[pvii]CONTENTSCHAP.PAGEI.THE LACK OF PRAYER9II.THE MINISTRATION OF THE SPIRIT AND PRAYER20III.A MODEL OF INTERCESSION31IV.BECAUSE OF HIS IMPORTUNITY43V.THE LIFE THAT CAN PRAY55VI.RESTRAINING PRAYER—IS IT SIN?67VII.WHO SHALL DELIVER?78VIII.WILT THOU BE MADE WHOLE?91IX.THE SECRET OF EFFECTUAL PRAYER104X.THE SPIRIT OF SUPPLICATION116XI.IN THE NAME OF CHRIST129XII.MY GOD WILL HEAR ME143XIII.PAUL A PATTERN OF PRAYER155XIV.GOD SEEKS INTERCESSORS169XV.THE COMING REVIVAL180[pviii]NOTE A193NOTE B194NOTE C195NOTE D196NOTE E198NOTE F199PRAY WITHOUT CEASING: HELPS TO INTERCESSION201[pix]THE MINISTRY OF INTERCESSIONContentsThereis no holy serviceBut hath its secret bliss:Yet, of all blessèd ministries,Is one so dear as this?The ministry that cannot beA wondering seraph’s dower,Enduing mortal weaknessWith more than angel-power;The ministry of purest loveUncrossed by any fear,That bids us meet At the Master’s feetAnd keeps us very near.God’s ministers are many,For this His gracious will,Remembrancers that day and nightThis holy office fill.While some are hushed in slumber,Some to fresh service wake,And thus the saintly numberNo change or chance can break.And thus the sacred coursesAre evermore fulfilled,The tide of grace By time or placeIs never stayed or stilled.[px]Oh, if our ears were openedTo hear as angels doThe Intercession-chorusArising full and true,We should hear it soft up-wellingIn morning’s pearly light;Through evening’s shadows swellingIn grandly gathering might;The sultry silence fillingOf noontide’s thunderous glow,And the solemn starlight thrillingWith ever-deepening flow.We should hear it through the rushingOf the city’s restless roar,And trace its gentle gushingO’er ocean’s crystal floor:We should hear it far up-floatingBeneath the Orient moon,And catch the golden notingFrom the busy Western noon;And pine-robed heights would echoAs the mystic chant up-floats,And the sunny plain Resound againWith the myriad-mingling notes.Who are the blessèd ministersOf this world-gathering band?All who have learnt one language,Through each far-parted land;All who have learnt the storyOf Jesu’s love and grace,And are longing for His gloryTo shine in every face.All who have known the FatherIn Jesus Christ our Lord,And know the might And love the lightOf the Spirit in the Word.[pxi]Yet there are some who see notTheir calling high and grand,Who seldom pass the portals,And never boldly standBefore the golden altarOn the crimson-stainèd floor,Who wait afar and falter,And dare not hope for more.Will ye not join the blessèd ranksIn their beautiful array?Let intercession blend with thanksAs ye minister to-day!There are little ones among themChild-ministers of prayer,White robes of intercessionThose tiny servants wear.First for the near and dear onesIs that fair ministry,Then for the poor black children,So far beyond the sea.The busy hands are folded,As the little heart upliftsIn simple love, To God above,Its prayer for all good gifts.There are hands too often wearyWith the business of the day,With God-entrusted duties,Who are toiling while they pray.They bear the golden vials,And the golden harps of praiseThrough all the daily trials,Through all the dusty ways,These hands, so tired, so faithful,With odours sweet are filled,And in the ministry of prayerAre wonderfully skilled.[pxii]There are ministers unlettered,Not of Earth’s great and wise,Yet mighty and unfetteredTheir eagle-prayers arise.Free of the heavenly storehouse!For they hold the master-keyThat opens all the fulnessOf God’s great treasury.They bring the needs of others,And all things are their own,For their one grand claim Is Jesu’s nameBefore their Father’s throne.There are noble Christian workers,The men of faith and power,The overcoming wrestlersOf many a midnight hour;Prevailing princes with their God,Who will not be denied,Who bring down showers of blessingTo swell the rising tide.The Prince of Darkness quailethAt their triumphant way,Their fervent prayer availethTo sap his subtle sway.But in this temple serviceAre sealed and set apartArch-priests of intercession,Of undivided heart.The fulness of anointingOn these is doubly shed,The consecration of their GodIs on each low-bowed head.They bear the golden vialsWith white and trembling hand;In quiet room Or wakeful gloomThese ministers must stand,—[pxiii]To the Intercession-PriesthoodMysteriously ordained,When the strange dark gift of sufferingThis added gift hath gained.For the holy hands upliftedIn suffering’s longest hourAre truly Spirit-giftedWith intercession-power.The Lord of Blessing fills themWith His uncounted gold,An unseen store, Still more and more,Those trembling hands shall hold.Not always with rejoicingThis ministry is wrought,For many a sigh is mingledWith the sweet odours brought.Yet every tear bedewingThe faith-fed altar fireMay be its bright renewingTo purer flame, and higher.But when the oil of gladnessGod graciously outpours,The heavenward blaze, With blended praise,More mightily upsoars.So the incense-cloud ascendethAs through calm, crystal air,A pillar reaching unto heavenOf wreathèd faith and prayer.For evermore the AngelOf Intercession standsIn His Divine High PriesthoodWith fragrance-fillèd hands,To wave the golden censerBefore His Father’s throne,With Spirit-fire intenser,And incense all His own.[pxiv]And evermore the FatherSends radiantly downAll-marvellous responses,His ministers to crown;The incense-cloud returningAs golden blessing-showers,We in each drop discerningSome feeble prayer of ours,Transmuted into wealth unpriced,By Him who giveth thusThe glory all to Jesus Christ,The gladness all to us!F. R. Havergal.September 1877.[p1]INTRODUCTIONContentsI havebeen asked by a friend, who heard of this book being published, what the difference would be between it and the previous one on the same subject,With Christ in the School of Prayer. An answer to that question may be the best introduction I can give to the present volume.Any acceptance the former work has had must be attributed, as far as the contents go, to the prominence given to two great truths. The one was, the certainty that prayer will be answered. There is with some an idea that to ask and expect an answer is not the highest form of prayer. Fellowship with God, apart from any request, is more than supplication. About the petition there is something of selfishness and bargaining—to worship is more than to beg. With others the thought that prayer is so often unanswered is so prominent, that they think more of the spiritual benefit derived from the exercise of prayer than[p2]the actual gifts to be obtained by it. While admitting the measure of truth in these views, when kept in their true place,The School of Prayerpoints out how our Lord continually spoke of prayer as a means of obtaining what we desire, and how He seeks in every possible way to waken in us the confident expectation of an answer. I was led to show how prayer, in which a man could enter into the mind of God, could assert the royal power of a renewed will, and bring down to earth what without prayer would not have been given, is the highest proof of his having been made in the likeness of God’s Son. He is found worthy of entering into fellowship with Him, not only in adoration and worship, but in having his will actually taken up into the rule of the world, and becoming the intelligent channel through which God can fulfil his eternal purpose. The book sought to reiterate and enforce the precious truths Christ preaches so continually: the blessing of prayer is that you can ask and receive what you will: the highest exercise and the glory of prayer is that persevering importunity can prevail and obtain what God at first could not and would not give.With this truth there was a second one that came out very strongly as we studied the Master’s words. In answer to the question, But why, if the answer to prayer is so positively promised, why are[p3]there such numberless unanswered prayers? we found that Christ taught us that the answer depended upon certain conditions. He spoke of faith, of perseverance, of praying in His Name, of praying in the will of God. But all these conditions were summed up in the one central one: “If ye abide in Me, ask whatsoever ye will and it shall be done unto you.” It became clear that the power to pray the effectual prayer of faith dependedupon the life. It is only to a man given up to live as entirely in Christ and for Christ as the branch in the vine and for the vine, that these promises can come true. “In that day,” Christ said, the day of Pentecost, “ye shall ask in My Name.” It is only in a life full of the Holy Spirit that the true power to ask in Christ’s Name can be known. This led to the emphasising the truth that the ordinary Christian life cannot appropriate these promises. It needs a spiritual life, altogether sound and vigorous, to pray in power. The teaching naturally led to press the need of a life of entire consecration. More than one has told me how it was in the reading of the book that he first saw what the better life was that could be lived, and must be lived, if Christ’s wonderful promises are to come true to us.In regard to these two truths there is no change in the present volume. One only wishes that one could put them with such clearness and force as to[p4]help every beloved fellow-Christian to some right impression of the reality and the glory of our privilege as God’s children: “Ask whatsoever ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” The present volume owes its existence to the desire to enforce two truths, of which formerly I had no such impression as now.The one is—that Christ actually meant prayer to be the great power by which His Church should do its work, and that the neglect of prayer is the great reason the Church has not greater power over the masses in Christian and in heathen countries. In the first chapter I have stated how my convictions in regard to this have been strengthened, and what gave occasion to the writing of the book. It is meant to be, on behalf of myself and my brethren in the ministry and all God’s people, a confession of shortcoming and of sin, and, at the same time, a call to believe that things can be different, and that Christ waits to fit us by His Spirit to pray as He would have us. This call, of course, brings me back to what I spoke of in connection with the former volume: that there is a life in the Spirit, a life of abiding in Christ, within our reach, in which the power of prayer—both the power to pray and the power to obtain the answer—can be realised in a measure which we could not have thought possible before. Any failure in the prayer-life, any desire[p5]or hope really to take the place Christ has prepared for us, brings us to the very root of the doctrine of grace as manifested in the Christian life. It is only by a full surrender to the life of abiding, by the yielding to the fulness of the Spirit’s leading and quickening, that the prayer-life can be restored to a truly healthy state. I feel deeply how little I have been able to put this in the volume as I could wish. I have prayed and am trusting that God, who chooses the weak things, will use it for His own glory.The second truth which I have sought to enforce is that we have far too little conception of the place that intercession, as distinguished from prayer for ourselves, ought to have in the Church and the Christian life. In intercession our King upon the throne finds His highest glory; in it we shall find our highest glory too. Through it He continues His saving work, and can do nothing without it; through it alone we can do our work, and nothing avails without it. In it He ever receives from the Father the Holy Spirit and all spiritual blessings to impart; in it we too are called to receive in ourselves the fulness of God’s Spirit, with the power to impart spiritual blessing to others. The power of the Church truly to bless rests on intercession—asking and receiving heavenly gifts to carry to men. Because this is so, it is no wonder that where, owing to lack of teaching or spiritual insight,we[p6]trustin our own diligence and effort, to the influence of the world and the flesh, and work more than we pray, the presence and power of God are not seen in our work as we would wish.Such thoughts have led me to wonder what could be done to rouse believers to a sense of their high calling in this, and to help and train them to take part in it. And so this book differs from the former one in the attempt to open a practising school, and to invite all who have never taken systematic part in the great work of intercession to begin and give themselves to it. There are tens of thousands of workers who have known and are proving wonderfully what prayer can do. But there are tens of thousands who work with but little prayer, and as many more who do not work because they do not know how or where, who might all be won to swell the host of intercessors who are to bring down the blessings of heaven to earth. For their sakes, and the sake of all who feel the need of help, I have prepared helps and hints for a school of intercession for a month (see the Appendix). I have asked those who would join, to begin by giving at least ten minutes a day definitely to this work. It is in doing that we learn to do; it is as we take hold and begin that the help of God’s Spirit will come. It is as we daily hear God’s call, and at once put it into practice, that the consciousness will begin to[p7]live in us, I too am an intercessor; and that we shall feel the need of living in Christ and being full of the Spirit if we are to do this work aright. Nothing will so test and stimulate the Christian life as the honest attempt to be an intercessor. It is difficult to conceive how much we ourselves and the Church will be the gainers, if with our whole heart we accept the post of honour God is offering us. With regard to the school of intercession, I am confident that the result of the first month’s course will be to awake the feeling of how little we know how to intercede. And a second and a third month may only deepen the sense of ignorance and unfitness. This will be an unspeakable blessing. The confession, “We know not how to pray as we ought,” is the introduction to the experience, “The Spirit maketh intercession for us”—our sense of ignorance will lead us to depend upon the Spirit praying in us, to feel the need of living in the Spirit.We have heard a great deal of systematic Bible study, and we praise God for thousands on thousands of Bible classes and Bible readings. Let all the leaders of such classes see whether they could not open prayer classes—helping their students to pray in secret, and training them to be, above everything, men of prayer. Let ministers ask what they can do in this. The faith in God’s word can nowhere be so exercised and perfected as in the intercession[p8]that asks and expects and looks out for the answer. Throughout Scripture, in the life of every saint, of God’s own Son, throughout the history of God’s Church, God is, first of all, a prayer-hearing God. Let us try and help God’s children to know their God, and encourage all God’s servants to labour with the assurance: the chief and most blessed part of my work is to ask and receive from my Father what I can bring to others.It will now easily be understood how what this book contains will be nothing but the confirmation and the call to put into practice the two great lessons of the former one. “Ask whatsoever ye will, and it shall be done to you”; “Whatever ye ask, believe that ye have received”: these great prayer-promises, as part of the Church’s enduement of power for her work, are to be taken as literally and actually true. “If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you”; “In that day ye shall ask in My Name”: these great prayer-conditions are universal and unchangeable. A life abiding in Christ and filled with the Spirit, a life entirely given up as a branch for the work of the vine, has the power to claim these promises and to pray the effectual prayer that availeth much. Lord, teach us to pray.ANDREW MURRAY.Wellington,1st September 1897.[p9]A PLEA FOR MORE PRAYERCHAPTER IContentsThe Lack of Prayer“Ye have not, because ye ask not.”—Jas.iv. 2.“And He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor.”—Isa.lix. 16.“There is none that calleth upon Thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of Thee.”—Isa.lxiv. 7.Atour last Wellington Convention for the Deepening of the Spiritual Life, in April, the forenoon meetings were devoted to prayer and intercession. Great blessing was found, both in listening to what the Word teaches of their need and power, and in joining in continued united supplication. Many felt that we know too little of persevering importunate prayer, and that it is indeed one of the greatest needs of the Church.During the past two months I have been attending a number of Conventions. At the first, a[p10]Dutch Missionary Conference at Langlaagte, Prayer had been chosen as the subject of the addresses. At the next, at Johannesburg, a brother in business gave expression to his deep conviction that the great want of the Church of our day was, more of the spirit and practice of intercession. A week later we had a Dutch Ministerial Conference in the Free State, where three days were spent, after two days’ services in the congregation on the work of the Holy Spirit, in considering the relation of the Spirit to prayer. At the ministerial meetings held at most of the succeeding conventions, we were led to take up the subject, and everywhere there was the confession: We pray too little! And with this there appeared to be a fear that, with the pressure of duty and the force of habit, it was almost impossible to hope for any great change.I cannot say what a deep impression was made upon me by these conversations. Most of all, by the thought that there should be anything like hopelessness on the part of God’s servants as to the prospect of an entire change being effected, and real deliverance found from a failure which cannot but hinder our own joy in God, and our power in[p11]His service. And I prayed God to give me words that might not only help to direct attention to the evil, but, specially, that might stir up faith, and waken the assurance that God by His Spirit will enable us to pray as we ought.Let me begin, for the sake of those who have never had their attention directed to the matter, by stating some of the facts that prove how universal is the sense of shortcoming in this respect.Last year there appeared a report of an address to ministers by Dr. Whyte, of Free St. George’s, Edinburgh. In that he said that, as a young minister, he had thought that, of the time he had over from pastoral visitation, he ought to spend as much as possible with his books in his study. He wanted to feed his people with the very best he could prepare for them. But he had now learned that prayer was of more importance than study. He reminded his brethren of the election of deacons to take charge of the collections, that the twelve might “give themselves to prayer and the ministry of the word,” and said that at times, when the deacons brought him his salary, he had to ask himself whether he had been as faithful in his[p12]engagement as the deacons had been to theirs. He felt as if it were almost too late to regain what he had lost, and urged his brethren to pray more. What a solemn confession and warning from one of the high places: We pray too little!During the Regent Square Convention two years ago the subject came up in conversation with a well-known London minister. He urged that if so much time must be given to prayer, it would involve the neglect of the imperative calls of duty “There is the morning post, before breakfast, with ten or twelve letters whichmustbe answered. Then there are committee meetings waiting, with numberless other engagements, more than enough to fill up the day. It is difficult to see how it can be done.”My answer was, in substance, that it was simply a question of whether the call of God for our time and attention was of more importance than that of man. If God was waiting to meet us, and to give us blessing and power from heaven for His work, it was a short-sighted policy to put other work in the place which God and waiting on Him should have.At one of our ministerial meetings, the superintendent of a large district put the case thus: “I rise[p13]in the morning and have half an hour with God, in the Word and prayer, in my room before breakfast. I go out, and am occupied all day with a multiplicity of engagements. I do not think many minutes elapse without my breathing a prayer for guidance or help. After my day’s work, I return in my evening devotions and speak to God of the day’s work. But of the intense, definite, importunate prayer of which Scripture speaks one knows little.” What, he asked, must I think of such a life?We all know the difference between a man whose profits are just enough to maintain his family and keep up his business, and another whose income enables him to extend the business and to help others. There may be an earnest Christian life in which there is prayer enough to keep us from going back, and just maintain the position we have attained to, without much of growth in spirituality or Christlikeness. The attitude is more defensive, seeking to ward off temptation, than aggressive, reaching out after higher attainment. If there is indeed to be a going from strength to strength, with some large experience of God’s power to sanctify ourselves and to bring down real blessing on others, there must be more definite and persevering[p14]prayer. The Scripture teaching about crying day and night, continuing steadfastly in prayer, watching unto prayer, being heard for his importunity, must in some degree become our experience if we are really to be intercessors.At the very next Convention the same question was put in somewhat different form. “I am at the head of a station, with a large outlying district to care for. I see the importance of much prayer, and yet my life hardly leaves room for it. Are we to submit? Or tell us how we can attain to what we desire?” I admitted that the difficulty was universal. I recalled the words of one of our most honoured South African missionaries, now gone to his rest: he had the same complaint. “In the morning at five the sick people are at the door waiting for medicine. At six the printers come, and I have to set them to work and teach them. At nine the school calls me, and till late at night I am kept busy with a large correspondence.” In my answer I quoted a Dutch proverb: ‘Whatisheaviest mustweighheaviest,’—must have the first place. The law of God is unchangeable: as on earth, so in our traffic with heaven, we only get as we give. Unless we are willing to pay the price,[p15]and sacrifice time and attention and what appear legitimate or necessary duties, for the sake of the heavenly gifts, we need not look for a large experience of the power of the heavenly world in our work. The whole company present joined in the sad confession; it had been thought over, and mourned over, times without number; and yet, somehow, there they were, all these pressing claims, and all the ineffectual resolves to pray more, barring the way. I need not now say to what further thoughts our conversation led; the substance of them will be found in some of the later chapters in this volume.Let me call just one more witness. In the course of my journey I met with one of the Cowley Fathers, who had just been holding Retreats for clergy of the English Church. I was interested to hear from him the line of teaching he follows. In the course of conversation he used the expression—“the distraction of business,” and it came out that he found it one of the great difficulties he had to deal with in himself and others. Of himself, he said that by the vows of his Order he was bound to give himself specially to prayer. But he found it exceedingly difficult. Every day he had to be at[p16]four different points of the town he lived in; his predecessor had left him the charge of a number of committees where he was expected to do all the work; it was as if everything conspired to keep him from prayer.All this testimony surely suffices to make clear that prayer has not the place it ought to have in our ministerial and Christian life; that the shortcoming is one of which all are willing to make confession; and that the difficulties in the way of deliverance are such as to make a return to a true and full prayer-life almost impossible. Blessed be God—“The things that are impossible with men are possible with God”! “God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to all good work.” Do let us believe that God’s call to much prayer need not be a burden and cause of continual self-condemnation. He means it to be a joy. He can make it an inspiration, giving us strength for all our work, and bringing down His power to work through us in our fellowmen. Let us not fear to admit to the full the sin that shames us, and then to face it in the name of our Mighty Redeemer.The light that shows us our sin and[p17]condemns us for it, will show us the way out of it, into the life of liberty that is well-pleasing to God.If we allow this one matter, unfaithfulness in prayer, to convict us of the lack in our Christian life which lies at the root of it, God will use the discovery to bring us not only the power to pray that we long for, but the joy of a new and healthy life, of which prayer is the spontaneous expression.And what is now the way by which our sense of the lack of prayer can be made the means of blessing, the entrance on a path in which the evil may be conquered? How can our intercourse with the Father, in continual prayer and intercession, become what it ought to be, if we and the world around us are to be blessed? As it appears to me, we must begin by going back to God’s Word, to study whatthe place is God means prayer to havein the life of His child and His Church. A fresh sight of what prayer isaccording to the will of God, of what our prayers can be,through the grace of God, will free us from those feeble defective views, in regard to the absolute necessity of continual prayer, which lie at the root of our failure. As we get an insight into the reasonableness and rightness of this divine appointment, and come under the full conviction of[p18]how wonderfully it fits in with God’s love and our own happiness, we shall be freed from the false impression of its being an arbitrary demand. We shall with our whole heart and soul consent to it and rejoice in it, as the one only possible way for the blessing of heaven to come to earth. All thought of task and burden, of self-effort and strain, will pass away in the blessed faith that as simple as breathing is in the healthy natural life, will praying be in the Christian life that is led and filled by the Spirit of God.As we occupy ourselves with and accept this teaching of God’s Word on prayer, we shall be led to see how our failure in the prayer-life was owing to failure in the Spirit-life. Prayer is one of the most heavenly and spiritual of the functions of the Spirit-life. How could we try or expect to fulfil it so as to please God, except as our soul is in perfect health, and our life truly possessed and moved by God’s Spirit? The insight into the place God means prayer to take, and which it only can take, in a full Christian life, will show us that we have not been living the true, the abundant life, and that any thought of praying more and effectually will be vain, except as we are brought[p19]into a closer relation to our Blessed Lord Jesus. Christ is our life, Christ liveth in us, in such reality that His life of prayer on earth, and of intercession in heaven, is breathed into us in just such measure as our surrender and our faith allow and accept it. Jesus Christ is the Healer of all diseases, the Conqueror of all enemies, the Deliverer from all sin; if our failure teaches us to turn afresh to Him, and find in Him the grace He gives to pray as we ought, this humiliation may become our greatest blessing. Let us all unite in praying God that He would visit our souls and fit us for that work of intercession, which is at this moment the greatest need of the Church and the world. It is only by intercession that that power can be brought down from Heaven which will enable the Church to conquer the world. Let us stir up the slumbering gift that is lying unused, and seek to gather and train and band together as many as we can, to be God’s remembrancers, and to give Him no rest till He makes His Church a joy in the earth. Nothing but intense believing prayer can meet the intense spirit of worldliness, of which complaint is everywhere made.[p20]A PLEA FOR MORE PRAYERCHAPTER IIContentsThe Ministration of the Spirit and Prayer“If ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children; how much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?”—Lukexi. 13.Christhad just said (v. 9), “Ask, and it shall be given”: God’s giving is inseparably connected with our asking. He applies this especially to the Holy Spirit. As surely as a father on earth gives bread to his child, so God gives the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him. The whole ministration of the Spirit is ruled by the one great law: God must give, we must ask. When the Holy Spirit was poured out at Pentecost with a flow that never ceases, it was in answer to prayer. The inflow into the believer’s heart, and His outflow in the rivers of living water, ever still depend upon the law: “Ask, and it shall be given.” In connection with our[p21]confession of the lack of prayer, we have said that what we need is some due apprehension of the place it occupies in God’s plan of redemption; we shall perhaps nowhere see this more clearly than in the first half of the Acts of the Apostles. The story of the birth of the Church in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and of the first freshness of its heavenly life in the power of that Spirit, will teach us howprayer on earth, whether as cause or effect,is the true measure of the presence of the Spirit of heaven.We begin with the well-known words (i. 13), “These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication.” And then there follows: “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. And the same day there were added to them about three thousand souls.” The great work of redemption had been accomplished. The Holy Spirit had been promised by Christ “not many days hence.” He had sat down on His throne and received the Spirit from the Father. But all this was not enough. One thing more was needed: the ten days’ united continued supplication of the disciples. It was[p22]intense, continued prayer that prepared the disciples’ hearts, that opened the windows of heaven, that brought down the promised gift. As little as the power of the Spirit could be given without Christ sitting on the throne,could it descend without the disciples on the footstool of the throne. For all the ages the law is laid down here, at the birth of the Church, that whatever else may be found on earth, the power of the Spirit must be prayed down from heaven. The measure of believing, continued prayer will be the measure of the Spirit’s working in the Church. Direct, definite, determined prayer is what we need.See how this is confirmed in chapter iv. Peter and John had been brought before the Council and threatened with punishment. When they returned to their brethren, and reported what had been said to them, “all lifted up their voice to God with one accord,” and prayed for boldness to speak the word. “And when they had prayed, the place was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness. And the multitude of them that believed were one heart and one soul. And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord[p23]Jesus; and great grace was upon them all.” It is as if the story of Pentecost is repeated a second time over, with the prayer, the shaking of the house, the filling with the Spirit, the speaking God’s word with boldness and power, the great grace upon all, the manifestation of unity and love—to imprint it ineffaceably on the heart of the Church: it is prayer that lies at the root of the spiritual life and power of the Church. The measure of God’s giving the Spirit is our asking. He gives as a father to him who asks as a child.Go on to the sixth chapter. There we find that, when murmurings arose as to the neglect of the Grecian Jews in the distribution of alms, the apostles proposed the appointment of deacons to serve the tables. “We,” they said, “will give ourselves to prayer and the ministry of the word.” It is often said, and rightly said, that there is nothing in honest business, when it is kept in its place as entirely subordinate to the kingdom, which must ever be first, that need prevent fellowship with God. Least of all ought a work like ministering to the poor hinder the spiritual life. And yet the apostles felt it would hinder them in their giving themselves to the ministry of prayer and the word.[p24]What does this teach? That the maintenance of the spirit of prayer, such as is consistent with the claims of much work, is not enough for those who are the leaders of the Church. To keep up the communication with the King on the throne and the heavenly world clear and fresh; to draw down the power and blessing of that world, not only for the maintenance of our own spiritual life, but for those around us; continually to receive instruction and empowerment for the great work to be done—the apostles, as the ministers of the word, felt the need of being free from other duties, that they might give themselves to much prayer. James writes: “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction.” If ever any work were a sacred one, it was that of caring for these Grecian widows. And yet, even such duties might interfere with the special calling to give themselves to prayer and the ministry of the word. As on earth, so in the kingdom of heaven, there is power in the division of labour; and while some, like the deacons, had specially to care for serving the tables and ministering the alms of the Church here on earth, others had to be set free for that steadfast continuance in[p25]prayer which would uninterruptedly secure the downflow of the powers of the heavenly world. The minister of Christ is set apart to give himself as much to prayer as to the ministry of the word. In faithful obedience to this law is the secret of the Church’s power and success. As before, soafter Pentecost, the apostles were men given up to prayer.In chapter viii. we have the intimate connection between the Pentecostal gift and prayer, from another point of view. At Samaria, Philip had preached with great blessing, and many had believed. But the Holy Ghost was, as yet, fallen on none of them. The apostles sent down Peter and John to pray for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost. The power for such prayer was a higher gift than preaching—the work of the men who had been in closest contact with the Lord in glory, the work that was essential to the perfection of the life that preaching and baptism, faith and conversion had only begun. Surely of all the gifts of the early Church for which we should long there is none more needed than the gift of prayer—prayer that brings down the Holy Ghost on believers. This power is given to the[p26]men who say: “We will give ourselves to prayer.”In the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, in the house of Cornelius at Cæsarea, we have another testimony to the wondrous interdependence of the action of prayer and the Spirit, and another proof of what will come to a man who has given himself to prayer. Peter went up at midday to pray on the housetop. And what happened? He saw heaven opened, and there came the vision that revealed to him the cleansing of the Gentiles; with that came the message of the three men from Cornelius, a man who “prayed alway,” and had heard from an angel, “Thy prayers are come up before God”; and then the voice of the Spirit was heard saying, “Go with them.” It is Peter praying, to whom the will of God is revealed, to whom guidance is given as to going to Cæsarea, and who is brought into contact with a praying and prepared company of hearers. No wonder that in answer to all this prayer a blessing comes beyond all expectation, and the Holy Ghost is poured out upon the Gentiles. A much-praying minister will receive an entrance into God’s will he would otherwise know nothing of; will be brought to praying people where he does not expect[p27]them; will receive blessing above all he asks or thinks. The teaching and the power of the Holy Ghost are alike unalterably linked to prayer.Our next reference will show us faith in the power that the Church’s prayer has with its glorified King, as it is found, not only in the apostles, but in the Christian community. In chapter xii. we have the story of Peter in prison on the eve of execution. The death of James had aroused the Church to a sense of real danger, and the thought of losing Peter too, wakened up all its energies. It betook itself to prayer. “Prayer was made of the Church without ceasing to God for him.” That prayer availed much; Peter was delivered. When he came to the house of Mary, he found “many gathered together praying.” Stone walls and double chains, soldiers and keepers, and the iron gate, all gave way before the power from heaven that prayer brought down to his rescue. The whole power of the Roman Empire, as represented by Herod, was impotent in presence of the power the Church of the Holy Spirit wielded in prayer. They stood in such close and living communication with their Lord in heaven; they knew so well that the words, “all power is given unto Me,” and “Lo I[p28]am with you alway,” were absolutely true; they had such faith in His promise to hear them whatever they asked—that they prayed in the assurance that the powers of heaven could work on earth, and would work at their request and on their behalf. The Pentecostal Church believed in prayer, and practised it.Just one more illustration of the place and the blessing of prayer among men filled with the Holy Spirit. In chapter xiii. we have the names of five men at Antioch who had given themselves specially to ministering to the Lord with prayer and fasting. Their giving themselves to prayer was not in vain: as they ministered to the Lord, the Holy Spirit met them, and gave them new insight into God’s plans. He called them to be fellow-workers with Himself; there was a work to which He had called Barnabas and Saul; their part and privilege would be to separate these men with renewed fasting and prayer, and to let them go, “sent forth of the Holy Ghost.” God in heaven would not send forth His chosen servants without the co-operation of His Church; men on earth were to have a real partnership in the work of God. It was prayer that fitted and prepared them for this; it was to praying men the Holy Ghost gave[p29]authority to do His work and use His name. It was to prayer the Holy Ghost was given. It is still prayer that is the only secret of true Church extension, that is guided from heaven to find and send forth God-called and God-empowered men. To prayer the Holy Spirit will show the men He has selected; to prayer that sets them apart under His guidance He will give the honour of knowing that they are men, “sent forth by the Holy Ghost.” It is prayer which is the link between the King on the throne and the Church at His footstool—the human link that has its divine strength in the power of the Holy Ghost, who comes in answer to it.As one looks back upon these chapters in the history of the Pentecostal Church, how clear the two great truths stand out: where there is much prayer there will be much of the Spirit; where there is much of the Spirit there will be ever-increasing prayer. So clear is the living connection between the two, that when the Spirit is given in answer to prayer it ever wakens more prayer to prepare for the fuller revelation and communication of His Divine power and grace. If prayer was thus the power by which the Primitive Church flourished and triumphed, is it not the one need of the[p30]Church of our days? Let us learn what ought to be counted axioms in our Church work:—Heaven is still as full of stores of spiritual blessing as it was then.God still delights to give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him.Our life and work are still as dependent on the direct impartation of Divine power as they were in Pentecostal times.Prayer is still the appointed means for drawing down these heavenly blessings in power on ourselves and those around us.God still seeks for men and women who will, with all their other work of ministering, specially give themselves to persevering prayer.And we—you, my reader, and I—may have the privilege of offering ourselves to God to labour in prayer, and bring down these blessings to this earth. Shall we not beseech God to make all this truth so living in us that we may not rest till it has mastered us, and our whole heart be so filled with it, that the practice of intercession shall be counted by us our highest privilege, and we find in it the sure and only measure for blessing on ourselves, on the Church, and on the world?[p31]A PLEA FOR MORE PRAYERCHAPTER IIIContentsA Model of Intercession
Thereis no holy serviceBut hath its secret bliss:Yet, of all blessèd ministries,Is one so dear as this?The ministry that cannot beA wondering seraph’s dower,Enduing mortal weaknessWith more than angel-power;The ministry of purest loveUncrossed by any fear,That bids us meet At the Master’s feetAnd keeps us very near.God’s ministers are many,For this His gracious will,Remembrancers that day and nightThis holy office fill.While some are hushed in slumber,Some to fresh service wake,And thus the saintly numberNo change or chance can break.And thus the sacred coursesAre evermore fulfilled,The tide of grace By time or placeIs never stayed or stilled.[px]Oh, if our ears were openedTo hear as angels doThe Intercession-chorusArising full and true,We should hear it soft up-wellingIn morning’s pearly light;Through evening’s shadows swellingIn grandly gathering might;The sultry silence fillingOf noontide’s thunderous glow,And the solemn starlight thrillingWith ever-deepening flow.We should hear it through the rushingOf the city’s restless roar,And trace its gentle gushingO’er ocean’s crystal floor:We should hear it far up-floatingBeneath the Orient moon,And catch the golden notingFrom the busy Western noon;And pine-robed heights would echoAs the mystic chant up-floats,And the sunny plain Resound againWith the myriad-mingling notes.Who are the blessèd ministersOf this world-gathering band?All who have learnt one language,Through each far-parted land;All who have learnt the storyOf Jesu’s love and grace,And are longing for His gloryTo shine in every face.All who have known the FatherIn Jesus Christ our Lord,And know the might And love the lightOf the Spirit in the Word.[pxi]Yet there are some who see notTheir calling high and grand,Who seldom pass the portals,And never boldly standBefore the golden altarOn the crimson-stainèd floor,Who wait afar and falter,And dare not hope for more.Will ye not join the blessèd ranksIn their beautiful array?Let intercession blend with thanksAs ye minister to-day!There are little ones among themChild-ministers of prayer,White robes of intercessionThose tiny servants wear.First for the near and dear onesIs that fair ministry,Then for the poor black children,So far beyond the sea.The busy hands are folded,As the little heart upliftsIn simple love, To God above,Its prayer for all good gifts.There are hands too often wearyWith the business of the day,With God-entrusted duties,Who are toiling while they pray.They bear the golden vials,And the golden harps of praiseThrough all the daily trials,Through all the dusty ways,These hands, so tired, so faithful,With odours sweet are filled,And in the ministry of prayerAre wonderfully skilled.[pxii]There are ministers unlettered,Not of Earth’s great and wise,Yet mighty and unfetteredTheir eagle-prayers arise.Free of the heavenly storehouse!For they hold the master-keyThat opens all the fulnessOf God’s great treasury.They bring the needs of others,And all things are their own,For their one grand claim Is Jesu’s nameBefore their Father’s throne.There are noble Christian workers,The men of faith and power,The overcoming wrestlersOf many a midnight hour;Prevailing princes with their God,Who will not be denied,Who bring down showers of blessingTo swell the rising tide.The Prince of Darkness quailethAt their triumphant way,Their fervent prayer availethTo sap his subtle sway.But in this temple serviceAre sealed and set apartArch-priests of intercession,Of undivided heart.The fulness of anointingOn these is doubly shed,The consecration of their GodIs on each low-bowed head.They bear the golden vialsWith white and trembling hand;In quiet room Or wakeful gloomThese ministers must stand,—[pxiii]To the Intercession-PriesthoodMysteriously ordained,When the strange dark gift of sufferingThis added gift hath gained.For the holy hands upliftedIn suffering’s longest hourAre truly Spirit-giftedWith intercession-power.The Lord of Blessing fills themWith His uncounted gold,An unseen store, Still more and more,Those trembling hands shall hold.Not always with rejoicingThis ministry is wrought,For many a sigh is mingledWith the sweet odours brought.Yet every tear bedewingThe faith-fed altar fireMay be its bright renewingTo purer flame, and higher.But when the oil of gladnessGod graciously outpours,The heavenward blaze, With blended praise,More mightily upsoars.So the incense-cloud ascendethAs through calm, crystal air,A pillar reaching unto heavenOf wreathèd faith and prayer.For evermore the AngelOf Intercession standsIn His Divine High PriesthoodWith fragrance-fillèd hands,To wave the golden censerBefore His Father’s throne,With Spirit-fire intenser,And incense all His own.[pxiv]And evermore the FatherSends radiantly downAll-marvellous responses,His ministers to crown;The incense-cloud returningAs golden blessing-showers,We in each drop discerningSome feeble prayer of ours,Transmuted into wealth unpriced,By Him who giveth thusThe glory all to Jesus Christ,The gladness all to us!
Thereis no holy serviceBut hath its secret bliss:Yet, of all blessèd ministries,Is one so dear as this?The ministry that cannot beA wondering seraph’s dower,Enduing mortal weaknessWith more than angel-power;The ministry of purest loveUncrossed by any fear,That bids us meet At the Master’s feetAnd keeps us very near.
Thereis no holy service
But hath its secret bliss:
Yet, of all blessèd ministries,
Is one so dear as this?
The ministry that cannot be
A wondering seraph’s dower,
Enduing mortal weakness
With more than angel-power;
The ministry of purest love
Uncrossed by any fear,
That bids us meet At the Master’s feet
And keeps us very near.
God’s ministers are many,For this His gracious will,Remembrancers that day and nightThis holy office fill.While some are hushed in slumber,Some to fresh service wake,And thus the saintly numberNo change or chance can break.And thus the sacred coursesAre evermore fulfilled,The tide of grace By time or placeIs never stayed or stilled.
God’s ministers are many,
For this His gracious will,
Remembrancers that day and night
This holy office fill.
While some are hushed in slumber,
Some to fresh service wake,
And thus the saintly number
No change or chance can break.
And thus the sacred courses
Are evermore fulfilled,
The tide of grace By time or place
Is never stayed or stilled.
[px]Oh, if our ears were openedTo hear as angels doThe Intercession-chorusArising full and true,We should hear it soft up-wellingIn morning’s pearly light;Through evening’s shadows swellingIn grandly gathering might;The sultry silence fillingOf noontide’s thunderous glow,And the solemn starlight thrillingWith ever-deepening flow.
Oh, if our ears were opened
To hear as angels do
The Intercession-chorus
Arising full and true,
We should hear it soft up-welling
In morning’s pearly light;
Through evening’s shadows swelling
In grandly gathering might;
The sultry silence filling
Of noontide’s thunderous glow,
And the solemn starlight thrilling
With ever-deepening flow.
We should hear it through the rushingOf the city’s restless roar,And trace its gentle gushingO’er ocean’s crystal floor:We should hear it far up-floatingBeneath the Orient moon,And catch the golden notingFrom the busy Western noon;And pine-robed heights would echoAs the mystic chant up-floats,And the sunny plain Resound againWith the myriad-mingling notes.
We should hear it through the rushing
Of the city’s restless roar,
And trace its gentle gushing
O’er ocean’s crystal floor:
We should hear it far up-floating
Beneath the Orient moon,
And catch the golden noting
From the busy Western noon;
And pine-robed heights would echo
As the mystic chant up-floats,
And the sunny plain Resound again
With the myriad-mingling notes.
Who are the blessèd ministersOf this world-gathering band?All who have learnt one language,Through each far-parted land;All who have learnt the storyOf Jesu’s love and grace,And are longing for His gloryTo shine in every face.All who have known the FatherIn Jesus Christ our Lord,And know the might And love the lightOf the Spirit in the Word.
Who are the blessèd ministers
Of this world-gathering band?
All who have learnt one language,
Through each far-parted land;
All who have learnt the story
Of Jesu’s love and grace,
And are longing for His glory
To shine in every face.
All who have known the Father
In Jesus Christ our Lord,
And know the might And love the light
Of the Spirit in the Word.
[pxi]Yet there are some who see notTheir calling high and grand,Who seldom pass the portals,And never boldly standBefore the golden altarOn the crimson-stainèd floor,Who wait afar and falter,And dare not hope for more.Will ye not join the blessèd ranksIn their beautiful array?Let intercession blend with thanksAs ye minister to-day!
Yet there are some who see not
Their calling high and grand,
Who seldom pass the portals,
And never boldly stand
Before the golden altar
On the crimson-stainèd floor,
Who wait afar and falter,
And dare not hope for more.
Will ye not join the blessèd ranks
In their beautiful array?
Let intercession blend with thanks
As ye minister to-day!
There are little ones among themChild-ministers of prayer,White robes of intercessionThose tiny servants wear.First for the near and dear onesIs that fair ministry,Then for the poor black children,So far beyond the sea.The busy hands are folded,As the little heart upliftsIn simple love, To God above,Its prayer for all good gifts.
There are little ones among them
Child-ministers of prayer,
White robes of intercession
Those tiny servants wear.
First for the near and dear ones
Is that fair ministry,
Then for the poor black children,
So far beyond the sea.
The busy hands are folded,
As the little heart uplifts
In simple love, To God above,
Its prayer for all good gifts.
There are hands too often wearyWith the business of the day,With God-entrusted duties,Who are toiling while they pray.They bear the golden vials,And the golden harps of praiseThrough all the daily trials,Through all the dusty ways,These hands, so tired, so faithful,With odours sweet are filled,And in the ministry of prayerAre wonderfully skilled.
There are hands too often weary
With the business of the day,
With God-entrusted duties,
Who are toiling while they pray.
They bear the golden vials,
And the golden harps of praise
Through all the daily trials,
Through all the dusty ways,
These hands, so tired, so faithful,
With odours sweet are filled,
And in the ministry of prayer
Are wonderfully skilled.
[pxii]There are ministers unlettered,Not of Earth’s great and wise,Yet mighty and unfetteredTheir eagle-prayers arise.Free of the heavenly storehouse!For they hold the master-keyThat opens all the fulnessOf God’s great treasury.They bring the needs of others,And all things are their own,For their one grand claim Is Jesu’s nameBefore their Father’s throne.
There are ministers unlettered,
Not of Earth’s great and wise,
Yet mighty and unfettered
Their eagle-prayers arise.
Free of the heavenly storehouse!
For they hold the master-key
That opens all the fulness
Of God’s great treasury.
They bring the needs of others,
And all things are their own,
For their one grand claim Is Jesu’s name
Before their Father’s throne.
There are noble Christian workers,The men of faith and power,The overcoming wrestlersOf many a midnight hour;Prevailing princes with their God,Who will not be denied,Who bring down showers of blessingTo swell the rising tide.The Prince of Darkness quailethAt their triumphant way,Their fervent prayer availethTo sap his subtle sway.
There are noble Christian workers,
The men of faith and power,
The overcoming wrestlers
Of many a midnight hour;
Prevailing princes with their God,
Who will not be denied,
Who bring down showers of blessing
To swell the rising tide.
The Prince of Darkness quaileth
At their triumphant way,
Their fervent prayer availeth
To sap his subtle sway.
But in this temple serviceAre sealed and set apartArch-priests of intercession,Of undivided heart.The fulness of anointingOn these is doubly shed,The consecration of their GodIs on each low-bowed head.They bear the golden vialsWith white and trembling hand;In quiet room Or wakeful gloomThese ministers must stand,—
But in this temple service
Are sealed and set apart
Arch-priests of intercession,
Of undivided heart.
The fulness of anointing
On these is doubly shed,
The consecration of their God
Is on each low-bowed head.
They bear the golden vials
With white and trembling hand;
In quiet room Or wakeful gloom
These ministers must stand,—
[pxiii]To the Intercession-PriesthoodMysteriously ordained,When the strange dark gift of sufferingThis added gift hath gained.For the holy hands upliftedIn suffering’s longest hourAre truly Spirit-giftedWith intercession-power.The Lord of Blessing fills themWith His uncounted gold,An unseen store, Still more and more,Those trembling hands shall hold.
To the Intercession-Priesthood
Mysteriously ordained,
When the strange dark gift of suffering
This added gift hath gained.
For the holy hands uplifted
In suffering’s longest hour
Are truly Spirit-gifted
With intercession-power.
The Lord of Blessing fills them
With His uncounted gold,
An unseen store, Still more and more,
Those trembling hands shall hold.
Not always with rejoicingThis ministry is wrought,For many a sigh is mingledWith the sweet odours brought.Yet every tear bedewingThe faith-fed altar fireMay be its bright renewingTo purer flame, and higher.But when the oil of gladnessGod graciously outpours,The heavenward blaze, With blended praise,More mightily upsoars.
Not always with rejoicing
This ministry is wrought,
For many a sigh is mingled
With the sweet odours brought.
Yet every tear bedewing
The faith-fed altar fire
May be its bright renewing
To purer flame, and higher.
But when the oil of gladness
God graciously outpours,
The heavenward blaze, With blended praise,
More mightily upsoars.
So the incense-cloud ascendethAs through calm, crystal air,A pillar reaching unto heavenOf wreathèd faith and prayer.For evermore the AngelOf Intercession standsIn His Divine High PriesthoodWith fragrance-fillèd hands,To wave the golden censerBefore His Father’s throne,With Spirit-fire intenser,And incense all His own.
So the incense-cloud ascendeth
As through calm, crystal air,
A pillar reaching unto heaven
Of wreathèd faith and prayer.
For evermore the Angel
Of Intercession stands
In His Divine High Priesthood
With fragrance-fillèd hands,
To wave the golden censer
Before His Father’s throne,
With Spirit-fire intenser,
And incense all His own.
[pxiv]And evermore the FatherSends radiantly downAll-marvellous responses,His ministers to crown;The incense-cloud returningAs golden blessing-showers,We in each drop discerningSome feeble prayer of ours,Transmuted into wealth unpriced,By Him who giveth thusThe glory all to Jesus Christ,The gladness all to us!
And evermore the Father
Sends radiantly down
All-marvellous responses,
His ministers to crown;
The incense-cloud returning
As golden blessing-showers,
We in each drop discerning
Some feeble prayer of ours,
Transmuted into wealth unpriced,
By Him who giveth thus
The glory all to Jesus Christ,
The gladness all to us!
F. R. Havergal.
September 1877.
I havebeen asked by a friend, who heard of this book being published, what the difference would be between it and the previous one on the same subject,With Christ in the School of Prayer. An answer to that question may be the best introduction I can give to the present volume.
Any acceptance the former work has had must be attributed, as far as the contents go, to the prominence given to two great truths. The one was, the certainty that prayer will be answered. There is with some an idea that to ask and expect an answer is not the highest form of prayer. Fellowship with God, apart from any request, is more than supplication. About the petition there is something of selfishness and bargaining—to worship is more than to beg. With others the thought that prayer is so often unanswered is so prominent, that they think more of the spiritual benefit derived from the exercise of prayer than[p2]the actual gifts to be obtained by it. While admitting the measure of truth in these views, when kept in their true place,The School of Prayerpoints out how our Lord continually spoke of prayer as a means of obtaining what we desire, and how He seeks in every possible way to waken in us the confident expectation of an answer. I was led to show how prayer, in which a man could enter into the mind of God, could assert the royal power of a renewed will, and bring down to earth what without prayer would not have been given, is the highest proof of his having been made in the likeness of God’s Son. He is found worthy of entering into fellowship with Him, not only in adoration and worship, but in having his will actually taken up into the rule of the world, and becoming the intelligent channel through which God can fulfil his eternal purpose. The book sought to reiterate and enforce the precious truths Christ preaches so continually: the blessing of prayer is that you can ask and receive what you will: the highest exercise and the glory of prayer is that persevering importunity can prevail and obtain what God at first could not and would not give.
With this truth there was a second one that came out very strongly as we studied the Master’s words. In answer to the question, But why, if the answer to prayer is so positively promised, why are[p3]there such numberless unanswered prayers? we found that Christ taught us that the answer depended upon certain conditions. He spoke of faith, of perseverance, of praying in His Name, of praying in the will of God. But all these conditions were summed up in the one central one: “If ye abide in Me, ask whatsoever ye will and it shall be done unto you.” It became clear that the power to pray the effectual prayer of faith dependedupon the life. It is only to a man given up to live as entirely in Christ and for Christ as the branch in the vine and for the vine, that these promises can come true. “In that day,” Christ said, the day of Pentecost, “ye shall ask in My Name.” It is only in a life full of the Holy Spirit that the true power to ask in Christ’s Name can be known. This led to the emphasising the truth that the ordinary Christian life cannot appropriate these promises. It needs a spiritual life, altogether sound and vigorous, to pray in power. The teaching naturally led to press the need of a life of entire consecration. More than one has told me how it was in the reading of the book that he first saw what the better life was that could be lived, and must be lived, if Christ’s wonderful promises are to come true to us.
In regard to these two truths there is no change in the present volume. One only wishes that one could put them with such clearness and force as to[p4]help every beloved fellow-Christian to some right impression of the reality and the glory of our privilege as God’s children: “Ask whatsoever ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” The present volume owes its existence to the desire to enforce two truths, of which formerly I had no such impression as now.
The one is—that Christ actually meant prayer to be the great power by which His Church should do its work, and that the neglect of prayer is the great reason the Church has not greater power over the masses in Christian and in heathen countries. In the first chapter I have stated how my convictions in regard to this have been strengthened, and what gave occasion to the writing of the book. It is meant to be, on behalf of myself and my brethren in the ministry and all God’s people, a confession of shortcoming and of sin, and, at the same time, a call to believe that things can be different, and that Christ waits to fit us by His Spirit to pray as He would have us. This call, of course, brings me back to what I spoke of in connection with the former volume: that there is a life in the Spirit, a life of abiding in Christ, within our reach, in which the power of prayer—both the power to pray and the power to obtain the answer—can be realised in a measure which we could not have thought possible before. Any failure in the prayer-life, any desire[p5]or hope really to take the place Christ has prepared for us, brings us to the very root of the doctrine of grace as manifested in the Christian life. It is only by a full surrender to the life of abiding, by the yielding to the fulness of the Spirit’s leading and quickening, that the prayer-life can be restored to a truly healthy state. I feel deeply how little I have been able to put this in the volume as I could wish. I have prayed and am trusting that God, who chooses the weak things, will use it for His own glory.
The second truth which I have sought to enforce is that we have far too little conception of the place that intercession, as distinguished from prayer for ourselves, ought to have in the Church and the Christian life. In intercession our King upon the throne finds His highest glory; in it we shall find our highest glory too. Through it He continues His saving work, and can do nothing without it; through it alone we can do our work, and nothing avails without it. In it He ever receives from the Father the Holy Spirit and all spiritual blessings to impart; in it we too are called to receive in ourselves the fulness of God’s Spirit, with the power to impart spiritual blessing to others. The power of the Church truly to bless rests on intercession—asking and receiving heavenly gifts to carry to men. Because this is so, it is no wonder that where, owing to lack of teaching or spiritual insight,we[p6]trustin our own diligence and effort, to the influence of the world and the flesh, and work more than we pray, the presence and power of God are not seen in our work as we would wish.
Such thoughts have led me to wonder what could be done to rouse believers to a sense of their high calling in this, and to help and train them to take part in it. And so this book differs from the former one in the attempt to open a practising school, and to invite all who have never taken systematic part in the great work of intercession to begin and give themselves to it. There are tens of thousands of workers who have known and are proving wonderfully what prayer can do. But there are tens of thousands who work with but little prayer, and as many more who do not work because they do not know how or where, who might all be won to swell the host of intercessors who are to bring down the blessings of heaven to earth. For their sakes, and the sake of all who feel the need of help, I have prepared helps and hints for a school of intercession for a month (see the Appendix). I have asked those who would join, to begin by giving at least ten minutes a day definitely to this work. It is in doing that we learn to do; it is as we take hold and begin that the help of God’s Spirit will come. It is as we daily hear God’s call, and at once put it into practice, that the consciousness will begin to[p7]live in us, I too am an intercessor; and that we shall feel the need of living in Christ and being full of the Spirit if we are to do this work aright. Nothing will so test and stimulate the Christian life as the honest attempt to be an intercessor. It is difficult to conceive how much we ourselves and the Church will be the gainers, if with our whole heart we accept the post of honour God is offering us. With regard to the school of intercession, I am confident that the result of the first month’s course will be to awake the feeling of how little we know how to intercede. And a second and a third month may only deepen the sense of ignorance and unfitness. This will be an unspeakable blessing. The confession, “We know not how to pray as we ought,” is the introduction to the experience, “The Spirit maketh intercession for us”—our sense of ignorance will lead us to depend upon the Spirit praying in us, to feel the need of living in the Spirit.
We have heard a great deal of systematic Bible study, and we praise God for thousands on thousands of Bible classes and Bible readings. Let all the leaders of such classes see whether they could not open prayer classes—helping their students to pray in secret, and training them to be, above everything, men of prayer. Let ministers ask what they can do in this. The faith in God’s word can nowhere be so exercised and perfected as in the intercession[p8]that asks and expects and looks out for the answer. Throughout Scripture, in the life of every saint, of God’s own Son, throughout the history of God’s Church, God is, first of all, a prayer-hearing God. Let us try and help God’s children to know their God, and encourage all God’s servants to labour with the assurance: the chief and most blessed part of my work is to ask and receive from my Father what I can bring to others.
It will now easily be understood how what this book contains will be nothing but the confirmation and the call to put into practice the two great lessons of the former one. “Ask whatsoever ye will, and it shall be done to you”; “Whatever ye ask, believe that ye have received”: these great prayer-promises, as part of the Church’s enduement of power for her work, are to be taken as literally and actually true. “If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you”; “In that day ye shall ask in My Name”: these great prayer-conditions are universal and unchangeable. A life abiding in Christ and filled with the Spirit, a life entirely given up as a branch for the work of the vine, has the power to claim these promises and to pray the effectual prayer that availeth much. Lord, teach us to pray.
ANDREW MURRAY.
Wellington,1st September 1897.
“Ye have not, because ye ask not.”—Jas.iv. 2.“And He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor.”—Isa.lix. 16.“There is none that calleth upon Thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of Thee.”—Isa.lxiv. 7.
“Ye have not, because ye ask not.”—Jas.iv. 2.
“And He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor.”—Isa.lix. 16.
“There is none that calleth upon Thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of Thee.”—Isa.lxiv. 7.
Atour last Wellington Convention for the Deepening of the Spiritual Life, in April, the forenoon meetings were devoted to prayer and intercession. Great blessing was found, both in listening to what the Word teaches of their need and power, and in joining in continued united supplication. Many felt that we know too little of persevering importunate prayer, and that it is indeed one of the greatest needs of the Church.
During the past two months I have been attending a number of Conventions. At the first, a[p10]Dutch Missionary Conference at Langlaagte, Prayer had been chosen as the subject of the addresses. At the next, at Johannesburg, a brother in business gave expression to his deep conviction that the great want of the Church of our day was, more of the spirit and practice of intercession. A week later we had a Dutch Ministerial Conference in the Free State, where three days were spent, after two days’ services in the congregation on the work of the Holy Spirit, in considering the relation of the Spirit to prayer. At the ministerial meetings held at most of the succeeding conventions, we were led to take up the subject, and everywhere there was the confession: We pray too little! And with this there appeared to be a fear that, with the pressure of duty and the force of habit, it was almost impossible to hope for any great change.
I cannot say what a deep impression was made upon me by these conversations. Most of all, by the thought that there should be anything like hopelessness on the part of God’s servants as to the prospect of an entire change being effected, and real deliverance found from a failure which cannot but hinder our own joy in God, and our power in[p11]His service. And I prayed God to give me words that might not only help to direct attention to the evil, but, specially, that might stir up faith, and waken the assurance that God by His Spirit will enable us to pray as we ought.
Let me begin, for the sake of those who have never had their attention directed to the matter, by stating some of the facts that prove how universal is the sense of shortcoming in this respect.
Last year there appeared a report of an address to ministers by Dr. Whyte, of Free St. George’s, Edinburgh. In that he said that, as a young minister, he had thought that, of the time he had over from pastoral visitation, he ought to spend as much as possible with his books in his study. He wanted to feed his people with the very best he could prepare for them. But he had now learned that prayer was of more importance than study. He reminded his brethren of the election of deacons to take charge of the collections, that the twelve might “give themselves to prayer and the ministry of the word,” and said that at times, when the deacons brought him his salary, he had to ask himself whether he had been as faithful in his[p12]engagement as the deacons had been to theirs. He felt as if it were almost too late to regain what he had lost, and urged his brethren to pray more. What a solemn confession and warning from one of the high places: We pray too little!
During the Regent Square Convention two years ago the subject came up in conversation with a well-known London minister. He urged that if so much time must be given to prayer, it would involve the neglect of the imperative calls of duty “There is the morning post, before breakfast, with ten or twelve letters whichmustbe answered. Then there are committee meetings waiting, with numberless other engagements, more than enough to fill up the day. It is difficult to see how it can be done.”
My answer was, in substance, that it was simply a question of whether the call of God for our time and attention was of more importance than that of man. If God was waiting to meet us, and to give us blessing and power from heaven for His work, it was a short-sighted policy to put other work in the place which God and waiting on Him should have.
At one of our ministerial meetings, the superintendent of a large district put the case thus: “I rise[p13]in the morning and have half an hour with God, in the Word and prayer, in my room before breakfast. I go out, and am occupied all day with a multiplicity of engagements. I do not think many minutes elapse without my breathing a prayer for guidance or help. After my day’s work, I return in my evening devotions and speak to God of the day’s work. But of the intense, definite, importunate prayer of which Scripture speaks one knows little.” What, he asked, must I think of such a life?
We all know the difference between a man whose profits are just enough to maintain his family and keep up his business, and another whose income enables him to extend the business and to help others. There may be an earnest Christian life in which there is prayer enough to keep us from going back, and just maintain the position we have attained to, without much of growth in spirituality or Christlikeness. The attitude is more defensive, seeking to ward off temptation, than aggressive, reaching out after higher attainment. If there is indeed to be a going from strength to strength, with some large experience of God’s power to sanctify ourselves and to bring down real blessing on others, there must be more definite and persevering[p14]prayer. The Scripture teaching about crying day and night, continuing steadfastly in prayer, watching unto prayer, being heard for his importunity, must in some degree become our experience if we are really to be intercessors.
At the very next Convention the same question was put in somewhat different form. “I am at the head of a station, with a large outlying district to care for. I see the importance of much prayer, and yet my life hardly leaves room for it. Are we to submit? Or tell us how we can attain to what we desire?” I admitted that the difficulty was universal. I recalled the words of one of our most honoured South African missionaries, now gone to his rest: he had the same complaint. “In the morning at five the sick people are at the door waiting for medicine. At six the printers come, and I have to set them to work and teach them. At nine the school calls me, and till late at night I am kept busy with a large correspondence.” In my answer I quoted a Dutch proverb: ‘Whatisheaviest mustweighheaviest,’—must have the first place. The law of God is unchangeable: as on earth, so in our traffic with heaven, we only get as we give. Unless we are willing to pay the price,[p15]and sacrifice time and attention and what appear legitimate or necessary duties, for the sake of the heavenly gifts, we need not look for a large experience of the power of the heavenly world in our work. The whole company present joined in the sad confession; it had been thought over, and mourned over, times without number; and yet, somehow, there they were, all these pressing claims, and all the ineffectual resolves to pray more, barring the way. I need not now say to what further thoughts our conversation led; the substance of them will be found in some of the later chapters in this volume.
Let me call just one more witness. In the course of my journey I met with one of the Cowley Fathers, who had just been holding Retreats for clergy of the English Church. I was interested to hear from him the line of teaching he follows. In the course of conversation he used the expression—“the distraction of business,” and it came out that he found it one of the great difficulties he had to deal with in himself and others. Of himself, he said that by the vows of his Order he was bound to give himself specially to prayer. But he found it exceedingly difficult. Every day he had to be at[p16]four different points of the town he lived in; his predecessor had left him the charge of a number of committees where he was expected to do all the work; it was as if everything conspired to keep him from prayer.
All this testimony surely suffices to make clear that prayer has not the place it ought to have in our ministerial and Christian life; that the shortcoming is one of which all are willing to make confession; and that the difficulties in the way of deliverance are such as to make a return to a true and full prayer-life almost impossible. Blessed be God—“The things that are impossible with men are possible with God”! “God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to all good work.” Do let us believe that God’s call to much prayer need not be a burden and cause of continual self-condemnation. He means it to be a joy. He can make it an inspiration, giving us strength for all our work, and bringing down His power to work through us in our fellowmen. Let us not fear to admit to the full the sin that shames us, and then to face it in the name of our Mighty Redeemer.The light that shows us our sin and[p17]condemns us for it, will show us the way out of it, into the life of liberty that is well-pleasing to God.If we allow this one matter, unfaithfulness in prayer, to convict us of the lack in our Christian life which lies at the root of it, God will use the discovery to bring us not only the power to pray that we long for, but the joy of a new and healthy life, of which prayer is the spontaneous expression.
And what is now the way by which our sense of the lack of prayer can be made the means of blessing, the entrance on a path in which the evil may be conquered? How can our intercourse with the Father, in continual prayer and intercession, become what it ought to be, if we and the world around us are to be blessed? As it appears to me, we must begin by going back to God’s Word, to study whatthe place is God means prayer to havein the life of His child and His Church. A fresh sight of what prayer isaccording to the will of God, of what our prayers can be,through the grace of God, will free us from those feeble defective views, in regard to the absolute necessity of continual prayer, which lie at the root of our failure. As we get an insight into the reasonableness and rightness of this divine appointment, and come under the full conviction of[p18]how wonderfully it fits in with God’s love and our own happiness, we shall be freed from the false impression of its being an arbitrary demand. We shall with our whole heart and soul consent to it and rejoice in it, as the one only possible way for the blessing of heaven to come to earth. All thought of task and burden, of self-effort and strain, will pass away in the blessed faith that as simple as breathing is in the healthy natural life, will praying be in the Christian life that is led and filled by the Spirit of God.
As we occupy ourselves with and accept this teaching of God’s Word on prayer, we shall be led to see how our failure in the prayer-life was owing to failure in the Spirit-life. Prayer is one of the most heavenly and spiritual of the functions of the Spirit-life. How could we try or expect to fulfil it so as to please God, except as our soul is in perfect health, and our life truly possessed and moved by God’s Spirit? The insight into the place God means prayer to take, and which it only can take, in a full Christian life, will show us that we have not been living the true, the abundant life, and that any thought of praying more and effectually will be vain, except as we are brought[p19]into a closer relation to our Blessed Lord Jesus. Christ is our life, Christ liveth in us, in such reality that His life of prayer on earth, and of intercession in heaven, is breathed into us in just such measure as our surrender and our faith allow and accept it. Jesus Christ is the Healer of all diseases, the Conqueror of all enemies, the Deliverer from all sin; if our failure teaches us to turn afresh to Him, and find in Him the grace He gives to pray as we ought, this humiliation may become our greatest blessing. Let us all unite in praying God that He would visit our souls and fit us for that work of intercession, which is at this moment the greatest need of the Church and the world. It is only by intercession that that power can be brought down from Heaven which will enable the Church to conquer the world. Let us stir up the slumbering gift that is lying unused, and seek to gather and train and band together as many as we can, to be God’s remembrancers, and to give Him no rest till He makes His Church a joy in the earth. Nothing but intense believing prayer can meet the intense spirit of worldliness, of which complaint is everywhere made.
“If ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children; how much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?”—Lukexi. 13.
“If ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children; how much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?”—Lukexi. 13.
Christhad just said (v. 9), “Ask, and it shall be given”: God’s giving is inseparably connected with our asking. He applies this especially to the Holy Spirit. As surely as a father on earth gives bread to his child, so God gives the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him. The whole ministration of the Spirit is ruled by the one great law: God must give, we must ask. When the Holy Spirit was poured out at Pentecost with a flow that never ceases, it was in answer to prayer. The inflow into the believer’s heart, and His outflow in the rivers of living water, ever still depend upon the law: “Ask, and it shall be given.” In connection with our[p21]confession of the lack of prayer, we have said that what we need is some due apprehension of the place it occupies in God’s plan of redemption; we shall perhaps nowhere see this more clearly than in the first half of the Acts of the Apostles. The story of the birth of the Church in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and of the first freshness of its heavenly life in the power of that Spirit, will teach us howprayer on earth, whether as cause or effect,is the true measure of the presence of the Spirit of heaven.
We begin with the well-known words (i. 13), “These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication.” And then there follows: “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. And the same day there were added to them about three thousand souls.” The great work of redemption had been accomplished. The Holy Spirit had been promised by Christ “not many days hence.” He had sat down on His throne and received the Spirit from the Father. But all this was not enough. One thing more was needed: the ten days’ united continued supplication of the disciples. It was[p22]intense, continued prayer that prepared the disciples’ hearts, that opened the windows of heaven, that brought down the promised gift. As little as the power of the Spirit could be given without Christ sitting on the throne,could it descend without the disciples on the footstool of the throne. For all the ages the law is laid down here, at the birth of the Church, that whatever else may be found on earth, the power of the Spirit must be prayed down from heaven. The measure of believing, continued prayer will be the measure of the Spirit’s working in the Church. Direct, definite, determined prayer is what we need.
See how this is confirmed in chapter iv. Peter and John had been brought before the Council and threatened with punishment. When they returned to their brethren, and reported what had been said to them, “all lifted up their voice to God with one accord,” and prayed for boldness to speak the word. “And when they had prayed, the place was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness. And the multitude of them that believed were one heart and one soul. And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord[p23]Jesus; and great grace was upon them all.” It is as if the story of Pentecost is repeated a second time over, with the prayer, the shaking of the house, the filling with the Spirit, the speaking God’s word with boldness and power, the great grace upon all, the manifestation of unity and love—to imprint it ineffaceably on the heart of the Church: it is prayer that lies at the root of the spiritual life and power of the Church. The measure of God’s giving the Spirit is our asking. He gives as a father to him who asks as a child.
Go on to the sixth chapter. There we find that, when murmurings arose as to the neglect of the Grecian Jews in the distribution of alms, the apostles proposed the appointment of deacons to serve the tables. “We,” they said, “will give ourselves to prayer and the ministry of the word.” It is often said, and rightly said, that there is nothing in honest business, when it is kept in its place as entirely subordinate to the kingdom, which must ever be first, that need prevent fellowship with God. Least of all ought a work like ministering to the poor hinder the spiritual life. And yet the apostles felt it would hinder them in their giving themselves to the ministry of prayer and the word.[p24]What does this teach? That the maintenance of the spirit of prayer, such as is consistent with the claims of much work, is not enough for those who are the leaders of the Church. To keep up the communication with the King on the throne and the heavenly world clear and fresh; to draw down the power and blessing of that world, not only for the maintenance of our own spiritual life, but for those around us; continually to receive instruction and empowerment for the great work to be done—the apostles, as the ministers of the word, felt the need of being free from other duties, that they might give themselves to much prayer. James writes: “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction.” If ever any work were a sacred one, it was that of caring for these Grecian widows. And yet, even such duties might interfere with the special calling to give themselves to prayer and the ministry of the word. As on earth, so in the kingdom of heaven, there is power in the division of labour; and while some, like the deacons, had specially to care for serving the tables and ministering the alms of the Church here on earth, others had to be set free for that steadfast continuance in[p25]prayer which would uninterruptedly secure the downflow of the powers of the heavenly world. The minister of Christ is set apart to give himself as much to prayer as to the ministry of the word. In faithful obedience to this law is the secret of the Church’s power and success. As before, soafter Pentecost, the apostles were men given up to prayer.
In chapter viii. we have the intimate connection between the Pentecostal gift and prayer, from another point of view. At Samaria, Philip had preached with great blessing, and many had believed. But the Holy Ghost was, as yet, fallen on none of them. The apostles sent down Peter and John to pray for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost. The power for such prayer was a higher gift than preaching—the work of the men who had been in closest contact with the Lord in glory, the work that was essential to the perfection of the life that preaching and baptism, faith and conversion had only begun. Surely of all the gifts of the early Church for which we should long there is none more needed than the gift of prayer—prayer that brings down the Holy Ghost on believers. This power is given to the[p26]men who say: “We will give ourselves to prayer.”
In the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, in the house of Cornelius at Cæsarea, we have another testimony to the wondrous interdependence of the action of prayer and the Spirit, and another proof of what will come to a man who has given himself to prayer. Peter went up at midday to pray on the housetop. And what happened? He saw heaven opened, and there came the vision that revealed to him the cleansing of the Gentiles; with that came the message of the three men from Cornelius, a man who “prayed alway,” and had heard from an angel, “Thy prayers are come up before God”; and then the voice of the Spirit was heard saying, “Go with them.” It is Peter praying, to whom the will of God is revealed, to whom guidance is given as to going to Cæsarea, and who is brought into contact with a praying and prepared company of hearers. No wonder that in answer to all this prayer a blessing comes beyond all expectation, and the Holy Ghost is poured out upon the Gentiles. A much-praying minister will receive an entrance into God’s will he would otherwise know nothing of; will be brought to praying people where he does not expect[p27]them; will receive blessing above all he asks or thinks. The teaching and the power of the Holy Ghost are alike unalterably linked to prayer.
Our next reference will show us faith in the power that the Church’s prayer has with its glorified King, as it is found, not only in the apostles, but in the Christian community. In chapter xii. we have the story of Peter in prison on the eve of execution. The death of James had aroused the Church to a sense of real danger, and the thought of losing Peter too, wakened up all its energies. It betook itself to prayer. “Prayer was made of the Church without ceasing to God for him.” That prayer availed much; Peter was delivered. When he came to the house of Mary, he found “many gathered together praying.” Stone walls and double chains, soldiers and keepers, and the iron gate, all gave way before the power from heaven that prayer brought down to his rescue. The whole power of the Roman Empire, as represented by Herod, was impotent in presence of the power the Church of the Holy Spirit wielded in prayer. They stood in such close and living communication with their Lord in heaven; they knew so well that the words, “all power is given unto Me,” and “Lo I[p28]am with you alway,” were absolutely true; they had such faith in His promise to hear them whatever they asked—that they prayed in the assurance that the powers of heaven could work on earth, and would work at their request and on their behalf. The Pentecostal Church believed in prayer, and practised it.
Just one more illustration of the place and the blessing of prayer among men filled with the Holy Spirit. In chapter xiii. we have the names of five men at Antioch who had given themselves specially to ministering to the Lord with prayer and fasting. Their giving themselves to prayer was not in vain: as they ministered to the Lord, the Holy Spirit met them, and gave them new insight into God’s plans. He called them to be fellow-workers with Himself; there was a work to which He had called Barnabas and Saul; their part and privilege would be to separate these men with renewed fasting and prayer, and to let them go, “sent forth of the Holy Ghost.” God in heaven would not send forth His chosen servants without the co-operation of His Church; men on earth were to have a real partnership in the work of God. It was prayer that fitted and prepared them for this; it was to praying men the Holy Ghost gave[p29]authority to do His work and use His name. It was to prayer the Holy Ghost was given. It is still prayer that is the only secret of true Church extension, that is guided from heaven to find and send forth God-called and God-empowered men. To prayer the Holy Spirit will show the men He has selected; to prayer that sets them apart under His guidance He will give the honour of knowing that they are men, “sent forth by the Holy Ghost.” It is prayer which is the link between the King on the throne and the Church at His footstool—the human link that has its divine strength in the power of the Holy Ghost, who comes in answer to it.
As one looks back upon these chapters in the history of the Pentecostal Church, how clear the two great truths stand out: where there is much prayer there will be much of the Spirit; where there is much of the Spirit there will be ever-increasing prayer. So clear is the living connection between the two, that when the Spirit is given in answer to prayer it ever wakens more prayer to prepare for the fuller revelation and communication of His Divine power and grace. If prayer was thus the power by which the Primitive Church flourished and triumphed, is it not the one need of the[p30]Church of our days? Let us learn what ought to be counted axioms in our Church work:—
Heaven is still as full of stores of spiritual blessing as it was then.God still delights to give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him.Our life and work are still as dependent on the direct impartation of Divine power as they were in Pentecostal times.Prayer is still the appointed means for drawing down these heavenly blessings in power on ourselves and those around us.God still seeks for men and women who will, with all their other work of ministering, specially give themselves to persevering prayer.
And we—you, my reader, and I—may have the privilege of offering ourselves to God to labour in prayer, and bring down these blessings to this earth. Shall we not beseech God to make all this truth so living in us that we may not rest till it has mastered us, and our whole heart be so filled with it, that the practice of intercession shall be counted by us our highest privilege, and we find in it the sure and only measure for blessing on ourselves, on the Church, and on the world?