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The Need of Prayer

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Oct 10, 1907

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 84, No. 41.

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The Need of Prayer

By D. H. Kress

D. H. KRESS
THERE never was a time when prayer was needed more than at the present, and probably there never was a time when there was less prevailing prayer. True, the form of prayer is still kept up, but the Spirit of prayer is greatly lacking. One of the first essentials of prayer is a feeling of need. Before it is possible to plead for divine strength, man must appreciate his need. The Pharisee prayed, but his prayer expressed no need. The petition of the publican who felt himself the chief of sinners, and of Peter when in danger of being swallowed up by the angry waves, expressed a need. Such prayers are always heard and answered.
When the news came to Jehoshaphat, “There cometh a great multitude against thee,” he “set himself to seek the Lord,” and “all Judah gathered themselves together, to ask help of the Lord.” When he had realized and acknowledged his helplessness and utter dependence upon God, “God undertook the battle for him.” Then came the words to Jehoshaphat from the Lord, “Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s. . . . Ye shall not need to fight in this battle.”
The Lord next told them how to go out against their enemies. And Jehoshaphat appointed “singers unto the Lord, . . . that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the Lord; for his mercy endureth forever,” and “when they began to sing and to praise,” the Lord sent confusion into the camp of their enemies, and “every one helped to destroy another.” Judah needed not to fight, for their enemies destroyed themselves.
God desires to-day to fight the battles for his people. He does not want them to fight, for “they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.” On the other hand, when their enemies arise, they are not to settle down in ease and say, “Well, the work is the Lord’s, and he will take care of it,” or, “He has his hand on the lever of circumstances, and works everything after the counsel of his own will.” While all this is true, this truth should not act as an opiate and lead to inactivity and a false trust. It should stimulate and lead men to do as did Jehoshaphat and all Judah, “to ask help of the Lord.”
There are two dangers that confront the army of Israel to-day when assailed by their enemies. One is the tendency to fight when God says, “Ye shall not need to fight.” The other is to do nothing, under a false hope that God is able to do it all without their aid. While we have been commanded not to fight, we have also been commanded to pray, and to come to the help of the Lord against the mighty. Prayer makes the battle the Lord’s, and gives a confidence that will lead men to venture all they possess and are. In every case where the enemies anciently came against Israel, when they sought the Lord with their whole hearts, humbled themselves, and put away what was wrong, the Lord fought for them, and “gave them rest round about” from all their enemies.
The same God lives and reigns to-day, and if Israel to-day would fight less and pray more, and then place all they are and have on the Lord’s side, he would undertake for them and would soon subdue their enemies. It would be seen that the battle is the Lord’s. It was when Christ prayed that the “heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him.” It was when the church prayed that “the place was shaken where they were assembled together, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness. . . . Neither said any of them that aught of the things which he possessed was his own.” “And believers were the more added.”
Prayer connects the finite with the Infinite. It allies man’s weakness with God’s strength. It moves the arm of the Omnipotent. Should we call upon God to-day as did Jehoshaphat, and then believe as did he, that God has heard our prayer and has undertaken our battles, such a faith would lead us to give ourselves and our all to the Lord, and the work would soon be cut short in righteousness.
Takoma Park, D. C.