The Christian’s Vital Breath
Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer… – Romans 12:12
If prayer be the Christian’s vital breath, how can he leave off praying?
We must maintain the ardour of prayer; we must be intense always. Prayer is not to be a thing of yesterday, but of to-day, and to-morrow, until it changeth into praise above. Perhaps prayer will continue even in heaven. Certainly the souls under the altar cry “How long?” and unfulfilled prophecies yet big with future events will be pleaded even there. Praise, however, is the chief characteristic of the future state, as prayer is the characteristic of the present one. We are to get into a good pace-“instant in prayer,” and then to keep it up-continuing instant in prayer. “That is difficult” says one. Who said it was not? All the processes of the Christian life are difficult; indeed, they are impossible apart from the abiding help of the divine Spirit: but “the Spirit helpeth our infirmities.” Now then, brethren, that we may be helped to keep up our fervency in prayer, please to notice that prayer must be continuous, because it is so singularly mixed with the whole gospel dispensation. As the incense filled the temple, so does prayer fill the gospel economy. The blood was upon the mercy seat, and upon the altar, and the laver, and the candlestick, and the book; it was sprinkled everywhere in the Jewish Tabernacle, and thus atonement was the most conspicuous object in the worship prescribed by the law of Moses; but next to this, prayer was most prominent in the continual calling upon God, and in the smoke of the incense by which prayer was symbolized. It is the high privilege of those who are believers in Jesus to draw nigh unto God with their petitions perpetually. The whole church, like the twelve tribes, is instantly serving God day and night in prayer, hoping for the fulfillment of the promise of the glorious appearing. “Behold, he prayeth” is the very mark of the individual Christian, and the unity, the life, and the spirituality of the church are best seen in prayer.~ C.H. Spurgeon
https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1480.cfm
Our Prayer-Hearing God
But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. – Hebrews 11:6
You cannot be instant in prayer, nay, you cannot offer an acceptable prayer at all except as you believe in the prayer-hearing God. The modern wise men assure us, with a patronizing air, that prayer is a pious exercise, exceedingly beneficial to ourselves, but quite inoperative with God. They are kind enough to allow us to pray, only we must not suppose that it has the slightest effect. And do they think that we are such idiots that we would stand and whistle to the wind and find good for our souls in such a stupid proceeding? They must have formed their notion of our mental condition from their own if they imagine that we should pray if we knew that God did not hear us, and would not answer us. Prayer apart from the idea of a hearing God is not praying; it is soliloquizing, or, in plainer words, a silly talking to yourself, such as one sees in half-witted old persons who have outlived what few senses they once possessed. You must believe that God is, and that your pleadings are a part of the divine way of blessing you, or else you are not praying but maundering and chattering. The Lord does really listen to the pleadings of His people, and though He does not alter His ordinance and His decree, yet in some way or other He makes the prayers of His people to be an efficient link in the machinery of His providence and grace, so that not without prayer doth He bless them, but with it He doth bless them abundantly. Dear friends, may the Lord the Holy Spirit stir us all up to be instant in mighty, energetic prayer. ~ C.H. Spurgeon
https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1480.cfm
Pleading the Promises
The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. – James 5:16
Take down the Book, your charter and your Father’s will, and see if there be any part of the charter which promises this good thing (that you ask) to you. When you have found the promise lay your finger on it. Better still, with your spirit grasp it in your hand, and go before God with it. If your prayer be as Luther calls it, “bombarda Christianorum,” the Christian’s great gun with which he doth bombard heaven, then surely the promise is the shot which he sends forth. Plead the promise by saying, “Lord, do as Thou hast said. Fulfil this word unto Thy servant upon which Thou hast caused me to hope.” If you do not seem to prevail with one promise seek out another and plead it. This, perhaps will be more to the point: a promise which your very soul seems to suck in as though it were spoken to you newly and freshly, as if never another man had ever received it. Spread this promise before the Lord. Nothing pleases Him more than seeing His own word pleaded by His own children. Try this, and if it is manifest that you have not succeeded turn to yet another promise, and another and another and another, and then plead, “For Thy name’s sake, for Thy truth’s sake, for Thy covenant’s sake”; and then came in with the greatest plea of all, “For Jesus’ sake and in His name, for the blood’s sake, I plead with Thee, my God. O Thou that hearest prayer, wilt Thou not keep touch with Thine own word, and be true to Thine own Son?” You have prevailed there. By that sign you have conquered. Again it shall be seen that the Lord hath hearkened to the voice of a man. ~ C.H. Spurgeon
https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1480.cfm
Heart Work, Soul Work, Spirit Work
Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer… – Romans 12:12
To make you instant in prayer endeavour eagerly to desire the good thing. Stand not before God if thou wouldst win at His hands as one who will be content whether or no. Say not “Give it or withhold it, it is all one to me. I knock at Thy door, and if Thou open I will be somewhat pleased, but if Thy door be shut I will be pleased too.” Oh no; such listlessness will never prevail with God. There are times when you must be brought to this condition that you will not be denied. There is a holy “impudency,” as the Puritans were wont to call it, to which we must be brought, in which we shall with holy boldness dare to say like Jacob, “I will not let Thee go, except Thou bless me.” Such language would be blasphemy if it were not permitted, it would be presumption if it were not encouraged; but there is little fear of our being too bold, for in these times men are more inclined to keep at a distance than to come too near. We are permitted to use the liberty of obedient, loving children. We are allowed in the holy confidence of faith to resolve that we will seek until we find, we will ask until we receive, we will knock until the door is opened unto us. Our case is urgent, and we must needs press it till our suit is gained. Never was a man brought to such a pass by the grace of God but what speedily the Lord was pleased to open the hand of His liberality and give him according to his desire; but this vehemence must be manifested…Prayer must be heart work, soul work, spirit work. Prayer ought to be the sweat of the soul, it should sometimes be even as the bloody sweat of an agonizing heart, crying mightily unto the Lord, as Jesus did in the garden. To such the Lord sendeth down His angel to strengthen them or in some way heareth their pleadings in that concerning which they were filled with anguish. Intensity of desire must be exhibited… ~ C.H. Spurgeon
https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1480.cfm
Perceive Well Thy Need
Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear unto my cry; hold not Thy peace at my tears: for I am a stranger with Thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were. – Psalm 39:12
When thou art certain that the blessing sought for is a good and necessary thing for thy soul, then in order that thy spirit may be strong in prayer get a deep sense of it’s value, its goodness, and its necessity; examine it as a goldsmith inspects a jewel when he wishes to estimate its worth. A man’s ardour in pursuit will be in proportion to his consciousness of the value of that which he pursues. Get thou to feel what a precious thing grace is, what it cost the Lord to bring it to thee; what blessings it brings with it for time and for eternity, and when thy heart sees that it seeks after an unspeakably precious gift, then will its desire be stirred up to pray with intense longings.
Meditate much upon thy necessities that thou mayest get a sense of thy need of the mercy thou art seeking. See thy soul’s poverty and thine own undeservingness. Look at what will happen to thee unless this blessing come. If it be some absolutely indispensable spiritual blessing, picture to thyself where thou wilt be if God should withhold it, what evils will spring of thy continuing in want of it, and what further wants may yet beset thee. The more thy need smites thee the more eagerly wilt thou cry unto the Lord concerning it. Art thou desirous of bread for thy soul, be hungry, and let thine hunger eat into thy heart. Art thou desirous of the water of life; be thirsty, and let thy thirst burn thee till thou art dried up like a potsherd. Let thy necessities have liberty, by meditation, to seize thee and to distress thee with a sense of thine emptiness and nothingness…Get thou a consciousness of where and what thou art apart from Christ and from the mercy of God, and then, when thou perceivest well thy need, this, with a sense of the greatness of the blessing, will much quicken thee as to instancy in prayer. ~ C.H. Spurgeon
https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1480.cfm
Cry Mightily Unto the Lord
Hear the right, O LORD, attend unto my cry, give ear unto my prayer, that goeth not out of feigned lips. – Psalm 17:1
Shall God be expected to give to us that which we do not value? If we do not value the blessing sufficiently to be eager in seeking it, is it not right that He should withhold it until we are in a better mind? Are we to worship God with a divided reverence? Are we to treat Him as though it were quite enough for Him if we gave Him a stray thought, or a half-hearted desire, now and then, as a sort of compliment? Can we expect that He will receive our sacrifice if we lay no fire under it? If we have no impetuous earnestness of spirit, can we expect that we shall be accepted? He loathes the lukewarm, will He not loath our prayers? See how we deal with our fellow men; if they ask a favour of us and we see that they care but little about it, we are in no great haste to put ourselves about to do them the turn, but if they are very pressing, we yield to their entreaties; and so doth God in His mercy yield to the entreaties of His people. As one hath very prettily said, the nurse when she hath her child in the cradle, though it beginneth to cry and whinny a little, she leaves it and continueth at her household work, and when it cries a little more, and a little more she still hearkens, but she lets it be where it is. But when at last the babe takes to vehement crying, then straightway she presses it to her bosom with many a kiss and a kindly word. Children of God, you must cry mightily unto the Lord, and pour out your hearts like water before Him, and then will He have regard unto the voice of your cry, and it shall be unto you even according to your desire. ~ C.H. Spurgeon
https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1480.cfm
