Our Supreme Need As Workers

The supreme need of the church today is the divine presence of the Holy Spirit; but it will come only through much prayer.

I.H.E. is editor of the Ministry

The supreme need of the church today is the divine presence of the Holy Spirit; but it will come only through much prayer. We are not as strong a praying people as we ought to be. We are very active in service, very busy in all kinds of work; but how few of us linger long in earnest prayer to God!

The fact is that "praying is spiritual work; and human nature does not like taxing spiritual work. Prayer is humbling work. It abases intellect and pride, crucifies vainglory, and signs our spiritual bankruptcy; and all these are hard for flesh and blood to bear." Yet the great heroes of faith—men who "subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong"—were all men mighty in prayer.

"Christ spent many whole nights in prayer. He had His habitual place to pray. Many long seasons of praying make up His history and character." Paul prayed night and day. Daniel prayed three times a day. Are we too busy to do much praying? Do we have too much on hand? Are we anxious to get at this or that, so we do not tarry long with God? Our great weakness is in relying on machinery, on organization, and on facilities; but these can never do the work of the Holy Spirit. The dual agency that God has ordained to fit man for the kingdom of God is His word and the working of the Holy Spirit on the human heart. When we neglect these, we neglect that which will impart power to this great message that we are commissioned to give to the world.

Evangelists and ministers and men with a special message for the world in other days prayed long and earnestly for power. Charles Simeon "devoted the hours from four till eight in the morning to God." How many of us ever do that?

Of John Wesley it is said that he "spent two hours, daily in prayer. He began at four in the morning. One who knew him well says: 'He thought prayer to be more his business than anything else, and I have seen him come out of his closet with a serenity of face next to shining!' “John Wesley was a good man, and he had an important work, but we have a far more important work than his. Those who have written his life story say that he would permit noth­ing to rob him of this time of com­munion with God. He felt that he could not do his work without prayer, and took time for it in spite of many pressing demands on his time and strength.

John Fletcher, a great English preacher associated with Wesley, is said to have "stained the walls of his room by the breath of his prayers. Sometimes he would pray all night; always frequently, and with great ear­nestness. His greeting to a friend was always, 'Do I meet you praying?'" This is a wonderful salutation, "DO I MEET YOU PRAYING?" Is your heart in tune with God? Oh, how little of that spirit dwells today in our working force!

Martin Luther said: "If I fail to spend two hours in prayer each morn­ing, the devil gets the victory through the day. I have so much business I cannot get on without spending three hours daily in prayer." Martin Luther was a busy man, too. He had a mighty work to do, but he accomplished it through prayer.

John Welch, "the holy and wonder­ful Scotch preacher, thought the day ill spent if he did not spend eight or ten hours in prayer. He kept a plaid that he might wrap himself in when he arose to pray at night. His wife would complain when she found him lying on the floor, weeping. He would reply: '0 woman, I have the souls of three thousand to answer for, and I know not how it is with many of them.' "

Such records ought to constitute a challenging example to our ministry; for, oh, how very little praying we do! How eager we are to work, but how easy we find it to neglect prayer! We do not tarry with God as this great truth demands that we should; we fail to wrestle with God until victory comes. One of the greatest needs in our work today is more prayer. There ought to be, from the highest to the humblest throughout the entire world, more prayer, and yet more prayer.

An experience in the Far East comes often to my mind. With some of the brethren I was attending an inland meeting. My bed was in a little low attic, and it was bitterly cold. One night I could not sleep, so I decided to get up and walk. I had my clothes on, for I had had to get up and put them on in the night. Climbing down the nar­row ladder, I went out the door. To my surprise I heard someone talking. The sound came from a passageway between a wall and the house, where the biting wind swept through. I went around and looked, and saw a man on his knees, one of our Chinese evan­gelists. He was weeping with broken­ness of spirit,—out of bed at 3:30 in the morning, crying and praying to God for salvation and deliverance. I was deeply moved to think that I had not thought of praying, but only of getting warm.

Walking out toward the road, I heard a voice of weeping. Through a little hole cut in a, wall, I looked in, and saw two men on their knees weep­ing and praying. One of them was our Chinese cook and the other was his helper. I didn't disturb them, but went on two rods farther to a small shed in which we ate. It was still dark and cold. Here again I heard the voice of prayer, and I lis­tened. Men were crying to God and weeping, praying for mercy. I counted five men on their knees. They had arisen at 3:30 in the morning and were praying. Then I went to the chapel, and there I counted fifteen men on their knees, praying and weeping, tell­ing God about their sins, asking for mercy, crying for help. I walked up and down in the yard; and as I walked I prayed and tried to talk with God.

To see these poor men out of heathen­ism crying to God in this way stirred my soul to its depths.

We as workers do not do as much praying as we ought. If we did, the church would rise on the wings of faith, and there would be growth, hope, courage. We need to come back to God in earnest prayer, the prayer of faith, that He will deliver His people, save our souls from the weakness of the flesh, and make us what we ought to be. Other men in other days have wrestled with God. How many times, when the whole congregation had re­belled against him, Moses went directly to God in prayer! He did not call his committee together; he did not hold a council over the situation; but he went to the tabernacle and lay down on his face before God, and there prayed until deliverance came.

We need this spirit of prayer in order to finish God's work, and see it triumph in the earth. When we have laid all on the altar; when all self-glory is forsaken, and self-praise is heard no more; when all desire for po­sition is laid aside, and all petty per­sonal jealousy is overcome; when we truly love as brethren, and are united in the oneness of heart and purpose which, was Christ's supreme desire for His children, then we shall have power from on high to complete the great work committed to us.

This church today needs this experience.                                           

I. H. E.


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I.H.E. is editor of the Ministry

August 1932

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