23. WHEN TO PRAY

The story is told of two Irishmen, Pat and Mike, who had narrowly escaped death on a sinking ship. They were floundering around in icy ocean waters on a couple of planks. Pat was addicted to the grossest profanity but was willing to repent of it if the Lord would come to his rescue. Mike thought this theology sound. And so Pat assumed a pious countenance and began to pray.

Just before he arrived at the main thesis.of his repentant prayer. Mike spotted a ship coming toward them. As delighted as Columbus when he first spotted the North American shore, Mike hollered, “Hold it, Pat. Don’t commit yerself. Here’s a ship.” And Pat immediately stopped praying.

Isn't that that the way many of us are? The only time we pray is when we are in a jam. And as soon as things improve, we forget God. Our model verse is Psalm 50:15: "Call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me." Spiritually speaking, most of us can much better afford adversity than prosperity. Like the Israelites of old, it seems that when our prosperity expands, our spirituality contracts. Like Pat, we call upon the Lord as long as things are going wrong, but as soon as conditions improve we resort to our own resources. The Lord is an escape hatch—nothing more.

Maintaining a spirit of prayer

The tense used in the Greek text of Philippians 4:6 is present imperative. It carries the idea of ongoing action. In effect, Paul is saying, "Don't perpetually worry. Perpetually pray." Let perpetual prayer take the place of perpetual care.

Our little son Johnny breathed only once every two and a half minutes for the first three hours he was in this world. Because of his deficient breathing, inadequate supplies of oxygen reached his brain, with the result that brain tissues were destroyed and body movement impaired.

Many Christians are suffering from the spiritual equivalent of this condition. Prayer is the Christian's breath. When breathing is obstructed, health is jeopardized. When the Christian permits an obstruction in his or her prayer life, spiritual health declines. An inadequate supply of the oxygen of prayer destroys spiritual fiber and impairs Christian effectiveness. If we want to be spiritually healthy, we must pray ceaselessly. As the Word says, "Pray without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

The Christian's prayer life should be one of incessant prayer, "praying always," as Paul says in Ephesians 6:18. This means praying at all seasons and on all occasions. If you would conquer worry, you must always maintain a spirit of prayer. You must live in a prayerful disposition.

Can we really pray ceaselessly?

One of my theological professors, in discussing the meaning of "pray without ceasing," recalled the experience of some ministers he knew.

They had congregated early and were waiting for the Monday morning ministers' meeting. As they talked in the vestibule, this verse was mentioned. Discussion became spirited. It wasn't long until they readily agreed that the verse puzzled them. How could one possibly pray without ceasing?

It so happened that a cleaning woman overheard them, and at this point she joined in.

"I always pray," she told them. "When I go to bed at night, I thank the Lord for the joy of resting on His everlasting arms. When I awaken the next morning, I ask Him to open my eyes that I may behold new and wondrous things out of His Word. When I bathe, I ask Him to cleanse me from secret faults. When I dress, I ask Him to clothe me with humility and love for souls. When I eat, I ask Him to cause me to grow on the bread of His Word. . . ."

She continued like this for several minutes, and taught those professional ministers a lesson they never forgot.

Praying without ceasing means keeping one's mind attuned with Christ and attuned to the will of God. You may not be involved in deliberate and conscious contact with God. But you are aware of His presence and of the fact that your life is being regulated by His will. It is much the same as a mother who is attuned to the needs and wants of her infant, even while she is sleeping—for the slightest whimper will awaken her. Likewise, the slightest prompting of the Spirit should immediately get our attention.

Isaiah says, "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee" (Isaiah 26:3). Being attuned to God keeps you in the awareness of His presence. And this produces perfect peace. Prayer is thus an essential ingredient of the peaceful lifestyle. The pages of the Bible are full of the names of men and women who prayed. All those who had power with God were people of prayer. How else would we explain the poise of Deborah, Daniel, or Hannah?

The great example, of course, is our Lord, whose whole life was a prayer. Before He did anything, He prayed. After He did anything, He prayed. He prayed morning, noon, and night. Sometimes He prayed all night. Whenever he was alone He prayed. Prayer was never off His lips and never out of His heart. He was the perfect example of unceasing prayer.

One word of caution. There are those who excuse their lack of a quiet time with God by saying, "I pray all the time. I pray while I am driving the car to work. I pray when I go about my business. I pray all the time, in whatever I do." Now this is all well and good. But it is essential also to spend a set period apart with God each day. You need to be alone with God for at least some of the time, just as you need to be alone with a husband or wife.

Prayer in practice

Charles Simeon devoted four hours each morning to prayer. Charles Wesley spent two hours daily in prayer. It is said that John Fletcher stained the walls with the breath of his prayers. Sometimes he would pray all night. He said, "I would not rise from my seat without lifting my heart to God." Prayer is the powerhouse of your spiritual life. Not surprisingly, Adoniram Judson gave this advice: "Make all practical sacrifices to maintain it."

You may not have hours at a stretch to devote to prayer. That is fine. D.L. Moody never spent more than 15 minutes in prayer. But he prayed often and about everything. As far as is possible, then, ensure that you have time set aside, preferably at the same time each day, to commune with God. Fifteen minutes for prayer and 15 minutes for Bible study may be enough, though more is always to be recommended. Personally I find the morning the best time. The more I commit myself to the Lord in the morning, the less I have to confess at night. The morning quiet time is like a spiritual breakfast:

It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. —Matthew 4:4

As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow daily. —1 Peter 2:2

If you would be strong, you must have spiritual food at the beginning of the day to sustain you through it. You are not likely to suffer great temptations while you are sleeping. But great strains and stresses will be encountered during the day. Another old professor of mine had a motto: "No Bible, no breakfast. Speak to no one until you have spoken to God."

The effectiveness of your brief moments of prayer during the day will be contingent on these longer periods spent with God as the day begins. Don't pretend you have no time. Some have more money than others. Some have more talent. But we are all on the same level when it comes to time. We each have 60 minutes in each hour and 24 hours in each day. How we organize them is up to us.

As an evangelist I was away from home a good deal. On a few occasions on my way from one city to another, I was able to stop at home for a few minutes. It delighted my heart, and my wife and son gave evidence that this delight was reciprocated. Suppose, however, that when I had a week off between meetings, I refused to go home. Suppose I had gone off to visit some friends instead. The next time I "bounced in" I would probably have been "bounced out" just as fast. My family knew that I loved to be at home and that I spent every possible moment there. That made the briefest of visits a pleasure for all of us.

So too our brief visits with the Lord bring mutual rejoicing if we are faithful in setting aside larger segments of time to commune with Him in deliberate and earnest intercession.