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Volume. XL, No. 36 Spiritual Insights on Prayer (Part 2 of 2) Thoughts on Persevering Prayer “Those who know God the best are the richest and most powerful in prayer. Little acquaintance with God, and strangeness and coldness to Him, make prayer a rare and feeble thing”
This is a true saying. We do well to seek God daily. 1 John 5:14-15 says, “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.” “The true spirit of prayer is no other than God's own Spirit dwelling in the hearts of the saints. And as this spirit comes from God, so doth it naturally tend to God in holy breathings and pantings. It naturally leads to God, to converse with him by prayer” Jonathan Edwards. We should also strive to pray with grateful praise to the glory to God and with fervent petitions if we are to reach out to lost and depraved souls with the gospel of Christ as the Lord leads. Pray for the eternal happiness and salvation of the converted; and for the glory and honour of God. When was the last time you gave a tract, or prayed for someone’s salvation fervently or shared the gospel with someone or invited someone to church? That act of genuine love for souls will be honored of God and he may save someone from eternal condemnation as the Lord wills. Rev 5:8 ‘ when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.’ John speaks of our prayers ascending to heaven before the Lord and it is like a sweet smelling sacrifice to God. Did you contribute to it? Dependence on God Psalm 91:14-16 says, ‘Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name. He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him. With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.’ Note all the verbs in these verses as God is our deliverer when we pray. Prayer is not so much an act as it is an attitude. It is an attitude of dependency upon God as Arthur W. Pink puts it. This is absolutely true today as we desperately need the Lord daily. There is a needed emphasis on practical Christian living and the all important note of persevering effectual prayer along with the grave need for gospel outreach for the regeneration of souls in these last days before it is too late. Conclusion Colossians 4:12 ‘Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always labouring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.’ Let the spirit of godly Epaphras affect us and let us seek Him daily in our prayers as a family and in the church Wednesday night Prayer Meeting. Intercede for the will of God and for God’s people. Let us strive to live godly lives of fervent corporate prayer, faith in God, doing good works and a life of holiness, effectual gospel witness and fruitful and faithful stewardship for the Lord each day till He comes. This may be sooner than we think in these perilous days of wars, with much persecution of believers and earthquakes and pestilences (2 Pet 3:9-14). |
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