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Part 1
A Call to Prayer by J. C. Ryle I have a question to offer you. It is contained in three words. Do you pray? The question is one that none but you can answer.
Whether you attend public worship or not, your minister knows. Whether you have family prayers in your house or not, your relations know. But, whether you pray in private or not, is a matter between yourself and God.
I beseech you in all affection to attend to the subject I bring before you. Do not say that my question is too close. If your heart is right in the sight of God, there is nothing in it to make you afraid.
Do not turn off my question by replying that you say your prayers. It is one thing to say your prayers, and another to pray. Do not tell me that my question is unnecessary.
Listen to me for a few moments, and I will show you good reasons for asking it. I ask whether you pray because prayer is absolutely needful to a man's salvation. I say absolutely needful, and I say so advisedly.
I am not speaking now of infants and idiots. I am not settling the state of the heathen. I know that where little is given, there little will be required.
I speak especially of those who call themselves Christian in a land like our own. And of such, I say, no man or woman can expect to be saved who does not pray. I hold salvation by grace as strongly as anyone.
I would gladly offer a free and full pardon to the greatest sinner that ever lived. I would not hesitate to stand by his dying bed and say, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ even now, and you shall be saved. But that a man can have salvation without asking for it, I cannot see in the Bible.
That a man will receive pardon of his sins, who will not so much as lift up his heart inwardly and say, Lord Jesus, give it to me, this I cannot find. I can find that nobody will be saved by his prayers, but I cannot find that without prayer anybody will be saved. It is not absolutely necessary to salvation that a man should read the Bible.
A man may have no learning, or be blind, and yet have Christ in his heart. It is not absolutely needful that a man should hear public preaching of the gospel. He may live where the gospel is not preached, or he may be bedridden or deaf.
But the same thing cannot be said about prayer. It is absolutely needful to salvation that a man should pray. There is no royal road either to health or learning.
Princes and kings, poor men and peasants, all alike must attend to the wants of their own bodies and their own minds. No man can eat, drink, or sleep by proxy. No man can get the alphabet learned for him by another.
All these are things which everybody must do for himself, or they will not be done at all. Just as it is with the mind and body, so it is with the soul. There are certain things absolutely needful to the soul's health and well-being.
Each must attend to these things for himself. Each must repent for himself. Each must apply to Christ for himself.
And for himself each must speak to God and pray. You must do it for yourself, for by nobody else can it be done. To be prayerless is to be without God, without Christ, without grace, without hope, and without heaven.
It is to be on the road to hell. Now, can you wonder that I ask the question, do you pray? I ask again whether you pray because a habit of prayer is one of the surest marks of a true Christian. All the children of God on earth are alike in this respect.
From the moment there is any life in reality about their religion, they pray. Just as the first sign of life in an infant when born into the world is the act of breathing, so the first act of men and women when they are born again is praying. This is one of the common marks of all the elect of God.
They cry unto Him day and night. Luke 18 verse 1 The Holy Spirit who makes them new creatures works in them the feeling of adoption and makes them cry, Abba, Father. Romans 8 verse 15 God has no dumb children.
It is as much a part of their new nature to pray as it is of a child to cry. They see their need of mercy and grace. They feel the emptiness and weakness.
They cannot do otherwise than they do. They must pray. I have looked carefully over the lives of God's saints in the Bible.
I cannot find one of whose history much is told us from Genesis to Revelation who was not a man of prayer. I find it mentioned as a characteristic of the godly that they call on the Father. 1 Peter 1 verse 17 Or the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 1 verse 2 Recorded as characteristic of the wicked is the fact that they call not upon the Lord. Psalm 14 verse 4 I have read the lives of many eminent Christians who have been on earth since the Bible days. Some of them, I see, were rich and poor.
Some were learned and some unlearned. Some of them were Episcopalians and some Christians of other names. Some were Calvinists and some were Arminians.
Some have loved to use a liturgy and some to use none. But one thing I see, they all had in common. They have all been men of prayer.
I study the reports of missionary societies in our own times. I see with joy the heathen men and women are receiving the gospel in various parts of the globe. There are conversions in Africa, in New Zealand, in Hindustan, and in China.
The people converted are naturally unlike one another in every respect. But one striking thing I observe in all the missionary stations, the converted people always pray. I do not deny that a man may pray without heart and without sincerity.
I do not for a moment pretend to say that the mere fact that a person is praying proves everything about his soul. As in every other part of religion, so also in this, there may be deception and hypocrisy. But this I do say, that not praying is a clear proof that a man is not yet a true Christian.
He cannot really feel his sins. He cannot love God. He cannot feel himself a debtor to Christ.
He cannot long after holiness. He cannot desire heaven. He has yet to be born again.
He has yet to be made a new creature. He may boast confidently of election, grace, faith, hope, knowledge, and deceive ignorant people. But you may rest assured, it is all vain talk if he does not pray.
And I say furthermore, that of all the evidences of the real work of the Spirit, a habit of highly private prayer is one of the most satisfactory that can be named. A man may preach from false motives. A man may write books and make fine speeches and seem diligent in good works, and yet be a Judas Iscariot.
But a man seldom goes into his closet and pours out his soul before God in secret unless he is in earnest. The Lord Himself has set His stamp on prayer as the best proof of a true conversion. When He sent Ananias to Saul in Damascus, He gave him no other evidence of His change of heart than this, Behold, he prayeth.
I know that much may go on in a man's mind before he is brought to pray. He may have many convictions, desires, wishes, feelings, intentions, resolutions, hopes, and fears. But all these things are very uncertain evidences.
They are to be found in ungodly people and often come to nothing. In many a case they are not more lasting than the morning cloud and the dew that passeth away. A real hearty prayer, coming from a broken and contrite spirit, is worth all these things put together.
I know that the Holy Spirit, who calls sinners from their evil ways, does in many instances lead them by very slow degrees to acquaintance with Christ. But the eye of man can only judge by what it sees. I cannot call anyone justified until he believes.
I dare not say that anyone believes until he prays. I cannot understand a dumb faith. The first act of faith will be to speak to God.
Faith is to the soul what life is to the body. Prayer is to faith what breath is to life. How a man can live and not breathe is past my comprehension.
And how a man can believe and not pray is past my comprehension too. Never be surprised if you hear ministers of the Gospel dwelling much on the importance of prayer. This is the point we want to bring to you.
We want to know that you pray. Your views on doctrine may be correct. Your love of Protestantism may be warm and unmistakable.
But still, this may be nothing more than head knowledge and party spirit. We want to know whether you are actually acquainted with the throne of grace and whether you can speak to God as well as you speak about God. Do you wish to find out whether you are a true Christian? Then rest assured that my question is of the very first importance.
Do you pray? I ask whether you pray because there is no duty in religion so neglected as private prayer. We live in days of abounding religious profession. There are more places of public worship now than there ever were before.
There are more persons attending them than there were ever before. And yet in spirit of all this public religion, I believe there is a vast neglect of private prayer. It is one of those private transactions between God and our souls which no eyes see and therefore one which men are tempted to pass over and leave undone.
I believe that thousands never utter a word of private prayer at all. They eat, they drink, they sleep, they rise, they go forth to their labor, they return to their homes, they breathe God's air, they see God's sun, they walk on God's earth, they enjoy God's mercies, they have dying bodies, they have judgment and eternity before them, but they never speak to God. They live like the beasts that perish.
They behave like creatures without souls. They have not one word to say to Him in whose hand are their life and breath and all things and from whose mouth they must one day receive their everlasting sentence. How dreadful this seems! But if the secrets of men were only known, how common! I believe there are tens of thousands whose prayers are nothing but a mere form, a set of words repeated by rote, without a thought about their meaning.
Some say over a few hasty sentences picked up in the nursery when they were children. Some content themselves with repeating the creed, forgetting that there is not a request in it. Some add the Lord's Prayer but without the slightest desire that its solemn petitions may be granted.
Many even of those who use good forms mutter their prayers after they have gotten into bed and while they wash or dress in the morning. Men may think what they please, but they may depend upon that in the sight of God. This is not praying.
Words said without heart are as utterly useless to our souls as the drum beating of the poor heathen before their idols. Where there is no heart, there may be lip work and tongue work, but there is nothing that God listens to. There is no prayer.
Saul, I have no doubt, said many a long prayer before the Lord met him on the way to Damascus. But it was not till his heart was broken that the Lord said, He prayeth. Does this surprise you? Listen to me and I will show you that I am not speaking as I do without reason.
Do you think that my assertions are extravagant and unwarrantable? Give me your attention and I will soon show you that I am only telling you the truth. Have you forgotten that it is not natural to anyone to pray? The carnal mind is enmity against God. The desires of man's heart is to get far away from God and have nothing to do with Him.
His feeling towards Him is not love but fear. Why then should a man pray when he has no real sense of sin, no real feeling of spiritual wants, no thorough belief in unseen things, no desire after holiness and heaven? Of all these things the vast majority of men know and feel nothing. The multitude walk in a broad way.
I cannot forget this, therefore I say boldly, I believe that few pray. Have you forgotten that it is not fashionable to pray? It is one of the things that many would be rather ashamed to own. There are hundreds who would sooner storm a beach or lead a forlorn hope than confess publicly that they make a habit of prayer.
There are thousands who, if obliged to sleep in the same room with a stranger, would lie down in bed without a prayer. To dress well, to go to theaters, to be thought clever and agreeable, all this is fashionable, but not to pray. I cannot forget this.
I cannot think a habit is common which so many seem ashamed to own. I believe that few pray. Have you forgotten the lives that many live? Can we really believe that people are praying against sin night and day when we see them plunging into it? Can we suppose they pray against the world when they are entirely absorbed and taken up with its pursuits? Can we think they really ask God for grace to serve Him when they do not show the slightest desire to serve Him at all? Oh, no.
It is plain as daylight that the great majority of men either ask nothing of God or do not mean what they say when they do ask, which is just the same thing. Praying and sinning will never live together in the same heart. Prayer will consume sin, or sin will choke prayer.
I cannot forget this. I look at men's lives. I believe that few pray.
Have you forgotten the deaths that many die? How many, when they draw near death, seem entirely strangers to God? Not only are they sadly ignorant of His Gospel, but sadly wanting in the power of speaking to Him. There is a terrible awkwardness and shyness in their endeavors to approach Him. They seem to be taking up a fresh thing.
They appear as if they wanted an introduction to God and as if they had never talked with Him before. I remember having heard of a lady who was anxious to have a minister to visit her in her last illness. She desired that he would pray with her.
He asked her what he should pray for. She did not know and could not tell. She was utterly unable to name any one thing which she wished him to ask God for her soul.
All she seemed to want was the form of a minister's prayer. I can quite understand this. Deathbeds are great revealers of secrets.
I cannot forget what I have seen of sick and dying people. This also leads me to believe that few pray. I cannot see your heart.
I do not know your private history in spiritual things. But from what I see in the Bible and in the world, I am certain I cannot ask you a more necessary question than that before you. Do you pray? I ask whether you pray because prayer is an act and religion to which there is great encouragement.
There is everything in God's part to make prayer easy if men will only attempt it. All things are ready on His side. Every objection is anticipated.
Every difficulty is provided for. The crooked places are made straight and the rough places are made smooth. There is no excuse left for the prayerless man.
There is a way by which any man, however sinful and unworthy, may draw near to God the Father. Jesus Christ has opened the way by the sacrifice He made for us upon the cross. The holiness and justice of God need not frighten sinners and keep them back.
Only let them cry to God in the name of Jesus. Only let them plead the atoning blood of Jesus, and they shall find God upon a throne of grace, willing and ready to hear. The name of Jesus is a never-failing passport for our prayers.
In that name a man may draw near to God with boldness and ask with confidence. God has engaged to hear him. Think of this.
Is not this encouragement? There is an advocate and an intercessor always waiting to present the prayers of those who come to God through him. That advocate is Jesus Christ. He mingles our prayers with the incense of His own almighty intercession.
So mingled they go up as a sweet savor before the throne of God. Poor as they are in themselves, they are mighty and powerful in the hand of our high priest and elder brother. The banknote without a signature at the bottom is nothing but a worthless piece of paper.
The stroke of a pen confers on it all its value. The prayer of a poor child of Adam is a feeble thing in itself, but once endorsed by the hand of the Lord Jesus, it availeth much. There is an officer in the city of Rome who is appointed to have his doors always open in order to receive any Roman citizen who apply to him for help.
Just so the ear of the Lord Jesus is ever opened to the cry of all who want mercy and grace. It is his office to help them. Their prayer is his delight.
Think of this. Is not this encouragement? There is the Holy Spirit ever ready to help our infirmities in prayer. It is one part of his special office to assist us in our endeavors to speak with God.
We need not be cast down and distressed by the fear of not knowing what to say. The Spirit will give us words if we seek his aid. The prayer of the Lord's people are the inspiration of the Lord's Spirit, the work of the Holy Ghost who dwells within them as the Spirit of grace and supplication.
Surely the Lord's people may well hope to be heard. It is not they merely that pray, but the Holy Ghost pleading in them. Read or think of this.
Is not this encouragement? There are exceedingly great and precious promises to those who pray. What did the Lord Jesus mean when he spoke such words as these? Ask, and it shall be given to you, and ye shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
For every one that asketh, receiveth. And he that seeketh, findeth. And to him that knocketh, it shall be opened.
All things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive. 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.
What did the Lord mean when he spoke the parables of the friend at midnight in the importunate widow? Think over these passages. If this is not encouragement to pray, words have no meaning. There are wonderful examples in Scripture of the power of prayer.
Nothing seems to be too great, too hard, or too difficult for prayer to do. It has obtained things that seemed impossible and out of reach. It has won victories over fire, air, earth, and water.
Prayer opened the Red Sea. Prayer brought water from the rock and bread from heaven. Prayer made the sun stand still.
Prayer brought fire from the sky on Elijah's sacrifice. Prayer turned the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness. Prayer overthrew the army of Sennachim.
Well might Mary, Queen of Scots, say, I feared John Knox's prayer more than an army of ten thousand men. Prayer has healed the sick. Prayer has raised the dead.
Prayer has procured the conversion of souls. The child of many prayers, said an old Christian to Augustine's mother, shall never perish. Prayer, pains, and faith can do anything.
Nothing seems impossible when a man has the spirit of adoption. Let me alone his remarkable saying of God to Moses when Moses was about to intercede for the children of Israel. The Chaldean version has, Leave off praying.
Exodus 32 verse 10 So long as Abraham asked mercy for Sodom, the Lord went on giving. He never ceased to give till Abraham ceased to pray. Think of this.
Is not this encouragement? What more can a man want to lead him to take any step in religion than the things I have just told him about prayer? What more could be done to make the path to the mercy seat easy and to remove all occasions of stumbling from the sinner's way? Surely if the devils in hell had such a door set open before them, they would leap for gladness and make every pit ring with joy. But where will the man hide his head at last who neglects such glorious encouragements? What can possibly be said for the man who after all dies without prayer? Surely I may feel anxious that you should not be that man. Surely I may well ask, Do you pray? I ask whether you pray because diligence and prayer is the secret of imminent holiness.
Without controversy, there is a vast difference among two Christians. There is an immense interval between the foremost and the hindermost in the army of God. They are all fighting the same good fight, but how much more valiantly some fight than others.
They are all doing the Lord's work, but how much more some do than others. They are all light in the Lord, but how much more brilliantly some shine than others. They are all running the same race, but how much faster some get on than others.
They all love the same Lord and Savior, but how much more some love Him than others. I ask any true Christian whether this is not the case. Are not these things so? There are some of the Lord's people who seem never able to get on from the time of their conversion.
They are born again, but they remain babes all their lives. You hear from them the same old experience. You remark in them the same want of spiritual appetite, the same want of interest in anything beyond their own little circle, which you remarked ten years ago.
They are pilgrims indeed, but pilgrims like the Gibbonites of old. Their bread is always dry and moldy, their shoes always old, and their garments always rent and torn. I say this with sorrow and grief, but I ask any real Christian, is it not true? There are others of the Lord's people who seem to be always advancing.
They grow like the grass after rain. They increase like Israel in Egypt. They press on like Gibeon, though sometimes faint, yet always pursuing.
They are ever adding grace to grace and faith to faith and strength to strength. Every time you meet them, their hearts seem larger and their spiritual stature taller and stronger. Every year, they appear to see more and know more and believe more and feel more in their religion.
They not only have good works to prove their reality of their faith, but they are zealous of them. They not only do well, but they are unworried and well-doing. They attempt great things, and they do great things.
When they fail, they try again, and when they fall, they are soon up again. In all this time, they think themselves poor, unprofitable servants and fancy they do nothing at all. These are those who make religion lovely and beautiful in the eyes of all.
They wrest praise even from the unconverted and win golden opinions from even the selfish men of the world. It does one good to see, to be with, and to hear them. When you meet them, you could believe that, like Moses, they have just come out from the presence of God.
When you part with them, you feel warmed by their company as if your soul had been near a fire. I know such people are rare. I only ask, are there not many such? Now, how can we account for the difference which I have just described? What is the reason that some believers are so much brighter and holier than others? I believe the difference in 19 cases out of 20 arises from different habits about private prayer.
I believe that those who are not eminently holy pray little, but those who are eminently holy pray much. I dare say this opinion will startle some readers, I have little doubt that many look on eminent holiness as a kind of special gift which none but a few must pretend to aim at. They admire it at a distance, in books.
They think it beautiful when they see it as an example near themselves. But, as to its being a thing within the reach of any but a very few, such a notion never seems to enter their minds. In short, they consider it a kind of monopoly granted to a few favored believers, but certainly not to all.
Now, I believe that this is a most dangerous mistake. I believe that spiritual as well as natural greatness depends in a high degree on the faithful use of means within everybody's reach. Of course, I do not say we have a right to expect a miraculous grant of intellectual gifts, but this I do say, that when a man is once converted to God, his progress in holiness will be much in accordance with his own diligence in the use of God's appointed means.
And I assert confidently that the principal means by which most believers have become great in the Church of Christ is the habit of diligent, private prayer. Look through the lives of the brightest and best of God's servants, whether in the Bible or not, see what is written of Moses and David and Daniel and Paul. Mark what is recorded of Luther and Bradford, the Reformers.
Observe what is related of the private devotions of Whitefield and Cecil and Venn and Berkstein and McShane. Tell me of one of all the godly fellowship of saints and martyrs who has not been dismarked most prominently. He was a man of prayer.
Depend upon it. Prayer is power. Prayer obtains fresh and continued outpourings of the Spirit.
He alone brings the work of grace in a man's heart. He alone can carry it forward and make it prosper. But the good Spirit loves to be entreated, and those who ask most will have most of His influence.
Prayer is the surest remedy against the devil in besetting sins. That sin will never stand firm, which is hardly prayed against. That devil will never long keep dominion over us, which we beseech the Lord to cast forth.
But then we must spread out all our case before our Heavenly Physician, if He is to give us a daily relief. Do you wish to grow in grace and be a devoted Christian? Be very sure, if you wish it, you could not have a more important question than this. Do you pray? I ask whether you pray because neglect of prayer is one great cause of backsliding.
There is such a thing as going back in religion after making a good profession. Men may run well for a season like the Galatians and then turn aside after false teachers. Men may profess loudly while their feelings are warm, as Peter did, and then in the hour of trial deny their Lord.
Men may lose their first love, as the Ephesians did. Men may cool down in their zeal to do good like Mark the companion of Paul. Men may follow an apostle for a season and like Demas go back to the world.
All these things men may do. It is a miserable thing to be a backslider. Of all unhappy things that can befall a man, I suppose it is the worst.
A stranded ship, a broken-winged eagle, a garden overrun with weeds, a harp without strings, a church in ruins. All these are sad sights, but a backslider is a sadder sight still. A wounded conscience, a mind sick of itself, a memory full of self-reproach, a heart pierced through with the Lord's arrows, a spirit broken with a load of inward accusation.
All this is a taste of hell. It is a hell on earth. Truly that saying of the wise man is solemn and weighty.
The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways. Proverbs 14 verse 14 Now what is the cause of most backslidings? I believe as a general rule one of the chief causes is neglect of private prayer. Of course the secret history of falls will not be known till the last day.
I can only give my opinion as a minister of Christ and a student of the heart. That opinion is, I repeat distinctly, that backsliding generally first begins with neglect of private prayer. Bibles read without prayer.
Sermons heard without prayer. Marriages contracted without prayer. Journeys undertake without prayer.
Residences chosen without prayer. Friendships formed without prayer. The daily act of private prayer itself hurried over, or gone through without heart.
These are a kind of downward steps by which many a Christian descends to a condition of spiritual palsy, or reaches the point where God allows him to have a tremendous fall. This is the process which forms the lingering lots, the unstable Samsons, the wife-idolizing Solomons, the inconsistent Asaphs, the pliable Jehoshaphats, the over-careful Mothers, of whom so many are to be found in the Church of Christ. Often the simple history of such cases is this, they became careless about private prayer.
You may be very sure men fall in private long before they fall in public. They are backsliders on their knees long before they backslide openly in the eyes of the world. Like Peter, they first discard the Lord's warnings to watch and pray, and then like Peter their strength is gone, and in the hour of temptation they deny their Lord.
The world takes notice of their fall and scoffs loudly, but the world knows nothing of the real reason. The heathen succeeded in making a well-known Christian offer incense to an idol by threatening him with the punishment worse than death. They triumphed greatly at the sight of his cowardice and apostasy, but the heathen did not know the fact of which history informs us, that on that very morning he had left his bedchamber hastily and without finishing his usual prayers.
If you are a Christian indeed, I trust you will never be a backslider, but if you do not wish to be a backsliding Christian, remember the question I ask you, Do you pray? I ask lastly whether you pray because prayer is one of the best means of happiness and contentment. We live in a world where sorrow abounds. This has always been its state since sin came in.
There cannot be sin without sorrow, and until sin is driven out from the world, it is vain for anyone to suppose he can escape sorrow. Some without doubt have a larger cup of sorrow to drink than others, but few are to be found who live long without sorrows or cares of one sort or another. Our bodies, our property, our families, our children, our relations, our servants, our friends, our neighbors, our worldly callings, each and all of these are fountains of care.
Sickness, deaths, losses, disappointments, partings, separations, ingratitude, slander, all these are common things. We cannot get through life without them. Some day or other they find us out.
The greater are our affections, the deeper are our afflictions, and the more we love, the more we have to weep. And what is the best means of cheerfulness in such a world as this? How shall we get through this valley of tears with least pain? I know no better means than the regular habitual practice of taking everything to God in prayer. This is the plain advice that the Bible gives both in the Old Testament and in the New.
What says the psalmist? Call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me. Psalm 50 verse 15 Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee. He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.
Psalm 52 verse 22 What says the apostle Paul? Be careful for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ. Philippians 4 verses 6 and 7 What says the apostle James? Is any afflicted among you? Let him pray.
James 5 verse 13 This was the practice of all the saints whose history we have recorded in the Scriptures. This is what Jacob did when he feared his brother Esau. This is what Moses did when the people were ready to stone him in the wilderness.
This is what Joshua did when Israel was defeated before the men at Ai. This is what David did when he was in danger at Goliath. This is what Hezekiah did when he received the letter from Sennacherib.
This is what the church did when Peter was put in prison. This is what Paul did when he was cast into the dungeon at Philippi. The only way to be really happy in such a world as this is to be ever casting all our cares on God.
It is trying to carry their own burdens which so often makes believers sad. If they will tell their troubles to God, He will enable them to bear them as easily as Solomon did the gates of Gaza. If they are resolved to keep them to themselves, they will find one day that the very grasshopper is a burden.
There is a friend ever waiting to help us, if we will unbosom to him our sorrow. A friend who pitied the poor and sick and sorrowful when he was upon earth. A friend who knows the heart of man, for he lived thirty-three years as a man among us.
A friend who can weep with the weepers, for he was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. A man who is able to help us, for there never was earthly pain he could not cure. That friend is Jesus Christ.
The way to be happy is to be always opening our hearts to Him. Oh that we were all like that poor Christian who only answered when threatened and punished, I must tell the Lord. Jesus can make those happy who trust Him and call on Him, whatever be their outward condition.
He can give them peace of heart in a prison, contentment in the midst of poverty, comfort in the midst of bereavements, joy on the brink of the grave. There is a mighty fullness in Him for all His believing members. A fullness that is ready to be poured out on everyone that will ask in prayer.
Oh that men would understand that happiness does not depend on outward circumstances, but on the state of the heart. Prayer can lighten crosses for us, however heavy. It can bring down to our side one who will help us to bear them.
Prayer can open a door for us when our way seems hedged up. It can bring down one who will say, this is the way, walk in it. Prayer can let in a ray of hope when all our earthly prospects seem darkened.
It can bring down one who will say, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. Prayer can obtain relief for us when those we love most are taken away and the world feels empty. It can bring down one who can fill the gap in our hearts with himself and say to the waves within, peace, be still.
Oh that men were not so like Hagar in the wilderness, blind to the well of living waters close beside them. I want you to be happy. I know I cannot ask you a more useful question than this.
Do you pray? And now it is high time for me to bring this track to an end. I trust I have brought before you things that will be seriously considered. I heartily pray God that this consideration may be blessed to your soul.
Let me speak a parting word to those who do not pray. This Reformation audio track is a production of Stillwater's Revival Books. SWRB makes thousands of classic Reformation resources available, free and for sale, in audio, video, and printed formats.
Our many free resources, as well as our complete mail-order catalog, containing thousands of classic and contemporary Puritan and Reform books, tapes, and videos at great discounts, is on the web at www.swrb.com. We can also be reached by email at swrb.com, by phone at 780-450-3730, by fax at 780-468-1096, or by mail at 4710-37A, Edmonton, Alberta, Abbreviated Capital A, Capital B, Canada, T6L3T5. You may also request a free printed catalog. And remember that John Calvin, in defending the Reformation's regulative principle of worship, or what is sometimes called the scriptural law of worship, commenting on the words of God, which I commanded them not, neither came into my heart, from his commentary on Jeremiah 731, writes, God here cuts off from men every occasion for making evasions, since he condemns by this one phrase, I have not commanded them, whatever the Jews devised.
There is then no other argument needed to condemn superstitions, than that they are not commanded by God. For when men allow themselves to worship God according to their own fancies, and attend not to his commands, they pervert true religion. And if this principle was adopted by the Papists, all those fictitious modes of worship, in which they absurdly exercise themselves, would fall to the ground.
It is indeed a horrible thing for the Papists to seek to discharge their duties towards God by performing their own superstitions. There is an immense number of them, as it is well known, and as it manifestly appears. Were they to admit this principle, that we cannot rightly worship God except by obeying his word, they would be delivered from their deep abyss of error.
The Prophet's words then are very important, when he says, that God had commanded no such thing, and that it never came to his mind. As though he had said, that men assume too much wisdom, when they devise what he never required, nay, what he never knew.