Purchase in book form Click Here
[HOW TO PRAY by R.A.Torrey]
CHAPTER VI
ALWAYS PRAYING AND NOT FAINTING
In two parables in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus teaches with
great emphasis the lesson that men ought always to pray and not to
faint. The first parable is found in Luke 11:5-8, and the other in
Luke 18:1-8.
"And He said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and
shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him: 'Friend, lend me
three loaves; for a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and
I have nothing to set before him?' And he from within shall answer
and say: 'Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are
with me in bed. I cannot rise and give thee.' I say unto you,
Though he will not rise and give him because he is his friend, yet
because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he
needeth." (Luke 11:5-8)
"And He spake a parable unto them to this end, that men
always ought to pray and not to faint, saying: There was in a city a
judge which feared not God, neither regarded man; and there was a
widow in that city; and she came to him, saying:
"'Avenge me of mine adversary.'
"And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within
himself: 'Though I fear not God, nor regard man, yet because this
widow troubleth me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming
she weary me.'
"And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. And
shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto Him,
though He bear long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them
speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall He find
faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:1-8)
In the former of these two parables Jesus sets forth the
necessity of importunity in prayer in a startling way. The word
rendered "importunity" means literally "shamelessness," as if Jesus
would have us understand that God would have us draw nigh to Him with
a determination to obtain the things we seek that will not be put to
shame by any seeming refusal or delay on God's part. God delights in
the holy boldness that will not take "no" for an answer. It is an
expression of great faith, and nothing pleases God more than faith.
Jesus seemed to put the Syro-Phoenician woman away almost
with rudeness, but she would not be put away, and Jesus looked upon
her shameless importunity with pleasure, and said, "O woman, great is
thy faith; be it unto thee even as thou wilt." (Matt. 15:28) God
does not always let us get things at our first effort. He would
train us and make us strong men by compelling us to work hard for the
best things. So also He does not always give us what we ask in
answer to the first prayer; He would train us and make us strong men
of prayer by compelling us to pray hard for the best things. He
makes us PRAY THROUGH.
I am glad that this is so. There is no more blessed training
in prayer than that that comes through being compelled to ask again
and again and again even through a long period of years before one
obtains that which he seeks from God. Many people call it submission
to the will of God when God does not grant them their requests at the
first or second asking, and they say:
"Well, perhaps it is not God's will."
As a rule this is not submission, but spiritual laziness. We
do not call it submission to the will of God when we give up after
one or two efforts to obtain things by action; we call it lack of
strength of character. When the strong man of action starts out to
accomplish a thing, if he does not accomplish it the first, or second
or one hundredth time, he keeps hammering away until he does
accomplish it; and the strong man of prayer when he starts to pray
for a thing keeps on praying until he prays it through, and obtains
what he seeks. We should be careful about what we ask from God, but
when we do begin to pray for a thing we should never give up praying
for it until we get it, or until God makes it very clear and very
definite to us that it is not His will to give it.
Some would have us believe that it shows unbelief to pray
twice for the same thing, that we ought to "take it" the first time
that we ask. Doubtless there are times when we are able through
faith in the Word or the leading of the Holy Spirit to CLAIM the
first time that which we have asked of God; but beyond question there
are other times when we must pray again and again and again for the
same thing before we get our answer. Those who have gotten beyond
praying twice for the same thing have gotten beyond their Master,
(Matt. 26:44). George Muller prayed for two men daily for upwards of
sixty years. One of these men was converted shortly before his
death, I think at the last service that George Muller held, the other
was converted within a year after his death. One of the great needs
of the present day is men and women who will not only start out to
pray for things, but pray on and on and on until they obtain that
which they seek from the Lord.
