Part 11

What are the proper means of approach to God through prayer?

1. Right knowledge and faith. "He that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him" (Hebrews 11:6). "This is life eternal that they might know Thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent" (John 17:3). God is above all and in all. There are no other gods before Him. He is supreme, manifested as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We come at once here to the Great Personal Power, beyond whom there is no greater. We do not look upon Him as a cold abstraction or blind force, but as a loving, kind Father. He desires to do more for us than we can ask or think. No man prays to God in the right way who does not first of all have a proper conception of God.

2. Right attitude of the heart. "If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me" (Psalm 66:18). Again the prayerless prayer of the Pharisee began with "I" and the burning of incense before himself. No man, cherishing something in his heart which he knows to be contrary to the will of God or who only seeks to foster and advance his own selfish interests, will come, or desire to come, or can come into a very close communion with God. A wrong attitude of the heart keeps many men from the enjoyment of God's presence, and makes them choose to remain away from His sanctuary. No matter what the sin, however, if a man truly desires to get it out of his heart that man can come at once into close touch with God (Isaiah 1:15-19; Psalm 51; Revelation 7:14).

3. Right subjects of prayer. The advancement of the Kingdom of God and the spiritual interests of man come first. Too many prayers move in the narrow circles of self and purely physical wants; they take no wide sweep out over larger interests. God knows that we have physical needs that must be supplied (Matthew 6:26). Jesus said, "Is not the life more than meat and the body than raiment" (Matthew 6:25)? And by His urgency He would have our prayers rise higher than our physical wants into an infinitely larger sphere. Then God will more than bless us and take care of those things about which we are now so anxious (Matthew 6:26-34).

4. Persistency (Matthew 11:12). It is difficult to deny a persistent man who, when thwarted in one way, begins to plan and act for the object which he seeks in another way and who will not be put off. Christ commended the way of the persistent man to those who sought God in prayer. He gave examples of the widow who continually importuned an unjust judge until he listened to her plea and gave her justice (Luke 18:1-8), and of the man who would not take "no" for an answer when he wanted to borrow bread from a neighbour at midnight (Luke 11:5-8). He said, "Ask, and it shall be given unto you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you" (Luke 11:9). Men who do not persist in their praying will fail to receive the higher blessings and the larger benefits which otherwise God would gladly bestow upon them. If men know how to give good gifts to their children when they ask for them, then much more God knows how to grant the best things to men when they ask Him. "The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force" (Matthew 11:12).

The Approach of God to Man.--How does God come near to man? Does He hear when men pray to Him? Can He and will He answer prayer?

These questions are all simply and plainly answered in the Scriptures. There is no doubt expressed here that God comes near to men and will hear and answer when they pray to Him. "The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon Him, to all that call upon Him in truth" (Psalm 145:18; 139:7-12; Ephesians 3:20).

Christian experience answers these questions in the same affirmative way. Multitudes of Christians testify that God comes near to them and that He hears and answers their prayers; there are many recorded and remarkable answers to prayers.

It is only when the testimony of the Bible and the experience of Christians are set aside that difficulties appear which seem very formidable.

One of the chief objections urged against God hearing and answering prayer is the discovery of the widening sphere of what is called natural law in the ordering of the universe. Where God was formally looked upon as directly controlling in certain things, it is pointed out that we now can plainly state the causes and the working of the laws which produce certain results. According to one theory God is shut out of His universe; and according to another, He is shut up in His universe; on either hypothesis the direct control is out of His hands. Hence, "why pray?" when our prayers even if they reach God cannot be answered.

This objection from the domination of law annuls the freedom of God. It is like looking at a great piece of complicated machinery, and having it explained how part depends upon part and, because the dependence is plainly shown, being asked to believe that the maker and controller is under its power. We are asked to-day to concentrate our attention upon the levers, the springs and the pulleys and all the machinery of the universe rather than upon the first great Cause and Ruler of all.

It is assumed in this objection that much more is known of the laws and forces which govern the universe than really is. Prof. John Fiske says in his lecture on "Life Everlasting," I once heard Herbert Spencer say, "you cannot take up any problem in physics without being quickly led to some metaphysical problem which you can neither solve nor evade." Again he says, "The more things we try to explain, the better we realize that we live in a world of unexplained residua."

Widening knowledge is throwing back into the lumber room many much vaunted theories of origins. Many wrong conceptions of the order of nature have in recent years been radically changed. It is freely acknowledged to-day by the foremost men of science that no man fully understands the order of nature. Under the present limitations of human knowledge God cannot be shut up in or out of His universe. Further research may show that such shutting up to be impossible; for in the end we are to depend not upon our ignorance but upon our knowledge of the universe for God's free control of all things.

Already the light begins to dawn when it is seen that all the natural forces and matter itself are beginning to reveal their origin and control in one Great Master Force. But in this we but return to the biblical statement "In the beginning God" (Genesis 1:1).

We are perfectly justified in believing, in the intelligence of God when we see so many evidences of intelligence in the world, and the freedom and personality of God, when we note the freedom and personality of man; for however we may argue that man is not free or personal we believe that he is and act upon this belief in all the practical affairs of life. The created thing is not greater than its creator or the law greater than the lawgiver. God is greater than the universe or man. God as all powerful, and as intelligent and personal can be approached by man and comes near to him through his communion in prayer with Him.

It is perfectly possible for God, in His providential wisdom and power, to answer the prayers of His people. It is an every-day occurrence for man to deflect the beams of the sun and make nature's laws do what they would not have done if left to themselves. We know men to be personal and to be changed by petitions to their mercy and entreaties to use their power in certain directions. We believe that God, infinitely greater than man, can be entreated and will use His power for the benefit of the petitioner. It is not unreasonable for men to pray for material and spiritual blessings. While the sphere of prayer may be narrowed in certain directions by what we know of nature's processes, it has been greatly widened in other directions.

THE MODEL PRAYER

This is the Lord's Prayer which Christ gave His disciples when He preached the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6:9-13) and when one of His disciples said to Him, "Lord teach us to pray" (Luke 11:2-4). "It is the prayer of prayers. It is the best and most beautiful, the simplest and yet the deepest, the shortest and yet the most comprehensive of all forms of devotion. Only from the lips of the Son of God could such a perfect pattern proceed. It embraces all kinds of prayer--petition, intercession and thanksgiving; all essential objects of prayer, spiritual and temporal, divine and human, in the most suitable and beautiful order."

It has been divided, and this is the natural division, into three parts, an address, six petitions and a doxology.

The Address.--"Our Father who art in heaven" (Matthew 6:9). This phrase "Our Father" shows the paternal relation which the Almighty sustains to us in Christ and the filial relation which we bear to Him through faith in Christ. It also reminds us that since we have a common Father in God, we are all brothers in Christ. The phrase, "Who art in heaven" shows us our heavenly origin and that our home is in our Father's house. We use the word "our" before Father and by it mean to embrace in prayer all the children of God. In using the word, "Father" we at once say we believe in a personal good God at the heart of all things and controlling all, one who loves and cares for us supremely (Galatians 3:26; Ephesians 2:19; Psalm 103:13; Matthew 7:11; John 1:12,13; Romans 8:14,15).

The first three petitions refer to God.

First Petition.--"Hallowed be Thy name" (Matthew 6:9). God's name stands also "for His word, His day and His commandments." God's name is hallowed when we think and speak of Him with reverence and love. Any man who speaks of God's name with contempt or takes it in vain at once shows his position in regard to God. The character of a man and of a community is shown by the respect or disrespect in which God's name is held. Hence in praying "Hallowed be Thy name" we pray not only that God may be rightly worshipped but for the upbuilding of the character of men and communities. "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory" (Isaiah 6:3; John 17:3; Matthew 5:16; 1 Corinthians 10:31; Exodus 20:7).

Second Petition.--"Thy Kingdom come" (Matthew 6:10). "This is the spiritual kingdom of grace and glory." The supplication is here for the reign of righteousness in all hearts throughout the world; this includes the building up of the home church, and home and foreign missions. It expresses the desire for the conversion of all nations and bringing them under the dominion of our Lord (Revelation 11:15; 1 Corinthians 15:28; Matthew 9:37,38; 6:33; 13:31-33; Luke 17:21).

Third Petition.--"Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:10). The will of God concerning us is that we should be holy as He is holy (Leviticus 11:44) that we should be perfect as He is perfect (Matthew 5:48) and that we may believe on His Son (John 6:40). In proportion as God's will is done on earth, evil, want, misery, oppression, hate, jealousy, vanity and evil speaking will disappear from the earth. We might then, when His will is done on earth as it is in heaven, shut up our jails, dismiss our police force, close our courts, and reduce taxes to a minimum. When we offer this petition we are asking for large things.

The last three petitions refer to man and his needs.

Fourth Petition.--"Give us this day our daily bread" (Matthew 6:11). This supplication calls our attention to the fact that we are dependent upon God for daily food and that we are to ask Him to supply our bodily wants. Daily bread includes food, raiment and shelter and all that belongs to our temporal necessities. The answer to this prayer may be in health, bodily and mental strength to procure daily bread, but nevertheless it comes from the hand of God and He should be thanked for it as well as asked for it (Deuteronomy 8:10; Psalm 145: 15,16; Proverbs 30:8).

Fifth Petition.--"Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors" (Matthew 6:12). The word debts here means sins. In asking for forgiveness of sins, we acknowledge that we have sinned and are in need of forgiveness. We pray the Father to forgive us and seek in this way to be reconciled to Him. But it is through Jesus Christ that the Father forgives men their sins. "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29; 1 John 1:7-9; John 3:16-19; Ephesians 1:7). In repeating the latter clause of the petition, "as we forgive our debtors" we acknowledge that we have not only sinned against God but also against our fellow men and that they have sinned against us and caused us to cherish enmity in our hearts. If we desire God's forgiveness we must forgive our fellow men and be reconciled with them before we can expect to come to God and receive His full forgiveness for our transgressions. "Be not overcome of evil but overcome evil with good" (Romans 12:20,21). "If ye forgive men their trespasses your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses" (Matthew 6:14,15; 18:21,22; Luke 17:3,4).

Sixth Petition.--"Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil" (Matthew 6:13). In this petition we acknowledge our weakness and proneness to go astray. We seek for God's strong power to guard us from and in all temptations of the flesh and spirit. We ask for final deliverance from the power and effects of all evil. We look forward to an abode with God where no evil can come to us. "The Lord shall deliver me from every evil work and will preserve me unto His heavenly kingdom" (2 Timothy 4:18; Psalm 31:5; 1 Peter 5:8; 1 John 5:4; 2:15; Matthew 26:41; 2 Timothy 4:7,8).