The Ministry of Prayer

"Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit" (Eph. 6:18). 

It is not only astonishing, but appalling, how few Christians heed the divine call to a life of prayer. There is no great difficulty to get them to heed the missionary call, the call to the ministry, etc., but when it comes to the unpopular, secluded life of prayer, there are only a few adherents.

The call to prayer is universal; it not only comes to a few here and there (as does the call to the ministry), but to every child of God. Hear what saith the Lord: "Men ought always to pray and not to faint" (Luke 18: 1); "Pray without ceasing" (1 Thess. 5:17).

Prayer is the propelling force by which the child of God stems the tide of sin and Satan. If the whole truth was known, neglecting to pray is the chief cause of every backslider being in sin to-day. It is astonishing beyond measure what power God has given His children through prayer. Think of puny, mortal man being invested with the power to pray the moon and sun to a standstill, lock up heaven for three years and a half, bring torrents of fire from the sky, conquer every devil in hell, astonish angels, change the mind and plan of Jehovah, and bring all the powers of the Great White Throne to his aid at a moment's notice, if need be.

Let us observe a few things necessary to succeed in the prayer life.

I. We must acquire an excessive relish for prayer. It is astonishing how few Christians there are who really love to pray. To verify this statement, all one has to do is to visit the weekly prayer-meeting, the cottage and the early Sabbath prayer-meeting. Instead of finding fifty or sixty present, you will only find ten or twelve. Another indication of the lack of love for prayer is when people call at your home; they can sit and converse about worldly things for hours, but as soon as you suggest having prayer, they look at the watch and begin making excuses to go. The question may arise here, "How is this excessive relish to be obtained " We answer:

1. It is obtained by promptly obeying the Spirit's call to prayer, and entertaining that amount of it which we already have. There are times, both in the day and at night, when the blessed Holy Spirit infuses into the heart a sweet drawing, constraining desire for secret communion. He thus deals with every child of God, but many of them, sad to say, do not promptly heed His voice, but defer the matter until they are through doing this or that, hence, when they do get ready, that sweet, drawing influence is gone, and though they may go through a form of prayer, yet they fail to strike through and get hold of God.

2. The next thing required in pursuing this excessive relish is, when we enter our closets to pray, we must leave every worldly care and thought on the outside, and consider ourselves in the immediate presence of God. A very small thing can hinder us in secret prayer. Sometimes if you have a kettle on the stove boiling the devil will use that as a means to hinder you from having your mind wholly on God, for fear it will burn; so when you go to pray, set the kettle off the fire.

3. The next thing necessary is to redeem every spare moment for prayer. It would surprise you, how much time can be redeemed for prayer on this line. One might say right here, "I don't always feel like praying," but if you will go right against your feeling and use every spare moment in prayer for one week, you will be astonished at the spiritual progress you will make. Another way of redeeming time for prayer is to occasionally devote a whole night to prayer. Jesus did so, and many of the fathers, who had great power with God and with the people.

II. The next suggestion is, how to hold newly attained ground.

After we have learned the art of entertaining the spirit of prayer, and redeeming every idle moment for prayer, the soul reaches a stage where it is all illuminated and thrilled with heavenly electricity, and is daily swept on into God, by an almost resist-less current of prayer, and no creature or circumstance can get it out of this place. If it gets out it must get out itself. Satan is aware of this fact, therefore he follows a man of prayer more intently than any being on earth, trying to get him to crack a joke, tell a funny story, or do some unholy thing, and thus lose that place of unbroken communion with his Maker. Therefore he must be more watchful, and step more surely than any other creature on earth, ever remembering that much prayer requires much watching.

III. We next call your attention to some effects the prayer life has on its possessor.

1. He is in such union with God, and so surcharged with the Holy Ghost power, that his presence, without uttering a word, is a constant reproof to sinners, worldly church members and tame holiness professors. They feel uneasy in his presence. If you are troubled with a host of unsaved relatives and neighbors, visiting you on Sunday and keeping you from meeting to feed and entertain them, you have surely let down and lost the spirit of prayer. Hence, that is why you can sit and talk with them for hours on the topics of the day-polities, real estate, fashion and a thousand other nonsensical things.

2. The next effect it has upon him is, he is so pure and holy sensitive that he not only gets burdened for the unsaved and unsanctified, but quickly detects and feels the least unfaithfulness or compromise in the saints of God.

3. His spiritual vision is so clarified, and his ears so acquainted with the dialect and harmony of heaven, that he can detect the shrewdest hypocrite, no matter how much he prays, shouts or testifies. The keen-eyed man of God detects the bleating sheep and lowing ox. Jesus said, "My sheep hear my voice and I know them" (John 10: 27).

4. The last effect we take time to mention here is the "double vision" experience. We read in Rev. 4: 8, "And the four beasts had each of them six wings [which symbolized prayer and ascension] and they were full of eyes within." The thought expressed here is, they were fortified on every side, and it was utterly impossible to approach them unobserved. So it is with the man of prayer; he can see the past, present and future. He is so well versed in heavenly astronomy, that no storm of temptation, sickness, sorrow, or death can come to his home without his foreseeing it afar off. Hence, in being "forwarned," he is "forearmed." Many times we have heard people, who have lived on the watchtower with God, make such remarks as, "I feel something coming!" "Something is going to happen!" "Some one is going to die!" etc., and it invariably came to pass.

Now, for one to see any great distance in the natural world, he must ascend to some elevated point, so his view will not be obstructed. So it is in the spiritual world--if one would have the "fourfaced" and "full of eyes" experience. To see every way, we must outstrip every earthly object (by mighty prevailing prayer, faith and fasting), and mount up and perch on perfection's lofty summit, where we live on earth and in heaven at the same time.

O, who will heed the call to a life of prayer?