PAUL AND HIS PRAYING
(_Continued_)
_William Law has this very pertinent word in his “Devout Life”: “When
you begin your petitions use such various expressions of the
attributes of God as may make you most sensible of the greatness and
power of the Divine nature.” And then William Law gives various
examples, which I am bound to say would not be helpful to me, as they
would imprison my spirit in a coat of mail. But I want to emphasize
and commend the principle of it, which is, that our fellowship should
begin with the primary elements of adoration and praise._--REV. J. H.
JOWETT.
There are two occasions with wonderful results where the statement
is not explicit that Paul was in prayer, but the circumstances and
the results, and Paul’s universal and intense praying habit, make it
most evident that the key to the results of both occasions is prayer.
The first occasion is when Paul sailed away from Philippi and came to
Troas, where he abode seven days. On the first day of the week, when
the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them,
expecting to depart on the morrow, and continued his preaching till
late in the night.
There was sitting in the window a young man named Eutychus, who
naturally fell asleep, and as Paul was rather long in speaking, the
young man fell out of the high window, and was taken up for dead. Paul
went down to the place where the young man had fallen, and embracing
him, told the people about him that they need not be troubled, for life
was still in the body. Paul returned to the upper room, where he had
been preaching, and talked with the disciples till break of day. And
the young man was brought alive, and as a consequence all were greatly
comforted.
The very natural conclusion without the fact being specially stated is
that Paul must have prayed for the young man when he embraced him, and
his prayer was answered in the quick recovery of the young man.
The second occasion was in the perilous and protracted storm which
overtook the vessel in which Paul was being carried as a prisoner to
Rome. They were being exceedingly tossed about with the great tempest,
and neither sun nor stars appeared as they were beset and struggled
against wind and storm. All hope that they would be saved seemed gone.
But after long abstinence, Paul stood in the midst of those on board,
and speaking more particularly to the officers of the vessel, said,
“Sirs, ye should have hearkened unto me, and not have loosed from
Crete, and to have gained this harm and loss. And now I exhort you, to
be of good cheer, for there shall be no loss of any man’s life among
you, but of the ship. For there stood by this night the angel of God,
whose I am and whom I serve, saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must be
brought before Cæsar, and lo, God hath given thee all them that sail
with thee. Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer; for I believe God, that
it shall be even as God hath told me.”
It requires no strained interpretation to read into this simple record
the fact that Paul must have been praying when the angel appeared unto
him with that message of encouragement and assurance of safety. Paul’s
habit of prayer and his strong belief in prayer must have driven him
to his knees. Such an emergency with him would necessarily move him to
pray under such crucial circumstances.
After the shipwreck, while on the island of Melita, we have another
representation of Paul at prayer. He is at his work of praying for a
very ill man. While a fire was being made, a deadly poisonous viper
fastened itself on his hand, and the barbarians immediately concluded
it was a case of retribution for some crime Paul had committed, but
they soon discovered that Paul did not die, and changed their minds and
concluded that he was a sort of god.
In the same quarter at the time, was the father of Publius, who was
very ill of a fever, and bloody flux, approaching seemingly his
end. Paul went to him, and laid his hands upon him, and with simple
confidence in God he prayed, and immediately the disease was rebuked,
and the man was healed. When the natives of the island beheld this
remarkable incident, they brought others to Paul, and they were healed,
after the same fashion, by Paul’s praying.
Turning back in Paul’s life to the time he was at Ephesus on his way to
Jerusalem, we find him stopping at Tyre after he departed from Ephesus.
Before leaving Ephesus he had prayed with them all. But he did not
trust in his words howsoever strong, fitting and solemn they might have
been. God must be recognized, invoked and sought. Paul did not take it
for granted, after he had done his best, that God as a matter of course
would bless his efforts to do good, but he sought God. God does not do
things in a matter-of-course sort of way. God must be invoked, sought
unto, and put into things by prayer.
Following his visit to Ephesus, he arrived at Tyre, where he stopped a
few days. Here he found some disciples, who begged Paul not to go to
Jerusalem, saying through the Spirit that he should not go up to that
city. But Paul adhered to his original purpose to go to Jerusalem. The
account says:
“And when we had accomplished those days, we departed, and went
our way; and they all brought us on our way with their wives and
children, till we were out of the city; and we kneeled down on the
shore and prayed.”
What a sight to behold on that seashore! Here is a family picture of
love and devotion, where husbands, wives and even children are present,
and prayer is made out in the open air. What an impression it must have
made upon those children! The vessel was ready to depart, but prayer
must cement their affections and sanctify wives and children, and bless
their parting--a parting which was to be final so far as this world was
concerned. The scene is beautiful and does honor to the head and heart
of Paul, to his person and his piety, and shows the tender affection
in which he was held. His devoted habit of sanctifying all things by
prayer comes directly to the light. “We kneeled down on the shore
and prayed.” Never did sea strand see a grander picture or witness a
lovelier sight--Paul on his knees on the sands of that shore, invoking
God’s blessing upon these men, women and children.
When Paul was arraigned at Jerusalem, in making his public defense,
he refers to two instances of his praying. One was when he was in the
house of Judas, in Damascus, after he had been stricken to the earth
and brought under conviction. He was there three days, and to him was
Ananias sent, to lay his hand upon him, at the time of his blindness
and darkness. It was during those three days of prayer. This is the
Scriptural record, and the words are those of Ananias addressed to him:
“And now why tarriest thou? Arise and be baptized, and wash away thy
sins, calling on the name of the Lord.”
The Lord had emboldened the timid Ananias to go and minister to Paul,
by telling him, “Behold he prayeth.” And so we have in this reference
Paul’s prayerfulness intensified by the exhortation of Ananias. Prayer
precedes pardon of sins. Prayer becomes those who seek God. Prayer
belongs to the earnest, sincere inquirer after God. Pardon of sin and
acceptance with God always come at the end of earnest praying. The
evidence of sincerity in a true seeker of religion is that it can be
said of him, “Behold he prayeth.”
The other reference in his defense lets us into the prayerful
intenseness into which his whole religious life had been fashioned and
shows us how in the absorbing ecstasy of prayer, the vision came and
directions were received by which his toilsome life was to be guided.
Also we see the familiar terms on which he stood and talked with his
Lord:
“And it came to pass when I was come again to Jerusalem, even while I
prayed in the temple, I was in a trance;
“And saw him saying unto me, Make haste and get thee quickly out of
Jerusalem, for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me.
“And I said, Lord, they know that I imprisoned and beat in every
synagogue them that believed on thee.
“And when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was
standing by, and consenting to his death, and kept the raiment of
them that slew him.
“And he said unto me, Depart, for I will send thee far hence unto the
Gentiles.”
Prayer always brings directions from heaven as to what God would have
us to do. If we prayed more and more directly, we should make fewer
mistakes in life as to duty. God’s will concerning us is revealed in
answer to prayer. If we prayed more and prayed better and sweeter,
then clearer and more entrancing visions would be given us, and our
intercourse with God, would be of the most intimate, free, and bold
order.
It is difficult to itemize or classify Paul’s praying. It is so
comprehensive, so discursive, and so minute, that it is no easy task to
do so. Paul teaches much about prayer in his didactics. He specifically
enforces the duty and necessity of prayer upon the Church, but that
which was better for Paul and better for us is that he himself prayed
much and illustrated his own teaching. He practiced what he preached.
He put to the test the exercise of prayer which he urged upon the
people of his day.
To the Church at Rome he plainly and specifically asseverated with
solemnity his habit of praying. This he wrote to those Roman believers:
“For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the Gospel
of His Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my
prayers.”
Paul not only prayed for himself. He made a practice of praying for
others. He was preëminently an intercessor. As he urged intercessory
prayer on others, so he interceded himself for others beside himself.
He begins that remarkable Epistle to the Romans in the spirit of
prayer: He closes it with this solemn charge: “Now I beseech you,
brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ’s sake, and for the love of the
Spirit, that ye strive with me in your prayers to God for me.”
But this is not all. In the very heart of that Epistle, he commands
“Continuing instant in prayer.” That is, give constant attention to
prayer. Make it the business of life. Be devoted to it. Just what he
did himself, for Paul was a standing example of the doctrine of prayer
which he advocated and pressed upon the people.
In his Epistles to the Thessalonians, how all-inclusive and wonderful
the praying! Says he in writing his First Epistle to this Church:
“We give thanks to God always for you, making mention of you in my
prayers; remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labor of
love, and patience of hope.”
Not to quote all he says, it is worth while to read his words to this
same Church of true believers further on:
“Night and day praying exceedingly that we might see your face, and
might perfect that which is lacking in your faith. Now God himself
direct our way unto you. And the Lord make you to increase and abound
in love one toward another, even as we do toward you, to the end he
may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even
our Father.”
And this sort of praying for these Thessalonian Christians is in direct
line with that closing prayer for these same believers in this Epistle,
where he records that striking prayer for their entire sanctification:
“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.”
How Paul did pray for those early Christians! They were in his mind
and on his heart, and he was continually at it, “night and day praying
exceedingly.” Oh, if we had a legion of preachers in these days of
superficial piety and these times of prayerlessness, who were given to
praying for their churches as Paul did for those to whom he ministered
in his day! Praying men are needed. Likewise praying preachers are
demanded in this age.
At the conclusion of that remarkable prayer in the third chapter of
Ephesians, he declared that “God was able to do exceeding abundantly
above all that we could ask or think,” now he declares he is praying
exceeding abundantly, striving after the most earnest order, to have
his prayers run parallel with God’s power, and that they may not limit
that power nor exhaust that power, but get all there is in it to bless
and greatly enrich His Church.
Paul and his compeers prayed for the saints everywhere. It may be
referred to again. With what solemnity does Paul call the attention
of the Roman Christians to the important fact of praying for them,
believers whom he had never seen! “God is my witness that without
ceasing, I make mention of you in my prayers.” To the churches he says,
“Praying always for you.”
Again on the same line, we hear him articulating clearly, “Always in
every prayer of mine for you all, making request with joy.” Again he
writes thus: “I do not cease to pray for you.” Once more we read the
record, “Wherefore we pray always for you.” And again it is written,
“Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my
prayers.” And then he says, “Remembrance of thee in my prayers night
and day.”
His declaration, “night and day praying exceedingly,” is a condensed
record of the engrossing nature of the praying done by this praying
apostle. It shows conclusively how important prayer was in his estimate
and in his ministry, and further shows how to him prayer was an agony
of earnest striving in seeking from God blessings which could be
secured in no other way.
The unselfishness of his praying is seen in his writing to the
Romans where he tells them, “Making request if by any means I might
have a prosperous journey to come to you. For I long to see you
that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to the end ye may be
established.” The object of his desire to visit Rome was not for
selfish gratification, the pleasure of a trip, or for other reasons,
but that he might be the means under God of “imparting to them some
spiritual gift,” in order that they “might be established” in their
hearts, unblameably in love. It was that his visit might give to them
some spiritual gift which they had not received and that they might
be established at those points where they needed to be rooted, and
grounded in faith, in love, and in all that made up Christian life and
character.