God Loves… Himself

For a condensed version of Jonathan Edwards’ call to prayer see http://www.sbaoc.org/blog/?page_id=762 or go to www.sbaoc.org and go to “BLOG” and then “a call to prayer.”

James 5:16 – “The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. 18 Then he prayed again, and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit.”

“Time for prayer one can and must purchase dearly; proficiency in it, we can neither buy nor give ourselves. We must come as we are, so that God may make us as we should be.

The God of love who is close to us, touches our spirit with His love and draws us to Himself. And so our spirit becomes so moved by impulses and inclinations that it can find rest henceforth in no other thing than God. When any soul remains in this state by dint of meditation, clears out of the way by self-denial all that might hinder the spirit in its progress, and by complete surrender into the hands of God follows this its root-inclination, lo, this root-inclination becomes a kind of gravitation of love, leading the spirit to God, just as a little brook flows down to the ocean, and just as a stone thrown into the air, sinks down on to the earth which is its center.”

– Gerhard Tersteegen

Psalm 65:4 – “How blessed is the one whom You choose and bring near to You To dwell in Your courts. We will be satisfied with the goodness of Your house, Your holy temple.”

What was said many years ago about presenting and yielding the soul to Christ as a bride gives herself to the groom is also a picture of true prayer: We must present and yield up ourselves to Christ Who has bought us, even as a bride gives and resigns herself to her bridegroom. As soon as the bride gives her consent to the bridegroom, she immediately presents him also her whole heart and her whole will. She is ready to follow him wherever he chooses to go and do what pleases him. She desires nothing else than to depend upon his command, his will, and his good pleasure.

In prayer we cannot hold on to our own will and desires and try to change the will of God. We must come to Him and desire His presence and for Him to change us to be like Himself. Even in praying for revival we are not to try to change God but are to pray to be changed. The essence of revival is when God comes down and empties His people of themselves in order to fill them with Himself. As long as we come to God and want to dictate how He is to bring revival or to bring it for our sakes, we will not see revival. We must come to Him as empty vessels longing to be filled with Him. We must come to Him asking for Him to give us submissive and broken hearts with nothing but love for Him. We must desire to desire nothing more than His presence and His will. We are to go to the throne of grace in order to receive grace. But what does grace do? Grace in the soul can do nothing but make us more like Christ as it powerfully works to make us more and more in His image.

We are told that by beholding His glory we will be transformed into that same image from glory to glory (II Cor 3:18). John 1:16 tells us that it is “of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.” One of the attributes of God that was taught in times past was the simplicity of God. This is the attribute that teaches us that God really only has one attribute but human beings can only see that oneness in several ways. His glory cannot be beheld but by seeing it in parts. The grace of God, then, is not distinct from His power. When God gives grace, that grace will change hearts to be like His. Prayer is when the soul goes to the throne of grace seeking to be emptied of self and pride so that it can be filled with the grace which will make it like Christ. There is no receiving of grace that will not change the soul to be like Christ. If our hearts are not emptied of self and pride, that very pride is opposed by God. God only gives grace to the humble. If we are going to truly pray for a revival that God will send which is to the glory of His grace, we must seek humility at the throne of grace. Seeking revival in truth is not a comfortable thing; it will cost us our very selves. If we want to hang on to our self and our pride, even if it is our religious or so-called spiritual pride, we will not see revival. Do you really want a revival of the glory of God? If so, you must learn to pray to be emptied of self so you can be changed. God must bring us to Himself to dwell in His presence and He only brings the humble and broken.

For a condensed version of Jonathan Edwards’ call to prayer see http://www.sbaoc.org/blog/?page_id=762 or go to www.sbaoc.org and go to “BLOG” and then “a call to prayer.”

James 5:16 – “The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. 18 Then he prayed again, and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit.”

“It should be pointed out that there is still another aspect that ought to take precedence over thanksgiving and petition, namely self-abhorrence and confession of our own unworthiness and sinfulness. The soul must solemnly remind itself of Who it is that is to be approached, even the Most High, before whom the very seraphim veil their faces (Isa 6:2). Though Divine grace has made the Christian a son, nevertheless he is still a creature, and as such at an infinite and inconceivable distance below the Creator. It is only fitting that he should deeply feel this distance between himself and his Creator and acknowledge it by taking his place in the dust before God. Moreover, we need to remember that we are by nature; not merely creatures, but sinful creatures. Thus there needs to be both a sense and an owning of this as we bow before the Holy One. Only in this way can we, with any meaning and reality, plead the mediation and merits of Christ as the ground of our approach.” (A.W. Pink)

Calvin wrote about how it is only in the sight of God that we can see ourselves. Isaiah found out about this in chapter 6 of his work. “Then I said, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts” (v. 5). Here is the response of a man that has seen something of God and then has seen self in the light of who that God really is. Let us not assume that true prayer is done in a flippant manner and as something casual to get done. While that may be common in many churches, that type of prayer just shows that God is not present. Where God is present in His glory men are on their faces rather than flippantly offering words of supposed prayer.

The Psalms tells us to “Worship the LORD with reverence And rejoice with trembling (2:11). The book of Hebrews tells us that since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe” (Heb 12:28). Let us not imagine that we are praying if we are not in the presence of God. If we are in the presence of God, we will have reverence and awe and we will not pray as giving a performance or doing some light and trivial thing. A minister must not pray to please the people, but to seek more of the living God for the people. The people do not need a minister that they can be pleased with and smile at; they need to be brought into the presence of the living God. We do not need the type of prayer that we can finish and then pick up the empty things of the world again, but we need the type of prayer that lets us know that we have been in the presence of God and that we are different after being in His presence.

When was the last time you were so broken over your inability to truly pray that you could do nothing but groan? When was the last time you were so broken in the presence of God that you cried out to Christ to cover you that moment or you would perish? When was the last time you were in prayer and God opened your heart to you so that you were so broken you could do nothing but weep? When was the last time in prayer that you hungered for God and a sight of His glory that you felt like your heart would burst? When was the last time that you prayed as if to a God that is alive and that you were doing more than uttering words to a floor or a ceiling? When was the last time you prayed to a God that lived in your soul and not just words to someone out there somewhere?

If we are going to see a true reformation and revival in our day, it will not happen by weak prayers offered by pastors and people too busy to truly pray. It will only happen when our hearts are broken in truth and we give ourselves to prayer. It will only happen if we are willing to suffer in our souls the sight of our own vile hearts in order to be broken more and more in His presence. While many flee from the first sign of discomfort in prayer, it may be that they are fleeing from the presence of God. We will not know what it means to pray until we know what pain in the soul really is. Do we really want revival? God knows if you do. Seek the Lord for hearts to truly pray. If we don’t, He won’t give them and we will continue on in our religious but irreverent ways.

For a condensed version of Jonathan Edwards’ call to prayer see http://www.sbaoc.org/blog/?page_id=762 or go to www.sbaoc.org and go to “BLOG” and then “a call to prayer.”

James 5:16- “The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. 18 Then he prayed again, and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit.”

“We are constantly on a stretch, if not on a strain, to devise new methods, new plans, new organizations to advance the Church and secure enlargement and efficiency for the gospel. This trend of the day has a tendency to lose sight of the man or to sink the man in the plan or organization… What the Church needs today is not more machinery or better, not new organizations or more and novel methods, but men whom the Holy Ghost can use-men of prayer, men mighty in prayer. The Holy Ghost does not flow through methods, but through men. He does not come on machinery, but on men. He does not anoint plans, but men-men of prayer.” (The Complete Works of E.M. Bounds on Prayer, p. 447)

We say we believe in the inerrancy and authority of Scripture. Yet when it comes to action it appears that we believe in the inerrancy and authority of our own plans. Many claim to believe in the sovereignty of God, but by their actions it appears that they believe that God’s sovereignty is useful to carry out their own plans. As E.M. Bounds points out, however, God uses men of prayer. It is not that God uses men of prayer because they ask God to do more things and He is just setting around waiting until someone will start asking Him to do things He wants to do anyway. But God uses men of prayer because in true prayer men are seeking the Lord to change their hearts to be like Him and are seeking for the things He moves them to pray. Our prayers do not earn any merit or favor before God simply because we use His name and utter sounds into the air. But when our hearts are transformed to be like Christ in their desires and loves so that our prayers become expressions of the loves and desires of Christ, God sees His own desires and loves being expressed through us. When that happens, we are changed and become channels of His glory and He has now made us instruments of His glory in the world. When that happens, we pray for the things on His heart and are willing to suffer in order for them to happen. When His desires become our desires and when His loves become our loves, only then will we have prayed and will we truly pray.

Romans 8:26 – “In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; 27 and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. Romans 8:34 who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.”

Hebrews 7:25 – “Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. 9:24 For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us;”

“It should be pointed out that there is still another aspect that ought to take precedence over thanksgiving and petition, namely self-abhorrence and confession of our own unworthiness and sinfulness. The soul must solemnly remind itself of Who it is that is to be approached, even the Most High, before whom the very seraphim veil their faces (Isa 6:2). Though Divine grace has made the Christian a son, nevertheless he is still a creature, and as such at an infinite and inconceivable distance below the Creator. It is only fitting that he should deeply feel this distance between himself and his Creator and acknowledge it by taking his place in the dust before God” (A. W. Pink).

We often just think we are doing our duty by saying things in a religious way asking God to do things for ourselves. But when we are brought into prayer by grace, we are sharing in the very actions and life of the Trinity. The Spirit is teaching us how to pray by His work in us and also intercedes for us. The Son is at the right hand of God appearing for us and interceding for us. Our prayers need the help of the Spirit and the intercession of Christ. True prayer is a Divine activity in our souls and in heaven. Shall we seek to really pray or just utter words?

For a condensed version of Jonathan Edwards’ call to prayer see http://www.sbaoc.org/blog/?page_id=762 or go to www.sbaoc.org and go to “BLOG” and then “a call to prayer.”

James 5:16 The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. 18 Then he prayed again, and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit.

We all want to have effective prayers, but few are willing to pray the price to obtain a righteous heart that will pour forth effective prayers. It is not that a righteous heart can be obtained by the works of man, but we must see the need for a righteous heart and seek the Lord for one. How many of us really desire to have a pure heart? No, I am not meaning the standard heart that flees from outward sins, but a heart that desires to be wholly the Lord’s. Do we really want a heart that is broken and weaned from all that is not seeking the Lord? Do we want hearts that breathe forth the heart of Augustine? In a bit of a paraphrase, he said that we love the Lord too little if we don’t love all things for His sake. Do we really love our wives, children, churches, hobbies, and so on for His sake? We think that a good Christian refrains from certain things and perhaps does others. Oh no, if we are going to see a true reformation and revival in this land it will only come if there are righteous hearts praying to the Lord for it. But again, these hearts do not come by works and they do not occur overnight. The Lord will send fiery trials to burn the dross from our hearts and purify out loves and desires so that they are for His sake. We must stop playing religious games by playing church that is not truly out of love for Him and His sake. We must stop thinking of revival as anything but for the sake of His name. If we want one simply as a church growth method, even if that is hidden from all others, we will not see a true revival and we will not see the glory of the Lord we claim to love above all things. Are we willing to be nothing for His sake? Are we willing to be nobodies for His sake? Are we willing to be shamed and cast out of churches and denominations for His sake? Until we do, we are not serious about true reformation and true revival. Let us seek the Lord for broken hearts in order to seek Him for His sake.

Various thoughts on Prayer by Anonymous Authors:
I have knocked on the door a long time for an answer to prayer. Indeed, but are you at the right door?

I have prayed for years for God to answer this prayer. But have you really prayed to God out of a desire for Him and are you seeking the answer to your prayer for His sake? I have prayed for years for God to answer my prayer. Have you sought the Lord so that the desire of prayer actually came from Him and is according to His will?

There is a difference between internal and external prayers. External prayers are simply words that are not really from the heart. External prayers are those prayers that can be very religious and ask the right things, but the heart does not really desire them. Internal prayers are those affections and desires that are the wings of the soul that take it to the presence of God whether they are verbalized or not.

One sign of an internal prayer is that the one that is uttering the words is willing to do what it takes for that prayer to be answered. It is easy to ask God to do things and yet be unwilling to be the means by which He will answer the prayer. This shows that we don’t truly desire what we ask.

A heart that desires God and breathes after Him in prayer is one that does not desire self. This is a heart that is willing to suffer to be done with self so that it can seek the Lord and His presence in true prayer. A heart that is seeking the Lord in prayer is seeking to be done with self and is at war with self so it can continue to seek the Lord out of true love. Loving prayer to God can only be done in denying self and taking up the cross to seek Him in prayer. Denying self and taking up the cross is the only way to follow Christ in prayer. Let us be done with the thought that there is such a thing as easy prayer. Prayer is costly and requires the death of self because a soul cannot seek God and the self at the same time. A desire of true prayer is always “death to self” because self is constantly hindering the soul as it seeks the Lord.

*** Do we really desire revival? Do we really want to count the cost and also pay the cost of our very selves? If not, we are not really praying for revival yet. May the Lord teach us how to truly pray from righteous hearts.

For a condensed version of Jonathan Edwards’ call to prayer see http://www.sbaoc.org/blog/?page_id=762 or go to www.sbaoc.org and go to “BLOG” and then “a call to prayer.”

The following statement is the doctrine from a sermon preached by Jonathan Edwards:

“However hypocrites may continue for a season in the duty of prayer, yet it is their manner, after a while, in a great measure, to leave it off.”

James 5:16 – “The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. 18 Then he prayed again, and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit.”

Romans 12:12 – “rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer”

Ephesians 6:18 – “With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints,”

Colossians 4:2 – “Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving;”

Prayer may be thought to be an act by which souls repeat words to God. Prayer is thought to be repeating words following a list of things needed by self or others. It can be considered a method by which people obtain things from God. Imagine if our children came to us with a method or ritual to obtain things from us. However, what we need in order to truly pray are hearts that desire God Himself. We need to have hearts that love God and His glory so that our desires will be for Him and His glory. A heart that does not desire the glory of God out of love for God is not a heart that is truly praying. We need someone to teach us to pray, but that does not mean just to give us a method or the words to utter. What we need to be taught is for the heart to pray and to seek the Lord.

Luke 11:1 is very instructive in this: “It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.'” What follows is what is popularly known as the “Lord’s Prayer.” Jesus taught the disciples an outline of words to say, but the words are no more than sounds in the air if the heart is not in them. First and foremost, then, we must learn from the teaching of the sovereign Lord that the heart must pray. We cannot just utter words and think we have prayed. Jesus must teach us to desire and long for the things we ask so that we may truly pray from the heart.

Before we can pray the Lord’s Prayer we must begin asking God to put in our hearts the desire for the things in that prayer. We must come to Him broken and simply ask Him to fill us. He does, after all, oppose the proud but gives grace to the humble. We must begin at the beginning and simply ask the Lord to teach our hearts how to long for Him and to desire what He desires in order that we may truly pray. If our hearts are not tender and broken before Him, then we are not asking from a heart that is ready to pray. Let us learn to sit before Him in silence asking Him to teach our hearts the true language of prayer. The true believer wants God above all and will learn through patience and perseverance to seek the Lord in prayer as his or her chief love. Prayer for reformation and revival may take our entire lives. But what else is worthy to live for?

Prayer is the soul’s breathing itself into the bosom of its heavenly Father (Thomas Watson).

You can do more than pray, after you have prayed, but you cannot do more than pray until you have prayed (John Bunyan).

The angel fetched Peter out of prison, but it was prayer [that] fetched the angel (Thomas Watson).

We live in a day where methods have replaced seeking the Lord’s face and true prayer. While no one can manufacture true prayer in the heart, we must at least seek the Lord for hearts to pray. Our nation is indeed being shaken at its foundations in the political world, but the professing Church has been shaken for far longer. Those within the professing Church must begin to repent of all that God leads us to repent of and cry out to Him for longings and desires to seek His face. The call to prayer for true revival (just below) is part of a longer piece that can be found on the Spurgeon website. In it there is a condensed version of Jonathan Edward’s call to pray for true revival. May we be challenged and convicted to seek the Lord in true prayer.

A Call to United Prayer for True Revival

In 1744 a group of ministers in Scotland joined together and issued a Memorial to continue in a Concert of Prayer which was intended to encourage people to pray for true revival in Scotland and other nations. Jonathan Edwards responded to this by writing what was published as a book in 1747 and was an extended call to people to pray for God to cover the earth with the knowledge of His glory. The book of Edwards was edited by John Sutcliff and published in England in 1789. In Sutcliff’s preface to the book, regarding an association of Baptist churches, he noted that in 1784 “a resolution was formed to establish through the association, a meeting of prayer for the general revival and spread of religion.” In 1786 “another Baptist association, commonly called the Midland… entered into the same resolution. Many other churches, particularly in Yorkshire, have adopted, and now follow, the above practice.” (See http://www.sbaoc.org/blog/?page_id=762 or go to www.sbaoc.org, click on the “BLOG”heading and then “A Call to Prayer.”

This is indeed a call to prayer, but it is not just a call to utter words and sounds toward the heavens and be satisfied to call that prayer. This is a call to repentance, to humility, to solemn assemblies, or to whatever it takes in order that the Lord would turn our hearts to Him again. We are in desperate times in all ways, but especially in spiritual things. We have no ability in ourselves to change things and must seek the Lord to do the work of changing. WE must learn to pray from the depths of the desires and longings of the soul rather than words that conform to a standard that we have come up with. The eyes of God are upon our hearts and we must seek Him to put His desires in our hearts so that with longing and love we will seek His glory and His presence. Prayer is not just a duty that is to be performed, but it is that which the Lord must grant us hearts in order to fulfill the duty according to His desires. What follows is from a book published in 1802 by Thomas Haweis. It is about the heart in prayer.

Prayer is the desire of the soul after God, arising from a sense of want [lack], and expressing a dependence on his promises for a supply according to our necessities.

It is evident that the heart must be engaged, or there can be no prayer. The words of the lips or the bending of the knee are hypocrisy without this. The finest produce of the understanding, whether the composition of others or our own, is no better than the sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal, it the spirit of prayer be wanting [lacking]. Whilst, on the other hand, the simplest expressions, yea, perhaps the most ungrammatical language, may convey the fervent desires of effectual prayer most acceptably before God who trieth the heart and the reins.

The most natural method of prayer is the artless language of the soul, dictated by want [lack] and warmed with desire; and I suppose every soul really awakened to feel his necessities, will be able, for the most part, to speak what he feels without any assistance.

In 1744 a group of ministers in Scotland joined together and issued a Memorial to continue in a Concert of Prayer which was intended to encourage people to pray for true revival in Scotland and other nations. Jonathan Edwards responded to this by writing what was published as a book in 1747 and was an extended call to people to pray for God to cover the earth with the knowledge of His glory. The book of Edwards was edited by John Sutcliff and published in England in 1789. In Sutcliff’s preface to the book, regarding an association of Baptist churches, he noted that in 1784 “a resolution was formed to establish through the association, a meeting of prayer for the general revival and spread of religion.” In 1786 “another Baptist association, commonly called the Midland… entered into the same resolution. Many other churches, particularly in Yorkshire, have adopted, and now follow, the above practice.”

The present intent with this very condensed work of Jonathan Edwards is to encourage people to seek broken hearts and the Lord for true revival. What follows is an attempt to get at the core of what Edwards wrote, to encourage people to read his whole work, and above all to seek the Lord in prayer. Prayerless people are powerless in the spiritual realm and God does not move in the midst of a prayerless people. Prayerless preachers are powerless preachers in the spiritual realm. If even the best of our prayers are dead we can see that we must ask the Lord to teach us to pray. Unless something is done in our day, the United States and other countries will continue their quick descent into spiritual darkness and judgment even while there are glowing reports given by religious organizations.

It is beyond question when the professing Church in America is set beside Holy Scripture that the judgment of God is upon us. The judgment He has sent is one that is spiritual and bears awful consequences. We have not seen a true revival in the United States since the time of the Civil War. It is certainly possible if not probable that we have been in spiritual decline since that time as well, though there may have been small revivals in certain places. God has sent upon us a famine of hearing and understanding the Word of God (Amos 8:11). He has turned His face from us and has turned us over to the power of our sin (Isaiah 63:17-64:7). The professing Church has added great numbers in terms of people and of offerings, but despite those things we are in great darkness in terms of spiritual things.

“So, brethren, think what you and I would be without the light of God’s countenance. Picture a church growing, as some churches do grow, without any light from heaven, a cavern full of strange birds and blanched vegetation. What a terrible place for anyone to visit! There is a cave of that sort at Rome, and there are others in various parts of the earth’ but woe unto those who go to live in such dismal dens!” (Charles Spurgeon). This is the state of the professing Church in our day. The outward form of Christianity is carried on in some ways and yet the very heart of Christianity has been lost because God has turned His face from us. There is nothing we can do to merit the Lord to cause His face to shine upon us and His desolate sanctuary. All we can do is to plead with the Lord for His name’s sake to return and shine forth His glory. There is nothing we can do but seek the Lord and pray and there is nothing better to do but to truly pray. Unless the Lord gives us a heart to truly pray, the professing Church will continue to go down into a deeper and deeper darkness. We must be awakened to even see the depths of our distress. It should not be imagined that by working up a few desires here and there and committing some time to utter words before the Lord that true revival will come. Instead we must begin by searching our hearts and asking the Lord to search our hearts with the Divine spotlight. The Lord only dwells with the contrite and lowly. Unless He is pleased to break our hearts from our pride, we will not see our sin and will continue in our religious observances in love for ourselves rather than for Him. We must begin to ask the Lord to break us from ourselves so that we may truly pray for His glory for His name’s sake.

This is a call for each church and each person to start by at least seeking the Lord on the first Monday of each month around 7:00 that night. It is hoped that individuals will at the minimum make this a weekly event and then a gathering for corporate prayer once a month specifically to pray for God to shine His face upon us and grant us His light. This is not a time to pray for anything else but for God to shine His glory upon His desolate sanctuary. When the Lord begins to move in a heart or hearts there may be a time of confession and even great brokenness. Those things are to be seen as the beginning of the Lord moving in His people, but the great end or goal is for the Lord to return to His people. It is to be hoped that at some point churches will meet together for the purpose of seeking the Lord together. It is also to be hoped that if the Lord begins to move that each church will begin to meet more often.

As noted by Edwards: “We should unite two things which our Savior united in His precept: PRAYING and NOT FAINTING. If we pray for years and it should appear that God has not heard and answered, we would act in a way very unbecoming to believers if we should be disheartened and grow dull and slack in seeking God. It should be considered that it’s a poor business if our faith and patience is so short-winded that we cannot be willing to wait upon God for years in seeking a mercy so infinitely vast.” This is not a call to pray for a few months and see what happens; this is a call to pray for revival until it happens or until we die. We live in times where true Christianity is in dire straits. Let us begin by asking the Lord to give us light and break our hearts from all loves but a love for Him and His glory. Let us also remember Paul’s words as breathed by the Spirit: “pray without ceasing.”

“We are constantly on a stretch, if not on a strain, to devise new methods, new plans, new organizations to advance the Church and secure enlargement and efficiency for the gospel. This trend of the day has a tendency to lose sight of the man or to sink the man in the plan or organization… What the Church needs today is not more machinery or better, not new organizations or more and novel methods, but men whom the Holy Ghost can use-men of prayer, men mighty in prayer. The Holy Ghost does not flow through methods, but through men. He does not come on machinery, but on men. He does not anoint plans, but men-men of prayer.” (The Complete Works of E.M. Bounds on Prayer, p. 447)

An Humble Attempt to Promote Explicit Agreement and Visible Union of God’s People, in Extraordinary Prayer, for the Revival of Religion and the Advancement of Christ’s Kingdom on Earth.

By Jonathan Edwards
(Abridged)

Zechariah 8:20-22 – “Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘It will yet be that peoples will come, even the inhabitants of many cities. ‘The inhabitants of one will go to another, saying, “Let us go at once to entreat the favor of the LORD, and to seek the LORD of hosts; I will also go.” ‘So many peoples and mighty nations will come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem and to entreat the favor of the LORD.'”

PART 1

THE TEXT OPENED, AND AN ACCOUNT GIVEN OF THE AFFAIR PROPOSED IN THE MEMORIAL FROM SCOTLAND.

SECTION 1
Explanatory Introduction.

In this chapter we have a prophecy of a future glorious advancement of the church of God. It is evident that something further is intended than was ever fulfilled to the Jewish nation under the Old Testament. For here are plain prophecies of such things as never were fulfilled before the coming of the Messiah. In particular, what is said in the two last verses in the chapter of many strong nations worshipping and seeking the true God and of so great an accession of Gentile nations to the church of God so that by far the greater part of the visible worshippers should consist of this new accession so that they should be to the other as ten to one. There never happened any thing to answer this prophecy from the time of the prophet Zechariah to the coming of Christ. It has no fulfillment either in the calling of the Gentiles in and after the days of the apostles or in the future glorious enlargement of the church of God in the latter ages of the world so often foretold by the prophets of the Old Testament. It is most probable that the Spirit of God refers to the last and most glorious advancement of the church of God on earth.

SECTION 2
Observations on the text.

1. The duty of prayer. Prayer is to be taken here as a synecdoche (one word standing for a whole) for the whole of divine worship since prayer is a principal part of worship in the days of the gospel. If so, this is to be understood only as a prophecy of a great revival, of the true worship of God among his visible people, the accession of others to the church, and the turning of multitudes from idolatry to the worship of the true God. But something more special is intended here, with regard to the duty of prayer, considering that prayer is here expressly and repeatedly mentioned. Notice also how parallel this place is with many other prophecies that speak of an extraordinary spirit of prayer as preceding and introducing that glorious day of religious revival and advancement of the church’s peace and prosperity. This is agreeable with what is said afterwards (12:10) of the pouring out of a spirit of grace and supplication as that with which this great revival of religion shall begin.

2. The good that shall be sought by prayer: God himself. It is said once and again, “They shall go to pray before the Lord, and to seek the Lord of hosts.” This is the good they ask for, and seek by prayer, The Lord of hosts Himself. To seek God as the expression is sometimes used in Scripture may signify no more than seeking the favor or mercy of God. And if it is taken that way here, then praying before the Lord and seeking the Lord of hosts must be synonymous expressions. This is a common thing in Scripture to signify the same thing by various expressions for the greater emphasis. But certainly that expression of seeking the Lord is very commonly used to signify something more. It implies that God Himself is the great good that is desired and sought after and that the blessings pursued are God’s gracious presence. His presence is the manifestation of Him along with union and intercourse with Him. It is, in short, God’s manifestations and communications of Himself by his Holy Spirit. Thus the psalmist desired God, thirsted after him, and sought him. (Psalm 63:1, 2, 8; 73:25; Psalm 143:1) This is the distinct character of the saints that they seek God (Psalm 24:6; 69:32). By seeking the Lord of hosts we must understand this to be a seeking of God who has withdrawn and hid Himself for a long time. We would seek Him to return to His church and grant the tokens and fruits of His gracious presence which is the blessed communications of His Spirit to His people. It is seeking the Lord and His being found by them (Jer 29:10,14; Isaiah 45:15; 52:6-8; 57:17; Hosea 5:15).

3. Those who will be united in seeking the Lord of hosts. This will be the inhabitants of many cities, countries, and strong nations. Great multitudes in different parts of the world shall unite in prayer. In this prophecy it will be fulfilled by God giving a spirit of prayer to God’s people and disposing them to come into an express agreement to pray with unity to God in an extraordinary manner. Then He will appear for the help of His church and in mercy to mankind will pour out His Spirit, revive His work, and advance His spiritual kingdom in the world as He has promised. This disposition to prayer and the union of God’s people will lead to true worship which will be the means of awakening others to what is lacking in their souls. This will lead them to a great concern for their spiritual and everlasting good. Whole nations will be awakened and many of the chief nations of the world will be added to the church of God.

4. The mode of their union in this duty. It is a visible union and an explicit agreement of a joint resolution. The inhabitants of one city shall apply themselves to the inhabitants of another saying, “let us go.” Those to whom the motion is made shall comply with it and it shall spread and others shall go also.

5. We may observe the manner of prayer agreed upon. Let us go SPEEDILY (continually) to pray. This is a very strong expression in Hebrew. It implies the superlative degree of a thing as the holy of holies signifies the most holy. It signifies the utmost degree of a thing and its great certainty. It points to the peremptoriness and terribleness of a threatening, the greatness and certainty of a promise, the strictness of a command, and the earnestness of a request. So when it is said in the text, “Let us go in going, and pray before the Lord,” the strength of the expression represents the earnestness of those that make the proposal and their great engagedness in the affair. And with respect to the duty proposed, it may be understood to signify that they should be speedy, fervent, and constant in it. In other words, it should be thoroughly performed.

PART 2

MOTIVES TO A COMPLIANCE WITH WHAT IS PROPOSED IN THE MEMORIAL.

SECTION 1
promises of future glory

It is evident from the Scripture that there is yet remaining a great advancement of the interest of religion and the kingdom of Christ in this world by an abundant outpouring of the Spirit of God that is far greater and more extensive than has ever been seen. It is certain that many things which are spoken concerning a glorious time of the church’s enlargement and prosperity in the latter days have never yet been fulfilled. There has never yet been any propagation and prevalence of religion of that extent and universality which the prophecies represent (Psalm 65:2; 72:11, 17; Isaiah 2:2; 11:9; 40:5; 45:23; 66:23; Jeremiah 3:17)

SECTION 2
The future glory is unspeakably great.

The promised advancement of the kingdom of Christ is an event unspeakably happy and glorious. The Scriptures speak of it as a time wherein God and his Son Jesus Christ will be most eminently glorified on earth. It is a time when God, who till then had dwelt between the cherubim’s — and concealed Himself in the holy of holies, in the secret of His tabernacle, behind the veil, in the thick darkness — should openly shine forth, and all flesh should see His glory. God’s people have as great a privilege as the High Priest alone had once a year or as Moses had in the mount (Revelation 11:9; Isaiah 60:19; Jeremiah 32:39; Psalm 89:15)

SECTION 3
How much Christ prayed, labored, and suffered, for that future glory.

The sum of the blessings Christ sought and suffered in the work of redemption was the Holy Spirit. The heart of redemption is that the Father provides and gives the Redeemer. The price of redemption is offered to Him and He grants the benefit purchased. The Son is the Redeemer who gives the price and is also the price offered. The Holy Spirit is the grand blessing obtained by the price offered and bestowed on the redeemed. The Holy Spirit by His indwelling presence is the sum of all grace, holiness, comfort, and joy. In a word, the Holy Spirit is all the spiritual good Christ purchased for men in this world and the sum of all perfection, glory, and eternal joy that He purchased for them in another world. The Holy Spirit is the subject matter of the promises in both the eternal covenant of redemption and of the covenant of grace. This is the grand subject of the promises of the Old Testament, the chief subject of the promises of the New Testament; and particularly of the covenant of grace delivered by Jesus Christ to his disciples in His last will and testament as set forth in the 14th, 15th and 16th chapters of John. This being the great blessing Christ purchased by His labors and sufferings on earth, it was that which He received of the Father when He ascended into heaven and entered into the holy of holies with His own blood that He might communicate it to those whom He had redeemed (John 14:16-17; 16:7; 17; Acts 2:33).

SECTION 4
Precepts, encouragement’s, and examples.

The word of God is full of precepts, encouragements, and examples, tending to induce the people of God to be much in prayer for this mercy. The Spirit of God is the chief of blessings as He is the sum of all spiritual blessings which we need infinitely more than others and wherein our true and eternal handiness consists. He who is the sum of the blessings which Christ purchased is the sum of the blessings Christians have to pray for. The disciples came to Christ asking Him to teach them to pray in Luke 11. He gave them particular directions for the performance of this duty in verse 13. “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” From these words of Christ we may observe that there is no blessing we have so great encouragement to pray for as the Spirit of God. There is great encouragement to pray as in Isaiah 62:6, 7 where the people of God are called upon to be importunate for this mercy: “Ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence, and give him no rest, till he establish and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.”

SECTION 5
Motives to excite us.

We are presented with many motives by divine providence to move us to be much in prayer for this mercy. There is much in providence to show us our need of it. The great outward calamities in which the world is involved should make us earnestly long and pray for that day when the wolf shall dwell with the lamb and the nations shall beat their swords into plow-shares. The spiritual calamities and miseries of the present time show our great need of that blessed effusion of God’s Spirit. For such a long time the Spirit has been withheld from the greater part of the Christian world and with dismal consequences. There has been a great decay of vital piety and the prevalence of infidelity, heresy, and all manner of vice and wickedness. How strong and deeply rooted are the prejudices that prevail against vital religion and the power of godliness. How are the hearts of people everywhere shut up against all means and endeavors to awaken sinners and revive religion? There is vice and immorality of all kinds increasing and unusually prevailing. May not a consideration of the state of things in our day by those who love Christ and His Church provoke and move us to earnestness to God in prayer for a general outpouring of His Spirit? The pouring out of the Spirit is the only true effectual remedy for these evils.

SECTION 6
The beauty and good tendency of such union.

How beautiful it would be for multitudes of Christians in various parts of the world unite by explicit agreement in prayer. Union is one of the most amiable things that pertains to human society and makes earth most like heaven. Union is spoken of in Scripture as the peculiar beauty of the church of Christ (Song of Solomon 6:9; Psalm 122:5. Ephesians 4:3-6, 16). It is the glory of the church of Christ that all her members be one holy society, one city, one family, and one body. It is becoming for Christians to pray for that mercy wherein consists the true good of the whole body of Christ of which they are members and for the good of all mankind. It is unbecoming of Christians to be of a narrow and selfish spirit and not unite in prayer for these things. An agreement in prayer is especially becoming when Christians pray for that mercy which above all other things concerns them as united and tends to the relief, prosperity, and glory of the whole body as well as each individuals member. Such a union in prayer for the general outpouring of the Spirit of God would be both beautiful and profitable (Mat 18:19).

Concluding considerations.

I desire every serious Christian who may read this discourse to solemnly consider whether s/he can be excused from complying with this proposal. God has stirred up a part of His church to seek and cry to Him in an extraordinary manner for His favor. Let us go speedily and constantly to pray before the Lord and to seek the Lord of hosts. Will it not become us to say “I will go also?” I desire that it may be considered if we will not sin against God if we refuse to comply with this proposal. If we give it only a little attention, we are disregarding God’s call to us.

I think that none can be in the way of their duty by neglecting such an excellent proposal made with upright intentions (Scottish Ministers). How can we have one good reason to refuse a compliance with this proposal? The more disorders, extravagances, and delusions of the devil that prevail the more need we have to pray earnestly to God for His Holy Spirit to promote true religion. The more such prayer is proposed and then carried out, the more effectually will all that is contrary to sober and pure religion be exploded.

One would think that all those who love the Church of Christ would rejoice to hear that God is stirring up a number of His ministers and people to unite in extraordinary prayer for the revival of religion and the advancement of His kingdom. If we lay to heart the present calamities of the church of Christ and long for that blessed alteration which God has promised, one would think it should be natural to rejoice at the appearance of something in so dark a day which is so promising a token. If we can get our neighbors to join with us in praying societies, this would be most desirable. But if not, we should not neglect this. We can pray alone united in heart and practice with others in distant places who are engaged in prayer at the same time.

We should unite two things which our Savior united in His precept: PRAYING and NOT FAINTING. If we pray for years and it should appear that God has not heard and answered, we would act in a way very unbecoming to believers if we should be disheartened and grow dull and slack in seeking God. It should be considered that it is a poor business if our faith and patience is so short-winded that we cannot be willing to wait upon God for years in seeking a mercy so infinitely vast. Whatever our hopes may be in this respect, we must be content to be ignorant of the times and seasons which the Father hath put in His power and must be willing that God should answer prayer and fulfill His own glorious promises in His own time (Psalm 27:14; Hebrews 2:3-4; Micah 7:7; Isaiah 25:8-9).