HOW
TO PRAY
R.
A. TORREY
CHAPTER VI
ALWAYS
PRAYING AND NOT FAINTING
In
two parables in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus teaches with great emphasis the
lesson that men ought always to pray and not to faint. The first parable is
found in Luke 11:5-8, and the other in Luke 18:1-8.
"And
He said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend,
and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him: 'Friend, lend me three
loaves; for a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing
to set before him?' And he from within shall answer
and say: 'Trouble me not: the door is now shut,
and my children are with me in bed. I cannot rise and give thee.' I say unto
you, Though he will not rise and give him because he
is his friend, yet
because of his importunity he will rise and give
him as many as he needeth." (Luke 11:5-8)
"And
He spake a parable unto them to this end, that men
always ought to pray and not to faint, saying: There was in a city a judge
which feared not God, neither regarded man; and there was a widow in that city;
and she came to him, saying:
"'Avenge
me of mine adversary.'
"And
he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself: 'Though I fear
not God, nor regard man, yet because this widow troubleth
me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.'
"And
the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. And
shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto Him,though He bear long with them?
I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man
cometh, shall He find
faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:1-8)
In
the former of these two parables Jesus sets forth the necessity of importunity
in prayer in a startling way. The word rendered "importunity" means
literally "shamelessness," as if Jesus
would have us understand that God would have us
draw nigh to Him with a determination to obtain the things we seek that will
not be put to shame by any seeming refusal or delay on God's part. God delights
in the holy boldness that will not take "no" for an answer. It is an
expression of great faith, and nothing pleases God more than faith.
Jesus
seemed to put the Syro-Phoenician woman away almost
with rudeness, but she would not be put away, and Jesus looked upon her
shameless importunity with pleasure, and said, "O woman, great is thy
faith; be it unto thee even as thou wilt." (Matt. 15:28) God does not
always let us get things at our first effort. He would train us and make us
strong men by compelling us to work hard for the best things. So also He does
not always give us what we ask in answer to the first prayer; He would train us
and make us strong men of prayer by compelling us to pray hard for the best
things. He makes us PRAY THROUGH.
I
am glad that this is so. There is no more blessed training in prayer than that
that comes through being compelled to ask again and again and again even
through a long period of years before one obtains that which he seeks from God.
Many people call it submission to the will of God when God does not grant them
their requests at the first or second asking, and they say:
"Well, perhaps it is not God's
will."
As
a rule this is not submission, but spiritual laziness. We do not call it
submission to the will of God when we give up after one or two efforts to
obtain things by action; we call it lack of
strength of character. When the strong man of action
starts out to accomplish a thing, if he does not accomplish it the first, or
second or one hundredth time, he keeps hammering away until he does
accomplish it; and the strong man of prayer when he
starts to pray for a thing keeps on praying until he prays it through, and
obtains what he seeks. We should be careful about what we ask from God, but
when we do begin to pray for a thing we should never give up praying for it
until we get it, or until God makes it very clear and very definite to us that
it is not His will to give it.
Some
would have us believe that it shows unbelief to pray twice for the same thing,
that we ought to "take it" the first time that we ask. Doubtless
there are times when we are able through
faith
in the Word or the leading of the Holy Spirit to CLAIM the first time that
which we have asked of God; but beyond question there are other times when we
must pray again and again and again for the same thing before we get our
answer. Those who have gotten beyond praying twice for the same thing have
gotten beyond their Master, (Matt. 26:44). George Muller prayed for two men
daily for upwards of sixty years. One of these men was converted shortly before
his death, I think at the last service that George
Muller held, the other was converted within a year after his death. One of the
great needs of the present day is men and women who will not only start out to
pray for things, but pray on and on and on until
they obtain that which they seek from the Lord.