“Pray, Always Pray”

"Pray, Always Pray"

(No. 2800)

A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, OCTOBER 12, 1902.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING,
NOVEMBER 3, 1878.

"In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I
shall pray the Father for you, for the Father Himself loves you,
because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from
God." John 16:26,27.

THE present time in which we live is highly favored and ought to be
highly valued. Let us never grudge the Patriarchs their communion with
God when, sometimes, He spoke personally into their ear, or revealed
Himself visibly to them. Blessed are our eyes, for they see, and our
ears, for they hear the things which kings and Prophets waited for in
vain. That which was denied to them has been revealed to us and we are,
therefore, peculiarly privileged. Though John the Baptist, living on
the very verge of the Gospel dispensation, was the greatest man who had
been born of woman, yet the least in the kingdom of Heaven is greater
than he–and we are now living in that kingdom of Heaven, although
there is, at present, much to mar the glory of the reign of Christ on
earth. Be grateful, therefore, O you sons of men who are also sons of
God–be grateful that you live in this truly golden age, for, with all
its sorrows and all its shortcomings, it is an age of great mercy and
of high privilege!

I venture even to set the present period above that brave age in which
Jesus dwelt here among men. We are very apt to look upon that time as
being the sunniest era which the Church of God ever enjoyed, yet it was
not so. The dispensation of the Holy Spirit is of a higher order than
the dispensation of the humiliated and suffering Savior. That was the
day of the Church's childhood, when her Lord instructed her by pictures
and taught her letters, but kept back many of the grander and deeper
Truths of God because she was not able to bear them. But now the Holy
Spirit has been given to lead us into all Truth and He takes of the
things of Christ and shows them to us. It was but the twilight of the
Gospel dispensation, or only its dawning hour when our Lord was here.
True, He is the Sun of Righteousness, but His disciples saw only a
little of His Glory, for their eyes were but slightly opened and they
had less of the Light of God from Him than we have, though the
blessedness of His corporeal personal Presence is denied to us.

At that time there was much backwardness in prayer even among the
Apostles of Christ. Just before our text, we read that Christ said to
them, "Hitherto have you asked nothing in My name." We read of our
Master praying–

"Cold mountains and the midnight air, Witnessed the fervor of His
prayer"– but we read very little about the prayers of the disciples.
They did once get as far as to say, "Lord, teach us to pray," but very
little did any of them seem to know, then, of the power of prayer. Now,
the Lord has not only taught us to pray, but He has also given us the
Holy Spirit to help our infirmities and to make intercession for us
with groaning which cannot be uttered. In many other respects upon
which I need not, now, dwell in detail, we are far in advance of the
highly-favored 12 who remained with Christ, or the privileged 70 who
were sent forth by Him to teach, to preach and to heal the sick. It is
a blessed period in which we live and I want you who are believers in
Christ to prize your privileges. If you have been lamenting your lot, I
want you to feel that your birth could scarcely have been at a more
auspicious period and that to be living in the time when the Spirit of
God has been given–and His sacred influences are exercising their
power in the Church–is a high honor which God has granted to you!

I am led to make these remarks because our text commences with the
words, "At that day," which is the present period, the time when Christ
has returned to His Father's right hand after His terrible death-pangs
on Calvary–the period when we are no longer full of sorrow because He
died, but our sorrow has turned into joy on His account and on our own,
too. It is "at that day" that the blessings I am going to speak of are
given to us, so that we are even now enjoying them, or ought to be
doing so.

Taking the text as referring to the period in which we live, I notice,
first, the Believer's daily exercise–"In that day you will ask in My
name." Secondly, we have the Believer's privileged position–"I do not
say to you, that I shall pray the Father for you, for the Father
Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I
came forth from God." Then, thirdly, I shall try, practically, to
suggest what should be the Believer's natural conclusionfrom the
blessed Truth of God which is here revealed to us.

I. First, then, let us notice THE BELIEVER'S DAILY EXERCISE. It is to
ask and to continue asking–"In that day you will ask in My name."

It is a very simple matter to ask, but how gracious it is, on the part
of God, to append to such a simple thing as asking the promise of
giving! He has not said, "Deserve the blessing," but, "Ask for it." He
does not say, "Purchase it," but, "Ask for it." Not, "Labor until you
at length procure it by your own toil," but, "Ask for it." Brothers and
Sisters, if Heaven is to be had for the asking and if all that is
needed to bring us to Heaven is to be had for the asking, who would not
ask? Whatever else a Believer may fail to do, he should never fail,
surely, in asking! If we have never asked God for anything at all, we
may be quite sure that we were never converted. A prayerless soul must
be a Christless soul. But if we are really in Christ, we must have
practiced the sacred art of asking and we ought to go on continually
with it. If there is any difficulty in our minds, let us ask, for the
Holy Spirit can solve it. If there is any need in our homes, let us
ask, for our Heavenly Father can supply it. If there is any weakness in
our spiritual nature, let us ask, for God can strengthen us. If there
is any longing desire of our soul which even leads to great heaviness
of spirit, let us ask, for our desire can be granted if it is a right
one–and our heaviness can be removed. To ask, my Brothers and Sisters,
is very simple–and let the Lord's name be praised that, usually, the
best asking is that which is the most simple!

To ask anything of God does not require that you should use a set form
of words. The children in your family do not read a petition to you
when they need any favor at your hands–they state their need in
childish language–you understand them and grant their request if it is
a right and proper one–and compliance with it is within your power.
Act in just the same way with your God! We are often far too careful
about picking and choosing the phrases that we use in prayer. Do you
think that God is pleased with a display of oratory, or that He takes
notice of your elocution when you come to the Throne of Grace? It may
suit a teacher of English composition to criticize your sentences, but
God thinks much more of your desires than of the words in which they
are expressed. It may be natural for a scholar to consider the accuracy
of your terms, but God especially marks the earnestness of your soul.
There is no other place where the heart should be so free as before the
Mercy Seat. There, you may talk out your very soul, for that is the
best prayer that you can present. Ask not for what some tell you that
you should ask, but for that which you feel the need of–that which the
Holy Spirit has made you to hunger and to thirst for–ask for that.

Ask always. Your whole life should be spent in asking! When the morning
breaks, ask for the mercy needed during the day. And when the day has
closed its eyelids and you go to your bed, ask for the protection and
rest that you need during the night. Ask when your voice can be heard
only by your God in secret. And ask when your tongue may not be able to
move, but only your spirit whispers into the ear of God. Never hesitate
to ask because of the greatness of the blessing you desire. The Lord is
a great God though you are so little–and He delights to give great
things to those who ask them at His hands. And be not backward to ask
because of your unworthiness. You can never have any worthiness of your
own–therefore, if a sense of unworthiness would check your prayer,
now, it might always hinder you from praying. Yet the Lord bids you
pray, so it must be right for you to pray! Ask when you have fought for
something and cannot win it. Ask when you have toiled for it and cannot
gain it–ask and have it! Come before your God in all the rags of your
sinfulness and conscious ill-desert and ask, for that is all you have
to do. "Ask, and you shall receive," is the message that shines out
with heavenly radiance over the Mercy Seat. Read it and obey it–open
your mouth wide, for God will fill it.

Our Lord told His disciples that in addition to asking, they were to
ask in His name–"In that day you will ask in My name." That is the
most delightful way of asking. We often say, at the end of our
petition, "Lord, grant it, for Jesus'

sake," and that is a very proper plea. It means, "Because of what Jesus
did, will You not deal well with me? I have done nothing that can
ensure a favorable answer to my supplication, but will You not give it
to me because Jesus deserves it? For His sake, hear me, O Lord!" That
is a good way to pray, but it is a still better way if you can use the
name of Christ and ask in His name. You know what you do at a shop when
another bids you go there and purchase goods in his name and charge
them to his account. Or suppose that you have authorized your servant
to go to a certain shop and you have said to the trader, "Whatever he
comes for in my name, let him have it." Perhaps he has no money of his
own. Possibly he is a very poor person, but, armed with your authority,
he can get from that trader as much as you could get if you were to go.
His warrant carries him as far as your name has weight. So, Jesus says
to us, "Use My name when you are speaking to My Father." "And how far
may I go in using that name?" As far as Christ Himself can go! Whatever
power there is about the name of Jesus, whatever influence it has in
His Father's heart, that power and that influence we are permitted to
exercise in prayer! My Lord, I used to ask You to do certain things for
Your Son's sake, but now I come with a still stronger plea, for He has
bid me use His name and ask that You will do for me even as You would
do for Him. My Father, if You can refuse your First-Born, then you can
refuse me. And if I am asking for such a thing as He could not ask for,
neither would I wish to ask for it–I desire to make this the gauge of
my prayer, both for its extent and for its acceptance. If He would have
refused to pray it, so also would I. And if that which I ask at Your
hands seems a blessing to me, but would not have seemed a blessing to
Him, I would say, "Not as I will, but as You will," that I may still be
able to use His name. No right-minded man would use another person's
name improperly–and if you are asking God for something for yourself
merely with a selfish motive, you must not defile that blessed name of
His by linking it with such a prayer as that! But, using His name
aright, you have great liberty and a high privilege in being permitted
to come and pray, not only for the sake of Jesus, but also in the name
of Jesus!

Our text tells us that this asking in the name of Christ is to be the
constant exercise of Christians "in that day." What is that day?
According to the context, it is the time of persecution–"They shall
put you out of the synagogues, yes, the time comes that whoever kills
you will think that he does God a service." At such a time as that,
Christians are sure to pray. We have not, perhaps, in England, at the
present day, a tenth of the prayer that used to go up in the dark days
of Queen Mary. Ah, Beloved, when Brothers and Sisters are in prison for
the faith–when they are likely to be laid on the rack–when the little
church has to be called together because the pastor is to be burned
tomorrow morning and the young people all want to be up early to stand
round and to cheer him with their weeping eyes if they cannot do
anything more for him. And when the youngsters come home and their
fathers ask them why they went there, they say they went to learn the
way if they should have to die in the same manner themselves–ah, then,
prayer is a reality! And when they gather together in out-of-the-way
corners and in lonely caverns–when they dare not raise their voices
lest the watchers should hear them and take them to prison–yet, in
solemn undertones they cry unto the Lord–then it is real prayer! It is
that effectual fervent prayer of righteous men that avails much. Then
it is, if ever, that the Church of God does really pray! If any of you
are, in your little way, at all subject to persecution, be sure to
pray, for our Savior said, "In that day you will ask in My name." Let
that persecution be a sort of reminder to you of your duty and
privilege! If you have been at all slack in prayer and somebody treats
you ill for Christ's sake, say, "Now is the time for me to pray more
earnestly than ever, for Jesus said, especially of the time of
persecution, 'In that day you will ask in My name.'"

If you read further on in the chapter, you will find that "that day" is
when the Spirit of God has instructed the followers of Christ. "In that
day," He said, "you shall ask Me nothing." That is, "You shall put no
questions to Me, for the Spirit of God shall instruct you. He shall
glorify Me, for He shall receive of Mine and shall show it unto you."
Now, the more Light of God and understanding a man gets from Heaven,
the more he will pray. If there is any so-called light that makes a man
lax in prayer, that light is darkness. Some time ago, when there were a
great many people about who professed to be perfect, I heard of one who
had grown so conceited that she said her mind was so conformed to the
will of God that there was no need for her to pray because her mind and
God's mind were so perfectly at one. Yes, and when a person imagines
that he is so good that he need not pray, he had better begin by
crying, "God be merciful to me a sinner." I daresay you have heard of
those people who climb so high up the ladder that they fall down the
other side–and that is exactly what people do when they begin to carry
any Truth of God to extravagance and push a point beyond its legitimate
issues. That which makes you cease to pray is of the devil, so say to
him, "Get you behind me, Satan." The very

suggestion that you can do without prayer must have come from
beneath–it cannot have come from above. The more the Spirit of God
teaches a Christian the things of God, the more it makes him ask in the
name of Jesus Christ.

Once again, that day is a day of great joy–"your sorrow shall be
turned into joy…In that day you will ask in My name." Perhaps someone
says, "But sorrowful times are good time for prayer, are they not?" I
grant you that they are, but, oh, when sorrow is turned to joy, doubt
gives place to faith and Hope, herself, becomes eclipsed by a measure
of delightful fruition–then is the time to pray! When your heart is
ready to dance and your mouth is full of sweetness, then draw near to
God in prayer. When He has given you most, then ask all the more from
Him! Suppose this is a good day with you–a day of glad tidings–then
seize such a good opportunity to pray! There is a high tide in your
affairs just now–then take it at the flood, that it may lead you on to
spiritual wealth and wash you up high and near to your God! O Beloved,
if ever in your lives you pray, let it be especially when the Lord
reveals Himself so graciously to you that your heart is glad and your
glory rejoices! Let that be a day of asking in the name of Jesus
Christ!

Brothers and Sisters, I wish I could speak even more impressively upon
this most delightful theme. For if there is one point, more than
others, that touches the very vitals of Christian existence, it is this
prayerfulness–this asking of God and receiving from Him in answer to
our earnest believing supplication. Is prayer a reality with you, dear
Friends, or is it a mere mockery? Is it a sort of religious rite that
you feel bound to perform, or has it become as essential to your
spiritual being as breathing is to your natural being? Is it now to you
a matter of course that you should pray? Is it as natural for you to
ask of your Father who is in Heaven as it is for your little children
to ask of you who are fathers on earth? I feel that it must be so with
me–not praying merely because I ought, but because I love the sacred
exercise–not praying at a certain hour because it is the set time for
prayer, but praying because I wantto pray, praying because I mustpray!
A man scarcely needs to be reminded that he must breathe. It is
essential to his very life that he should breathe and it is essential
to our spiritual life that we should pray. I never thought it necessary
to prepare a discourse to exhort you to eat, neither ought it to be
necessary to exhort Christians to pray. It should be to you an instinct
of your new nature, as natural to your spiritual being as a good
appetite is to a man in health. There should be a holy hunger and
thirst to pray. And the soul never prays so well as when it is
reminded, not by the hour of the day or night, but by its real
needs–and when it resorts to its place of private prayer, not because
it thinks it ought, but because it feels that it must, and shall, and
will go there–and is delighted at the privilege of having communion
with its God!

My objective, in the second part of my sermon, will be to stir you up
to such a feeling as that, so I will say no more upon this first
portion of my theme, the Believer's daily exercise–"In that day you
will ask in My name."

II. Well now, secondly, we have THE BELIEVER'S PRIVILEGED POSITION with
regard to praying.

Believers ought to be abundant in prayer because, first, they have the
holy Spirit to prompt them. Is that in the text? Yes, or, at least it
is implied in the text, for Jesus says, "In that day you will ask." But
how could He affirm so positively that we should ask unless He intended
to send His Spirit to lead us to ask? The promise is, itself, a
guarantee that He will see it fulflled!So we have the Holy Spirit to
prompt us to pray–but not merely to prompt us to pray, but to tell us
for what we should pray, "for we know not what we should pray for as we
ought" until He teaches us! Someone perhaps asks, "Why do you pray,
when everything is settled by the Divine decree?" It is true that
everything is so settled and it is for that very reason that we pray!
The Spirit of God leads us to desire exactly what God has decreed and
though we cannot open and read the book of His decrees, the Holy Spirit
can read that book, so He guides us to pray in accordance with its
secret records–and He also makes intercession for us "according to the
will of God." "For what man knows the things of a man, save the spirit
of man which is in him? Even so, no man knows the things of God, but
the Spirit of God."And what the Spirit of God knows to be the mind of
God, He makes our mind to be, also, and thus we also pray "according to
the will of God." A true prayer is the echo of the eternal purpose of
God. We say that "coming events cast their shadows before them" and our
prayers are the shadows before God's mercies. Who would not pray when
prayer becomes to him a consecrated mystery in which one Person of the
Sacred Trinity operates upon his mind and excites his desires? It ought
to lead us to be much in prayer because our prayers are prompted by the
Holy Spirit–

"Pray, always pray, the Holy Spirit pleads Within you all your daily,
hourly needs."

Next, we ought to be much in prayer because we have the high honor of
being allowed to use the name of Christ in our prayer–"In that day you
will ask in My name." If a king were to entrust us with his seal, or if
that king had the

power to make money as fast as he willed it simply by his
signature–and he allowed us the use of that signature–I do not think
many of us would remain poor. If he would only give us that privilege,
we would take care to make considerable drafts before we had finished
with his seal and signature! And our Lord Jesus does, as it were, take
off the signet ring from His finger and says to His servants, "Ask in
My name." And, therefore, we issue drafts upon the Infinity of God!
There is no limit put to our requests except this, "All things,
whatever you shall ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive." Oh,
how this ought to encourage us to pray! Shall we allow such a golden
opportunity as this to pass by unused? O Believers, with the Holy
Spirit to tell you what to ask and the Lord Jesus to endorse your
asking, will you not pray without ceasing?

But, beyond all this, there is the great encouragement to constant
prayer which we derive from the fact that our Lord Jesus Christ is
continually making intercession for us. Our poor prayers are blotted,
blurred and stained with sin. But our Great High Priest sprinkles them
with His own most precious blood and so purifies them, and then, with
His own dear hands, He lays them before the Mercy Seat–and for His
sake they are sure to be accepted! "If any man sins, we have an
Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." And He is always
pleading for us. So, as we have a Divine Intercessor within the veil
who never forgets to present our prayers before His Father's Throne of
Grace, how boldly ought we to come to the Mercy Seat! And what large
things we ought to ask of God in Christ's name!

Our text, however, seems to me to suggest that our Lord Jesus wished to
prevent His disciples from making a mistake concerning His
intercession, so, on this occasion, He said, "I do not say to you, that
I will pray the Father for you." There was no need that He should say
that just then, for He had already said it a great many times, so He
needed not to repeat it. But, at that time, He seemed as if He meant to
say, "I do not want you to exaggerate even My intercession at My
Father's expense. I will intercede for you, but you must not imagine
that I do so because My Father is unwilling to hear you when you come
to Him in My name. You must not get into your minds the strange idea
that, by My pleading, I shall make My Father willing to bless you, for
the Father Himself loves you.'" This brings us to a very precious point
which is that we should be greatly encouraged to pray, not only because
the Spirit prompts us and the Son intercedes for us, but because the
Father Himself loves us.

Oh, how we ought to pray now that we have the ear–no, more, the very
heart of the King! To have such a Teacher as the Holy Spirit and such
an Advocate as our Lord Jesus Christ ought to be a great encouragement
to us–but to have the heart of the King, Himself, is best of all! "The
Father Himself loves you." You know, dear Brothers and Sisters, that
shallow thinkers often make mistakes concerning the Father and the Son
in relation to the Atonement. They think that the Atonement of Christ
was necessary to make the Father love His people, whereas the Truth of
God is that the Father, becauseHe loved His people, gave His
only-begotten Son to make propitiation for them! God was always love,
as truly love as the Son was and is–we must make no mistake about that
matter. So, concerning Christ's intercession, there is a tendency, in
certain quarters, to fall into the error of supposing that the Father
is difficult to please and that Jesus must pacify Him before He will
grant our requests. It is not so, "for the Father Himself loves you." I
think that when a sinner is coming to God, he had better, at first, fix
his eyes wholly upon Jesus the Mediator, but as for those of us who
have believed in Jesus, we are forgiven, we are in a totally different
position from that in which the unbeliever stands. We have had our sins
blotted out and we may come to the Father Himself–of course, always
coming through the Mediator–yet all the while rejoicing in His
gracious assurance, "The Father Himself loves you."–

"Pray, always pray, though weary, faint, and lone, Prayer nestles by
the Father's sheltering Throne."

The text says that the Father loves us because we have loved Jesus, and
have believed that He came forth from the Father. Do not make the
mistake of imagining that the love of God to us is caused by our love
to Christ. Oh, no! "We love Him because He first loved us." The first
love of God is a love of benevolence–a love of compassion–a love
towards the unworthy and the undeserving. God, out of love, forgives us
and saves us, but there is another love, besides that, which we must
never forget. When He has brought us to love His dear Son–when He has
brought us to trust in Him because we believe that He came forth from
the Father, then the Father has a love of complacency and delight
toward us. You can easily see the difference between the two kinds of
love, for it is often illustrated in human history. A man finds a poor
child in the street and he takes pity upon it, carries it into his
house, clothes it and cares for it. That is one kind of love– the love
of benevolence. But suppose that child should develop into a beautiful
boy, or a lovely girl, who, with engaging

manners, should ingratiate himself or herself into the very heart of
the one who was so kind to it in earlier days? Then there springs up a
second sort of love.

The man says, "I loved that child when I picked it up, a bundle of rags
and filth, and misery, but look at its loveliness now! See how this
little one takes to the rest of the family–see how grateful it is–how
it loves me! I cannot help loving it more than I did at the first."
That is another kind of love altogether, and the Lord has just such a
love as that, only of an infinitely higher kind, toward all who trust
and love His Son! You know that the Father loves Jesus Christ so much
that when He sees that you, also, love Him, He loves you all the more
for that reason. He had unbounded confidence in Christ when He sent Him
into the world–and when He sees that you, also, have confidence in
Him, He loves you, too, for you two are agreed upon that matter.
Nothing binds people together so much as a common love to the same
object. If there is some one person who is dear to both, there is at
once a tie between the two. How often a husband's heart is held firmly
by the wife because, between the two, there is a little one who is dear
to both of them! Perhaps, in some foolish fit of anger, they might have
parted from one another, but their child is the bond that holds them
together. And between us and our God, in a sense infinitely above my
poor comparison, there is a wonderful union because He confides in
Jesus, and we confide in Him, too. He loves Jesus, and we love Him,
too, and now, because of this, our Savior says to us, "The Father
Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I
came forth from God."

I cannot explain this marvelous mystery, but I want you who know that
you do love Christ, and believe that He came forth from God, to open
your whole souls and try to take in this sublime Truth of God, " The
Father Himself loves you." Not, "pities you." Not, "promises to help
you." Not, "considers you," but, "the Father Himself loves you." It is
no use attempting to explain what love is–you must feel it if you
would realize what it is. You did not doubt your mother's words when
you were little and she caught you in her arms and said, "I love you."
You believed her, you rested in her love and you returned it as far as
you could. So the great God says to you, "I love you because you love
My Son. There are many faults and failings in you, but you love My Son,
so I love you." Did you not say, just now, "Lord, you know all things,
you know that I love You"? You said that to the Lord Jesus and, because
it is true, the Father Himself loves you! I remember when one of the
sweet passages in Solomon's Song came home to my heart with absolutely
ravishing power–it seemed to carry me right out of myself–it was that
verse in which the Heavenly Bridegroom says to His spouse, "You are all
fair, My love; there is no spot in you." That is what the Lord says to
His people as He sees them in Christ. When He perceives that they love
Christ, He calls them His Hephzibah, that is, "My delight is in her."
"The Father Himself loves you." This little sentence is not so much a
theme for preaching as for quiet meditation! You need to get alone into
your chamber, sit down and just ring that silver bell again, and again,
and again, "the Father Himself loves you." Do you love me? Why should
He love me? How can He love me? Yet Jesus knows and, as He says it is
so, then so it is, glory be to His holy name!

III. I have little time left to speak of THE BELIEVER'S NATURAL
CONCLUSION which he is to draw from these words of Christ.

He says, first, "If all this is true, then, what power I have! What
power I have at the Mercy Seat with the Spirit to prompt me, Christ to
plead for me and the Father, Himself, smiling at me as I come–and
saying to me, 'Come and welcome, for I love you; none can be more
welcome than you are. Come, My child, ask what you will, and it shall
be done unto you.'" But, Beloved, have you ever really believed that
you have this power? Have you not asked and hoped when you ought to
have asked and believed? Have you not asked as if there was just a bare
possibility that you might be heard? Have you not prayed as though your
many pleadings and your abundant tears mightmove the hard heart of God?
Has not your supplication often been presented on some such theory as
that? If so, I hope that in future you will be able to rise to the
Believer's true position and say, "I am God's child and He loves
me–and coming to Him through Jesus Christ His Son, and moved by His
Holy Spirit, I will ask of Him whatever I need, for I know that I shall
receive that which I have asked of Him in the name of Jesus and for His
sake."

If you ever realize that you have that power, (and I earnestly hope
that you will), take care that you use it. Use it for your children,
use it for all your relatives, use it for any of the seat-holders who
sit near you and are unconverted. Pick them out and pray for them by
name–and be not content till you hear that they are saved! May I ask
you also to use this power in prayer on my behalf? I shall be so rich
if you who have power with God will pray for me! My preaching will be
poverty-stricken if you cease to pray for me. You who can pray, I beg
you to plead with God for His Church, for His

Truth, for His cause on the earth. These are dark days, but you can
bring on a spiritual summertime if you know how to pray that effectual
fervent prayer of the righteous man that avails much. The Truth of God
seems, for a while, to be suffering defeat, and the battle for the
right waxes hotter and fiercer, but the banner of victory will soon
float in the breeze if you know how to pray aright! The praying legion
is the conquering legion! Bring to the front the men and women who can
pray–and the devil will tremble and flee, for well he knows that those
who are mighty with God are mightier even than he is. The history of
the future depends very largely upon the prayers of the present. If you
and other Believers restrain prayer, you may help to bring on long,
dark, chilly winters for the Church of God–but if you and they are
aroused to go up, as Elijah went to Carmel and if, with your face
between your knees, you cry mightily unto the Lord God of Israel,
surely, as the Lord lives, you shall see the skies covered with clouds
and there shall be "a sound of abundance ofrain."

I speak reverently, yet truthfully, when I say that the keys of Heaven
swing at the belt of the man who knows how to pray. I mean not
commonplace praying, such as some practice, but such prayer as I have
been speaking of–prompted by the Spirit of God–first purified and
then presented by the Savior–and offered by a man who knows that the
Father Himself loves him. I am awestruck as I think of the tremendous
power of which prayer is capable. It is not Omnipotent, yet it commands
Omnipotence. It is not Omniscient, yet prayer is as the very eyes of
God! He who can truly pray has first read the heart of God and then
spoken out what is there. Prayer overcomes the Eternal! What more can I
say of it? When Israel sinned against the Lord, Moses pleaded for the
guilty nation even after God had said to him, "Let Me alone, that My
wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will
make of you a great nation." But the prevailing prayer won the day,
for, "the Lord repented of the evil which He thought to do unto His
people." May God teach you, who are loved of the Father because you
love the Son, to pray such a prayer as that of Moses!

In a specially-careful manner, my Brothers and Sisters in Christ, we
ought to mention the answers to prayer which we have received. It would
not be prudent, proper, or even possible, to mention all of them, for
there are love passages in prayer between Christ and the soul which
never must be told unless it is in choice company, and on rare
occasions. Some of our communing with the Lord Jesus are too sacred,
too spiritual, too heavenly ever to be spoken of this side the gates of
pearl–but the bulk of the Lord's replies to our petitions are such as
might be written across the skies, that every eye might read them. Make
sure that you do not bury these gracious facts in the lead of
ingratitude. Imitate David, who tells us in Psalm 118:5, "I called upon
the Lord in distress: the Lord answered me, and set me in a large
place."

Yes, and do not only declare how God answers prayer, but tell of the
power of faith in all the ways in which it moves itself. Sit down at
the fireside and talk of faith's doings to your children, that they may
tell them to their children and to the generations yet to follow–that
all men may know that all things are possible to him that believes.
Recount the fulfillment of promises to faith, deliverance from trouble
through faith and the enjoyment of supreme happiness through faith.
Sound it forth in all your neighborhoods that, "It is better to trust
in the Lord than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the
Lord than to put confidence in princes." Ring out clearly such words as
these–"Trust you in the Lord forever; for in the Lord Jehovah is
everlasting strength." Tell everybody why you know that it is so, for
you have turned to friends in the time of trouble and they have given
you the cold shoulder. You have even been foolish enough to hope for
help from great men who had it in their power to aid you, but they have
looked down upon you with disdain and wondered how you dared to ask
such aid from their high mightiness!

Let all men know that the Majesty of Heaven has never thus treated your
humble appeals. From the Throne of the Highest there has never come a
harsh reply, or a contemptuous rejection of your lowly suit. No, the
Lord has been better to you than even your hope expected or your faith
believed! God has answered you richly, helped you efficiently,
gladdened you abundantly and filled your spirit with a sweet content.
Truly, God is good to Israel! It is no vain thing to wait upon the
Lord. The path of faith is the path of strength and safety!

How unhappy is the lot of some here present who never pray! It matters
little what other power you possess–if you have no power with God, you
are powerless! To those who never pray, or who insult God with an empty
form of prayer in which there is no heart, there will come a day when
they will pray. As surely as they live and die as they now are, they
will pray! But their prayers will not be answered. Dives prayed for a
drop of water to cool his burning tongue, but his request was refused,
for it was too late to pray, then–yet he might have had the Water of
Life to drink had he prayed while he was upon the earth! It is in Hell
that prayer, of a sort, abounds, but the answer to such petitions is,
"Because I

have called, and you refused; I have stretched out My hand, and no man
regarded; but you have set at nothing all My counsel, and would none of
My reproof; I, also, will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your
fear comes." Ask now, I entreat you, for God will hear you if you call
upon Him now. But "when once the Master of the house is risen up, and
has shut the door," no knocking "at that day" will avail to get it open
again! No pleading, moaning, groaning, crying or wailing will then
prevail, for prayer will have had its day, and Justice, with drawn
sword, will stand before the Mercy Seat, barring the way to it forever.

The Lord bring you all to believe in Jesus, and to fervently love Him
with a pure heart before it be too late, for His dear name's sake!
Amen.