Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit.
Prayer and panoply
Christians have a battle to fight, an enemy to overcome. The enemy is so strong and wily that no human power can resist him. The Christian must be clad in God’s armour. Moreover, he must be armed at every point. Nothing less than the whole armour of God will avail. Not only so: the armour itself is valuable only as it is entire. It is of little consequence where the soldier is struck, if only he falls. Moreover, the Christian qualities figured in this picture of complete armour can exist and thrive only in company. Hope is nothing without faith; readiness is nothing without hope; righteousness is of faith only, and is nothing without truth; while truth finds its highest expression in righteousness. Then, as the soldier, however well protected, is useless without his sword; so Christian hope and truth and faith and righteousness get their highest sanction, and are taught their appropriate uses, by the Word of God alone--the sword of the Spirit. The Word of God and the armour of God are as necessary to each other as the captain’s orders are to the armed soldier; in short, this passage of Holy Scripture will be of little use to us unless we study it entire, and possess ourselves of the unity of all its parts. Consequently, we cannot understand these words in the text about prayer unless we see how they are related to what goes before. Prayer is the divinely ordained means of intercourse with God. In all that precedes we get no intimation of the personal contact of the Christian warrior with his Divine Leader. This is given us in prayer. We have the Word of God to the soldier; but in prayer we have the soldier’s word with God, the contact and communion of soldier and general; and it is not without a purpose that the Word of God and prayer are brought together here. The Word of God gathers up into itself, expounds and interprets Christian truth, hope, faith, righteousness, readiness; but the Word of God becomes a living power, something to strike and to slay with, only through the living contact of the Christian with Christ, and this contact is afforded by prayer only. Now, in our text, the apostle describes some of the laws and characteristics of prayer; and these we will touch upon in the order in which he places them.
I. The variety of prayer. All prayer is the same in essence, but it takes on different modes, just as your intercourse with a friend does. It is not all asking. Sometimes it is only interchange, without any petition at all--talking to God for the pleasure of communion; sometimes a sharp, short cry for help, like Peter’s “Lord, save me!” when he felt himself sinking; sometimes merely the aspiration of the heart to God without a word; sometimes a half-conscious sympathy of thought with God; sometimes a formal, public petition; sometimes a struggle to climb over self to God. We are to pray with every prayer, with all kinds of prayer. He is not always the most prayerful man who prays most regularly or most formally, or most publicly. Sometimes more prayer is condensed into a sentence than is to be found in a whole series of prayer meetings. I never can read without emotion the story of the good old German professor, who sat studying until far into the night, and then, pushing his books wearily aside, was heard by the occupant of the next room to say, ere he lay down to rest, “Lord Jesus, we are upon the same old terms.”
II. The seasonableness of prayer. “Praying in every season”; this includes the habitual contact of the life with God everywhere. Life is full of occasions and suggestions of contact with God, and the Christian is to avail himself of them. You want God everywhere; you want His counsel in everything; your joy is incomplete, yea, empty, without His sanction and sympathy; your sorrow is unbearable without His comfort; your business lacks its one great element of success if God is left out of it; you will as surely fall under temptation as you are human, if God does not help you. Pray, therefore, with every kind of prayer, at every season.
III. The element and atmosphere of prayer--‘‘In the Spirit.” What we are, comes very largely out of our surroundings; just as a taper gets much of the material for combustion out of the atmosphere. A light goes out in a vacuum. A swan cannot do his best in the air, nor an eagle in the water. So the power of prayer depends largely on the element in which it works. The only effective prayer is “in the Spirit,” i.e., under the impulse and direction of the Spirit of God (Rom_8:26). Otherwise, prayer is only an evidence of infirmity, like the dim burning of a candle in foul air.
1. The Spirit creates a prayerful heart (Rom_8:16). We never can truly pray at all until we can pray “Our Father!”
2. The Spirit suggests the substance of our prayers.
3. The Spirit reveals the love and helpfulness of God, and so encourages us to present our many and deep needs to Him.
4. The Spirit communicates Divine love to our hearts, and this love communicates warmth and enthusiasm to prayers.
5. The Spirit so identifies Himself with our case that He makes intercession for us. In other words, God’s own heart pleads for us; and our mightiest plea is there.
IV. Alertness in prayer. “Being awake thereunto.”
1. Keep watch over prayer. Cut that great main which leads the water from the reservoir into yonder city, and how long wilt it be ere the city is in distress? Prayer is the medium of communion with God, and without that communion there is no Christian living. No life without God, and no contact with God without prayer; so that, if Satan can cut that main, the life is in his power; and the danger is linked with the treasure, as always. Hence prayer is a thing to be watched--watched as a habit to be encouraged by practice, as a pleasure with which the Christian is to grow into a sweet familiarity by frequent communings with Him in whose presence is fulness of joy; as a duty which he neglects at the peril of his spiritual life.
2. And we must watch after prayer, to see what becomes of our prayers. He would be a strange archer who did not look to see where his arrow struck, a strange merchant who did not care whether his richly freighted ship arrived at her port or not.
3. This watching must be persistent. The conflict with temptation is lifelong; the necessity for prayer never ceases; there is always, therefore, need to watch.
V. The objects of prayer. Prayer must not be selfish. It is the language of the kingdom of God; and the kingdom of God is a community, a brotherhood. Prayer is the expression of the life of God’s kingdom, and that life is social. (Marvin R. Vincent, D. D.)
Pastor and people
I. The duty of the people.
1. Constant prayer.
(1) Private.
(2) Family.
(3) Public.
2. Habitual watchfulness.
(1) Spirit.
(2) Language.
(3) Actions.
3. Steady perseverance. This is opposed to--
(1) Indecision.
(2). Lukewarmness.
(3) Despondency.
4. Christian affection.
(1) Sincere.
(2) Ardent.
(3) Comprehensive.
II. The office of the pastor--“An ambassador”: one who has received a commission, and has a delegated authority. As a minister my duty is--
1. To instruct you with plainness.
2. To entreat you affectionately.
(1) By exhibiting Christ in all the loveliness of His character.
(2) By the exhibition of His work in all its suitableness and sufficiency.
(3) By dwelling on the work of the Holy Spirit, the energy by which the soul is renewed and sanctified, and made ripe for felicity.
(4) By making known the boundless love of God.
3. To warn you with faithfulness.
(1) Against erroneous doctrines.
(2) Against wicked practices.
(3) Of imminent danger.
4. To watch over you with care.
III. The text also affords me an opportunity to solicit your prayers.
1. Pray that I may preach fluently.
2. Pray that I may preach with boldness.
3. Pray that I may preach correctly.
4. Pray that I may preach successfully.
Concluding observations: From what has been said we cannot but observe--
1. The connection which subsists between a successful ministry and a praying people.
2. The importance of exemplifying all the graces of the Holy Spirit. Here is prayer, watchfulness, perseverance, comprehensive love; all these are required, and how important are they all. (W. S. Palmer.)
Subjects of intercession
I. Proper subjects of prayer.
1. Our own personal needs.
2. The needs of all our brethren in Christ--“for all saints.”
3. The needs of ambassadors of Christ--“for me.”
II. Proper method of prayer.
1. Variety in the method--“all prayer,” public and private, secret and social, with confession, petition, and thanksgiving.
2. Frequency--“at all seasons” (R.V.).
3. Seeking the help of God’s Spirit--“in the Spirit” (Rom_8:15; Rom_8:26).
4. Watchfulness, lest weariness overtake us.
5. Perseverance (Luk_18:1). (Family Churchman.)
Intercession
Intercession is the characteristic of Christian worship, the privilege of the heavenly adoption, the exercise of the perfect and spiritual mind. This is the subject to which I shall now direct your attention.
1. First, let us turn to the express injunctions of Scripture. For instance, the text itself: “Praying in every season with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and abstaining from sleep for the purpose, with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.” Observe the earnestness of the intercession here inculcated; “in every season, with all supplication,” and “to the loss of sleep” (see also Col_4:2; 1Th_5:25; 1Ti_2:1-2; 1Ti_2:8; 2Th_3:1; 1Co_14:3). Next consider St. Paul’s own example, which is quite in accordance with his exhortations (Eph_1:16-17; Php_1:3-4; Col_1:3; 1Th_1:2). The instances of prayer, recorded in the book of Acts, are of the same kind, being almost entirely of an intercessory nature, as offered at ordinations, confirmations, cures, missions, and the like (Act_13:2-3; Act_9:4).
2. Such is the lesson taught us by the words and deeds of the apostles and their brethren. Nor could it be otherwise, if Christianity be a social religion, as it is preeminently. If Christians are to live together, they will pray together; and united prayer is necessarily of an intercessory character, as being offered for each other and for the whole, and for self as one of the whole.
3. But the instance of St. Paul opens upon us a second reason for this distinction. Intercession is the especial observance of the Christian, because he alone is in a condition to offer it. It is the function of the justified and obedient, of the sons of God, “who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit”; not of the carnal and unregenerate. “God heareth not sinners”; nature tells us this; but none but God Himself could tell us that He will hear and answer those who are not sinners; for “when we have done all, we are unprofitable servants, and can claim no reward for our services.” But He has graciously promised us this mercy, in Scripture, as the following texts will show: Jam_5:16; 1Jn_3:22; Joh_15:7-15.
4. The history of God’s dealings with Abraham will afford us an additional lesson, which must be ever borne in mind in speaking of the privilege of the saints on earth as intercessors between God and man (see also Exo_20:12; Jer_35:18-19; Dan_10:2-14; Mar_9:29).
5. Why should we be unwilling to admit what is is so great a consolation to know? Why should we refuse to credit the transforming power and efficacy of our Lord’s sacrifice? Surely He did not die for any common end, but in order to exalt man, who was of the dust of the field, into “heavenly places.” He died to bestow upon him that privilege which implies or involves all others, and brings him into nearest resemblance to Himself, the privilege of intercession. This, I say, is the Christian’s especial prerogative; and if he does not exercise it, certainly he has not risen to the conception of his real place among created beings. He is made after the pattern and in the fulness of Christ--he is what Christ is. Christ intercedes above, and he intercedes below. Why should he linger in the doorway, praying for pardon, who has been allowed to share in the grace of the Lord’s passion, to die with Him and rise again? He is already in a capacity for higher things. His prayer thenceforth takes a higher range, and contemplates not himself merely, but others also. To conclude. If anyone asks, “How am I to know whether I am advanced enough in holiness to intercede?” he has plainly mistaken the doctrine under consideration. The privilege of intercession is a trust committed to all Christians who have a clear conscience and are in full communion with the Church. We leave secret things to God--what each man’s real advancement is in holy things, and what his real power in the unseen world. Two things alone concern us, to exercise our gift and make ourselves more and more worthy of it.(J. H. Newman, D. D.)
Prayer
1.The apostle here supposes our obligation to prayer to be so plain, that every rational mind will see it, and so important, that every pious heart will feel it. Therefore, instead of adducing arguments to prove the duty, he rather points out the manner in which it should be performed.
2. Prayer is of several kinds: social and secret, public and domestic, stated and occasional; and it consists of several parts: confession, supplication, intercession, thanksgiving.
3. The apostle next instructs us concerning the manner in which our prayers should be offered.
(1) The first thing necessary in prayer is faith, or a believing view of God’s providential government, and of the wisdom and goodness with which it is administered.
(2) Our desires must be good and reasonable.
(3) Attention of mind, collection of thought, and warmth of affection, are qualifications required in prayer.
(4) That our prayers may be acceptable to God, they must be accompanied with justice to men.
(5) Charity is an essential qualification in prayer.
(6) We must bring before the throne of God a meek and peaceable spirit.
(7) Our prayers must be accompanied with a sense of, and sorrow for, sin.
(8) We must persevere in prayer.
4. The apostle here teaches us the duty of intercession for others. The goodness of God is the foundation of prayer. If God is good to others, as well as to us, there is the same ground on which to offer our social intercessions, as our personal petitions. (J. Lathrop, D. D.)
The necessity of prayer
Whatever may be the character of other military men, the Christian soldier must be a man of prayer. This will appear both from his own wants, and from the character of the Captain of his salvation. Among your wants we may point to your weakness. You have a great battle to wage against a great enemy. The serried hosts of Marathon or Waterloo, drawn out in long and splendid array, might well have appalled even an experienced soldier whose office called him to draw his sword for that desperate battle strife; but the hosts of Marathon and Waterloo were trifles compared With the principalities and powers with which you must contend. And what are you against such a gigantic enemy? an enemy whose legions are almost countless, whose adroitness and long experience are unequalled amongst all God’s creatures, and whose long marches have been signalized with such numberless victories? What are you in yourself but dust and ashes, but a poor, weak, helpless worm? in your natural state fitly described by inspiration as “without strength,” and even when introduced into the kingdom of God’s dear Son, still constrained to say, “In me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing”: “when I would do good, evil is present with me.” Utterly imbecile as to the conquest of your own evil passions, how can you in your own strength stand against the principalities and powers, and wiles of the devil? The necessity for prayer to the Christian soldier appears also from his ignorance. However much he may have known and sadly felt of the wiles of the devil, he has not yet learned the whole of his devices. Satan’s empire is a deep abyss; it is a school in which, however large your experience, you will still be a learner to your dying day. As regards many of the wiles of Saran, and many of the purposes of God’s providence and grace, we are the veriest babes. These considerations are further enforced by the character of the Captain of your salvation. He is, first of all, able to understand perfectly your wants. As God, He is omniscient. Consider, also, that the Captain of your salvation is possessed of infinite power. The strength and ability to carry out their purposes with all creatures is limited. Some possess this attribute in larger measure than others, but with all it has its bounds. But your Leader is Divine, and with Him all things are possible. We are further encouraged to call on God our Saviour in the midst of our spiritual march, by the fact that He has a heart of the most tender sensibilities and sympathies. Are you tempted, desponding, sorrowing, suffering in mind, body, or estate? Are you wrestling hard against the principalities and powers of Satan, or against the cravings of flesh and blood? Does the battle seem long, the odds much against you, the result uncertain, and your helpers far away? Soldier of the Cross, thy conflicts are not unseen nor unpitied; thy Helper is not far away; thy sorrows will not be greater than thou canst bear, nor thy foes prove too much for thee. Although unseen by mortal eyes, He who called you from darkness to light is very near you; He has a feeling for your infirmities, and declares He will never leave nor forsake you. (J. Leyburn, D. D.)
Praying always
We consider that the word “always” in the text is not satisfied by a man’s having stated times for prayer--by his offering up prayer every morning and night, but that it requires a prayerful mind--a mind at all times apt for prayer. He prays “always” who feels the duty and the privilege of communing with God at all times and under all circumstances; not only when God is chastening him, but when He is crowning him with loving kindness; not only in adversity, but in prosperity; who has wants to express when to the eye of the world every want seems satisfied; who has desires to breathe as well when his “cup runneth over” as when, “hungry and thirsty, his soul fainteth in him.” He prays “always,” not, indeed, who is always on his knees, or always engaged with specific acts of devotion, for this were impossible, and if possible, inconsistent with the appointed duties of life; but he who carries a prayerful spirit into every occupation and every condition; who never feels as if it would be a violent transition, in any company or under any Circumstances, to address himself to God, so truly has he “God in all his thoughts,” so pervaded is the whole train and current of his being with the consciousness that “of Him, and through Him, and by Him, are all things.” But there must be true religion, the religion of the heart, before there can be this “praying always.” Let it be observed, that all prayer supposes a sense of want to be supplied, and a consciousness that the supply can come only from God. In this way you may readily see how it comes to be a test of depth and sincerity in religion, that there should be perseverance in prayer. Judge yourselves, your religion, by such a test as this. A really godly man carries with him a prayerful mind into every scene and every occupation. Be not content till you have--what as fallen and ruined creatures in a state of peril you ought to have--an abiding sense of abiding want; so that at no moment are you at a loss what to ask for, and at none at a loss whom to ask it from. Till you have this--this which will lead you to pray in the crowd as well as in solitude--this which will keep the heart ever sitting at God’s gate, the spirit ever bent on intercourse with heaven--your religion is at best that of the hypocrite or the formalist. You do not live in an atmosphere of prayer, the atmosphere which a genuine Christian weaves around him, and carries with him. You are still at a distance from conformity such as that of our text, “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit.” And here we would desire to point out to you that such constant and intimate communion as is indicated by our text can only take place where there is delight in God, and a feeling that His service is indeed “perfect freedom.” This is the secret of a Christian being always ready for prayer. He delights in God; he draws his happiness from God. We have yet to throw rapidly together certain reasons for that inconstancy in prayer, which is one great sign of a defective religion. You are not now, it may be, regular in prayer; but you have had your times of prayer--times when you performed that great duty with considerable care, though you have gradually relaxed, and then perhaps omitted it altogether. Now, how came this to pass? How was it that you did not arrive at the “praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit”? Probably you left off praying because you were not willing to leave off sinning. Habitual prayer and habitual sin cannot exist long together. Sin will make you uneasy in prayer, or prayer will make you uneasy in sin. It was a good saying of some of the old divines--“Praying will make a man leave off sinning, or sinning will make a man leave off praying.” May not this be the explanation of your not “praying always unto God”? There was some favourite passion which you persisted in indulging, even whilst you persisted in praying. Perhaps--for this is possible, this is even common--perhaps you indulged the very passion against which you were praying: the prayer serving as a sort of sop to the conscience--a make-believe, that whilst you did the wrong thing, you had the wish, though not the power, to do the right. No wonder, if before long you left off praying. Be more honest another time. If you are secretly determined on continuing in sin, if you are not sincerely desirous of overcoming that sin, do not mock God by praying against that sin. And take it as a general rule, that prayer will be only by fits and starts; that there will never be such a habit of prayer, such a prayerfulness of spirit, as to justify the expression, “praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit,” unless you are at war with sin; unless you strive with all diligence to keep under those evil propensities, the indulgence of which, as it grieves God’s Spirit, will necessarily hinder, and at last silence, supplication. For here you are to observe another great reason why, where there is no depth in religion, there will be no perseverance in prayer. You should mark the expression in the text, “supplication in the Spirit.” Fervent, effectual, importunate prayer is the utterance of God’s Spirit, making intercession within us. It is not our own voice, “for we know not what we should pray for as we ought”; we have to be taught how to pray, and our constant prayer should be for the spirit of prayer. But this is what the hypocrite and the formalist are either ignorant or unmindful of. They pray in their own strength; they have no consciousness of their inability for the very act in which it is their duty to engage; not an inability which exonerates them from the duty, but an inability which should make them seek Divine help for its discharge. Praying not in dependence on the Holy Spirit is but swimming in the wide sea, where there is nothing to lay hold on--a few desperate struggles, and then a sinking down in death. If, then, you would learn to “pray always unto God,” keep much in mind that the Spirit must help your infirmities. When you kneel down for prayer, pray that you may pray; do not proceed at once to the remembering and expressing other wants; confine yourselves to the one great want of “the Spirit of grace and supplication.” That obtained, you will pray “the effectual fervent prayer,” even though, as the apostle saith, it may be “with groanings that cannot be uttered”; that withheld, your prayer will bring down no blessing from above, however fluent it may have been in expression. (H. Melvill, B. D.)
The triumphs of the praying life
I stood lately in St Paul’s Cathedral, and saw many monuments raised to English heroes, on which were written a list of their victories. But what monument could hold the list of triumphs won by prayer; triumphs gained in drawing room and garret, in palace and hovel, in prison cell and workhouse ward, in noisy barracks and tossing ships, or hospital couches wet with tears of agony, by empty cradles, and by new made graves? These are the victories won on battlefields of sorrow, of trial, of loss, of temptation, where the fighting was harder than at Marathon, or Austerlitz, or Waterloo; victories of faith, victories won by prayer. The history of the Church of Christ is the history of these triumphs. And take heed how you pray.
1. Then, pray faithfully, believing that God can and will answer you, though not, perhaps, just as you expect. Many prayers are wasted because they are without faith; those who utter them are just trying an experiment to see whether God will hear and answer or not.
2. Next, pray persistently; don’t be disheartened because God does not answer at once.
3. Next, pray submissively, striving to give up your will to God’s will.
4. Next, pray simply. Some people pick out the longest and hardest words when they speak to God. (H. J. Wilmot-Buxton, M. A.)
The power of prayer
Prayer, which is of supreme necessity both for our own defence and for the destruction of the kingdom of darkness, cannot be properly described as part of the defensive armour which we are to wear, or as one of the weapons which we are to wield. It, is an appeal to the Divine strength and to Divine grace. To speak of the “power of prayer,” as though prayer itself were a spiritual force, is misleading. In prayer, human weakness invokes Divine protection and Divine support. We pray because our position in relation to God is a position of absolute dependence. Apart from Him we can do nothing. And in the spiritual life no system of secondary laws comes between Him and us. In the inferior provinces of our activity we are environed by the unchanging order of the physical universe; the Divine energy is voluntarily limited by natural laws; without any direct appeal to God we can command physical forces by a knowledge of the fixed methods of their action. But the higher life is a perpetual miracle. In the spiritual universe the Divine will works freely, and we have to do, not with forces which act under the restraint of fixed laws, but with a personal Will. God is the Fountain of our life and of our strength; but the streams flow, not under the compulsion of necessity, but according to His free volitions. We therefore pray that the life and the strength may he ours. Our dependence upon God is constant, and therefore our prayers should be constant. With the chances and changes of life our necessities are infinitely varied, and our prayers should be equally varied. Our opportunities for prayer are not always the same; sometimes we must pray alone, sometimes we can pray with others; sometimes our prayers must be brief, sometimes they may be prolonged. At all times, to pray aright, we must have the illumination and gracious aid of the Divine Spirit. (R. W. Dale, LL. D.)
Prayer acts upon God
Habitual intercession for others is one of the surest correctives of the tendency to regard prayer as deriving its chief value and importance--not from the fact that God listens to us when we pray, and gives us what we ask for--but from the influence which devotional thought, the confession of sin and of weakness, the grateful acknowledgment of God’s goodness, and the contemplation of God’s eternal majesty and glory, exert on our own spiritual life. None of us can escape altogether from the prevailing temper of our time. Those of us who think that we are least affected by the currents of contemporary thought feel their power. The tendency to eliminate the supernatural element from the spiritual as well as the physical universe is affecting the whole life of the Church. Christian people can understand that when they pray their devotional acts exert a reflex influence on their own minds and hearts; but to expect a direct answer from God requires a vigorous faith; and to this faith I fear that many of us are unequal. If Christian men are in trouble they are conscious that their hearts are lighter after they have spoken to God about it, just as their hearts are lighter when they have spoken about it to a friend; and they suppose that this kind of relief is all that they have a right to look for. They pray for stronger faith, and they suppose that it is by their own thoughts about God and His great goodness, thoughts which are made more vivid by the act of prayer, that their faith is to be Strengthened. Or if they pray that their love for God may become more ardent, they imagine that it is by the very excitement of praying for it that the result is to be obtained. They think that their prayer will be ineffective if, while they pray, their hearts are not flooded with emotion; they are satisfied if the emotion comes, and if, to use their own words, they “feel better” when the prayer is over. It is no doubt true that religious thought and communion with God purify, invigorate, and ennoble the soul; but if when we pray we think only or chiefly of the effect of prayer upon ourselves, instead of thinking of its effect in inducing God to grant us what we pray for, we misapprehend the nature of the act. When your child comes to you hungry or thirsty, and asks for food or drink, the child expects you to do something in answer to its request. It does not suppose that the mere act of asking will satisfy its hunger or quench its thirst; and so when we ask God for spiritual wisdom and strength we are not to imagine that the mere asking will make us wiser and stronger. God teaches us and God strengthens us, in answer to our prayer. (R. W. Dale, LL. D.)
Prayer for others
The duty of praying for others is frequently inculcated in the New Testament. It is one of the obligations arising from the great law which makes it impossible for any of us to live an independent and an isolated life. We are members of one body; if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is strong and healthy, all the members share the health and strength. We are not fighting a solitary battle. We belong to a great army, and the fortunes of a regiment in a remote part of the field may give us an easy victory, or increase the chances of our defeat. We are to offer supplication for “all the saints.” (R. W. Dale, LL. D.)
A share in others’ moral victories through prayer
There are Christian people whose life is so far removed from excitement, agitation, and peril, that they seem to have no opportunities for winning great moral victories; their powers are very limited, and they are not appointed to tasks of great difficulty and honour. Let them resolve to have their part in the righteousness of their comrades who face the fiercest dangers, and in the fame of the very chiefs and heroes of the great army of God. Let them pray for “all the saints,” and their prayers will give courage, endurance, and invincible fidelity to those who are struggling with incessant temptations. Some Christian brother, who under the stress of bad trade and unexpected losses is almost driven to dishonesty, will preserve his integrity. Some young man, who is no longer sheltered by the kindly defence of a religious home, and who is surrounded by companions that are trying to drug his conscience, to excite his passions, and to drag him down into vice, will stand firm in his fidelity to Christ. Some poor woman, harassed by anxiety, worn down by unkindness, will receive strength to bear her sorrows with patience, and will rise to a lofty faith in the righteousness and love of God. The feverish passion for wealth will be cooled in some Christian merchant, and he will obey the words of Christ charging him to seek first God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness. Some Christian statesman will have a clearer vision of Divine and eternal things, and the vision will enable him to master the impulses of personal ambition and to care only for serving Christ by serving the State. Saintly souls will become more saintly. New fervour will kindle in many a heart already glowing with apostolic zeal for the glory of God and the salvation of men. New gifts of wisdom and of utterance will be conferred on some who are already conspicuous for their spiritual power and their spiritual achievements. By constant and earnest intercession for “all the saints,” those who are living in quiet and obscure places may share the honours and victories of all their comrades, may have some part in the praise of their holiness, and some part in their final reward. (R. W. Dale, LL. D.)
Christian watchfulness
None are so likely to maintain watchful guard over their hearts and lives as those who know the comfort of living in near communion with God. They feel their privilege, and will fear losing it. They will dread falling from their high estate, and marring their own comforts by bringing clouds between themselves and Christ. He that goes on a journey with a little money about him takes little thought of danger, and cares little how late he travels. He, on the contrary, that carries gold and jewels, will be a cautious traveller; he will look well to his roads, his horses, and his company, and run no risks. The fixed stars are those that tremble most. The man that most fully enjoys the light of God’s countenance will be a man tremblingly afraid of losing its blessed consolations, and jealously fearful of doing anything to grieve the Holy Ghost. (Bishop Ryle.)
Watching unto prayer
A mother sends a letter to her much-loved son in India; and how she watches for the return of an answer! A merchant invests an amount of money in some speculation, and how he watches for the success of the scheme, and the repayment of his money with satisfactory interest. A farmer for the first time sows his land with grain, and how he watches for the blade, the ear, the full corn in the ear, and the ripened corn to be gathered into the barn; so should Christians, after they have sent up their prayers to heaven, wait and watch for the return of answers. (John Bate.)
Praying always
Prayer, then, though not a specific part of the Christian armour, is a necessary preparative to the battle. It is the tongue of war which is to summon the scattered forces together, to marshal them in their appointed order,. animating by its spirit stirring voice all the faculties and powers of the soul; and, in times of danger and fainting, sound an alarm in the ears of heaven. The true Christian soldier will love prayer even as the absent patriot loves the anthems of his native home.
I. Let us, first, consider what is meant by this expression, “praying always.” How can the Christian be always in prayer?
1. Well, first, the expression means, that there should be a holy regularity in our habits of prayer.
2. Again, by “praying always” is meant, that you should pray in every condition and circumstance of life; that is, in sickness you should pray for patience, and in health you should pray for a thankful heart; in prosperity you should pray that you should not forget God, and in adversity you should pray that God may not forget you. It is not enough to seek God in times of our tribulation only, we must seek Him in times of our wealth.
3. Further: by “praying always,” no doubt, is meant, that we should make everything a matter of prayer.
4. Once more. By “praying always,” the apostle means, that prayer should be the pervading habit of the Christian’s life--that it should be as a leaven fermenting the whole substance of our moral being; a sentinel continually keeping watch over our unguarded moments; a sanctified enclosure fencing us round by the protection and presence of God. Prayer, like Him to whom it is addressed, knows nothing of our finite magnitude and relations. They are all lost sight of in their relation to the Infinite and the Eternal--to their bearing on our preparation for a state of everlasting existence.
II. But let us consider, secondly, the comprehensive form of the precept which is here given--“With all prayer and supplication.” The two words here chosen by the apostle are, without doubt, sometimes used interchangeably in Scripture. But there is an etymological difference between them, suggesting that we consider prayer as having reference to petitions for some good to be desired, whilst supplication be referred to petitions for evils to be avoided. Acting upon this definition, we are first taught to “pray with all prayer”--that is, with prayer for all good things. And this rule should be extended even to those blessings which at first sight we might think it lawful to ask of God without limitation and without reserve--I mean those which relate to our spiritual happiness. “With all prayer and supplication”--that is, as we have supposed, with all deprecation of evil--with prayer, that things really hurtful to us may be kept away. But here, as in the other case, God alone must be the judge of what the evil is.
III. But note, in the last place, the internal assistance we are taught to look for in the performance of this duty--“Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit.” The expression is obviously the same as that which we have in the Epistle of Jude--“Praying in the Holy Ghost”; and it refers to the promised assistance of that Divine Agent when “we know not what to pray for as we ought.” Praying in the Spirit, therefore, is to pray in that spirit of grace and supplication which the Holy Ghost alone can bestow--to pray in that “spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father!” And further, by praying in the Spirit is meant, that we should pray in a right mind--that we should pray fervently--that we should pray with a consciousness that there is an assisting Power to help us. For the Spirit of God not only originates holy desires, but it actuates, it maintains, it cherishes, it keeps alive all praying influences in the heart. Such, brethren, is the great duty with which the apostle shuts up his description of our spiritual warfare. He does not, indeed, make prayer a part of the spiritual equipment, because it is the life, and strength, and safeguard of the whole. You must gird on your sword, and pray; you must bind on your sandals, and pray; you must buckle on your breastplate, and pray. In all things there must be a simultaneous outgoing of that which is to give effect to all the weapons you employ in your spiritual encounter. No prayer, no victory. (D. Moore, M. A.)
