What is Prayer?
Prayer is a coming to God. Some Bible expressions are: “He that cometh to God” (Hebrews 11:6); “Whosoever will, let him [come]” (Revelation 22:17); “He that cometh to me” (John 6:35); “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy-laden” (Matthew 11:28); “He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him” (Hebrews 7:25); “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” (Isaiah 55:1); “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16)
God is the Christian’s Father. In prayer we should come to Him as a child to its father. God loves this familiarity. This is not irreverence. We can come to Him familiarly and yet reverently. We can conceive of God both as the Supreme Ruler of the universe on His throne and as our Father by our side. We should be so conscious of His being with us, that when we go into our closets, we shall almost feel like holding the door ajar to admit Him. Then a little closer still, we can conceive of Him as being in our own hearts. To turn our voice inward and speak to Him in our own heart brings Him nearer. We see Him then, not as a ruler in heaven only, but as a ruler in our own hearts. When we come to God, we can have this view of Him. We should come to God in prayer and speak to Him, thanking Him or making a request of Him, as familiarly as with the closest friend. In true prayer, we talk personally with God; we embrace Him as a bosom companion; we see Him and hear Him and speak to Him and feel His presence as we do that of a friend. This seeing and hearing and making Him a person with us is in the province of faith. In prayer we close our eyes to things that are seen and open them to things unseen. Prayer is a coming to God and embracing Him, a drinking in of His life and spirit, a leaning on His bosom, and feeling the beating of His heart warm with love.
Prayer is the Christian pilgrim’s staff
To walk with God all day.
Enoch walked with God three hundred years. That long walk we do not suppose was a walk in silence, but a walk in converse. We do not know what was said, and it is not God’s purpose that we should know; but we can come to Him, and He will teach us what to say.
Prayer is more than bending the knee and saying some words. It is the shutting of the closet door and being alone with God. It is the coming of the soul, tremulous with love and holy awe before His sacred presence and at the same time, as said before—a talking to Him in childlike innocence and confidence. It is Father and child in the most intimate converse and sweetest companionship. The little child climbs upon its father’s knee and, leaning upon His bosom, delights itself in His companionship. There in the sacred silence, the heart seems to talk with heart, and the spirit of the child is fashioned into the likeness of the parent. Such is the companionship that the trusting child of God has with His Father. There he finds rest.
Wrapped in the bosom of his God,
His head upon his breast,
Forgetful of the cares of life,
He finds the perfect rest.
Prayer is adoration. By adoration we mean worship; reverence and esteem; respect and love. The soul adores God as it beholds His greatness and His goodness. When a person beholds the beauty of God’s perfections, the glory of His majesty, and the wonders of His works, he experiences a feeling of awe and of filial fear and dread. When he gives utterance to his feelings, he cries with the seraphim, “Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.” (Isaiah 6:3) We have cause to fear there is great deficiency of adoration in prayer, especially in private prayer. Perhaps in silent meditation there is not enough admiration of God’s exalted nature and marvelous works. There is not a due ascription to Him of glory and honor. Jesus said, “When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.” (Luke 11:2) As we bow down before Jehovah, oh, may there be not only the word “hallowed” on our lips, but a hallowed feeling in our soul. We hear the Psalmist in his meditation exclaiming: “Bless the LORD, O my soul. O LORD my God, thou art very great; thou art clothed with honour and majesty. Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment: who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain: Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters: who maketh the clouds his chariot: who walketh upon the wings of the wind” (Psalm 104:1-) Much adoring prayer is recorded in the Scriptures. Listen to the devotional song of Moses after the deliverance at the Red Sea. “Thy right hand, O LORD, is become glorious in power: thy right hand, O LORD, hath dashed in pieces the enemy.” (Exodus 15:6) “Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?” (Exodus 15:11) The angels are engaged in the prayer of adoration. They are shouting, “Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever.” (Revelation 7:12) They are singing the song of Moses and the Lamb before the throne of God, saying, “Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy.” (Revelation 15:2-3) May the spirit of Moses and the Lamb and the angels fall upon our souls as we approach the mercy-seat in prayer.
Breathe on me, O thou Most High,
The spirit angels have,
Till I adore thy matchless name
And am thy willing slave.
Prayer is confession. Adoration is only a part of prayer. There is much that such dependent creatures as we need to confess. We need not—since Jesus washes our sins away and enables us by His grace to serve Him in the beauty of holiness and walk in His ways—we need not make a confession of sin, but we need to confess our dependence and our weakness. To confess our dependence does not make us independent, to confess our weakness does not make us strong, and to confess our faults does not make us faultless; but to do these things manifests a proper attitude of the heart. God can make us strong if we but feel our weakness. It is for this reason that the weak can say that they are strong. But God cannot make us strong until we feel our weakness, any more than He can save a sinner that does not realize his sinfulness. We should feel our unprofitableness, our weakness, our need of help. We can draw so much closer to God in prayer if we feel the great need of His help. It is really precious to become terrified at the hideousness of sin and the devil and the world, and to flee to our refuge under the shadow of God’s wing. The blessedness is not found in the terror, but in the feeling of security we experience when hiding in the secret of the Lord’s pavilion. Prayer is petition. God delights in having us ask Him for the things we need. He gives many encouraging promises. One is this: “Ask, and ye shall receive.” (John 16:24) We are told to be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving to let our requests be made known unto God. To have a kind heavenly Father to whom we can come for everything we need is a blessing too great to conceive. He is faithful to fulfill all He has promised. May the Lord increase the faith of His children. The “if” is not on the Lord’s side, but on man’s side. A father brought his son that had a dumb spirit to Jesus and said, “If thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us.” (Mark 9:22) Christ, in His reply, gave the man to know that the “if” was on the latter’s part. “If thou canst believe,” said Jesus, “all things are possible to Him that believeth.” (Mark 9:23) The question is not whether Jesus can; it is whether we will ask and believe.
Some persons object to the petitioning side of prayer. They say that the Fatherhood of God is in opposition to all reasonableness in petitioning prayer. Since He knows our every need and is disposed to give us all we need, there is, they say, no necessity to ask Him. Being a God of infinite goodness and love, He is disposed to grant all our needs without our asking, the same as He gave His Son to die for us. They go further and illustrate by referring to the readiness of earthly parents to supply the needs of their children without their asking. But the illustration is not perfectly analogous to God’s manner of dealing with His children. Though parents provide everything good for their children, it is certainly respectful on the part of the children to ask for things they need. The prayer of petition may not change God’s disposition and influence Him to a willingness to grant us our needs, but it prepares our heart for the receiving of them in thankfulness. Prayer does not change God so much as it changes us. God is always willing to save sinners. Prayer does not persuade Him to save, but it does bring the sinner to a right attitude before the Lord, so that God can save him. I am indeed glad that God has obligated us to ask. It brings us in such close personal contact with Him. We would not be likely to come feelingly near to Him in thanksgiving if we did not come feelingly near to Him in petition. But of this we shall have more to say in another chapter. Prayer is supplication. In Paul’s letter to the church at Ephesus we find these words: “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit.” (Ephesians 6:18) And again, in his letter to the saints at Philippi, he says, “But in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.” (Philippians 4:6) He does not mean that prayer is one thing and supplication something else. Supplication is prayer. Petition is for the obtaining of some special object for which there is to be the definite act of faith. Supplication is not so much a desire for the obtaining of any special object as a more general longing and intense love for God and His glory and the good of all men. There is not such a definite act of faith, but an earnest pleading with a submission to the will of God. Supplication is more earnest and intense than petition and rises above it into a longing, yearning, pleading in love with a resignation to the divine will. Many people pray the prayer of petition, but fewer pray the prayer of supplication. Prayer is a pouring out of the soul. I do not attempt to discriminate between “supplication” and “pouring out the soul,” for my mind is scarcely capable of conceiving any difference. The latter term seems to me to be but another form of expression, which may enable us to grasp more clearly the full meaning of the other. By the expression “pouring out of the soul” we can see more distinctly the labor and intensity of supplication. Hannah, in her prayer, did not speak audibly. She spoke only in her heart. Her lips moved as in the formation of words, but there was no voice. In reply to the high priests accusation, she said, “I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul before the Lord.” (1 Samuel 1:15) As David’s soul was panting after God and tears were his meat day and night, he exclaims, “I pour out my soul in me.” (Psalm 42:4) And again, when beholding God as his strength and refuge, he said, “Trust in him at all times, ye people; pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us.” (Psalm 62:8) Pouring out the soul is deep, close communion with God. It is the losing of consciousness of earth and earthly things and the bringing of the soul up into the presence of God. It is leaving the body behind, so to speak, and talking to God in the spirit. Every one should occasionally have such communion with the Lord.
Prayer is a supping with Jesus. The voice that was heard by one in the spirit said, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come into him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” (Revelation 3:20) Elsewhere we said something about conceiving of God both as being on His throne and as being a companion by our side, and again as an abiding Guest in our heart. The text just quoted pictures Him to us as abiding in our hearts. There we can commune with Him. We sup with Him, and He sups with us. The heart is the communion chamber.
In the Canticles we read, “While the king sitteth at his table, my spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof.” (Song of Solomon 1:12) Jesus brings His viands of grace and places them on the table, and we bring our viands of joy, praise, and thanksgiving and place them on the table, and then we sup—Jesus and we. We sup of His grace to the full need and satisfaction of our souls, and He sups of the joy and the praise we bring and delights Himself in their sweetness and fragrance. And should we have burdens or sorrows, we may bring them, too, and He will share them with us. Bless His name! This is prayer. Prayer is thanksgiving. “But in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.” (Philippians 4:6) “In every thing give thanks.” (1 Thessalonians 5:18) “Giving thanks always for all things.” (Ephesians 5:20) Thanksgiving is the aroma of prayer. Every prayer should be perfumed with it. Unless we live in faith and in the Spirit, our thanksgiving will be an empty form of words. It is good often and in some quiet place to recount the goodness and mercy of God. Let faith be very active and see the Lord as the Giver of every blessing. Surely a sense of thankfulness will become more perceptible in your heart. It were good if you should be so thankful that ofttimes tears of gratitude would fill your eyes at the remembrance of His mercies. O Lord, help our poor hearts to praise thee!
Prayer is the heart talking to God. It is a devout movement of the soul Godward. It is a quiet sitting by the Savior’s side, leaning the head on His bosom, and feeling the beating of His heart. It is the opening of the soul to heaven to be fed and renewed by the inflowing life of God. We become like that which we feed upon. Prayer makes us like God.
Man, earthly, of the earth, an hungered feeds
Of earth’s dark poison-tree,
Wild gourds, and deadly roots, and bitter weeds;
And as his food is he.
And hungry souls there are that find and eat
God’s manna day by day;
And glad they are, their life is fresh and sweet,
For as their food are they.