.
What are the proper means of approach to God through prayer?
1. Right knowledge and faith. "He that cometh to God must believe that
He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him"
(Hebrews 11:6). "This is life eternal that they might know Thee the
only true God and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent" (John 17:3). God
is above all and in all. There are no other gods before Him. He is
supreme, manifested as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We come at once
here to the Great Personal Power, beyond whom there is no greater. We
do not look upon Him as a cold abstraction or blind force, but as a
loving, kind Father. He desires to do more for us than we can ask or
think. No man prays to God in the right way who does not first of all
have a proper conception of God.
2. Right attitude of the heart. "If I regard iniquity in my heart the
Lord will not hear me" (Psalm 66:18). Again the prayerless prayer of
the Pharisee began with "I" and the burning of incense before
himself. No man, cherishing something in his heart which he knows to
be contrary to the will of God or who only seeks to foster and advance
his own selfish interests, will come, or desire to come, or can come
into a very close communion with God. A wrong attitude of the heart
keeps many men from the enjoyment of God's presence, and makes them
choose to remain away from His sanctuary. No matter what the sin,
however, if a man truly desires to get it out of his heart that man
can come at once into close touch with God (Isaiah 1:15-19; Psalm 51;
Revelation 7:14).
3. Right subjects of prayer. The advancement of the Kingdom of God and
the spiritual interests of man come first. Too many prayers move in
the narrow circles of self and purely physical wants; they take no
wide sweep out over larger interests. God knows that we have physical
needs that must be supplied (Matthew 6:26). Jesus said, "Is not the
life more than meat and the body than raiment" (Matthew 6:25)? And by
His urgency He would have our prayers rise higher than our physical
wants into an infinitely larger sphere. Then God will more than bless
us and take care of those things about which we are now so anxious
(Matthew 6:26-34).
4. Persistency (Matthew 11:12). It is difficult to deny a persistent
man who, when thwarted in one way, begins to plan and act for the
object which he seeks in another way and who will not be put off.
Christ commended the way of the persistent man to those who sought God
in prayer. He gave examples of the widow who continually importuned an
unjust judge until he listened to her plea and gave her justice (Luke
18:1-8), and of the man who would not take "no" for an answer when he
wanted to borrow bread from a neighbour at midnight (Luke 11:5-8). He
said, "Ask, and it shall be given unto you; seek, and ye shall find;
knock, and it shall be opened unto you" (Luke 11:9). Men who do not
persist in their praying will fail to receive the higher blessings and
the larger benefits which otherwise God would gladly bestow upon
them. If men know how to give good gifts to their children when they
ask for them, then much more God knows how to grant the best things to
men when they ask Him. "The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and
the violent take it by force" (Matthew 11:12).
The Approach of God to Man.--How does God come near to man? Does He
hear when men pray to Him? Can He and will He answer prayer?
These questions are all simply and plainly answered in the
Scriptures. There is no doubt expressed here that God comes near to
men and will hear and answer when they pray to Him. "The Lord is nigh
unto all them that call upon Him, to all that call upon Him in truth"
(Psalm 145:18; 139:7-12; Ephesians 3:20).
Christian experience answers these questions in the same affirmative
way. Multitudes of Christians testify that God comes near to them and
that He hears and answers their prayers; there are many recorded and
remarkable answers to prayers.
It is only when the testimony of the Bible and the experience of
Christians are set aside that difficulties appear which seem very
formidable.
One of the chief objections urged against God hearing and answering
prayer is the discovery of the widening sphere of what is called
natural law in the ordering of the universe. Where God was formally
looked upon as directly controlling in certain things, it is pointed
out that we now can plainly state the causes and the working of the
laws which produce certain results. According to one theory God is
shut out of His universe; and according to another, He is shut up in
His universe; on either hypothesis the direct control is out of His
hands. Hence, "why pray?" when our prayers even if they reach God
cannot be answered.
This objection from the domination of law annuls the freedom of
God. It is like looking at a great piece of complicated machinery, and
having it explained how part depends upon part and, because the
dependence is plainly shown, being asked to believe that the maker and
controller is under its power. We are asked to-day to concentrate our
attention upon the levers, the springs and the pulleys and all the
machinery of the universe rather than upon the first great Cause and
Ruler of all.
It is assumed in this objection that much more is known of the laws
and forces which govern the universe than really is. Prof. John Fiske
says in his lecture on "Life Everlasting," I once heard Herbert
Spencer say, "you cannot take up any problem in physics without being
quickly led to some metaphysical problem which you can neither solve
nor evade." Again he says, "The more things we try to explain, the
better we realize that we live in a world of unexplained residua."
Widening knowledge is throwing back into the lumber room many much
vaunted theories of origins. Many wrong conceptions of the order of
nature have in recent years been radically changed. It is freely
acknowledged to-day by the foremost men of science that no man fully
understands the order of nature. Under the present limitations of
human knowledge God cannot be shut up in or out of His universe.
Further research may show that such shutting up to be impossible; for
in the end we are to depend not upon our ignorance but upon our
knowledge of the universe for God's free control of all things.
Already the light begins to dawn when it is seen that all the natural
forces and matter itself are beginning to reveal their origin and
control in one Great Master Force. But in this we but return to the
biblical statement "In the beginning God" (Genesis 1:1).
We are perfectly justified in believing, in the intelligence of God
when we see so many evidences of intelligence in the world, and the
freedom and personality of God, when we note the freedom and
personality of man; for however we may argue that man is not free or
personal we believe that he is and act upon this belief in all the
practical affairs of life. The created thing is not greater than its
creator or the law greater than the lawgiver. God is greater than the
universe or man. God as all powerful, and as intelligent and personal
can be approached by man and comes near to him through his communion
in prayer with Him.
It is perfectly possible for God, in His providential wisdom and
power, to answer the prayers of His people. It is an every-day
occurrence for man to deflect the beams of the sun and make nature's
laws do what they would not have done if left to themselves. We know
men to be personal and to be changed by petitions to their mercy and
entreaties to use their power in certain directions. We believe that
God, infinitely greater than man, can be entreated and will use His
power for the benefit of the petitioner. It is not unreasonable for
men to pray for material and spiritual blessings. While the sphere of
prayer may be narrowed in certain directions by what we know of
nature's processes, it has been greatly widened in other directions.