BY DWIGHT L. MOODY
THOSE WHO have left the deepest impression on this sin cursed earth have been men and women of prayer. You will find that prayer has been the mighty power that has moved not only God, but man. Abraham was a man of prayer, and angels came down from heaven to converse with him. Jacob’s prayer was answered in the wonderful interview at Peniel, that resulted in his having such a mighty blessing, and in the softening of the heart of his brother Esau; the child Samuel was given in answer to Hannah’s prayer; Elijah’s prayer closed up the heavens for three years and six months, and he prayed again and the heavens gave rain.
Bible Men Who Prayed
The Apostle James tells us that the prophet Elijah was a man “subject to like passions as we are.” I am thankful that those men and women who were so mighty in prayer were just like us. We are apt to think that those prophets and mighty men and women of old time were different from what we are. To be sure they lived in a much darker age, but they were of like passions with ourselves.
We read that on another occasion Elijah brought down fire on Mount Carmel. The prophets of Baal had cried long and loud, but no answer came. The God of Elijah heard and answered his prayer. Let us remember that the God of Elijah still lives. The prophet was translated and went up to heaven, but his God still lives, and we have the same access to Him that Elijah had. We have the same warrant to go to God and ask the fire from heaven to come down and consume our lusts and passions, to burn up our dross, and to let Christ shine through us.
Elisha prayed, and life came back to a dead child. Many of our children are dead in trespasses and sins. Let us do as Elisha did; let us entreat God to raise them up in answer to our prayers.
Manasseh, the king, was a wicked man and had done everything he could against the God of his father; yet in Babylon, when he cried to God, his cry was heard, and he was taken out of prison and put on the throne
at Jerusalem. Surely if God gave heed to the prayer of wicked Manasseh, He will hear ours in the time of our distress. Is not this a time of distress with a great number of people? Let us pray and remember that
God answers prayer.
Look, again, at Samson. He prayed, and his strength came back, so that he slew more at his death than during his life. He was a restored backslider, and he had power with God. If those who are backsliders
will return to God, they will see how quickly God will answer prayer.
Job prayed, and his captivity was turned. Light came in the place of darkness, and God lifted him up above the height of his former prosperity in answer to prayer.
Daniel prayed to God, and Gabriel came to tell him that he was a man greatly beloved of God. Three times that message came to him from heaven in answer to prayer. The secrets of heaven were imparted to him,
and he was told that God’s Son was going to be cut off for the sins of His people.
We find also that Cornelius prayed, and Peter was sent to tell him words whereby he and his should be saved. In answer to prayer this great blessing came upon him and his household. Peter had gone up to the house top to pray in the afternoon, when he had that wonderful vision of the sheet let down from heaven. It was when prayer was made without ceasing unto God for Peter that the angel was sent to deliver him.
So all through the Scriptures you will find that when believing prayer went up to God, the answer came down. I think it would be a very interesting study to go right through the Bible and see what has happened while God’s people have been on their knees calling upon Him. Certainly the study would greatly strengthen our faith by showing, as it would, how wonderfully God has heard and delivered when the cry has gone up to Him for help.
Look at Paul and Silas in the prison at Philippi. As they prayed and sang praises, the place was shaken, and the jailer was converted. Probably that one conversion has done more than any other recorded in the Bible to bring people into the kingdom of God. How many have been blessed in seeking to answer the question, “What must I do to be saved?” It was the prayer of those two godly men that brought the jailer to his knees and that brought blessing to him and his family.
You remember how Stephen, as he prayed and looked up, saw the heavens opened and the Son of Man at the right hand of God; the light of heaven fell on his face so that it shone. Remember, too, how the face of Moses shone as he came down from the Mount; he had been in communion with God, He lifts His countenance upon us, and instead of our having gloomy looks, our faces will shine because God has heard and answered our prayers.
Christ Prayed
We read that the Lord Jesus Christ prayed to His Father for everything. Every great crisis in His life was preceded by prayer. Notice that Christ was praying at His baptism. As He prayed, the heaven was opened,
and the Holy Ghost descended on Him.
Another great event in His life was His Transfiguration. “As He prayed, the fashion of His countenance was altered, and His raiment was white and glistening” (Luke 9:29).
We read again: “It came to pass in those days, that He went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God” (Luke 6:12). This is the only place where it is recorded that the Savior spent a whole night in prayer. What was about to take place? When He came down from the mountain, He gathered His disciples around Him and preached that great discourse known as the Sermon on the Mount, the most wonderful sermon that has ever been preached to mortal men. Probably no sermon has done so much good, and it was preceded by a night of prayer. Prayer precedes power.
In John 11:41-42, we read that Jesus at the grave of Lazarus lifted up His eyes to heaven and said: “Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me; and I know that thou hearest me always: but because of the people
which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent Me.” Notice that before He spoke the dead to life, He spoke to His Father. If our spiritually dead ones are to be raised, we must have power with God. Jesus was in communion with His Father, and so He could be assured that His prayers were heard.
We read again, in John 12:27, that He prayed to the Father. I think this is one of the saddest chapters in the whole Bible. He was about to leave the Jewish nation and to make atonement for the sin of the world. Hear what He says: “Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save Me from this hour; but for this cause came I unto this hour.” He was almost under the shadow of the Cross; the iniquities of mankind were about to be laid upon Him; one of His twelve disciples was going to deny Him and swear he never knew Him; another was to sell Him for thirty pieces of silver; all were to forsake Him and flee. His soul was exceedingly sorrowful, and He prays; when His soul was troubled, God spoke to Him. Then in the Garden of Gethsemane, while He prayed, an angel appeared to strengthen Him. In answer to His cry, “Father, glorify Thy Name,” He hears a voice “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again” (John 12:28).
Another memorable prayer of our Lord was in the Garden of Gethsemane: “He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast, and kneeled down, and prayed (Luke 23:41). I would draw your attention to the recorded fact that four times the answer came right down from heaven while the Savior prayed to God. The first time was at His baptism when the heavens were opened and the Spirit descended upon Him in answer to His prayer. Again, on the Mount of Transfiguration, God appeared and spoke to Him. Then when the Greeks desired to see Him, the voice of God was heard responding to His call; and again, when He cried to the Father in the midst of His agony, a direct response was given. These things are recorded, I doubt not, that we may be encouraged to pray.
We read that His disciples came to Him and said, “Lord, teach us to pray.” It is not recorded that He taught them how to preach. I have often said that I would rather know how to pray like Daniel than to preach like Gabriel. If you get love into your soul so that the grace of God may come down in answer to prayer, there will be no trouble about reaching the people. It is not by eloquent sermons that perishing souls are going to be reached; we need the power of God to meet their needs.
The prayer our Lord taught His disciples is commonly called the Lord’s Prayer. I think that the Lord’s prayer, more properly, is that in John chapter 17. That is the longest prayer on record that Jesus made. You
can read it slowly and carefully in about four or five minutes. I think we may learn a lesson here. Our Master’s prayers were short when offered in public; when He was alone with God, He could spend the whole night in communion with His Father. My experience is that those who pray most in their closets generally make short prayers in public. Long prayers are too often not prayers at all, and they weary the people. How short the publican’s prayer was: “God be merciful to me a sinner” (Luke 18:13). The prayer of the thief on the cross was a short one: “Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy Kingdom!” (Luke 23:42). Peter’s prayer was, “Lord save me” (Matthew 14:30). So, if you go through the Scriptures, you will find that the prayers that brought immediate answers were generally brief. Let our prayers be to the point, just telling God what we want.
In the prayer of our Lord, in John 17, we find that He made seven requests: one for Himself, four for His disciples around Him, and two for the disciples of succeeding ages. Six times in that one prayer He repeats that God had sent Him. The world looked upon Him as an imposter; He wanted them to know that He was heaven-sent. He speaks of the world nine times, and mentions His disciples and those who believe on Him fifty times.
Christ’s last prayer on the cross was a short one. “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). I believe that prayer was answered. We find that right there in front of the cross, a
Roman centurion was converted. It was probably in answer to the Savior’s prayer. The conversion of the thief, I believe, was in answer to that prayer of our blessed Lord. Saul of Tarsus may have heard it, and the words may have followed him as he traveled to Damascus so that when the Lord spoke to him on the way, he may have recognized the voice. One thing we do know, that on the day of Pentecost some of the
enemies of the Lord were converted. Surely that was in answer to the prayer, “Father, forgive them!”
Hence, we see that prayer holds a high place among the exercises of a spiritual life. All God’s people have been praying people. Martin Luther and his companions were men of such mighty pleading with God
that they broke the spell of ages and laid nations subdued at the foot of the Cross. When John Knox grasped all Scotland in his strong arms of faith, his prayers terrified tyrants. George Whitefield, after much
holy, faithful close-pleading, went to the Devil’s fair and in one day took more than a thousand souls out of the paw of the lion. See a praying Wesley turn more than ten thousand souls to the Lord! Look at the praying Charles Finney, whose prayers, faith, sermons, and writings shook this country and sent a wave of blessing through two continents.
Dr. Thomas Guthrie speaks of the need of:
The first true sign of spiritual life, prayer, is also the means of maintaining it. Man can as well live physically without breathing, as spiritually without praying. There is a class of animals-the setaceous,
neither fish nor seafowl-that inhabit the deep. It is their home, they never leave it for the shore; yet, though swimming beneath its waves, and sounding its darkest depths, they have ever and anon to rise to the
surface that they may breathe the air. Without that, these monarchs of the deep could not exist. And something like what is imposed on them by a physical necessity, the Christian has to do by a spiritual one. It is by ever and anon ascending up to God, by rising through prayer into a loftier, purer region for supplies of divine grace, that he maintains his spiritual life. Prevent these animals from rising to the surface, and they die for want of breath; prevent the Christian from rising to God, and he dies for want of prayer.
“Since I began,” said Dr. Payson when a student, “to beg God’s blessing on my studies, I have done more in one week than in the whole year before.” Luther, when most pressed with work, said, “I have so much to
do that I cannot get on without three hours a day praying.” And not only do theologians think and speak highly of prayer; men of all ranks and positions in life have felt the same. General Havlock rose at four
o’clock, if the hour for marching was six rather than lose the precious privilege of communion with God before setting out. Sir Matthew Hale says: “If I omit praying and reading God’s Word in the morning, nothing goes well all day.”
“A great part of my time,” said Robert McCheyne, “is spent in getting my heart in tune for prayer. It is the link that connects earth with heaven.”
Essential Elements to Prayer
There are nine elements which are essential of true prayer. The first is adoration; we cannot meet God on a level at the start. We must approach Him as One far beyond our reach or sight. The next is confession; sin must be put out of the way. We cannot have any real communion with God while there is any transgression between us. Restitution is another; we have to make good the wrong, wherever possible. Thanksgiving is the next; we must be thankful for what God has done for us already. Then comes forgiveness, and then unity; and then for prayer, such as these things produce, there must be faith. Thus influenced, we shall be ready to offer direct petition. We hear a good deal of praying that is just exhorting, and if you did not see the man’s eyes closed, you would suppose he was preaching. Then, much that is called prayer is simply finding fault. There needs to be more petition in our prayers. After all these, there must come submission.
While praying, we must be ready to accept the will of God.
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Dwight Lyman Moody (1837-1899) is known around the world as one of America’s most effective evangelists. Converted as a teenager through the witness of his Sunday School teacher, Moody became active in YMCA and Sunday School work in Chicago while pursuing a successful business career. He then devoted his full time to evangelism and was mightily used of God in campaigns in both the United States and Great Britain. He founded the Northfield School for Girls, the Mount Hermon School for Boys, the Northfield Bible Conference, and the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. Before the days of planes and radio, Moody traveled more than a million miles and addressed more than 100 million people. This message on prayer is from The Best of D.L. Moody, edited by Ralph Turnbull and published by Baker Book House.
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THE ABOVE MATERIAL WAS TAKEN FROM CLASSIC SERMONS ON PRAYER, PAGES 18-25. THIS MATERIAL IS COPYRIGHTED AND MAY BE USED FOR STUDY & RESEARCH PURPOSES ONLY.
