SELECTIONS | AdventAI

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · May 14, 1857

SELECTIONS.

What is Prayer?

To pray, in a religious sense of the term, is to ask favors of God. But the term, prayer, may be considered a general one, as it is often used to signify that important part of Divine worship which consists in adoration, invocation, deprecation, confession, supplication, intercession, and thanksgiving. We adore God as an infinite and eternal Spirit, possessed of all possible perfection, as the Creator of all things, and the author and preserver of our being. We invoke his aid, without which we cannot think or speak aright. We deprecate his displeasure, because we have sinned against him. We confess our transgressions, with an humble, penitent, and believing heart, from the hope of obtaining pardon. We supplicate his mercy for ourselves, and intercede for others; and, while doing this, if we pray as we ought, we thank him for all the blessings which we have received, and do enjoy, from his munificent hand. Prayer, in this sense, may be considered as a continual sacrifice, like that of praise, to be offered to God daily, either by ourselves, in our closets, or in and with our families. It is also a part of that public sacrifice which we, with our fellow-creatures, are to offer unto God in his house—that holy place, which, in the sacred Scriptures, is called “a house of prayer for all nations.” Prayer by some seems to be regarded as the act of holding intercourse with God, as a means of grace, in the proper use of which we secure to ourselves those blessings which he has, in the covenant of his grace, promised to bestow. And so solemn and sacred an exercise has this been considered, that certain benefit is sure to be derived, whether we obtain the special object of our request immediately or not.

“It is impatient,” says one, “to bear in mind the reason why God did not bless Jacob till the breaking of the day, and why our petitions are [sometimes] not granted till the last moment. In prayer the means are in these instances more valuable than the end. The spirit of prayer, and the frequent exercise of it, is a greater blessing than the attainment of any other short of heaven itself.”

We should be careful, however, that we do not rest in the means, regardless of the end; for, as Mr. Watson, in his note on Luke xi, 8, 9, remarks, “The whole [parable or discourse] tends to impress us with the necessity of obtaining the fulfillment of our petitions, and thus to guard against a common and fatal evil, that of resting in prayer as an end, without regarding it as the means of obtaining the petitions we present. How many rest here! They have done a duty, that is enough; which is a fatal infatuation.” But when we speak of prayer in the light of intercession, or the continual daily sacrifice of Christians, it should be offered with clean hands and a pure heart; or, as the Apostle expresses it, when he says, “I will therefore that men [Christians] pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.”

Prayer, then, in order to be pleasing to God, and profitable to ourselves, should be humble and reverential; for that which has in it the least particle of pride, or vain glory, whether it arise from a consciousness of superiority of gifts, in intellect or language, or voice or utterance, must be abhorred by Him who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity. It should also be perfectly sincere, without the least dissimulation, or hypocrisy, or any thing like an affectation of any state or frame of mind which we do not really feel, or the use of such language, or tone of voice, or gesture, as are not the true and honest index of our hearts. It should also be frequent; for a duty of this kind performed only once, especially if performed carelessly, can never prevail with God. Any thing like indifference, or coldness, should be avoided equally with boisterousness and levity. God is a holy being, and jealous of his glory; humility and lowliness of mind, self-abasement and child-like simplicity, godly sincerity and reverential awe, joined with fervency of spirit and Christian confidence, should ever mark our addresses to the throne of his heavenly grace. Prayer is unquestionably the appointed means of obtaining help in every time of need. God has commanded us to pray, and therefore prayer is a duty. At our best estate we are weak, ignorant, and dependent creatures, and as such it is fitting we should pray; prayer is therefore a reasonable service. God has promised to hear and answer prayer; nay, more, he has promised to “pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and supplication;” and there is no surer indication of an approaching revival of religion than a general prevalence of the “spirit of interceding grace.” But we must ask, as above prescribed, and in faith, nothing doubting, or it will be said of us, “Ye ask and receive not, because ye ask amiss.” Perhaps as no time since the beginning of Christianity has there ever been a greater number of praying souls in the church than now. All good Christians pray all the world over, whatever may be their name, or denomination. Some pray especially for the awakening and conversion of sinners; some for the spread of the gospel at home and abroad; some for the downfall of antichrist and of Mohammedism; some more particularly for the Jews and for the heathen; some for universal peace, and some for the glorious millennium; some with a form, and others as the Spirit gives them utterance, or as the Spirit moves them; and yet that plain and simple prayer which Christ taught to his disciples, “Thy kingdom come,” or that registered by the Psalmist a thousand years before the coming of Christ, “God be merciful unto us, and bless us, that thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations,” has not yet been answered, even though we live in the nineteenth century of the Christian era.

This is an alarming consideration, and more especially so when we consider how ready God is to hear and answer “the effectual, (inwrought,) fervent prayer of every righteous man” upon earth. There may be some difficulty in apprehending how far others can be benefited by our prayers, seeing they are free moral agents; but this difficulty can form no good argument against the practice, since it is evident that God has made it our duty to pray for all men, even for those that persecute and despitefully use us. The examples of Abraham praying for Abimelech, of Moses and Samuel for the Israelites, of Job for his friends, of Daniel for his people, of Christ for his murderers and of Stephen for those that rose up against him to put him to death, are a sufficient warrant for us, and for the whole church to continue instant in prayer—to pray without ceasing. But perhaps there are some who may read these lines who have not yet begun to pray at all, neither for themselves nor for others. Alas for these! How many blessings they have lost it is impossible to tell. O fly then to the Friend of sinners and ask for pardon, not only for all that you have done amiss, but especially for your negligence of this most important and most profitable duty. Begin to-day, lest, the “clement, mediatorial hour” pass by, never to be recalled.