“Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you … ” (James 4:8)
“Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not” (Jeremiah 33:3).
“Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice” (Psalm 55:17).
If we are to grow in our prayer life, there are five things that are necessary: The first of these is TIME. Like everything else, prayer requires time; daily time, like the other essentials of eating and sleeping. It needs to be time enough to forget how much time it is, even though duties call you away. So it must be planned for, sometimes well ahead, so no duty is slighted. One must take time. No one worth while has time for all that comes crowding to his door. Something must be left out, so time must be taken from something else, yet less important. Prayer does need time.
The second thing prayer needs is a PLACE. You can pray anywhere – on a train, walking down the street, working in the kitchen, or doing the shopping; but you are less likely to, unless you have been shut off in some quiet place with the door closed. Jesus said, ” … when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret … “ (Matthew 6:6) -the world is shut out, but you are shut in with your heavenly Father. It does not matter where the place is. The comer of a kitchen is as good as the cloistered comer of a cathedral. It is the recognized presence of our blessed Saviour that makes holy ground, whether kitchen or cathedral. The real rare blessing of the daily quiet place is not only that you actually pray, though you will; not only that you read the Book, though you will; it is this, there is someone else there. When sitting quietly in His presence, thank Him that He is there, and that He died for you in the love of His heart, maybe sing Him a soft hymn of praise; this is the real blessedness of that bit of quiet time in the shutaway comer. Prayer needs a place, and prayer hallows the place- any place.
Third – prayer needs a book, THE BOOK. The Bible is the basis of prayer. Bible reading is the listening side of prayer. In the Bible, God speaks to us. In prayer, we speak to God. What He says to us radically affects what we say to Him. Prayer needs three organs of the head- an ear, a tongue, and an eye. The ear to hear what God says, the tongue to repeat His promises as our petitions, and the eye to look out expectantly until the result comes. Thoughtful Bible reading is giving God our ears. What goes in at the ear, warmed up as it goes through the heart, comes out at the tongue in simple, expectant, warm prayer, communion and petition and intercession.
Yes, give this Book a place in your prayers. What God says here will change what you say, and so wholly change the results. The Bible will shape and mold your praying. Let it!
The fourth is particularly important- LET THE TEACHER TEACH YOU. There is One who in particular is the prayer teacher- the Holy Spirit. It is He who puts the desire to pray in our hearts. He will direct all our praying, as a wise father directs his son. Where is the Holy Spirit? He is in every one whose heart has opened to the Lord Jesus- not because we are good or deserving or saintly, but because He is faithful to His promise.
Yes, let the Holy Spirit teach you, as He is eager to. When you go into the quiet school room, with the school book open, ask this Teacher to teach you, and He will. You may be a bit slow and stupid most of us are, but He is very gentle and patient.
You will likely find your praying change some. It will become simpler – more confident, and personal, and practical. Some things you will stop asking for – they will slip out of your thoughts in that Presence. Other things will come in- certain things you will pray for more boldly and confidently and expectantly.
The fifth need is to cultivate an OPENNESS OF SPIRIT – I mean that habitual openness of mind that opens up more and more as clearer light breaks in. It begins with that first surrender to Christ as Master, but must continue to be an habitual surrender in the actual practice of daily life. As clearer light comes in on this habit, that line of conduct, that problem, you yield and actually live the surrender you made in the initial act.
Stubbornness, sifted down, is simply refusing to yield to the new bit of light that comes. Openness to light is the one doorway to growth. We will welcome the light by obedience, we will pore thoughtfully over the Bible to get its meaning clear, we will cultivate thoughtful meditation to get things clearer and clearer.
So these are the needs of praying – prayer TIME, a prayer PLACE, a prayer BOOK thee Bible, the prayer TEACHER- the Holy Spirit, and the habitual OPENESS OF SPIRIT to more light. Let us all start into school afresh.