What is needed for acceptable prayer

There need be no difficulty about the matter of prayer with a soul that needs help from Christ. Never question your power to pray acceptably if God has given you a sense of need. Say not — “I have no eloquence; I cannot arrange my words; I cannot fashion a suitable form of extemporaneous address.” Remember that none of these things are necessary. All that is wanted for acceptable prayer is, that in the name of Jesus, you will tell the Lord all the truth. You require no argument more moving than your misery; you need no description more glowing than your sad case itself affords you. Though you know not how to plead your cause as an advocate in a court of law, plead it as the publican in the court of mercy; the simple statement of your wants, and the sincere expression of your desire that those wants should be supplied, for Jesus’ sake, is all the prayer that God asks of you.

From a sermon entitled "Tell It All," delivered June 14, 1863. Flickr photo by Miyuki Utada; some rights reserved.

Prayer which sets forth His glory

Why God has been pleased to command us to pray at all it is not difficult to discover, for prayer glorifies God, by putting man in the humblest posture of worship. The creature in prayer acknowledges his Creator with reverence, and confesses him to be the giver of every good and perfect gift; the eye is lifted up to behold the glory of the Lord, while the knee is bent to the earth in the lowliness of acknowledged weakness.

Though prayer is not the highest mode of adoration, or otherwise it would be continued by the saints in heaven, yet it is the most humble, and so the most fitting, to set forth the glory of the perfect One as it is beheld by imperfect flesh and blood. From the “Our Father,” in which we claim relationship, right on to “the kingdom, and the power, and the glory,” which we ascribe to the only true God, every sentence of prayer honors the Most High. The groans and tears of humble petitioners are as truly acceptable as the continual “Holy, holy, holy,” of the Cherubim and Seraphim; for in their very essence all truthful confessions of personal fault are but a homage paid to the infinite perfections of the Lord of hosts. More honored is the Lord by our prayers than by the unceasing smoke of the holy incense of the altar which stood before the veil.

From a sermon entitled "The Power Of Prayer And The Pleasure Of Praise," delivered May 3, 1863. Flickr photo by piX1966; some rights reserved.

The Weapon of Prayer

Dear friends, when we are tempted and desire to overcome, the best weapon is prayer. When you cannot use the sword and the shield, take to yourself the famous weapon of All-prayer. So your Savior did. Let us notice his prayer. It was lonely prayer. He withdrew even from his three best friends about a stone’s cast. Believer, especially in temptation, be much in solitary prayer. As private prayer is the key to open heaven, so is it the key to shut the gates of hell. As it is a shield to prevent, so is it the sword with which to fight against temptation. Family prayer, social prayer, prayer in the Church, will not suffice, these are very precious, but the best beaten spice will smoke in your censer in your private devotions, where no ear hears but God. Betake yourselves to solitude if you would overcome.

From a sermon entitled "Gethsemane," delivered February 8, 1863. Flickr photo by mike138 ; some rights reserved.

A house of prayer and praise

Beloved, the day shall never come when the Church shall cease to be the temple of prayer. The fire upon this altar shall never be quenched day nor night.


"To Him shall constant prayer be made,
And princes throng to crown his head;
His name like sweet perfume shall rise
With every morning’s sacrifice."

There shall never lack a man in our Israel to hold up holy hands, like Moses upon the mountain, that the hosts of God may prevail in the plain below. Elijahs may be taken away, but Elishas shall follow. Apostles may cease their perpetual supplications, but a train of intercessors shall follow in their footsteps. While earth brings forth her harvests, the Church shall yield her sheaves of prayer.

Nor shall praise ever cease; the hallowed hymn, the psalm of victory, the hallelujah of triumphant joy, these shall never be suspended. In the worst days of the Church, even when she assembled in the catacombs and gathered her sons for worship in the caves of the earth, even then she had her hymn of praise, even then they sang of Christ ascended and about to come. The roaring of the sea may cease, the thunders may be hushed, and the spheres may end their song, but the redeemed of the Lord must praise the name of Jehovah world without end.

From a sermon entitled "Broad Rivers And Streams," delivered January 18, 1863. Flickr photo by b k ; some rights reserved.

The praying man

If there were an edict issued that no man should pray at all, the really praying man would go into Daniel’s lions’ den, for he could no more cease to pray than cease to breathe. Can the hart in the wilderness cease from panting for the water brooks? Can a sick child cease from crying for its mother? So the living soul cries after God because he cannot help panting after him. He must pray or he must die, he must find grace or perish and therefore in his sore extremity - from an intense and awful agony of heart he cries again and again, “God be merciful to me a sinner.” This is the prayer that God heareth; such are the petitions which are acceptable to the Lord Jehovah.

From a sermon entitled "Joseph And His Brethren," delivered May 11, 1862. Flickr photo by Rosana Prada; some rights reserved.

Man does not live by bread alone

This bread, you see, is the Word of God. Now, the Word is given to us first here in the Bible, as it is written; it is given to us, secondly, from the lips of God’s own chosen and appointed ambassadors. He that despises either of these two, will soon find himself growing lean in spirit. The book, the Word, is like the flour, but the sermon is the bread, for it is through the sermon that the Word is, as it were, prepared for human palates, and brought so that human souls may be able to receive it. The moment the Church of God shall despise the pulpit, God will despise her. It has been through the ministry that the Lord has always been pleased to revive and bless his Churches, and you will notice, that these revivals in which it was boasted that there were no ministers engaged, have come to nought ere long; for those that stand, are those in which God gets to himself glory and honor, by using instrumentality.

It is a wrong idea altogether, that God is glorified by putting instrumentality aside. That is not his glory. His glory is, that in our infirmity he still triumpheth, and that with his own right hand he is able to lay hold upon some jaw-bone of an ass, and yet slay therewith heaps upon heaps of Philistines. It is the weakness of the instrumentality used that has a tendency to glorify God, and hence he very seldom is pleased to work without some means or other. Most Christians who have grown rich in grace, have been great frequenters of the house of prayer.

From a sermon entitled "Bread For The Hungry," delivered November 10, 1861. Flickr photo by Francois Schnell; some rights reserved.

Pray for your brother

You cannot harbor enmity in your soul against your brother after you have learned to pray for him. If he hath done you ill, when you have taken that ill to the mercy-seat, and prayed over it, you must forgive. Surely you could not be such a hypocrite as to invoke blessings on his head before God and then come fourth to curse him in your own soul. When these have been complaints brought by brother against brother, it is generally the best way to say, “Let us pray before we enter into the matter.” Wherever there is a case to be decided by the pastor, he ought always to any to the brethren who contend, “Let us pray first,” and it will often happen that through prayer the differences will soon be forgotten.

From a sermon entitled "Intercessory Prayer," delivered August 11, 1861. Flickr photo by German Mayer ; some rights reserved.

Lessons of wisdom

Amongst the Swiss, the Vaudois, and the Waldenses, every minister trains one young man. Those pastors or shepherds always have a younger brother to travel with them wherever they go. He watches the elder pastor, observes his ways, listens to his holy prayers, is inspired with his spirit, learns to tread the craggy mountains with him, learns to defy the enemy through the courage which he sees in his elder brother. He learns lessons of wisdom which are not to be learnt from books, lessons of practical pastoral training which are not to be gathered from the best professors of the best colleges in the world. And thus the Swiss have ever maintained a succession of men, perhaps not brilliant, but always useful, — perhaps not popular, but always sound and valiant in their defense of the truth. And should it not be so with the Church? If to carry it out it need a laborious ministry, so much the better. If it need a holy and wise ministry, so much the better. No other man should be a minister at all. If it need a watchful Church, and a prayerful Church, and a Church which consecrates liberally of its substance to the Lord, I say so much the better — for so ought every Church to be. The only question is, are we in the right state now to accomplish all the Lord’s purposes? If we be not, let us make it a matter of prayer that we may be brought into this state, for we are never healthy unless we are prepared to do whatever God calls us to do.

From a sermon entitled "The Church — Conservative And Aggressive," delivered May 19, 1861. Flickr photo by Amy Mew ; some rights reserved.

Continue in prayer

But why should the Church — to come to the question — why should the Church continue in prayer? For several reasons, and the first is, God will answer her. It is not possible that God should refuse to hear prayer. It is possible for him to bid the sun stand still, and the moon to stay her monthly march, it is possible for him to bid the waves freeze in the sea, possible for him to quench the light of the stars in eternal darkness, but it is not possible for him to refuse to hear prayer which is based upon his promise and offered in faith. He can reverse nature, but he cannot reverse his own nature, and he must do this before he can forbear to hear and answer prayer.

From a sermon entitled "A Sermon For the Week Of Prayer," delivered January 6, 1861 . Flickr photo by Kok Leng Yeo; some rights reserved.

Wrestling in prayer

The name of “Israel” was given to Jacob, because he “wrestled with the angel, and prevailed.” Are you a man of prayer? Come now, answer the question, each one of you for yourselves. Are you men of prayer, and women of prayer? Alas! Some of you may use a form of prayer, but it hath no life in it. You ask, do I object to forms of prayer? I answer, no. I believe that sometimes forms of prayer, moulded according to the mind of the Spirit, are offered up with the vital breath of the same Spirit of God. Far be it from me to say, that because you use a form of prayer, therefore you do not pray at all; this however I remind you, your form of prayer is merely a vehicle, that moveth not except as it is drawn. Of itself it is like a steam engine, motionless till the furnace is heated; or rather, it is like the carriage which is drawn by the steam engine, being linked thereto with chains. A form of prayer is a heavy material thing, which prayer has to drag after it. It is no help to prayer, but rather a burden to it. There may be prayer with the huge cumbrous thing called the form attached but the form is distinct in every sense from the power.

The prayer is the spirit, the life, the desire, the wish, the agonizing panting with God to obtain the blessing. I ask you not whether you use a form of prayer, or whether you utter extempore prayers; for you may speak extemporaneously in prayer, and talk as much nonsense, ay, and a great deal more than you would if you used a prescribed form; you may avoid formality, and become frivolous. It is not uttering spontaneous words that is prayer any more than repeating a litany. But I ask you, do you pray? If you are prayerless, then you have no right to call yourselves God’s elect. God’s people are a praying people. They are an Israel, a wrestling race; and unto them the promise is made — “I will be unto them as the dew unto Israel.”

From a sermon entitled "Grace Reviving Israel." Flickr photo by Mih.; some rights reserved.

God has promised to hear prayer

Brethren, do you believe in prayer? I know you pray because you are God’s people; but do you believe in the power of prayer? There are a great many Christians that do not, they think it is a good thing, and they believe that sometimes it does wonders; but they do not think that prayer, real prayer, is always successful. They think that its effect depends upon many other things, but that it has not any essential quality or power in itself. Now, my own soul’s conviction is, that prayer is the grandest power in the entire universe, that it has a more omnipotent force than electricity, attraction, gravitation, or any other of those secret forces which men have called by names, but which they do not understand. Prayer hath as palpable, as true, as sure, as invariable an influence over the entire universe as any of the laws of matter.

When a man really prays, it is not a question whether God will hear him or not, he must hear him, not because there is any compulsion in the prayer, but there is a sweet and blessed compulsion in the promise. God has promised to hear prayer, and he will perform his promise. As he is the most high and true God, he cannot deny himself.

From a sermon entitled "True Prayer - True Power!", delivered August 12, 1860. Flickr photo by miyukiutada; some rights reserved.

The Prayer Closet

Man, if thou livest without prayer, thou art a Christless soul; thy faith is a delusion, and thy confidence which results from it, is a dream that will destroy thee. Wake up out of thy death-like slumbers; for as long as thou art dumb in prayer, God cannot answer thee. Thou shalt not live to God, if thou dost not live in the closet, he that is never on his knees on earth shall never stand upon his feet in heaven; he that never wrestles with the angel here below, shall never be admitted into heaven by that angel above. I know I speak to some today that are prayerless ones. You have plenty of time for your counting-house, but you have none for your closet. Family prayer you have never had; but I will not talk to you about that. Private prayer you have neglected. Do you not sometimes rise in the morning so near the time when you must keep your appointments, that — you do kneel it is true, but where is the prayer? And as to any extra occasions of supplication, why, you never indulge yourselves in them. Prayer with you is a sort of luxury too dear to indulge in often.

Ah! but he who has true faith in his heart, is praying all day long. I do not mean that he is on his knees; but often when he is bargaining, when he is in his shop, or in his counting-house, his heart finds a little space, a vacuum for a moment, and up it leaps into the bosom of its God, and it is down again, refreshed to go about its business and meet the face of man.

From a sermon entitled "Characteristics of Faith," delivered May 27, 1860. Flickr photo by Benjamin; some rights reserved.

Unto thee, O Lord

Unto thee, O LORD, do I lift up my soul... (Psalm 25:1)

It is but mockery to uplift the hands and the eyes unless we also bring our souls into our devotions. True prayer may be described as the soul rising from earth to have fellowship with heaven; it is taking a journey upon Jacob's ladder, leaving our cares and fears at the foot, and meeting with a covenant God at the top. Very often the soul cannot rise, she has lost her wings, and is heavy and earth-bound; more like a burrowing mole than a soaring eagle. At such dull seasons we must not give over prayer, but must, by God's assistance, exert all our power to lift up our hearts. Let faith be the lever and grace be the arm, and the dead lump will yet be stirred. But what a lift it has sometimes proved! With all our tugging and straining we have been utterly defeated, until the heavenly loadstone of our Saviour's love has displayed its omnipotent attractions, and then our hearts have gone up to our Beloved like mounting flames of fire.

From the "Treasury of David," exposition of Psalm 25:1. Flickr photo by Martin Gommel; some rights reserved.

Jesus' High Priestly Prayer

“Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundations of the world.” John 17:24.

In our Saviour’s prayer heaven’s greatest privilege is also included. Mark, we are not only to be with Christ and to behold his glory, but we are to be like Christ and to be glorified with him. Is he bright? So shall you be. Is he enthroned? So shall you be. Does he wear a crown? So shall you. Is he a priest? So shall you be a priest and a king to offer acceptable sacrifices for ever. Mark, that in all Christ has, a believer has a share. This seems to me to be the sum total, and the crowning of it all — to reign with Christ, to ride in his triumphal chariot, and have a portion of his joy; to be honored with him, to be accepted in him, to be glorified with him. This is heaven, this is heaven indeed.

And now, how many of you are there here who have any hope that this shall be your lot? Well said Chrysostom, “The pains of hell are not the greatest part of hell; the loss of heaven is the weightiest woe of hell;” to lose the sight of Christ, the company of Christ, to lose the beholding of his glories, this must be the greatest part of the damnation of the lost. Oh, you that have not this bright hope, how is it that you can live? You are going through a dark world, to a darker eternity. I beseech you stop and pause. Consider for a moment whether it is worth while to lose heaven for this poor earth. What! Pawn eternal glories for the pitiful pence of a few moments of the world’s enjoyments! No, stop I beseech you; weigh the bargain before you accept it. What shall it profit you to gain the whole world and lose your soul, and lose such a heaven as this?

From a sermon entitled "The Redeemer's Prayer," delivered April 18, 1858.

Flickr photo by Eric Hill; some rights reserved.

Praying for loved ones

I have a young man here who has been lately converted. His parents cannot bear him; they entertain the strongest opposition to him, and they threaten him that if he does not leave off praying they will turn him out of doors. Young man! I have a little story to tell you. There was once a young man in your position: he had begun to pray, and his father knew it. He said to him, “John, you know I am an enemy to religion, and prayer is a thing that never shall be offered in my house.” Still the young man continued earnest in supplication. “Well,” said the father one day, in a hot passion, “you must give up either God or me. I solemnly swear that you shall never darken the threshold of my door again, unless you decide that you will give up praying. I give you till tomorrow morning to choose.

The night was spent in prayer by the young disciple. He rose in the morning, sad to be cast away by his friends, but resolute in spirit, that come what might he would serve his God. The father abruptly accosted him — “Well, what is the answer?” “Father,” he said, “I cannot violate my conscience, I cannot forsake my God.” “Leave immediately,” said he. And the mother stood there; the father’s hard spirit had made hers hard too and though she might have wept she concealed her tears. “Leave immediately,” said he. Stepping outside the threshold the young man said, “I wish you would grant me one request before I go; and if you grant me that, I will never trouble you again.” “Well,” said the father, “you shall have anything you like, but mark me, you go after you have had that; you shall never have anything again.” “It is,” said the son, “that you and my mother would kneel down, and let me pray for you before I go.” Well, they could hardly object to it; the young man was on his knees in a moment, and began to pray with such unction and power, with such evident love to their souls, with such true and divine earnestness, that they both fell flat on the ground, and when the son rose there they were; and the father said, “You need not go, John; come and stop, come and stop;” and it was not long before not only he, but the whole of them began to pray and they were united to a Christian Church.

So do not give way. Persevere kindly but firmly. It may be that God shall enable you not only to have your own souls saved, but to be the means of bringing your persecuting parents to the foot of the cross. That such may be the case is our earnest prayer.

From a sermon entitled "Prayer The Forerunner Of Mercy," dated June 28, 1857.

Flickr photo by Art G. ; some rights reserved.

Prayer precedes the blessing

Wherever in Holy Writ you shall find the blessing you shall find the prayer that went before it. Our Lord Jesus Christ was the greatest blessing that men ever had. He was God’s best boon to a sorrowing world. And did prayer precede Christ’s advent? Was there any prayer which went before the coming of the Lord, when he appeared in the temple? Oh yes, the prayers of saints for many ages had followed each other. Abraham saw his day, and when he died Isaac took up the note, and when Isaac slept with his fathers, Jacob and the patriarchs still continued to prey; yea, and in the very days of Christ, prayer was still made for him continually: Anna the prophetess, and the venerable Simeon, still looked for the coming of Christ; and day by day they prayed and interceded with God, that he would suddenly come to his temple.

Aye, and mark you, as it has been in Sacred Writ, so it shall be with regard to greater things that are yet to happen in the fulfillment of promise. I believe that the Lord Jesus Christ will one day come in the clouds of heaven. It is my firm belief, in common with all who read the Sacred Scriptures aright, that the day is approaching when the Lord Jesus shall stand a second time upon the earth, when he shall reign with illimitable sway over all the habitable parts of the globe, when kings shall bow before him, and queens shall be nursing mothers of his Church. But when shall that time come? We shall know its coming by its prelude when prayer shall become more loud and strong, when supplication shall become more universal and more incessant, then even as when the tree putteth forth her first green leaves we expect that the spring approacheth, even so when prayer shall become more hearty and earnest, we may open our eyes, for the day of our redemption draweth nigh. Great prayer is the preface of great mercy, and in proportion to our prayer is the blessing that we may expect.

From a sermon entitled "Mercy, Omnipotence, and Justice," delivered June 21, 1857.

Flickr photo by Per Ola Wiberg; some rights reserved.

The Prayer Closet

Perhaps you have lost your evidence this morning; you do not know whether you are a child of God or not, I will tell you where you lost your confidence-you lost it in your closet. Whenever a Christian backslides, his wandering commences in his closet. I speak what I have felt. I have often gone back from God - never so as to fall finally, I know, but I have often lost that sweet savor of his love which I once enjoyed. I have had to cry,

“Those peaceful hours I once enjoyed.
How sweet their memory still!
But they have left an aching void!
The world can never fill.”

I have gone up to God’s house to preach, without either fire or energy; I have read the Bible, and there has been no light upon it, I have tried to have communion with God, but all has been a failure. Shall I tell where that commenced? It commenced in my closet. I had ceased, in a measure, to pray. Here I stand, and do confess my faults; I do acknowledge that whene’er I depart from God it is there it doth begin. Oh Christians, would you be happy? Be much in prayer. Would you be victorious? Be much in prayer.

From a sermon entitled "Paul's First prayer," delivered March 25, 1855.

Photo by Lida Rose; some rights reserved.

Go to the throne of God

It is the privilege of Englishmen, that they can always send a petition to Parliament; and it is the privilege of a believer, that he can always send a petition to the throne of God. I am free to God’s throne. If I want to talk to God tomorrow morning, I can. If tonight I wish to have conversation with my Master, I can go to him. I have a right to go to his throne. It matters not how much I may have sinned. I go and ask for pardon. It signifies nothing how poor I am -I go and plead his promise that he will provide all things needful. I have a right to go to his throne at all times-in midnight’s darkest hour, or in noontide’s heat. Wherever I am; if fate command me to the utmost verge of the wide earth, I have still constant admission to his throne. Use that right, beloved-use that right.

There is not one of you that lives up to his privilege. Many a gentleman will live beyond his income, spending more than he has coming in; but there is not a Christian that does that-I mean that lives up to his spiritual income. Oh, no! you have an infinite income - an income of promises - an income of grace; and no Christian ever lived up to his income. Some people say, “If I had more money I should have a larger house, and horses, and carriage, and so on.” Very well and good; but I wish the Christian would do the same. I wish they would set up a larger house, and do greater things for God; look more happy, and take those tears away from their eyes.

From a sermon entitled "Spiritual Liberty," delivered February 18, 1855.

Photo by Jared; some rights reserved.

Plead with God in prayer!

Make thou good use of thy God, and especially gain the fullest advantage from him by pleading with him in prayer. In troublous times, our best communion with God will be carried on by supplication. Tell him thy case; search out his promise, and then plead it with holy boldness. This is the best, the surest, the speediest way of relief.

What would some of us do if we had not a God to go to? Though we are not tried and troubled as some men are, and God has set a hedge about us, yet there are times in our life when we should die of a broken heart if we could not tell our griefs to God. Like Job, we could curse the day of our birth, and wish that we had never been born, if we were utterly bereft of God. We should look forward to annihilation as a hopeful thing if we could not speak with God, our ever-gracious Friend. But when we can get away to him, and tell out the whole matter, and lay hold upon him by the hand of faith, and plead his promise, then the darkened cloud withdraws, and we come out into the light again, and sing, “This God is our God for ever and ever: he will be our Guide even unto death.”

From a sermon entitled "The Master-Key, Opening The Gate Of Heaven," delivered May 23, 1886.

Photo by harvest_japan*; some rights reserved.

Dare to draw near to God

...Why is it that so many of us dare not indulge in close access to our God? We pray, but it is often to a distant God, as to one who stands upon a mountain beyond our reach! How few of us come like a child to his Father, and lay hold on God as one who is near to us by ties of divine affinity. The most of Christians, I fear, are outer court worshippers. They stand in the place of the priests, but they never come to stand where the high priest stood, within the veil. Luther was a man who used familiarities with God, and if some of us had heard Luther praying, we should have been shocked — “Oh,” we should have said, “how dare he talk thus with God?” But Luther knew that he was completely justified, that there was no sin on him, and therefore he did not tremble when he stood near to the holy, the perfect, and the just.

If I know that there is no sin remaining, but that all has been washed away, why need I fear? I may go the throne of God, and cry, “Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? Not God, for he hath justified, nor Christ, for he hath died.” Once let the soul have perfect peace through believing in its perfect purity in Christ, and the nearness of our access will be perfectly wonderful. The boldness of our fellowship will make us look with wonder, and even Christians will be astonished that we dare to indulge in such a holy familiarity with God, and talk so plainly with our Father; and with our friend. There is guilt still upon the conscience of many professors [i.e., those who profess Christ], and it is proved by the fact that they fear to have a near approach to God.

From a sermon entitled "Perfect Cleansing," delivered April 7, 1861.

Photo by mike138; some rights reserved.