PRAYER & SPIRITUAL WARFARE

E. M. Bounds
Chapter 7

Two thirds of the praying we do is for that which would give us the greatest possible pleasure to receive. It is a sort of spiritual self-indulgence in which we engage and, as a consequence, is the exact opposite of self-discipline. God knows all this and keeps His children asking. In the process of time — His time — our petitions take on another aspect, and we, another spiritual approach. God keeps us praying until, in His wisdom, He is ready to answer. And no matter how long it may be before He speaks, it is, even then, far easier than we have a right to expect or hope to deserve.

The purpose of Christ’s teachings is to declare that men are to pray earnestly. They are to pray with an earnestness that cannot be denied. Heaven has listening ears only for the wholehearted and the deeply earnest. Energy, courage, and perseverance must back the prayers that heaven respects and that God hears.

All these qualities of soul, so essential to effectual praying, are brought out in the parable of the man who went to his friend for bread at midnight. (See Luke 11:5-10.) This man went on his errand with confidence. Friendship promised him success, His cry was pressing. Truly, he could not go back empty-handed. The flat refusal shamed and surprised him. Here even friendship failed! But there was still something to be tried — stern resolution and fixed determination. He would stay and pursue his demand until the door was opened and the request granted. He proceeded to do this and, by perseverance, secured what ordinary requesting had failed to obtain.

The success of this man, achieved in the face of flat denial, was used by the Savior to illustrate the need for insistence in humble prayer before the throne of heavenly grace. When the answer is not immediately given, the praying Christian must gather courage at each delay. He must urgently go forward until the answer comes. The answer is assured, if he has the faith to press his petition with vigorous faith.

Negligence, faintheartedness, impatience, and fear will be fatal to our prayers. The Father’s heart, hand, infinite power, and infinite willingness to hear and give to His children are waiting for the start of insistence.

Persistent praying in the earnest, inward movement of the heart toward God. It is throwing the entire force of the spiritual man into the exercise of prayer. Isaiah lamented that no one stirred himself to take hold of God. There was much praying done in Isaiah’s time, but it was too easy, indifferent, and complacent. There were no mighty moves by souls toward God. There was no array of sanctified energies bent on reaching and grappling with God. There was no energy to draw the treasuries of His grace from Him. Forceless prayers have no power to overcome difficulties, win marked results, or gain complete victories. We must win God before we win our plea.

Isaiah looked with hopeful eyes to the day when faith would flourish and there would be times of real praying. When those times would come, the watchmen would not weaken their vigilance, but would cry day and night. And those who were the Lord’s remembrances would give Him no rest. (See Isaiah 62:6-7.) Their urgent, persistent efforts would keep all spiritual interests busy and make increasing demands on God’s exhaustless treasures.

Persistent praying never faints or grows weary. It is never discouraged. It never yields to cowardice but is lifted up and sustained by a hope that knows no despair and a faith that will not let go. Persistent praying has patience to win and strength to continue. It never prepares itself to quit praying, and it refuses to get up from its knees until an answer is received.

The familiar words of the great missionary Adoniram Judson are the testimony of a man who was persistent at prayer. He said,

I was never deeply interested in any object, never prayed sincerely and earnestly for it, but that it came at some time, no matter how distant the day. Somehow, in some shape, probably the last I would have devised, it came.

“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (Matt. 7:7). These are the ringing challenges of our Lord in regard to prayer. These challenges are His explanation that true praying must stay and advance in effort and urgency until the prayer is answered and the blessing sought is received.

In the three words ask, seek, and knock, Jesus, by the order in which He places them, urges the necessity of persistence in prayer. Asking, seeking, and knocking are ascending rungs in the ladder of successful prayer. No principle is more definitely enforced by Christ than that successful prayer must have in it the quality that waits and perseveres. It must have in it the courage that never surrenders, the patience that never grows tired, and the resolution that never wavers.

In the parable of the friend at midnight, a most significant and instructive lesson in this respect is outlined. Chief among the qualities included in Christ’s estimate of the highest and most successful form of praying are the following: unbeatable courage, ceaseless persistence, and stability of purpose.

Persistence is made up of intensity, perseverance, and patience. The apparent delay in answering prayer is the ground and demand of persistence. In Matthew we have the first recorded instance of the miracle of healing the blind. We have an illustration of the way in which our Lord did not seem to hear immediately those who sought Him. But the two blind men continued their crying and followed Him with their continued their crying and followed Him with their continual petition saying, “Thou son of David, have mercy on us” (Matt 9:27). But He did not answer them and went into the house. The needy ones followed Him and, finally, gained their eyesight and their plea.

The case of blind Bartimaeus is a notable one in many ways. (See Mark 10:46-52.) It is especially remarkable for the show of persistence that this blind man exhibited in appealing to our Lord. His first crying, as it seems, was done as Jesus entered Jericho, and he continued it until Jesus came out of the place. It is a strong illustration of the necessity of persistent prayer. It is also an illustration of the success that comes to those who stake their all on Christ and do not give Him any peace until He grants them their hearts’ desire.

Mark put the entire incident clearly before us. At first, Jesus seems not to hear. The crowd rebukes the noisy babbling of Bartimaeus. Despite the apparent unconcern of our Lord and the rebuke of an impatient, quick-tempered crowd, the blind beggar still cries. He increases the loudness of his cry until Jesus is impressed and moved. Finally, the crowd, as well as Jesus, listens to the beggar’s cry and speaks in favor of his cause. He wins his case. His persistence wins even in the face of apparent neglect on the part of Jesus and despite opposition and rebuke from the surrounding crowd. His persistence won where halfhearted indifference would surely have failed.

Faith functions in connection with prayer and, of course, has its inseparable association with persistence. But the latter quality drives the prayer to the believing point. A persistent spirit brings a man to the place where faith takes hold, claims, and appropriates the blessing.

The absolute necessity of persistent prayer is plainly stated in the Word of God and needs to be stated and restated today. We are inclined to overlook this vital truth. Love of ease, spiritual laziness, and religious indifference all operate against this type of petitioning. Our praying, however, needs to be coaxed and pursued with an energy that never tires. It needs to have a persistency that will not be denied and a courage that never fails.

We also need to give thought to that mysterious fact of prayer — the certainty that there will be delays, denials, and seeming failures in connection with its exercise. We are to prepare for these and permit them. However, we must not cease in our urgent praying. The praying Christian is like a brave soldier who, as the conflict grows more severe, exhibits a more superior courage than in the earlier stages of the battle. When delay and denial face him, he increases his earnest asking and does not stop until prayer prevails.

Moses finished us with an excellent example of persistence in prayer. Instead of allowing his intimacy with God to release him from the necessity for persistence, he regarded it as something better to fit him for its exercise.

When Israel set up the golden calf, the wrath of God increased fiercely against them. Jehovah, bent on executing justice, said to Moses when He told him what He purposed to do, “Let me alone” (Exod 32:10). But Moses would not let Him alone. He threw himself down before the Lord in an agony of intercession on behalf of the sinning Israelites. For forty days and nights he fasted and prayed. What a season of persistent prayer that was!

Jehovah was also angry with Aaron, who had acted as leader in this idolatrous business of the golden calf. But Moses prayed for Aaron as well as for the Israelites. If he had not prayed, both Israel and Aaron would have perished under the consuming fire of God’s wrath.

That long period of pleading before God left a mighty impression on Moses. He had been in close relationship with God before, but his character never attained the greatness that marked it in the days and years following this long season of persistence intercession.

There can be no question about persistent prayer moving God and heightening human character. If we were more in agreement with God in this great command of intercession, our faces would shine more brightly. Our lives and service would possess richer qualities that earn the goodwill of humanity and bring glory to the name of God.