"You can do more than pray
after
you have prayed,
but you cannot do more than pray
until
you have prayed."
“’Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.’ Mt 26.41 These words were spoken in the supreme moment of our Lord’s agony. We are immensely flippant if we forget that. No words our Lord ever spoke weigh more. We are dealing with the sacred simplicity of prayer. If prayer is not easy, we are wrong. If prayer is an effort, we are out of it. There is only one kind of person who can really pray, and that is the child-like saint - the simple, stupid, supernatural child of God. I do mean ‘stupid.’
We try to explain why God answers prayer on the ground of reason. This is nonsense. God answers prayer on the ground of redemption and on no other ground. Let us never forget that our prayers are heard, not because we are in earnest, not because we suffer, but because Jesus suffered. Because our Lord Jesus Christ went through the depths of agony to the last ebb in the Garden of Gethsemane, because He went through Calvary, we have ‘boldness to enter the Holiest (Heb 10.19).’”
from “If You Will Ask” by Oswald Chambers
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
“If it is a throne, it should be approached with enlarged expectations. We do not come, as it were, in prayer only to where God dispenses His favors to the poor or to the backdoor of the house of mercy to receive the scraps, though that were more than we deserve. To eat the crumbs that fall from the Master’s table is more than we could claim. But when we pray, we are standing in the palace, on the glittering floor of the great King’s own reception room. In prayer we stand where angels bow with veiled faces. There, even there, the cherubim and seraphim adore before that selfsame throne to which our prayers ascend. And shall we come there with stunted requests and narrow, contracted faith? He is a King who distributes pieces of broad gold, making a sumptuous ‘feast of fat things,… of wines on the lees well refined’ (Is 25.6). Take heed of imagining that God’s thoughts are your thoughts and His ways your ways (Is 55.8). Do not bring before God stinted petitions and narrow desires, but remember, as high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are His ways above your ways and His thoughts above your thoughts. Ask, therefore, after a Godlike fashion, for great things, for you are before the throne of grace, for then He would do for us ‘exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think’ (Eph 3.20).”
Pastor Charles Spurgeon in “The Power of Prayer in a Believer’s Life”
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“Whenever this throne is approached, it should be with complete submission. We do not pray to God to instruct Him as to what He should do; neither for a moment must we presume to dictate the method of the divine working. We are permitted to say to God, ‘Thus we would have it,’ but we must evermore add, ‘Yet, seeing that we may be mistaken and are still in the flesh, not as we will, but as You will.’ Who shall dictate to the throne? No loyal child of God will for a moment imagine that he is to occupy the place of the King, but he bows before Him who has a right to be Lord of all. And though he utters his desire earnestly, passionately, importunately, and he pleads and pleads again, yet it is evermore with this needful reservation: ‘Your will be done, my Lord; and, if I ask anything that is not in accordance with You, my inmost will is that You would be kind enough to deny me. I will take it as a true answer if You refuse me what does not seem good in Your sight.’ If we constantly remember this, I think we should be less inclined to push certain concerns before the throne. We should feel, ‘I am here seeking my own ease, my own comfort, my own advantage, and I may be asking for that which would dishonor God; therefore I will speak with the deepest submission to the divine decrees.’"
From “The Power of Prayer in a Believer’s Life” by Charles Spurgeon
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“We come to a throne to be approached with devout joyfulness. If I find myself favored by divine grace to stand among those favored ones who frequent His courts, shall I not feel glad? I might have been in prison, but now I am before His throne. I might have been driven from His presence forever, but I am permitted to come even into His royal palace, into His secret chamber of gracious audience. Shall I not then be thankful? Shall not my thankfulness ascend into joy, and shall I not feel that I am made recipient of great favors when I am permitted to pray? Why, then, is your countenance sad when you stand before the throne of grace? If you were before the throne of justice to be condemned for your sins, your hands might well be at your sides. But now that you are favored to come before the King in His silken robes of love, let your face shine with sacred delight. If your sorrows are heavy, tell them to Him, for He can comfort you. If your sins are multiplied, confess them, for He can forgive them. O you courtiers in the halls of such a monarch, be exceedingly glad and mingle praises with your prayers.”
Charles Spurgeon in “The Power of Prayer in a Believer’s Life”
_____________________________________________________
“He is the most holy of all kings. His throne is a great white throne - unspotted and clear as crystal. ‘The stars are not pure in His sight. How much less man, that is a worm?’ (Job 25.5-6). With what lowliness should you draw near to Him. Familiarity there may be, but let it not be unhallowed. Boldness there should be, but let it not be impertinent. You are still on earth and He in heaven. You are still a worm of dust, and He the Everlasting. Before the mountains were brought forth, He was God, and if all created things should pass away, yet He would still be the same. I am afraid we do not bow as we should before the Eternal Majesty. Let us ask the Spirit of God to put us in a right frame, that every one of our prayers may be a reverential approach to the infinite Majesty above.”
Charles Spurgeon in “The Power of Prayer in a Believer’s Life”
_____________________________________________________________________________________
“In our case, the King before whom we come is the highest of all monarchs, the King of kings, the Lord of lords. Emperors are but the shadows of our King’s imperial power. Some call themselves kings by divine right, but what divine right have they? Common sense laughs their pretensions to scorn. The Lord alone has divine right, and to Him only does the kingdom belong. He is the blessed and only monarch. Nominal kings are set up and put down at the will of men or the decree of providence, but He is Lord alone, the Prince of the kings of the earth.
My heart, be sure that you prostrate yourself in such a presence. If He is so great, place your mouth in the dust before Him, for He is the most powerful of all kings. His throne has sway in all worlds. Heaven obeys Him cheerfully, hell trembles at His frown, and earth is constrained to yield His worship, willingly or unwillingly. His power can create or destroy. My soul, be sure that when you draw near to the Omnipotent, who is as a consuming fire, put your shoes from off your feet and worship Him with lowliest humility.”
Charles Spurgeon in “The Power of Prayer in a Believers Life”
_____________________________________________________________________________________
“’The throne of grace.’ That God is to viewed in prayer as our Father is the aspect that is dearest to us. But we still are not to regard Him as though He were such as we are, for our Savior has qualified Our Father with the words ‘ which are in heaven.’ Close at the heels of that condescending name, to remind us that our Father is still infinitely greater than ourselves, He bids us say, ‘Hallowed by Thy name. Thy kingdom come’ (Mt 6.9-10). Our Father is to be regarded as a King, and in prayer we come, not only to our Father’s feet but also to the throne of the Great Monarch of the universe. The mercy seat is a throne, and we must not forget this.
We should always regard prayer as an entrance into the courts of the royalty of heaven, and if we are to behave ourselves as courtiers in the presence of an illustrious majesty, we are not at a loss to know the right spirit in which to pray. If in prayer we come to a throne, it is clear that our spirit should, in the first place, be one of lowly reverence. It is expected that the courtier, in approaching the king, should pay homage and honor. The pride that will not acknowledge the king and the treason that rebels against the sovereign should, if it is wise, avoid any near approach to the throne. Let pride bite the curb at a distance, let treason lurk in corners, for only lowly reverence may come before the king himself when he sits clothed in his robes of majesty.”
Charles Spurgeon in “The Power of Prayer in a Believer’s life”
May He give you strength and grace to be often before His throne in wonder before Him. May He strengthen you to keep on taking others to Him in prayer and may you see the reality of His power though His answers to your requests.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
“’The throne of grace’ - Hebrews 4.16. These words are found embedded in that gracious verse, ‘Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.’ They are a gem in a golden setting. True prayer is an approach of the soul by the Spirit of God to the throne of God. It is not the utterance of words, nor is it alone the feeling of desires, but it is the advance of the desires to God, the spiritual approach of our nature towards the Lord our God. True prayer is not a mere mental exercise, nor a vocal performance, but it is deeper far than that--it is spiritual communion with the Creator of heaven and earth. God is a Spirit unseen of mortal eye and only to be perceived by the inner man; our spirit within us, begotten by the Holy Spirit at our regeneration. Prayer is a spiritual business from beginning to end, and its aim and object end not with man, but reach to God Himself.
For such prayer the work of the Holy Spirit Himself is needed. If prayer were of the lips alone, we should only need breath in our nostrils to pray. If prayer were of the desires alone, many excellent desires are easily felt, even by natural men. But when it is the spiritual desire, and the spiritual fellowship of the human spirit with the Great Spirit, then the Holy Spirit Himself must be present all through it to help infirmity and give life and power, or else true prayer will never be presented. The thing offered to God will wear the name and have the form, but the inner life of prayer will be far from it.”
from “The Power of Prayer in a Believer’s Life” By Charles Spurgeon
May our Lord lift you by His strength and grace, enabling you to continue earnestly in prayer for His own exaltation in this life. May He direct you into true, supernatural
fellowship with Him.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
“’Watch and pray,’ said Jesus in the center of His own agony. If we don’t, we shall slip into the lure of wrong roads without knowing it. The only way to keep right is to watch and pray. The basis of prayer is not human earnestness, not human need, not the human will; it is redemption, and its living center is a personal Holy Spirit. Prayer on any other basis is stupid. A child can pray. Through His own agony in redemption, God has made it as easy to pray as it sounds. A rationally minded being can ridicule nothing more easily than prayer. ‘Praying always’ - the unutterable simplicity of it! No panic, no flurry, always at leisure from ourselves on the inside.
‘Being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.’ It is all very well to have prayer meetings, but are we continually practicing in the armor of God, keeping our hearts stout in the courage of God’s Spirit and taking our orders from Him? Or are we making an ingenious compromise? There is only one service that has no snares, and that is prayer. Preaching has snares to the natural heart; so has public service. Prayer has no snares because it is based on the redemption of the lord Jesus Christ mad efficacious all the time by the Holy Spirit.” from “If You Will Ask” by Oswald Chambers
Where would you be if not for other believers? How many people have greatly assisted you through the years by their prayer support? There are many people you do not even know about who have given themselves to you by their work of praying for you.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
“’And having done all, to stand’ - a mental state of confidence, not panic. What is it that puts us into a panic? The devil is a bully, but he cannot stand for a second before God. When we stand in the armor of God he pays no attention to us, but if we tackle the devil in our own strength we are done for. If stand in God’s armor with the strength and courage of God, Satan cannot gain one inch of way. That is the only way to hold position of prayer and to be untouched by Satan’s wiles.”
from “If You Will Ask” by Oswald Chambers; p 35
May our Lord give you strength to stand firm in His power and grace. May He help you by His Holy Spirit in you to really pray, to meet with Him from your heart.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
“In Eph 6.12-19 Paul takes the illustration of battle and applies it to what goes on in a saint’s life. The whole meaning of taking the armor of God is for prayer. Prayer is the position the devil struggling for. The struggle is around the position of prayer and the simplicity of prayer. Prayer is easy to us because of what it cost God to enable us to pray. It is the redemption of God, the agony of our Lord, that has made our salvation so easy and prayer so simple. When we emphasize the cost of prayer to us, we are wrong. The cost to us is nothing. It is a supreme and superb privilege marked by supernatural ease because of what it cost God… ‘Therefore take up the whole armor of God’ - not to fight, but to stand. We are not told to attack or to storm the efforts of darkness. We are told to stand, unpanicky and unbudged, more than conquerors. A conqueror is one who fights and wins. A ‘more that conqueror’ is one who easily and powerfully overcomes.” from “If You Will Ask” by Oswald Chambers
Your praying for another person can be one of the most important and fruitful services you can give to another human. May our Lord give you His strength and desire to keep on praying.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
“’Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.’ Mt 26.41 These words were spoken in the supreme moment of our Lord’s agony. We are immensely flippant if we forget that. No words our Lord ever spoke weigh more. We are dealing with the sacred simplicity of prayer. If prayer is not easy, we are wrong. If prayer is an effort, we are out of it. There is only one kind of person who can really pray, and that is the child-like saint - the simple, stupid, supernatural child of God. I do mean ‘stupid.’
We try to explain why God answers prayer on the ground of reason. This is nonsense. God answers prayer on the ground of redemption and on no other ground. Let us never forget that our prayers are heard, not because we are in earnest, not because we suffer, but because Jesus suffered. Because our Lord Jesus Christ went through the depths of agony to the last ebb in the Garden of Gethsemane, because He went through Calvary, we have ‘boldness to enter the Holiest (Heb 10.19).’” from “If You Will Ask” by Oswald Chambers
____________________________________________________________________________________________
“In Eph 6.12-19 Paul takes the illustration of battle and applies it to what goes on in a saint’s life. The whole meaning of taking the armor of God is for prayer. Prayer is the position the devil struggling for. The struggle is around the position of prayer and the simplicity of prayer. Prayer is easy to us because of what it cost God to enable us to pray. It is the redemption of God, the agony of our Lord, that has made our salvation so easy and prayer so simple. When we emphasize the cost of prayer to us, we are wrong. The cost to us is nothing. It is a supreme and superb privilege marked by supernatural ease because of what it cost God…
‘Therefore take up the whole armor of God’ - not to fight, but to stand. We are not told to attack or to storm the efforts of darkness. We are told to stand, unpanicky and unbudged, more than conquerors. A conqueror is one who fights and wins.
A ‘more that conqueror’ is one who easily and powerfully overcomes.”
from “If You Will Ask” by Oswald Chambers
Your praying for another person can be one of the most important and fruitful services you can give to another human. May our Lord give you His strength and desire to keep on praying. Thank you for praying for me.
__________ _______________________________________________________________________
“’And having done all, to stand’ - a mental state of confidence, not panic. What is it that puts us into a panic? The devil is a bully, but he cannot stand for a second before God. When we stand in the armor of God he pays no attention to us, but if we tackle the devil in our own strength we are done for. If stand in God’s armor with the strength and courage of God, Satan cannot gain one inch of way. That is the only way to hold position of prayer and to be untouched by Satan’s wiles.” from “If You Will Ask” by Oswald Chambers; p 35
May our Lord give you strength to stand firm in His power and grace. May He help you by His Holy Spirit in you to really pray, to meet with Him from your heart.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
“’Watch and pray,’ said Jesus in the center of His own agony. If we don’t, we shall slip into the lure of wrong roads without knowing it. The only way to keep right is to watch and pray. The basis of prayer is not human earnestness, not human need, not the human will; it is redemption, and its living center is a personal Holy Spirit. Prayer on any other basis is stupid. A child can pray. Through His own agony in redemption, God has made it as easy to pray as it sounds. A rationally minded being can ridicule nothing more easily than prayer. ‘Praying always’ - the unutterable simplicity of it! No panic, no flurry, always at leisure from ourselves on the inside.
‘Being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.’
It is all very well to have prayer meetings, but are we continually practicing in the armor of God, keeping our hearts stout in the courage of God’s Spirit and taking our orders from Him? Or are we making an ingenious compromise? There is only one service that has no snares, and that is prayer. Preaching has snares to the natural heart; so has public service. Prayer has no snares because it is based on the redemption of the lord Jesus Christ mad efficacious all the time by the Holy Spirit.” from “If You Will Ask” by Oswald Chambers
Where would you be if not for other believers? How many people have greatly assisted you through the years by their prayer support? There are many people you do not even know about who have given themselves to you by their work of praying for you. Let’s keep on lifting each other up through prayer. Thank you for praying for me. I sure do appreciate your help and service. May our Lord Jesus be magnified because of your prayer support.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
“’The throne of grace’ - Hebrews 4.16. These words are found embedded in that gracious verse, ‘Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.’ They are a gem in a golden setting. True prayer is an approach of the soul by the Spirit of God to the throne of God. It is not the utterance of words, nor is it alone the feeling of desires, but it is the advance of the desires to God, the spiritual approach of our nature towards the Lord our God. True prayer is not a mere mental exercise, nor a vocal performance, but it is deeper far than that--it is spiritual communion with the Creator of heaven and earth. God is a Spirit unseen of mortal eye and only to be perceived by the inner man; our spirit within us, begotten by the Holy Spirit at our regeneration. Prayer is a spiritual business from beginning to end, and its aim and object end not with man, but reach to God Himself.
For such prayer the work of the Holy Spirit Himself is needed. If prayer were of the lips alone, we should only need breath in our nostrils to pray. If prayer were of the desires alone, many excellent desires are easily felt, even by natural men. But when it is the spiritual desire, and the spiritual fellowship of the human spirit with the Great Spirit, then the Holy Spirit Himself must be present all through it to help infirmity and give life and power, or else true prayer will never be presented. The thing offered to God will wear the name and have the form, but the inner life of prayer will be far from it.”
from “The Power of Prayer in a Believer’s Life” By Charles Spurgeon
May our Lord lift you by His strength and grace, enabling you to continue earnestly in prayer for His own exaltation in this life. May He direct you into true, supernatural fellowship with Him. Thank you for including me and our church family in your requests.
________________________________________________________________________________________
“’The throne of grace.’ That God is to viewed in prayer as our Father is the aspect that is dearest to us. But we still are not to regard Him as though He were such as we are, for our Savior has qualified Our Father with the words ‘ which are in heaven.’ Close at the heels of that condescending name, to remind us that our Father is still infinitely greater than ourselves, He bids us say, ‘Hallowed by Thy name. Thy kingdom come’ (Mt 6.9-10). Our Father is to be regarded as a King, and in prayer we come, not only to our Father’s feet but also to the throne of the Great Monarch of the universe. The mercy seat is a throne, and we must not forget this.
I we should always regard prayer as an entrance into the courts of the royalty of heaven, and if we are to behave ourselves as courtiers in the presence of an illustrious majesty, we are not at a loss to know the right spirit in which to pray. If in prayer we come to a throne, it is clear that our spirit should, in the first place, be one of lowly reverence. It is expected that the courtier, in approaching the king, should pay homage and honor. The pride that will not acknowledge the king and the treason that rebels against the sovereign should, if it is wise, avoid any near approach to the throne. Let pride bite the curb at a distance, let treason lurk in corners, for only lowly reverence may come before the king himself when he sits clothed in his robes of majesty.”
Charles Spurgeon in “The Power of Prayer in a Believer’s life”
May He give you strength and grace to be often before His throne in wonder before Him. May He strengthen you to keep on taking others to Him in prayer and may you see the reality of His power though His answers to your requests. Thank you for praying for me.
We try to explain why God answers prayer on the ground of reason. This is nonsense. God answers prayer on the ground of redemption and on no other ground. Let us never forget that our prayers are heard, not because we are in earnest, not because we suffer, but because Jesus suffered. Because our Lord Jesus Christ went through the depths of agony to the last ebb in the Garden of Gethsemane, because He went through Calvary, we have ‘boldness to enter the Holiest (Heb 10.19).’”
from “If You Will Ask” by Oswald Chambers
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
“If it is a throne, it should be approached with enlarged expectations. We do not come, as it were, in prayer only to where God dispenses His favors to the poor or to the backdoor of the house of mercy to receive the scraps, though that were more than we deserve. To eat the crumbs that fall from the Master’s table is more than we could claim. But when we pray, we are standing in the palace, on the glittering floor of the great King’s own reception room. In prayer we stand where angels bow with veiled faces. There, even there, the cherubim and seraphim adore before that selfsame throne to which our prayers ascend. And shall we come there with stunted requests and narrow, contracted faith? He is a King who distributes pieces of broad gold, making a sumptuous ‘feast of fat things,… of wines on the lees well refined’ (Is 25.6). Take heed of imagining that God’s thoughts are your thoughts and His ways your ways (Is 55.8). Do not bring before God stinted petitions and narrow desires, but remember, as high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are His ways above your ways and His thoughts above your thoughts. Ask, therefore, after a Godlike fashion, for great things, for you are before the throne of grace, for then He would do for us ‘exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think’ (Eph 3.20).”
Pastor Charles Spurgeon in “The Power of Prayer in a Believer’s Life”
______________________________________________________
“Whenever this throne is approached, it should be with complete submission. We do not pray to God to instruct Him as to what He should do; neither for a moment must we presume to dictate the method of the divine working. We are permitted to say to God, ‘Thus we would have it,’ but we must evermore add, ‘Yet, seeing that we may be mistaken and are still in the flesh, not as we will, but as You will.’ Who shall dictate to the throne? No loyal child of God will for a moment imagine that he is to occupy the place of the King, but he bows before Him who has a right to be Lord of all. And though he utters his desire earnestly, passionately, importunately, and he pleads and pleads again, yet it is evermore with this needful reservation: ‘Your will be done, my Lord; and, if I ask anything that is not in accordance with You, my inmost will is that You would be kind enough to deny me. I will take it as a true answer if You refuse me what does not seem good in Your sight.’ If we constantly remember this, I think we should be less inclined to push certain concerns before the throne. We should feel, ‘I am here seeking my own ease, my own comfort, my own advantage, and I may be asking for that which would dishonor God; therefore I will speak with the deepest submission to the divine decrees.’"
From “The Power of Prayer in a Believer’s Life” by Charles Spurgeon
______________________________________________________
“We come to a throne to be approached with devout joyfulness. If I find myself favored by divine grace to stand among those favored ones who frequent His courts, shall I not feel glad? I might have been in prison, but now I am before His throne. I might have been driven from His presence forever, but I am permitted to come even into His royal palace, into His secret chamber of gracious audience. Shall I not then be thankful? Shall not my thankfulness ascend into joy, and shall I not feel that I am made recipient of great favors when I am permitted to pray? Why, then, is your countenance sad when you stand before the throne of grace? If you were before the throne of justice to be condemned for your sins, your hands might well be at your sides. But now that you are favored to come before the King in His silken robes of love, let your face shine with sacred delight. If your sorrows are heavy, tell them to Him, for He can comfort you. If your sins are multiplied, confess them, for He can forgive them. O you courtiers in the halls of such a monarch, be exceedingly glad and mingle praises with your prayers.”
Charles Spurgeon in “The Power of Prayer in a Believer’s Life”
_____________________________________________________
“He is the most holy of all kings. His throne is a great white throne - unspotted and clear as crystal. ‘The stars are not pure in His sight. How much less man, that is a worm?’ (Job 25.5-6). With what lowliness should you draw near to Him. Familiarity there may be, but let it not be unhallowed. Boldness there should be, but let it not be impertinent. You are still on earth and He in heaven. You are still a worm of dust, and He the Everlasting. Before the mountains were brought forth, He was God, and if all created things should pass away, yet He would still be the same. I am afraid we do not bow as we should before the Eternal Majesty. Let us ask the Spirit of God to put us in a right frame, that every one of our prayers may be a reverential approach to the infinite Majesty above.”
Charles Spurgeon in “The Power of Prayer in a Believer’s Life”
_____________________________________________________________________________________
“In our case, the King before whom we come is the highest of all monarchs, the King of kings, the Lord of lords. Emperors are but the shadows of our King’s imperial power. Some call themselves kings by divine right, but what divine right have they? Common sense laughs their pretensions to scorn. The Lord alone has divine right, and to Him only does the kingdom belong. He is the blessed and only monarch. Nominal kings are set up and put down at the will of men or the decree of providence, but He is Lord alone, the Prince of the kings of the earth.
My heart, be sure that you prostrate yourself in such a presence. If He is so great, place your mouth in the dust before Him, for He is the most powerful of all kings. His throne has sway in all worlds. Heaven obeys Him cheerfully, hell trembles at His frown, and earth is constrained to yield His worship, willingly or unwillingly. His power can create or destroy. My soul, be sure that when you draw near to the Omnipotent, who is as a consuming fire, put your shoes from off your feet and worship Him with lowliest humility.”
Charles Spurgeon in “The Power of Prayer in a Believers Life”
_____________________________________________________________________________________
“’The throne of grace.’ That God is to viewed in prayer as our Father is the aspect that is dearest to us. But we still are not to regard Him as though He were such as we are, for our Savior has qualified Our Father with the words ‘ which are in heaven.’ Close at the heels of that condescending name, to remind us that our Father is still infinitely greater than ourselves, He bids us say, ‘Hallowed by Thy name. Thy kingdom come’ (Mt 6.9-10). Our Father is to be regarded as a King, and in prayer we come, not only to our Father’s feet but also to the throne of the Great Monarch of the universe. The mercy seat is a throne, and we must not forget this.
We should always regard prayer as an entrance into the courts of the royalty of heaven, and if we are to behave ourselves as courtiers in the presence of an illustrious majesty, we are not at a loss to know the right spirit in which to pray. If in prayer we come to a throne, it is clear that our spirit should, in the first place, be one of lowly reverence. It is expected that the courtier, in approaching the king, should pay homage and honor. The pride that will not acknowledge the king and the treason that rebels against the sovereign should, if it is wise, avoid any near approach to the throne. Let pride bite the curb at a distance, let treason lurk in corners, for only lowly reverence may come before the king himself when he sits clothed in his robes of majesty.”
Charles Spurgeon in “The Power of Prayer in a Believer’s life”
May He give you strength and grace to be often before His throne in wonder before Him. May He strengthen you to keep on taking others to Him in prayer and may you see the reality of His power though His answers to your requests.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
“’The throne of grace’ - Hebrews 4.16. These words are found embedded in that gracious verse, ‘Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.’ They are a gem in a golden setting. True prayer is an approach of the soul by the Spirit of God to the throne of God. It is not the utterance of words, nor is it alone the feeling of desires, but it is the advance of the desires to God, the spiritual approach of our nature towards the Lord our God. True prayer is not a mere mental exercise, nor a vocal performance, but it is deeper far than that--it is spiritual communion with the Creator of heaven and earth. God is a Spirit unseen of mortal eye and only to be perceived by the inner man; our spirit within us, begotten by the Holy Spirit at our regeneration. Prayer is a spiritual business from beginning to end, and its aim and object end not with man, but reach to God Himself.
For such prayer the work of the Holy Spirit Himself is needed. If prayer were of the lips alone, we should only need breath in our nostrils to pray. If prayer were of the desires alone, many excellent desires are easily felt, even by natural men. But when it is the spiritual desire, and the spiritual fellowship of the human spirit with the Great Spirit, then the Holy Spirit Himself must be present all through it to help infirmity and give life and power, or else true prayer will never be presented. The thing offered to God will wear the name and have the form, but the inner life of prayer will be far from it.”
from “The Power of Prayer in a Believer’s Life” By Charles Spurgeon
May our Lord lift you by His strength and grace, enabling you to continue earnestly in prayer for His own exaltation in this life. May He direct you into true, supernatural
fellowship with Him.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
“’Watch and pray,’ said Jesus in the center of His own agony. If we don’t, we shall slip into the lure of wrong roads without knowing it. The only way to keep right is to watch and pray. The basis of prayer is not human earnestness, not human need, not the human will; it is redemption, and its living center is a personal Holy Spirit. Prayer on any other basis is stupid. A child can pray. Through His own agony in redemption, God has made it as easy to pray as it sounds. A rationally minded being can ridicule nothing more easily than prayer. ‘Praying always’ - the unutterable simplicity of it! No panic, no flurry, always at leisure from ourselves on the inside.
‘Being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.’ It is all very well to have prayer meetings, but are we continually practicing in the armor of God, keeping our hearts stout in the courage of God’s Spirit and taking our orders from Him? Or are we making an ingenious compromise? There is only one service that has no snares, and that is prayer. Preaching has snares to the natural heart; so has public service. Prayer has no snares because it is based on the redemption of the lord Jesus Christ mad efficacious all the time by the Holy Spirit.” from “If You Will Ask” by Oswald Chambers
Where would you be if not for other believers? How many people have greatly assisted you through the years by their prayer support? There are many people you do not even know about who have given themselves to you by their work of praying for you.
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“’And having done all, to stand’ - a mental state of confidence, not panic. What is it that puts us into a panic? The devil is a bully, but he cannot stand for a second before God. When we stand in the armor of God he pays no attention to us, but if we tackle the devil in our own strength we are done for. If stand in God’s armor with the strength and courage of God, Satan cannot gain one inch of way. That is the only way to hold position of prayer and to be untouched by Satan’s wiles.”
from “If You Will Ask” by Oswald Chambers; p 35
May our Lord give you strength to stand firm in His power and grace. May He help you by His Holy Spirit in you to really pray, to meet with Him from your heart.
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“In Eph 6.12-19 Paul takes the illustration of battle and applies it to what goes on in a saint’s life. The whole meaning of taking the armor of God is for prayer. Prayer is the position the devil struggling for. The struggle is around the position of prayer and the simplicity of prayer. Prayer is easy to us because of what it cost God to enable us to pray. It is the redemption of God, the agony of our Lord, that has made our salvation so easy and prayer so simple. When we emphasize the cost of prayer to us, we are wrong. The cost to us is nothing. It is a supreme and superb privilege marked by supernatural ease because of what it cost God… ‘Therefore take up the whole armor of God’ - not to fight, but to stand. We are not told to attack or to storm the efforts of darkness. We are told to stand, unpanicky and unbudged, more than conquerors. A conqueror is one who fights and wins. A ‘more that conqueror’ is one who easily and powerfully overcomes.” from “If You Will Ask” by Oswald Chambers
Your praying for another person can be one of the most important and fruitful services you can give to another human. May our Lord give you His strength and desire to keep on praying.
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“’Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.’ Mt 26.41 These words were spoken in the supreme moment of our Lord’s agony. We are immensely flippant if we forget that. No words our Lord ever spoke weigh more. We are dealing with the sacred simplicity of prayer. If prayer is not easy, we are wrong. If prayer is an effort, we are out of it. There is only one kind of person who can really pray, and that is the child-like saint - the simple, stupid, supernatural child of God. I do mean ‘stupid.’
We try to explain why God answers prayer on the ground of reason. This is nonsense. God answers prayer on the ground of redemption and on no other ground. Let us never forget that our prayers are heard, not because we are in earnest, not because we suffer, but because Jesus suffered. Because our Lord Jesus Christ went through the depths of agony to the last ebb in the Garden of Gethsemane, because He went through Calvary, we have ‘boldness to enter the Holiest (Heb 10.19).’” from “If You Will Ask” by Oswald Chambers
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“In Eph 6.12-19 Paul takes the illustration of battle and applies it to what goes on in a saint’s life. The whole meaning of taking the armor of God is for prayer. Prayer is the position the devil struggling for. The struggle is around the position of prayer and the simplicity of prayer. Prayer is easy to us because of what it cost God to enable us to pray. It is the redemption of God, the agony of our Lord, that has made our salvation so easy and prayer so simple. When we emphasize the cost of prayer to us, we are wrong. The cost to us is nothing. It is a supreme and superb privilege marked by supernatural ease because of what it cost God…
‘Therefore take up the whole armor of God’ - not to fight, but to stand. We are not told to attack or to storm the efforts of darkness. We are told to stand, unpanicky and unbudged, more than conquerors. A conqueror is one who fights and wins.
A ‘more that conqueror’ is one who easily and powerfully overcomes.”
from “If You Will Ask” by Oswald Chambers
Your praying for another person can be one of the most important and fruitful services you can give to another human. May our Lord give you His strength and desire to keep on praying. Thank you for praying for me.
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“’And having done all, to stand’ - a mental state of confidence, not panic. What is it that puts us into a panic? The devil is a bully, but he cannot stand for a second before God. When we stand in the armor of God he pays no attention to us, but if we tackle the devil in our own strength we are done for. If stand in God’s armor with the strength and courage of God, Satan cannot gain one inch of way. That is the only way to hold position of prayer and to be untouched by Satan’s wiles.” from “If You Will Ask” by Oswald Chambers; p 35
May our Lord give you strength to stand firm in His power and grace. May He help you by His Holy Spirit in you to really pray, to meet with Him from your heart.
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“’Watch and pray,’ said Jesus in the center of His own agony. If we don’t, we shall slip into the lure of wrong roads without knowing it. The only way to keep right is to watch and pray. The basis of prayer is not human earnestness, not human need, not the human will; it is redemption, and its living center is a personal Holy Spirit. Prayer on any other basis is stupid. A child can pray. Through His own agony in redemption, God has made it as easy to pray as it sounds. A rationally minded being can ridicule nothing more easily than prayer. ‘Praying always’ - the unutterable simplicity of it! No panic, no flurry, always at leisure from ourselves on the inside.
‘Being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.’
It is all very well to have prayer meetings, but are we continually practicing in the armor of God, keeping our hearts stout in the courage of God’s Spirit and taking our orders from Him? Or are we making an ingenious compromise? There is only one service that has no snares, and that is prayer. Preaching has snares to the natural heart; so has public service. Prayer has no snares because it is based on the redemption of the lord Jesus Christ mad efficacious all the time by the Holy Spirit.” from “If You Will Ask” by Oswald Chambers
Where would you be if not for other believers? How many people have greatly assisted you through the years by their prayer support? There are many people you do not even know about who have given themselves to you by their work of praying for you. Let’s keep on lifting each other up through prayer. Thank you for praying for me. I sure do appreciate your help and service. May our Lord Jesus be magnified because of your prayer support.
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“’The throne of grace’ - Hebrews 4.16. These words are found embedded in that gracious verse, ‘Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.’ They are a gem in a golden setting. True prayer is an approach of the soul by the Spirit of God to the throne of God. It is not the utterance of words, nor is it alone the feeling of desires, but it is the advance of the desires to God, the spiritual approach of our nature towards the Lord our God. True prayer is not a mere mental exercise, nor a vocal performance, but it is deeper far than that--it is spiritual communion with the Creator of heaven and earth. God is a Spirit unseen of mortal eye and only to be perceived by the inner man; our spirit within us, begotten by the Holy Spirit at our regeneration. Prayer is a spiritual business from beginning to end, and its aim and object end not with man, but reach to God Himself.
For such prayer the work of the Holy Spirit Himself is needed. If prayer were of the lips alone, we should only need breath in our nostrils to pray. If prayer were of the desires alone, many excellent desires are easily felt, even by natural men. But when it is the spiritual desire, and the spiritual fellowship of the human spirit with the Great Spirit, then the Holy Spirit Himself must be present all through it to help infirmity and give life and power, or else true prayer will never be presented. The thing offered to God will wear the name and have the form, but the inner life of prayer will be far from it.”
from “The Power of Prayer in a Believer’s Life” By Charles Spurgeon
May our Lord lift you by His strength and grace, enabling you to continue earnestly in prayer for His own exaltation in this life. May He direct you into true, supernatural fellowship with Him. Thank you for including me and our church family in your requests.
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“’The throne of grace.’ That God is to viewed in prayer as our Father is the aspect that is dearest to us. But we still are not to regard Him as though He were such as we are, for our Savior has qualified Our Father with the words ‘ which are in heaven.’ Close at the heels of that condescending name, to remind us that our Father is still infinitely greater than ourselves, He bids us say, ‘Hallowed by Thy name. Thy kingdom come’ (Mt 6.9-10). Our Father is to be regarded as a King, and in prayer we come, not only to our Father’s feet but also to the throne of the Great Monarch of the universe. The mercy seat is a throne, and we must not forget this.
I we should always regard prayer as an entrance into the courts of the royalty of heaven, and if we are to behave ourselves as courtiers in the presence of an illustrious majesty, we are not at a loss to know the right spirit in which to pray. If in prayer we come to a throne, it is clear that our spirit should, in the first place, be one of lowly reverence. It is expected that the courtier, in approaching the king, should pay homage and honor. The pride that will not acknowledge the king and the treason that rebels against the sovereign should, if it is wise, avoid any near approach to the throne. Let pride bite the curb at a distance, let treason lurk in corners, for only lowly reverence may come before the king himself when he sits clothed in his robes of majesty.”
Charles Spurgeon in “The Power of Prayer in a Believer’s life”
May He give you strength and grace to be often before His throne in wonder before Him. May He strengthen you to keep on taking others to Him in prayer and may you see the reality of His power though His answers to your requests. Thank you for praying for me.