by E.M. Bounds We care not for your splendid abilities as a minister, or your natural
endowment as an orator before men. We are sure that the truth of the matter
is this: No one will or can command success and become a real praying soul
unless intense application is the price. I am even now convinced that the
difference between the saints like Wesley, Fletcher, Edwards, Brainerd,
Bramwell, Bounds, and ourselves is energy, perseverance, invincible
determination to succeed or die in the attempt. God help us.—Rev. Homer W.
Hodge.  christianet.com In enumerating the praying saints of the Old Testament, we must not leave
out of that sacred catalogue Nehemiah, the builder. He stands out on an
equal footing with the others who have been considered. In the story of the
reconstruction of Jerusalem after the captivity, he plays a prominent part,
and prayer is prominent in his life during those years. He was a captive in
Babylon, and had an important position in the palace of the king to whom he
was cup bearer. There must have been considerable merit in him to cause the
king to take a Hebrew captive and place him in such an office, where be
really had the life of the king in his charge, because he was responsible
for the wine which he drank.
It was while Nehemiah was in Babylon, in the king’s palace, that one day his
brethren came from Jerusalem, and very naturally Nehemiah desired news from
the people there and information concerning the city itself. The distressing
information was given him that the walls were broken down, the gates were
burned with fire, and the remnant who were left there at the beginning of
the captivity were in great affliction and reproach.
Just one verse gives the effect of this sad news upon this man of God:
“And it came to pass when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and
mourned certain days and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven.”
Here was a man whose heart was in his own native land far away from where he
now lived. He loved Israel, was concerned for the welfare of Zion, and was
true to God. Deeply distressed by the information concerning his brethren at
Jerusalem, he mourned and wept. How few the strong men in these days who can
weep at the evils and abominations of the times! How rare those who, seeing
the desolations of Zion, are sufficiently interested and concerned for the
welfare of the Church to mourn! Mourning and weeping over the decay of
religion, the decline of revival power, and the fearful inroads of
worldliness in the Church are almost an unknown quantity. There is so much
of so-called optimism that leaders have no eyes to see the breaking down of
the walls of Zion and the low spiritual state of the Christians of the
present day, and have less heart to mourn and cry about it. Nehemiah was a
mourner in Zion. And possessing this state of heart, distressed beyond
measure, he does that which other praying saints had done—he goes to God and
makes it a subject of prayer. The prayer is recorded in Nehemiah 1, and is a
model after which to pattern our prayers. He begins with adoration, makes
confession of the sins of his nation, pleads the promises of God, mentions
former mercies, and begs for pardoning mercy. Then with an eye to the
future—for unquestionably he had planned, the next time he was summoned into
the King’s presence, to ask permission to visit Jerusalem and to do there
what was possible to remedy the distressing state of affairs—we hear him
pray for something very special: “And prosper thy servant this day, I pray
thee, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. For,” he adds by way of
explanation, “I was the king’s cup bearer.”
It seemed all right to pray for his people, but how was a heathen king, with
possibly no sympathy whatever for the sad condition of his city and his
people in a captive land, and who had no interest in the matter, to be so
favorably affected that he would consent to give up his faithful cup bearer
and allow him to be gone for months? But Nehemiah believed in a God who
could touch even the mind of a heathen ruler and move him favorably toward
the request of his praying servant.
Nehemiah was summoned into the king’s presence, and God used even the
appearance of Nehemiah’s countenance as an entering wedge to gain the
consent of Artaxerxes. This started the inquiry of the king as to its cause,
and the final result was that the king not only permitted Nehemiah to go
back to Jerusalem but furnished him with everything needful for the journey
and for the success of the enterprise.
Nor did Nehemiah rest his ease when he first prayed about this matter, but
he stated this significant fact as he was talking to the king: “So I prayed
unto the God of heaven?” leading out the impression that while the king was
inquiring about his request and the length of time he would be gone, he was
then and there talking to God about the matter.
The intense, persistent praying of Nehemiah prevailed. God can even affect
the mind of a heathen ruler, and this he can do in answer to prayer without
in the least overturning his free agency or forcing his will. It was a
parallel case with that of Esther when she called upon her people to fast
and pray for her as she went uninvited into the king’s presence. As a
result, his mind at a very critical moment was touched by the Spirit of God,
and he was favorably moved toward Esther and held out to her the golden
scepter.
Nor did the praying of Nehemiah cease when he had succeeded thus far. In
building the wall of Jerusalem, he met with great opposition from Sanballat
and Tobiah, who ridiculed the efforts of the people to rebuild the city’s
walls. Unmoved by these revilings and the intense opposition of these wicked
opponents of that which was for God’s cause, he pursued the task which he
had undertaken. But he mixes prayer with all he does: “Hear, O our God, for
we are despised; and turn their reproach upon their own head, and give them
for a prey in the land of our captivity.” And in continuing the account he
says, “Nevertheless we made our prayer unto our God.”
All along in the accounts of the high and noble work he was doing, we find
prayer comes out prominently to the front. Even after the walls were
completed, these same enemies of his and of the people of God again opposed
him in his task. But he renews his praying, and he himself records this
significant prayer: “Now there, O God, strengthen my hands.”
Still further on, when Sanballat and Tobiah had hired an emissary to
frighten and hinder Nehemiah, we find him setting himself directly against
this new attack, and then again he turns to God in prayer: “My God, think
thou upon Tobiah and Sanballat according to these their works and on the
prophetess Noadiah, and the rest of the prophets, that would have put me in
fear.” And God answered his faithful laborer, and defeated the counsels and
the plans of these wicked opponents of Israel.
Nehemiah discovered to his dismay that the portions of the Levites had not
been given them, and as a result the house of God was forsaken. He took
steps to see that the lawful tithes were forthcoming so that God’s house
should be opened to all religious services, and appointed treasurers to give
attention to this business. But prayer must not be overlooked, so we find
his prayer recorded at this time: “Remember me, O my God, concerning this,
and wipe not out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God, and
for the offices thereof.”
Let it not be thought that this was the plea of self-righteousness as was
that of the Pharisee in our Lord’s time who professedly went up to the
temple to pray, who paraded his self-righteous claims in God’s sight. It was
a prayer after the fashion of Hezekiah, who reminded God of his fidelity to
Him and of his heart’s being right in his sight.
Once more Nehemiah finds evil among the people of God. Just as he corrected
the evil which caused the closing of the house of God, he discovers
practices of Sabbath breaking, and here he has not only to counsel the
people and seek to correct them by mild means, but he proposes to exercise
his authority if they did not cease their buying and selling on the Sabbath
Day. But he must close this part of his work also with prayer, and so he
records his prayer on that occasion:
“Remember me, O my God, concerning this also, and spare me according to the
greatness of thy mercy.”
Lastly, as a reformer, he discovers another great evil among the people.
They had intermarried with the men and women of Ashdod, Ammon and Moab.
Contending with them, he caused them to reform in this matter, and the close
of his record has a prayer in it:
“Remember me, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood, and the
covenant of the priesthood, and of the Levites.”
Cleansing them from all strangers, he appointed the wards of the priests,
and the Levites, and his recorded career closes with this brief prayer:
“Remember me, O my God, for good.”
Fortunate is that Church whose leaders are men of prayer. Happy is that
congregation who are contemplating the erection of a church to have leaders
who will lay its foundations in prayer, and whose walls go up side by side
with prayer. Prayer helps to build churches and to erect the walls of houses
of worship. Prayer defeats the opponents of those who are prosecuting God’s
enterprises. Prayer touches favorably the minds even of those not connected
with the Church, and moves them toward Church matters. Prayer helps mightily
in all matters concerning God’s cause and wonderfully aids and encourages
the hearts of those who have His work in hand in this world. _________________________________________________________________
SAMUEL, THE CHILD OF PRAYER
That was a grand action by Jerome, one of the Roman fathers. He laid aside
all pressing engagements and went to fulfill the call God gave him, viz., to
translate the Holy Scriptures. His congregations were larger than many
preachers of today but he said to his people, “Now it is necessary that the
Scriptures be translated; you must find you another minister: I am bound for
the wilderness and shall not return until my task is finished.” Away he went
and labored and prayed until he produced the Latin Vulgate which will last
as long as the world stands. So we must say to our friends, “I must away and
have time for prayer and solitude.” And though we did not write Latin
Vulgates yet our work will be immortal: Glory to God.—Rev. C. H. Spurgeon.
Samuel came into this world and was given existence in direct answer to
prayer. He was born of a praying mother, whose heart was full of earnest
desire for a son. He came into life under prayer surroundings, and his first
months in this world were spent in direct contact with a woman who knew how
to pray. It was a prayer accompanied by a solemn vow that if he should be
given, he should be “lent unto the Lord,” and true to that vow, this praying
mother put him directly in touch with the minister of the sanctuary and
under the influence of “the house of prayer.” It was no wonder he developed
into a man of prayer. We could not have expected otherwise with such a
beginning in life and with such early environments. Such surroundings always
make impressions upon children and tend to make character and determine
destiny.
He was in a favorable place to hear God when He spoke to him, and was in an
atmosphere where it tended to his heeding the divine call which came to him.
It was the most natural thing in the world when at the third call
fromheaven, when he recognized God’s voice, that his childish heart
responded so promptly, “Speak, Lord, thy servant heareth.” Quickly was there
a response from his boyish spirit, of submission, willingness and prayer.
Had he been born of a different sort of mother, had he been placed under
different surroundings, had he spent his early days in contact with
different influences, does any one for one moment suppose he could have
easily heard the voice of God calling him to His service, and that he would
have so readily yielded his young life to the God who brought him into
being? Would a worldly home, with worldly surroundings, separated from the
Church of God, with a worldly-minded mother, have produced such a character
as Samuel? It takes such influences and agencies in early life to produce
such praying men as Samuel. Would you have your child called early into
divine service and separated from the world unto God? Would you have him so
situated that he will be called in childhood by the Spirit of God? Put him
under prayer influences. Place him near to and directly under the influence
of the Man of God and in close touch with that house which is called “the
house of prayer.”
Samuel knew God in boyhood. As a consequence he knew God in manhood. He
recognized God in childhood, obeyed him and prayed unto him. The result was
that he recognized God in manhood, obeyed him, and prayed unto him. If more
children were born of praying mothers, brought up in direct contact with
“the house of prayer,” and reared under prayer environments, more children
would hear the voice of God’s spirit speaking to them, and would more
quickly respond to those divine calls to a religious life. Would we have
praying men in our churches? We must have praying mothers to give them
birth, praying homes to color their lives, and praying surroundings to
impress their minds and to lay the foundations for praying lives. Praying
Samuels come from praying Hannahs. Praying priests come from “the house of
prayer.” Praying leaders come from praying homes.
Israel for years had been under bondage to the Philistines and the ark was
housed in the home of Abinadab, whose son Eleazer was appointed to keep this
sacred testimony of God. The people had gone into idolatry and Samuel was
disturbed about the religious condition of the nation. The ark of God was
absent, the people were given to the worship of idols, and there had been a
grievous departure from God. Calling upon them to put away their strange
gods, he urged them to prepare their hearts unto the Lord and to begin again
to serve Him—promising them that the Lord would deliver them out of the
hands of the Philistines. His preaching thus plainly to them, for with all
else belonging to him, Samuel was a preacher of the times, made a deep
impression and bore rich fruits as such preaching always does. “Then the
children of Israel did put away Baalim and Ashtoreth, and served the Lord
only.”
But this was not enough. Prayer must be mixed with and must accompany their
reformation So Samuel, true to his convictions about prayer, says to the
people, “Gather all Israel to Mizpeh, and I will pray for you unto the
Lord.” While Samuel was offering up prayer for these wicked Israelites, the
Philistines drew near to battle against the nation, but the Lord intervened
at the critical moment and thundered with a great thunder, and discomfited
these enemies of Israel, “and they were smitten before Israel.”
The nation fortunately had a man who could pray, who knew the place and the
worth of prayer, and a leader who had the ear of God and who could influence
God.
But Samuel’s praying did not stop there. He judged Israel all the days of
his life, and had occasion from year to year to go in circuit to Bethel,
Gilgal and Mizpeh. Then he returned home to Ramah, where he resided. “And
there he built an altar unto the Lord.” Here was an altar of sacrifice but
as well was it an altar of prayer. And while it may have been for the
benefit of the community where he lived, after the fashion of a town church,
yet it must not be overlooked that it must have been a family altar, a place
where the sacrifice for sin was offered but at the same time where his
household gathered for worship, praise and prayer. Here Almighty God was
acknowledged in the home, here was the advertisement of a religious home,
and here father and mother called upon the name of the Lord, differentiating
this home from all the worldly and idolatrous homes about them.
Here is an example of a religious home, the kind so greatly needed in this
irreligious, godless age. Blessed is that home which has in it an altar of
sacrifice and of prayer, where daily thanksgivings ascend to heaven and
where morning and night praying is done.
Samuel was not only a praying priest, a praying leader and a praying teacher
and leader, but he was a praying father. And any one who knows the situation
so far as family religion is concerned knows full well that the great demand
of these modern times is religious homes and praying fathers and mothers.
Here is where the breakdown in religion occurs, where the religious life of
a community first begins to decay, and where we must go first to beget
praying men and women in the Church of God. It is in the home that the
revival must commence.
A crisis came in the history of this nation. The people were infatuated by
the glory of a kingdom with a human king, and was prepared to reject God as
their king, as He had always been. So they came to Samuel with the bold
request, “Make us a king to judge us like all the nations.” The thing
displeased this man of God, who was jealous for the name, the honor and the
pleasure of the Lord God. How could it be otherwise? Who would not have been
likewise displeased if he were built after the pattern of Samuel? It grieved
him in soul. The Lord, however, came to him just at that time with the
comforting assurance so far as he was personally concerned in the
transaction, that “they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me,
that I should not reign over them. Hearken unto the voice of the people, in
all that they say unto thee.”
Then it was that Samuel followed the bent of his mind, “And Samuel prayed
unto the Lord.” It seemed that in every matter concerning this people, with
which Samuel was connected, he must pray over it. How much more now when
there was to be an entire revolution in the form of government, and God was
to be displaced as the ruler of the people, and a human king was to be set
up? National affairs need to be prayed over. Praying men are demanded to
carry to God in prayer the affairs of government. Lawmakers, law judges, and
law executives need leaders in Israel to pray for them. How much fewer the
mistakes if there was more praying done in civil matters?
But this was not to be the end of this matter. God must show so definitely
and plainly His displeasure at such a request as had been made for a human
king, that the people might know what a wicked thing they had done, even
though God acceded to their request. They must know God still existed and
had to do with this people, and with their king and the affairs of the
government. So the prayers of Samuel must again be brought into play to
carry out the divine purposes. So Samuel called upon the people to stand
still, and he would show them what the Lord would do before their eyes. So
he called upon God, and in answer God sent a tremendous storm of thunder and
rain, which exceedingly terrified the people, and caused them to acknowledge
their great sin in asking for a king. So afraid were the people that they
hastily called upon Samuel to pray for them and to spare them from what
seemed to be destruction. Samuel again prayed, and God heard and answered,
and the thunder and rain ceased.
One more incident in the prayer life of Samuel is worth noticing. King Saul
had been ordered to destroy all the Amalekites, root and branch, and all
their stuff, but Saul, contrary to divine instructions, had spared King Agag
and the best of the sheep and the cattle, and had justified it because he
claimed that the people wanted it done.
God brought this message to Samuel at this time:
“It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king; for he is turned back
from following me, and hath not performed my commandments.”
“And it grieved Samuel, and he cried all night unto the Lord.” Such a sudden
declaration was enough to produce grief of soul in a man like Samuel, who
loved his nation, who was true to God, and who above everything else desired
the prosperity of Zion. Such grief of soul over the evils of the Church and
at the sight of the abominations of the times always drives a man to his
knees in prayer. Of course Samuel carried the case to God. It was a time for
prayer. The case was too serious for him not to be deeply moved to pray. So
greatly was the inner soul of Samuel disturbed that he prayed all night
about it. Too much was at stake for him to shut his eyes to the affair, to
treat it indifferently, and to let it pass without taking God into the
matter, for the future welfare of Israel was in the balance. (Read more E.M.Bounds articles at Christian Classics Ethereal Library )
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