The Kneeling Christian- Chapter 3
God wants me to pray because all success in spiritual work begins with prayer. Every convert is the result of the Holy Spirit’s pleading in answer to the prayers of some believer. If there are any regrets in heaven it will be because we spent so little time in real intercession while we were on earth.
“Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for your possession” (Ps. 2:8). It is interesting that many Christians don’t bring their own requests to God and even less pray for the heathen. It is staggering to think of how many Christians are unwilling to pray. Perhaps it is because they have never experienced or even heard convincing answers to prayer. If men will; not believe or act on our Lord’s promises and commands how can we expect them to be persuaded by any mere human exhortations? Jesus told His followers if they can’t believe by faith to believe by the things He does. He even said if you can believe you can do greater works than these. These greater works can only be done by prayer. “You can do more than pray after you have prayed, but you can never do more than pray until you have prayed.” A.J. Gordon. The Holy Spirit, because of prayer has restored backsliders, sinners convicted of sin repented, believers were sanctified, and heathens were brought into the fold. A missionary exclaimed, “It paid well to have spent several months in prayer for when God gave the Holy Spirit, He accomplished more in ½ day then all the missionaries could have done in ½ a year. In less than 2 months 2,000 Heathens were converted. Now if we here in this so-call Christian country really believed in prayer, i.e. in our Lord’s own precious promises, should we avoid prayer meeting? If we had any genuine concern for the lost conditions of thousands here in our own land and the tens of thousands in Heathen lands, should we withhold our prayers? Surely, we don’t think or we would pray more. “Ask of Me and I will give” says, the Almighty, all loving God, and we scarcely heed His words! I know that God wants me to pray. I know God wants you to pray. God’s great storehouse is full of blessings. Only prayer can unlock the storehouse. Prayer is the key and faith turns the key that opens the door and claims the blessing. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God and to see Him is to pray aright.
All our past failure, all our past inefficiency, all our past unfruitfulness in service can be banished now, once and for all, if we only give prayer its proper place. Do it today. Don’t wait for a more convenient time. Everything worth having depends upon the decision we make. Truly God is a wonderful God! And one of the most wonderful things about Him is that He puts His all at the disposal of the prayer of faith. Believing prayer from a wholly-cleansed heart never fails. God has given His word for it.
Yet vastly more amazing is the fact that Christian men and women should either not believe God’s word or should fail to put it to the test. When Christ is “all and all” when He is our Savior, Lord and King, it is really He who prays our prayers. God is no respecter of persons. If we humbly and truthfully say, “To me to live is Christ” (Phil. 1:21), will He not manifest forth His mighty power in us? I can not stand up to preach the Gospel until I could testify of its power in my life. Christ had not delivered me from sin. Either Christ had to forgive my sin or I needed to look for some other sort of work. I asked for the Lord to fill me with His Holy Spirit and the moment I did I began to see myself and what selfish ambition I had. The Lord assured me that He was able and willing to cleanse me from my sin. He did deliver me and I have not had a doubt of this since. It is only by such a full surrender and such a definite claiming are we to be delivered out of the power of sin. You and I can be a people of prevailing prayer. Can we not pray the blessing down upon others, upon your pastor, vicar, friend or family? What a ministry is ours if we will but enter it. But to do so we must make a full surrender. Have we not done it? Failure of prayer is due to a failure in the heart. Only the “pure in heart shall see God.” And only those who “call on the Lord out of a pure heart” (2 Tim. 2:22) can confidently claim answers to their prayers. What a revival would break out if all who read these words would claim the fulness of the Holy Spirit now? Can’t you see how God wants us to pray? Everything worth having depends upon prayer! After reading this chapter there could be several reasons but one thing stands clear, if we ask and God does not give then the fault is with us. Every unanswered prayer is a clarion call; to search the heart to see what is wrong there. The promise is unmistakably clear: “If ye ask anything in My name that will I do” (John 14:14). Truly he who prays puts not God but his own spiritual life to the test.
Another powerful chapter on prayer. I know God wants me to pray, believe and claim His promises. Oh, what little faith I show when I accept NO for an answer to my prayer. First, I should ask myself, “Is the prayer in alignment with God’s will? I may be praying selfishly and not have a pure heart. Then I ask the Holy Spirit to show me what hinders my prayer. Is there a sin I am not repenting of and giving to God? I must do heart searching. This work depends on me being honest with myself and with God. It is a prayer filled work. I cannot trust my on intuitions. I must rely only on the Lord. This can be a heart-breaking experience. “Whoever falls on this rock will be broken to pieces; anyone on who it falls will be crushed.” Falling on the stone means stumbling over Jesus through unbelief, resulting in being broken, humbled, shattered for repentance. Opposing Jesus leads to ruin, either through stumbling over Him through unbelief or being crushed by His Judgement. Submitting to Jesus, the Stone requires breaking one’s pride, self-will and sin through repentance. Oh that I might repent of my sins so that nothing hinders God’s promises to my prayer.
God wants me to pray because all success in spiritual work begins with prayer. Every convert is the result of the Holy Spirit’s pleading in answer to the prayers of some believer. If there are any regrets in heaven it will be because we spent so little time in real intercession while we were on earth.
“Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for your possession” (Ps. 2:8). It is interesting that many Christians don’t bring their own requests to God and even less pray for the heathen. It is staggering to think of how many Christians are unwilling to pray. Perhaps it is because they have never experienced or even heard convincing answers to prayer. If men will; not believe or act on our Lord’s promises and commands how can we expect them to be persuaded by any mere human exhortations? Jesus told His followers if they can’t believe by faith to believe by the things He does. He even said if you can believe you can do greater works than these. These greater works can only be done by prayer. “You can do more than pray after you have prayed, but you can never do more than pray until you have prayed.” A.J. Gordon. The Holy Spirit, because of prayer has restored backsliders, sinners convicted of sin repented, believers were sanctified, and heathens were brought into the fold. A missionary exclaimed, “It paid well to have spent several months in prayer for when God gave the Holy Spirit, He accomplished more in ½ day then all the missionaries could have done in ½ a year. In less than 2 months 2,000 Heathens were converted. Now if we here in this so-call Christian country really believed in prayer, i.e. in our Lord’s own precious promises, should we avoid prayer meeting? If we had any genuine concern for the lost conditions of thousands here in our own land and the tens of thousands in Heathen lands, should we withhold our prayers? Surely, we don’t think or we would pray more. “Ask of Me and I will give” says, the Almighty, all loving God, and we scarcely heed His words! I know that God wants me to pray. I know God wants you to pray. God’s great storehouse is full of blessings. Only prayer can unlock the storehouse. Prayer is the key and faith turns the key that opens the door and claims the blessing. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God and to see Him is to pray aright.
All our past failure, all our past inefficiency, all our past unfruitfulness in service can be banished now, once and for all, if we only give prayer its proper place. Do it today. Don’t wait for a more convenient time. Everything worth having depends upon the decision we make. Truly God is a wonderful God! And one of the most wonderful things about Him is that He puts His all at the disposal of the prayer of faith. Believing prayer from a wholly-cleansed heart never fails. God has given His word for it.
Yet vastly more amazing is the fact that Christian men and women should either not believe God’s word or should fail to put it to the test. When Christ is “all and all” when He is our Savior, Lord and King, it is really He who prays our prayers. God is no respecter of persons. If we humbly and truthfully say, “To me to live is Christ” (Phil. 1:21), will He not manifest forth His mighty power in us? I can not stand up to preach the Gospel until I could testify of its power in my life. Christ had not delivered me from sin. Either Christ had to forgive my sin or I needed to look for some other sort of work. I asked for the Lord to fill me with His Holy Spirit and the moment I did I began to see myself and what selfish ambition I had. The Lord assured me that He was able and willing to cleanse me from my sin. He did deliver me and I have not had a doubt of this since. It is only by such a full surrender and such a definite claiming are we to be delivered out of the power of sin. You and I can be a people of prevailing prayer. Can we not pray the blessing down upon others, upon your pastor, vicar, friend or family? What a ministry is ours if we will but enter it. But to do so we must make a full surrender. Have we not done it? Failure of prayer is due to a failure in the heart. Only the “pure in heart shall see God.” And only those who “call on the Lord out of a pure heart” (2 Tim. 2:22) can confidently claim answers to their prayers. What a revival would break out if all who read these words would claim the fulness of the Holy Spirit now? Can’t you see how God wants us to pray? Everything worth having depends upon prayer! After reading this chapter there could be several reasons but one thing stands clear, if we ask and God does not give then the fault is with us. Every unanswered prayer is a clarion call; to search the heart to see what is wrong there. The promise is unmistakably clear: “If ye ask anything in My name that will I do” (John 14:14). Truly he who prays puts not God but his own spiritual life to the test.
Another powerful chapter on prayer. I know God wants me to pray, believe and claim His promises. Oh, what little faith I show when I accept NO for an answer to my prayer. First, I should ask myself, “Is the prayer in alignment with God’s will? I may be praying selfishly and not have a pure heart. Then I ask the Holy Spirit to show me what hinders my prayer. Is there a sin I am not repenting of and giving to God? I must do heart searching. This work depends on me being honest with myself and with God. It is a prayer filled work. I cannot trust my on intuitions. I must rely only on the Lord. This can be a heart-breaking experience. “Whoever falls on this rock will be broken to pieces; anyone on who it falls will be crushed.” Falling on the stone means stumbling over Jesus through unbelief, resulting in being broken, humbled, shattered for repentance. Opposing Jesus leads to ruin, either through stumbling over Him through unbelief or being crushed by His Judgement. Submitting to Jesus, the Stone requires breaking one’s pride, self-will and sin through repentance. Oh that I might repent of my sins so that nothing hinders God’s promises to my prayer.
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