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 PRAYER 
 
 IN 
 
 Relation to Missions 
 
 Rev. W. L. Ferguson 
 Madra*. India 
 
 LAYMEN'S MISSIONARY MOVEMENT 
 1 Madison Avenue, New York 
 
NOVEMBER 191 » 
 
Prayer is the -first and chief method of help¬ 
 ing to solve the missionary problem. Among 
 all the methods that have ever been proposed, 
 none is more practical or more fruitful than 
 this. Will not every reader of this pamphlet 
 help in the effort to get a definite group of 
 people at home into the habit of supporting by 
 daily prayer each missionary in the thick of the 
 fight? By this simple method alone, the effi¬ 
 ciency of the present missionary force could 
 probably be doubled without adding a single 
 new zvorker. —J. Campbell White. 
 
 “And He spake a parable unto them, to the 
 end that men ought always to pray and not to 
 faint.” (Luke 18:1.) 
 
 O NE comes to a discussion of the topic 
 of prayer with a conscious and very 
 genuine shrinking, with a half- 
 formed desire not to speak at all; for 
 prayer is like some delicate flower whose 
 loveliness, fragrance and form charm 
 and exhilirate the beholder, but whose 
 beauty is shed immediately the hand is laid 
 upon it. Moreover, one hesitates to speak 
 on a subject which is so intimate and person¬ 
 al as the soul’s relation to God, lest the 
 critical spirit should be aroused in someone 
 
 1 
 
who hears and one’s message should thus 
 became of none effect—lest harm and not 
 good should be done. Nevertheless, the 
 subject “Prayer in Relation to Missions” 
 ought to be discussed, not as a theory, but as 
 a fact. There is abundant testimony regard¬ 
 ing the intimate connection between prayer 
 and the extension of the boundaries on the- 
 Christian frontier. We get no further and 
 move no faster than we pray. Christ has 
 said, “Ask and ye shall receive.” His pro¬ 
 mise holds for the individual, the family, 
 the church, the mission society who will 
 comply with the condition, namely, to ask. 
 We receive not because we ask not, and we 
 ask amiss and receive not. We receive little 
 because we ask little. We need a world¬ 
 wide outlook and a challenging faith—a 
 faith which will credit God with all the re¬ 
 sources of heaven and earth, and with a de¬ 
 sire to use them for the advancement of the 
 kingdom of his Son. 
 
 Christ never theorized about prayer. It 
 was a great fact in his life and work, as it 
 was also in the life and work of Paul and 
 of the other Apostles. In every great cri¬ 
 sis of his ministry the Master is found pray¬ 
 ing. In the very beginning, at his baptism, 
 as he prayed the heavens were opened and 
 
 2 
 
the Holy Spirit descended upon him like 
 a dove. Before choosing his twelve dis¬ 
 ciples he spent the whole night in prayer; 
 and it was while he was praying that the 
 fashion of his countenance was altered and 
 his raiment became white and dazzling in 
 the transfiguration. And in Gethsemane, 
 being in an agony, he prayed, his sweat as 
 great drops of blood falling down upon the 
 ground. His prayers range all the way 
 from simple thanksgiving through adoration 
 to petition, supplication and intercession, 
 finally culminating on the cross with the 
 marvelous words, “Father, forgive them, 
 for they know not what they do.” “The 
 servant is not greater than his master, nor 
 the disciple than his Lord.” If it was neces¬ 
 sary for him, while in the flesh, thus to 
 pray regarding the establishment, direction 
 and perpetuation of his work, how much 
 more necessary for those who go forth in 
 his name thus to do. The missionary needs 
 the enduement of the Holy Spirit, to be so 
 filled and energized with the all-mightiness 
 of Christ that mistakes in founding Christ- 
 tianity in mission lands shall not be made. 
 Disciples won from heathen darkness must 
 be received, baptized and built up. From 
 among these, evangelists, teachers and pas- 
 
 3 
 
tors must be developed, trained and sent forth 
 to the work. Without prayer for wisdom 
 and direction what mistakes are possible in 
 this respect! Furthermore, there should be 
 times of transfiguration in the life of the 
 messenger of the Cross. The fashion of 
 his countenance should be so changed, both 
 in the presence of his disciples and non¬ 
 disciples, that all will know that he is a man 
 of God charged with a great message, im¬ 
 pelled by a new spirit, different from other 
 men. How can a missionary be all this un¬ 
 less he is aided by a force greater than he 
 finds within himself? Here is a challenge 
 to the men and women in the churches of 
 the home land that they pray for their mis¬ 
 sionaries without ceasing. 
 
 Among the many utterances of the Apos¬ 
 tle Paul regarding prayer we find the re¬ 
 quest, “Now I beseech you, brethren, that 
 you strive together in your prayers to God 
 for me,” and also the statement: “Ye also 
 helping together on our behalf by your sup¬ 
 plication that for the gift bestowed upon us 
 by the means of many, thanks may be given 
 by many persons on our behalf.” He asks 
 his hearers to pray that a door may be 
 opened for the Word; that he may make 
 the Word manifest; that he may speak as 
 
 4 
 
he ought to speak; that utterance may be 
 given to him in opening his mouth so as to 
 make known with boldness the mystery of 
 the Gospel; that the Word of the Lord 
 might run and be glorified; and that those 
 who proclaimed it might be delivered from 
 unreasonable and evil men, for not all have 
 faith. 
 
 Neither human nature nor conditions in 
 non-Christian lands have changed since the 
 days of the Apostle. The heart of man re¬ 
 mains the same and the long black catalogue 
 of sins in the first chapter of Romans is 
 just as true to life in India, China and Af¬ 
 rica to-day as it was when penned by the 
 Apostle. These things being so, like him 
 we call for definite, individual and congre¬ 
 gational petition on our behalf that we may 
 be kept, sustained and guided, emboldened, 
 made vocal and effective by the power of 
 God. 
 
 THE NEEDS OF THE MISSIONARIES 
 
 Perhaps all too little attention hitherto 
 has been given to the condition of the world 
 into which the missionary is sent. Few who 
 have not seen it can realize the denseness of 
 the ignorance, the darkness, the superstition 
 and bondage, the appalling sin and wicked¬ 
 ness into the midst of which the missionary 
 
 o 
 
must go. Many people imagine that the 
 missionary should be constantly on the 
 mountain-top of Christian experience. They 
 forget how many things there are to keep 
 him in the valley. He is in the midst of a 
 horror of great darkness, oftentimes alone 
 among a people who know not God and are 
 given over to every manner of evil. He is 
 thrust suddenly from a life such as he has 
 known from his infancy, with Christian 
 home, the influences of church, Sunday- 
 school, various societies, the atmosphere of 
 a Christian college and theological semi¬ 
 nary, helpful companionship and ministries 
 —from all this into the very heart and cen¬ 
 ter of a religious and social condition where 
 he lacks every one of these things. 
 
 From the day he arrives on his field the 
 fight begins—the fight to maintain his char¬ 
 acter, his consecration and his enthusiasm. 
 He has not to wrestle against flesh and 
 blood, but against principalities, against the 
 powers, against the world rulers of this 
 darkness, against spiritual hosts of wick¬ 
 edness ; and they become very real when one 
 is cut off from all the aid and fellowship 
 to which he has been accustomed in the 
 home land. One has to pray continually 
 that his eyes may not become accustomed to 
 
 6 
 
the sights which he daily must behold, and 
 that his ears become not familiar with the 
 sounds which he hears almost continuously; 
 that his heart may not become hardened by 
 the unresponsiveness of the people to whom 
 he ministers, and that constantly his soul 
 may be kept in health, that it droop not nor 
 faint in the midst of the spiritual miasma 
 all round about him. He needs to be clad 
 in the whole armor of God that he may be 
 able to withstand in the midst of evil, and 
 having done all, to stand—to stand having 
 loins girt with truth, to stand having on the 
 breastplate of righteousness, to stand being 
 shod with the preparation of the Gospel of 
 peace, to stand with a shield of faith with 
 which to quench all the fiery darts of the 
 evil one, to stand with the helmet of sal¬ 
 vation on, bearing the sword of the Spirit 
 which is the Word of God, to stand with all 
 prayer and supplication, praying at all sea¬ 
 sons in the Spirit and watching thereunto 
 in all perseverance and supplication for all 
 the saints. 
 
 If those who send the missionaries forth 
 more fully realized the nature of the battle 
 to which they go none would ever suppose 
 that his Christian duty were done when he 
 contributed for the outfit, the passage money 
 
 7 
 
and the salary necessary for sending the 
 ambassador abroad and maintaining him 
 upon the field. The real support of the mis¬ 
 sionary and the whole missionary enterprise 
 calls for something even more valuable than 
 money—sympathy, desire, heart burden,— 
 finding their expression in intercessory pray¬ 
 er. 
 
 THE PRAYER THAT COSTS. 
 
 It costs to pray. It costs more to pray 
 than to do anything else that can be done, 
 if one prays in the Spirit and walks—fol¬ 
 lows—in the Spirit. He was pastor in a 
 small church when he first became interest¬ 
 ed in missions. One Sunday morning he 
 was about to preach from the text, “Ex¬ 
 cept a corn of wheat fall into the ground 
 and die it abideth alone, but if it die it 
 bringeth forth much fruit.’’ In the prayer 
 which preceded the sermon he prayed for 
 the extension of Christ’s kingdom in far¬ 
 away lands, and asked the Lord if it would 
 please him to honor the little church by 
 choosing and sending forth someone of its 
 members as a messenger to the lost, and as 
 he prayed the answer seemed to come in 
 the shape of a question: “Why should you 
 not go?” And go he felt he must, and go 
 he did. But God was answering more large- 
 
 8 
 
ly even than sending him, for he spoke to 
 another that same day, and instead of one 
 for whom he prayed two were given. And 
 so it ever is, “more exceeding abundantly 
 than we are able to ask or to think/ ’ 
 
 Workers do not come apart from pray¬ 
 er. They come in answer to it, being called 
 of God and set apart by him for this service. 
 Christ has given us the needful directions: 
 “Pray ye the Lord of the harvest that he 
 thrust forth laborers into his harvest.” Does 
 he not know that laborers are needed? 
 Why, then, does he not thrust them forth 
 apart from prayer? As stated before, 
 Christ enunciated no theory concerning 
 prayer; it was simply a fact of life to him. 
 He says, Pray that laborers may be thrust 
 forth. It is fair to assume that apart from 
 prayer they will not be given, and that with 
 prayer and in answer to it they will abun¬ 
 dantly be thrust forth. The necessary thing 
 in this whole missionary enterprise is a real¬ 
 ization of partnership. We are heirs of 
 God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ; we 
 are laborers together with God; we are 
 sharers with Christ in all that pertains to 
 his life, his plans and his activity in the 
 world. His anxiety for the race, his tra¬ 
 vail of soul that it might be saved, his vi- 
 
 9 
 
carious sacrificial ministry must become 
 ours. The needs of the lost—the unevan¬ 
 gelized—become our own. Like the Ca- 
 naanitish woman whose daugther was sick, 
 we say, “Lord, have mercy on me,” as 
 though the sin and sickness and sorrow of 
 the world were in very truth our own. It 
 was through eyes like these that Christ saw 
 the multitudes as sheep without a shepherd, 
 and seeing them, his heart was moved and 
 he had compassion. It will not be until we, 
 his followers, are thus vicariously joined 
 to him that we shall be in the world as he 
 was, seeing as he saw, feeling as he felt, 
 and showing compassion as he did. Great 
 are those words of the late A. J. Gordon 
 and worthy to be pondered: “I have long 
 since ceased to pray, ‘Lord Jesus, have com¬ 
 passion upon a lost world.’ I remember the 
 day and the hour when I seemed to hear the 
 Lord rebuking me for making such a pray¬ 
 er. He seemed to say to me: ‘I have had 
 compassion upon a lost world, and now it 
 is time for you to have compassion; I have 
 given my heart, now give your heart.’ ” If 
 we do this it is bound to cost. Salvation 
 always costs; it cost the Son of God his 
 life. The price of redemption is blood— 
 the blood of Christ—and if we are partners 
 
 10 
 
with him we shall not escape, or desire to 
 escape, whatever of sacrifice his service may 
 entail. 
 
 THE PRAYER THAT COUNTS. 
 
 It counts to pray. In some way not yet 
 fully understood prayer releases omnipotent 
 forces. A hundred years ago very little of 
 the non-Christian world could be entered 
 by the messengers of the CrossL To-day 
 almost all lands are open to them. Multi¬ 
 tudes of men and women are still alive who 
 remember the missionary concerts in which 
 prayer was regularly made that God would 
 open the fast-closed doors of the heathen 
 world. That he answered is now apparent 
 to all. Prayer is the cure for spiritual lean¬ 
 ness, both in the individual and in the 
 Church. In response to prayer mighty re¬ 
 vivals break forth. Some one, or some com¬ 
 pany of believers, becomes burdened in soul 
 for the welfare of others and prays. The 
 result is ofttimes measured by hundreds of 
 conversions and by a complete revolution 
 of the social and spiritual life of the com¬ 
 munity. Prayer is the cure for lack of 
 workers both for the home and the foreign 
 fields. Some years ago in Iowa there were 
 scores of Baptist churches which were pas¬ 
 torless. The leaders of the denomination 
 
 11 
 
had diligently sought for a supply sufficient 
 to occupy these vacant places, but without 
 success. In a convention at Webster City 
 this critical condition was brought before 
 the annual assembly of the denomination 
 and considerable discussion was engaged in. 
 Finally someone arose and suggested that 
 all business be put aside and that the con¬ 
 vention betake itself to prayer, asking the 
 Lord of the harvest for the needed laborers. 
 This was done, and not long afterward in 
 the denominational college at Des Moines, 
 where hitherto not one candidate for the 
 ministry was studying, forty-one men were 
 enrolled who definitely had the ministry at 
 home of mission service abroad in view. 
 Three came forth from one church in the 
 space of a single year, and twenty of the 
 forty-one have contributed up to the pres¬ 
 ent day an aggregate of 378 years in active 
 service! It counts to pray. 
 
 The Church of Christ is face to face with 
 a world-wide opportunity. Never before 
 have the doors been flung so widely open, 
 and never before has the voice of need been 
 so strong and insistent. The unevangelized 
 peoples call from out the darkness, “Come 
 over and help us.” We look at ourselves, 
 at our churches, at our missionary organiza- 
 
 12 
 
tions, yet, splendid as these may be, we cry 
 out, “Who is sufficient for these things?” 
 The dimension of the task are overwhelm¬ 
 ing, and we are so poorly equipped in our¬ 
 selves—there is so much to do and so few 
 to do it, so little with which to do the so- 
 much that waits to be done. But listen! 
 God calls. He challenges, saying, “Prove 
 me, prove me now herewith, and see if I 
 will not pour you out a blessing so that 
 there shall not be room enough to con¬ 
 tain it.” He says to his people: “The 
 weapons of your warfare are not carnal, but 
 spiritual. Ask of me and I will give. The 
 silver and the gold are mine, and the cattle 
 upon a thousand hills. All souls are mine 
 and I can turn the hearts of men whither¬ 
 soever I will, even as I turn the rivers of 
 water. I have resources at my command, 
 the fullness of which you little know. Ask 
 of me, prove me now herewith and see; en¬ 
 ter into partenership with me in this world¬ 
 wide enterprise; get my view, adopt my 
 plans, desire my aim, follow my methods; 
 ask, seek, knock—prove me now and see.” 
 
 AN ADEQUATE PROGRAM OF PRAYER. 
 
 Here, then is the solution. It is found 
 in an adequate program of prayer for mis¬ 
 sions—the praying with new understanding, 
 
 13 
 
desire and sympathy of the old prayer, ‘ 1 Thy 
 kingdom come.” Prayer has availed to open 
 the closed doors of the nations. Prayer will 
 avail to bring forth the needed supply of 
 workers and resources in order that the 
 world’s need may be met. Let us not seek 
 for new methods, but rather fall back on 
 the primary one, the method of Jesus which 
 was practiced and enjoined by himself. 
 Why not ask? Why not pray for laborers? 
 Why not covet earnestly the best gifts? 
 Why not ask that the young and talented 
 in our churches be thrust forth for the min¬ 
 istry of God? There is dearth of suitable 
 material for both home and foreign service. 
 Why not ask for a supply commensurate 
 with the need? Why be content with little 
 when we may have much? Let us pray our 
 young people out into a life of wider use¬ 
 fulness, deeper consecration and fuller min¬ 
 istry than they ever could find for them¬ 
 selves. Let us pray for the missionaries 
 already gone forth that they may be sus¬ 
 tained, empowered and made effective. Why 
 not adopt some one personally as your 
 missionary? Correspond with him, learn 
 all about his field, its needs, its problems, its 
 trials, its progress, its blessings; enter into 
 partnership with God for that missionary 
 
 14 
 
and that field and bear them upon your heart 
 and your prayers continually. Your own 
 ;oul will be enriched and blessed and your 
 earnest, effectual prayer will avail much in 
 strengthening the work, in cheering the 
 worker and bringing to the field resources 
 which without prayer would never be re¬ 
 leased. In no formal way does the missionary 
 who pens these lines take up the apostolic 
 exhortation and say, ‘‘Brethren, pray for 
 us.” We need your prayers. We cannot 
 get on without them. This whole enterprise 
 which was bom, cradled and nourished in 
 prayer must be sustained now and go for¬ 
 ward by the same method. We shall succeed 
 only as we pray well. Plus knowledge, plus 
 giving, plus sending, plus going, plus labor¬ 
 ers abundant, plus all else must be prayer. 
 “Brethren, pray for us.” Let us pray. 
 
 0, Lord of the harvest, who hast hidden us 
 pray, we come to thee humbly confessing our 
 sins, our lack of faith , our sluggish zeal, our 
 failure to apprehend and follow thy command. 
 We beseech thee to grant us pardon and to 
 make us what we ought to be—companions 
 of Christ, sharers with him in the burden and 
 travail of redeeming a lost world. We look on 
 the fields and behold them already white for 
 the harvest. We ask thee to thrust forth the 
 
 15 
 
needed laborers; to endue them and all thy 
 servants with grace and plenteous power. 
 Cheer and sustain them in their ministry. Be 
 pleased to bless us — individuals, families and 
 churches. Fill our hearts with a new and 
 deeper love for thee, and aid us to a fuller 
 consecration than hitherto we have known. 
 Enlarge us in faith, in devotion, in fellowship 
 with thee and all thine, and help us that we 
 withhold not aught — ourselves, our children, 
 our substance — from thee or thy service. 
 Hasten the proclamation of thy Word to every 
 creature and speedily complete thy work. So 
 may thy kingdom come and thy will be done 
 on earth even as it is done in heaven , through 
 Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen. 
 
 16 
 
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