"A
dear friend of mine who was quite a lover of the chase, told
me the following story: 'Rising early one morning,' he said,
'I heard the baying of a score of deerhounds in pursuit of
their quarry. Looking away to a broad, open field in front of
me, I saw a young fawn making its way across, and giving
signs, moreover, that its race was well-nigh run. Reaching the
rails of the enclosure, it leaped over and crouched within ten
feet from where I stood. A moment later two of the hounds came
over, when the fawn ran in my direction and pushed its head
between my legs. I lifted the little thing to my breast, and,
swinging round and round, fought off the dogs. I felt, just
then, that all the dogs in the West could not, and should not
capture that fawn after its weakness had appealed to my
strength.' So is it, when human helplessness appeals to
Almighty God. Well do I remember when the hounds of sin were
after my soul, until, at last, I ran into the arms of Almighty
God." -- A. C. DIXON.
IN any
study of the principles, and procedure of prayer, of its
activities and enterprises, first place, must, of necessity, be
given to faith. It is the initial quality in the heart of any
man who essays to talk to the Unseen. He must, out of sheer
helplessness, stretch forth hands of faith. He must
believe, where he cannot prove. In the ultimate issue, prayer is
simply faith, claiming its natural yet marvellous prerogatives
-- faith taking possession of its illimitable inheritance. True
godliness is just as true, steady, and persevering in the realm
of faith as it is in the province of prayer. Moreover: when
faith ceases to pray, it ceases to live.
Faith does the
impossible because it brings God to undertake for us, and
nothing is impossible with God. How great -- without
qualification or limitation -- is the power of faith! If doubt
be banished from the heart, and unbelief made stranger there,
what we ask of God shall surely come to pass, and a believer
hath vouchsafed to him "whatsoever he saith."
Prayer projects
faith on God, and God on the world. Only God can move mountains,
but faith and prayer move God. In His cursing of the fig-tree
our Lord demonstrated His power. Following that, He proceeded to
declare, that large powers were committed to faith and prayer,
not in order to kill but to make alive, not to blast but to
bless.
At this point
in our study, we turn to a saying of our Lord, which there is
need to emphasize, since it is the very keystone of the arch of
faith and prayer.
"Therefore
I say unto you, What things soever ye desire when ye pray,
believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them."
We should ponder
well that statement -- "Believe that ye receive them, and
ye shall have them." Here is described a faith which
realizes, which appropriates, which takes. Such faith is
a consciousness of the Divine, an experienced communion, a
realized certainty.
Is faith
growing or declining as the years go by? Does faith stand strong
and four square, these days, as iniquity abounds and the love of
many grows cold? Does faith maintain its hold, as religion tends
to become a mere formality and worldliness increasingly
prevails? The enquiry of our Lord, may, with great
appropriateness, be ours. "When the Son of Man
cometh," He asks, "shall He find faith on the
earth?" We believe that He will, and it is ours, in this
our day, to see to it that the lamp of faith is trimmed and
burning, lest He come who shall come, and that right
early.
Faith is the
foundation of Christian character and the security of the soul.
When Jesus was looking forward to Peter's denial, and cautioning
him against it, He said unto His disciple:
"Simon,
Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, to sift you as
wheat; but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fall
not."
Our Lord was
declaring a central truth; it was Peter's faith He was seeking
to guard; for well He knew that when faith is broken down, the
foundations of spiritual life give way, and the entire structure
of religious experience falls. It was Peter's faith which needed
guarding. Hence Christ's solicitude for the welfare of His
disciple's soul and His determination to fortify Peter's faith
by His own all-prevailing prayer.
In his Second
Epistle, Peter has this idea in mind when speaking of growth
in grace as a measure of safety in the Christian life, and as
implying fruitfulness.
"And
besides this," he declares, "giving diligence, add
to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to
knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to
patience godliness."
Of this
additioning process, faith was the starting-point -- the basis
of the other graces of the Spirit. Faith was the foundation on
which other things were to be built. Peter does not enjoin his
readers to add to works or gifts or virtues but to faith.
Much depends on starting right in this business of growing in
grace. There is a Divine order, of which Peter was aware; and so
he goes on to declare that we are to give diligence to making
our calling and election sure, which election is rendered
certain adding to faith which, in turn, is done by constant,
earnest praying. Thus faith is kept alive by prayer, and every
step taken, in this adding of grace to grace, is accompanied by
prayer.
The faith which
pcreates powerful praying is the
faith which
centres itself on a powerful Person. Faith in Christ's ability
to do and to do greatly, is the faith which prays
greatly. Thus the leper lay hold upon the power of Christ.
"Lord, if Thou wilt," he cried, "Thou canst make
me clean." In this instance, we are shown how faith
centered in Christ's ability to do, and how it secured
the healing power.
It was
concerning this very point, that Jesus questioned the blind men
who came to Him for healing:
"Believe
ye that I am able to do this?" He asks. "They said
unto Him, Yea, Lord. Then touched He their eyes, saying,
According to your faith be it unto you."
It was to inspire
faith in His ability to do that Jesus left behind Him,
that last, great statement, which, in the final analysis, is a
ringing challenge to faith. "All power," He declared,
"is given unto Me in heaven and in earth."
Again:
faith is obedient; it goes when commanded, as did the nobleman,
who came to Jesus, in the day of His flesh, and whose son was
grievously sick.
Moreover: such
faith acts. Like the man who was born blind, it goes to wash in
the pool of Siloam when told to wash. Like Peter on
Gennesaret it casts the net where Jesus commands, instantly,
without question or doubt. Such faith takes away the stone from
the grave of Lazarus promptly. A praying faith keeps the
commandments of God and does those things which are well
pleasing in His sight. It asks, "Lord, what wilt Thou have
me to do?" and answers quickly, "Speak, Lord, Thy
servant heareth." Obedience helps faith, and faith, in
turn, helps obedience. To do God's will is essential to true
faith, and faith is necessary to implicit obedience.
Yet faith is
called upon, and that right often to wait in patience before
God, and is prepared for God's seeming delays in answering
prayer. Faith does not grow disheartened because prayer is not
immediately honoured; it takes God at His Word, and lets Him
take what time He chooses in fulfilling His purposes, and in
carrying on His work. There is bound to be much delay and long
days of waiting for true faith, but faith accepts the conditions
-- knows there will be delays in answering prayer, and regards
such delays as times of testing, in the which, it is privileged
to show its mettle, and the stern stuff of which it is made.
The case of
Lazarus was an instance of where there was delay, where the
faith of two good women was sorely tried: Lazarus was critically
ill, and his sisters sent for Jesus. But, without any known
reason, our Lord delayed His going to the relief of His sick
friend. The plea was urgent and touching -- "Lord, behold,
he whom Thou lovest is sick," -- but the Master is not
moved by it, and the women's earnest request seemed to fall on
deaf ears. What a trial to faith! Furthermore: our Lord's
tardiness appeared to bring about hopeless disaster. While Jesus
tarried, Lazarus died.
But the delay
of Jesus was exercised in the interests of a greater good.
Finally, He makes His way to the home in Bethany.
"Then
said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead. And I am glad
for your sakes, that I was not there, to the intent ye may
believe; nevertheless let us go unto him."
Fear not, O
tempted and tried believer, Jesus will come, if patience
be exercised, and faith hold fast. His delay will serve to make
His coming the more richly blessed. Pray on. Wait on. Thou canst
not fail. If Christ delay, wait for Him. In His own good time,
He will come, and will not tarry.
Delay is often
the test and the strength of faith. How much patience is
required when these times of testing come! Yet faith gathers
strength by waiting and praying. Patience has its perfect work
in the school of delay. In some instances, delay is of the very
essence of the prayer. God has to do many things, antecedent to
giving the final answer -- things which are essential to the
lasting good of him who is requesting favour at His hands.
Jacob prayed,
with point and ardour, to be delivered from Esau. But before
that prayer could be answered, there was much to be done with,
and for Jacob. He must be changed, as well as Esau. Jacob had to
be made into a new man, before Esau could be. Jacob had to be
converted to God, before Esau could be converted to Jacob.
Among the large
and luminous utterances of Jesus concerning prayer, none is more
arresting than this:
"Verily,
verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on Me, the works
that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall
he do; because I go unto My Father. And whatsoever ye shall
ask in My Name, that will I do, that the Father may be
glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask anything in My Name, I
will do it."
How wonderful are
these statements of what God will do in answer to prayer! Of how
great importance these ringing words, prefaced, as they are,
with the most solemn verity! Faith in Christ is the basis of all
working, and of all praying. All wonderful works depend on
wonderful praying, and all praying is done in the Name of Jesus
Christ. Amazing lesson, of wondrous simplicity, is this praying
in the name of the Lord Jesus! All other conditions are
depreciated, everything else is renounced, save Jesus only. The
name of Christ -- the Person of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ -- must be supremely sovereign, in the hour and article
of prayer.
If Jesus dwell
at the fountain of my life; if the currents of His life have
displaced and superseded all self-currents; if implicit
obedience to Him be the inspiration and force of every movement
of my life, then He can safely commit the praying to my will,
and pledge Himself, by an obligation as profound as His own
nature, that whatsoever is asked shall be granted. Nothing can
be clearer, more distinct, more unlimited both in application
and extent, than the exhortation and urgency of Christ,
"Have faith in God."
Faith covers
temporal as well as spiritual needs. Faith dispels all undue
anxiety and needless care about what shall be eaten, what shall
he drunk, what shall be worn. Faith lives in the present, and
regards the day as being sufficient unto the evil thereof. It
lives day by day, and dispels all fears for the morrow. Faith
brings great ease of mind and perfect peace of heart.
"Thou
wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee:
because he trusted in Thee."
When we pray,
"Give us this day our daily bread," we are, in a
measure, shutting tomorrow out of our prayer. We do not live in
tomorrow but in today. We do not seek tomorrow's grace or
tomorrow's bread. They thrive best, and get most out of life,
who live in the living present. They pray best who pray for
today's needs, not for tomorrow's, which may render our prayers
unnecessary and redundant by not existing at all!
True prayers
are born of present trials and present needs. Bread, for today,
is bread enough. Bread given for today is the strongest sort of
pledge that there will be bread tomorrow. Victory today, is the
assurance of victory tomorrow. Our prayers need to be focussed
upon the present, We must trust God today, and leave the morrow
entirely with Him. The present is ours; the future belongs to
God. Prayer is the task and duty of each recurring day -- daily
prayer for daily needs.
As every day
demands its bread, so every day demands its prayer. No amount of
praying, done today, will suffice for tomorrow's praying. On the
other hand, no praying for tomorrow is of any great value to us
today. To-day's manna is what we need; tomorrow God will see
that our needs are supplied. This is the faith which God seeks
to inspire. So leave tomorrow, with its cares, its needs, its
troubles, in God's hands. There is no storing tomorrow's grace
or tomorrow's praying; neither is there any laying-up of today's
grace, to meet tomorrow's necessities. We cannot have tomorrow's
grace, we cannot eat tomorrow's bread, we cannot do tomorrow's
praying. "Sufficient unto the day is the evil
thereof;" and, most assuredly, if we possess faith,
sufficient also, will be the good.
