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The Necessity of Prayer
Edward M. Bounds
XIII. PRAYER AND THE WORD OF GOD (Continued)
"Some years ago a man was travelling in the wilds of Kentucky.
He had with him a large sum of money and was well armed. He put up at a
log-house one night, but was much concerned with the rough appearance of the
men who came and went from this abode. He retired early but not to sleep. At
midnight he heard the dogs barking furiously and the sound of someone entering
the cabin. Peering through a chink in the boards of his room, he saw a
stranger with a gun in his hand. Another man sat before the fire. The
traveller concluded they were planning to rob him, and prepared to defend
himself and his property. Presently the newcomer took down a copy of the
Bible, read a chapter aloud, and then knelt down and prayed. The traveller
dismissed his fears, put his revolver away and lay down, to sleep peacefully
until morning light. And all because a Bible was in the cabin, and its owner a
man of prayer." -- REV. F. F. SHOUP. PRAYER has all to
do with the success of the preaching of the Word. This, Paul clearly teaches in
that familiar and pressing request he made to the Thessalonians:
"Finally, brethren, pray for us that the Word of the Lord may
have free course, and be glorified." Prayer opens the way for
the Word of God to run without let or hindrance, and creates the atmosphere
which is favourable to the word accomplishing its purpose. Prayer puts wheels
under God's Word, and gives wings to the angel of the Lord "having the
everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every
nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people." Prayer greatly helps the Word of
the Lord.
The Parable of the Sower is a notable study of preaching, showing its
differing effects and describing the diversity of hearers. The wayside hearers
are legion. The soil lies all unprepared either by previous thought or prayer;
as a consequence, the devil easily takes away the seed (which is the Word of
God) and dissipating all good impressions, renders the work of the sower futile.
No one for a moment believes, that so much of present-day sowing would go
fruitless if only the hearers would prepare the ground of their hearts
beforehand by prayer and meditation.
Similarly with the stony-ground hearers, and the thorny-ground hearers.
Although the word lodges in their hearts and begins to sprout, yet all is lost,
chiefly because there is no prayer or watchfulness or cultivation following. The
good-ground hearers are profited by the sowing, simply because their minds have
been prepared for the reception of the seed, and that, after hearing, they have
cultivated the seed sown in their hearts, by the exercise of prayer. All this
gives peculiar emphasis to the conclusion of this striking parable: "Take heed,
therefore, how ye hear." And in order that we may take heed how we hear,
it is needful to give ourselves continually to prayer.
We have got to believe that underlying God's Word is prayer, and upon
prayer, its final success will depend. In the Book of Isaiah we
read:
"So shall My word be that goeth out of My mouth; it shall not
return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall
prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." In Psalm 19, David
magnifies the Word of God in six statements concerning it. It converts the soul,
makes wise the simple, rejoices the heart, enlightens the eyes, endures
eternally, and is true and righteous altogether. The Word of God is perfect,
sure, right, pure. It is heart-searching, and at the same time purifying, in its
effect. It is no surprise therefore that after considering the deep spirituality
of the Word of God, its power to search the inner nature of man, and its deep
purity, the Psalmist should close his dissertation with this passage:
"Who can understand his errors?" And then praying after this
fashion: "Cleanse Thou me from secret faults. Keep back Thy servant also from
presumptuous sins. Let them not have dominion over me. Let the words of my
mouth, and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my
strength and my redeemer." James recognizes the deep
spirituality of the Word, and its inherent saving power, in the following
exhortation:
"Wherefore, lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of
naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to
save your souls." And Peter talks along the same line, when
describing the saving power of the Word of God:
"Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of
incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth
forever." Not only does Peter speak of being born again, by the
incorruptible Word of God, but he informs us that to grow in grace we must be
like new-born babes, desiring or feeding upon the "sincere milk of the Word."
That is not to say, however, that the mere form of words as they occur in the
Bible have in them any saving efficacy. But the Word of God, be it remembered,
is impregnated with the Holy Spirit. And just as there is a Divine element in
the words of Scripture, so also is the same Divine element to be found in all
true preaching of the Word, which is able to save and convert the soul.
Prayer invariably begets a love for the Word of God, and sets people to the
reading of it. Prayer leads people to obey the Word of God, and puts into the
heart which obeys a joy unspeakable. Praying people and Bible-reading people are
the same sort of folk. The God of the Bible and the God of prayer are one. God
speaks to man in the Bible; man speaks to God in prayer. One reads the Bible to
discover God's will; he prays in order that he may receive power to do that
will. Bible-reading and praying are the distinguishing traits of those who
strive to know and please God. And just as prayer begets a love for the
Scriptures, and sets people to reading the Bible, so, also, does prayer cause
men and women to visit the house of God, to hear the Scriptures expounded.
Church-going is closely connected with the Bible, not so much because the Bible
cautions us against "forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the
manner of some is," but because in God's house, God's chosen minister declares
His Word to dying men, explains the Scriptures, and enforces their teachings
upon his hearers. And prayer germinates a resolve, in those who practise it, not
to forsake the house of God.
Prayer begets a church-going conscience, a church-loving heart, a
church-supporting spirit. It is the praying people, who make it a matter of
conscience, to attend the preaching of the Word; who delight in its reading;
exposition; who support it with their influence and their means. Prayer exalts
the Word of God and gives it preeminence in the estimation of those who
faithfully and wholeheartedly call upon the Name of the Lord.
Prayer draws its very life from the Bible, and has no standing ground outside
of the warrant of the Scriptures. Its very existence and character is dependent
on revelation made by God to man in His holy Word. Prayer, in turn, exalts this
same revelation, and turns men toward that Word. The nature, necessity and
all-comprehending character of prayer, is based on the Word of God.
Psalm 119 is a directory of God's Word. With three or four exceptions, each
verse contains a word which identifies, or locates, the Word of God. Quite
often, the writer breaks out into supplication, several times praying, "Teach me
Thy statutes." So deeply impressed is he with the wonders of God's Word, and of
the need for Divine illumination wherewith to see and understand the wonderful
things recorded therein, that he fervently prays:
"Open Thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of
Thy law." From the opening of this wonderful Psalm to its close,
prayer and God's Word are intertwined. Almost every phase of God's Word is
touched upon by this inspired writer. So thoroughly convinced was the Psalmist
of the deep spiritual power of the Word of God that he makes this declaration:
"Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against
Thee." Here the Psalmist found his protection against sinning.
By having God's Word hidden in his heart; in having his whole being thoroughly
impregnated with that Word; in being brought completely under its benign and
gracious influence, he was enabled to walk to and fro in the earth, safe from
the attack of the Evil One, and fortified against a proneness to wander out of
the way.
We find, furthermore, the power of prayer to create a real love for the
Scriptures, and to put within men a nature which will take pleasure in the Word.
In holy ecstasy he cries, "O, how I love Thy law! It is my meditation all the
day." And again: "How sweet are Thy words to my taste! Yea, sweeter than honey
to my taste."
Would we have a relish for God's Word? Then let us give ourselves continually
to prayer. He who would have a heart for the reading of the Bible must not --
dare not -- forget to pray. The man of whom it can be said, "His delight is in
the law of the Lord," is the man who can truly say, "I delight to visit the
place of prayer." No man loves the Bible, who does not love to pray. No man
loves to pray, who does not delight in the law of the Lord.
Our Lord was a man of prayer, and He magnified the Word of God, quoting often
from the Scriptures. Right through His earthly life Jesus observed
Sabbath-keeping, church-going and the reading of the Word of God, and had prayer
intermingled with them all:
"And He came to Nazareth where He had been brought up, and as
His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath Day, and stood up to
read." Here, let it be said, that no two things are more
essential to a spirit-filled life than Bible-reading and secret prayer; no two
things more helpful to growth in grace; to getting the largest joy out of a
Christian life; toward establishing one in the ways of eternal peace. The
neglect of these all-important duties, presages leanness of soul, loss of joy,
absence of peace, dryness of spirit, decay in all that pertains to spiritual
life. Neglecting these things paves the way for apostasy, and gives the Evil One
an advantage such as he is not likely to ignore. Reading God's Word regularly,
and praying habitually in the secret place of the Most High puts one where he is
absolutely safe from the attacks of the enemy of souls, and guarantees him
salvation and final victory, through the overcoming power of the Lamb.
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