p. 6 | The Secret of Successful Prayer by John Taylor

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · May 25, 1911

The Secret of Successful Prayer

By John Taylor

JOHN TAYLOR

“And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off forever.” I Chron. 28:9.

Thus, according to David, the secret of prevailing prayer is to seek the Lord “with a perfect heart and with a willing mind,” the former regenerated through the efficacy of Christ’s atoning blood, and the latter under the supreme control of the Holy Spirit. Prayer is by far the most important means of grace. It is possible to reach the kingdom of God without learning, or books, or knowledge, or anything this world esteems as great or valuable; but no one will ever reach heaven without prayer. Without prayer, a person may have a name to live, and be counted a Christian, but in the sight of God such a person is dead. Prayer is the sign that a soul is alive; and the feeling that it is necessary for us to cry to God for mercy and peace is evidence that we are children of the heavenly King.

As a child in grief or want will straightway run to its parent for relief, so the perfect heart and willing mind of the faithful heir of God, in the manifold miseries and crosses of this life, will seek for help at the hands of his Heavenly Father by prayer. For as he who truly loves another delights in nothing more than in often talking and conferring with him whom he loves, even so those who are “chosen of God, and precious,” will manifest, in a true and unfeigned love to God, a desire, by frequent prayer, to commune with him, such as no peril nor danger—no, nor even the loss of life itself—can stay nor hinder.

God is a Parent who feels more for his children than even a mother feels for her little ones. Mothers may forget their children, and fail to have compassion on their offspring; but God can not lose his tenderness nor forget to be gracious to his children. God is love itself, and every cry which is sent up to him from a heart in distress fills heaven with joy, and an answer is always given for that soul’s eternal good. If we ask the mighty men of prayer in the Book of God, we shall find that a steadfast belief in this immutable fact was the secret of their power with God and men.

First, let us ask David what prayer is. “As for me,” he declares, “I will call upon God.” “I will cry unto God most high;” “I anticipated the dawning of the morning, and cried: I hoped in thy words.” “As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God.”

Jacob will tell us that prayer is “wrestling” with God. Prayer was something very real to Daniel. Not even the death decree could close his lips. Three times a day he prayed, though at the risk of losing his life. To Saul of Tarsus, prayer meant the reception of his eyesight, his salvation, and the revelation of the mysteries of God. Go to him, Ananias, said the Lord; “for, behold, he prayeth.”

Let us ask the penitent prodigal, as from his wounded, broken heart these words pour forth: “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.” Ask that publican, as within the house of God he stands smiting his breast. Few were his words, but they were freighted with deep contrition and urgent need; they came forth from the deepest depths of his soul: “God be merciful to me a sinner.”

And now let us ask the holy Saviour. Night after night Jesus spent in pouring out his soul to his Father in prayer. To him prayer was an inexhaustible source of comfort. Jesus conquered because he prayed.

As our last teacher, let us ask Jeremiah. The Lord’s work, for which he had suffered hunger, exposure, persecution, and imprisonment, weighed heavily upon his heart, and he cried out: “I called upon thy name, O Lord, out of the low dungeon. Thou hast heard my voice: hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry. Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee: thou saidst, Fear not.”

“Prayer,” as one of the Lord’s faithful children has observed, “is human need craving the divine fulness, the wretchedness of earth begging the consolations of heaven, man’s guilt beseeching the mercy of God. By prayer the helplessness of the creature clings to the strength of the Creator. Prayer is a voice from nature’s wound, calling to the heavenly Healer.”

Earnest continuance in importunate, faith-directed prayer is the divinely appointed way to obtain the supplying of all our spiritual necessities. It will open for us the treasury of heaven, and set the fountains of life flowing for the daily strengthening and refreshing of our souls. This is our only support for the wilderness of this life. It is only in the strength of this meat that we shall be able to bear our burdens, and make progress to the kingdom of God.

Watford, England.