The Prayer that Obtains
How many times have you prayed once or twice and then, because there was no immediate answer, you either forgot about your prayer or gave up on it?
Do this often enough and after a while you may neglect prayer altogether, except whenever an emergency arises.
Jean Massillon spoke sternly of such neglect, saying, “… that nothing is more unrighteous than to estrange ourselves from prayer.”
Massillon then asked, “You have not time to pray? But you have not time, then, to be a Christian; for, a man who prays not, is a man who has no God, no worship, and no hope.” Functionally, he's living his life independent of God.
Francois Fenelon, the seventeenth-century French mystic, said, “Of all the duties enjoined by Christianity none is more essential, and yet more neglected, than prayer.”
Surely, you don't want that to be true of you. Surely, you would take to heart Martyn Lloyd-Jones' words, “Prayer is essential to every pilgrim whose face is set upon glory and eternity … without it we cannot live.”
One does have to wonder how a life absent prayer can in any sense be a Christian life, since, as F.B. Meyer contended, “Nothing is a surer gauge of our spiritual state than our prayers.”
To the degree prayer is neglected and one’s own reason is trusted, the direction of that life and the sources relied upon to impel it are decidedly deficient.
To avoid this calamitous neglect, we must become teachable and learn all that the Bible says about prayer.
Here is one valuable lesson to learn that will advance our prayers and help us to obtain. Jesus said, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”
You will notice there is a progression here, with each level increasing in intensity. Level one: It’s easy to ask. Level two: It requires more effort to seek. However, level three requires action, and sometimes boldness, as one shows up not to inquire but to claim.
The Bible does say to keep on asking—but not for the same thing! If we ask the Lord a hundred times, for at least ninety-nine of those times we were not asking in faith.
The question is rightly raised: If the initial request is deemed insufficient, how many are enough—one hundred, two hundred?
F.B. Meyer correctly concluded, “We do not need to reiterate our petitions with unbelieving monotony, as though they were not safe in God’s keeping.”
The Lord’s words about repeated petitioning aren’t sanctioning repetitious asking. He was simply saying that for each new problem, and each new challenge, we are to go through the cycle of asking, seeking, and knocking again. Each stage is necessary in our lifestyle of prayer.
Once we do ask in faith, any future reference to our petition should take the form of praise. To praise the Lord for what he’s about to do is to spiritually go forward, but to petition him once again for what you want him to do is to go backward, spiritually.
God sometimes requires insistency in our prayers for two reasons: one, in order to deepen our desire. The more we stand our ground, praising God all the while with enforcing faith, the greater our desire will be to see our petition fulfilled.
Said E.M. Bounds, “It is only when the whole heart is gripped with the passion of prayer that the life-giving fire descends.”
The second reason insistency is important is because it causes our prayers to prevail. The Bible never said that the woman who appealed to the unjust judge wore him out by her frequent petitioning. What impressed the judge instead, and therefore brought about his favorable ruling, was his awareness she would not back down!
Had her first petition been made in a limp, lame way, she never would have prevailed, no matter how many times she presented it! It was really her fervency, not frequency, that won the day!
In fact, a closer examination of the biblical record makes it clear this woman petitioned the judge only once.
George B. Peck acknowledged that whereas Satan “cannot defeat prevailing prayer in the heavenlies”—the prayer of sure purpose and authoritative faith— “he willingly permits the importunity that lacks definiteness and confidence.” Why, one can pray that kind of prayer all day long and never see it prevail!
Therefore, John Henry Jowett declared, “The cardinal necessity in prayer is not pleading, but receiving ... I do not believe we have any more need to plead with God to bless than to plead with the air outside to come into a building.”
Perpetual pleading isn’t our assignment; purposeful prayer is: the kind of prayer undergirded by the authority of the believer that boldly approaches the throne and does indeed obtain.
This obtaining, however, may not be immediate in manifestation, but it is certain.
Hannah Whitall Smith observed, “… those prayers are most granted which seem most denied.” For a while—and sometimes a very long while—there isn’t any indication that God is at work.
Andrew Murray reminds us why prayers may not be answered at once and, for a time, may even seem to be refused.
“When the Lord is to lead a soul to great faith, he leaves its prayers unheard. So it was with the Canaanite woman. He answered her not one word, and when He did at length reply to her, the answer was still more unfavorable than his silence. This is always the way. If the answer came immediately, how would the soul get acquainted with the Lord himself?”
Observing this phenomenon, Mathew Henry said, “God’s providences often seem to contradict his purposes, even when they are serving them, and working at a distance towards the accomplishment of them.”
Often, the faith that trusts is sufficient. But there are those times when the faith that insists is required. And when such times occur, it won’t be the frustration of flesh that prompts this insistence. The real trigger will be a surge from our spirit, empowered by God, that elevates our faith to the needed level for success.
P.T. Forsyth said, “The chief failure of prayer is its cessation.” Sometimes we stop when we become perplexed and distressed. But just know: Delay doesn’t mean divine indifference. To the contrary, it means God has such an exalted view of our one-day rule in the universe, that he must now deepen our desire, and strengthen our resolve, through the spiritual warfare required for prevailing prayer.
How grateful we can be in this day, not only for the Scripture, which is our sure guide for life and conduct, but also for the wisdom others have left us, whose splendid lives credential what they say.
Imagine sitting down to get help for your prayer problem in this circle of new friends. And when rereading this paper, imagine each quote being offered at some point in the conversation as personal advice to help you.
Consider again each comment.
Though each is worthy, is there one thought that on this day helped you the most?
Which thought is that, and how has it helped you?
