A Few Meditations On Prayer

Issues – September 2020 – Grace & Truth Magazine

A Few Meditations On Prayer

What Is Prayer?
Psalm 109:21-22 is a good example of true prayer. Oppressed by adversaries, David prayed, “But do Thou for me, O G OD the Lord, for Thy name’s sake; because Thy mercy is good, deliver thou me. For I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me” ( KJV ). There are three things found in this prayer:

The realization of a definite need, Human weakness clinging to Almighty strength, and Confidence in God’s mercy and goodness.

This is according to the requirement stated in Hebrews 11:6, that those who come to God “must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” Faith in the willingness and goodness of God is essential.

The Man Christ Jesus is undoubtedly the greatest example of true prayer. Verse 4 of Psalm 109 says, “For my love they are my adversaries: but I give myself unto prayer.” These words speak in a prophetic way of the Lord Jesus. The words “give myself unto” are supplied by the translators, so the text at the end of the verse is literally “but I prayer.” The Numerical Bible by F. W. Grant renders it this way: “... and I [am all] prayer.” The Lord Jesus was prayer itself. His life was a constant expression of dependence, which is a chief feature of prayer.

Prayer is the spiritual breath of the soul. It is the manifestation of spiritual life. Consider when the persecutor, Saul of Tarsus, was converted to Christ. The Lord when sending Ananias to Saul said, “Behold, he prayeth” (Acts 9:11). This was evidence of a changed heart and the breath of divine life.

True prayer also expresses thanksgiving, worship, supplication and intercession for others.

How To Pray
1. Pray Believingly. The Lord taught, “What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye ... shall have them” (Mk. 11:24). To the blind men who came to the Lord for healing, He asked, “Believe ye that I am able to do this?” When they answered, “Yea, Lord,” He touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith be it unto you” (Mt. 9:28-29). James also instructs us about asking in faith and not wavering or doubting (Jas. 1:6-7).

2. Pray With A Forgiving Spirit. Jesus taught, “And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses” (Mk. 11:25). This is also implied in the example He gave to the disciples: “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” (Mt. 6:12). The psalmist said, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me” (Ps. 66:18).

3. Pray With Thanksgiving. Philippians 4:6 teaches us, “Be careful for [or anxious about] nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.” Thanksgiving should always characterize our approach to God. “Be ye thankful” is an exhortation in Colossians 3:15. Psalms abounds with expressions of thanksgiving to God and urges us to “come before His presence with thanksgiving” and to “give thanks unto the Lord; call upon His name” (Ps. 95:2, 105:1).

4. Pray With Confession. In speaking about the prayer of faith, James says, “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed” (Jas. 5:16). These words indicate that the confession of faults or offenses should accompany our prayers to God. This feature of confession is especially seen in the prayers of Ezra and Daniel and in the supplications of Israel and the Levites during Nehemiah’s day (Ezra 9:6-10; Dan. 9; Neh. 9:3-20).

5. Pray With Fasting. The previous Scriptures and many others in the Old and New Testaments link fasting and affliction with prayer (Acts 13:2, 14:23; 1 Cor. 7:5). The Lord fasted for 40 days when tempted by Satan. He told His disciples that a certain kind of demon could only be cast out by prayer and fasting (Mt. 17:21). Fasting indicates self-denial of necessary food and other things, and concentration on earnest prayer.

6. Pray Fervently And Earnestly. James tells us that “the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much” and Elijah “prayed earnestly” (Jas. 5:16-17). Fervent prayers express great warmth and intensity of feeling. They come from one’s inner being.

7. Pray With A Good Conscience. John brings this aspect of prayer before us in his first epistle. He said that we should “love ... in deed and in truth. And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him ... Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight” (1 Jn. 3:18-19,21-22). These words teach us that if a believer walks in the truth of God and does what is pleasing to Him, the heart is assured and one has a good conscience and confidence toward God to ask in prayer and receive what is requested.

8. Pray In Submission To God’s Will. We also read in the first epistle of John: “If we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us: And ... we know that we have the petitions we desired of Him” (5:14-15). In praying we should always consider what God’s will for us may be and submit to it. The Lord Jesus in agony prayed, “Not My will, but Thine, be done” (Lk. 22:42).

9. Pray Definitely and Briefly. The Lord instructed the disciples not to use vain repetitions or much speaking as the heathen – people who do not know God – do in prayer (Mt. 6:7). He also stressed asking definitely for our needs (Lk. 11:5-10). We are exhorted in Ecclesiastes 5 that our “words be few” and not to use a “multitude of words” in the house of God (vv.2-3).

10. Pray With Perseverance. In the exhortation as to prayer in Ephesians 6:18, we find the words “with all perseverance.” Romans 12:12 says, “Continuing instant in prayer.” Thus persistence and continuing in prayer is needed.

God Invites Us To Pray
Christians are encouraged to “come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb. 4:16). It is a throne of grace where mercy and help is obtainable, to which we can draw near. Judgment against sin has been executed at the cross of Calvary, so we come boldly in prayer to a throne of the unmerited favor of God.

After writing that believers are brought near by the blood of Jesus Christ, who is our peace, Paul said, “For through Him we both [Jew and Gentile] have access by one Spirit unto the Father” (Eph. 2: 18). How blessed to know that we now have access to God as our Father and can come to Him in this intimate and affectionate relationship of a child to a father.

We are assured by Paul in Romans 8: “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings” (v.26). Other Scriptures speak about “praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit” and “praying in the Holy Ghost” (Eph. 6:18; Jude 20).

The Lord also taught, “If two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of My Father” (Mt. 18:19). This is a blessed promise pertaining to collective prayer with one another. There is special power and promise in prayer together, as many examples in Scripture show.

To Whom Do We Pray?
When Jesus was on earth He was addressed directly in worship and prayer. “There came a leper and worshipped Him, saying, Lord, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus put forth His hand, and touched him, saying I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed” (Mt. 8:2-3). This chapter further records incidents of requests to the Lord Jesus (see Mt. 8:6,25, 9:27) and answers, which are also found throughout the Gospels.

Jesus Christ is God, so prayer can rightly be addressed directly to Him, as we find in Acts and the Epistles (see Acts 1:24, 4:24, 7:59-60, 9:6,10, 10:14; 2 Cor. 12:8-9; 2 Th. 2:16-17). As the glorified Christ in heaven, He is seen associated with God the Father in the Epistles. Revelation 5 reveals that Jesus the Lamb of God will be worshiped and addressed in praise by the redeemed company in heaven in the coming day.

We are privileged to pray directly to God as our Father in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we are assured that we shall receive what we ask. Jesus said, “And in that day ye shall ask Me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My name, He will give it you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in My name; ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full ... For the Father Himself loveth you, because ye have loved Me” (Jn. 16:23-24,27). It is only in the exalted name of Jesus that we can draw near to the Father and request anything of Him.

No prayers in Scripture are addressed to the Holy Spirit, who is also God, nor are we ever instructed to pray to this divine person of the Godhead. The reason is that He is the One who helps us in prayer and makes intercession for us (Rom. 8:26). He enables us to pray in the Spirit to God the Father and to the Lord Jesus (Eph. 6:18; Jude 20).

The Scriptures give us no evidence or permission to pray to any others.

When To Pray
David, the psalmist, wrote: “My voice shalt Thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto Thee, and will look up” (Ps. 5:3). It is important to turn to the Lord in prayer at the beginning of the day when your mind is clear and fresh, and a new day is before you. We should not only begin the day with God in prayer but also with the reading of His Word.

David also declared, “Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and He shall hear my voice” (Ps. 55:17). Likewise we find the prophet Daniel habitually praying and giving thanks before his God on his knees in his chamber three times a day, and that when the decree of the king forbade prayer to Jehovah God (Dan. 6:7-10).

Besides such regular times of prayer, the Bible exhorts us to pray “always,” “without ceasing” (Eph. 6:18; 1 Th. 5:17).

What To Pray For
In considering some items which the Bible directs us to pray about, we may begin with the all-inclusive exhortation given in Philippians 4:6, which says, “Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.” Nothing is too small or too great to speak with God about in prayer and thanksgiving. We are told to pray:

1. For All Men And Authorities. Paul wrote, “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; for kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty” (1 Tim. 2:1-2). God’s desire is to “have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (v.4). We are to pray for all mankind that they may be saved. There is special need to pray for rulers and all those in authority in these perilous and revolutionary times. Government is of God, and we are to respect and pray for those in it.

2. For Prisoners. The word in Hebrews 13 is that we should “remember prisoners, as bound with them: those that are evil-treated, as being yourselves also in the body” (v.3 JND). Many Christians suffered in prisons for their faith in Bible times and throughout the centuries, and even now in our present day. We should pray for them as bound in spirit with them.

3. For Servants Of The Lord. In his epistles Paul often asked for the prayers of believers. Writing to the Ephesian assembly he requested, “... Supplication for all saints; and for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel” (Eph. 6:18-19 KJV). To the Thessalonians he wrote: “Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified” (2 Th. 3:1).

4. For Those Suffering Under Affliction And Sickness. James 5 directs, “Is any among you afflicted? Let him pray ... Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick.” This is the promise of blessing (vv.13-15).

5. The Sinner’s Prayer. The prayer which the unsaved sinner can pray with assurance of being heard is that of the publican, or tax-collector, who “smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.” The Lord Jesus said he went down to his house justified (Lk. 18:13).

Hindrances To Prayer
We would briefly mention some things that create obstacles to prayers being answered: a condemning heart from a bad conscience (1 Jn. 3:20-21), a doubting spirit (Mk. 11:23), holding iniquity in the heart (Ps. 66:18), doubting or unbelief (Jas. 1:6-7), bad or selfish intentions (4:3), and wrong relationships between husband and wife (1 Pet. 3:7).

Our Prayer
May the Lord bless these meditations on prayer to all our readers and give victory through living, fervent prayer.

By Raymond K. Campbell