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 Thomas, W. H. Griffith 1861 
 
 1924. 
 Life abiding and abounding 
 
LIFE ABIDING 
 AND ABOUNDING 
 
 BIBLE STUDIES IN PRAYER AND 
 MEDITATION 
 
 W. H. GRIFFITH THOMAS. D. D. 
 
 WYCLIFFE COLLEGE, TORONTO 
 AND FORMERLY PRINCIPAL OF WYCLIFFE HALL. OXFORD 
 
 CHICAGO 
 
 THl BIBLE INSTITUTE COLPORTAGE ASSOCIATION 
 
 8M NORTH LA SALLE STREET 
 
The Works of the 
 Rev. W. H. Griffith Thomas, D. D. 
 
 ( With names of the publishers) 
 
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CONTENTS 
 
 Page 
 Introduction - - - - - . _ 5 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 "More Than My Necessary Food" 
 
 1 . The Life Faithful to God - - - 9 
 
 2. The Word Hidden in the Heart - - 12 
 
 3. The Methods of Meditation - - 22 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 "The Christian's Vital Breath" 
 
 1 . Aspects of Prayer - - - - 88 
 
 2. Subjects of Prayer - - - - 42 
 S. Conditions of Prayer - - - - 58 
 
 4. Accompaniments of Prayer - - - 67 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 " A BIDE in Me, and I in you." This is the 
 /"^^ clear command of our Lord. It is the last 
 and culminating point of His will as revealed in 
 the four great words: Come unto Me; Learn of 
 Me; Follow Me; Abide in Me. It also expresses 
 the intense desire of every Christian heart. "Oh 
 that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge 
 my coast, and that Thine hand might be with me, 
 and that Thou wouldest keep me from evil, that 
 it may not grieve me!" (I Chron. iv. 10). **0 
 that my ways were made so direct that I might 
 keep Thy statutes" (Psa. cxix. 5, Prayer Book 
 Version). And since God never commands with- 
 out giving grace to obey, and never prompts the 
 heart to desire what cannot be granted, we may be 
 sure that the command to abide can be obeyed and 
 that the desire to abide will be satisfied. 
 
 But how? The present little book is an en- 
 deavour to answer this question by calling attention 
 to the twofold secret of abiding in Christ; the 
 Word of God, and Prayer. The Christian life is 
 set forth in Holy Scripture as pre-eminently a life 
 of fellowship with God, and fellowship has for its 
 essential quality the privilege of reciprocal com- 
 munion; God speaks to the believer and the 
 
6 Life Abiding and Abounding 
 
 believer speaks to God. This reciprocal com- 
 munion is obviously summed up in the Bible and 
 Prayer ; for it is through the Bible that God speaks 
 to us and through Prayer that we speak to God. 
 Everything in the Christian life, individual and 
 corporate, is somehow or other associated with the 
 Bible and Prayer. All the "means of grace," 
 private and public, are connected with the Word 
 of God and with Prayer to God. Do we worship 
 in secret? It must be by prayer and by hearing 
 "what God the Lord will speak.*' Do we draw 
 near to God in company with His people.'* It can 
 only be as warranted by His Word and expressed 
 in Prayer. Do we participate in the Sacraments 
 of the Gospel.'* They derive their spiritual mean- 
 ing and blessing as symbols and pledges of God's 
 revelation of Himself; they are "visible signs to 
 which are annexed promises." 
 
 Thus the Word and Prayer are never absent 
 from our life, and never far apart from each 
 other. In the life of Old Testament believers 
 they were always connected (Psa. xix. ; cxix.). 
 In the life of our Lord they are constantly 
 found together (John xvii.). In the life of the 
 Early Church they are ever united (Acts iv. 24, 
 25; vi. 4). In relation to the Holy Spirit they 
 are inseparably connected (Eph. vi. 17, 18). 
 There is not a single channel of belief, not a single 
 
Introduction 7 
 
 element of experience, not a single pathway of 
 service, not a single privilege, not a single grace, 
 not a single hope, not a single possibility which is 
 not in some way associated with the Word and 
 Prayer. When these two are allowed to occupy in 
 our life the place they occupy in God's purpose 
 and plan for us, we have learnt the essential con- 
 ditions, the blessed secret, the unspeakable joy of 
 abiding in Christ and abounding for Christ. 
 
 The first chapter of this book is an amplification 
 of an address delivered at Keswick. The second 
 is a much-enlarged form of a Bible reading given 
 at Northfield, which was subsequently issued as a 
 booklet and is not now available in that form. 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 "MORE THAN MY NECESSARY FOOD" 
 
 IN the course of a conversation during a Kes- 
 wick Convention a friend said, "Now, suppose 
 someone yields himself to God and receives a bless- 
 ing at one of these meetings, how is it possible for 
 him to avoid relapsing into his former spiritual 
 condition? Will it not be necessary for him to be 
 propped up in some way?" I did not quite like 
 the phrase "propped up," because it implied help 
 from outside, rather than from within, but I re- 
 plied: "There will, of course, be the danger of 
 relapse; but together with the blessing comes the 
 call to abide and to fulfill the conditions of abid- 
 ing." My friend said: "What are these?" I 
 answered: "Speaking after the manner of the 
 body, they are three — pure air, good food, and con- 
 stant exercise — the atmosphere of prayer, the food 
 of the Word, and the exercise of obedience. When 
 the act of surrender is thus transmuted into an 
 attitude, the attitude will become a habit, and from 
 the habit will come character." 
 
 Is not this the spiritual position and the spiritual 
 need of very many Christians ? They are conscious 
 of having entered into a true spiritual relation to 
 Christ; His grace is a reality, His presence is a 
 
The Life Faithful to God 9 
 
 joy, His peace is a comfort. But they are sadly 
 afraid that these experiences will not last, that 
 they will lose their present happiness and descend 
 to a lower stage of spiritual life. What they need, 
 therefore, and what they desire above all things, 
 is to know the secret of remaining where and as 
 they are ; or, rather, the secret of both of not going 
 back and also of going forward, the secret of 
 abiding and abounding. They read in Scripture 
 of "abiding in Christ" (John xv. 4), of "abiding 
 in His love" (John xv. 10), of "continuing in 
 prayer" (Col. iv. 2), of "always abounding in the 
 work of the Lord" (1 Cor. xv. 58), of "going from 
 strength to strength" (Psa. Ixxxiv. 7). And very 
 naturally and rightly they desire to know the secret 
 of it all. 
 
 What, then, is the secret of abiding.^ The 
 answer is, faithfulness; and when we connect to- 
 gether two passages of Holy Scripture, we may 
 learn the secret of abiding in Christ. 
 
 "I have not hid thy righteousness within my 
 heart" (Psa. xl. 10). 
 
 "Thy Word have I hid in mine heart" (Psa. 
 cxix. 11). 
 
 1. The Life Faithful to God 
 
 From the former of these two texts we must note 
 very briefly the first secret of abiding, looked at 
 
10 Life Abiding and Abounding 
 
 from the outside. It is faithfulness in the outward 
 life, **I have not hid thy righteousness within my 
 heart." To use a New Testament phrase, this 
 means the open confession of Christ as Lord. We 
 know that from the moment of conversion, con- 
 fession is our bounden duty — it is an absolute 
 necessity to confess Christ as our Lord. Not only 
 should we sanctify Him as Lord in our hearts, but 
 confess Him as Lord by lip and life. This is the 
 first requirement of every true life — the confession 
 of God in Christ by word and by deed. Very often 
 it will mean a confession, literally by the lip, of 
 what Christ has been to us, of what God has done 
 for our soul. But in particular, and always, it 
 will be the confession of Christ in our life, that 
 people may be able to see that Christianity does 
 really make a difference, and that our life 
 genuinely belongs to God. "I have not hid Thy 
 righteousness within my heart." 
 
 And yet there will be the constant temptation to 
 hide God's righteousness, and to avoid the con- 
 fession of Christ by word and deed. This will, no 
 doubt, be due in some cases to fear of man; we 
 shall not have the courage of our convictions. We 
 find it easy to confess Christ when we are among 
 Christians; we may have found it delightful to 
 
The Life Faithful to God 11 
 
 trust Him in gatherings of His people, to send up 
 our testimony and bear witness for Him. But it 
 is possible, not to say probable, that we find it 
 diflScult to make the same confession when we are 
 in our homes, and in our ordinary surroundings. 
 The fear of man always brings a snare; it brings 
 a snare to young converts, and indeed all through 
 the Christian life to those who are tempted to avoid 
 a confession of Christ. This is the devil's own 
 snare — ^the trouble and difficulty of the spiritual 
 duty of confession. And yet if it is not dealt with 
 at once there can be nothing but spiritual defeat 
 in our lives. 
 
 There is another reason, allied to this, that some- 
 times prevents us from confessing Christ, and 
 tends to keep His righteousness within our heart. 
 It is the fear lest in our home we should be con- 
 victed of inconsistency between what we say and 
 what we are. How often Christian people ask 
 clergymen, evangelists and other Christian workers 
 to speak to their boys or girls, and when they are 
 asked whether they have spoken themselves, the 
 answer is, "No." It is probably because they are 
 afraid that the boy or girl has seen something in 
 the life of father or mother or friend which has 
 not been true to Christ, and this inconsistency has 
 
12 Life Abiding and Abounding 
 
 been a hindrance. So there is the temptation, 
 through our own inconsistency, to hide God's 
 righteousness in our hearts. 
 
 The secret of abiding is obedience. If we would 
 abide, we must obey; obey to the full measure of 
 our light whatever God Himself says, and in this 
 faithfulness will be the guarantee of a life that 
 will go from strength to strength, from glory to 
 glory. 
 
 2. The Word Hidden in the Heart 
 
 But the prime secret of abiding is faithfulnefs 
 in the inner life. The second text, "Thy Word 
 have I hid in mine heart," is the cause, of which 
 the former is the effect. It is probable that some 
 reader has been thinking as he reads of the call to 
 faithful obedience; "Yes, but obedience, faithful- 
 ness, loyalty to the light — these things are difficult, 
 almost insuperably difficult !" Difficult, they often 
 are; mainly because we do not set about them in 
 the right way. But they are not really difficult, 
 certainly not insuperable if we imderstand the 
 meaning of faithfulness in the inner life, which 
 comes from our being devoted to the Word of God. 
 "Thy Word have I hid in mine heart." Let us 
 endeavour to find out first what will be the effect 
 of hiding God's Word in our heart. Then we will 
 
The Word Hidden in the Heart 19 
 
 seek to learn definitely what it means to hide God's 
 Word in our heart, and how to do it. 
 
 The first result of hiding God's Word in our 
 heart is spiritual peace. "Great peace have they 
 which love Thy law, and nothing shall cause them 
 to stumble" (Psa. cxix. 166, Hebrew). It is one 
 of the most familiar facts of Christian experience 
 that our inner peace is in exact proportion to our 
 meditation on God's Word, the hiding of God's 
 Word in our heart, and it is natural that this 
 should be so, for the obvious reason that it is 
 through the Word that we know God. In pro- 
 portion as we come to know Him, we come to 
 understand His will, and, with this, more and more 
 of the fulness of His revelation in Christ Jesus. 
 The outcome of this is peace. If, as we look back 
 upon the last year, we are conscious that there has 
 been an absence, to any extent, of this peace in our 
 life, we may almost certainly put it down to the 
 fact that we have not been too familiar with God 
 through His Word, that we have not been often 
 enough face to face with Him through His Word. 
 "They that know their God shall be strong," and 
 we can only know God through His Word. "Faith 
 cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of 
 God." And peace, too, cometh by hearing, and 
 hearing by the Word of God. 
 
14 Life Abiding and Abounding 
 
 **So to the heart that knows Thy love, O Purest! 
 
 There is a temple, sacred evermore. 
 And all the babel of life's angry voices 
 
 Dies in hushed stillness at its peaceful door. 
 
 Far, far away the roar of passion dieth. 
 And loving thoughts rise calm and peacefully; 
 
 And no rude storm, how fierce soe'er it flieth. 
 Disturbs the soul that dwells, O Lord, in TheeT 
 
 Hiding God*s Word in the heart is also the secret 
 of prayer. There is a necessary and intimate con- 
 nection between the Word of God and prayer. In 
 the Bible God is speaking to us, while prayer is 
 our speaking to God. In the Apostolic Church 
 they said: "We will give ourselves to the ministry 
 of the Word and to prayer.** In two consecutive 
 verses in Ephesians vi. the Spirit of God is asso- 
 ciated with the Word and with prayer. The Word 
 of God is called "the sword of the Spirit/* and 
 then we are told to "pray with all prayer and 
 supplication in the Spirit" — the Spirit of God 
 through the Word; the Spirit of God through 
 prayer. George Miiller once asked the question 
 whether a Christian, in his daily morning devotions, 
 should commence with prayer, or with the Bible; 
 and he suggested that after a brief prayer for 
 light and guidance, he should commence with the 
 Bible, and not with prayer. This is a useful bit 
 of advice from a master in the spiritual life, for 
 
The Word Hidden in the Heart 15 
 
 the simple reason that God's Word is the fuel of 
 our prayer. As we open the page in the morning, 
 the promises prompt us to prayer, the examples 
 incite us to prayer, the warnings urge us to 
 prayer, the hopes of glory stir us to prayer — 
 everything in the portion taken for our meditation 
 can be turned into prayer. Let us try it, if we 
 have never done so; let us start with the Word, 
 and then turn to prayer. And I suggest that at 
 night we reverse the process, start with prayer, 
 and finish the day as we began, with the Word 
 of God. Depend upon it, hiding God's Word 
 in the heart is the secret of prayer, and the reason 
 why our prayer-life is so weak and barren is that 
 we do not know God through His Word. We do 
 not lay hold of Him through this means. The 
 Word is unfamiliar, and God is therefore afar off, 
 and for this one reason our prayer is weak and 
 unavailing. But the man who knows God through 
 His Word becomes mighty in prayer every day. 
 
 Hiding God's Word in our heart is always the 
 secret of purity. "Now ye are clean through the 
 Word." In proportion as we come face to face 
 with this Word will our inner and outer life be 
 pure. There is nothing to compare with Scripture 
 to purify motives. We may seem to have very 
 beautiful motives when we are going about during 
 the day; but when we get on our knees with the 
 
16 Life Abiding and Abounding 
 
 Bible we are searched, and everything doubtful 
 has to go. **I£ I regard iniquity in my heart, the 
 Lord will not hear me." There is nothing like the 
 Word of God for purifying the thoughts, the 
 motives, the desires. The whole of the inner life 
 of the believer becomes, and is kept pure, just in 
 proportion as God's Word is hidden in our hearts. 
 There is an incident which illustrates this truth 
 in one of those inimitable sermons to children by 
 Dr. Richard Newton. It is the story of an old 
 woman who had in her hand what seemed like a 
 square sieve, with something in it, and she was 
 holding the sieve in a stream, and allowing the 
 water to pass through it. As she did this, a clergy- 
 man came along, and stopped to see what the old 
 woman was doing. She turned round and looked 
 at him, and the moment she saw him she said: 
 "Oh, sir, I am very glad to see you." He replied: 
 "I do not know how you can be; I am a stranger 
 in these parts, and I was not aware that I was 
 known." "Well," said she, "I heard you preach 
 a sermon many years ago which was blessed to my 
 soul, and I have been a different woman ever 
 since." "I am thankful to hear it," replied he, 
 "what was the text.^" "I don't remember the 
 text," she added. "But," said he, "it is very 
 curious that a sermon should have been blessed to 
 
The Word Hidden in the Heart 17 
 
 your soul, and yet that you cannot remember the 
 text." *'Well," she replied, "you see, I have got 
 some wool in this sieve, and my mind is very much 
 like the sieve, which is full of holes. The water 
 nms through the sieve, but as it runs through it 
 cleanses the wool. Now that text of God's Word 
 went through my mind, and though it did not stop 
 there long enough for me to remember it, yet as 
 it went through it cleansed me, and I have been a 
 different woman ever since." 
 
 We cannot remember the fifty-two or the one 
 hundred and four sermons we hear every year, but 
 each time we hear the Word, it can go into and 
 through our soul and cleanse it. Though we may 
 not remember this or that sermon, yet if the sermon 
 is based on the Word of God, it will have done 
 its work in cleansing and purifying heart and soul. 
 And so also, in our private devotions, it is impos- 
 sible to keep in memory everything that God tells 
 us from day to day; but each message as it comes 
 does its work, and every day we need further 
 cleansing. Hiding God's Word in the heart is the 
 secret of purity. 
 
 It is also the secret of power. The Word of 
 God is the prime secret of power in the Christian 
 life — -power to resist temptation, power to over- 
 come sin, power to do God's work whatever it may 
 be, power proportioned to the work we have to do. 
 
18 Life Abiding and Abounding 
 
 And that grace of God which comes through hiding 
 His Word in our hearts is always sufficient for all 
 things, that we may abound unto every good work. 
 The reason of our powerlessness in Christian serv- 
 ice, against temptation, in the midst of evil, and in 
 the face of all the problems of to-day, is, that we 
 are not enough alone with God through His Word. 
 Hiding God's Word in our heart is the secret of 
 spiritual perception. The man who knows God 
 through His Word sees and understands God's will 
 as no one else does. It seems to be a mark of a 
 growing, maturing Christian that he is able to 
 understand. The last Epistle of St. Peter lays 
 great stress on "knowledge"; the first Epistle of 
 St. John has as its keynote the word know. There 
 are three grades or stages of the Christian life in 
 that Epistle: "I write unto you, little children, 
 because your sins are forgiven. I write unto you, 
 young men, because you are strong. I write unto 
 you, fathers, because you know." But when the 
 Apostle repeats these appeals he adds something 
 different about the children, and about the young 
 men, but nothing about the fathers. He just re- 
 peats exactly what he had said about them, because 
 there is nothing else to say. "I write unto you, 
 fathers, because ye have known Him that is from 
 the beginning." If we read the Epistles of St. 
 Paul to the Ephesians, the Philippians, and the 
 
The Word Hidden in the Heart 19 
 
 Colossians, and note down the various references 
 to knowledge, we shall find that full or mature 
 knowledge is the keynote of those writings; as 
 though St. Paul would suggest to us that knowl- 
 edge, spiritual understanding, perception, is the 
 mark of a ripening and growing Christian. This 
 perception can only come from abiding closely with 
 God in His Word, and hiding that Word in our 
 heart. The man who gives himself to daily thought 
 and prayerful meditation on God's Word possesses 
 a degree of spiritual perception out of all propor- 
 tion to his intellectual capacity or attainment, 
 judged from the standpoint of things natural. Dr. 
 James Hamilton says in one of his sermons that 
 "a Christian on his knees sees farther than a 
 philosopher on his tip-toes." The prayerful 
 Christian, however illiterate he may be, according 
 to the world's idea, can often teach the educated 
 man profound lessons. 
 
 And this has a very definite application to cer- 
 tain modern tendencies. If people kept more 
 closely than they do to the Word of God, they 
 would not be in danger of going aside to any of 
 the various theories and *'isms** of the present day. 
 Thus, if a man abides in God's Word in daily 
 prayerful meditation, he will never be deceived by 
 Christian Science, which, as we know, is neither 
 Christian nor scientific. In the same way the man 
 
so Life Abiding and Abounding 
 
 who keeps close to God's Word will never be 
 deceived by the speciousness of Spiritualism. So 
 it is also with other aspects of error which we 
 rightly regard as dangerous. In every case where 
 a man who was once a professing Christian, and a 
 Christian worker, has taken up Christian Science 
 — if we found out everything that could be found 
 out about him, we should discover that his change 
 of opinion was due to his neglect of this Book. 
 So for the power of spiritual perception let us 
 keep close to the Scriptures, and then we shall not 
 go wrong. 
 
 Hiding God's Word in our heart is the secret of 
 spiritual progress. "If ye continue in My Word, 
 then are ye My disciples indeed." The man who 
 grows in grace is the man who grows in knowledge, 
 and the man who grows in knowledge is the man 
 who keeps close to God through His Word. For 
 spiritual progress this is the secret: **Thy Word 
 have I hid in mine heart.** Whenever a Christian 
 is growing in grace, experiencing more joy in 
 Christ, more rest of soul, more peaoe of heart, 
 more knowledge of truth, more blessing in service, 
 more hope in trial, more endurance in suffering, 
 the explanation is as clear as it is simple. He is 
 spending more time with his Bible. There is no 
 need for spiritual declension, no necessity for back- 
 
The Word Hidden in the Heart 21 
 
 sliding^ no warrant for anything but ever- joyous 
 progress as we go from strength to strength 
 through the year. But this will only be through 
 hiding God's Word in our heart. 
 
 Hiding of God's Word in our heart is the secret 
 of spiritual permanence. Daniel was taken as a 
 boy of fourteen years old to Babylon, and he lived 
 there until he was ninety-one; apparently he never 
 went home to Jerusalem, but was in Babylon all 
 those years, and we are told that Daniel continued. 
 This may well be applied to moral and spiritual 
 continuance, for we know how true this was of him. 
 In the same way we may say that there is a 
 Daniel in the New Testament, St. Paul. "Having 
 therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this 
 day." Our Lord said, '^Continue ye in My love." 
 "If ye continue in My Word.*' The secret of con- 
 tinuance and permanence in the Christian life is 
 hiding God's Word in our heart. 
 
 Let us then take this Word for our daily medi- 
 tation, and we shall soon see in it the secret of 
 everything in the Christian life. 
 
 "And the daily load grows lighter. 
 
 The daily cares grow sweet. 
 For the Master is near, the Master m here, 
 
 I have only to sit at His feet." 
 
22 Life Abiding and Abounding 
 
 3. The Methods of Meditation 
 
 Now comes the question. How is this to be done? 
 Let me in the very simplest and most old-fashioned 
 way try to show how this may be. 
 
 Our hiding of God's Word must be a daily prac- 
 tice. At the time of my ordination in 1885, we 
 were being addressed by Dr. Hessey, then Arch- 
 deacon of Middlesex, and he said to us: "What- 
 ever is true of you and your ministry, you ought to 
 know your Greek Testament, and if you will read, 
 in the original, the second lesson selected for that 
 purpose in the Church of England service, you will 
 find that it will cover almost the whole of the 
 New Testament in a year, and so every year of 
 your ministry you will be able to read through 
 your Greek Testament." Some of us took that 
 simple and, as it seemed, very obvious hint, and 
 no one can tell the joy and blessing it has been 
 to use the lesson as a daily portion for morning 
 meditation. If we do not meditate upon God's 
 Word daily we shall suffer in our spiritual life. 
 In proportion as we neglect it there will be weak- 
 ness in our souls. Whether in the Greek Testa- 
 ment or not, there should be systematic daily medi- 
 tation. Some of us may belong to the Bible Prayer 
 Union, the members of which read right through 
 the Bible in three and one-quarter years. Many 
 
The Methods of Meditation 23 
 
 follow that course, and find it a great delight. 
 Others prefer the Scripture Union, while still 
 others have their own methods. But whatever 
 method it may be, it ought to be used systematically 
 and daily. 
 
 Our use of God's Word should be direct; and by 
 direct use I mean first-hand meditation. Thank 
 God for all helps! But let us remember that the 
 greatest of all helps is a first-hand study of, and 
 meditation on, the Word itself, as we now have it, 
 and not as other people have provided it for us 
 in Daily Light, or in any other way. Whatever 
 we do in regard to helps, they must be secondary, 
 and not primary. It has often been curious to me 
 to note how many people there are with names 
 commencing with *'M," who have given us delight- 
 ful books of meditation — Moule, Macgregor, Mor- 
 gan, Mantle, Murray, Moore, Meyer. Their books 
 have been a blessing to very many. But I know 
 another *'M" which is far more important and 
 therefore better than all these. It is found in the 
 104th Psalm — "My meditation of Him shall be 
 sweet" (see verse 34). This is the meditation 
 that must ever come first, my own, what I get 
 direct from God. Let us look again at this text, 
 made as clear as possible for our guidance. "MY 
 meditation" — my own, not someone else's. Shall 
 we then despise the others? God forbid! We 
 
84 Life Abiding and Abounding 
 
 shall appropriate and enjoy all they can teach us, 
 but it will be because we have come face to face 
 with God ourselves, first of all. 
 
 For our devotional reading and meditation we 
 should use unmarked Bibles. I know it is custom- 
 ary to have marked Bibles, full of suggestions, so 
 that the moment we open a page we are directed 
 to certain passages and lines of thought. But in 
 meditating upon these we are almost inevitably 
 feeding upon the old manna, and unless our mind 
 is particularly independent, we shall pretty cer- 
 tainly get the same food again and again. What 
 we need is to be able to open to a passage like 
 the 23rd Psalm, and get from it something abso- 
 lutely fresh. For this purpose we must have an 
 unmarked Bible, and then afterwards we can put 
 into our marked Bible all the discoveries or "finds" 
 we have made during meditation. So for devo- 
 tional purposes let our Bible be unmarked. 
 
 In this connection, is it not true that the greatest 
 danger in the life of a minister or other Christian 
 worker is that of reading the Bible for other peo- 
 ple? When we open our Bible and God shows us 
 something, we say: "That will do for my sermon 
 next Sunday, or for my Bible class." But for the 
 time being, never mind sermon or Bible class; let 
 us ask ourselves: "What does this portion say 
 to mef" 
 
The Methods of Meditation 25 
 
 Our reading of God's Word must be definite. 
 "What does it say to me?** This is the difference 
 between study and meditation. A good definition 
 of meditation is "attention with intention." Study 
 is attention, but meditation is attention and also 
 intention. What are the stages or elements of true 
 meditation.^ They are five in number: — 
 
 1. The careful reading of the particular pas- 
 sage or subject, thinking over its real and original 
 meaning. 
 
 2. A resolute application of it to my own life's 
 needs, to conscience, heart, mind, imagination, will ; 
 finding out what it has to say to me. 
 
 3. A hearty turning of it into prayer for mercy 
 and grace, that its teaching may become part of 
 my life. 
 
 4. A sincere transfusion of it into a resolution 
 that my life shall reproduce it. 
 
 6. A whole-hearted surrender to, and trust in 
 God for power to practise it forthwith, and con- 
 stantly throughout the day. 
 
 Meditation is, thus, first of all, thought; then it 
 means application to myself; then prayer for 
 grace; then the yielding of the heart to God; and 
 then rising up to obey Him. This is the real mean- 
 ing and purpose of definite hiding of God's Word 
 in our heart. This is what it meant to Daniel. 
 When he had had the Divine vision (in chap, viii.) 
 
26 Life Abiding and Abounding 
 
 he said: "Afterward I rose up, and did the 
 king's business." After the vision of God in His 
 Word, we have to rise up and do the King's busi- 
 ness. This is what is meant by hiding God's 
 Word in our heart; it must be daily, direct, and 
 definite. 
 
 As a practical outcome let the following sug- 
 gestions be offered for the devotional use of the 
 Bible:— 
 
 1. Open all such occasions with prayer for the 
 Holy Spirit's light (Psa. cxix. 18). 
 
 2. Ask to be guided to some definite thought 
 for yourself. 
 
 3. Dwell prayerfully on this thought thus given 
 — Is it a counsel? A precept? A warning? A 
 promise? An experience? A command? 
 
 4. When its meaning is clear, use it as the basis 
 of a prayer for grace to realise it in experience. 
 
 5. Yield the whole soul in full surrender to its 
 truth and power. 
 
 6. Link it on to truths already known, and 
 thereby strengthen the chain of experience. 
 
 7. Trust God to reproduce it in your life that 
 day. 
 
 Nothing in this world can ever be substituted 
 for daily, direct, definite hiding of God's Word in 
 our heart. We cannot make up for failure in our 
 
The Methods op Meditation 27 
 
 devotional life by redoubled energy in service for 
 Christ. Our work will never rise higher than our 
 devotional life. As water never rises above its 
 level, so what we do never rises above what we are. 
 And in our preaching we shall never take people 
 one hair's breadth beyond our own spiritual attain- 
 ment. We may point to higher things, we may 
 "allure to brighter worlds,*' but when we "lead the 
 way" we shall only take them just as far as we 
 ourselves have gone. Our personal contact with 
 the Word of God will thus be an exact test of our 
 discipleship and our character. Christianity is 
 largely a matter of condition of soul ; stress is laid 
 on character and character is power. But charac- 
 ter requires solitude for growth; solitude is "the 
 mother-country of the strong." And yet solitude 
 without the Bible tends to develop morbidity, while 
 with the Bible it guarantees vitality and power. 
 So let us remember that all the activity in the 
 world, all the reading of other books, all our pub- 
 lic worship can never take the place of this daily, 
 definite, direct hiding of God's Word in our heart. 
 Granted this, failure in the Christian life is 
 absolutely impossible. The Word in the heart is 
 the secret of everything. If a man will spend a 
 little time with God every day of his life, he will 
 go on from strength to strength; his knowledge, 
 his capacity, and power for good will ever increase 
 
28 Life Abiding and Abounding 
 
 and deepen, and his life will be one of widening 
 blessing to others and of glory to God. 
 
 In the course of a Bible reading some years ago, 
 I ventured to make this assertion: I said that if 
 there were five hundred people outside that church, 
 and each one of them was a backslider, I would 
 undertake to say, although they were all strangers 
 to me, that every one had become a backslider 
 through neglect of the Bible. After the meeting 
 was over a lady said to me: "I cannot understand 
 how it is that every one of the five hundred should 
 have become a backslider through neglect of the 
 Bible." "Well, now," said I, "let us see. Have 
 you got a looking-glass in your bedroom.''** She 
 answered, "Yes." "Do you use it?'* I asked. 
 "Yes," she replied. "Suppose,*' I went on, "you 
 did not use it for a week, would you be quite sure 
 that your personal appearance would be such as 
 you would like your friends to see?** "No," said 
 she. "Now, in the Epistle of St. James,** I re- 
 marked, "the Bible is spoken of as a mirror in 
 which we see ourselves ; and if we do not open that 
 Book we cannot be sure of our spiritual appear- 
 ance. *In Thy light shall we see light.* ** Then 
 I said: "You have soap and water in your bed- 
 room?** She began to smile, and said, "Yes." 
 "Do you use it?" I asked. She smiled a little 
 more, and I added: "Suppose you did not use it 
 
The Methods of Meditation 29 
 
 for a week, would you be quite sure of your per- 
 sonal appearance, especially if you lived in Lon- 
 don?" "No," she said. "Now," I pointed out, "in 
 the Epistle to the Ephesians the Word is called 
 'water'; 'The washing of water by the Word.' As 
 water is to the body, so is the Word of God to the 
 soul. It cleanses. If we do not practise cleansing 
 we cannot be clean." Then I added, "When you 
 go downstairs I take it that you have your break- 
 fast .'*" She said, "Yes." "Now suppose," said I, 
 "you did not eat your breakfast, and went with- 
 out food for a few days, you know what the result 
 would be. The reason why people are ill in body 
 is because they are 'below par,' and they thereby 
 become a prey to the microbes that come in their 
 millions. If people are strong and vigorous, they 
 may consume microbes by the thousand and suffer 
 no harm. But if we are below our normal state of 
 health, and the microbes enter and find something 
 to attach themselves to in our body, the result is 
 illness and disease. So it is in the spiritual life. 
 God's Word is spoken of as food, milk and honey 
 —food to eat, milk to drink, and honey for 
 "dessert." There is an entire meal in God's Word. 
 If we eat God's Word we are strong, but if we do 
 not, we become a prey to the microbes of tempta- 
 tion; they find us below spiritual 'par,* and the 
 result is, we fail and become ill and diseased. But 
 
30 Life Abiding and Abounding 
 
 when we can say, with Jeremiah, *Thy words were 
 found, and I did eat them, and Thy Word was 
 unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart,* 
 when we use the water and the food and the mirror 
 found in God's Word, there can be no backsliding." 
 She said, *'I see it now!" 
 
 As long as we keep the mirror before us in 
 which we see ourselves, at the same time "behold- 
 ing as in a glass the glory of the Lord," we become 
 transformed. As long as we use the water of 
 God's Word for the cleansing of our inner life, 
 and the milk and honey of God's Word as the food 
 of our souls, it will be absolutely impossible for us 
 to backslide, while it will be blessedly possible for 
 us to go on from grace to grace, and from strength 
 to strength; and it shall be true of us as of the 
 Psalmist: "The law of his God is in his heart; 
 none of his steps shall slide." The law of God in 
 the heart makes us as "the righteous man" who 
 "shall hold on his way; and he that hath clean 
 hands shall be stronger and stronger." 
 
 All that has been said may be summed up in the 
 words of Job: "I have esteemed the words of His 
 mouth more than my necessary food" ; and of Jere- 
 miah: "Thy words were found, and I did eat 
 them"; and of the Psalmist: "How sweet are Thy 
 words to my taste !" The Bible must be our daily 
 food if we are to be strong and vigorous. Not 
 
The Methods of Meditation 81 
 
 quantity, but quality, determines the nutritive value 
 of food. What we must emphasize is capacity to 
 receive, power to assimilate, and readiness to re- 
 produce. As someone has well put it, the process 
 is three-fold — infusion, suffusion, transfusion. 
 
 The Word thus becomes all-sufficient and all- 
 powerful in our life — the mirror to reveal (James 
 i.) ; the water to cleanse (Eph. v.) ; the milk to 
 nourish (1 Peter ii.) ; the strong meat to invigorate 
 (Heb. V.) ; the honey to delight (Psa. cxix.) ; the 
 fire to warm (Jer. xxiii.) ; the hammer to break and 
 fasten (Jer. xxiii.) the sword to fight (Eph. vi.) ; 
 the seed to grow (Matt, xiii.) ; the lamp to guide 
 (Psa. cxix.) ; the statute book to legislate (Psa. 
 cxix.) ; and the gold to treasure in time and for 
 eternity (Psa. xix). 
 
 Three or four paragraphs of the above have been 
 taken from the author's Methods of Bible Study. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 •THE CHRISTIAN'S VITAL BREATH" 
 
 THE Christian religion rests upon two great 
 facts. The first is, that God has spoken to 
 man in the Lord Jesus Christ, and still speaks by 
 thfe Holy Spirit. The second is, that man can hear 
 God's voice and speak to Him in return. Divine 
 Revelation and Human Response to it are thus the 
 two foundations of all true life. The voice of 
 God to man is heard in the Word of God applied 
 by the Holy Spirit. The voice of man to God is 
 mainly expressed in prayer. 
 
 We have already considered the former of these 
 two subjects, the Revelation of God in His Word 
 in its relation to the Christian life. To the latter 
 we now turn our attention in order to discover 
 some of the secrets of that most wonderful of all 
 human powers, the ability to speak to the "Lord 
 who made heaven and earth." 
 
 Prayer has always been prominent in the lives 
 of the people of God. Whether we study the lives 
 of the men of God recorded in the Bible, and look 
 at the history of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, 
 Joshua, Samuel, David, Hezekiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel, 
 Daniel, Peter, Paul, and John ; or whether we take 
 
 32 
 
Aspects of Prayer 33 
 
 up some of the great biographies of the Christian 
 centuries, and read of Augustine, Luther, Ruther- 
 ford, Brainerd, McCheyne, and a host of others, 
 we can easily see the prominence of prayer in every 
 instance, and this prominence is a sure sign of its 
 necessity, importance, and blessedness. Above and 
 beyond all other proofs is the example of our Lord, 
 true "Son of Man," whose life on earth was a life 
 of prayer. In the second Gospel, which, as is well 
 known, is pre-eminently the record of His constant 
 service and marvelous activity, there are no less 
 than ten occasions recorded of His retirement for 
 prayer and communion with God. 
 
 In view of the paramount importance of prayer 
 let us consider some of the inexhaustible wealth of 
 New Testament teaching connected with it, giving 
 ourselves mainly to the study of the various words 
 and phrases associated with prayer in the Word 
 of God. 
 
 1. Aspects of Prayer 
 
 Prayer is a sense of need (Sciycres and Sco/uu and 
 their cognates). The substantive 8ci;o-is occurs 
 nineteen times and the verb Btofjuu twenty-three 
 times. The former is translated in Ephesians vi. 
 18 by "supplication," and the meaning there, as 
 elsewhere, is the acknowledgment of a sense of 
 
84 Life Abiding and Abounding 
 
 need. This is, perhaps, the most elementary idea 
 of prayer, and it may be well for us to ask our- 
 selves whether we realise our need when we pray. 
 Is it a fact that when we come before God in 
 prayer we have a definite and real consciousness 
 of need ? Is there a vacuum in our spiritual life, 
 so that we feel we must be filled with the presence 
 and grace of God? It is well for us to test our- 
 selves after a season of prayer, and to ask our- 
 selves. What have I been asking for? Do I re- 
 member the petitions I have offered, and have they 
 really been the expression of my sense of genuine 
 need? Even the most mature believer may well 
 go back from time to time to this simple and 
 elementary touchstone of the reality of his prayers. 
 Prayer is an expression of desire (aircw^ airrjiM), 
 The Greek words are found altogether in some 
 seventy-four passages. *Xet your requests (alTT^fmra) 
 be made known unto God" (Phil. iv. 6) is one of 
 these, and "Ask (alTCLTc)^ and it shall be given you" 
 (Matt. vii. 7) is another. 
 
 "Prayer is the soul's sincere desire." 
 
 The thought here is associated with the attitude 
 of a petitioner, one who has a deep desire, and 
 expresses it in prayer. Does this accord with our 
 experience of prayer? 
 
Aspects of Prayer 35 
 
 "What things soever ye desire'* (Mark xi. 24). 
 Do our prayers truly voice our strongly felt desire ? 
 If so, we know a little of what prayer means, 
 but if there is no real desire our words count for 
 nothing. 
 
 Prayer is a spirit of humility. This aspect of 
 prayer comes before us in one passage only (Heb. 
 V. 7) where the word iKer-qpuL refers to our Lord's 
 prayer in Gethsemane, and is translated in our 
 Authorised Version "supplications." "Who in the 
 days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers 
 and supplications with strong crying and. tears 
 unto Him that was able to save Him from death, 
 and was heard in that He feared." The picturesque 
 and beautiful thought imbedded in the word is 
 suggested by the fact that it was originally used 
 for the olive branch which a suppliant had in his 
 hands as he came towards a king from whom he 
 desired some favour. He thus grounded his appli- 
 cation on his attitude as a suppliant, on his 
 humility. From the application of the word to the 
 olive branch came its use to express the thing 
 signified by the olive branch, the spirit and atti- 
 tude of a suppliant. How beautiful is the word 
 in connection with our Lord's earthly life of prayer 
 as an indication of His true and perfect manhood. 
 The word sums up the teaching of the Epistle to 
 
86 Life Abiding and Abounding 
 
 the Hebrews as to the perfect oneness of our Lord 
 with us in His humanity (apart from sin). "He 
 was made like unto His brethren in all things" 
 (Heb. ii. 17 and iv. 15). In Him, and like Him, 
 we too come before God as suppliants. We ap- 
 proach the King of kings (Who is none the less 
 King of kings because He is our Father in Christ 
 Jesus) in the merits of our Lord, with the olive 
 branch of peace made through the blood of His 
 Cross. Is this the spirit of our prayers.'' It is 
 possible to abuse the covenant of grace and to be- 
 come unduly familiar with God and holy things. 
 While it is true that we have entrance to the 
 presence of God in Christ, it is "entrance into the 
 holiest/' "Holy and reverend is His Name." 
 There is far too little of the spirit of humility and 
 reverence in our prayers. We must take the shoes 
 from off our feet, for the place whereon we stand 
 is indeed holy ground. 
 
 "Prayer is an attitude of consecration. In no 
 less than one hundred and twenty-five passages 
 of the New Testament we find the words ■npovevxq 
 and vpo(T€vxo/jLaL used to express the idea of prayer. 
 It is by far the commonest word denoting prayer 
 to God, and its root idea is consecration. It is 
 compounded of tv^i}, "a vow" and t/oos, "turning 
 towards"; and means the turning of ourselves to 
 God in surrender. It is an attitude of worship ex- 
 
Aspects of Prayer 87 
 
 pressed in prayer. It will suffice to refer to Acts 
 i. 14 and x. 9 as two out of the many passages. 
 When we remember the large number of occur- 
 rences of these words we can readily see what is the 
 normal attitude of the believer in prayer. It is the 
 attitude of a worshipper, of one who is turned 
 towards God with all his heart and soul. This is 
 one of the essential secrets of prayer, the soul's 
 whole-hearted surrender and consecration. David 
 said, "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord 
 will not hear me" (Psa. Ixvi. 18) ; and if the soul 
 is unwilling to surrender all to God and to turn 
 to Him in whole-hearted devotion, our prayers will 
 never receive an answer. On the other hand, when 
 we turn to God in submission and dedication, the 
 initial act becoming a permanent attitude of the 
 life, our prayers prevail, and "we have the petitions 
 that we desired of Him," (1 John v. 15). 
 
 Prayer is a privilege of fellowship. This thought 
 is suggested by the rare word cvtcv^is, which occurs 
 only twice in the New Testament (1 Tim. ii. i.; 
 iv. 5), being rendered "intercession" in the former, 
 and "prayer" in the latter passage. The verb 
 associated with this substantive (ivTvyxoLvto) is found 
 in Romans viii. 27, 34; xi. 2; Hebrews vii. 26, and 
 is invariably rendered by "intercede" or "make 
 intercession." It is necessary to remember that 
 in the course of time, since our Authorised Version 
 
38 Life Abiding and Abounding 
 
 was given to us, the meaning of the word "inter- 
 cession" has become modified. We are now accus- 
 tomed to limit the word to prayer for others, but 
 there was no such limit three hundred years ago. 
 In 1 Timothy iv. 5, the Greek word cannot mean 
 prayer for others only, and is probably to be 
 limited to prayer for one's self. 
 
 The original word* implies the meeting of two 
 friends who talk together and ask each other for 
 something, thus realising and expressing their fel- 
 lowship. The word suggests the thought of prayer 
 as familiar speech, as to the privilege of close 
 friendship and intimate fellowship. This is one 
 of the deepest and most precious aspects of prayer. 
 
 "Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and 
 with His Son Jesus Christ" (1 John i. 3). It was 
 this fellowship and holy familiarity of friendship 
 that Enoch and Noah enjoyed as they "walked 
 with God." It was this which led to Abraham 
 being called "the friend of God," and it was 
 familiar intercourse with God which led to Moses 
 being described as one "whom the Lord knew face 
 to face" (Deut. xxxiv. 10). This is the culminat- 
 ing point of Christian privilege and opportunity, 
 fellowship with God and the power of intimate 
 and blessed intercourse in prayer. 
 
 Prayer is a spirit of enquiry. The word sug- 
 gesting this is ipoiTaoi (John xvi. 23). Our Lord 
 *Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament, p. 190. 
 
Aspects of Prayer 39 
 
 said to His disciples, "In that day ye shall ask 
 Me no questions/* i.e., in the day of the Holy 
 Spirit's full revelation the disciples would have no 
 need to make enquiries of their Master; all the 
 things which had troubled them would be made 
 clear. And yet this word is used once in the New 
 Testament in connection with prayer. In 1 John 
 V. 16 we read of "sin unto death," i.e., not any par- 
 ticular sin, but sin, the state and condition of evil. 
 The Apostle then goes on to say, "I do not say 
 that he should make enquiry (ask a question) con- 
 cerning this." The thought suggested is that of 
 the believer asking questions, seeking light on a 
 difficulty, "Lord, what is the meaning of this.'*" 
 This is part, and a most precious part, of our life 
 of privilege, that of going to the Lord in prayer, 
 seeking light and explanation. One of the most 
 beautiful illustrations of this is found in the story 
 of the Last Supper as recorded by St. John. When 
 John was leaning on the bosom of Jesus, Peter, 
 wishing to know who was about to betray their 
 Master, beckoned to John to ask Jesus who it was. 
 In the Revised Version we read, "Then John, lean- 
 ing back, as he was, on Jesus* breast, said. Lord, 
 who is \tV* He was already leaning on the bosom 
 of his Master, and he had no need to come closer: 
 so he simply leaned back and asked, "Lord, who 
 is it.^" This is the true attitude of the believer. 
 
40 Life Abiding and Abounding 
 
 in such close fellowship with Christ that he can 
 simply ask his Master about any difficulty, and 
 seek for the explanation. Prayer in this sense is 
 not for gifts or grace so much as for guidance and 
 light. The Lord "will be enquired of" for this. 
 He delights to have us take our difficulties and 
 problems to Him. He Himself said, "Shall I hide 
 from Abraham that thing which I do?" and 
 "Henceforth I call you not servants; for the ser- 
 vant knoweth not what his lord doeth : but I have 
 called you friends ; for all things that I have heard 
 of My Father I have made known unto you." Let 
 us treasure and use the privilege of fellowship 
 more and more. "Were half the breath vainly 
 spent" in telling our difficulties to others used in 
 telling the Lord about them, we should soon have 
 fewer problems and many more solutions. 
 
 Prayer is a bond of union. In Matthew xviii. 19 
 we read, "If two of you shall agree on earth as 
 touching anything that they shall ask." The word 
 translated "agree" is crv/x<^cDV€<i)j from which we get 
 our word "symphony." "If two of you shall sym- 
 phonize," the two voices blending in beautiful 
 agreement. Prayer, therefore, is more than the 
 request of one individual, and is kept from being 
 solitary and even selfish by being exercised in 
 union with others. Union in prayer is one of the 
 
Aspects of Prayer 41 
 
 most blessed and potent influences of true Christian 
 life, and we cannot have too much united prayer. 
 
 The "symphony" of God's people in prayer is 
 the sure harbinger of spiritual blessing from God. 
 
 These are seven of the most prominent aspects 
 of prayer as revealed in the New Testament, and 
 we may use them as a touchstone of our ideas of 
 prayer, and also the reality of our own prayer- 
 life. They will show us what God means by 
 prayer, and what He has for us of spiritual bless- 
 ing by means of it. As the Puritan Trapp quaintly 
 says, "God respecteth not the arithmetic of our 
 prayers, how many they be; nor the rhetoric of 
 our prayers, how long they may be; nor the music 
 of our prayers, how methodical they be; but the 
 divinity of our prayers, how heart-sprung they 
 are. Not gifts, but graces, prevail in prayer." 
 
 **To stretch my hand and touch Him, 
 
 Though He be far away; 
 To raise my eyes and see Him 
 
 Through darkness as through day; 
 To lift my voice and call Him — 
 This is to pray! 
 
 To feel a hand extended 
 
 By One Who standeth near; 
 To view the love that shineth 
 
 In eyes serene and clear; 
 To know that He is calling — 
 This is to hear!" 
 
4)2. Life Abiding and Abounding 
 
 2. Subjects of Prayer. 
 
 From the thought of what prayer is we naturally 
 turn to consider the teaching of Holy Scripture 
 as to the subjects of prayer, what we should pray 
 for, the main and outstanding petitions warranted 
 and encouraged in the New Testament. What are 
 the things laid down in Scripture as to which there 
 can be no doubt that we may and should pray to 
 God? 
 
 Spiritual Adjustment. 2 Cor. xiii. 9, "This also 
 we wish, even your perfection." The word means 
 "adjustment," the proper and due adjustment of 
 the soul's relation to God. This word and its cog- 
 nates occur pretty frequently and the meaning is 
 invariably the same. "That the man of God may 
 be adjusted" (2 Tim. iii. 17). "For the adjusting 
 of the saints" (Eph. iv. 12). The word is used 
 of "mending their nets" in Matthew iv. 21, and 
 the above passage in Ephesians iv. 12 might liter- 
 ally be rendered, "for the repair of the saints." 
 The people of God often need spiritual "repair," 
 their nets to be "mended," and this was the prayer 
 of St. Paul for Corinth, where his anxieties about 
 the spiritual life of the Church had been so great. 
 "This I wish, even your repair. When anything 
 has become wrong in the life of a believer the 
 primary necessity is re-adjustment. As an arm 
 
Subjects of Prayer 43 
 
 which has been dislocated must be set before 
 health and strength can return, so the soul must 
 be reinstated in a right position with God before 
 a healthful condition again becomes possible. The 
 cause of so much dryness, weakness, powerless- 
 ness, in many a Christian life is that the soul is 
 out of adjustment. This is one of our true aspira- 
 tions in prayer, and no one can exaggerate its im- 
 portance and necessity. For spiritual re-adjust- 
 ment and repair, for re-instatement in the right 
 position, for vigour of life, let us be much in prayer. 
 Prayer brings us into the presence of God and en- 
 ables us to see what is wrong. Prayer then brings 
 to us the healing, forgiving grace of God which 
 adjusts the soul and places it once more in that 
 living union and communion with our Lord, from 
 which all vigour, blessing, and joy naturally flow. 
 
 "Drop Thy still dews of quietness, 
 
 Till all our strivings cease: 
 Take from our souls the strain and stress. 
 And let our ordered lives confess 
 
 The beauty of Thy peace. 
 
 Breathe through the pulses of desire 
 
 Thy coolness and Thy balm; 
 Let sense be dumb, its heats expire: 
 Speak through the earthquake, wind, and fire, 
 
 O still small voice of calm!" 
 
44 Life Abiding and Abounding 
 
 Spiritual Progress. Col. iv. 12. Epaphras 
 prayed for those at Colosse, that they might 
 "stand perfect and complete in all the will of God." 
 The word "perfect" here, as elsewhere, means 
 mature, full-grown, ripe in experience (tcXcios). 
 There is no allusion whatever in the word or con- 
 text to the entire absence of sin or sinlessness. 
 St. Paul frequently uses the word to denote a fully 
 developed or ripening Christian as distinct from 
 a new beginner, a "man in Christ" from a "babe." 
 In 1 Corinthians ii. 6, he writes, "We speak wis- 
 dom among them that are **mature" those that 
 have reached or are approximating towards the 
 end or goal (tcXos) of their Christian life. It is 
 this that our Lord meant when He said, "Be ye 
 therefore (or, ye shall be) perfect, even as your 
 Father which is in heaven is perfect" (Matt. v. 48). 
 God is spoken of in the context of that verse as 
 sending down His rain on the just and unjust, 
 being kind indiscriminately to the unthankful and 
 evil, and the Lord applies this to His disciples and 
 says, "Do likewise, do not limit your attention to 
 the good and beneficent. Be mature (and not im- 
 mature) as is your Heavenly Father." 
 
 The precise form which Epaphras desired this 
 maturity to take at Colosse was that they should 
 stand "fully assured in all the will of God" (h.v.). 
 
Subjects of Prayer 45 
 
 The will of God is the crown of life, and when a 
 believer is "fully assured" concerning it, its clear- 
 ness, its blessedness, its authority, then indeed is 
 he making spiritual progress. 
 
 Toward this end prayer is the appointed means. 
 Prayer develops spiritual faculties and leads to 
 spiritual ripeness. Prayer makes real the presence 
 of God, and in that presence the will of God be- 
 comes clear and asserts its complete yet blessed 
 authority. The more we pray the riper we become 
 and the more completely assured of the will of 
 God in Christ Jesus concerning us. As a well- 
 known writer. Dr. Schauffler, says, "When we are 
 on our knees, then light flashes; then the intellect 
 is clarified; then the conscience is aroused; then 
 the spiritual sensibilities are quickened ; and we can 
 learn more of our duty and of His will than in 
 hours of argumentation. So Jesus learned by 
 prayer, and all He derived from men and nature 
 was clarified and illuminated when the divine light 
 came down as He was holding communion with 
 His heavenly Father." 
 
 "O Jesus Christ, grow Thou in me, 
 
 And all things else recede; 
 My heart be daily nearer Thee, 
 
 From sin be daily freed. 
 
46 Life Abiding and Abounding 
 
 Each day let Thy supporting might 
 
 My weakness still embrace; 
 My darkness vanish in Thy light. 
 
 Thy life my death eflface. 
 
 In Thy bright beams which on me fall 
 
 Fade every evil thought; 
 That I am nothing, Thou art all, 
 
 I would be daily taught. 
 
 Make this poor self grow less and less. 
 
 Be Thou my life and aim; 
 O make me daily, through Thy grace. 
 
 More worthy of Thy Name." 
 
 Spiritual Power. Mark ix. 28, 29. "Lord, why 
 could not we cast him out.'' . . . This kind cometh 
 not out but by prayer ..." There had been 
 failure, dire and deplorable, on the part of the dis- 
 ciples in their Master's absence. A case of great 
 need had been brought before them and they had 
 utterly failed to expel the demon, notwithstanding 
 the power previously given to them for this very 
 purpose. The power was evidently not absolute but 
 conditional, and they had forgotten to fulfill the 
 condition and so maintain the power. The expla- 
 nation of their failure is plainly told them by their 
 Master. "This kind cometh not out but by 
 prayer." They had failed in power because they 
 had failed in prayer. If we would have power in 
 
Subjects of Prayer 47 
 
 service we must pray. The "demons" still to be 
 found in our cities and villages, in our congrega- 
 tions and homes, will never be cast out except by 
 prayer. "Lord, why is it my sermons are so power- 
 less.'*" "Lord, how is it my Bible class lessons 
 make no impression?" "Lord, why could I not 
 lead those boys to Thee.^" "This kind cometh not 
 out but by prayer." We must prepare, but we 
 must also pray. Our life of service must be per- 
 meated with prayer. Sermons, classes, visiting, 
 open-air speaking, every form of Christian service 
 must be suffused with prayer. Then will come 
 power and blessing, with glory and praise to God. 
 
 Hitherto our aspirations in prayer have been 
 concerned with ourselves and our own needs. We 
 must now turn to the needs of others. A very 
 large part of true Christianity is occupied with 
 prayer for others. 
 
 Christian Fellowship, James v. 16. "Pray one 
 for another." This is a call to pray for our friends 
 and fellow-believers in Christ. God has so con- 
 stituted the Church that a great part of our spirit- 
 ual blessings are mediated through others, and 
 especially through the prayers of others. Samuel 
 had a very high idea of the importance of praying 
 for others when he said, "God forbid that I should 
 sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you** 
 (1 Sam. xii. 23). The absence of intercessory 
 
48 Life Abiding and Abounding 
 
 prayer, then, is a sin. How solemn and searching 
 this is ! How many of us commit it by limiting our 
 prayers too much to ourselves, our own life and 
 its needs. And yet who that has tried it does not 
 know the unspeakable joy that comes from bearing 
 up before God the name of friend after friend in 
 earnest, constant and believing prayer. 
 
 Some seem to find it a burden to do this. They 
 have so many friends and acquaintances within 
 their circle that it is quite impossible to bring 
 them one by one to God and seek for definite 
 blessing. They therefore content themselves with 
 the most general and inclusive prayer for blessing 
 and grace on their friends. But this is to lose 
 blessing for themselves and for others. Interces- 
 sory prayer need not be a burden but a joy if we 
 only set about it carefully and simply. A little 
 book such as Dr. Harford's Daily or Dr. Andrew 
 Murray's Helps to Intercession will enable us to 
 spread the names of our friends over a week, or 
 two weeks, or even a month, and so bring them 
 before God without any difficulty and with ever- 
 increasing delight. Best of all, if we prepare our 
 own little book of intercessory prayer, according 
 to our particular needs and circumstances, and 
 then use it day by day in intercessory prayer, we 
 shall find this exercise of our Christian priesthood 
 (Heb. V. 1) one of the greatest joys and most 
 
Subjects of Prayer 49 
 
 special privileges of our Christian life. In addi- 
 tion to the blessings that will surely come to those 
 for whom we pray we must never fail to remember 
 the reflex benefits on our lives which come from 
 seeking grace for others. "He that watereth shall 
 be watered also himself" (Prov. xi. 25). Enlarge- 
 ment of soul, increase of sympathy, a deepening 
 tenderness, a growing unselfishness, and a gradual 
 conformity to the image of Him Whose main 
 thought is (and was) always for others (Phil. ii. 
 8) will mark the life of the believer who makes 
 prominent the work of intercessory prayer. "The 
 Lord turned the captivity of Job when he prayed 
 for his friends" (Job xlii. 10). 
 
 "The weary ones had rest, the sad had joy 
 
 That day, and wondered *how.' 
 A ploughman singing at his work had prayed, 
 
 *Lord, help them now.' 
 
 Away in foreign lands they wondered how 
 
 Their simple word had power. 
 At home, the Christians two or three had met 
 
 To pray an hour. 
 
 Yes, we are always wond'ring, wond'ring 'how*: 
 
 Because we do not see 
 Someone, unknown perhaps, and far away, 
 
 On bended knee!" 
 
 F. M. Nesbit. 
 
60 Life Abiding and Abounding 
 
 The Ministry. 2 Thess. iii. 1. "Pray for us, 
 that the Word of the Lord may run and be glori- 
 fied." The Apostle Paul depended much and often 
 on the prayers of his fellow-Christians. "Ye also 
 helping together by prayer for us" (2 Cor. i. 11). 
 Prayer for the ministry is one of the most pressing 
 duties and one of the most blessed privileges of 
 Christian people. Mr. Spurgeon was once asked 
 how it was that he obtained such great blessings 
 in his church. "My people pray for me/* he re- 
 plied. It is one of the joys and chief sources of 
 power and encouragement in a minister's life to 
 know that he is surrounded by a praying people. 
 He knows and feels as he stands in the pulpit be- 
 fore the sermon commences that loving hearts are 
 to be found in the congregation praying for the 
 message he is about to deliver, and this gives him 
 inspiration and power. And then to realise that 
 during the week the concerns of the church and 
 congregation are being daily brought before God 
 by his congregation in private and family prayer 
 is a guarantee of true fellowship and constant 
 blessing on church life. A man cannot but preach 
 with power if his people pray for him, and that 
 church cannot help being a center of life and in- 
 fluence where the people are individually and 
 unitedly waiting on God for spiritual blessing in 
 the ministry. Some time ago a clergyman received 
 
Subjects of Prayer 61 
 
 a letter from a stranger who said that sixty years 
 before she had received blessing in the particular 
 church to which the clergyman ministered. Since 
 then she had not failed to pray for the minister 
 and congregation every Sunday morning, and she 
 now wrote to enquire after the welfare of that 
 church and to know something of its affairs after 
 sixty years of absence and change. Who can tell 
 how much of the blessing which has been granted 
 to that church has been due to that old saint's 
 prayers.'' We cannot gauge the influence of our 
 prayers as we plead for the ministry that it may be 
 a ministry of power, that the Word preached may 
 "run and be glorified/* and that the Gospel may 
 come not in word only, but also in power, and in 
 the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance (1 Thess. 
 i.5). 
 
 World-wide Evangelisation. Matt. ix. 38. 
 "Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He 
 will send forth labourers into His harvest." Why 
 "therefore" } Because "the harvest truly is plente- 
 ous, but the labourers are few" (v. 37). The place 
 of prayer in connection with missions is thus clear 
 and undoubted. One might think that in a work 
 calling for thought, energy, devotion, effort, the 
 need of prayer would be scarcely, if at all, felt. 
 But the Lord here makes it prominent, and bases it 
 on the greatness of the need and the fewness of the 
 
52 Life Abiding and Abounding 
 
 supply of workers. And Christian experience uni- 
 versally bears witness to the power of prayer in 
 connection with the evangelisation of the world. 
 We sometimes hear it said in missionary sermons 
 and addresses when appealing for more help, *'If 
 you can do nothing else for us, you can pray," as 
 though prayer were the easiest thing in the world. 
 It is in reality the hardest thing to do for foreign 
 missions. It is much easier to read of missions, or 
 to give, or even to go. If a man begins to pray 
 for missions he will soon find that the expenditure 
 of spiritual power and energy is by no means 
 small, if his prayers are in any sense real. His 
 prayers will lead to enquiry about missions, his 
 inquiries will lead to knowledge, his knowledge to 
 interest, his interest to sympathy, his sympathy to 
 gifts, and his gifts to the consecration of his life 
 to this paramount duty of the Christian Church. 
 To pray definitely we must know something of the 
 great field, for only thus can our prayers become 
 definite, earnest, and certain of an answer. 
 
 Prayer for missions should be our daily work 
 and joy. In connection with almost all our Mis- 
 sionary Societies there are Cycles of Prayer 
 covering a week or a month, during which we can 
 plead with God definitely and intelligently for the 
 various parts of the great harvest field as well as 
 
Subjects of Prayer 53 
 
 for the congregations at home where there are so 
 many Christians who at present are doing nothing 
 for their Master. A strong, vigorous, growing 
 Christian life will always make daily prayer for 
 the evangelisation of the world a foremost duty, 
 and find in it a precious privilege and an increas- 
 ing blessing. 
 
 The Church of Christ. Eph. vi. 17ff. "Praying 
 . . . for all saints." What a glorious conception 
 the Apostle gives us in Ephesians of the fellowship 
 of all Christians in the mystical Body of Christ 
 our Lord! That Epistle is essentially the Epistle 
 of the Church rather than of the individual, and in 
 addition to the teaching of the Epistle as a whole 
 (especially chapters i.-iv.) the phrase **all saints" 
 occurs twice to remind us of the place and power 
 of the whole community of Christians. In chapter 
 iii. 18, 19, St. Paul prays that Christians may be 
 able to comprehend "with all saints what is the 
 breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and 
 to know the love of Christ." All the saints are 
 required for this, for the love of Christ is beyond 
 the comprehension of any individual Christian. 
 From another point of view we see the importance 
 of the whole church when we are asked by the 
 Apostle to pray "for all saints." Fellowship is 
 one of the most characteristic elements of true 
 
54 Life Abiding and Abounding 
 
 Christianity, and the true life can only be lived 
 aright in proportion as we seek to realise and bene- 
 fit by the fullest possible fellowship among Chris- 
 tians. A solitary and purely individualistic Chris- 
 tianity is at once an impossibility, and an absolute 
 contradiction of the very essence of the Gospel. 
 The influence and blessing of the Church on the 
 individual, and the corresponding action of the in- 
 dividual as part of the church are two sides of a 
 great truth. We can readily understand, therefore, 
 the necessity, power, and blessing of prayer for 
 the whole church. Such prayer keeps the one who 
 prays from narrowness, selfishness, and mere in- 
 dividualism, while the answer to the prayer blesses 
 the church and enables it to realise more fully the 
 purpose of God concerning it as a witness for 
 Christ. Prayer "for all saints" should ever be 
 prominent and persistent in our Christian life of 
 prayer. 
 
 All the world. 1 Tim. ii. 1. "For all men." 
 What a revelation of the heart of St. Paul we have 
 in this verse; nay, more, what a revelation of the 
 heart of God Who inspired the Apostle to write! 
 What a revelation, too, of the power of prayer as 
 embracing the whole world! God has indeed set 
 the church a work to do in making supplication for 
 all mankind. In this world-wide work of prayer 
 
Subjects of Prayer 65 
 
 we find the true, deep meaning of the Christian 
 priesthood. A priest is defined as one who "is 
 ordained for men in things pertaining to God" 
 (Heb. V. 1). His work was pre-eminently asso- 
 ciated with the offering of sacrifices and interces- 
 sions. The Christian Church as a whole, with each 
 Christian in particular, is now called upon to en- 
 gage in this holy work of priestly intercession. 
 From one point of view the Church is God's witness 
 to the world, bearing testimony to Him Whoiii the 
 world has rejected. In another sense, and with 
 equal reality, the Church brings the world before 
 God, bearing before the Throne of Grace its deep 
 needs, even though the great mass of mankind is 
 utterly unconscious of them. We are told of God's 
 attitude to the world in the very significant word 
 "philanthropy" (Titus iii. 4, Greek), i.e., the love 
 of man as man, or *'man-lovingness," as the late 
 Archbishop Benson once rendered it. It was the 
 same spirit of love for man as man that prompted 
 the barbarians at Melita to show the Apostle and 
 his companions no little "philanthropy" (Acts 
 xxviii. 2, Greek). How much more shall the Chris- 
 tian be a true "philanthropist," showing his love to 
 man in the best possible way by earnest, loving, 
 constant prayer for all men. And if we read the 
 context of the Apostolic injunction we shall have 
 a further truth of the power and scope of prayer. 
 
56 Life Abiding and Abounding 
 
 "For kings, and for all that are in authority" (1 
 Tim. ii. 2). As Dr. Andrew Murray well says, 
 "What a faith in the power of prayer! A few 
 feeble and despised Christians are to influence the 
 mighty Roman Emperors, and help in securing 
 peace and quietness. Let us believe that prayer is 
 a power that is taken up by God in His rule of the 
 world. . . . When God's people unite in this 
 they may count upon their prayer affecting in the 
 unseen world more than they know." 
 
 "Lord, for the lonely heart 
 I pray apart. 
 
 Now, for this son of sorrow 
 Whom this to-morrow 
 Rejoiceth not, O Lord, 
 Hear my weak word. 
 
 For lives too bitter to be borne. 
 For the tempted and the torn. 
 For the prisoner in the cell, 
 For the shame lip doth not tell. 
 For the haggard suicide, 
 Peace, peace, this Christmastide. 
 
 In the desert, trod 
 
 By the long sick, O God; 
 
 Into the patient gloom 
 
 Of that small room 
 
 Where lies the child of pain 
 
 Of all neglected most — be fain 
 
 To enter, healing, and remain. 
 
Subjects of Prayer 67 
 
 Now at the fall of day, 
 I bow and pray, 
 For those who cannot sleep 
 A watch I keep. 
 
 Oh, let the starving brain 
 Be fed and fed again; 
 At Thy behest 
 The tortured nerve find rest. 
 
 I see the vacant chair. 
 Father of souls, prepare 
 My poor thought's feeble power 
 To plead this hour: 
 
 For the empty, aching home. 
 Where the silent footsteps come, 
 Where the unseen face looks on, 
 Where the hand-clasp is not felt. 
 Where the dearest eyes are gone. 
 Where the portrait on the wall 
 Stirs and struggles as to speak, 
 Where the light breath from the hall 
 Calls the colour to the cheek, 
 Where the voice breaks in the hymn 
 When the sunset burneth dim. 
 Where the late large tear will start, 
 Frozen by the broken heart. 
 Where the lesson is to learn 
 How to live, to grieve, to yearn. 
 How to bear and how to bow. 
 Oh, the Christmas that is fled! 
 Lord of living and of dead. 
 Comfort Thoul" 
 
68 Life Abiding and Abounding 
 
 3. Conditions of Prayer 
 
 Prayer must be unceasing (dStaXccVTws), Rom. i. 
 9; 1 Thess. v. 17. What is the meaning of un- 
 ceasing prayer.^ How is it possible to "pray 
 without ceasing".^ The true idea is that of the 
 constant spirit of prayer which should character- 
 ise our life. The soul needs first of all its stated 
 times of prayer, day by day. These stated times 
 of prayer act as reservoirs of spiritual power 
 which influence the whole life. The result is that 
 the soul becomes permeated with spiritual force 
 and blessing which leads instinctively to a con- 
 tinual spirit of prayer and fellowship with God. 
 
 We use a picturesque and beautiful word when 
 we speak of "ejaculatory" prayer. It comes from 
 "jaculum," a dart or arrow, and fittingly describes 
 prayer which "darts" up to God at all times. This 
 is the true expression of the spirit of prayer, a 
 spirit which in any moment of opportunity lifts 
 itself up in a few words of prayer and inter- 
 cession. Prayer, then, is at once an act and an 
 attitude, and as it has been well said, "Whatever 
 may be the attitude of the body the soul should be 
 ever on its knees." We may turn every circum- 
 stance, experience, and incident of the day into 
 prayer, and find in the "daily round, the common 
 
Conditions of Prayer 59 
 
 task," constant opportunities of ascending to God 
 in prayer and praise. 
 
 "I need not leave the jostling world. 
 
 Or wait till daily tasks are e'er. 
 To fold my palms in secret prayer 
 
 Within the close-shut closet door. 
 
 There is a viewless, cloistered room, 
 As high as heaven, as fair as day, 
 
 Where, though my feet may join the throng. 
 My soul can enter in and pray. 
 
 And never through those crystal wails 
 The clash of life can pierce its way. 
 
 Nor ever can a human ear 
 Drink in the spirit-words I say. 
 
 One hearkening, even, cannot know 
 When I have crossed the threshold o'er; 
 
 For He alone. Who hears my prayer. 
 Has heard the shutting of the door." 
 
 Prayer must be steadfast (irpo(TKapTip€<t))^ "con- 
 tinuing instant," Rom. xii. 12. The word is used 
 in several connections, all of which illustrate its 
 meaning when applied to prayer. It is the word 
 used of the little ship which was to "attend con- 
 tinually" on Jesus Christ" (Mark iii. 9), and it 
 describes the attitude of Simon Magus in his 
 "continuing"* with Philip (Acts viii. 13). It is 
 also used of those who were "waiting" for the day 
 
60 Life Abiding and Abounding 
 
 of Pentecost (Acts i. 14), and the thought of the 
 word is that of someone putting forth his whole 
 strength in order to wait. It conveys at once the 
 idea of activity and passivity. It is well rendered 
 by the word "steadfast" — a state in which you put 
 forth your entire strength simply to wait. It 
 denotes the spirit of waiting continuously, stead- 
 fastly, upon God in prayer. We can see from all 
 this something of what prayer really means. It 
 calls for persistent activity and patient abiding, 
 the power of the whole soul being concentrated on 
 this blessed and fruitful experience. 
 
 Prayer must be active (dywvt'^o/Aat), Col. iv. 12; 
 (dywv) Col. ii. 1. The Greek words are rendered 
 exactly in English by our words "agonize" and 
 "agony." We sometimes speak of "agonizing in 
 prayer," but it is incorrect to associate the words 
 with the idea of pain, sharp pain, or suffering. 
 It is a word used not of pain, but of strenuous 
 effort in a contest; it is the activity of the wrestler 
 concentrating his whole energy on his effort; and 
 when St. Paul said of Epaphras that he was 
 always "agonizing in prayers" we must be careful 
 not to think of our English word, which implies 
 physical suffering. That is not in the Greek word 
 at all; the idea is of "a contest." You do not 
 imagine an athlete in positive pain when wrestling 
 or when endeavouring to win a race; he strains 
 
Conditions of Prayer 61 
 
 every muscle to get to the winning-post, and puts 
 forth all his strength, vigour, and strenuousness. 
 We have great need of care when we speak of 
 our Lord being "in agony." No doubt our Lord 
 was in pain, but it is not included in that word 
 "agony." 'Ayoona is a contest, a struggle with an 
 opponent, and therefore a putting forth of our 
 whole strength and vigour in that which we have 
 to do. When we thus take away the thought of 
 pain we remind believers that there is nothing 
 terrible, awful, and sad in praying, though there 
 is everything earnest, strenuous, determined, and 
 decided. It means that we should put forth all 
 our moral fibre and spiritual energy in order to 
 pray. And it also gives us more than a hint of 
 a strife, an effort on the part of our spiritual 
 adversary to prevent us from praying, and, still 
 more, from getting our prayers answered. 
 
 Prayer must be intense (iKrevToi^ iKTcvtcrrepov)^ 
 Acts xii. 5 ; Luke xxii. 44. The above are the only 
 two passages where the word is used in relation 
 to prayer. It comes from cKraVo), "to stretch out," 
 and implies an intensity by which we nerve our- 
 selves, and, as it were, stretch ourselves out in 
 order to do our very utmost in prayer. It implies 
 a bow drawn to its full length and strength. So 
 should our hearts be in prayer. 
 
 Once more, then, we see what prayer really 
 
62 Life Abiding and Abounding 
 
 means as an element of true spiritual life and 
 experience. It is no mere spiritual luxury to be 
 enjoyed or not at will. It is the outgoing of every 
 faculty of our spiritual being in a whole-hearted 
 approach to God. 
 
 At this point it is possible that someone think- 
 ing of these four words — "incessant," "steadfast," 
 "active," "intense" — is saying, "This is too great 
 a demand in the strain which it puts upon me. 
 This is emphasizing the human side of prayer to 
 such an extent that it is beyond me. Not only are 
 my past prayers rebuked, but my future prayers 
 seem hopeless." But in reply it should be remem- 
 bered that God knows our need, and shows us the 
 human side in order to reveal to us the divine side 
 also. As we continue the consideration of these 
 conditions of prayer we shall see how wonderfully 
 God Himself provides for the fulfilment of these 
 requirements. 
 
 Prayer must be submissive. 1 John v. 14. 
 "According to His will." Prayer is necessarily 
 based on God's revelation of Himself and His will. 
 His promises encourage and His commands incite 
 us to prayer. At the same time the will of God 
 gives us the due and necessary limit of prayer. 
 There are many things for which we never think 
 of asking, simply because they are not only not 
 included in, but are clearly opposed to. His re- 
 
Conditions of Prayer 68 
 
 vealed will. There are other matters about which 
 we are certain that they are according to His 
 will, and as to these we plead His promises and 
 continue praying, waiting, expecting the answer 
 in God's good time. Yet again, there are many 
 things about which there is no revelation in the 
 Word of God, and with reference to these we pray 
 in submission to the will of God, and wait His 
 way of revealing to us in daily circumstances and 
 experience whether the prayer is in harmony with 
 His purpose concerning us. This spirit of sub- 
 missiveness is one of the primary conditions of 
 prayer and one of the essential marks of a true 
 spiritual life. Our Lord, in Gethsemane, prayed 
 in this spirit, "Not My will, but Thine be done," 
 and when the soul is ready to trust God fully and 
 rest on His perfect wisdom, the joyous experience 
 is that of the Apostle when he said, "This is the 
 confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask 
 anything according to His will. He heareth us" 
 (1 John V. 14). 
 
 "If when I kneel to pray, 
 
 With eager lips I say: 
 *Lord, give me all the things that I desire; 
 Health, wealth, fame, friends, brave hearts, religious fire, 
 The power to sway my fellow-men at will, 
 And strength for mighty works to banish ill'; 
 
 In such a prayer as this. 
 
 The blessing I must miss. 
 
64 Life Abiding and Abounding 
 
 Or if I only dare 
 
 To raise this fainting prayer: 
 Thou seest, Lord, that I am poor and weak. 
 And cannot tell what things I ought to seek; 
 I therefore do not ask at all, but still 
 I trust Thy bounty all my wants to fill'; 
 
 My lips shall thus grow dumb. 
 
 The blessing will not come. 
 
 But if I lowly fall, 
 
 And thus in faith I call: 
 Through Christ, O Lord, I pray Thee give to me. 
 Not what I would, but what seems best to Thee, 
 Of life, of health, of service, and of strength. 
 Until to Thy full joy I come at length'; 
 
 My prayer shall then avail, 
 
 The blessing wUl not fail." 
 
 Prayer must be in the name of Christ. John 
 xiv. 13; xvi. 24: "In My Name." The "Name" 
 of Christ is the revelation of His Person and 
 Character. It is not a mere title, but the expres- 
 sion of everything we know of Him. The "Name" 
 is the nature, so far as we possess the manifesta- 
 tion of it. *'In His Name" implies union and 
 communion with Him. And "praying in His 
 Name" means asking in union and fellowship with 
 Him as the sphere and atmosphere of our life. 
 Our Lord had taught His disciples many lessons 
 on prayer from the beginning of His ministry, but 
 
Conditions of Prayer 66 
 
 this lesson of praying "in His Name" was a new 
 one (John xvi. 24) and marked an advance on 
 their former knowledge and experience. In these 
 chapters of St. John (xiv. — xvii.) we have several 
 references to the "Name" of Christ, and to the 
 blessings associated with it. The more fully we 
 get to know the Lord in the plentitude and power 
 of His presence and grace, the more truly we shall 
 be enabled to pray "in His Name." The Word 
 of God carefully and constantly studied will reveal 
 to us more of the "fulness of the blessing of 
 Christ," and this will make our prayers richer, 
 fuller, deeper, and more closely in union with the 
 will and purpose of God. We shall enter more 
 deeply into fellowship with our Lord as He pleads 
 above, and our prayers will bring power and 
 blessing to all for whom we pray. Let us take 
 time to learn from God the increasing and infinite 
 possibilities of prayer "in the Name" of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 Prayer must be in the Spirit. Jude 20, "Pray- 
 ing in the Holy Ghost"; Eph. vi. 18, "Praying 
 in the Spirit." This condition shows at 
 once the Divine requirement and provision in rela- 
 tion to prayer. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit 
 is the unspeakable blessing of every believer's life, 
 and this Divine presence is intimately connected 
 
66 Life Abiding and Abounding 
 
 with our life of prayer. The Holy Spirit pleads 
 within us (Rom. viii. 26), and we in turn "pray 
 in the Holy Spirit." The word "Advocate" as 
 applied to our Lord (1 John ii. 1) and the word 
 "Comforter" as applied to the Spirit are the same, 
 and the meaning is "one called to help." The 
 Advocate above pleads before the Throne, the 
 Advocate within pleads in our hearts, and thus we 
 are linked to the Throne of God and are enabled 
 to pray in the Holy Spirit. He reveals our needs, 
 prompts our petitions, influences our desires, 
 strengthens our faith, and confirms our hope and 
 expectation of answers to our prayers. The more 
 fully we can realise our union and communion with 
 the Holy Spirit the more we shall experience the 
 joy and power of "praying with all prayer and 
 supplication in the Spirit." It is because we are 
 living and praying in the Holy Spirit that we are 
 enabled to fulfill all the other conditions and pray 
 incessantly, actively, strenuously, and intensely. 
 
 Thus the human side of prayer is met by the 
 Divine, and if we are abiding in the Holy Ghost 
 we shall be enabled to put forth all these activities, 
 and prayer will not only not be a burden, but on 
 the contrary a positive delight and a genuine 
 blessing. 
 
Accompaniments of Prayer 67 
 
 "Lord, I have shut my door! 
 Come Thou and visit me; I am alone! 
 Come, as when doors were shut, Thou cam'st of yore, 
 
 And visitedst Thine own. 
 My Lord, I kneel with reverent love and fear. 
 
 For Thou art here." 
 
 4. Accompaniments of Prayer 
 
 There are several things recorded in the New 
 Testament as associated with prayer, and a careful 
 study of them will be of great service in learning 
 how to pray. 
 
 Prayer must be accompanied by faith (ttio-ti?), 
 Mark xi. 24. This is the inevitable and essential 
 accompaniment of all true prayer. Prayer must 
 be based on Divine Revelation and find its war- 
 rant in the promises and assurances of God's love 
 and grace. This distinguishes Christian prayer 
 from everything that goes by the name of prayer 
 in heathen religions. Christian prayer is based on 
 the Word of God. God encourages, commands, in- 
 vites, welcomes prayer. The charter of prayer 
 was given by our Lord at the outset of His 
 ministry. "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, 
 and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened 
 unto you." This charter was confirmed again and 
 again through His earthly ministry until it found 
 its crown in His fullest, deepest teaching on 
 Prayer on the eve of the Crucifixion, when, as we 
 
68 Life Abiding and Abounding 
 
 have seen, He taught His disciples the meaning 
 of prayer: "in My Name." This warrant of 
 prayer is accordingly met by our response of trust. 
 Our faith accepts the assurance that prayer will 
 be heard and answered, and pleads the fulfillment 
 of Divine promises. Faith is thus the only pos- 
 sible response to the Divine revelation, and apart 
 from our belief in God as the Hearer of prayer 
 there could not be any real prayer or genuine 
 blessing. "He that cometh to God must believe 
 that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that 
 diligently seek Him" (Heb. xi. 6). Herein lies 
 the intimate and necessary connection between the 
 Word of God and Prayer. The greater our knowl- 
 edge of the Scriptures and the richer our experi- 
 ence of its preciousness, the fuller and deeper will 
 be our prayers, until it shall become the simplest 
 and most natural and most instructive experience 
 of our life to live in the Divine Presence and rest 
 on the Divine promises, and then to pour out our 
 souls in the prayer of faith and believe to see the 
 goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. 
 
 Prayer must be accompanied by frankness 
 (Trapprjo-Lo), In 1 John v. 14, the word is rendered 
 "confidence," and means "freedom of speech," or 
 "unreserved conversation" as between those who 
 fully trust each other. This word occurs four 
 times in St. John's first Epistle, twice with refer- 
 
Accompaniments of Prayer 69 
 
 ence to the believer in relation to the future, and 
 twice in relation to the present. It is helpful to 
 render it in 1 John ii. 28, as giving the true mean- 
 ing, by "And now, little children, abide in Him; 
 that, when He shall appear, we may tell Him 
 everything, and not be ashamed before Him at His 
 coming." Our true attitude at that day will be 
 "freedom of speech," nothing between us, nothing 
 kept back. We find the same word in chapter iv. 
 17, "That we may have boldness in the day of 
 judgment" (rrapprjaia). Also in chapter iii. 21, 
 "Beloved, if our hearts condemn us not, then have 
 we confidence (boldness) towards God." And then 
 chapter v. 14, "This is the confidence we have in 
 Him, that if we ask anything according to His 
 will. He heareth us." When we kneel in prayer 
 this should be the spirit of our approach to God, 
 a spirit of confidence, of unreserved speech, which 
 tells Him everything, and a spirit of child-like 
 faith and assurance which rests on His promises 
 and expects their fulfillment in answer to prayer. 
 Prayer must be accompanied by fasting (Acts 
 xiv. 23). From time to time in the New Testament 
 prayer and fasting are associated (cf. Mark ix. 
 29). In these passages the references are doubt- 
 less to abstinence from food, but we may well 
 believe that fasting from food is only one precise 
 way in which the spiritual action associated with 
 
70 Life Abiding and Abounding 
 
 the idea is to be expressed. Fasting represents an 
 attitude of detachment from the things of time 
 and sense whether it be from food, or pleasure, or 
 lawful ambition. Prayer represents the comple- 
 mentary attitude of attachment to the things of 
 God and the spiritual world. When we thus 
 realise our need of detachment from earth we shall 
 readily determine, under the guidance of the Holy 
 Spirit, what particular forms our fasting shall 
 take. In the times of our Puritan forefathers the 
 spiritual value of fasting from food was fully 
 realised, and there can be no doubt whatever of 
 the relation of physical food to spiritual blessing. 
 The sin of overeating is only too apt to hinder 
 spiritual power in prayer, while if we "keep under 
 the body" we shall certainly be conscious of more 
 liberty and blessing as we fulfill our work of 
 prayer and intercession. What we need concern- 
 ing food, dress, books, recreation, friendship, 
 ambition, is the resolute determination to be above 
 them, superior to them, in order that the spiritual 
 may rule everything. Like St. Paul, we should 
 say, "All things are lawful for me, but I will not 
 be brought under the power of any" (1 Cor. vi. 
 12). This is the true idea of fasting, and in this 
 spirit of detachment from things earthly we obtain 
 one of the true accompaniments of, and helps to. 
 
Accompaniments of Prayer 71 
 
 that spirit of attachment to God which is found in 
 prayer. 
 
 Prayer must be accompanied by watching. 
 "Watching thereunto with all perseverance" (Eph. 
 vi. 18); "Continue in prayer, and watch in the 
 same with thanksgiving" (Col. iv. 2). There are 
 two words rendered by our word "watch" ; one 
 simply means "the absence of sleep/' and the other 
 "expectation." This "watching" is associated with 
 prayer in a number of passages. But what does 
 it mean.^ It is very suggestive and significant to 
 notice that in the New Testament we never find 
 any object attached to the word "watch." We are 
 never told what to watch. It does not say, "Watch 
 your enemies/' or "Watch Satan," or even "Watch 
 yourselves." The word is absolutely free gram- 
 matically from any definite object; and this may 
 be intended to teach us we are to be concerned 
 only with watching Christ. Not looking in, watch- 
 ing our sins; not looking round, watching our 
 enemies — we shall get baffled if we watch them; 
 not looking round and watching men; but watch- 
 ing Christ, "looking unto Jesus." If we look into 
 our hearts we shall despair; but if we look to 
 Christ we shall see ourselves as He sees us, and 
 we shall see the precious blood and the merit of 
 the atoning sacrifice. Occupied with Him we shall 
 be guarded, guided, and blessed in all things, and 
 
72 Life Abiding and Abounding 
 
 be enabled to wait in expectation of His answers 
 to our prayer. So "watching unto prayer," our 
 eyes will be fixed on Christ in an attitude of ex- 
 pectation, looking off from everything else to Him, 
 and waiting His answers to our petitions. "I will 
 direct my prayer unto Thee, and will look up" 
 (Psalm V. 3). May this ever be the necessary 
 accompaniment to our prayer. 
 
 Prayer must be accompanied by obedience (1 
 John iii. 22). We obtain our petitions because we 
 obey God and do what is pleasing in His sight. 
 This does not mean that obedience is the ground of 
 answered prayer, for God's mercy and love are 
 the only foundation of blessing. It means that 
 only in an obedient spirit can we expect blessing. 
 It would be incongruous and impossible for us to 
 pray and expect answers while our lives are out 
 of harmony with God and we are living in dis- 
 obedience to His will. "If I regard iniquity in 
 my heart, the Lord will not hear me." When the 
 soul is true to God blessing inevitably comes, for 
 obedience is ever one of the pathways to power 
 in prayer. 
 
 Prayer must be accompanied by forgiveness 
 (Mark xi. 25). The necessity of forgiveness of 
 our fellow-Christians and of all men is frequently 
 emphasised by our Lord and also by His Apostles 
 (Matt. vi. 14; Mark xi. 25; Eph. iv. 32; CoL iii. 
 
Accompaniments of Prayer 73 
 
 18). In the Lord's Prayer we are taught to ask 
 for God's forgiveness, since we ourselves have the 
 spirit of forgiveness which we desire to receive 
 ourselves. If there is any grudge or resentment 
 in the heart, to say nothing of anger and malice, 
 there is no possibility of prayer being answered. 
 If we should say, "I forgive but I cannot forget," 
 it may well mean that we do not really forgive 
 after all. Without a sincere and hearty spirit of 
 loving forgiveness there cannot possibly be any 
 power in prayer, and the Lord's word stands out 
 clear and sharp. "When ye stand praying, 
 forgive.'* 
 
 Prayer must be accompanied by thanksgiving. 
 Philippians iv. 6 is one among many passages. 
 "In everything by prayer and supplication with 
 thanksgiving, let your request be made known unto 
 God." Why is thanksgiving so frequently asso- 
 ciated with prayer.^ There must be some reason 
 for it. If we look at St. Paul's Epistles we very 
 seldom find the one mentioned without the other. 
 It is probably intended to suggest the attitude of 
 appropriation as well as of supplication. Prayer 
 is asking; thanksgiving is testifying that we have 
 received. It is just here that we fail; we ask, 
 but we do not accept and appropriate. Faith in 
 Scripture is two-fold in meaning. There is the 
 faith that asks and the faith that accepts. The 
 
74 Life Abiding and Abounding 
 
 faith that asks is expressed in prayer, the faith 
 that accepts is expressed in thanksgiving. We 
 are continually asking, but have we the faith 
 that appropriates? A Christian man went to 
 lunch with an intimate friend whom he had known 
 for twenty-five years, and after "grace" was said, 
 the ordinary phrase being used, asking to be "made 
 truly thankful," the guest, claiming the privilege 
 of friendship, enquired, "When do you expect to 
 get that prayer answered? You have been pray- 
 ing all these years to be made thankful!" The 
 man had been "asking," but never appropriating. 
 He had the faith that asks, but not the faith that 
 accepts. Many a Christian would find life more 
 powerful and blessed if he knew a little more of 
 the faith that appropriates, faith that expresses 
 itself in thanksgiving, "O God, I thanh Thee!" 
 We may see this in the Revised Version of Mark 
 xi. 24, "Whatsoever things ye desire when ye pray, 
 believe that ye have received them, and ye shall 
 have them." Let us not fail to accompany our 
 prayer with this appropriation of thanksgiving. 
 
 Prayer must be accompanied by joy. "Making 
 request with joy" (Phil. i. 4). In some respects 
 this is the deepest and most inclusive element. 
 When we come before God our prayer should be 
 accompanied with inward satisfaction, because we 
 are going to meet our God and are sure of His 
 
Accompaniments of Prayer 76 
 
 blessmg. We should experience the very opposite 
 of pain or anguish, and have the consciousness of 
 a privilege, a joy, in approaching God. There is 
 no joy like the joy of living in the presence of 
 God, the joy of asking Him for what we need, the 
 joy of receiving His blessed answers to our pray- 
 ers. It is the joy of joys to realise our true posi- 
 tion before Him, and to be assured of power in 
 prayer. It is the joy of a great peace, the joy 
 of a holy privilege, the joy of a perpetual fellow- 
 ship, the joy of a perfect satisfaction. 
 
 "My inmost soul, O Lord, to Thee 
 
 Leans Hke a growing flower 
 Unto the light; I do not know 
 
 The day nor blessed hour 
 When that deep-rooted, daring growth 
 
 We call the heart's desire 
 Shalt burst and blossom to a prayer 
 
 Within the sacred fire 
 Of Thy great patience; grow so pure, 
 
 So still, so sweet a thing 
 As perfect prayer must surely be. 
 
 And yet my heart will sing 
 Because Thou seem'st sometimes so near. 
 
 Close-present God! to me, 
 It seems I could not have a wish 
 
 That was not shared by Thee; 
 It seems I cannot be afraid 
 
 To speak my longings out. 
 So tenderly Thy gathering love 
 
 Enfolds me round about; 
 
76 Life Abiding and Abounding 
 
 It seems as if my heart would break, 
 
 If, living on the light. 
 It should not lift to Thee at last 
 
 A bud of flawless white. 
 And yet, O helpless heart! how sweet 
 
 To grow, and bud, and say: 
 *The flower, however marred or wan. 
 
 Shall not be cast away.* " 
 
 We have now considered the main lines of 
 Scripture teaching on the subject of prayer, though 
 only the fringe of a vast territory has been 
 touched. By means of a concordance we may work 
 out more fully for ourselves these lines of medita- 
 tion and study, and find in them the source of in- 
 creasing spiritual blessing. 
 
 If anyone should inquire how such a life of 
 prayer is possible, the answer is clear and unmis- 
 takable. For this attitude of prayer we must 
 have times of prayer. The attitude is based on 
 acts, and times of prayer are necessary as the 
 occasions of storage and accumulation of light, and 
 power, and grace. Let us see to it that not a day 
 passes without definitely going aside with God for 
 solitary prayer. 
 
 How shall we commence? Let us start with five 
 minutes only. Opening our Bible with a prayer 
 for God's illumination, let us read a verse or short 
 passage as the message of God to our souls. Then 
 
Accompaniments of Prayer 77 
 
 we may turn the verse into prayer and thus spend 
 those five minutes with God. Let us do this again 
 the next day, and again the day after. We should 
 not go beyond the five minutes until these are 
 fully enjoyed. It will not be long before we 
 shall be conscious of spiritual illumination and 
 satisfaction as we wait before God in prayer, and 
 very soon our five minutes will be extended. We 
 shall enjoy this time so much that the minutes 
 will be all too short, and we shall find it possible 
 to do that easiest of all things in the world, make 
 time! 
 
 It is this failure to spend a definite, even 
 though it be short, time each day with God that 
 is the secret of all weakness, variableness, and 
 shallowness in our spiritual experience and service. 
 We sometimes sing, 
 
 "Oh, the pure delight of a single hour 
 That before Thy Throne I spend." 
 
 A single hour! How often do we do it? How 
 many of us do it.^ A single hour! And yet we 
 hurry over our prayer-time and fail to give God 
 one-quarter of a single hour. Of course He only 
 expects the "hour" if we really can give it, and 
 it is wonderful how much prayer we can put into 
 five minutes and how much blessing we can get 
 out of it if only these few minutes are practicable 
 
78 Life Abiding and Abounding* 
 
 for us. Our time may not be long, but it must 
 be regular; and from the act will come the habit^ 
 and from the habit the attitude, and from the 
 attitude the character, settled, strong, sure, and 
 abiding, wherein God's presence will be more and 
 more a delight, and God's power more and more 
 realized. 
 
 "When thou wakest in the morning, 
 
 Ere thou tread the untried way 
 Of the lot that lies before thee 
 
 Through the coming busy day, 
 Whether sunbeams promise brightness, 
 
 Whether dim forebodings fall, 
 Be thy dawning glad or gloomy. 
 
 Go to Jesus — tell Him all. 
 
 In the calm of sweet communion 
 
 Let thy daily work be done, 
 In the peace of soul outpouring 
 
 Care be banished, patience won. 
 And if earth with its enchantments 
 
 Seek thy spirit to enthrall, 
 Ere thou listen — ere thou answer. 
 
 Turn to Jesus — tell Him all. 
 
 Then as hour by hour glides by thee 
 
 Thou wilt blessed guidance know. 
 Thine own burden being lightened. 
 
 Thou canst bear another's woe. 
 Thou canst help the weak ones onward. 
 
 Thou canst raise up those that fall. 
 But remember, while thou servest, 
 
 Still tell Jesus— tell Him all. 
 
Accompaniments of Prayer 79 
 
 And if weariness creeps o'er thee 
 
 As the day wears to its close, 
 Or if sudden fierce temptations 
 
 Bring thee face to face with foes, 
 In thy weakness, in thy peril. 
 
 Raise to heaven a trustful call. 
 Strength and calm for every crisis 
 
 Come — in telling Jesus all." 
 
 O. M. Taylor, 
 
Princeton Theoloqical Seminary Libraries 
 
 1 1012 01231 5380