How to Pray - R.A. Torrey (Triumphs of Faith 27.4)

HOW TO PRAY

BY R.A. TORREY

            “If, then, we would pray aright, the first thing that we should do is see to it- that we really get an audience with God, that we really get into His very presence. Before a word of petition is offered, we should have the definite and vivid consciousness that we are talking to God, and should believe that he is listening to our petition and is going to grant the thing that we ask of Him. This is only possible by the Holy Spirit’s power, so we should look to the Holy Spirit to lead us into the presence of God and should not be hasty in words until he has actually brought us there.

            One night a very active Christian man dropped into a little prayer meeting that I was leading. Before we knelt to pray, I said something like the above, telling all the friends to be sure before they prayed, and while they were praying, that they really were in God’s presence, that they had the thought of Him definitely in mind, and to be more taken up with Him than with their petition. A few days after, I met this same gentleman and he said that this simple thought was entirely new to him, that it had made prayer an entirely new experience to him. 

            If then we would pray aright, these two little words must sink deep into our hearts, ‘unto God.’

With Fasting

            If we would pray with power, we should pray with fasting. This of course does not mean that should fast every time we pray; but there are times of emergency or special crisis in work or in individual lives, when men of downright earnestness will withdraw themselves even from the gratification of natural appetites that would be perfectly proper under other circumstances, that they may give themselves up wholly to prayer. There is a peculiar power in such prayer. Every great crisis in life and work should be met in that way. There is nothing pleasing to God in our giving up in a purely Pharisaic and legal way things which are pleasant, but there is power in that downright earnestness and determination to obtain in prayer the things of which we sorely feel our need, that leads us to put away everything, even things in themselves most right and necessary, that we may set our faces to find God, and obtain blessing from Him.

All Night in Prayer

            In the 6th chapter of Luke in the 12th verse, we get further light upon the right time to pray. We read ‘And it came to pass in those days, that He went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.’

            Here we see Jesus praying in the night, spending the entire night in prayer. Of course we have no reason to suppose that this was the constant practice of our Lord, nor do we even know how common this practice was, but there were certainly times when the whole night was given up to prayer. Here, too, we do well to follow in the footsteps of the Master.

            Of course there is a way of setting apart nights of prayer in which there is no profit; it is pure legalism. But the abuse of this practice is no reason for neglecting it altogether. One ought not to say, ‘I am going to spend a whole night in prayer,’ with the thought that there is any merit that will win God’s favour in such an exercise; that is legalism. But we oftentimes do well to say, I am going to set apart this night for meeting God, ad obtaining His blessing and power; and if necessary, and if He so leads me, I will give the whole night to prayer.’ Oftentimes we will have prayed things through long before the night has passed and we can retire and find more refreshing and invigorating sleep than if we had not spent the time in prayer. At other times God doubtless will keep us in communion with Himself away into the morning and when he foes this in His infinite grace blessed indeed are these hours of night prayer!

            Nights of prayer to God are followed by days of power with men. In the night hours the world is hushed in slumber, and we can easily be alone with God and have undisturbed communion with Him. If we set apart the whole night for prayer, there will be no hurry, there will be time for our own hearts to become quiet before God, there will be time for the whole mind to be brought under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, there will be plenty of time to pray things through. A night of prayer should be put entirely under God’s control. We should lay down no rules as to how long we will pray or as to what we shall pray about, but be ready to wait upon God for a short time or a long time as He may lead, and to be led out in one direction or another as He may see fit.”

Faith Sanctuary - Carrie F. Judd (Triumphs of Faith 1.1)

“FAITH SANCTUARY.”

BY CARRIE F. JUDD

And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me an offering: of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take my offering. And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them – Ex. xxv:1,2,8

This name has been given to the consecrated apartment in which our Thursday evening faith-meetings are held, and some of our dear readers may be interested to learn something of its history.

Owing to serve and almost continuous illness in our family, as well as to the fact that our other apartments afforded ample convenience and comfort, it had remained for several years an unfurnished unoccupied room, and we little dreamed then that the Master was reserving it for His own use and to answer a holy and blessed purpose.

During the weary months and years of my own illness, when the painful nature of my disease forbade unnecessary foot-fall within my hearing, this room, from its location directly below me, shared in the exclusion and silence of the one in which suffering and helplessness held me a prisoner.

After our miraculous deliverance from the bondage, which, though […] and severe, had proved a blessed education for each member of our household, we were enabled by God’s grace, to make a joyful and free consecration of ourselves and our earthly possessions, and to glorify God in our spirits and our bodies which are his.

About this time my dear mother’s attention was called to an article in The Living Church, in which Rev. Dr. Bolles suggested to fellow-Christians the idea of setting apart one room in their houses, as especially consecrated to the use of prayer, whither they could repair in hallowed privacy and pray to their Father in secret. This suggestion found a ready response in our hearts, and to this sweet and hallowed use we with one accord, appropriated our unfurnished parlor, thankful that it was pleasantest apartment in the house which had thus been “kept for the Master’s use.”

During the summer our little sanctuary was furnished, not in any style of severe solemnity, but with reference to a home-like beauty and graceful simplicity, which would make us feel that this hallowed spot was indeed a part of our home, and that our Lord, in an especial manner, had taken up His abode within our humble dwelling. A Christian brother once said to me, as we reverently crossed the threshold of the sweetly quiet place, “I am glad that you have made this a pleasant room.”

When all had been made ready, a few dear Christian friends met with us one quiet summer evening, for a season of prayer and praise, and our Faith Sanctuary was thus, informally, dedicated to the Lord. We did not, at first, intend to use the apartment for any general prayer-meetings, but as requests for special gatherings grew more frequent, we recognized the need of instituting our weekly faith-meetings, and these have increased in interest and power, until God’s blessing, their influence is widely extended.

Marvelous tokens of our Lord’s favor have we received at His hand, and mighty works have been wrought among us in answer to believing prayer. Our hearts overflow with thankfulness to Him, that He has, in His infinite condescension, manifested His presence in our midst, and caused His glorious Epiphany to shine upon our waiting eyes.

“Now, therefore, our God, we thank Thee and praise Thy glorious name,… for all things come of Thee, and of Thine own have we given Thee.” – 1 Chron. xxix: 13,14.