How to Prayer, Part 4, Ask and Ye Shall Receive, Revival and Repentance
Psalm 145:18 throws a great deal of light on the question of how to
pray: "The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon Him, to all that
call upon Him in truth."
That little expression "in truth" is worthy of study. If you will take
your concordance and go through the Bible,you will find that this
expression means "in reality," "in sincerity." The prayer that God
answers is the prayer that is real, the prayer that asks for something
that is sincerely desired.
The above reading is from the classic How to Pray by Reuben A. Torrey, published in 1900.
At one point, Christ said something like "The Father desires worshipers such as these who worship God in spirit and in truth."
The fact is that most of us can hardly pray. We are lost in thinking and imagining. We are lost in our distractions. Perhaps you have noticed this yourself.
It is hard to pray when you are ill with a fever, for example. You are lost in delirium and cannot focus properly. Many times when I am at Starbucks or at the library to go online I see someone who comes in to study. He or she pulls out a textbook or notebook and begins to study, but after about 5 minutes, s/he inevitably reaches for the mobile device and begins scrolling for text messages or emails.
It is for this reason that I recommend beginning with the Christian meditation available here. Most of us are lost in a semi stupor or trance state. We don't know that we are but the evidence of it is that everything pulls on your attention, you have difficulty focusing on things and even more importantly, you are lost in thinking. daydreaming, and the thought stream much of the time.
I was recently teaching a safe driving course, and we were talking about distracted driving. I said that eating while we drive, talking on the hands free cell phone while we drive, listening to the radio or a CD and so on are all distractions.
I then mentioned that daydreaming is also a distraction. One student arrogantly proclaimed that he never daydreams while he drives. He scoffed and said that no one daydreams while they drive. I marveled at his blindness and lack of awareness. Thinking about what we just did, or what we plan to do, or about what someone said to us, even if only for less than a minute (though most of us daydream for much longer stretches) is daydreaming.
When lost in thought, we are not fully there. All of this is to say that when the soul is immersed in the thought stream (or lost in emotional thinking) it is in a state where it cannot pray.
But the person who learns to meditate properly is restored to objectivity, (to "truth" in the words from the quote). Mentally standing back from thought, the person can observe thought instead of being lost in it.
The spirit of the world speaks to us with notions, words and thoughts from its lower abode in the lower mind or in the imagination. From down there it talks to you and gives you wrong ideals. Even when it says factual truths, or sometimes it even quotes Bible verses, it is not sincere.
It misleads you, and when you pray from this lower sort of thinking, it is words in vain. It is for this reason that people can even become afraid to pray. They sense something false about the prayer or fear that something will make them pray something harmful.
Therefore, it must recommend again, and strongly, that you first clear the mind and learn to mentally stand back for objectivity.
When you are no longer lost in thought, you soul stand humble and awaits direction. When the soul is free from the contamination of the lower type of thinking, it is also free from the spirit of the lower mind.
In the Garden of Eden, the serpent was on the outside, but when the first humans sinned, the spirit got inside and it has been inpeople ever since. It is in
all the educators, politicians
and advertisers who
promise you power, glory, greatness and
happiness through education and material possessions.
It is in all the foolish females and the love songs that sing the
praises of naughtiness and carnal delights. So learning to pray is, as Mr. Torrey
properly points out, a matter of asking, of sincerity, and of praying in truth.
The soul which is not immersed in thinking and feeling, and mentally
stands back from the thought stream is subject to God. And it is in
this state that the soul is free to pray and free to pray sincerely.
When immersed in the thought stream, you are subject to post hypnotic influence, as well as the powerful imaginings that pull on your awareness. Down there, lost in the Alice in Wonderland world of fantasy and unreality, you are subject to whatever or whoever drove you into the imagination, and to whatever controls your imagination.
Most of our thoughts come from outside, and that is why when we are thus entranced, we are suggestible. Have you ever wondered why you do dumb things, say dumb things or spend too much money on something. later you could kick yourself "Why did I waste my money on that? you wonder.
It is because you were subject to outside suggestions.
But if you can regain the objective state (which you had when you were a little child, before you were upset by the world), then you will be free to pray.
When you begin to meditate properly, you will discover that you will be able to concentrate for the first time. Before you were merely caught up in one thing or another. When your attention was captured by one thing and another you were distracted. When you fixated on one thing for a long time, you thought you were concentrating, but your attention had been captured.
In the objective state, you will be able to pray. But you will discover most likely that you don't even know what to ask for. You will realize your lack, and wanting to ask the right thing, but not knowing what it is, you are honestly at a loss, yet unwilling to do what is wrong. this sincere humble state calls upon the compassion of the Spirit, and the Holy Spirit will pray for you.
You may also realize, in this objective state, your own insincerity--i.e. you realize your selfishness and something false about yourself. This is good. Why? Because you are realizing in God's Light the truth about yourself. Seeing this truth, you are humbled and you realize your own helplessness. But it is this realization that is a comfort, because you know that it is God who is making your realize a truth about yourself, even though it is negative.
In other words, you see the lesser negative truth (with a small t) about yourself in the light of the greater Truth (with a capital T). You realize that God's Truth is shining a light on your wrong so that you can see it in the light and be repented of it and change for the better.
Realizing the truth without resenting it thus frees you of having to put on a show for God or pretend. You realize in His wordless Light that you are weak and don't know what to ask for, and it is comforting to the soul because it realizes that God knows you, and does not hate you for your wrong or your foolishness. You realize that in you prior state you did not know any better, and God forgives you for your errors.
In this state, seeing that you honestly don't know what to do or to say, and yet being unwilling to do wrong, and sincerely yearning to do what is right--God knows what you need even before you ask. That is why there is no need for wordy prayers.
It basically frees you from having to do anything other than to meditate properly to come close to God. Going about your daily activities, you become more spontaneous, no longer feeling compelled or obligated to put on a show for God or anyone else. You have more time to enjoy the closeness to God and to ponder life and learn its meaning.
Paul exhorts us to pray unceasingly, and I believe he is referring to the meditative life, where we become objective to thoughts and feelings, closer to the Light, and no longer immersed in daydreams, plans and schemes.
I also believe this is the prized state of mind that Christian mystics such as Madame Guyon, St. John of the Cross, Francois Fenelon, Miguel de Molinos, and Saint Francis de Sales had found. They tried to tell us about it and put it in the verbal coinage of the day. They used words like "prayer or contemplation," but I am sure they were referring to the objective state of awareness, mentally standing back from thought, and there finding communion with God.
In a nutshell, ineffectual prayer is praying intellectually or emotionally, from the lower mind and with our consciousness caught up in external things and imagination. This is the state we all live in most of the time. Occasionally we are awakened from our trance state (which becomes a comfort zone) with a wake up call like the morning after the night before, when we exclaim OMG, what did I do!
Some wake up through a brush with death, a heart attack, the piercing words of an honest friend who tells you the truth, or through the suffering of, say, cancer treatment. But even in such cases, most people do not stay awake. They cannot bear the truth and quickly lose themselves in their treatment, in study, drugs, or get caught up with some group or organized religion.
Perhaps now you can see why it is only the sincere soul, who deep down in a wordless way, yearns for truth and is willing to bear the truth because of a love of truth that can meditate, wake up and stay awake.
If you can bear reading what I have been saying, perhaps you are one of the sincere souls destined to become a child of God who will benefit from the meditation. If so, you are blessed.
Try the free 5 minute prayer meditation. Then you may wish to get the classic 4 part meditation, which includes two free books. The suggested donation for the 4 part meditation and eBooks is nominal ($10.00) and if you cannot afford that amount, just donate what you can.
If you cannot afford anything, I will send you the link to get the link to the meditation and books free of charge.
Once you begin to meditate, you will be in a state of mind which is receptive to sound instruction, and you will be able to read and appreciate what I say and write, and when you read the beautiful words of Mr. Torrey, which follow, you will appreciate them even more.
But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeks such to worship him.God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. John 4:23-24
Likewise the Spirit also helps our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Romans 8:26
End of article. Below is a longer passage from Reuben Torrey's book. In my objective state I can appreciate it and glean some pieces of information which may be useful to me. I don't read, in the traditional sense of the word--like gobble up each word--instead I scan looking for clues.
OBEYING AND PRAYING (from How to Pray by Reuben A. Torrey)
1. One of the most significant verses in the Bible on prayer is 1 John
3:22. John says, "And whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we
keep His commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His
sight."
What an astounding statement! John says in so many words, that
everything he asked for he got. How many of us can say this:
"Whatsoever I ask I receive"?
But John explains why this was so,
"Because we keep His commandments, and do those things that are
pleasing in His sight." In other words, the one who expects God to do
as he asks Him, must on his part DO WHATEVER GOD BIDS HIM.
If we give a
listening ear to all God's commands to us, He will give a listening ear
to all our petitions to Him. If, on the other hand, we turn a deaf ear
to His precepts, He will be likely to turn a deaf ear to our prayers.
Here we find the secret of much unanswered prayer. We are not listening
to God's Word, and therefore He is not listening to our petitions.
I was once speaking to a woman who had been a professed Christian, but
had given it all up. I asked her why she was not a Christian still. She
replied, because she did not believe the Bible.
I asked her why she did
not believe the Bible.
"Because I have tried its promises and found them untrue."
"Which promises?"
"The promises about prayer."
"Which promises about prayer?"
"Does it not say in the Bible, Whatsoever ye ask believing ye shall
receive'?"
"It says something nearly like that."
"Well, I asked fully expecting to get and did not receive, so the
promise failed."
"Was the promise made to you?"
"Why, certainly, it is made to all Christians, is it not?"
"No, God carefully defines who the ye's' are, whose believing prayers
He agrees to answer."
I then turned her to 1 John 3:22, and read the description of those
whose prayers had power with God.
"Now," I said, "were you keeping His commandments and doing those
things which are pleasing in His sight?"
She frankly confessed that she was not, and soon came to see that the
real difficulty was not with God's promises, but with herself. That is
the difficulty with many an unanswered prayer to-day: the one who
offers it is not obedient.
If we would have power in prayer, we must be earnest students of His
Word to find out what His will regarding us is, and then having found
it, do it. One unconfessed act of disobedience on our part will shut
the ear of God against many petitions.
2. But this verse goes beyond the mere keeping of God's commandments.
John tells us that we must DO THOSE THINGS THAT ARE PLEASING IN HIS
SIGHT.
There are many things which it would be pleasing to God for us to do
which He has not specifically commanded us. A true child is not content
with merely doing those things which his father specifically commands
him to do. He studies to know his father's will, and if he thinks that
there is any thing that he can do that would please his father, he does
it gladly, though his father has never given him any specific order to
do it.
So it is with the true child of God. He does not ask merely
whether certain things are commanded or certain things forbidden. He
studies to know his Father's will in all things.
There are many Christians to-day who are doing things that are not
pleasing to God, and leaving undone things which would be pleasing to
God.
When you speak to them about these things they will confront you
at once with the question, "Is there any command in the Bible not to do
this thing?"
And if you cannot show them some verse in which the matter
in question is plainly forbidden, they think they are under no
obligation whatever to give it up; but a true child of God does not
demand a specific command. If we make it our study to find out and to
do the things which are pleasing to God, He will make His study to do
the things which are pleasing to us.
Here again we find the explanation
of much unanswered prayer: We are not making it the study of our lives
to know what would please our Father, and so our prayers are not
answered.
Take as an illustration of questions that are constantly coming up, the
matter of theater going, dancing and the use of tobacco. Many who are
indulging in these things will ask you triumphantly if you speak
against them,
"Does the Bible say, 'Thou shalt not go to the theater'?"
"Does the Bible say,Thou shalt not dance'?" "Does the Bible say,Thou
shalt not smoke'?" That is not the question. The question is, Is our
heavenly Father well pleased when He sees one of His children in the
theater, at the dance, or smoking? That is a question for each to
decide for himself, prayerfully, seeking light from the Holy Spirit.
"Where is the harm in these things?" many ask.
It is aside from our
purpose to go into the general question, but beyond a doubt there is
this great harm in many a case; they rob our prayers of power.
3. Psalm 145:18 throws a great deal of light on the question of how to
pray: "
The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon Him, to all that
call upon Him in truth."
That little expression "in truth" is worthy of study. If you will take
your concordance and go through the Bible, you will find that this
expression means "in reality," "in sincerity." The prayer that God
answers is the prayer that is real, the prayer that asks for something
that is sincerely desired.
WHY A GENERAL REVIVAL IS NEEDED
(Note from Roland: when you read this section, just think of revival in terms not of the church
but of the individual person.
We all do need a personal revival.
We see what a general revival is, and what it does; let us now face the
question why it is needed at the present time.
I think that the mere description of what it is and what it does shows
that it is needed, sorely needed, but let us look at some specific
conditions that exist to-day that show the need of it. In showing these
conditions one is likely to be called a pessimist. If facing the facts
is to be called a pessimist, I am willing to be called a pessimist. If
in order to be an optimist one must shut his eyes and call black white,
and error truth, and sin righteousness, and death life, I don't want to
be called an optimist. But I am an optimist all the same. Pointing out
the real condition will lead to a better condition.. Look first at the ministry.
(1) Many of us who are professedly orthodox ministers are practically
infidels. That is plain speech, but it is also indisputable fact. There
is no essential difference between the teachings of Tom Paine and Bob
Ingersoll and the teachings of some of our theological professors. The
latter are not so blunt and honest about it; they phrase it in more
elegant and studied sentences; but it means the same. Much of the
so-called new learning and higher criticism is simply Tom Paine
infidelity sugar-coated.
Prof. Howard Osgood, who is a real scholar and
not a mere echo of German infidelity, once read a statement of some
positions, and asked if they did not fairly represent the scholarly
criticism of to-day, and when it was agreed that they did, he startled
his audience by saying:
"I am reading from Tom Paine's Age of Reason.'"
There is little new in the higher criticism. Our future ministers
oftentimes are being educated under infidel professors, and being
immature boys when they enter the college or seminary, they naturally
come out infidels in many cases, and then go forth to poison the
church.
(2) Even when our ministers are orthodox--as thank God so very many
are!--they are oftentimes not men of prayer. How many modern ministers
know what it is to wrestle in prayer, to spend a good share of a night
in prayer? I do not know how many, but I do know that many do not.
(3) Many of us who are ministers have no love for souls. How many
preach because they MUST preach, because they feel that men every where
are perishing, and by preaching they hope to save some? And how many
follow up their preaching as Paul did, by beseeching men everywhere to
be reconciled to God?
Perhaps enough has been said about us ministers; but it is evident that
a revival is needed for our sake or some of us will have to stand
before God overwhelmed with confusion in an awful day of reckoning that
is surely coming.
(1) Note how few conversions there are. The Methodist church, which has led the way in aggressive work has actually lost more members than it has gained the last year. Here and there a church has a large number of accessions upon confession of faith, but these churches are rare exceptions; and where there are such accessions, in how few cases are the conversions deep, thorough and satisfactory.
(2) There is lack of conviction of sin. Seldom are men overwhelmed with a sense of their awful guilt in trampling under foot the Son of God. Sin is regarded as a "misfortune" or as "infirmity"
I hope you enjoyed these excerpts from How to Pray by Reuben A. Torry, written in 1900 but just as applicable today as then. Click here if you would like to read more of this book.
Click here to preview and find out more about our meditations.
The above reading is from the classic How to Pray by Reuben A. Torrey, published in 1900.
At one point, Christ said something like "The Father desires worshipers such as these who worship God in spirit and in truth."
The fact is that most of us can hardly pray. We are lost in thinking and imagining. We are lost in our distractions. Perhaps you have noticed this yourself.
It is hard to pray when you are ill with a fever, for example. You are lost in delirium and cannot focus properly. Many times when I am at Starbucks or at the library to go online I see someone who comes in to study. He or she pulls out a textbook or notebook and begins to study, but after about 5 minutes, s/he inevitably reaches for the mobile device and begins scrolling for text messages or emails.
It is for this reason that I recommend beginning with the Christian meditation available here. Most of us are lost in a semi stupor or trance state. We don't know that we are but the evidence of it is that everything pulls on your attention, you have difficulty focusing on things and even more importantly, you are lost in thinking. daydreaming, and the thought stream much of the time.
I was recently teaching a safe driving course, and we were talking about distracted driving. I said that eating while we drive, talking on the hands free cell phone while we drive, listening to the radio or a CD and so on are all distractions.
I then mentioned that daydreaming is also a distraction. One student arrogantly proclaimed that he never daydreams while he drives. He scoffed and said that no one daydreams while they drive. I marveled at his blindness and lack of awareness. Thinking about what we just did, or what we plan to do, or about what someone said to us, even if only for less than a minute (though most of us daydream for much longer stretches) is daydreaming.
When lost in thought, we are not fully there. All of this is to say that when the soul is immersed in the thought stream (or lost in emotional thinking) it is in a state where it cannot pray.
But the person who learns to meditate properly is restored to objectivity, (to "truth" in the words from the quote). Mentally standing back from thought, the person can observe thought instead of being lost in it.
The spirit of the world speaks to us with notions, words and thoughts from its lower abode in the lower mind or in the imagination. From down there it talks to you and gives you wrong ideals. Even when it says factual truths, or sometimes it even quotes Bible verses, it is not sincere.
It misleads you, and when you pray from this lower sort of thinking, it is words in vain. It is for this reason that people can even become afraid to pray. They sense something false about the prayer or fear that something will make them pray something harmful.
Therefore, it must recommend again, and strongly, that you first clear the mind and learn to mentally stand back for objectivity.
When you are no longer lost in thought, you soul stand humble and awaits direction. When the soul is free from the contamination of the lower type of thinking, it is also free from the spirit of the lower mind.
In the Garden of Eden, the serpent was on the outside, but when the first humans sinned, the spirit got inside and it has been in
When immersed in the thought stream, you are subject to post hypnotic influence, as well as the powerful imaginings that pull on your awareness. Down there, lost in the Alice in Wonderland world of fantasy and unreality, you are subject to whatever or whoever drove you into the imagination, and to whatever controls your imagination.
Most of our thoughts come from outside, and that is why when we are thus entranced, we are suggestible. Have you ever wondered why you do dumb things, say dumb things or spend too much money on something. later you could kick yourself "Why did I waste my money on that? you wonder.
It is because you were subject to outside suggestions.
But if you can regain the objective state (which you had when you were a little child, before you were upset by the world), then you will be free to pray.
When you begin to meditate properly, you will discover that you will be able to concentrate for the first time. Before you were merely caught up in one thing or another. When your attention was captured by one thing and another you were distracted. When you fixated on one thing for a long time, you thought you were concentrating, but your attention had been captured.
In the objective state, you will be able to pray. But you will discover most likely that you don't even know what to ask for. You will realize your lack, and wanting to ask the right thing, but not knowing what it is, you are honestly at a loss, yet unwilling to do what is wrong. this sincere humble state calls upon the compassion of the Spirit, and the Holy Spirit will pray for you.
You may also realize, in this objective state, your own insincerity--i.e. you realize your selfishness and something false about yourself. This is good. Why? Because you are realizing in God's Light the truth about yourself. Seeing this truth, you are humbled and you realize your own helplessness. But it is this realization that is a comfort, because you know that it is God who is making your realize a truth about yourself, even though it is negative.
In other words, you see the lesser negative truth (with a small t) about yourself in the light of the greater Truth (with a capital T). You realize that God's Truth is shining a light on your wrong so that you can see it in the light and be repented of it and change for the better.
Realizing the truth without resenting it thus frees you of having to put on a show for God or pretend. You realize in His wordless Light that you are weak and don't know what to ask for, and it is comforting to the soul because it realizes that God knows you, and does not hate you for your wrong or your foolishness. You realize that in you prior state you did not know any better, and God forgives you for your errors.
In this state, seeing that you honestly don't know what to do or to say, and yet being unwilling to do wrong, and sincerely yearning to do what is right--God knows what you need even before you ask. That is why there is no need for wordy prayers.
It basically frees you from having to do anything other than to meditate properly to come close to God. Going about your daily activities, you become more spontaneous, no longer feeling compelled or obligated to put on a show for God or anyone else. You have more time to enjoy the closeness to God and to ponder life and learn its meaning.
Paul exhorts us to pray unceasingly, and I believe he is referring to the meditative life, where we become objective to thoughts and feelings, closer to the Light, and no longer immersed in daydreams, plans and schemes.
I also believe this is the prized state of mind that Christian mystics such as Madame Guyon, St. John of the Cross, Francois Fenelon, Miguel de Molinos, and Saint Francis de Sales had found. They tried to tell us about it and put it in the verbal coinage of the day. They used words like "prayer or contemplation," but I am sure they were referring to the objective state of awareness, mentally standing back from thought, and there finding communion with God.
In a nutshell, ineffectual prayer is praying intellectually or emotionally, from the lower mind and with our consciousness caught up in external things and imagination. This is the state we all live in most of the time. Occasionally we are awakened from our trance state (which becomes a comfort zone) with a wake up call like the morning after the night before, when we exclaim OMG, what did I do!
Some wake up through a brush with death, a heart attack, the piercing words of an honest friend who tells you the truth, or through the suffering of, say, cancer treatment. But even in such cases, most people do not stay awake. They cannot bear the truth and quickly lose themselves in their treatment, in study, drugs, or get caught up with some group or organized religion.
Perhaps now you can see why it is only the sincere soul, who deep down in a wordless way, yearns for truth and is willing to bear the truth because of a love of truth that can meditate, wake up and stay awake.
If you can bear reading what I have been saying, perhaps you are one of the sincere souls destined to become a child of God who will benefit from the meditation. If so, you are blessed.
Try the free 5 minute prayer meditation. Then you may wish to get the classic 4 part meditation, which includes two free books. The suggested donation for the 4 part meditation and eBooks is nominal ($10.00) and if you cannot afford that amount, just donate what you can.
If you cannot afford anything, I will send you the link to get the link to the meditation and books free of charge.
Once you begin to meditate, you will be in a state of mind which is receptive to sound instruction, and you will be able to read and appreciate what I say and write, and when you read the beautiful words of Mr. Torrey, which follow, you will appreciate them even more.
But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeks such to worship him.God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. John 4:23-24
Likewise the Spirit also helps our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Romans 8:26
End of article. Below is a longer passage from Reuben Torrey's book. In my objective state I can appreciate it and glean some pieces of information which may be useful to me. I don't read, in the traditional sense of the word--like gobble up each word--instead I scan looking for clues.
The Need of a General Revival
If we are to pray aright in such a time as this, much of our prayer
should be for a general revival. If there was ever a time in which
there was need to cry unto God in the words of the Psalmist, "Wilt Thou
not revive us again, that Thy people may rejoice in Thee?" (Ps. 85:6)
it is this day in which we live. It is surely time for the Lord to
work, for men have made void His law (Ps. 119:126). The voice of the
Lord given in the written Word is set at naught both by the world and
the church. Such a time is not a time for discouragement--the man who
believes in God and believes in the Bible can never be discouraged; but
it is a time for Jehovah Himself to step in and work. The intelligent
Christian, the wide-awake watchman on the walls of Zion, may well cry
with the Psalmist of old, "It is time for Jehovah to work, for they
have made void Thy law." (Ps. 119:126, Am.R.V.)
The great need of the day is a general revival.
Let us consider first of all what a general revival is.
A revival is a time of quickening or impartation of life. As God alone
can give life, a revival is a time when God visits His people and by
the power of His Spirit imparts new life to them, and through them
imparts life to sinners dead in trespasses and sins. We have religious
excitements gotten up by the cunning methods and hypnotic influence of
the mere professional evangelist; but these are not revivals and are
not needed. They are the devil's imitations of a revival. NEW LIFE FROM
GOD--that is a revival. A general revival is a time when this new life
from God is not confined to scattered localities, but is general
throughout Christendom and the earth.
The reason why a general revival is needed is that spiritual dearth and
desolation and death is general. It is not confined to any one country,
though it may be more manifest in some countries than in others. It is
found in foreign mission fields as well as in home fields. We have had
local revivals. The life-giving Spirit of God has breathed upon this
minister and that, this church and that, this community and that; but
we need, we sorely need, a revival that shall be widespread and
general.
Let us look for a few moments at the results of a revival. These
results are apparent in ministers, in the church and in the unsaved.
1. The results of a revival in a minister are:
(1) The minister has a new love for souls. We ministers as a rule have
no such love for souls as we ought to have, no such love for souls as
Jesus had, no such love for souls as Paul had. But when God visits His
people the hearts of ministers are greatly burdened for the unsaved.
They go out in great longing for the salvation of their fellow men.
They forget their ambition to preach great sermons and for fame, and
simply long to see men brought to Christ.
(2) When true revivals come ministers get a new love for God's Word and
a new faith in God's Word. They fling to the winds their doubts and
criticisms of the Bible and of the creeds, and go to preaching the
Bible and especially Christ crucified. Revivals make ministers who are
loose in their doctrines orthodox. A genuine wide-sweeping revival
would do more to turn things upside down and thus get them right side
up than all the heresy trials ever instituted.
(3) Revivals bring to ministers new liberty and power in preaching. It
is no week-long grind to prepare a sermon, and no nerve-consuming
effort to preach it after it has been prepared. Preaching is a joy and
a refreshment, and there is power in it in times of revival.
2. The results of a revival on Christians generally are as marked as
its results upon the ministry.
(1) In times of revival Christians come out from the world and live
separated lives. Christians who have been dallying with the world, who
have been playing cards and dancing and going to the theater and
indulging in similar follies, give them up. These things are found to
be incompatible with increasing life and light.
(2) In times of revival Christians get a new spirit of prayer.
Prayer-meetings are no longer a duty, but become the necessity of a
hungry, importunate heart. Private prayer is followed with new zest.
The voice of earnest prayer to God is heard day and night. People no
longer ask, "Does God answer prayer?" They know He does, and besiege
the throne of grace day and night.
(3) In times of revival Christians go to work for lost souls.
They do not go to meeting simply to enjoy themselves and get blessed.
They go to meeting to watch for souls and to bring them to Christ. They
talk to men on the street and in the stores and in their homes. The
cross of Christ, salvation, heaven and hell become the subjects of
constant conversation. Politics and the weather and new bonnets and the
latest novels are forgotten.
(4) In times of revival Christians have new joy in Christ. Life is joy,
and new life is new joy. Revival days are glad days, days of heaven on
earth.
(5) In times of revival Christians get a new love for the Word of God.
They want to study it day and night. Revivals are bad for saloons and
theaters, but they are good for bookstores and Bible agencies.
3. But revivals also have a decided influence on the unsaved world.
(1) First of all, they bring deep conviction of sin. Jesus said that
when the Spirit was come He would convince the world of sin (Jn.
16:7,8). Now we have seen that a revival is a coming of the Holy
Spirit, and therefore there must be a new conviction of sin, and there
always is. If you see something men call a revival, and there is no
conviction of sin, you may know at once that it is bogus. It is a sure
mark.
(2) Revivals bring also conversion and regeneration. When God refreshes
His people, He always converts sinners also. The first result of
Pentecost was new life and power to the one hundred and twenty
disciples in the upper room; the second result was three thousand
conversions in a single day. It is always so. I am constantly reading
of revivals here and there, where Christians were greatly helped but
there were no conversions. I have my doubts about that kind. If
Christians are truly refreshed, they will get after the unsaved by
prayer and testimony and persuasion, and there will be conversions.
2. Look now at the church:
(1) Look at the doctrinal state of the church. It is bad enough. Many
do not believe in the whole Bible. The book of Genesis is a myth, Jonah
is an allegory, and even the miracles of the Son of God are questioned.
The doctrine of prayer is old-fashioned, and the work of the Holy
Spirit is sneered at. Conversion is unnecessary, and hell is no longer
believed in. Then look at the fads and errors that have sprung up out
of this loss of faith, Christian Science, Unitarianism, Spiritualism,
Universalism, Babism, Metaphysical Healing, etc., etc., a perfect
pandemonium of doctrines of devils.
(2) Look at the spiritual state of the church. Worldliness is rampant
among church members. Many church members are just as eager as any in
the rush to get rich. They use the methods of the world in the
accumulation of wealth, and they hold just as fast to it as any when
they have gotten it.
Prayerlessness abounds among church members on every hand. Some one has
said that Christians on the average do not spend more than five minutes
a day in prayer.
Neglect of the Word of God goes hand in hand with neglect of prayer to
God. Very many Christians spend twice as much time every day wallowing
through the mire of the daily papers as they do bathing in the
cleansing laver of God's Holy Word. How many Christians average an hour
a day spent in Bible study?
Along with neglect of prayer and neglect of the Word of God goes a lack
of generosity. The churches are rapidly increasing in wealth, but the
treasuries of the missionary societies are empty. Christians do not
average a dollar a year for foreign missions. It is simply appalling.
Then there is the increasing disregard for the Lord's Day. It is fast
becoming a day of worldly pleasure, instead of a day of holy service.
The Sunday newspaper with its inane twaddle and filthy scandal takes
the place of the Bible; and visiting and golf and bicycle, the place of
the Sunday-school and church service.
Christians mingle with the world in all forms of questionable
amusements. The young man and young woman who does not believe in
dancing with its rank immodesties, the card table with its drift toward
gambling, and the theater with its ever-increasing appeal to lewdness,
is counted an old fogy.
Then how small a proportion of our membership has really entered into
fellowship with Jesus Christ in His burden for souls! Enough has been
said of the spiritual state of the church.
3. Now look at the state of the world. (1) Note how few conversions there are. The Methodist church, which has led the way in aggressive work has actually lost more members than it has gained the last year. Here and there a church has a large number of accessions upon confession of faith, but these churches are rare exceptions; and where there are such accessions, in how few cases are the conversions deep, thorough and satisfactory.
(2) There is lack of conviction of sin. Seldom are men overwhelmed with a sense of their awful guilt in trampling under foot the Son of God. Sin is regarded as a "misfortune" or as "infirmity"
I hope you enjoyed these excerpts from How to Pray by Reuben A. Torry, written in 1900 but just as applicable today as then. Click here if you would like to read more of this book.
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