H. D. R. Jameson
I purpose to look at this subject in its very simplest elements. Prayer is a factor which properly enters into the life of every Christian every day that he lives, and it will be well therefore if, by looking into the Scriptures together, we can in even the smallest degree help one another in regard to it. With this in view I wish to notice some of the first essentials to prayer, the conditions that govern it, and the hindrances which arise and prevent that answer to prayer for which the Christian may rightly look.
God
“He that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.”
God is “the living God” (Heb. 3:1212Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. (Hebrews 3:12)); He lives today, and is active in all that concerns the welfare of His saints. Nothing about us happens by chance; all around us is movement, yet all is controlled and directed by the almighty and all-wise hand of God, who causes all things to work together for good to those that love Him.
The first essential then in drawing near to God is to realize very distinctly that He is, that He is the living God: and not only that He is, that He lives today, and that His ear is open to the prayer of the righteous, but more, He is the Rewarder of them that diligently seek Him: He answers their prayer.
Prayer has thus a great deal more than a merely subjective value (that is, the value which it possesses as rightly exercising the soul of the one who prays); though that is all that is admitted by present-day teachers who have drifted away from the truth as to the glory of the person of Christ and so have practically lost God (2 John 99Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. (2 John 9)). When such come to take up the subject of prayer they have to seek for some explanation why it is that in their own experience their prayers are not answered, and from the attempt to explain this has doubtless arisen the suggestion (so natural to the unbelieving heart of a religiously inclined man) that prayer has only a subjective value; that it is good for the one who prays, but that that is all! That however is not the truth, as the scripture we are considering very clearly shows us. The great all important factor in prayer is the One who is the object of it — God.
Faith
I shall not here take up all the different scriptures which condition prayer, but will emphasize one which is of first importance. It is found in Matthew 21:2222And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive. (Matthew 21:22), “All things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.”
Now this scripture has been greatly misunderstood even by true Christians. They draw near to God in the full assurance that He is, and, more, they are convinced that He is the Rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. They have known of many remarkable instances of prayer being answered in the experience of others; and, in greater or lesser degree, they certainly know something of this in their own experience. But they have read this verse to mean that if they want anything from God (albeit they mentally qualify it in different ways), what they have to do is to ask for that which they desire, and, if they can bring themselves to believe, then they will receive. In their minds it becomes a question of the strength of a faith of their own production: that if they can, so to speak, work up a sufficiently strong faith, then answer is assured.
But that is an altogether wrong conception of the scripture. Faith is not something which we work up by an effort of our own minds, but is always founded on some distinct revelation that God has made. In Romans we read, “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” That gives us the source and basis of faith: it comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. That is to say, God in His word says something, He makes some revelation to man: the believer hears what God has to say, and the word coming home to him in power as God’s word, produces the conviction in the soul which is called faith.
So that faith is not a leap in the dark. It is not persuading oneself to believe something. Faith is the evidence (or conviction) of things unseen (Heb. 11:11Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1)). It springs, as I have said, from some distinct revelation which God has made.
Now if this be rightly understood, that which at the very outset conditions prayer will also be understood, that is, believing.” God has revealed Himself in His word: He has there made known what His mind and will is, and what is pleasing to Himself. When this then is made known to us, and taken in by us, we can ask for those things which are according to His mind and will, things which are according to God Himself, in full assurance that our prayer will be heard and that it will be answered.
But some may think that this is too vague and indefinite, so general as greatly to limit the scope of the prayers we may thus offer in faith. It is not so indeed, for the Book which has been given us is one which is full of the most marvelous detail.
A man may say, “I find myself in such and such circumstances: I would like to pray to God for so and so; but it is impossible for me to know from His word whether or not that is according to His will for me.” Is it impossible? I think it will surprise us, I am sure it has surprised me, to find in what wonderful detail are presented all the circumstances of our lives in the biographies which we have given us of the men of God who lived in ages gone by, and which are recorded for us in the inspired Word. Too often our want of assurance as to whether a certain thing is or is not according to God’s will for us, springs from our ignorance of the Bible, the Word of God. If we studied it more earnestly, patiently, and continuously, we should find in increasing measure how wonderfully it sheds light upon all the different circumstances in which we may find ourselves, and what God is towards a man and woman in just such circumstances. When we read the account of the lives of this one and that one, say in the Old Testament times, we shall find great gain not in considering so much what he did, or she did, but in looking at what God did for such an one-in learning what God can be to such in their varied circumstances.
It is very wonderful in this way to trace out the prayers which have ascended to God through all the ages, the different conditions in which these prayers were uttered, and the way in which God answered. In this way we learn God, and approaching Him thus in faith, prayer can be made in the conviction that God hears, and will answer as He has done of old. So much for the basis of faith which conditions all prayer.
In His Name
In God’s wonderful grace believers are now identified in every way with the Lord Jesus Christ:
“In Thee and with Thee ever
Is found by grace our lot”
He came in love into our place, bore our judgment, and rendered satisfaction to God about the whole question of our sins: now we are brought into His place of perfect acceptance with God, and His name is named upon us — we are in Christ.
From Genesis 5:22Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created. (Genesis 5:2) we learn that the name Adam covered not only the man, but also the woman, Eve — He “called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.” In 1 Corinthians 12 we find that the name “Christ,” or as in such scriptures it should correctly be translated “the Christ,” covers not only Christ personally, but also all those who are members of His body and who will in their completeness by-and-by form His Bride. That name is named upon us (cf. also Gal. 3:2727For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. (Galatians 3:27)), and as being covered by the name of Christ we are to do everything in His name. Thus we read in Colossians 3:1717And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him. (Colossians 3:17): —
“Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the. Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him” (cf. also Eph. 5:2020Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; (Ephesians 5:20)).
Everything we do or say (and that includes, of course, our praying) is to be done in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, for that is the whole ground of our acceptance before God: we are “accepted in the Beloved” (Eph. 1:66To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. (Ephesians 1:6)).
We draw near to God in prayer then, not on the ground of what we are — for on that ground we have no standing at all before Him — but we draw near on the ground of what Christ is, in whom we are accepted and through whom we “have access... unto the Father” (Eph. 2:1818For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. (Ephesians 2:18)). We thus present all our petitions in His name, and if we have even a little understanding as to how fragrant to God is that name, and how truly we are covered by it, it will give us great boldness and a very sweet confidence in prayer.
I will look now very briefly at some of the hindrances, some of the reasons why we do not receive that which we need and desire.
“Ye Ask Not”
First of all there is the very simple reason given us in James 4:22Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. (James 4:2) which I think we shall be startled to find so very often applies to ourselves: “Ye have not, because ye ask not.” God could bless us to the full no doubt apart from prayer altogether: but we are creatures, and it is not according to His mind that the creature should be out of the proper creature-place of dependence upon Himself; and therefore it is a principle of all His ways with us that our dependence upon Him should be expressed in prayer, and that the blessing should come that way. It will be so even as to Israel by-and-by. God has counseled that they shall be brought into wonderful blessing through all the millennial years of the reign of Christ. It will be brought about in an instant by the coming of our Lord from heaven, altogether outside of anything that they do, and yet, though that is so, we read “I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them.” If we ask not, we need not then be surprised that we have not.
“Ye Ask Amiss”
Very solemnly the same passage in James goes on to say:
“Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.”
Of how many unanswered prayers is this the secret? Here is searched out the motive in prayer. Again we read, 1 Timothy 2:88I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting. (1 Timothy 2:8), that men are to “pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.” This takes up the present moral condition of the one who prays. If the hands be not holy, if sin be cherished and allowed in the heart and life, we cannot be surprised that prayer is not heard. God would not be the God He is if He passed over such toleration and answered such prayer. The verse brings before us three hindrances, Ungodliness as regards ourselves, wrath or an unforgiving spirit as regards others, (cf. also Matt. 5:2424Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. (Matthew 5:24) and 6:15), and “doubting” as regards God (cf. also James 1:6, 76But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. 7For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. (James 1:6‑7)).
Prayer After Failure
But there is another very real hindrance to prayer. One may say, “But I deserve all that which I am suffering at this present moment. The pressure of it is almost more than I can bear, but I have brought it upon myself. How can I pray and make request as to that which I feel I am suffering as punishment at the hand of God for something in which I have transgressed.”
This difficulty is not imaginary. It is very real and may bring much anguish of soul. Let us note here, to begin with, that no chastisement which God allows to come upon any of His children is of a retributive and penal nature; that is to say, it is in no way to expiate the sin itself which has been committed. All the judgment which was due to that sin has fallen upon Christ, and God has been glorified about the whole question. It is not therefore a case of bearing what is due to the sin, but God deals as a Father with His children, and where wrong has been done by any such, He may visit present consequences of that sin upon the head of the one who has so offended, yet with one purpose alone in view, namely, the restoration of the one who has fallen, the bringing of such to true repentance and confession before Him. And when that end is reached — and He alone knows when it is truly so — then there is no longer cause (on that side of the matter) for a continuance of the discipline.
But while it is important to see this as a general principle, yet for faith to have a solid basis upon which we can draw near to God and make request even in such circumstances, we need to turn to the Word itself. Let any who are troubled thus, study the way that God has dealt with His own in days of old; how they transgressed, and He visited judgment upon them; how they humbled themselves and turned to Him; and how at once His heart was moved towards them, and the end of His discipline having been attained, He hearkened to their request, and granted them that they desired, even though it involved departure from His own expressed intention as regards them in view of the sin they had committed. I might give instance after instance in such books as Kings and Chronicles, but these are best sought out by those exercised for themselves.
Fatalism
There is just one other difficulty I want to notice in conclusion, and that is a difficulty easily arising in a reasoning mind which stumbles over the truth of God’s sovereignty.
Such an one will reason that God’s will must be carried out, that what He has purposed and planned must come to pass, that no blessing and no good thing will reach anyone at all save in accordance with that all-embracing will carried into effect in power that nothing can withstand. And then from these premises (the perfect truth of which none can deny) the apparently logical conclusion is drawn that it is not really necessary to pray at all; that that which God wills shall come to pass will come to pass whether we pray or not, and that therefore our prayers, save for their subjective effect on ourselves, are really of no use at all. This is fatalism.
But is it true? Certainly not. What is said as to God’s will, His purpose and counsel, surely and inevitably coming to pass, is perfectly true — and when we understand how good and how blessed is all that will we shall delight that it is so — but it is, equally and as absolutely true that if we ask we shall receive; if we knock, it shall be opened to us; and it we seek, we shall find. We may not understand it; but what finite being can expect to understand fully the infinite? What we do not understand we can yet believe if revealed to us in God’s Word. Let us pray on. God will hear, and God will answer.
But someone says, “How can that be reconciled with God’s sovereignty?” It is not for us to reconcile: leave that to Him; He can do it we may be sure. There are two answers to all these objections. The first is, “God hath said, and therefore it must be so”: and the second is, “We have believed, and we have ourselves found that it is so.”
Our Lord, who knew all the secrets of the bosom of eternal love, Himself uttered the far-reaching words which head this paper: let us venture on them to the full, for the’ heaven and earth shall pass away, His word can never fail, and it holds good to everyone who will believe it, for: “Everyone that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened” (Luke 11:1010For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. (Luke 11:10)).