After sincerity, the next point Bunyan made in his description
of prayer was that a prayer must be “sensible”[1].
We need to first consider the word itself since the meaning of that term when
used today often has connotations that were not entirely the case in Bunyan’s
time. We tend to use this word as a synonym for "rightly reasonable",
but in the 1600's it had a much closer relationship to "perceiving
physical or mental sensations".
I think what Mr. Bunyan
was getting at is that a believer is drawn to prayer when he “senses” within
himself a true need of God’s grace, or mercy in his life. Or perhaps he prays
when he is so overcome by a sense of God’s majesty or power that he can think
of nothing but praising the One by whom he was created. He might also be filled
with the desire to thank God for mercies already bestowed, or he might find
himself so distraught by his own suffering, or the suffering of another, that
he can do nothing but fall to his knees and beseech his Lord for mercy and
grace on his or the other person’s behalf.
The point is that true prayer is something a person feels
strongly, and deeply, called to. This feeling resides deep in the heart and in
the soul, and it is never a simple uttering of meaningless sentiments. Consider
if you will, Paul’s description of Epaphras to the church at Colosse, when he
says:
“…He is always wrestling in prayer
for you,…”
Colossians
4:12b
The word we interpret as “wrestling”
in the above Scripture is derived from the Greek word “agonizo”. This is the
same word from which we get the English term “agonize”, and what Paul is trying
to tell the members of the church is just how intense are the prayers being
offered by Epaphras in their behalf.
People are often so
emotional during prayer and feel so strongly the need to pray correctly, that
they will lose their ability to formulate words at all, resorting to groans and
sighs that will escape their lips unbidden. But this is fine for God’s Word
tells us
:
“...the Spirit helps us in our
weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself
intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. “
Romans
8:26b (Emphasis mine.)
So if there is no true sense of this
need to pray within the heart or the soul, then a prayer simply becomes an act
of futility. If you don’t truly sense, and thus believe, that there is a God
that hears your prayer, a God who by knowing what’s in your heart and soul
already knows what you truly need, and if you don’t have a concrete belief that
this God answers the prayers of His children, then what is the use of praying
at all? You certainly are wasting your time if you are offering prayers to a
God you don’t believe exists.
The next thing Bunyan includes in his description is that a
true prayer must not only be “sensible”,
but there must be a proper “affectionate
pouring out of the soul to God,[2]”
for God is the one to whom you are praying. Bunyan expresses this thought
this way: “When the affections are indeed engaged in prayer, then the whole
man is engaged, and that in such sort that the soul will spend itself, as it
were, rather than go without that good desired...”[3]. A believer’s
awe of God is also covered by this same point, for it is his own
conception of the amazing magnitude of God that causes the one who truly prays
to very often stumble as he struggles to determine how best to express that
which is in his heart. If he truly recognizes the greatness of the One to whom
he prays, the difficulty in praying correctly becomes very understandable. The
Scriptures that support this thought are so plentiful as to be uncountable;
here is just a sampling:
“Who can proclaim the mighty acts of
the Lord or fully declare His praise?”
Psalm
106:2
or,
“I will sing to the Lord all my
life;
I
will sing praise to my God as long as I live.”
Psalm
104:33
or
the very example of our Lord and Saviour,
“And being in anguish, He prayed
more earnestly, and His sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.
Luke
22:44
So you see, prayer that is entered
into lightly is not really prayer at all. First, you must feel the strong need,
whether for supplication, or intercession, or praise and thanksgiving, or
whatever else the Spirit may use to bring you to your knees. But if you feel no
honest, heartfelt “need” to approach your Creator, or if your personal belief
regarding the Creator is that He does not exist, I would suggest respectfully,
that you don’t hold your breath waiting for a reply.
Also, in this same portion of Bunyan’s description of prayer is
the requirement that this pouring out of the heart and soul to God must be “through Christ[4]”.
If you don’t believe that Jesus was the incarnate God, or that He does
indeed intercede on behalf of His children at God’s throne of grace, then your
prayer can only be ineffectual. For Jesus Himself has told us in His Holy Word,
...”I am the way and the truth and
the life. No one comes to the Father except
through me.” (Emphasis mine.)
John
14:6
Before you can come to the Father
through Jesus, however, you must believe in Jesus, and that involves believing
in who Jesus claimed Himself to be. If Jesus was not the incarnate God, if He
was not resurrected, and if He did not ascend into Heaven where He now sits at
the side of the Father, then the Doorway through which we have access to God
does not exist, and our prayers will never be heard. To put it succinctly, you
must have faith, for..
.
“...without faith it is impossible
to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards
those who earnestly seek Him.”
Hebrews
11:6 (Emphasis mine.)
As noted earlier, this type of true
faith cannot be simply turned on at will (in this case for the purpose of
uttering a single “sincere” prayer), and then be discarded again once the
“test” is complete. If you have no faith, you might indeed “pray” (speak with
God), but, and this will be important when we look at the individual Scripture
verses you offered in this “proof”, God is under no Self-imposed obligation,
despite the claims on your web-site, to answer, or even hear you.[5]
Hand-in-hand with the preceding stipulation comes Bunyan’s next
requirement for true and sincere prayer, that said prayer should come about by
“the strength or assistance of the Spirit[6]”.
We have already touched on this subject briefly when we discussed a little
earlier the believer’s sense of the “need” to pray, and the necessity of the
Spirit’s help in knowing both “what” to pray for, and “how” to pray for it. If
we add a second verse to our previous Scripture reference, the point I am
attempting to make might perhaps be seen a little more clearly.
“...the Spirit helps us in our
weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself
intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And He who searches
our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the
saints in accordance with God’s will.”
Romans
8:26b-27
What this says to me is that not even
those who have the Spirit within themselves (believers), are capable of
conceiving on their own, a prayer
that would be considered suitable before a Holy God. Due to the corrupt nature
we acquired as a result of the Fall, it is only God’s Spirit within us which is
capable of praying correctly and effectively. That is why we need to hear the
“call” to pray, which is manifested as a deep-seated need to speak with God,
and also the reason we need the help of the Spirit to pray correctly once we
give in to His urging to pray in the first place. Because…
“… God has revealed it to us by His Spirit.
The Spirit searches all things, even
the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except
the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God
except the Spirit of God…This is what we speak, not in words taught us by wisdom
but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual
words.”
1
Corinthians 2:10-11,13
And why exactly is it that a
non-believer cannot be included in the above-given message? The answer is
contained in another of those Scriptures that we have already looked at.
“The man without the Spirit does not
accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to
him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned….But
we have the mind of Christ.”
1
Corinthians 2:14,16b (Emphasis mine.)
And just what does it mean when Paul
says that “we have the mind of Christ”? It means that those who have the Spirit
of God within them, and faithfully follow the Spirit’s leading, will know what
God’s will for them is, and have at least some understanding of God’s purpose.
If only the Spirit is privy to even the deep thoughts of God (1 Corinthians
10:11), then the only way to know these things is to accept the Spirit’s
teaching and to always be attentive to that which He is willing to teach us.
The one who has the Spirit within them will be able to grasp, at least in part,
the true magnificence of God, and will have at least some understanding of the
true, and vile nature of sin. Thus, they will see much more clearly than one
who is without the Spirit, our desperate need of salvation. Their worldly view,
and understanding of things will in effect be transformed by the Spirit until
those views and understandings conform to the wisdom of God rather than the
wisdom of the world. This is only possible if one possesses the Spirit,
and accepts the Spirit’s teachings.
So if Christians need the Spirit’s help to speak with God, how
can any prayer of a non-believer be effective, unless, the Spirit has first
called that person to pray, in which case, the Spirit will also impress upon
that person’s heart and soul just what it is that they should be praying for.
He certainly does so with believers. To put this yet another way, the subject
of a true prayer is decided not by the individual who is doing the praying, but
by God’s Spirit, who then spurs the individual to action through the agency of
the individual’s heart and soul. Our “free will” comes into play when we decide
whether or not we will heed the Spirit’s call. It is even in this same way that
we are assured of our relationship to the Father.
“The Spirit Himself testifies with
our spirit that we are God’s children.”
Romans
8:16
The questions that continually remain
then, are whether we will first believe what the Spirit is testifying to, and
will we then choose to act upon, or rebel against, that which He has impressed
upon our hearts.
TO BE CONTINUED.....
[1] “Prayer”, John Bunyan,
Puritan Paperbacks, Banner of Truth Trust, 1965, pp.14-16
[2] “Prayer”, John Bunyan,
Puritan Paperbacks, Banner of Truth Trust, 1965, pp.16-19
[3] “Prayer”, John Bunyan,
Puritan Paperbacks, p.16
[4] “Prayer”, John Bunyan,
Puritan Paperbacks, Banner of Truth Trust, 1965, pp.18-19
[5] This
concept of what God has, or has not, promised to do for this world in general,
or for Believers in particular, will be dealt with in much more detail as this
work progresses.
[6] “Prayer”, John Bunyan,
Puritan Paperbacks, Banner of Truth Trust, 1965, pp.19-20a
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