A Call to Prayer # 6

A Call to Prayer # 6

This was the practice of all the saints whose history we have recorded in the Scriptures. This is what Jacob did when he feared his brother Esau. This is what Moses did when the people were ready to stone him in the wilderness. This is what Joshua did when Israel was defeated before the men of Ai. This is what David did when he was in danger in Keliah. This is what Hezekiah did when he received the letter from Sennacherib. This is that the church did when Peter was put in prison. This is what Paul did when he was cast into the dungeon at Philippi.

The only way to really be happy in such a world as this, is to be ever casting all our cares on God. It is trying to carry their own burdens which so often makes believers sad. If they will tell their troubles to God, He will enable them to bear them as easily as Samson did the gates of Gaza (Judges 16:3). If they are resolved to keep them to themselves, they will one day find that the very grasshopper is a burden!

There is a Friend ever waiting to help us, if we will unbosom to Him our sorrow - a Friend who pitied the poor and sick and sorrowful, when He was upon earth - a Friend who knows the heart of man, for He lived thirty-three years as a man among us - a Friend who can weep with the weepers, for He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief - a Friend who is able to help us, for there never was earthly pain He could not cure. That Friend is Jesus Christ. The way to be happy is to be always opening our hearts to Him. Oh, that we were all like that poor Christian slave who only answered when threatened and punished, "I must tell the Lord!"

Jesus can make those happy who trust Him and call Him, whatever be their outward condition. He can give them peace of heart in a prison, contentment in the midst of poverty, comfort in the midst of bereavements, joy on the brink of the grave. There is a mighty fullness in Him for all His believing members - a fullness that is ready to be poured out on everyone that will ask in prayer. Oh that people would understand that happiness does not depend on outward circumstances, but on the state of the heart!

Prayer can lighten crosses for us, however heavy. It can bring down to our side One who will help us to bear them. Prayer can open a door for us when our way seems hedged up. It can bring down One who will say, "This is the way, walk in it." (Isaiah 30:21). Prayer can let in a ray of hope when all our earthly prospects seem darkened. It can bring down One who will say, "I will never leave you, nor forsake you." (Heb. 13:5). Prayer can obtain relief for us when those we love the most are taken away, and the world feels empty. It can bring down One who can fill the gap in our hearts with Himself, and say to the waves within, "Peace, be still." (Mark 4:39). Oh that people were not so like Hagar in the wilderness, blind to the well of living waters close beside them (Genesis 21:14-19).

Let me speak a parting word to those who do not pray. I dare not suppose that all those who read these pages are praying people. If you are a prayerless person, suffer me to speak to you this day on God's behalf.

Prayerless reader, I can only warn you but I do warn you most solemnly. I warn you that you are in a position of fearful danger. If you die in your present state, you are a lost soul. You will only rise again to be eternally miserable. I warn you that all professing Christians you are utterly without excuse. There is not a single good reason that you can show for living without prayer.

It is useless to say your know not how to pray. Prayer is the simplest act in all religion. It is simply speaking to God. It needs neither learning nor wisdom nor book-knowledge to begin it. It needs nothing but heart and will. The weakest infant can cry when he is hungry. The poorest beggar can hold out their hand for alms, and does not wait to find fine words. The most ignorant person will find something to say to God, if they have only a mind.

It is useless to say you have no convenient place to pray in. Any person can find a place private enough, if they are disposed. Our Lord prayer on a mountain; Peter on the housetop; Isaac in the field; Nathaniel under the fig tree; Jonah in the whale's belly. Any place may become a closet, an oratory, and a Bethel, and be to us the presence of God.

It is useless to say you have no time. There is plenty of time, if people will employ it. Time may be short, but time is always long enough for prayer. Daniel had the affairs of a kingdom on his hands, and yet he prayed three times a day. David was the ruler over a mighty nation, and yet he says, "Evening and morning and at noon will I pray." When time is really wanted, time can always be found.

~J. C. Ryle~

(continued with # 7)