T h e K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
May , 1928
279
Christ in the Prayer Life By D r . C harles E. H urlburt (An Anniversary Conference Lecture)
prayerless life brings no satisfaction. One who calls him self a Modernist has said that he has “ followed the paths opened to him by the modern spirit; tried them all and come back empty-handed.” -' He finds himself one of the multitude bf seekérs looking for something which they have'not found; and another states, “ This growing hunger for God is making itself felt outside the church. Peo pled thoughts are turning again to prayer.” The word used eighty-four times in the New Testa ment as “ wishing forward” is used twenty times of our Lord Himself praying. Seventeen times our Saviour used it in teaching to pray ; sixteen times the Apostles, who were taught of Him to pray, used it in passing the mes sage on to us. Then thirty-one times a related word, which seems to be more intense in the pouring out o f self, is used. Seventy-three times in the Old Testament a word is used which carries the thought o f judging self or of eliminating self that prayer to God may be the habit of our lives. Again, eighty-two times in the Old Testament; a word is used which means the pouring forth of praise or discernment of the excellence o f God. P rayer A S training T oward G od In order that we may be taught by the Word itself, let us study an example of each of these seven different groups. Jesus said in Matt. 6 :9, “ A fter this manner pray y e /’ “ After this manner wish forward.”' There is no possible placé in out communion with God for listless, Careless, indifferent asking, but prayer, to be real and genuine, must be a straining (forward out o f our past experience, out of our need, out of our emptiness and ignorance and défile ment, toward God Himself—-the living God who is and who does reward those who' seek Him. Before we study a few texts where this word was used by our Lord Himself in His yearning forward toward God the. Father, may we not pause and look at the other side, that our faith may lay hold upon a great fundamental fact of prayer which is found in John 6:44 and John 12:32 : “ No man can come to me, except the Father draw him.” “ And I, i f I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me,” and realize that although an attitude of yearning, straining forward toward God on our part, is an essential element o f prevailing, transforming communion with God, yet if it were not for the fact that the Son of God Himself, one with the Father,' was lifted up from the earth, “ bearing our sins in His own body on the tree,” and is drawing us unto Himself, no such yearning, “ wishing forward,” would be possible to any of us. Many books and articles written recently concerning prayer seem to give the impression that the only secret o f power lies in ourselves, and in this they hopelessly fail, “No man can come unto me, except the Father draw him,” but the Father does draw; does encircle and enwrap and draw the needy soul. Arthur Way’s translation of Phil. 2:12 and 13 reads: “ Work out with fear and self-dis- trust your own salvation, and you have not to do it in
p5§Hg^ O say anything new about prayer after all the JpET millenniums of experience and after all the revelations of the Word of God, which the saints o f all ages have experienced and rejoiced in, seems impossible, but 'whenever we turn to ■ the actual fact of prayer we find new experi ences, and when we turn to the Word o f God itself we get new lights upon it touching an experience which will not only never end but will go on to clearer and clearer reve lation through all the ages,-' for prayer, broadly considered, is communion with God, and only through communion with God shall we be able to know Him in that deeper, fuller sense which we are studying in all the sessions: of our conference this week, and which is the highest expe rience into which the saints can enter, either in time or eternity. Those who long for deeper experience or clearer under standing o f prayer will find ample reward for their effort in sweeping through the entire Book of books in a study either o f the prayers o f the Bible, of its Specific teachings concerning prayer or o f its allusions to prayer. A few weeks ago Dr. Morgan proyoked the thought o f Bible Institute hearers by a passing reference to the meaning of the word used in Luke 3 :21, mentioning the prayer of Jesus just after His baptism ft fAnd Jesus also having been baptized and praying.” Dr. Morgan, I believe, suggested that the. Greek word “ praying” carries the thought of “ wishing forward.” Sweeping through the entire Book, we were deeply Stirred to find that in more than five hundred allusions to the theme of prayer, this or a similar attitude was indi cated. 1 By the mouths o f two or three witnesses any truth may be established, and if a teaching was of sufficient importance in the judgment o f the Spirit of God to make it desirable to mention it more than five hundred times,, it is surely becoming in us to think for a little while o f the significance of our attitude in prayer and to test our own lives with the question: Have we been praying in an indif ferent and careless way, or have we been making our requests known to God with an intense yearning which takes us out of bur past and present experience toward some objective which lies beyond all we have yet attained? I f so, how shall we realize this attitude? What is, or should be, our goal? W e can only barely touch so great a theme, but if we may provoke thought which shall lead to further study, our meditation now will be profitable. W hat Is T he - S oul ’ s A ttitude ? What is the condition o f our own souls as we pray? Do we believe in prayer? “ H e that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that H e is a rewarder o f them that diligently seek Him” (Heb. 11:6). It is sufficient cause for profound thought to know that those who have most ridiculed prayer as real communion with God, are turning (as evidenced by books that are being written and state ments that are being made by them) and admitting that the
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