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In this series of articles on prayer I have talked, about coming to God the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ, by the enabling of the Holy Spirit. I have tried to describe what prayer is: that when we come to God we come with adoration, confession, thanksgiving and supplication. It is also important to consider our attitude as we come to God in prayer. In what spirit should we come to God? In this article I will suggest some answers to that question. Reverence and Respect First we must come in a spirit of reverence and respect. One of the ways we are helped on the subject of prayer is by studying the prayers of the saints in scripture. Take Daniel's prayer in the ninth chapter of the book of Daniel: or Solomon's prayer at the dedication of the temple; or that which has become known as "the Lord's Prayer". You will observe that all these prayers are marked by a spirit of reverence. You will find the same if you consider the beautiful prayer of Jesus recorded in John 17:11 where Jesus refers to God as "Holy Father", and in v.25 as "Righteous Father". You cannot read any of the prayers of the Bible without discovering the same thing - there is always a reverent approach to God. This does not mean that there cannot be a boldness in our approach, because we are encouraged to come with boldness to the throne of grace. It does not mean that we cannot come with a sense of joyfulness; we ought to do that because we are coming to our Father. But boldness and joyfulness must never banish reverence. God is our Father; but He is our Father "which art in heaven". This must ever be kept before us in our day. Generally speaking, this is a day when respect for authority of any kind is lacking. In my opinion it is a day when crudeness and ugliness are asserting themselves. Qualities of grace and gentleness, courtesy and nobility are brushed aside as having no practical value. It is a day of cynicism when the old saying is often fulfilled, "nothing is sacred". Christians have to guard against this worldly attitude rubbing off on them. We are not to be moulded by the world's attitude and opinion, and certainly in our attitude to God we must always maintain that reverence and respect which is right and fitting. We must ever keep the Biblical vision of God before us. We must see Him with the eye of faith as the High and Holy One who inhabits eternity. We must see Him as the One who dwells in light inaccessible which no man can approach unto. We must see Him as the Monarch of the ages, clothed with majesty and honour. He is the God of holiness and truth, the One who from everlasting to everlasting is God. Only as we keep such a view of God before us can we be delivered from the sin of irreverence. It is a tragic thing that some heathen religions instill in their adherents a greater sense of reverence than we see in many evangelical Christians. If you lived in a Muslim land you would hear several times a day the call to prayer going out to "the faithful" from the minaret towers. "Alluhu Akbar" is the cry - God is great. If followers of a false religion have at least that much truth surely we who have the Word of God in our hands and the Spirit of God in our hearts ought to know it. God is indeed great, and when we approach Him it ought to be in reverence and respect. The Spirit of Faith Secondly, we must come in a spirit of faith. This is given strong emphasis in the Bible. For instance, James 1:5: If any of you lacks wisdom let him ask of God ... but let him ask in faith or again, consider Hebrews 11:6: He who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. The Lord Jesus reminds us of this vital linkage, Matt.21:22: And all things, whatever you ask in prayer believing, you will receive. We must understand this statement in the light of the third point which we will come to in a moment, but let it be noted that faith, "believing" is an important ingredient in our prayers. There are many other passages which present this same truth to us. God delights to see faith in His children; faith brings joy to the heart of God, and He calls for the exercise of it when we come before Him in prayer. Obviously we must have faith that God will answer prayer. He has said that He will, so it is a great dishonour to God for His people not to believe Him. It is hard to imagine a person praying if they did not believe that God did answer prayer. Imagine what an insult it would be if our children came to us and requested from us something which we had told them they could have, but as they came they said "well we are asking but we don't believe that you have any intention of giving this to us; we don't believe that your word can be trusted or accepted in this matter". How hurtful and insulting that would be! And how much more terrible is it when we come before God with unbelieving hearts, for we are really saying "I don't believe your word is trustworthy; I don't believe that you will do what you have said you will do". It is not strange that people don't experience any blessing from prayer if they come with unbelieving and untrusting hearts. "Without faith it is impossible to please God". We must have a confident spirit in prayer; we must believe that God will do what He has said He will do. We will have to recognize that He may not work in the way we expect Him to work; He may not work within the time-frame we would prefer; we have to grant that He works in mysterious ways; but we must have faith in His wisdom and His power. Faith is a potent weapon. The 11th chapter of Hebrews ought to be read more often than it is. By faith amazing things were accomplished by God's people, and without faith nothing will ever be accomplished. Come believing in prayer; let your spirit be one of confidence. Take God at His word and trust Him for an answer. The Spirit of Submission. We must also come in a spirit of submission. The greatest example of this is the Lord Jesus Himself in the garden of Gethsemane. Though under the most severe strain, and enormous pressure, He prayed "not my will, but thine be done". We must always pray in that spirit. Beware of demanding from God. Humility ought to mark your attitude in the presence of God, and if you have humility you will appreciate the fact that there are many things which you do not know. We get so full of ourselves sometimes that we think we know better than God; we think that we can instruct Him and tell Him what is best, and some people get very angry if God doesn't do exactly what they think He ought to do. But many a person has lived to thank God that He didn't answer their prayer! At the time they were upset; they doubted God's love and care and they were defiant and rebellious. But remember that you know so little. When we come to God we come to one who is infinite in wisdom; He knows all things; He knows the end from the beginning; and whenever we come in prayer we must always have a submissive spirit, praying for guidance in God's will and ready to accept that His will may be done in all things. The promise that God will hear and answer prayer is attached to the supposition that we ask according to His will - "Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will He hears us". It is very important that we take all the Bible has to say on a given subject and not just part of it. Some people like to take the kind of verses referred to earlier and say "there, God promises that anything I ask for in prayer believing I shall receive". And they make a mockery out of it by asking for the most foolish things, and when they don't get them they say "I must not have enough faith, I didn't believe enough". Now certainly our prayers can be hindered by lack of faith, but we must remember that God's promise to answer our prayers and give us what we ask for is related to our asking according to His will. We need therefore to be spiritually minded that we might discern the will of the Lord, and we need to be submissive acknowledging that "now we see through a glass darkly." We may not be praying wisely; therefore we must pray submissively in the spirit of Jesus, "Thy will be done". For the Glory of God Our attitude in prayer must reflect a genuine desire for the glory of God. Some Christians think of prayer as possessing a magic lamp; they think that prayer is a great way for getting every little whim and fancy which comes into their mind. They think of God as the "genie" who exists to satisfy their every desire. But to come to God in a selfish spirit is to come in a wrong spirit. The concern of Jesus as reflected in John 12:27-28 was not his own comfort and well-being but the glory of His Father. That is not to say that we are not to pray for ourselves and our own needs; not at all. Our own needs are a legitimate concern for prayer, but we are always to seek first the glory of God. If that desire is dominant then we shall be kept in proper balance. You can see this working out in 2 Corinthians 12 where Paul prays three times that God would remove the "thorn in the flesh". What that really was we do not know, but clearly it was something which bothered him greatly. But though he prayed three times for its removal he came to understand that it was not the will of God that it should be removed. God had given him that thorn for a purpose; it was to keep him useful in the service of Christ; through that thorn the power of Christ rested upon him, and so he eventually came to glory in his infirmity. Now Paul could never have come to that place had he not been supremely concerned about the glory of God. If he was to glorify God he must have the power of Christ resting upon him. If he had been concerned only with his own comfort he could never have rejoiced and gloried in this thorn. He would have gone about moaning and complaining that God didn't answer his prayer; he would have gone about feeling sorry for himself - "after all I have done for the Lord look at the way He treats me!" Some people act in this pathetic manner but this man has the glory of God for his greatest desire; nothing is more important than that, and that desire regulates his spirit in prayer. Few things are more important than having a right attitude when we pray.
Arm of the Lord, awake, awake!
Why dost Thou tarry, mighty Lord?
Behold, what numbers still withstand
Haste then, but come not to destroy;
Why dost Thou from the conquest stay? Henry March, 1839
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