The Essentials of Prayer
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| _EDITED BY HOMER W. HODGE_ |
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| The Spiritual Life Books |
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| By EDWARD M. BOUNDS |
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| _The Reality of Prayer._ Cloth $1.25 |
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| Dr. A. C. Dixon says: “If the Church would pray, as the |
| Scriptures Dr. Bounds unfolds teach us we may, there would |
| be irresistible power at work.” |
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| _The Possibilities of Prayer_ |
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| A rich, exceptionally helpful addition to Doctor Bounds’ |
| books, which deal with the place and significance prayer |
| has in the life of the believer. |
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| _Heaven_: A Place――A City――A Home. |
| Cloth $1.25 |
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| Possessed of a wonderfully full knowledge of Holy |
| Scripture, a man of unswerving faith and mystical insight, |
| Mr. Bounds writes with a certitude, confidence and joyous |
| anticipation of the eternal felicity awaiting the faithful |
| believer. |
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| _Purpose in Prayer._ Cloth $1.25 |
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| “Mr. Bounds has the gift of insight, and with this a |
| faculty for selecting words to express precisely that which |
| responds to the heart-hunger of those who are seeking |
| spiritual enlightenment.” |
| ――_Sunday School Times._ |
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| _Satan_: His Personality, His Power, His Overthrow. |
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The
Essentials of Prayer
By
EDWARD M. BOUNDS, D.D.
_Author of “Purpose in Prayer,” “The Possibilities
of Prayer,” “Heaven,” “Satan,” etc._
EDITED BY
HOMER W. HODGE
[Illustration: colophon]
NEW YORK CHICAGO
Fleming H. Revell Company
LONDON AND EDINBURGH
Copyright, 1925, by
FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY
_Printed in the United States of America_
New York: 158 Fifth Avenue
Chicago: 17 North Wabash Ave.
London: 21 Paternoster Square
Edinburgh: 75 Princes Street
Foreword
The work of editing the Bounds Spiritual Life Books (of which the
present volume is the sixth) has been a labour of love which has
brought great profit and blessing to my own soul. After years of close
study of the literary remains of this great Christian, together with
the work of other mystics, I am fully persuaded that to but few of the
sons of men has there been given such spiritual power as was vouchsafed
to Edward McKendree Bounds. Truly he was a burning and a shining light,
and as _The Sunday School Times_ says, “he was a specialist in prayer
and his books are for the quiet hour, for careful meditation and for
all who wish to seek and find the treasures of God.”
It was my great privilege to know the author well, and also to know
that his intention, in everything he wrote, was for the salvation of
his readers. _The Essentials of Prayer_ is sent forth in this spirit.
May God bless it to many hearts and use it for the upbuilding and
strengthening of Christian character through the length and breadth of
the land.
HOMER W. HODGE.
_Flushing, N. Y._
Contents
I. PRAYER TAKES IN THE WHOLE MAN 9
II. PRAYER AND HUMILITY 19
III. PRAYER AND DEVOTION 28
IV. PRAYER, PRAISE AND THANKSGIVING 37
V. PRAYER AND TROUBLE 47
VI. PRAYER AND TROUBLE (_Continued_) 61
VII. PRAYER AND GOD’S WORK 69
VIII. PRAYER AND CONSECRATION 81
IX. PRAYER AND A DEFINITE RELIGIOUS STANDARD 93
X. PRAYER BORN OF COMPASSION 101
XI. CONCERTED PRAYER 111
XII. THE UNIVERSALITY OF PRAYER 121
XIII. PRAYER AND MISSIONS 129
I
PRAYER TAKES IN THE WHOLE MAN
“Henry Clay Trumbull spoke forth the Infinite in the terms
of our world, and the Eternal in the forms of our human
life. Some years ago, on a ferry-boat, I met a gentleman
who knew him, and I told him that when I had last seen Dr.
Trumbull, a fortnight before, he had spoken of him. ‘Oh,
yes,’ said my friend, ‘he was a great Christian, so real,
so intense. He was at my home years ago and we were talking
about prayer.” “Why, Trumbull,” I said, “you don’t mean to
say if you lost a pencil you would pray about it, and ask
God to help you find it.” “Of course I would; of course I
would,” was his instant and excited reply.’ Of course he
would. Was not his faith a real thing? Like the Saviour, he
put his doctrine strongly by taking an extreme illustration
to embody his principle, but the principle was fundamental.
He did trust God in everything. And the Father honoured the
trust of His child.”――ROBERT E. SPEER.
Prayer has to do with the entire man. Prayer takes in man in his
whole being, mind, soul and body. It takes the whole man to pray, and
prayer affects the entire man in its gracious results. As the whole
nature of man enters into prayer, so also all that belongs to man is
the beneficiary of prayer. All of man receives benefits in prayer.
The whole man must be given to God in praying. The largest results
in praying come to him who gives himself, all of himself, all that
belongs to himself, to God. This is the secret of full consecration,
and this is a condition of successful praying, and the sort of praying
which brings the largest fruits.
The men of olden times who wrought well in prayer, who brought the
largest things to pass, who moved God to do great things, were those
who were entirely given over to God in their praying. God wants, and
must have, all that there is in man in answering his prayers. He must
have whole-hearted men through whom to work out His purposes and plans
concerning men. God must have men in their entirety. No double-minded
man need apply. No vacillating man can be used. No man with a divided
allegiance to God, and the world and self, can do the praying that is
needed.
Holiness is wholeness, and so God wants holy men, men whole-hearted
and true, for His service and for the work of praying. “And the very
God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and
soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ.” These are the sort of men God wants for leaders of the hosts
of Israel, and these are the kind out of which the praying class is
formed.
Man is a trinity in one, and yet man is neither a trinity nor a dual
creature when he prays, but a unit. Man is one in all the essentials
and acts and attitudes of piety. Soul, spirit and body are to unite in
all things pertaining to life and godliness. The body, first of all,
engages in prayer, since it assumes the praying attitude in prayer.
Prostration of the body becomes us in praying as well as prostration
of the soul. The attitude of the body counts much in prayer, although
it is true that the heart may be haughty and lifted up, and the mind
listless and wandering, and the praying a mere form, even while the
knees are bent in prayer.
Daniel kneeled upon his knees three times a day in prayer. Solomon
kneeled in prayer at the dedication of the temple. Our Lord in
Gethsemane prostrated Himself in that memorable season of praying just
before His betrayal. Where there is earnest and faithful praying the
body always takes on the form most suited to the state of the soul at
the time. The body, that far, joins the soul in praying.
The entire man must pray. The whole man, life, heart, temper,
mind, are in it. Each and all join in the prayer exercise. Doubt,
double-mindedness, division of the affections, are all foreign to the
closet. Character and conduct, undefiled, made whiter than snow, are
mighty potencies, and are the most seemly beauties for the closet hour,
and for the struggles of prayer.
A loyal intellect must conspire and add the energy and fire of its
undoubting and undivided faith to that kind of an hour, the hour of
prayer. Necessarily the mind enters into the praying. First of all, it
takes thought to pray. The intellect teaches us we ought to pray. By
serious thinking beforehand the mind prepares itself for approaching
a throne of grace. Thought goes before entrance into the closet and
prepares the way for true praying. It considers what will be asked for
in the closet hour. True praying does not leave to the inspiration
of the hour what will be the requests of that hour. As praying is
asking for something definite of God, so, beforehand, the thought
arises――“What shall I ask for at this hour?” All vain and evil and
frivolous thoughts are eliminated, and the mind is given over entirely
to God, thinking of Him, of what is needed, and what has been received
in the past. By every token, prayer, in taking hold of the entire man,
does not leave out the mind. The very first step in prayer is a mental
one. The disciples took that first step when they said unto Jesus at
one time, “Lord, teach us to pray.” We must be taught through the
intellect, and just in so far as the intellect is given up to God in
prayer, will we be able to learn well and readily the lesson of prayer.
Paul spreads the nature of prayer over the whole man. It must be so. It
takes the whole man to embrace in its god-like sympathies the entire
race of man――the sorrows, the sins and the death of Adam’s fallen race.
It takes the whole man to run parallel with God’s high and sublime will
in saving mankind. It takes the whole man to stand with our Lord Jesus
Christ as the one Mediator between God and sinful man. This is the
doctrine Paul teaches in his prayer-directory in the second chapter of
his first Epistle to Timothy.
Nowhere does it appear so clearly that it requires the entire man in
all departments of his being, to pray than in this teaching of Paul. It
takes the whole man to pray till all the storms which agitate his soul
are calmed to a great calm, till the stormy winds and waves cease as
by a Godlike spell. It takes the whole man to pray till cruel tyrants
and unjust rulers are changed in their natures and lives, as well as in
their governing qualities, or till they cease to rule. It requires the
entire man in praying till high and proud and unspiritual ecclesiastics
become gentle, lowly and religious, till godliness and gravity bear
rule in Church and in State, in home and in business, in public as well
as in private life.
It is man’s business to pray; and it takes manly men to do it. It is
godly business to pray and it takes godly men to do it. And it is godly
men who give over themselves entirely to prayer. Prayer is far-reaching
in its influence and in its gracious effects. It is intense and
profound business which deals with God and His plans and purposes, and
it takes whole-hearted men to do it. No half-hearted, half-brained,
half-spirited effort will do for this serious, all-important, heavenly
business. The whole heart, the whole brain, the whole spirit, must be
in the matter of praying, which is so mightily to affect the characters
and destinies of men.
The answer of Jesus to the scribe as to what was the first and greatest
commandment was as follows:
“The Lord our God is one Lord; And thou shalt love the Lord
thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with
all thy mind, and with all thy strength.”
In one word, the entire man without reservation must love God. So it
takes the same entire man to do the praying which God requires of men.
All the powers of man must be engaged in it. God cannot tolerate a
divided heart in the love He requires of men, neither can He bear with
a divided man in praying.
In the one hundred and nineteenth Psalm the Psalmist teaches this very
truth in these words:
“Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek
him with the whole heart.”
It takes whole-hearted men to keep God’s commandments and it demands
the same sort of men to seek God. These are they who are counted
“blessed.” Upon these whole-hearted ones God’s approval rests.
Bringing the case closer home to himself the Psalmist makes this
declaration as to his practice: “With my whole heart have I sought
thee; O let me not wander from thy commandments.”
And further on, giving us his prayer for a wise and understanding
heart, he tells us his purposes concerning the keeping of God’s law:
“Give me understanding and I shall keep thy law; Yea, I
shall observe it with my whole heart.”
Just as it requires a whole heart given to God to gladly and fully obey
God’s commandments, so it takes a whole heart to do effectual praying.
Because it requires the whole man to pray, praying is no easy task.
Praying is far more than simply bending the knee and saying a few words
by rote.
“’Tis not enough to bend the knee,
And words of prayer to say;
The heart must with the lips agree,
Or else we do not pray.”
Praying is no light and trifling exercise. While children should be
taught early to pray, praying is no child’s task. Prayer draws upon the
whole nature of man. Prayer engages all the powers of man’s moral and
spiritual nature. It is this which explains somewhat the praying of our
Lord described as in Hebrews 5:7:
“Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up
prayers and supplications, with strong crying and tears,
unto him that was able to save him from death, and was
heard in that he feared.”
It takes only a moment’s thought to see how such praying of our
Lord drew mightily upon all the powers of His being, and called into
exercise every part of His nature. This is the praying which brings the
soul close to God and which brings God down to earth.
Body, soul and spirit are taxed and brought under tribute to prayer.
David Brainerd makes this record of his praying:
“God enabled me to agonise in prayer till I was wet with
perspiration, though in the shade and in a cool place.”
The Son of God in Gethsemane was in an agony of prayer, which engaged
His whole being:
“And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray ye
that ye enter not into temptation. And he was withdrawn
from them about a stone’s cast, and kneeled down and
prayed, saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this
cup from me; nevertheless, not my will, but thine, be
done. And there appeared an angel unto him, from heaven,
strengthening him. And being in an agony, he prayed more
earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of
blood falling down to the ground.” Luke 22:40-44.
Here was praying which laid its hands on every part of our Lord’s
nature, which called forth all the powers of his soul, His mind and His
body. This was praying which took in the entire man.
Paul was acquainted with this kind of praying. In writing to the Roman
Christians, he urges them to pray with him after this fashion:
“Now 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.”
The words, “strive together with me,” tells of Paul’s praying, and how
much he put into it. It is not a docile request, not a little thing,
this sort of praying, this “striving with me.” It is of the nature of
a great battle, a conflict to win, a great battle to be fought. The
praying Christian, as the soldier, fights a life-and-death struggle.
His honour, his immortality, and eternal life are all in it. This is
praying as the athlete struggles for the mastery, and for the crown,
and as he wrestles or runs a race. Everything depends on the strength
he puts in it. Energy, ardour, swiftness, every power of his nature
is in it. Every power is quickened and strained to its very utmost.
Littleness, half-heartedness, weakness and laziness are all absent.
Just as it takes the whole man to pray successfully, so in turn the
whole man receives the benefits of such praying. As every part of man’s
complex being enters into true praying, so every part of that same
nature receives blessings from God in answer to such praying. This kind
of praying engages our undivided hearts, our full consent to be the
Lord’s, our whole desires.
God sees to it that when the whole man prays, in turn the whole man
shall be blessed. His body takes in the good of praying, for much
praying is done specifically for the body. Food and raiment, health and
bodily vigour, come in answer to praying. Clear mental action, right
thinking, an enlightened understanding, and safe reasoning powers, come
from praying. Divine guidance means God so moving and impressing the
mind, that we shall make wise and safe decisions. “The meek will he
guide in judgment.”
Many a praying preacher has been greatly helped just at this point. The
unction of the Holy One which comes upon the preacher invigorates the
mind, loosens up thought and gives utterance. This is the explanation
of former days when men of very limited education had such wonderful
liberty of the Spirit in praying and in preaching. Their thoughts
flowed as a stream of water. Their entire intellectual machinery felt
the impulse of the Divine Spirit’s gracious influences.
And, of course, the soul receives large benefits in this sort of
praying. Thousands can testify to this statement. So we repeat, that as
the entire man comes into play in true, earnest effectual praying, so
the entire man, soul, mind and body, receives the benefits of prayer.
II
PRAYER AND HUMILITY
“If two angels were to receive at the same moment a
commission from God, one to go down and rule earth’s
grandest empire, the other to go and sweep the streets
of its meanest village, it would be a matter of entire
indifference to each which service fell to his lot, the
post of ruler or the post of scavenger; for the joy of
the angels lies only in obedience to God’s will, and
with equal joy they would lift a Lazarus in his rags to
Abraham’s bosom, or be a chariot of fire to carry an Elijah
home.”――JOHN NEWTON.
To be humble is to have a low estimate of one’s self. It is to be
modest, lowly, with a disposition to seek obscurity. Humility retires
itself from the public gaze. It does not seek publicity nor hunt for
high places, neither does it care for prominence. Humility is retiring
in its nature. Self-abasement belongs to humility. It is given to
self-depreciation. It never exalts itself in the eyes of others nor
even in the eyes of itself. Modesty is one of its most prominent
characteristics.
In humility there is the total absence of pride, and it is at the
very farthest distance from anything like self-conceit. There is no
self-praise in humility. Rather it has the disposition to praise
others. “In honour preferring one another.” It is not given to
self-exaltation. Humility does not love the uppermost seats and aspire
to the high places. It is willing to take the lowliest seat and prefers
those places where it will be unnoticed. The prayer of humility is
after this fashion:
“Never let the world break in,
Fix a mighty gulf between;
Keep me humble and unknown,
Prized and loved by God alone.”
Humility does not have its eyes on self, but rather on God and others.
It is poor in spirit, meek in behaviour, lowly in heart. “With all
lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in
love.”
The parable of the Pharisee and publican is a sermon in brief on
humility and self-praise. The Pharisee, given over to self-conceit,
wrapped up in himself, seeing only his own self-righteous deeds,
catalogues his virtues before God, despising the poor publican who
stands afar off. He exalts himself, gives himself over to self-praise,
is self-centered, and goes away unjustified, condemned and rejected by
God.
The publican sees no good in himself, is overwhelmed with
self-depreciation, far removed from anything which would take any
credit for any good in himself, does not presume to lift his eyes to
heaven, but with downcast countenance smites himself on his breast, and
cries out, “God be merciful to me, a sinner.”
Our Lord with great preciseness gives us the sequel of the story of
these two men, one utterly devoid of humility, the other utterly
submerged in the spirit of self-depreciation and lowliness of mind.
“I tell you this man went down to his house justified
rather than the other; for every one that exalteth himself
shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be
exalted.” Luke 18:14.
God puts a great price on humility of heart. It is good to be clothed
with humility as with a garment. It is written, “God resisteth the
proud, but giveth grace to the humble.” That which brings the praying
soul near to God is humility of heart. That which gives wings to prayer
is lowliness of mind. That which gives ready access to the throne
of grace is self-depreciation. Pride, self-esteem, and self-praise
effectually shut the door of prayer. He who would come to God must
approach Him with self hid from his eyes. He must not be puffed-up with
self-conceit, nor be possessed with an over-estimate of his virtues and
good works.
Humility is a rare Christian grace, of great price in the courts of
heaven, entering into and being an inseparable condition of effectual
praying. It gives access to God when other qualities fail. It takes
many descriptions to describe it, and many definitions to define it. It
is a rare and retiring grace. Its full portrait is found only in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Our prayers must be set low before they can ever
rise high. Our prayers must have much of the dust on them before they
can ever have much of the glory of the skies in them. In our Lord’s
teaching, humility has such prominence in His system of religion, and
is such a distinguishing feature of His character, that to leave it out
of His lesson on prayer would be very unseemly, would not comport with
His character, and would not fit into His religious system.
The parable of the Pharisee and publican stands out in such bold relief
that we must again refer to it. The Pharisee seemed to be inured to
prayer. Certainly he should have known by that time how to pray, but
alas! like many others, he seemed never to have learned this invaluable
lesson. He leaves business and business hours and walks with steady
and fixed steps up to the house of prayer. The position and place are
well-chosen by him. There is the sacred place, the sacred hour, and
the sacred name, each and all invoked by this seemingly praying man.
But this praying ecclesiastic, though schooled to prayer, by training
and by habit, prays not. Words are uttered by him, but words are not
prayer. God hears his words only to condemn him. A death-chill has come
from those formal lips of prayer――a death-curse from God is on his
words of prayer. A solution of pride has entirely poisoned the prayer
offering of that hour. His entire praying has been impregnated with
self-praise, self-congratulation, and self-exaltation. That season of
temple going has had no worship whatever in it.
On the other hand, the publican, smitten with a deep sense of his sins
and his inward sinfulness, realising how poor in spirit he is, how
utterly devoid of anything like righteousness, goodness, or any quality
which would commend him to God, his pride within utterly blasted and
dead, falls down with humiliation and despair before God, while he
utters a sharp cry for mercy for his sins and his guilt. A sense of
sin and a realisation of utter unworthiness has fixed the roots of
humility deep down in his soul, and has oppressed self and eye and
heart, downward to the dust. This is the picture of humility against
pride in praying. Here we see by sharp contrast the utter worthlessness
of self-righteousness, self-exaltation, and self-praise in praying, and
the great value, the beauty and the Divine commendation which comes to
humility of heart, self-depreciation, and self-condemnation when a soul
comes before God in prayer.
Happy are they who have no righteousness of their own to plead and no
goodness of their own of which to boast. Humility flourishes in the
soil of a true and deep sense of our sinfulness and our nothingness.
Nowhere does humility grow so rankly and so rapidly and shine so
brilliantly, as when it feels all guilty, confesses all sin, and trusts
all grace. “I the chief of sinners am, but Jesus died for me.” That is
praying ground, the ground of humility, low down, far away seemingly,
but in reality brought nigh by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. God
dwells in the lowly places. He makes such lowly places really the high
places to the praying soul.
“Let the world their virtue boast,
Their works of righteousness;
I, a wretch undone and lost,
Am freely saved by grace;
Other title I disclaim,
This, only this, is all my plea,
I the chief of sinners am,
But Jesus died for me.”
Humility is an indispensable requisite of true prayer. It must be an
attribute, a characteristic of prayer. Humility must be in the praying
character as light is in the sun. Prayer has no beginning, no ending,
no being, without humility. As a ship is made for the sea, so prayer is
made for humility, and so humility is made for prayer.
Humility is not abstraction from self, nor does it ignore thought about
self. It is a many-phased principle. Humility is born by looking at
God, and His holiness, and then looking at self and man’s unholiness.
Humility loves obscurity and silence, dreads applause, esteems the
virtues of others, excuses their faults with mildness, easily pardons
injuries, fears contempt less and less, and sees baseness and falsehood
in pride. A true nobleness and greatness are in humility. It knows and
reveres the inestimable riches of the Cross, and the humiliations of
Jesus Christ. It fears the lustre of those virtues admired by men, and
loves those that are more secret and which are prized by God. It draws
comfort even from its own defects, through the abasement which they
occasion. It prefers any degree of compunction before all light in the
world.
Somewhat after this order of description is that definable grace of
humility, so perfectly drawn in the publican’s prayer, and so entirely
absent from the prayer of the Pharisee. It takes many sittings to make
a good picture of it.
Humility holds in its keeping the very life of prayer. Neither
pride nor vanity can pray. Humility, though, is much more than the
absence of vanity and pride. It is a positive quality, a substantial
force, which energises prayer. There is no power in prayer to ascend
without it. Humility springs from a lowly estimate of ourselves and
of our deservings. The Pharisee prayed not, though well schooled and
habituated to pray, because there was no humility in his praying.
The publican prayed, though banned by the public and receiving no
encouragement from Church sentiment, because he prayed in humility.
To be clothed with humility is to be clothed with a praying garment.
Humility is just feeling little because we _are_ little. Humility is
realising our unworthiness because we _are_ unworthy, the feeling and
declaring ourselves sinners because we _are_ sinners. Kneeling well
becomes us as the attitude of prayer, because it betokens humility.
The Pharisee’s proud estimate of himself and his supreme contempt for
his neighbour closed the gates of prayer to him, while humility opened
wide those gates to the defamed and reviled publican.
That fearful saying of our Lord about the works of big, religious
workers in the latter part of the Sermon on the Mount, is called out by
proud estimates of work and wrong estimates of prayer:
“Many shall say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, have
we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name cast out
devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then
will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me,
ye that work iniquity.”
Humility is the first and last attribute of Christly religion, and
the first and last attribute of Christly praying. There is no Christ
without humility. There is no praying without humility. If thou wouldst
learn well the art of praying, then learn well the lesson of humility.
How graceful and imperative does the attitude of humility become to us!
Humility is one of the unchanging and exacting attitudes of prayer.
Dust, ashes, earth upon the head, sackcloth for the body, and fasting
for the appetites, were the symbols of humility for the Old Testament
saints. Sackcloth, fasting and ashes brought Daniel a lowliness
before God, and brought Gabriel to him. The angels are fond of the
sackcloth-and-ashes men.
How lowly the attitude of Abraham, the friend of God, when pleading
for God to stay His wrath against Sodom! “Which am but sackcloth and
ashes.” With what humility does Solomon appear before God! His grandeur
is abased, and his glory and majesty are retired as he assumes the
rightful attitude before God: “I am but a little child, and know not
how to go out or to come in.”
The pride of doing sends its poison all through our praying. The same
pride of being infects all our prayers, no matter how well-worded
they may be. It was this lack of humility, this self-applauding, this
self-exaltation, which kept the most religious man of Christ’s day from
being accepted of God. And the same thing will keep us in this day from
being accepted of Him.
“O that now I might decrease!
O that all I am might cease!
Let me into nothing fall!
Let my Lord be all in all.”
III
PRAYER AND DEVOTION
“Once as I rode out into the woods for my health, in 1737,
having alighted from my horse in a retired place, as my
manner commonly had been to walk for divine contemplation
and prayer, I had a view that for me was extraordinary,
of the glory of the Son of God. As near as I can judge,
this continued about an hour; and kept me the greater part
of the time in a flood of tears and weeping aloud. I felt
an ardency of soul to be what I know not otherwise how to
express, emptied and annihilated; to love Him with a holy
and pure love; to serve and follow Him; to be perfectly
sanctified and made pure with a divine and heavenly
purity.”――JONATHAN EDWARDS.
Devotion has a religious signification. The root of devotion is to
devote to a sacred use. So that devotion in its true sense has to
do with religious worship. It stands intimately connected with true
prayer. Devotion is the particular frame of mind found in one entirely
devoted to God. It is the spirit of reverence, of awe, of godly fear.
It is a state of heart which appears before God in prayer and worship.
It is foreign to everything like lightness of spirit, and is opposed to
levity and noise and bluster. Devotion dwells in the realm of quietness
and is still before God. It is serious, thoughtful, meditative.
Devotion belongs to the inner life and lives in the closet, but also
appears in the public services of the sanctuary. It is a part of the
very spirit of true worship, and is of the nature of the spirit of
prayer.
Devotion belongs to the devout man, whose thoughts and feelings are
devoted to God. Such a man has a mind given up wholly to religion, and
possesses a strong affection for God and an ardent love for His house.
Cornelius was “a devout man, one that feared God with all his house,
which gave much alms to the people, and prayed always.” “Devout men
carried Stephen to his burial.” “One Ananias, a devout man, according
to the law,” was sent unto Saul when he was blind, to tell him what the
Lord would have him do. God can wonderfully use such men, for devout
men are His chosen agents in carrying forward His plans.
Prayer promotes the spirit of devotion, while devotion is favourable to
the best praying. Devotion furthers prayer and helps to drive prayer
home to the object which it seeks. Prayer thrives in the atmosphere
of true devotion. It is easy to pray when in the spirit of devotion.
The attitude of mind and the state of heart implied in devotion make
prayer effectual in reaching the throne of grace. God dwells where the
spirit of devotion resides. All the graces of the Spirit are nourished
and grow well in the environment created by devotion. Indeed, these
graces grow nowhere else but here. The absence of a devotional spirit
means death to the graces born in a renewed heart. True worship finds
congeniality in the atmosphere made by a spirit of devotion. While
prayer is helpful to devotion, at the same time devotion reacts on
prayer, and helps us to pray.
Devotion engages the heart in prayer. It is not an easy task for the
lips to try to pray while the heart is absent from it. The charge which
God at one time made against His ancient Israel was, that they honoured
Him with their lips while their hearts were far from Him.
The very essence of prayer is the spirit of devotion. Without devotion
prayer is an empty form, a vain round of words. Sad to say, much of
this kind of prayer prevails, today, in the Church. This is a busy age,
bustling and active, and this bustling spirit has invaded the Church of
God. Its religious performances are many. The Church works at religion
with the order, precision and force of real machinery. But too often
it works with the heartlessness of the machine. There is much of the
treadmill movement in our ceaseless round and routine of religious
doings. We pray without praying. We sing without singing with the
Spirit and the understanding. We have music without the praise of God
being in it, or near it. We go to Church by habit, and come home all
too gladly when the benediction is pronounced. We read our accustomed
chapter in the Bible, and feel quite relieved when the task is done. We
say our prayers by rote, as a schoolboy recites his lesson, and are not
sorry when the Amen is uttered.
Religion has to do with everything but our hearts. It engages our
hands and feet, it takes hold of our voices, it lays its hands on our
money, it affects even the postures of our bodies, but it does not take
hold of our affections, our desires, our zeal, and make us serious,
desperately in earnest, and cause us to be quiet and worshipful in
the presence of God. Social affinities attract us to the house of
God, not the spirit of the occasion. Church membership keeps us after
a fashion decent in outward conduct and with some shadow of loyalty
to our baptismal vows, but the heart is not in the thing. It remains
cold, formal, and unimpressed amid all this outward performance,
while we give ourselves over to self-congratulation that we are doing
wonderfully well religiously.
Why all these sad defects in our piety? Why this modern perversion of
the true nature of the religion of Jesus Christ? Why is the modern type
of religion so much like a jewel-case, with the precious jewels gone?
Why so much of this handling religion with the hands, often not too
clean or unsoiled, and so little of it felt in the heart and witnessed
in the life?
The great lack of modern religion is the spirit of devotion. We hear
sermons in the same spirit with which we listen to a lecture or hear a
speech. We visit the house of God just as if it were a common place,
on a level with the theatre, the lecture-room or the forum. We look
upon the minister of God not as the divinely-called man of God, but
merely as a sort of public speaker, on a plane with the politician,
the lawyer, or the average speech maker, or the lecturer. Oh, how
the spirit of true and genuine devotion would radically change all
this for the better! We handle sacred things just as if they were the
things of the world. Even the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper becomes a
mere religious performance, no preparation for it beforehand, and no
meditation and prayer afterward. Even the sacrament of Baptism has lost
much of its solemnity, and degenerated into a mere form, with nothing
specially in it.
We need the spirit of devotion, not only to salt our secularities, but
to make praying real prayers. We need to put the spirit of devotion
into Monday’s business as well as in Sunday’s worship. We need the
spirit of devotion, to recollect always the presence of God, to be
always doing the will of God, to direct all things always to the glory
of God.
The spirit of devotion puts God in all things. It puts God not merely
in our praying and Church going, but in all the concerns of life.
“Whether, therefore, ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to
the glory of God.” The spirit of devotion makes the common things
of earth sacred, and the little things great. With this spirit of
devotion, we go to business on Monday directed by the very same
influence, and inspired by the same influences by which we went to
Church on Sunday. The spirit of devotion makes a Sabbath out of
Saturday, and transforms the shop and the office into a temple of God.
The spirit of devotion removes religion from being a thin veneer, and
puts it into the very life and being of our souls. With it religion
ceases to be doing a mere work, and becomes a heart, sending its rich
blood through every artery and beating with the pulsations of vigourous
and radiant life.
The spirit of devotion is not merely the aroma of religion, but the
stalk and stem on which religion grows. It is the salt which penetrates
and makes savoury all religious acts. It is the sugar which sweetens
duty, self-denial and sacrifice. It is the bright colouring which
relieves the dullness of religious performances. It dispels frivolity
and drives away all skin-deep forms of worship, and makes worship a
serious and deep-seated service, impregnating body, soul and spirit
with its heavenly infusion. Let us ask in all seriousness, has this
highest angel of heaven, this heavenly spirit of devotion, this
brightest and best angel of earth, left us? When the angel of devotion
has gone, the angel of prayer has lost its wings, and it becomes a
deformed and loveless thing.
The ardour of devotion is in prayer. In the fourth chapter of
Revelation, verse eight, we read: “And they rest not day nor night,
saying, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is
to come.” The inspiration and centre of their rapturous devotion is the
holiness of God. That holiness of God claims their attention, inflames
their devotion. There is nothing cold, nothing dull, nothing wearisome
about them or their heavenly worship. “They rest not day nor night.”
What zeal! What unfainting ardour and ceaseless rapture! The ministry
of prayer, if it be anything worthy of the name, is a ministry of
ardour, a ministry of unwearied and intense longing after God and after
His holiness.
The spirit of devotion pervades the saints in heaven and characterizes
the worship of heaven’s angelic intelligences. No devotionless
creatures are in that heavenly world. God is there, and His very
presence begets the spirit of reverence, of awe, and of filial fear. If
we would be partakers with them after death, we must first learn the
spirit of devotion on earth before we get there.
These living creatures in their restless, tireless, attitude after God,
and their rapt devotion to His holiness, are the perfect symbols and
illustrations of true prayer and its ardour. Prayer must be aflame. Its
ardour must consume. Prayer without fervour is as a sun without light
or heat, or as a flower without beauty or fragrance. A soul devoted to
God is a fervent soul, and prayer is the creature of that flame. He
only can truly pray who is all aglow for holiness, for God, and for
heaven.
Activity is not strength. Work is not zeal. Moving about is not
devotion. Activity often is the unrecognised symptom of spiritual
weakness. It may be hurtful to piety when made the substitute for real
devotion in worship. The colt is much more active than its mother, but
she is the wheelhorse of the team, pulling the load without noise or
bluster or show. The child is more active than the father, who may be
bearing the rule and burdens of an empire on his heart and shoulders.
Enthusiasm is more active than faith, though it cannot remove mountains
nor call into action any of the omnipotent forces which faith can
command.
A feeble, lively, showy religious activity may spring from many causes.
There is much running around, much stirring about, much going here
and there, in present-day Church life, but sad to say, the spirit of
genuine, heartfelt devotion is strangely lacking. If there be real
spiritual life, a deep-toned activity will spring from it. But it is
an activity springing from strength and not from weakness. It is an
activity which has deep roots, many and strong.
In the nature of things, religion must show much of its growth above
ground. Much will be seen and be evident to the eye. The flower and
fruit of a holy life, abounding in good works, must be seen. It cannot
be otherwise. But the surface growth must be based on a vigourous
growth of unseen life and hidden roots. Deep down in the renewed
nature must the roots of religion go which is seen on the outside.
The external must have a deep internal groundwork. There must be much
of the invisible and the underground growth, or else the life will be
feeble and short-lived, and the external growth sickly and fruitless.
In the Book of the prophet Isaiah these words are written:
“They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run
and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint.” 40:31.
This is the genesis of the whole matter of activity and strength of the
most energetic, exhaustless and untiring nature. All this is the result
of waiting on God.
There may be much of activity induced by drill, created by enthusiasm,
the product of the weakness of the flesh, the inspiration of volatile,
short-lived forces. Activity is often at the expense of more solid,
useful elements, and generally to the total neglect of prayer. To be
too busy with God’s work to commune with God, to be busy with doing
Church work without taking time to talk to God about His work, is the
highway to backsliding, and many people have walked therein to the hurt
of their immortal souls.
Notwithstanding great activity, great enthusiasm, and much hurrah for
the work, the work and the activity will be but blindness without the
cultivation and the maturity of the graces of prayer.
IV
PRAYER, PRAISE AND THANKSGIVING
“Dr. A. J. Gordon describes the impression made upon his
mind by intercourse with Joseph Rabinowitz, whom Dr.
Delitzsch considered the most remarkable Jewish convert
since Saul of Tarsus: ‘We shall not soon forget the
radiance that would come into his face as he expounded the
Messianic psalms at our morning or evening worship, and
how, as here and there he caught a glimpse of the suffering
or glorified Christ, he would suddenly lift his hands and
his eyes to heaven in a burst of adoration, exclaiming with
Thomas after he had seen the nail-prints, “My Lord, and my
God.”’”
――D. M. MCINTYRE.
Prayer, praise and thanksgiving all go in company. A close relationship
exists between them. Praise and thanksgiving are so near alike that
it is not easy to distinguish between them or define them separately.
The Scriptures join these three things together. Many are the causes
for thanksgiving and praise. The Psalms are filled with many songs of
praise and hymns of thanksgiving, all pointing back to the results of
prayer. Thanksgiving includes gratitude. In fact thanksgiving is but
the expression of an inward conscious gratitude to God for mercies
received. Gratitude is an inward emotion of the soul, involuntarily
arising therein, while thanksgiving is the voluntary expression of
gratitude.
Thanksgiving is oral, positive, active. It is the giving out of
something to God. Thanksgiving comes out into the open. Gratitude
is secret, silent, negative, passive, not showing its being till
expressed in praise and thanksgiving. Gratitude is felt in the heart.
Thanksgiving is the expression of that inward feeling.
Thanksgiving is just what the word itself signifies――the giving of
thanks to God. It is giving something to God in words which we feel at
heart for blessings received. Gratitude arises from a contemplation of
the goodness of God. It is bred by serious meditation on what God has
done for us. Both gratitude and thanksgiving point to, and have to do
with God and His mercies. The heart is consciously grateful to God. The
soul gives expression to that heartfelt gratitude to God in words or
acts.
Gratitude is born of meditation on God’s grace and mercy. “The Lord
hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad.” Herein we see the
value of serious meditation. “My meditation of him shall be sweet.”
Praise is begotten by gratitude and a conscious obligation to God for
mercies given. As we think of mercies past, the heart is inwardly moved
to gratitude.
“I love to think on mercies past,
And future good implore;
And all my cares and sorrows cast
On Him whom I adore.”
Love is the child of gratitude. Love grows as gratitude is felt, and
then breaks out into praise and thanksgiving to God: “I love the Lord
because he hath heard my voice and my supplication.” Answered prayers
cause gratitude, and gratitude brings forth a love that declares it
will not cease praying: “Because he hath inclined his ear unto me,
therefore will I call upon him as long as I live.” Gratitude and love
move to larger and increased praying.
Paul appeals to the Romans to dedicate themselves wholly to God, a
living sacrifice, and the constraining motive is the mercies of God:
“I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of
God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy,
acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”
Consideration of God’s mercies not only begets gratitude, but induces
a large consecration to God of all we have and are. So that prayer,
thanksgiving and consecration are all linked together inseparably.
Gratitude and thanksgiving always looks back at the past though it
may also take in the present. But prayer always looks to the future.
Thanksgiving deals with things already received. Prayer deals with
things desired, asked for and expected. Prayer turns to gratitude and
praise when the things asked for have been granted by God.
As prayer brings things to us which beget gratitude and thanksgiving,
so praise and gratitude promote prayer, and induce more praying and
better praying.
Gratitude and thanksgiving forever stand opposed to all murmurings at
God’s dealings with us, and all complainings at our lot. Gratitude
and murmuring never abide in the same heart at the same time. An
unappreciative spirit has no standing beside gratitude and praise.
And true prayer corrects complaining and promotes gratitude and
thanksgiving. Dissatisfaction at one’s lot, and a disposition to be
discontented with things which come to us in the providence of God, are
foes to gratitude and enemies to thanksgiving.
The murmurers are ungrateful people. Appreciative men and women have
neither the time nor disposition to stop and complain. The bane of the
wilderness-journey of the Israelites on their way to Canaan was their
proneness to murmur and complain against God and Moses. For this, God
was several times greatly grieved, and it took the strong praying of
Moses to avert God’s wrath because of these murmurings. The absence of
gratitude left no room nor disposition for praise and thanksgiving,
just as it is so always. But when these same Israelites were brought
through the Red Sea dry shod, while their enemies were destroyed, there
was a song of praise led by Miriam, the sister of Moses. One of the
leading sins of these Israelites was forgetfulness of God and His
mercies, and ingratitude of soul. This brought forth murmurings and
lack of praise, as it always does.
When Paul wrote to the Colossians to let the word of Christ dwell in
their hearts richly and to let the peace of God rule therein, he said
to them, “and be ye thankful,” and adds, “admonishing yourselves in
psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts
unto the Lord.”
Further on, in writing to these same Christians, he joins prayer and
thanksgiving together: “Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with
thanksgiving.”
And writing to the Thessalonians, he again joins them in union:
“Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks, for
this is the will of God concerning you.”
“We thank Thee, Lord of heaven and earth,
Who hast preserved us from our birth;
Redeemed us oft from death and dread,
And with Thy gifts our table spread.”
Wherever there is true prayer, there thanksgiving and gratitude stand
hard by, ready to respond to the answer when it comes. For as prayer
brings the answer, so the answer brings forth gratitude and praise. As
prayer sets God to work, so answered prayer sets thanksgiving to work.
Thanksgiving follows answered prayer just as day succeeds night.
True prayer and gratitude lead to full consecration, and consecration
leads to more praying and better praying. A consecrated life is both a
prayer-life and a thanksgiving life.