THE SPIRIT OF PRAYER
Another evidence of regeneration is the spirit of prayer. When we say that
the spirit of prayer is conclusive evidence of Christian character, we feel
under obligation to point out wherein that spirit consists. We are not to
forget that there is such a thing as drawing near unto God with the mouth
and honoring Him with the lips, while the heart is far from Him (Mk. 7:6).
The hearts of men may be as stupid and unfeeling, as proud and as
self-righteous; they may be in the exercise of as sensible opposition to the
character of the Most High, to the law and the Gospel, while offering up the
most solemn expressions of homage, as they are when God is not in all their
thoughts. But it is not so with the righteous. His prayers goes not forth
out of feigned lips (Psalm. 17:1).
With the spiritual worshiper, the heart feels what the lips express. The
spirit of prayer is humble. It flows from a broken and contrite heart. The
publican could not so much as lift up his eyes to heaven, but smote upon his
breast saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner” (Luke 18:13). Every
sentiment of his heart constrains him to make the affecting confession, “O
my God, I am ashamed, and blush to lift up my face to you, for my iniquities
are increased over my head, and my trespass is grown up into the heavens”
(Ezra 9:6). The spirit of prayer is also believing. Though the child of God
has an impressive sense of personal unworthiness and ill-dessert, yet he
knows that he has a great High Priest who has passed into the heavens,
Jesus, the Son of God, who is touched with the feeling of his infirmities,
and he may therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that he may obtain
mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Heb. 4:14-16).
But the spirit of prayer is also submissive. The suppliant prefers the will
of God to his own. He pours forth his heart with the affectionate submission
of a servant. He is prepared to be accepted, or to be rejected in his
petitions. He approaches the mercy-seat with the desire that God would
exercise His wisdom and grace in granting or denying his requests. 55 This
is the spirit of prayer-sincere, humble, believing, submissive. Other prayer
than this the Bible does not require, and God will not accept. This is the
spirit of genuine devotion, a spirit which, you cannot be conscious of
possessing without the consciousness of your reconciliation to God. “Because
you are sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his Son into our hearts,
crying Abba, Father” (Gal. 4:6).
It may not be amiss, while we are upon this subject, to spend a few minutes
looking at the question, “What evidence does the long-continued practice of
the external duty of prayer afford of the existence of vital religion in the
heart?” We do not mean by this statement necessarily to exclude the spirit
from the form of prayer. If we did, the question would be at an end. What
evidence does the long-continued practice of the external form afford of the
existence of the internal spirit? Men may pray much and yet not be
Christians. They may pray in public and in their families and still not be
Christians. This they may do to gratify their pride, to be seen of men, to
maintain the character of Christians in the view of the world, to silence
the clamors of conscience, or to support a hypocritical hope. But whether
men persevere in the habitual practice of secret prayer without good
evidence of Christian character is a question which, I dare not answer in
the negative. Neither would I venture to answer it unhesitatingly in the
affirmative.
This much the Bible will surely warrant us to say that men who are not
Christians will be exceedingly apt to neglect and in the end, wholly to
abandon the practice of secret prayer. Job demands concerning the hypocrite,
“Will he delight himself in the Almighty? Will he always call upon God?”
(Job 27:10). Wherever you find the habitual performance of secret prayer for
a long course of years, there is some reason to believe you find the
breathings of the new-born soul. There you may hope there are hungerings and
thirstings after righteousness. There you will discover a heart that is not
in pursuit of assurance merely, but grace, not safety only, but holiness.
There you will usually, if not always, discover one not muttering over a few
unmeaning sentences as devoid of life as a loathsome carcass is of the
life-giving spirit, but one whom the Spirit of God has 56 taught to pray
because he is weak and needs strength; because he is tempted and needs
support; because he is in want and needs supply; because he is a sinner and
needs mercy. If these remarks are just, it is not impertinent to ask my
readers whether they practice the duty of secret prayer.
We do not ask whether you pray in secret now and then, whether you perform
this duty on the Lord’s Day, or some occasional seasons of unusual alarm or
solemnity. Is this your habitual practice? Has it been your habitual
practice since you hoped you were brought out of darkness into God’s
marvelous light? No matter how punctual you are in other duties, no matter
what evidence you have of your conversion from any other quarter, if you
have not this, you may set all other down for nothing. The lack of this is
decisive evidence against you, even if the possession of it is not decisive
evidence in your favor. Prayer has been often styled as the “Christian’s
breath.” It is eminently so. A prayerless Christian! No, it cannot be! It is
a mark of the highest delusion, of the grossest stupidity, to cherish the
hope of having made your peace with God and at the same time to live in the
neglect of secret prayer. Who that has the least pretension to religion can
presume to live without seeking the favor, without deprecating the wrath,
and without realizing the presence of Him in whom he lives, and moves, and
has his being? To live without prayer is emphatically to live without God in
the world. (See Jonathan Edwards’ sermon on this subject “Hypocrites
Deficient in the Duty of Secret Prayer.”)
But I would give one caution to a certain class of my readers. There are not
lacking those who live in constant doubt and trembling because they do not
enjoy the constant presence of God and the uniform fervency of affection in
their seasons of prayer. Real Christians have periods of coldness, which
chill the spirit of devotion. Such is the power of indwelling sin that God’s
own children are sometimes carried far down the current. To the shame and
guilt of God’s people, we are constrained to make this affecting
acknowledgment. Still, real Christians cannot live in the neglect of prayer;
no, more, those who do not possess the spirit and live in the habitual
performance of the duty are in the gall of bitterness, and the bonds of
iniquity. The moment a man begins to live in the neglect of prayer, that
moment he should take the alarm. May it then be said of you as it was of
Saul of Tarsus, “Behold, he prays?” (Acts 9:11).
If so, then you like him may be a chosen vessel. Maintain a constant and
uniform intimacy with the throne of grace, and for the sake of our great
High Priest, God will put His fear into your hearts, and you shall not
depart from Him (Jer. 32:40). “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to
you” (James 4:8). Keep near to the fountainhead, and with joy shall you draw
water out of the wells of salvation (Isa. 12:3).