Diligence in prayer is absolutely essential for every young Christian who truly desires to go on with God. Our service and testimony for Christ will be poor, cold, and lifeless unless it is done in communion with God, and with constant prayer. Those who are much occupied in business, study, etc., are often in danger of being tempted to cut short the time they might spend in prayer. Of course every necessary duty of this life must be attended to, and cannot be neglected without bringing dishonor on the name of Christ; yet, while admitting all this, where there is heart for Him and real decision to set apart sufficient time for prayer, we are persuaded the Lord will open the way for it, even in the case of those who are most pressed with work.
Our blessed Lord is the true example of One who gave Himself continually to prayer. He never left the place of dependence and obedience for a moment. Even before commencing His public ministry we find Him praying at His baptism; thereupon heaven is opened and He is owned by the Father as His beloved Son. Then in the midst of active service, when multitudes came together to hear and to be healed, He withdrew Himself into the wilderness and prayed. Blessed Master, Thou didst indeed possess all power, but Thy resources were ever found in complete dependence on Thy God and Father’s will, and in unbroken communion with Him – may we drink in more of Thy spirit, and follow Thine example better!
Then, just before calling His disciples we find Him spending a whole night in prayer in a mountain. What earnest and continued prayer that must have been alone with God. Again, He was “alone praying,” and again, when about to be transfigured on the Mount, He was praying, and “as He prayed” the fashion of His countenance was altered, etc. Then we find Him “praying in a certain place,” and His disciples asked Him to teach them to pray. Then, again, in His ever-watchful love, we find Him praying or beseeching for Peter that when, sifted as wheat as he was about to be, his faith should not fail. And, lastly, when the dark shadows of the cross were falling deeply upon His path, He “kneeled down and prayed,” and “being in an agony, He prayed more earnestly.”
Every little circumstance here should be carefully noted. Jesus “kneeled down” – do we observe this attitude in prayer? – we find the same thing several times in the Acts. Surely at our prayer meetings those who come should kneel down at prayer, unless physically unable to do so. Moreover, the very depth of the sorrow which pressed upon the soul of the holy Savior at that solemn hour of anticipation of the cross only deepened His sense of dependence on the Father – He prayed “more earnestly” – and, having left all with the Father in prayer, He meets His sleeping disciples with nothing but the most perfect patience and grace.
Every young Christian should seek to be engaged in some service for Christ, however small it may be; and all true service must be accompanied by prayer. This is much brought before us in the book of the Acts, where we find so much about the work of the Lord in its first freshness, and in the power of the Spirit. Indeed Scripture is full of encouragements to prayer – “praying always,” “pray without ceasing,” “continuing instant in prayer.” Thus our blessed God Would encourage His children to come to Him at all times; to come boldly to the throne of grace in order to obtain the mercy and grace required in time of need.
And collective prayer is most important, as well as individual prayer. Sometimes those young in the faith remain silent at our prayer meetings, because they find older Christians present, before whom they do not like to pray; but let us remember we are not praying for the ears of others, but to God. What is wanted is not long preaching prayers, but simplicity – the heart poured out to a God whom we know hears and answers prayer. How often our prayer meetings are thinly attended; this should not be so. Time, like the sand in the hour-glass, is running rapidly out; eternity is coming. When we reach our rest in glory there will be no need for prayer meetings. Shall we not avail ourselves of this little opportunity, so quickly passing, to respond to the claims of Christ, and remember His interests at the throne of grace?
The more broken the state of the Church, and the more the power of evil is manifested, so much the more need for prayer. The Epistle of Jude describes a very bad state; but one of the things to which he turns the attention of the faithful is “praying in the Holy Ghost.” If we are guided and led by the Spirit in prayer we shall, be saved from falling into a mere rut or routine in prayer, and our hearts shall be enlarged to take in the interests of Christ more fully.
Let us, then, ponder over the words we find in Scripture connected with prayer – there is the “continuing,” the “watching,” the earnest diligent supplication, and the definiteness which is so often forgotten at assembly prayer meetings. Our Lord, when just about to leave this world, gave to His disciples all the value of His name in which to plead before the Father for those things which they would need. His word to them was (and how fully we may take it to ourselves, too!), ‘‘Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.”