Discipleship - Prayer

THAT prayer is a real battle needs no demonstration to the child of God who really prays.

A very earnest Christian mother recently related the following incident in the spiritual life of her son, whom the Lord had let her lead into a knowledge of the Saviour when he was but a boy. His conversion, through the mother's simple exposition of the Word of God, meant much to him and he immediately began a life of prayer and study of the Bible, committing the entire book of Ephesians to memory as a part of his study. One night upon retiring the mother was startled by sobs from an adjoining room where her son was. She listened attentively and was impressed with the fact that the boy was in agony. Quietly stepping to the door, she found him on his knees before his bed sobbing out his heart as though in painful petition to God. This continued for some time and the mother, realizing that perhaps "Buddy" needed her help, stepped into the room and knelt down beside her boy, slipped her arm about his shoulders and asked what the difficulty was. With tears streaming down his face, and with voice quivering, the son told his. mother that Satan was fighting him and trying to keep him from talking to the Lord. The particular attack which the devil was using in the boy's life was to fill his mind with doubt and confusion concerning his conversion. He had succeeded in getting him to doubt his security and had filled his heart with the lack of assurance, consequently the boy was struggling with might and main to get back into conscious communion with God. Thanks to the faithful mother who again took the Word of Truth, using such passages as I Jno. 5:11-13, the boy was led into that blessed assurance which brings peace to the troubled heart and sweet rest to the tired body. No one will question that this boy's experience was a real spiritual conflict with the enemy of souls.

When Daniel prayed for the Holy City and his people Israel, it was a real battle. The forces of sin and Satan were arrayed in spiritual conflict against the forces of righteousness and the "Certain Man." The record is that the angel appointed to bring Daniel the answer to his prayer was withstood for twenty-one days by the Prince of the kingdom of Persia (that is, one of the wicked angels of Satan's kingdom). The angel also said that he was going to return and fight with the Prince of Persia, thus clearly indicating that when Daniel prayed it meant that a real battle would follow in order for him to get his answer. And the record also clearly states that just prior to receiving the answer to his prayer Daniel was left with no strength in himself, indicating further the reality of the prayer battle in which he was engaged (Dan. 10).

When Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane for the Father's will to be done, He was engaged in spiritual conflict. Just as an angel of the Lord came and ministered to Daniel and strengthened him, so also did an angel come from heaven to strengthen the Lord Jesus (Luke 22:43). And then the record goes on to say that Jesus "being in agony (literally, a struggle, a conflict, a fight), . . . prayed more earnestly: and His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground" (Luke 22:44). So real was the prayer battle to our blessed Lord that it found expression both in mental and intense physical suffering. As He approached the Garden the oppression of the forces of evil upon His soul was so great that He gave voice to it by saying, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death" (Matt. 26:38). And to think that as He prayed "more earnestly," His suffering became so intense that perspiration broke out upon His body, and that, in the form of great drops of blood! This was a striking observation for Luke to make in view of the fact that he himself was a physician and knew what it meant for such a physiological phenomenon to occur. Dear reader, does not this picture reveal how little we know of prayer? how little we struggle and fight?

Furthermore, when Paul prayed for the Colossians and for them at Laodicea, he definitely said it was a "great conflict" (Col. 2:i). The same word is here used in the Greek as is translated "agony" in the description of the Saviour's conflict in the Garden. The word is "a^o«" and means, according to Strong, "a contest, conflict, contention, fight, race."

Hence, we learn from the prayers of these three outstanding characters in God's Holy Word that prayer is truly a battle, — a contest, a conflict in which the arch-enemy of souls contends against the Saviour and Lover of souls.

SINCE prayer is a battle, — a conflict and contest, — it naturally follows that there are enemies to conquer, victories to win, and new territories to gain.

Our chief enemy, of course, is the devil. And as Martin Luther describes him in his memorable hymn, we are forced to recognize his power:

"For still our ancient foe
Doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and power are great,
And, armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal."

Few Christians, however, realize how great is the power and craftiness of our adversary, the devil. It does not seem to occur to them that God recognizes his power and warns us to take heed concerning him. He uses no uncertain terms in warning us, either. Such expressions as the following surely reveal his malignant character and purpose: "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour" (I Pet. 5:8). In Hebrews 2:14 he is set forth as "him that had the power of death, that is, the devil." Also in II Corinthians 1 1:14 we learn that "Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light." And II Corinthians 4:4 refers to him as "the god of this world," showing that his purpose is to blind the minds of unbelievers "lest the light of the gloridus Gospel of Christ, Who is the image of God, should shine unto them." He is constantly set forth in the Word as the one who opposes God and His plan with men. He is "the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience" (Eph. 2:2). This is just the briefest summary of the teaching concerning him who is the arch-enemy of our souls and who is arrayed against us in the prayer battle. The devil's chief representative, life of the Christian is the "old man" however, in the (the old nature.the flesh). No enemy troubles the child of God quite so much or gives him the discomfiture that is produced by the old adamic nature which is a resident in the body of every man or woman born into this world. The character of the "old man" is best expressed in Ephesians 4:22, where it is said that he is "corrupt according to the deceitful lusts." This enemy is especially active and very often worries the believer to the point of distraction on the battle field of prayer. He is the one who, when the child of God gets down On his knees to pray, tries to get him to think of everything under the sun instead of getting in touch with the Lord. He is a captain at deception and will take the keen edge off the prayer life when the believer is unaware of what is taking place until suddenly he begins to wonder what is wrong with his Christian experience.

But, as Luther also expressed in his hymn, the defeat of the devil and his emissaries is certain, and we should be encouraged, take heart and enter the fray with new zeal, recognizing that

"Did we in our own strength confide,
Our striving would be losing;
Were not the right Man on our side,
The Man of God's own choosing;
Dost ask who that may be?
Christ Jesus, it is He;
Lord Saboath His name.
From age to age the same,
AND HE MUST WIN THE BATTLE."

The victories to win in the prayer battle are many and glorious. Just as Israel of old experienced many victories east of the Jordan at the hand of the Lord, so there will be many victories in the life that is yielded to the Lord, over the world, the flesh and the demons (Deut. 3 and I Cor. 10:1-20). In ancient times nearly all the cities had high walls about them for protection against the invading armies. Jericho furnishes us with a good example of this. But before the city could be taken, the walls had to be cast down so that an entrance might be gained. "Now Jericho was straitly SHUT UP because of the children of Israel: none went out, and none came in" (Josh. 6:1). Here is a picture of the soul under the dominance of the "old man." It becomes "shut up" as tight as Jericho, so that it does not give out anything nor does it permit anything to come in. When a person gets into this condition, we describe him as being very taciturn. But in reality he is under the dominion of the carnal nature, and a battle is needed to liberate the soul from its bondage. Strategy similar to that which characterized the taking of Jericho becomes necessary in delivering a soul in such a condition. There were no battering rams used to knock down the walls of Jericho.' The outstanding thing about the victory over Jericho was that the Lord gave the city into the hands of Israel (Josh. 6.2). And we find that just such a victory follows when the soul employs God's method of warfare in his spiritual life. "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty THROUGH GOD to the pulling down of strongholds; casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ" (II Cor. 10:4-5). I" other words, prayer is the form of battle the Christian must needs engage in to cast down the strongholds of unbelief in the life and the high walls of pride and arrogance which separate the soul from communion with God. Prayer thus becomes our occupation — our avenue of victory.

The new territories to be gained are vast and pleasant. Israel was to possess the land beyond the river Jordan, that "good land" and that "goodly mountain." And the secret of all her conquests, victories and possessions was centered in a God Who heard and answered prayer. "For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in ALL THINGS that we CALL upon Him for" (Deut. 4:7).^ This was Israel's way of victory and this is the Christian's way of victory. There is no other way.

The battle is not ours, but God's. "Call unto ME, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not" (Jer. 33:3).

"Prayer moves the hand that moves the world, To bring salvation down."

But how little people believe that these days. What a dearth there is in the prayer life of the Christian church today! The church is powerless because it is prayerless. Christians lack power because they lack prayer. One writer has summarized the way to victory as follows:

"Good troops are well drilled. The best exercise for a Christian soldier is the knee drill. In our difficulties the last thing we do is to go to prayer about them. Generally speaking we exercise ourselves greatly in other ways and exhaust our natural resources before taking our troubles to God. We discuss and fret and make our own plans, get wrought up and make our fellow servants nervous and fretful, before we do what we should have done at first — pray.

"Today there is more talk about prayer than ever before. More and more prayer mottoes are being designed to beautify our walls but there is very littl« prayer being made. If we prayed as much as we talk about prayer, barriers would fall down and many, victories for God would bel won. We shall always have something to pray for since as soon as one battle is gained the Lord leads His praying people, those whom He can trust, into a greater conflict."

We might add that the battle is not always won at once. You will remember that the walls of Jericho did not fall down on the first day that the children of Israel marched around them. Neither did they fall down on the second, nor on the third, nor on the fourth, nor on the fifth, nor even on the sixth day. But the record is that on the seventh day, when they had compassed the city seven times and shouted, the walls fell down flat and they marched in and took the city (Josh. 6). So it is in the prayer battle. God honors importunate praying (Lu. 11:8 and 18:1-7). Sometimes the battle is hard and long and we are put to the test that our faith might be strengthened and our souls prepared for greater victories. It is during these testing times that we hear the voice of our Commander saying to us, "Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong" (I Cor. 16:13).