p. 3 | Prayer and Unity by G. B. Thompson

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 27, 1913

Prayer and Unity

By G. B. Thompson

The Holy Spirit—No. 11

Prayer and Unity

G. B. THOMPSON

2. Another necessary step in the reception of the Holy Spirit is prayer. “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” Luke 11: 13.

A prayerless life is a Spiritless life. There will never be found a fulness of the Spirit in the lives of those who neglect prayer. Find a backslider, and you find a prayerless life. A study of the lives of those through whom the power of the Holy Spirit has been greatly manifested, shows that they were men of prayer. Before the day of Pentecost, when the disciples were waiting for the promised blessing, we read that they “all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.” Acts 1: 14. Mark, this was not some hasty prayer of those so busy with cares that they did not take time to pray, but it was continued prayer. After Pentecost, deacons were chosen to look after temporal matters in the church. And the disciples said, “We will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.” Acts 6: 4.

Again we read, “And when they had prayed, 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.” Acts 4: 31. No such wonderful manifestation of God’s glory and power as this had been seen perhaps since the days of Solomon, when “the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud: for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord.” 1 Kings 8: 11. Earthquake power was manifested. The earth shook. They were filled with the Spirit, and spake with power. All this happened “when they had prayed.”

There is a vital connection between praying and being filled with the Spirit.

The reason for our spiritual barrenness is stated thus by the apostle: “Ye have not, because ye ask not.” James 4: 2. Our life is a fruitless one; no spiritual power manifested, no souls won for God; our interest in God’s work is but feeble and waning. We mourn over our cold, backslidden condition, and attribute it to our surroundings; the manifestations of irritation, fretfulness, and impatience we attribute to nervousness. Manifestations of irritability and a fulness of the Spirit do not go together. Our criticism of the brethren we excuse by saying we are naturally of a critical turn of mind. But the apostle puts his finger on the real seat of the difficulty. “Ye have not, because ye ask not.” The trouble is the neglect of prayer. This is the dead fly in the ointment. And we shall never enjoy a revival in our personal experience until there is a revival of prayer in the life. It has been truly said, “Much prayer means much power; little prayer means little power; no prayer means no power.”

What a striking example of prayer is seen in the life of the Saviour! “And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.” Mark 1: 35. “And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.” Luke 6: 12. When the multitude pressed about him to be healed, in the midst of his work “he withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed.” Luke 5: 16. When Jesus was transfigured, he “went up into a mountain to pray.” There is a close connection between transfiguration and prayer.

But, says one, I have repeatedly prayed for the Holy Spirit, but my prayers have not been answered. I am as barren as ever of the Spirit. Just here is where many fail. They do not know when their prayers are answered; they do not recognize the Spirit when he comes to them. The idea prevails with many that when their prayers are answered, and the Spirit comes to them, some great feeling of ecstasy, some joyful, halleluiah spirit will take possession of them, and they will be lifted above being tempted, and all trials be banished forever. This is a great mistake. Let us notice the first work of the Spirit in the heart. “Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.” John 16: 7, 8.

The Spirit strives with sinners. Gen. 6: 3; Acts 7: 51. When he comes to us, he reproves us for our sin. He convicts us of wrong-doing. He convinces us that we have things in our hearts that we should give up. His first work is to point out sin, and show where the temple is unclean and not a fit place into which to invite the Holy Spirit to take up his abode.

Have you prayed for the Holy Spirit? After praying for God to send him into your heart, did you begin to feel a deeper sense of your sinful condition? did your sins begin to trouble you as never before? Be of good courage; the Spirit of God has drawn near, and is seeking admission into your heart. As you continued to seek God for the fulness of his Spirit, your prayerless life, your poor Sabbath-keeping, your cold, formal profession; your envy, jealousy, and hatred of the brethren; your cherishing of darling sins; your impurity of thought and unchaste language; your robbing God in tithes and offerings; your unkindness and fretfulness in the home; your sharp, critical disposition; your harsh words to those you love; your inclination to scheme and drive a sharp bargain, have come up before you like a mountain. You seem to be the “chief of sinners” and almost beyond hope. This is God’s answer to your prayer. The Spirit has come to you. He is convincing you of sin, pointing out in your life the things that you must give up, or they will land you at last in the lake of fire.

If, after we have had the continual evidence of the Spirit’s presence with us in convicting us of sin, we still are destitute of his fulness and power, it can only be because we have refused to surrender our sins, and allow the Holy Spirit to cleanse his temple. When we do this, we shall be “filled with the Spirit,” and have that joy and peace which are the heritage of the Spirit.

3. A further condition in receiving the Holy Spirit is unity. “Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” Eph. 4: 3. The Lord will never baptize with his Spirit strife, hatred, variance, and discord among brethren. He will not bless at this time that against which his curse has always been directed. These things eat like gangrene at the very vitals of true religion.

Some mourn over their lack of power, and yet day by day are conscious that they are cherishing discord and hatred in their hearts against some one. In the church prayer will sometimes ascend asking for a fulness of the Spirit, from those who backbite with their tongues. In the prayer-meeting professed Christians mourn their lack of spirituality, and ask the prayers of the church, who during the week have been meddling with strife, tattling, sowing discord, spreading gossip, and peddling from house to house the latest details of some scandal. God hates such hypocrisy and formalism as this, and will never grant a fulness of his Spirit until these things are confessed and put away. Confessions, too, will need to be made, in many cases, to those we have wounded and injured by our words, before our hearts will be right and we clear in the sight of God.

The time between the ascension and Pentecost was devoted to a preparation for the reception of the promised blessing. “The disciples prayed with intense earnestness for a fitness to meet men, and in their daily intercourse to speak words that would lead sinners to Christ. Putting away all differences, all desire for the supremacy, they came close together in Christian fellowship.”—“Acts of the Apostles,” page 37.

The apostles had had differences among them. The desire for the highest place had been strong. In that farewell meeting in the upper room, with the solemn emblems before them of the slain Lamb, “there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest.” Luke 22: 24. The desire to sit in the most honored seat in the kingdom, which they expected was to be established, was the burden of each heart. They wanted a place on the “committee,” as it were. Each one, doubtless, argued his own case, and gave the reason why he should be chosen for the position. Quite a scene this, to be enacted in the shadow of the cross, the most awful tragedy the world has ever seen! Yet we have seen similar scenes in the shadow of the final consummation.

So anxious were they in this matter that James and John had had their mother go and have an interview with Jesus over the matter. “Then came to him the mother of Zebedee’s children with her sons, worshiping him, and desiring a certain thing of him. And he said unto her, What wilt thou? She saith unto him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom.” “And when the ten heard it, they were moved with indignation against the two brethren.” Matt. 20: 20, 21, 24. “Moved with indignation”—the ten were angry with the two. Why?—O, they feared they had gained, by their tact and diplomacy, an advantage in the receiving of the coveted position! How could the Lord baptize such selfishness? He did not then, and he will not now. They had to put away their differences, and come to a unity.

Before Pentecost they put away all differences that they might not hinder the blessing. Confessions were made. These were days of deep heart-searching and contrition for sin. They felt their need and earnestly sought God for this holy unction. The burden of souls was upon them, and they longed for the spiritual power to fulfil their great commission.

The church to-day needs the anointing of the Holy Spirit for service. It is service for which the Lord bestows his Spirit, and not that we may engage in speculation, and the piling up of the things of this world. Under the power of the Holy Spirit after Pentecost, the power of covetousness was broken, and men relinquished their grip on their earthly store. Instead of purchasing more of this earth, they sold their possessions and gave to the work of God. When we come again to the unity of the Spirit, we shall see similar manifestations of the working of the Holy Spirit.