How To Pray
By R A Torrey
Summarized by merlin
Ch 1. The Importance of Prayer
Ephesians 6:18 “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. (note the alls)
But why is this constant, persistent, sleepless, overcoming prayer so needful?
1. Because there is a Devil…. Cunning, mighty, never rests, ever plotting.. “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
2. Prayer is God’s appointed way for obtaining things, and the great secret of all lack in our experience, in our life and in our work is neglect of prayer. James 4:2 “Ye have not because you ask not.”
3. Those men who God set forth as a pattern of what of what He expected Christians to be – the apostles – regarded prayer as the most important business of their lives. Acts 6:2-4.”…it is not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business; “but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” We now see and understand better Spirit and wisdom, but we need to absorb the rest of the verse, such as with the book, Start With Why.
4. Prayer occupied a very prominent place and played a very important part in the earthly life of our Lord.
5. Praying is the most important part of the present ministry of our risen Lord. Hebrews 7:25 “Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. Jesus is able to save us to the uttermost, not merely from the uttermost, but unto the uttermost, unto entire completeness, absolute perfection. The purpose for which he now lives is “to make intercession for us,” to pray. Praying is his principal activity he is doing since he returned, for it is by his prayers that he is saving us. Nothing challenges me more to pray than the thought that prayer is the principal occupation of our risen Lord.
6. Prayer is the means that God has appointed for our receiving mercy, and obtaining grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:16 “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” Mercy is what we need and grace is what we must have, or all our life and effort will end in complete failure. Prayer is the only way to get them. Understand there is infinite grace at our disposal, and we make it ours experimentally by prayer. Oh, if we only realized the fullness of God’s grace that is ours for the asking, including its height and depth and length and breadth, we would spend more time in prayer.
7. Prayer in the name of Jesus Christ is the way Jesus Christ Himself has appointed for His disciples to obtain fullness of joy. John 16:24 “Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name (shame on us!); ask, and ye shall receive , that your joy may be full.” And when our joy is full, it makes God real, not merely an idea. There is no greater joy on earth or in heaven than communion with God and prayer in the name of Jesus accomplishes that! Do you take enough leisure for prayer to actually get into God’s presence. Do you really give yourself up to prayer in the time in which you do take?
8. Prayer, in every care and anxiety and need of life, with thanksgiving, is the means that God has appointed for our obtaining freedom from all anxiety, and the peace of God which passes all understanding. See Phil 4:6-7. Time spent in prayer is not wasted, but time invested paying compounded interest and even sign-on bonuses!
9. Prayer is the method that God Himself has appointed for our obtaining the Holy Spirit. Doubtless many have received the Holy Spirit at their moment of their surrender to God before there was even time to pray; but how many more are there who know their first definite baptism with the Holy Spirit came while they were on their knees or faces before God, alone or in company of others, and who again and again since then have been filled with the Holy Spirit while in prayer! We must continually spend much time on our knees before God, if we are to continue in the power of the Holy Spirit. Too often a person who ministered unmistakably in the power of the Holy Spirit is now filling the air with their empty shouts, and beating it with their meaningless gestures, because their precious prayer time was simply crowded out and intimacy with the Spirit has departed, only hype remains.
10. Prayer is the means that Christ has appointed whereby our hearts shall not be overcome or be weighed down with carousing and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that Day of Christ’s return come on you un-expectantly. Luke 21:34 NKJV Verse 36 continues “Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.” Counted worthy to even escape all the things currently being concocted across this planet surely diminishes the presence of fear among Christ Followers. Consider also Paul’s words in Phil 1:21-29 NKJV. “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain…… For I am hard pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ which is far better. Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for you ….. Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel, and not in any way be terrified by your adversaries, which is to them proof of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that from God. For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake”… I suggest you may read these verses from The Message if you have access.
The coming of Jesus Christ is awakening much interest and discussion today; but it is one thing to be interested in such, and to talk about it, and quite another thing to be prepared for it. We live in an atmosphere that has a constant tendency to unfit us for Christ’s coming. There is only one way by which we can rise triumphant above these trials and tribulations – solely by constant watching unto prayer, even to loose sleep while preparing.
11. Because what prayer accomplishes!
A. Prayer promotes our spiritual growth as almost nothing else, indeed as nothing else but Bible study; for true prayer and true Bible study go hand in hand. It is through prayer that my sin is brought to light,, my most hidden sin. “Search me O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me.” Ps. 139:23-24.
B. Prayer brings power into our work.
C. Prayer avails for the conversion of others.
D. Prayer brings blessings to the Church
It was so in the days of Wesley and Whitfield, it was so in the days of the great revival of 1857 in this country and of 1859 in Ireland. And it will be so again in your day and mine. Satan has strategized his forces. Many are making great pretensions of apostolic methods, but covering the rankest dishonesty and hypocrisy with these pretensions, speaking even with loud boisterous assurances. Even Christians equally loyal to the great fundamental truths of the Gospel are glowering at one another with a Devil-sent-you suspicion. Our world of contrived chaos, the flesh and its carnality, and the Devil are in full exhibition, celebrating in full bloom. It is now a dark day, But – now “it is time for thee, Lord, to work; for they have made void thy law” (PS. 119:126).
And He is getting ready to work, and now He is listening for the voice of prayer, our prayers. Will He hear it? Will He hear it from you? Will He hear it from the Church as a body? I believe he will.
This is only a quick summary of the first chapter of twelve, which spoke loads of encouragement to me this evening considering the journey we are on. I marvel at the appropriateness of the message for today though I did add a few sentences that you’ll easily spot.
RA Torrey lived from (1856-1928), the son of an affluent banker and lawyer, was extremely shy, graduated from Yale in 1875, Yale Divinity in 1878, and his first pastorate was in Garrettsville OH at the Congregational Church. He joined Dwight L Moody in 1889 and in ’94 began as pastor at Moody Church on Chicago Avenue. In 1912, he was persuaded to build another institution like Moody Bible Institute, and from 1912 to 1924, he served as the Dean of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles (now Biola University). He preached around the world and authored more than 40 books.
Copies are abundantly available online. I found this book and another Moody Bible short novel similar actually to Christian Aid Ministries (CAM) Berlin OH book I use as a tract by Gary Miller, How Can Anyone Say God Is Good? Loretta’s mother has several boxes of books in storage in our barn we need to go through yet and this evening while I was moving them and I spotted these two laying on top, so I took them into Eileen and asked if she remembered being given them on Dec 26, 1937 as written on the fly as a Christmas gift from her first cousin and SS teacher at Crown Hill Mennonite, Mrs. Lester Geiser (the former Grace Brenner). She did and so we talked about that era and its significance. I told Loretta later I think I’ll read the short novel to her next week as she enjoys Audible books and see how well at 95 years old she connects with its message.
In ’66 while at Hesston College, Lester and Graces son Alfred (Al to us) was a year ahead of me but resided in the same mod and we spent Christmas ’66 together as he was a welder at Excel and I worked on campus. We were invited for Christmas dinner to Leo & Dorothy (Aunt Dorothy was my mother’s youngest sister) Miller’s at 440 S Knight St in Wichita KS where Leo served as pastor at the Eureka Gardens congregation just around the corner.
After HC I spent the ’68 summer building silos for Mast-Lepley and the fourth silo I helped build was on the Lester Geiser farm during wheat harvest and the Mennonite conference at Central Christian High School. Even though Al was in Asia on a MCC assignment, I met his younger brother Roland who was 11 or 12 at the time. And of course, the rest is history. Roland and I intersected frequently both of us servicing the dairy industry nearly 40 years, in Ohio and even in Kosova with a dairy mission project and I even helped him teach our SS class. Al and Gladys spent Al’s final years in Afghanistan where he and his business partner were murdered. Before that assignment however, Al installed an Autoclave in my lab. Mitch Steiner had sales connections and found out the Joel Pomerene Hospital was getting a new one so I bought their old one.
So that folks, is the rest of the story as the mural is continuing to be drawn out on the canvases of our lives, never knowing exactly where opening a little coverless beat up book might take you; perhaps even impact you forever. Time is always of the essence. Invest wisely for eternal joy.