HAVING formerly spoken unto divers things upon this subject of prayer,
both as to its kinds and nature, and to the persons for whom we ought to make
conscience of prayer to God, and likewise the persons against whom we may
warrantably pray, I come, in the next place, to speak of those qualifications
requisite in acceptable prayer - there being a vast difference between prayer
and acceptable prayer - between our uttering words to God and praying by a
gift, and praying by the promised Spirit of grace and supplication, in such a
way and manner as to be accepted of God in what we pray for. This is the thing
that doth so much take up the thoughts of the tender and serious Christian: Am
I accepted of God in what I do? The words of the mouth many times run this way;
and if ye heard the language of their heart, ye would hear much unto this
purpose.
Now, the first requisite qualification of acceptable prayer to God
is true and saving faith. And it is so requisite in prayer, that no man or
woman can put up a suitable desire without it. And the having of this grace
makes anything that they do in this exercise of a sweet smelling savour unto
God. Hence,
I shall observe, That in order to acceptance with God in all
our addresses unto Him sound, saving, and justifying faith is very requisite
and necessary. And the method is the following: -
I. I shall show you from
Scripture that this is the thing that God requires in prayer to make it
acceptable.
II. Show you what it is to pray in faith.
III. Show you
what is faith's work in prayer.
IV. Show you what is the nature and
properties of this grace, which is so necessary in prayer, that without it God
will not accept of prayer.
V. Show you how it is that this faith, which I
shall describe as to its nature and properties, is so necessary in prayer.
VI. Show you in what respects this grace is requisite and necessary in
prayer.
VII. Show you what are the helps to attain unto this grace of
faith.
VIII. Show you some of the noble effects that faith in prayer hath.
And,
IX. Lastly, make application of the whole.
1. For the first of
these, the Scripture makes this very clear and plain, in the words of the
text: "Whatsoever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye
shall have them." As ever ye would be accepted of God, believe, and so,
"Whatsoever thing ye shall ask in prayer believing, ye shall receive." "I will
therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and
doubting." That is, let faith be acted and exercised in our prayers. "Let us,
therefore, come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and
find grace to help in time of need. Let us draw near with a true heart in full
assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and
our bodies washed with pure water." So that the way to draw near to God
acceptably is by faith. The apostle James allows any that lack wisdom, to ask
it by faith. "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of Cod. But let him ask in
faith, nothing wavering." So if you would obtain anything from me, says God,
seek it in faith. And says the same apostle, "And the prayer of faith shall
save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he hath committed sins,
they shall be forgiven him." Now, that which gives being and life to prayer is
faith. Thus, for the first head, these Scriptures hold out that, in acceptable
prayer, faith is requisite and altogether necessary.
II. The second
thing is: To show what it is to pray in faith. I shall take it up in these
five or six things, which ye may endeavour to keep in remembrance. And
1.
To pray in faith is to be endued with saving grace from the Lord. This grace of
faith must be infused into the person that al)proaches unto God. For it is
impossible that the person that wants faith can be acceptable to God - I mean
not faith of miracles, or an historical faith, but true and justifying faith.
This shows that all that are destitute of this grace are in a bad case. "For
without faith it is impossible to please God." And this is the woeful case they
are in that want faith, that never anything they do is acceptable to God; and
this, again, is the noble privilege of those that have it, that all they do in
duty is accepted of Him.
2. To pray in faith is not only to have this grace
infused into you, but it is to have that grace in exercise in and about the
particular petition ye would put up to God. Whatsoever thing ye ask, ye must
have faith exercised about that particular, whether it be for soul or body; for
yourself or for the Church; for spiritual or for temporal things.
3. To
pray in faith is to make use of the grounds of faith in our praying, viz., the
word of promise; for the promises are the ground of our suit. So that in
acceptable prayer faith makes use of this and that promise and turns the
promise into a petition. This is faith's work. It is neither humility, nor
self.denial that can do this. But faith takes this and the other promise, and
holds it up to God, that He may make it out. "Remember the word unto thy
servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope."
4. To pray in faith is to
make use of and to employ Christ the Mediator. So that the soul will never go
to God but in the Mediator; and it looks for a return to its suits or
petitions, only in and through the Mediator, Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.
Says He Himself, "Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do." That is,
"Expect access to the Father in and through my name; look for a return in and
through my name." We pray in faith when in all our addressee we are actually
endeavouring to improve the merit and mediation of Him who is at the right hand
of God the Father.
5. To pray in faith is to pray over the belly of all
opposition. When, in human appearance, there is nothing but anger and wrath
from God, and when the soul is under the apprehensions of His wrath, yet faith
will come over all these unto God. When He is inflicting some judgment upon the
person, and seems to be angry with the person, then faith goes over all and
presses in unto God; that is to pray in faith. For instance, "I cried by reason
of my affliction; I said, I am cast out of thy presence." Yet what does faith
when in sense he is cast out of God's presence! Faith puts him upon
supplicating God again. "Yet will I look again to thy holy temple."
6. To
pray in faith is this: When the soul promises to itself on the ground of God's
word an answer to the particular petition it is putting up to God. To pray in
faith is not only to know well that the thing ye are seeking is warrantable and
according to His will, but in some measure to have assurance (or endeavour
after it) of an answer in absolute things, that is, if it be absolutely
necessary they believe it shall be granted. As to conditional petitions, they
believe that if it be good for them, they shall have what they ask. If they
present a petition for those things that are absolutely necessary, whether in
respect of themselves or His Church, it shall be sure unto them; and if their
petition is for things conditional, either to themselves or the Church, if it
be for their good it shall not be wanting. Ye see an instance to this purpose
in Mic. vii. 7. All was then going wrong, yet, says he, "I will look unto the
Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me :" as if he
had said, "What then! I answer myself that God will hear me." Remember these
six things which show what it is to pray in faith.
III. The third
thing is: What is faith's work in prayer, or what is the work of this grace
in a believer in his suits and supplications?
1. It instructs the person
of his own need of the unsearchable riches that are in Christ. It makes him cry
out, "0 sinful man that I am? I have destroyed and undone myself." And, on the
other hand, it informs the soul of its relief and outgate from that misery, and
of the soul's portion that is to be had in Christ, and of the fulness thereof;
so that there is not the least want, but there is a perfect and complete
fulness in Christ, as ye may see in the case of the publican. What was the
thing he prayed for? Says he, "God be merciful to me a sinner." Faith instructs
as to his sin, and then as to the way of his relief and help from sin, viz., in
Christ; so that faith's first work in prayer is to instruct a sinner of its
:own condition, and then of its supply, and help. And poor, poor are they that
want this grace of faith; and rich, rich are they that have it.
2. Faith's
work in prayer is to be the hand by which the soul takes hold of the remedy and
relief that is in Christ, and offered by Him to us in the gospel. It is the
soul's hand to lay hold of Christ and His fulness, as He is offered and held
forth to us. As a poor man puts forth his hand to take that which is offered
unto him, so it is with faith in prayer. It is called a receiving, and it is
the very hand whereby Christ, and all that is to be had in Him, is to be
received or laid hold of. This is an excellent mark in prayer.
3. The work
of faith in prayer is, to enable the soul to wait patiently on God for a return
of the petition it hath put up. Faith says, "Ye have prayed, and that is your
duty; but see, Sirs, that ye stay still at His door until ye get an answer. Be
not like those who shoot blunt-shot, and never look where it goes. I will
hear what God the Lord will speak." "I will stand on my watch, and set me on
the tower to see what He will say to me," says faith to the soul. This is a
good work of faith in prayer, to make our souls wait patiently on Him, while He
is trying them with delays. It is faith that puts strength into our souls to
make them patiently wait on, till God send an answer unto them.
4. It is
true faith's work in prayer to make them judge aright of all the Lord's
dispensations towards them, appeciably in or about the exercise of prayer.
Faith says, "Look that ye construct aright of Him, and entertain not wrong
thoughts of Him: although He gives you not His presence now, yet He will come."
"He that will come, shall come, and shall not tarry." If He give you not in
that measure that ye propose, see that ye fret not. If He seem to frown, you
are then to abase yourselves as miserable wretches. What says David, "0 my God,
I cry in the day time, and thou hearest not. But thou art holy, 0 thou that
inhabitest the praises of Israel." There is faith's work; he cried to God, and
is not heard; but says he, "Thou art holy." As if he had said, "I aver that He
is holy, if He should shut out my prayers, as it were, with hewn stone, and
refuse to answer me till my dying day, yet Thou art holy." That is faith's work
in prayer.
5. Faith's work in prayer is to take hold of the least meaning,
may-be, or intimation from the Lord, and to lay hold of the least ground of
hope of mercy; as a poor man takes hold of the least meaning of mercy from man.
It was the exercise of the woman of Canaan in her prayer, when Christ upbraided
her, saying, "What have I to do with thee? Should I give the children's bread
to dogs?" "Truth, Lord," says she, "Thou hast given me some ground to expect
help from Thee." Truth, Lord, I acknowledge that I am a dog; but it is as true
that dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master's table." Whereupon
Christ says unto her, "0 woman, great is thy faith. Thy faith hath taken hold
of the least intimation, or may-be, as a ground of hope. Be it unto thee even
an thou wilt." And this reproves those who fret if they get not what dish of
meat they please; or if it pleases them not - they cast it from them. But if
thou knewent what thou art, and how little thou deservest, thou wouldst bless
God, that thou art not in hell already.
6. Faith s work in prayer is to
enjoin every praying faculty, or all that is within the soul, before God. For
faith sets its desires in order. Faith makes it desire nothing but what God
hath allowed in His word, and it will be nothing short of this. Again, it
orders our zeal, so that it is not blind and preposterous: where faith rules it
orders humility, so that the soul does not say in a sullen fit, "Lord, depart
from me fo; I am a sinful man." It orders sorrow for sin neither to be too
little nor too great. It is faith's work to make the soul sorrow heartily
before God: on the other hand it makes us guard against anxious sorrow. Then it
orders hope that the soul may wait patiently for the answer or accomplishment
of prayer. Thus it is faith's work to order all things within the soul, and put
all things in a composed temper. So commanding is the grace of faith in a soul
where it is, that it will let nothing be out of order.
7. Faith's work in a
soul in prayer is to make it importunate in pressing for that which it prays
for. Having the word of God for its ground, and the name of Christ for its
encouragement, it importunately presses for the thing desired, and when He
seems to say, "Ye shall not have it ;" it says, "I will not let Thee go." It
was faith that made Jacob wrestle that night with God; says the angel, "Let me
go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou
bless me." And, "Moses," says the Lord, "will ye let me alone, that I may
destroy this people." But says Moses, "If thou wilt forgive their sins; and if
not, blot me out of thy book, which thou hast written." And the woman of
Samaria, say what He would, harped still upon this string, "Lord, have mercy
upon me."
8. Faith's work in prayer is to undertake for the soul to God,
and for God to the soul. This is the very kernel of prayer. Faith says to the
soul, "I assure thee that whatsoever God hath promised in His word, that He
will give and perform." Faith says to the soul, "There is not a promise made to
the Church, but it shall be accomplished; nor to itself in particular, but it
shall be performed." So that this is the work of faith in prayer, to engage for
the Lord that all the promises that He hath given shall be made out and
fulfilled unto them. On the other hand, faith engages the soul to wait
patiently on for the accomplishment of all that the Lord bath promised. So that
this is one of the mysteries of God; and it is lamentable that so many souls
live strangers to God and to this work of faith, and do not consider the worth
and excellency of this grace of faith. I dare say that we, His Church and
people, would be as far above trouble this day as we are under it if we had
faith and the lively exercise thereof. Those that have this are of all men the
most happy, and those that want it are of all men the most miserable.
9.
Faith's work is to make the soul to plead with God upon Scripture argument.
Faith looks to what God hath promised, and makes use of all these promises in
its approaches unto God in prayer. This ye may see in Moses pleading for the
people. He pleads upon all the promises the Lord had made unto them, when they
had provoked His anger to burn against them. And so Jeremiah pleads upon
scriptural arguments, not for himself only, but for the people of his time,
that the Lord would do some great thing for them. So that this is faith's work,
to gather all the arguments contained in Scripture, and to pray that the Lord
would do this and that according to His promise.
10. The work of faith in
prayer in, to turn over all the suits that the supplicant puts up into the hand
of Christ the Mediator, that for His sake, intercession, and mediation they may
be accepted of God, and answered in things according to His will; which implies
a disclaiming of any works or merit in the person's self that is praying. Says
Daniel: "Cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the
Lord s sake." Not for my sake, nor the people's sake, nor for anything that we
can do, but for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake. He puts all the suits upon
Christ's account, that in His name they may come before the Father and be
accepted..
11. This is faith's work in prayer, to make the person praying
keep at a due distance from God. Faith makes the person keep its own due room
as unworthy - as dust and ashes. It teaches persons to give God His due room,
as He is the high and lofty one; to have low thoughts of themselves, and high
thoughts of God. Faith says to the soul, "Carry in subordination unto God; let
not your words be rash, nor your thoughts and conceptions of Him unsuitable."
Faith made Abraham say, "I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am
but dust and ashes." It is an excellent work of faith, to make us to ascribe to
Him that which is due to Him - glory, honour, and dominion for ever, and to
take shame and confusion of face unto ourselves.
12. Faith's work in prayer
is to furnish the supplicant with subject- matter of prayer, viz., to gather
the promises that are here and there in the Bible. And then it not only
furnishes matter, but it furnishes a mouth to speak unto God; it opens the
mouth to speak unto God that which the soul hath gathered. Nay, it furnishes
feet to go unto God with the matter gathered. Nor does faith only furnish
matter, and a mouth to speak it, and feet to go to God with it, but it is as
wings unto the soul, whereby it flies as it were with wings unto heaven with
the petition that it hath to put up to Him for itself, or for His work, or for
His Zion. Oh, hut this is an excellent work of faith! It makes them that wait
upon the Lord "mount up as on eagles wings; and walk, and not be weary; and
run, and not be faint."
13. It is faith's work in prayer to enable the soul
to wait patiently till God give an answer to prayer. Faith is still petitioning
and supplicating the Lord till He give a gracious return. To renew the
self-same thing in prayer again and again, it being according to His will and
warranted in His word, in the exercise of the self-same faith, is no tautology,
though it were a hundred times to have the self-same suit. It was the way of
the woman of Canaan. "I am not sent to thee," says Christ; yet she prays still,
"Have mercy upon me, Lord." And it made Paul return his suit again and again.
"For this thing I besought the Lord thrice." This is also an excellent work of
faith. Nay, I may say, they never can do anything in the exercise of prayer
that want this grace. Their prayers have no bones, strength, nor edge. They
will never pierce heaven.
14. Faith's work in prayer is, to make the
petitioner take up God aright as the object of prayer, and Christ Jesus as the
only Mediator, and take up their own condition aright, that they may apply the
promises accordingly. For faith's work is to apprehend aright our Lord Jesus
Christ the Angel of the covenant, and to apprehend our own soul's case and
condition aright; as in Isa. xli. it is called a looking; as it makes them take
up Him whom they are seeking, and themselves aright. This is faith's work in
prayer. And,
Lastly, I shall add this. It is faith's work in prayer to
enable the soul to prevail over, and, as it were, to command the Lord. The
prayer of faith has a prevailing and commanding over the great and dreadful
Lord. Hence it is said by James, "The fervent prayer of the righteous availeth
much." And it healeth the sick. It is said of Jacob, "He had power over the
angel, and prevailed." Says the Lord, "Concerning my eons and my daughters,
command ye me." Thus the Almighty Maker of heaven and earth is content to be
commanded by Him own creatures praying in faith, and in a manner prevailing
over Him. This is only prayer animated by faith. Were it not so, your prayers
would not go above the crown of your heads. It was faith that made Him yield to
the woman of Canaan - " Be it unto thee, even as thou wilt." For I cannot keep
it from thee. Thy faith has prevailed over Me." Now from all these, you may see
the woful case they are in, who want this grace; and the good and desirable
case they are in, whom God hath endued with it.
IV. The fourth thing
is, What is the nature of this faith, which is a necessary and requisite
qualification in prayer? That we may show you the worth and excellency of this
grace, and the need folk have of it, I shall in these particulars hold it out,
that ye may know it, and how to come by it. And,
1. This grace of saving
faith is one of the main, choice and principal graces peculiar to the elect,
and is the very root of all other graces. It in in a manner, the kernel and
life of all the rest, it being the only grace that closeth with Christ. "Add to
your faith virtue; and to your virtue, knowledge." It is the first ground
stone, and then add to it all the rest. All that folk go about, all the moral
duties that some professed Christians perform, are but mere shadows for want of
this.
2. This grace is one in all the elect, but not in a like measure in
all. It is the self-same grace in all the elect. But you will say, How is that?
For then one's faith would serve all. No, there are as many faiths, as
particular persons of the elect; for it is not one in the elect as to the
measure of it; for some may have a less, and some a greater degree of faith.
But in this respect, it is one as to its closing with Christ, and embracing of
Him as offered unto them in the gospel. it in the very self-same faith in all
the elect. It was the self-same faith that was in Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
that is in all the believers after them. The smallest as well as the greatest
hath the self-same faith in substance. If this were considered, it might be
comfortable to us. You will say, "The apostle Paul, and the rest of these
worthy men, might plead confidently with God in their own behalf, and in the
behalf of others." But, I say, if ye have fled to Christ, and closed with Him,
ye may with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, to plead with God on
your own, and on the behalf of others also.
3. This grace of faith may,
yea, ought to increase in the saints of God. See Mark ix. 2., 2 Cor. x. 15,
where the increase of faith is mentioned. And, "Remembering without ceasing
your work of faith, and labour of love." This grace is said to grow. "The
righteousness of God revealed in the gospel from faith to faith." It is a sin
and a shame for Christians to be and continue at the same degree that at the
first they were at. Where it is sound and real, it grows. And oh, but the Lord'
s people should endeavour much for the increase of faith, that they be not as
children, ever doubting and staggering, so that they cannot live without
sensible manifestations of God's favourable presence unto them.
4. Ye
should know that as it ought to grow, so sometimes it may come under decay, an
to the exercise of it; though there cannot be a decay of it as to its
foundation. But I say, it may come under a decay as to its exercise; which
proceeds either from security, or from Christians being too much elated in
duty. When these give a stroke to faith, it may come under a decay. Christians,
beware of security, for it is the bane of faith. Beware of uplifting in duties,
for it likewise is the bane of faith. And in your afflictions pray to God for
the increase of your faith, for trials and rods of affliction are for trials to
faith, therefore ye ought to pray for faith that are bearing the burden in the
heat of the day.
5. The grace of faith is that which renders all that ye do
acceptable unto God, "For without faith it is impossible to please God."
6.
This grace of faith hath always with it obedience, and the bringing forth of
good fruit to the glory of God and the edification of others, which fruit is
called "the obedience of faith." Wherever it is, it leads still to sincere
endeavours to keep up all the commandments of God. By this, folk may know
whether they have this grace or not."
7. This grace of faith apprehends
things altogether beyond the reach of human reason, and brings these things
home unto the man's own bosom. It makes things that are absent as if they were
present; it brings that into the man's heart that he shall have to all
eternity; it brings in God to the man; it brings in Christ to his bosom; it
brings in the joys of heaven to his soul - hence it is said to be "the
substance of things not seen." It was this that made Moses see Him that is
invisible, and the eternal glory and happiness of the saints in heaven,
whereupon he refused to be preferred in Pharaoh's court; and this is the nature
of this grace which is so necessary and requisite a qualification in the duty
of prayer. And,
8. This grace of faith is a most sincere cordial grace. It
is called "faith unfeigned." It knows not what it is to have the winding
by-gates that carnal reason and hellish policy find out. This grace of faith is
downright and without guile.
9. The nature of this grace is, that it is
firm, stable, and stedfast, and renders the person stedfast in whom it is:
"Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith." They are like
growing trees that cannot be shaken; they are like mount Zion, that cannot be
removed. When they are in a right frame, let the world turn upside down, they
will not be afraid. But folk destitute of this grace, like weather-cocks, will
never hold out in the storm. They may bear it a little, but will not endure
unto the end. But they that trust in the Lord shall be stable as mount Zion;
rooted and built up in Him, they can never be removed.
10. This grace of
faith is altogether supernatural. It is wholly of God, and hath nothing of our
own power in it. "Faith is not of ourselves, it is the gift of God." It
descends from the Father of lights, and by this ye may know where to find it;
and if it he once infused into you, it can never be plucked out of your hearts
again. They are fools that think to believe, without knowing God the Author of
faith.
11. This grace hath the Word of God for its ground. It is not this
or that minister said it; not this great man, nor that great man that said it;
no, nothing will serve the believer until he gets this, "Thus saith the Lord."
12. This grace of faith is a knowing and intelligent grace, so that they,
in whom it is, know somewhat of God, and of Jesus Christ, who is the immediate
object of faith , and of the promises of the Gospel, and of their own case and
condition. Says Christ, "And have known surely that I came out from thee, and
have believed that thou didst send me," - hence sometimes it is called
knowledge.
13. This grace is a lively, operative, and working grace. It
makes the soul in which it is lively, diligent, and active in working the work
of God. It is called "the work of faith." It puts folk upon working. Ye shall
never see one who hath true faith, though he discerns it not, but he is busy;
even though believers were not bidden - yea, though they were forbidden - they
would read the Scripture, pray unto God, speak and confer with the Lord's
people when under trouble or disquiet of mind, if they know them to be such as
they might safely communicate their mind unto.
14. This grace is a most
precious grace in respect of God, the author of it; in respect of Christ, the
object of it; and in respect of the Gospel, the means of attaining to it; and
in respect of salvation, the end of it. Oh, but it is precious, and makes those
that have it precious unto God.
15. It is a most conquering and overcoming
grace; "It overcometh the world and the devil ;" it is the shield that quenches
all his fiery darts.
16. I shall add that it is a purifying and cleansing
grace, for it gives the person no rest until he has recourse unto the fountain
of His blood. Says John, "He that hath this hope in him, purifieth himself,
even as he is pure." Not only to be reformed outwardly, but inwardly. By these
things ye may see what this grace of faith is; and by some of them ye may know
if ye have it, and how ye may get it. Withal ye may see the need ye have of it.
If ye would go to God acceptably - if ye would bear a storm - if ye would have
life - then study faith. If ye get it not, ye shall never see life, and nothing
that ye do shall be acceptable to God. Remember these things, lay them to
heart, and do not think that it will he enough to hear them; for how will ye
look death in the face who never studied this grace! How will ye wade the fords
of Jordan to eternity? And how shall ye be able to answer God in the great day
of accounts? If ye would get safe through all these, labour to obtain this
grace of faith. The Lord help you so to do.
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