03.12. Prevailing Prayer

PREVAILING PRAYER.

I FEAR there are comparatively few Christians who know what prevailing prayer is, because they do not comply with the conditions on which alone it can be offered. I regard these conditions as threefold:

1st. Living and abiding union with Jesus. “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” (John 15:7.)

2nd. Systematic obedience to the teaching of the word and of the Spirit. “Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.” (1 John 3:21-22)

3rd. Unwavering faith in the veracity and faithfulness of God. “But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering; for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord.” (James 1:6-7) Of course there are many other passages of similar bearing and of equal weight, but I regard these three as clearly setting forth the conditions of prevailing prayer, constituting, as it were, the three steps of successful approach to the mercy seat. They are like three links of a golden chain connecting our souls with God, and if one be missing or defective, the power to prevail in prayer is lost. Does not this explain the reason why there is so much ineffectual prayer in our day? Christians get hold of a promise, and try to work themselves up to faith for its fulfilment, but, alas! one of the conditions is wanting, one of the links is broken; their own hearts condemn them; “then have they (no) confidence toward God, and whatsoever they ask they receive (not) of Him, because they keep (not) His commandments, and do (not) those things that are pleasing in His sight.” How can a man approach God in confidence when he is living in the daily practice of something for which his own heart condemns him? Impossible! As soon might Satan offer effectual prayer. Before that man can truly approach to God, he must “cleanse his hands,” “purify his heart,” and “put away his iniquity.” No matter what our creed or opinion, God has made it a law of our spiritual being, that without submission and obedience there can be no confidence. Faith in Jesus is God’s expedient for bringing us back to obedience, and not for saving us in disobedience. And all the way through the New Testament He refuses to accept any other proof of discipleship than that of obedience. No less than six times in the 14th and 15th chapters of John is this criterion insisted on. “Faith without works (obedience) is dead,” and therefore has no power to take hold of God, or to appropriate His promises. I am satisfied that this is the “missing link” in the experience of multitudes of professors; and in vain do they cry “Lord, Lord, while they do not the things that He says.” In vain do they try to assure their hearts before Him, while they love not in deed, but only in word and in tongue. I am afraid there is much antinomianism abroad, which makes Christ the minister of sin, and which is always crying, “Faith! faith! only believe!” while consecration and obedience, as indispensable conditions of faith, are entirely lost sight of. “How can ye believe,” said our Lord to some in His day, ”while ye receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?” And we may say to some in our day—how can ye believe who prefer self‐indulgence, wealth, or worldly conformity, to Christ and his cross, and the extension of his kingdom? Is it not still true that “if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him,” and that “the friendship of the world is enmity towards God”? Saving faith in the sinner, and prevailing faith in the believer are alike impossible without full consecration to known duty. If any one disputes this, let him try to exercise faith in any given promise or for any given blessing, while he is refusing obedience to the claims of God, or withholding part of the price which God requires, and he will find, whatever may be his preconceived notions on the subject, that it is simply impossible. Herein is the solution of the question so often asked—How is it that there are so few answers to prayer? David affirmed it when he said, “If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me.” Neither will God hear and answer us, call we ever so loudly, and ever so long, if we willingly consent to any known unrighteousness. How fares it with your prayers, dear reader? Do you know that God hears you by the answers He vouchsafes? If not, may not this be the reason for the miscarriage? God is unchanged and unchangeable, the promise faileth not. “All things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.” God must be true; and if your experience contradicts the sure word of promise, you may be certain that it is your experience which is at fault. Examine yourself. Repent, and do your first works. He is faithful and just to forgive the sins of His people, and to cleanse them from all unrighteousness. And then bring all the tithes of a whole‐hearted, loving, and believing service into His storehouse, and prove Him therewith, and see if He will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out such a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

Watched by the world’s malignant eye, Who load us with reproach and shame; As servants of the Lord Most High, As zealous for His glorious name, We ought in all His paths to move With holy fear and humble love. That wisdom, Lord, on us bestow, From every evil to depart: To stop the mouths of every foe, While, upright both in life and heart, The proofs of godly love we give, And show them how the Christians live. THE SALVATION ARMY.

NOTHING is more commonly set up as a plea for the neglect of such living as is described in the foregoing papers than that “there are no people who carry religion to such an extreme as this.”

Wretched as is this excuse, I thank God that, as a result of the delivery of these and similar addresses, by myself, my husband, our natural and spiritual children, and those others whom we have set to work from time to time, God has raised up for Himself a people who are acting, in no small degree, up to the light which they have received.

“THE SALVATION ARMY,” formerly called “THE CHRISTIAN MISSION,” is a force consisting chiefly of working men and women who have been turned from lives of unbelief and open wickedness to serve the living God with all their might. From July, 1865, when my husband commenced the work alone in the East of London, up to the present time, December, 1878, permanent Corps or bands of these soul‐savers have been established in some eighty large towns, and districts of the metropolis.

Here are thousands of men and women, who have either been compelled to come in from the streets and lanes to listen to a Gospel they do not care to hear, or have been roused from a state of heart backsliding and led to give themselves afresh to God with all the ardour of first love. From amongst these, up to the date just mentioned, no less than 204 persons have been wholly employed in the Lord’s work, either as Ministers, Missionaries, Evangelists, Scripture Readers, Colporteurs, or Bible Women, while more than seventy Female Ministers have been sent forth, preaching to thousands in Theatres and Music Halls as well as in the open air, daily, proving their Divine call to the work by miracles and signs and wonders wrought amongst the Gentiles through their instrumentality.

These people having, in multitudes of cases, been at one time the slaves of Strong Drink, not only flee from it themselves, but teach everyone to abstain from its use, and from tobacco, and finery, and Worldly Amusements.

Having known what it is to be in real anxiety about their own souls’ salvation and to be really saved from sin and fear and guilt, and shamed into righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost, these ignorant and unlearned men and women understand Dealing with Anxious Souls as, alas! many better instructed and more highly stationed do not.

I fear that many of these—who have themselves rather been “dragged up by the hair of their head,” as one of them expressed it, than brought up—little understand The Training of Children. But of one thing I am thankful to feel confident, namely, that thousands of children are being brought up to devote all available time and strength to the salvation of others.

Full, detailed information as to the system by which these slaves of sin have been rescued from the tempter’s snares and made soldiers of the King of kings, and reports of the conquests being daily made by this Army, may be found in its magazine, “The Salvationist,” One Penny Monthly, Morgan & Scott, Paternoster Buildings, E.C.; “Heathen England,” boards One Shilling, cloth Two Shillings.—S. W. Partridge & Co., Paternoster Row, E.C.

NEW UNDERTAKINGS. My husband is always prepared to undertake the establishment of a Corps in any town or district, however full of the vilest iniquity and the most extreme ruffianism, provided suitable buildings, such as Theatres, Music Halls, &c., for Sunday services and a room for week nights holding not less than 200 persons, can be got on reasonable terms.

ALWAYS WANTED:

Men and Women willing to devote themselves to the salvation of souls, and capable of being made good Officers of THE SALVATION ARMY. No salary beyond food and clothing guaranteed.

CATHERINE BOOTH.

P.S.—Funds to assist in the raising and equipment of Corps in all parts of the country and the training of young Officers, are always greatly needed, and may be paid into the National Provincial Bank of England, or sent to William Booth, 3, Gore Road, Victoria Park Road, London, E.