Worship Wednesdays: How to Pray, Week 8

How to Pray, By R.A. Torrey

Chapter 7: Abiding in Christ

“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).  The whole secret of prayer is found in these words of our Lord.  Here is prayer that has unbounded power:  “Ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you.:

There is a way then of asking and receiving precisely what we ask.  Christ gives two conditions of the all-prevailing prayer: 

The first condition is “If ye abide in Me.”

What is it to abide in Christ?

Some explanations are so mystical or so profound that many children of God think they mean practically nothing at all.  But, what Jesus meant was really very simple.

He had been comparing Himself to a vine, His disciples to the branches in the vine.  Some branches continued in the vine - in living union - so that the sap or life of the vine constantly flowed into the branches.  They had no independent life of their own.  Everything in them was simply the outcome of the life of the vine, flowing into them.  Their buds, leaves, blossoms, and fruit were not really theirs, but the buds, leaves, blossoms and fruit of the vine.  Other branches were completely severed from the vine, or the flow of the sap or life of the vine was in some way hindered.  For us to abide in Christ is to bear the same relationship to Him that the first sort of branches bear to the vine.  That is to say, to abide in Christ, is to renounce any independent life of our own.  We must give up trying to think our thoughts, form our resolutions, or cultivate our feelings.  We must simply and constantly look to Christ to think His thoughts in us, to form His purposes in us, to feel His emotions and affections in us.  It is to renounce all life independent of Christ and constantly look to Him for the inflow of His life into us and the outworking of His life through us.  When we do this, our prayers will obtain that which we seek from God.

This must necessarily be so, for our desires will not be our own desires but Christ;s.  And our prayers will not in reality be our own prayers, but Christ praying in us.  Such prayers will always be in harmony with God’s will, and the Father always hears Him.  When our prayers fail, it is because they are indeed our prayers.  We have conceived the desire and offered our own petitions, instead of looking to Christ to pray through us.

To abide in Christ, one must already be in Christ through the acceptance of Christ as an atoning Savior from the guilt of sin.  He must be acknowledged as a risen Savior from the power of sin and a Lord and Master over all the believer’s life.  Being in Christ, all that we have to do to abide (or continue) in Christ, is simply to renounce our self-life.  We must utterly renounce every thought, purpose, desire, and affection of our own and continually look for Jesus Christ to form His thoughts, purposes, affections, and desires in us.  Abiding in Christ is really a very simple matter, though it is a wonderful life of privilege and of power.

Christ’s Words in Us

There is another condition stated in this verse, though it is really involved in the first: “And My words abide in you.”

If we are to receive from God all we ask from Him, Christ’s words must abide in us.  We must study His words and let them sink into our thoughts and heart.  We must keep them in our memory, obey them constantly in our life, and let them shape and mold our daily life and our every act.

 This is really the method of abiding in Christ.  It is through His words that Jesus imparts Himself to us.  The words He speaks unto us, they are spirit and they are life (John 6:63)  It is vain to expect power in prayer unless we meditate upon the words of Christ and let them sink deep and find a permanent abode in our hearts.  There are many who wonder why they are so powerless in prayer.  The very simple explanation of it all is found in their neglect of the words of Christ.  They have not hidden His words in their hearts; His words do not abide in them.  It is not by moments of mystical mediation and rapturous experiences that we learn to abide in Christ.  It is by feeding upon His Word, His written word in the Bible, and looking to the Spirit to implant these words in our heart - to make them a living thing in our heart.  If we thus let the words of Christ abide in us, they will stir us up to prayer.  They will be the mold in which our prayers are shaped.  And, our prayers will necessarily be along the line of God’s will and will prevail with Him.  Prevailing prayer is almost an impossibility where there is neglect of the study of God’s word.

Mere intellectual study of the Word of God is not enough; there must be meditation upon it.  The Word of God must be revolved over and over in the mind with a constant looking to God and His Spirit to make that Word a living thing in the heart.  The prayer that is born of meditation upon the Word of God is the prayer which soars upward to God’s listening ear.  

George Mueller, one of the mightiest men of prayer, would begin praying by reading and meditating upon God’s Word until a prayer began to form itself in his heart.  Thus, God Himself was the real author of prayer, and God answered the prayer which He Himself had inspired.  

The Word of God is the instrument through which the Holy Spirit works.  It is the sword of the Spirit in more senses than one.  The person who wants to know the work of the Holy Spirit in any direction must feed upon the Word.  The person who desires to pray in the spirit must meditate on the Word, so that the Holy Spirit may have something through which He can work.  The Holy Sprit works His prayers in us through the Word.  Neglect of the Word makes praying in the Holy Spirit an impossibility.  If we seek to feed the fire of our prayers with the fuel of God’s Word, all our difficulties in prayer will disappear.

Worship Wednesdays: How to Pray, Week 6

How to Pray, by R.A. Torrey

Chapter 5:  Praying in the Spirit

Over and over again in what has already been said, we have seen our dependence on the Holy Spirit in prayer.  This is stated very clearly in Ephesians 6:18, “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit”; and in Jude 20, “Praying in the Holy Ghost.”  Indeed, the whole secret of prayer is found in these three words, in the Spirit.  God the Father answers the prayer that God the Holy Spirit inspires.

The disciples did not know how to pray as they should, so they came to Jesus and said, “Lord, teach us to pray.”  we also do not know how to pray as we should, but we have another Teacher and Guide right at hand to help us (see John 14:16-17).  The Spirit also helpeth our infirmities.” (Romans 8:26).  He teaches us how to pray.  True prayer is prayer in the Holy Spirit; that is, the prayer the Spirit inspires and directs.  when we come into God’s presence, we should recognize “our infirmities,” our ignorance of what we should pray for or how we should pray for it.  In the consciousness of our utter inability to pray properly, we should look up to the Holy Spirit, casting ourselves utterly upon Him to direct our prayers.  He must lead our desires and guide our utterance of them.

Nothing can be more foolish in prayer than to rush heedlessly into God’s presence and ask the first thing that comes into our mind.  When we first come into God’s presence, we should be silent before Him.  We should look up to Him to send His Holy Spirit to teach us how to pray.  We must wait for the Holy Spirit and surrender ourselves to the Spirit.  Then we will pray correctly.

Often, when we come to God in prayer, we do not feel like praying.  What should we do in such a case?  Cease praying until we feel like it?  Not at all.  When we feel least like praying is the time when we most need to pray.  We should wait quietly before God and tell Him how cold and prayerless our hearts are.  We should look up to Him, trust Him, and expect Him to send the Holy Spirit to warm our hearts and draw us out in prayer.  It will not be long before the glow of the Spirit’s presence will fill our heart.  We will begin to pray with freedom, directness, earnestness, and power.  Many of the most blessed seasons of prayer I have ever known have begun with a feeling of utter deadness and prayerlessness.  But, in my helplessness and coldness, I have cast myself upon God and looked to Him to send His Holy Spirit to teach me to pray.  And, He has always done it.  When we pray in the Spirit, we will pray for the right things in the right way.  There will be joy and power in our prayer.

Praying with Faith

If we are to pray with power, we must pray with faith. Jesus says, “Therefor I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.”  No matter how positive any promises of God’s Word may be, we will not enjoy it unless we confidently expect its fulfillment.  “If any of you lack wisdom,” says James, “let him ask of god, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him” (James 1:5)  Now that promise is as positive as a promise can be.  The next verse adds, “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 he shall receive any thing of the Lord.”  (James 1:6-7).  There must then be confident, unwavering expectation that believes that prayer is heard and the promise granted.  This comes out in Mark 11:24, “Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye pray, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them and ye shall have them.”

But how can one have this faith?

Let us say with all emphasis, it cannot be forced.  A person reads this promise about the prayer of faith and then asks for things he desires.  He tries to make himself believe that God has heard the prayer.  This only ends in disappointment for it is not real faith, and the thing is not granted.  At this point, many people lose faith altogether by trying to create faith by an effort of their own will.  When the thing they made themselves believe they would receive is not given, the very foundation of faith is often undermined.

But, how does real faith come?

Romans 10:17 answers the question:  “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” If we are to have real faith, we must study the Word of God and discover what is promised.  The, we must simply believe the promises of God.  Faith must have God’s sanction.  Trying to believe something that you want to believe is not faith.  Believing what God says in His Word is faith.  If I am to have faith when I pray, I must find some promise in the Word of God to rest my faith on.

Faith furthermore comes through the Spirit.  The Spirit knows the will of God.  If I pray in the Spirit and look to the Spirit to teach me God’s will, He will lead me out in prayer along the line of that will.  He will give me faith that the prayer is to be answered.  But, in no case does real faith come by simply determining that you are going to receive what you want.  If there is no promise in the Word of God and no clear leading of the Spirit, there can be no real faith.  There should be no scolding for your lack of faith in such a case.  But if the thing desired is promised in the Word of God, we may well scold ourselves for lack of faith if we doubt, for we are making God a liar by doubting his word.