Purchase in book form Click Here
[HOW TO PRAY, by R. A. Torrey]
CHAPTER X
WHEN TO PRAY
If we would know the fulness of blessing that there is in the
prayer life, it is important not only that we pray in the right way,
but also that we pray at the right time. Christ's own example is
full of suggestiveness as to the right time for prayer.
1. In the 1st chapter of Mark, the 35th verse, we read, "And
IN THE MORNING, rising up A GREAT WHILE BEFORE DAY, He went out, and
departed into a solitary place, and there prayed."
JESUS CHOSE THE EARLY MORNING HOUR FOR PRAYER. Many of the
mightiest men of God have followed the Lord's example in this. In
the morning hour the mind is fresh and at its very best. It is free
from distraction, and that absolute concentration upon God which is
essential to the most effective prayer is most easily possible in the
early morning hours. Furthermore, when the early hours are spent in
prayer, the whole day is sanctified, and power is obtained for
overcoming its temptations, and for performing its duties. More can
be accomplished in prayer in the first hours of the day than at any
other time during the day. Every child of God who would make the
most out of his life for Christ, should set apart the first part of
the day to meeting God in the study of His Word and in prayer. The
first thing we do each day should be to go alone with God and face
the duties, the temptations, and the service of that day, and get
strength from God for all. We should get victory before the hour of
trial, temptation or service comes. The secret place of prayer is
the place to fight our battles and gain our victories.
2. In the 6th chapter of Luke in the 12th verse, we get
further light upon the right time to pray. We read, "And it came to
pass in those days, that He went out into a mountain to pray, and
continued ALL NIGHT in prayer to God."
Here we see Jesus praying in the night, spending the entire
night in prayer. Of course we have no reason to suppose that this
was the constant practice of our Lord, nor do we even know how common
this practice was, but there were certainly times when the whole
night was given up to prayer. Here too we do well to follow in the
footsteps of the Master.
Of course there is a way of setting apart nights for prayer
in which there is no profit; it is pure legalism. But the abuse of
this practice is no reason for neglecting it altogether. One ought
not to say, "I am going to spend a whole night in prayer," with the
thought that there is any merit that will win God's favor in such an
exercise; that is legalism. But we oftentimes do well to say, "I am
going to set apart this night for meeting God, and obtaining His
blessing and power; and if necessary, and if He so leads me, I will
give the whole night to prayer." Oftentimes we will have prayed
things through long before the night has passed, and we can retire
and find more refreshing and invigorating sleep than if we had not
spent the time in prayer. At other times God doubtless will keep us
in communion with Himself away into the morning, and when He does
this in His infinite grace, blessed indeed are these hours of night
prayer!
Nights of prayer to God are followed by days of power with
men. In the night hours the world is hushed in slumber, and we can
easily be alone with God and have undisturbed communion with Him. If
we set apart the whole night for prayer, there will be no hurry,
there will be time for our own hearts to become quiet before God,
there will be time for the whole mind to be brought under the
guidance of the Holy Spirit, there will be plenty of time to pray
things through. A night of prayer should be put entirely under God's
control. We should lay down no rules as to how long we will pray, or
as to what we shall pray about, but be ready to wait upon God for a
short time or a long time as He may lead, and to be led out in one
direction or another as He may see fit.
3. Jesus Christ prayed BEFORE ALL THE GREAT CRISES IN HIS
EARTHLY LIFE.
He prayed before choosing the twelve disciples; before the
sermon on the mount; before starting out on an evangelistic tour;
before His anointing with the Holy Spirit and His entrance upon His
public ministry; before announcing to the twelve His approaching
death; before the great consummation of His life at the cross. (Luke
6:12,13; Luke 9:18,21,22; Luke 3:21,22; Mark 1:35-38; Luke 22:39
-46.) He prepared for every important crisis by a protracted season
of prayer. So ought we to do also. Whenever any crisis of life is
seen to be approaching, we should prepare for it by a season of very
definite prayer to God. We should take plenty of time for this
prayer.
4. Christ prayed not only before the great events and
victories of His life, but He also prayed AFTER ITS GREAT
ACHIEVEMENTS AND IMPORTANT CRISES.
When He had fed the five thousand with the five loaves and
two fishes, and the multitude desired to take Him and make Him king,
having sent them away He went up into the mountain apart to pray, and
spent hours there alone in prayer to God (Matt. 14:23; Jn. 6:15).
So He went on from victory to victory.
It is more common for most of us to pray before the great
events of life than it is to pray after them, but the latter is as
important as the former. If we would pray after the great
achievements of life, we might go on to still greater; as it is we
are often either puffed up or exhausted by the things that we do in
the name of the Lord, and so we advance no further. Many and many a
man in answer to prayer has been endued with power and thus has
wrought great things in the name of the Lord, and when these great
things were accomplished, instead of going alone with God and
humbling himself before Him, and giving Him all the glory for what
was achieved, he has congratulated himself upon what has been
accomplished, has become puffed up, and God has been obliged to lay
him aside. The great things done were not followed by humiliation of
self, and prayer to God, and so pride has come in and the mighty man
has been shorn of his power.
5. Jesus Christ gave a special time to prayer WHEN LIFE WAS
UNUSUALLY BUSY. He would withdraw at such a time from the multitudes
that thronged about Him, and go into the wilderness and pray. For
example, we read in Luke 5:15,16, "But so much the more went abroad
the report concerning Him: and great multitudes came together to
hear, and to be healed of their infirmities. But He withdrew Himself
in the deserts and prayed." (R.V.)
Some men are so busy that they find no time for prayer.
Apparently the busier Christ's life was, the more He prayed.
Sometimes He had no time to eat (Mark 3:20), sometimes He had no time
for needed rest and sleep (Mark 6:31,33,46), but He always took time
to pray; and the more the work crowded the more He prayed.
Many a mighty man of God has learned this secret from Christ,
and when the work has crowded more than usual they have set an
unusual amount of time apart for prayer. Other men of God, once
mighty, have lost their power because they did not learn this secret,
and allowed increasing work to crowd out prayer.
Years ago it was the writer's privilege, with other
theological students, to ask questions of one of the most useful
Christian men of the day. The writer was led to ask,
"Will you tell us something of your prayer life?"
The man was silent a moment, and then, turning his eyes
earnestly upon me, replied:
"Well, I must admit that I have been so crowded with work of
late that I have not given the time I should to prayer."
Is it any wonder that that man lost power, and the great work
that he was doing was curtailed in a very marked degree? Let us
never forget that the more the work presses on us, the more time must
we spend in prayer.
6. Jesus Christ prayed BEFORE THE GREAT TEMPTATIONS OF HIS
LIFE.
As He drew nearer and nearer to the cross, and realized that
upon it was to come the great final test of His life, Jesus went out
into the garden to pray. He came "unto a place called Gethsemane,
and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here while I go and pray
yonder." (Matt. 26:36) The victory of Calvary was won that night in
the garden of Gethsemane. The calm majesty of His bearing in meeting
the awful onslaughts of Pilate's Judgment Hall and of Calvary, was
the outcome of the struggle, agony and victory of Gethsemane. While
Jesus prayed the disciples slept, so He stood fast while they fell
ignominiously.
Many temptations come upon us unawares and unannounced, and
all that we can do is to lift a cry to God for help then and there;
but many of the temptations of life we can see approaching from the
distance, and in such cases the victory should be won before the
temptation really reaches us.
7. In 1_Thess. 5:17 we read, "Pray WITHOUT CEASING," and in
Eph. 6:18, R.V., "praying AT ALL SEASONS."
Our whole life should be a life of prayer. We should walk in
constant communion with God. There should be a constant upward
looking of the soul to God. We should walk so habitually in His
presence that even when we awake in the night it would be the most
natural thing in the world for us to speak to Him in thanksgiving or
in petition.
