Practical ReligionPrayer (Part 1)

J.C. Ryle

Prayer

Prayer is the most important subject in practical religion. All other subjects are second to it.

Here are seven reasons for its importance:

Necessary to Salvation

1. Prayer is absolutely needful to salvation

(a) Salvation is by free grace alone

(b) One can not obtain salvation without asking for it

i. No one in the Bible ever receives salvation without asking for it

ii. There is no example of one being saved without prayer

Necessary to Salvation

(c) It is not absolutely needful to salvation that one

i. read the Bible

ii. hear public preaching of the gospel

iii. These are of great benefit, but people have been saved without them

iv. This is not the case with prayer

Necessary to Salvation

(d) Just as we get to know people by speaking to them, so we must speak to God to come to know Him.

(e) All who are saved have experiences in common

i. Belief, forgiveness of sin, new birth, prayer

ii. To be prayerless is to be without God,— without Christ,— without grace,— without hope,— and without heaven.

Mark of a True Christian

2. A habit of prayer is a sure mark of a true Christian.

(a) It is as much a part of their new nature to pray, as it is of a child to cry. They see their need of mercy and grace. They feel their emptiness and weakness. They cannot do otherwise than they do. They must pray.

(b) This is contrasted with “the wicked” who do not pray. (Psalm 14:4)

I do not for a moment pretend to say that the mere fact of a person praying proves everything

about his soul. But this I do say,— that not praying is a clear proof that a man is not yet a true Christian.

Mark of a True Christian

(c) The only evidence given to Ananias of Paul's conversion was, “behold, he is praying.” Acts 9:11.

Of all the evidences of real work of the Spirit, a habit of hearty private prayer is one of the most satisfactory.

The Most Neglected Duty3. Private prayer is the most neglected duty in religion

(a) Because private prayer is a transaction between us and God, which no one else sees, there is every temptation to leave it undone

(b) Some may recite formal prayers

i. These become rote – statements without heart-meaning

ii. Some are not even prayers – such as the Apostles' Creed (the Believe):

I BELIEVE in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth:And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, Born of the Virgin Mary, Suffered under Pontius Pilate, Was crucified, dead, and buried: He descended into hell; The third day he rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.I believe in the Holy Ghost; The holy Catholick Church; The Communion of Saints; The Forgiveness of sins; The Resurrection of the body, And the Life everlasting. Amen.

The Most Neglected Duty

(c) It is not natural to anyone to pray. The carnal mind is enmity against God. Rom. 8:7

(d) It is not fashionable to pray.

(e) People who live sinfully by day can hardly be expected to pray against sin.

(f) Many, when they die, seem to be strangers to God

Where there is no heart, there may be lip work and tongue work, but there is nothing that God listens to,— there is no prayer.

The Most Encouraged Act

4. Prayer is the most greatly encouraged act in religion

(a) The name of Jesus is a never failing passport to our prayers. In that name we may draw near to God with boldness, and ask with confidence. God has engaged to hear us.

- Poor as they are in themselves, our prayers are mighty and powerful in the hand of our High Priest and elder brother.

There is an advocate and intercessor always waiting to present the prayers of those who will employ him. That

advocate is Jesus Christ. He mingles our prayers with the incense of his own almighty intercession.

The Most Encouraged Act

(b) The Holy Spirit stands ready to help our infirmities in prayer

i. The Spirit will give us words if we will only seek his aid. He will supply us with ‘thoughts that breathe and words that burn.’

ii. It is not believers only that pray, but the Holy Ghost pleading in them (Rom. 8: 26).

Promises for those that pray:

Reception Matt. 7:7-8

Answers Matt. 21:22

Whatever is John 14:13-14asked in His Name

Good gifts Luke 11:5-8

Justice when Luke 18:1-8you persevere

The Secret of Holiness 5. Diligent prayer is the secret of eminent holiness

(a) The light of some believers shines more brightly than that of others

i. Some seem never to progress after conversion

- “They have got inside the fold, but there they lie down and get no further.”

ii. Others seem always to be progressing

A. They do not grow weary in well-doing (Gal. 6:9)

B. When they fail, they try again, yet think of themselves as poor, unprofitable, servants.

They are all fighting the same good fight;— but how much more valiantly some fight than others!

They are all doing the Lord’s work;— but how much more some do than others!

The Secret of Holiness (b) The difference between them is not that their holiness is a special gift, but that they pray diligently

(c) “The principal means by which most believers have become great in the church of Christ is the habit of diligent private prayer.”

(d) Do we wish to grow in grace and be very holy Christians? Then let us never forget the value of prayer.

They are all fighting the same good fight;— but how much more valiantly some fight than others!

They are all doing the Lord’s work;— but how much more some do than others!

The Cause of Backsliding

6. Neglect of praying is a great cause of backsliding

(a) Biblical examples of backsliding

i. The Galatians (turning aside after false teachers)

ii. Professing loudly, like Peter, then denying the Lord in their hour of trial

iii. Losing their first love, as the Ephesian church

iv. Cooling in their zeal, like Mark or Demas

That true grace shall never be extinguished, and true union with Christ never be broken off, I feel no doubt. But I do believe

that a man may fall away so far that he shall lose sight of his own grace, and despair of his own salvation.

The Cause of Backsliding

(b) One of the chief causes of backsliding is neglect of private prayer

i. Neglecting prayer before Bible reading, listening to sermons, taking journeys, choosing residences, forming friendships, and prayer hurriedly undertaken, or without heart

ii. These things bring a Christian to a point where God allows him to have a tremendous fall

(c) Undoubtedly believers fall in private long before they fall in public

That true grace shall never be extinguished, and true union with Christ never be broken off, I feel no doubt. But I do believe

that a man may fall away so far that he shall lose sight of his own grace, and despair of his own salvation.

The Best Recipe for Contentment

7. Prayer is one of the best recipes for happiness and contentment

(a) Until sin is driven out of the world, it is vain to think you can escape sorrow

(b) The most effective way to deal with sorrow is prayer

What is the best receipt for cheerfulness in such a world as this? How shall we get through

this valley of tears with least pain? I know no better receipt than the habit of taking everything to God in prayer.

The Best Recipe for Contentment (c) Biblical examples

i. Jacob, when he feared Esau (Gen. 32:9)

ii. Moses, when the people wanted to stone him (Ex. 17:4)

iii. Joshua, when they were defeated by Ai (Josh 7)

iv. David, when in danger at Keilah (1 Sam 23)

v. Hezekiah, when besieged by Sennacherib (2 Ki 19)

vi. The church, when Peter was imprisoned (Acts 12)

vii. Paul, in a Philippian jail (Acts 16)

Happiness does not depend on our circumstances, but on the condition of our hearts

For next week:

Chapter 4: Prayer (Part 2)

Please read:

Psalm 55