PRAYING ALWAYS
WITH ALL PRAYER AND SUPPLICATION
IN THE SPIRIT
AND WATCHING THEREUNTO WITH ALL PERSEVERANCE
AND SUPPLICATION FOR ALL SAINTS
AND FOR ME
I EXHORT THAT FIRST OF ALL
SUPPLICATIONS, PRAYERS, INTERCESSIONS
GIVING OF THANKS
BE MADE FOR ALL MEN
FOR KINGS, AND ALL THAT ARE IN AUTHORITY
PRAY FOR ONE ANOTHER
These “Helps” are issued as a separate Tract by
Messrs. Nisbet &. Co., price 2d.
Anyone is at liberty to have the Tract reprinted, with
such modifications as may be desired.
[p202] PRAY WITHOUT CEASING
Pray without Ceasing.—Who can do this? How can one do it
who is surrounded by the cares of daily life?—How can a mother
love her child without ceasing? How can the eyelid without
ceasing hold itself ready to protect the eye? How can I breathe
and feel and hear without ceasing? Because all these are the
functions of a healthy, natural life. And so, if the spiritual life
be healthy, under the full power of the Holy Spirit, praying
without ceasing will be natural.
Pray without Ceasing.—Does it refer to continual acts of
prayer, in which we are to persevere till we obtain, or to the spirit
of prayerfulness that should animate us all the day? It includes
both. The example of our Lord Jesus shows us this. We have
to enter our closet for special seasons of prayer; we are at times
to persevere there in importunate prayer. We are also all the
day to walk in God’s presence, with the whole heart set upon
heavenly things. Without set times of prayer the spirit of prayer
will be dull and feeble. Without the continual prayerfulness the
set times will not avail.
Pray without Ceasing.—Does that refer to prayer for ourselves
or others? To both. It is because many confine it to themselves
that they fail so in practising it. It is only when the branch
gives itself to bear fruit, more fruit, much fruit, that it can live a
healthy life, and expect a rich inflow of sap. The death of Christ
brought Him to the place of everlasting intercession. Your death
with Him to sin and self sets you free from the care of self, and
elevates you to the dignity of intercessor—one who can get life and
blessing from God for others. Know your calling; begin this your
work. Give yourself wholly to it, and ere you know you will be
finding something of this “Praying always” within you.
Pray without Ceasing.—How can I learn it? The best way of
learning to do a thing—in fact the only way—is to do it. Begin
by setting apart some time every day, say ten or fifteen minutes,
[p203]
in which you say to God and to yourself, that you come to Him
now as intercessor for others. Let it be after your morning or
evening prayer, or any other time. If you cannot secure the same
time every day, be not troubled. Only see that you do your
work. Christ chose you and appointed you to pray for others.
If at first you do not feel any special urgency or faith or power
in your prayers, let not that hinder you. Quietly tell your Lord
Jesus of your feebleness; believe that the Holy Spirit is in you to
teach you to pray, and be assured that if you begin, God will help
you. God cannot help you unless you begin and keep on.
Pray without Ceasing.—How do I know what to pray for?
If once you begin, and think of all the needs around you, you will
soon find enough. But to help you this little tract is issued, with
subjects and hints for prayer for a month. It is meant that we
should use it month by month, until we know more fully to
follow the Spirit’s leading, and have learnt, if need be, to make our
own list of subjects, and can dispense with it. In regard to the
use of these helps a few words may be needed.
1. How to Pray.—You notice for every day two headings—the
one What to Pray; the other, How to Pray. If the subjects were
only given, one might fall into the routine of mentioning names
and things before God, and the work become a burden. The hints
under the heading How to Pray are meant to remind of the
spiritual nature of the work, of the need of Divine help, and to
encourage faith in the certainty that God, through the Spirit,
will give us grace to pray aright, and will also hear our prayer.
One does not at once learn to take his place boldly, and to dare to
believe that he will be heard. Therefore take a few moments each
day to listen to God’s voice reminding you of how certainly even
you will be heard, and calling on you to pray in that faith in your
Father, to claim and take the blessing you plead for. And let
these words about How to Pray enter your hearts and occupy your
thoughts at other times too. The work of intercession is Christ’s
great work on earth, intrusted to Him because He gave Himself a
sacrifice to God for men. The work of intercession is the
greatest work a Christian can do. Give yourself a sacrifice to
God for men, and the work will become your glory and your joy
too.
2. What to Pray.—Scripture calls us to pray for many things:
for all saints; for all men; for kings and all rulers; for all who
are in adversity; for the sending forth of labourers; for those
who labour in the gospel; for all converts; for believers who have
fallen into sin; for one another in our own immediate circles.
The Church is now so much larger than when the New Testament
was written; the number of forms of work and workers is so
much greater; the needs of the Church and the world are so
much better known, that we need to take time and thought to see
where prayer is needed, and to what our heart is most drawn out.
[p204]
The Scripture calls to prayer demand a large heart, taking in all
saints, and all men, and all needs. An attempt has been made in
these helps to indicate what the chief subjects are that need
prayer, and that ought to interest every Christian.
It will be felt difficult by many to pray for such large spheres as
are sometimes mentioned. Let it be understood that in each case
we may make special intercession for our own circle of interest coming
under that heading. And it is hardly needful to say, further, that
where one subject appears of more special interest or urgency than
another we are free for a time day after day to take up that subject.
If only time be really given to intercession, and the spirit of
believing intercession be cultivated, the object is attained. While,
on the one hand, the heart must be enlarged at times to take in
all, the more pointed and definite our prayer can be the better.
With this view paper is left blank in which we can write down
special petitions we desire to urge before God.
3. Answers to Prayer.—More than one little book has been
published in which Christians may keep a register of their petitions,
and note when they were answered. Room has been left on every
page for this, so that more definite petitions with regard to individual
souls or special spheres of work may be recorded, and the
answer looked for. When we pray for all saints, or for missions in
general, it is difficult to know when or how our prayer is answered,
or whether our prayer has had any part in bringing the answer.
It is of extreme importance that we should prove that God
hears us, and to this end take note of what answers we look for,
and when they come. On the day of praying for all saints, take the
saints in your congregation, or in your prayer-meeting, and ask for
a revival among them. Take, in connection with missions, some
special station or missionary you are interested in, or more than
one, and plead for blessing. And expect and look for its coming,
that you may praise God.
4. Prayer Circles.—There is no desire in publishing this invitation
to intercession to add another to the many existing prayer
unions or praying bands. The first object is to stir the many
Christians who practically, through ignorance of their calling, or
unbelief as to their prayer availing much, take but very little part in
the work of intercession; and then to help those who do pray to
some fuller apprehension of the greatness of the work, and the need
of giving their whole strength to it. There is a circle of prayer
which asks for prayer on the first day of every month for the fuller
manifestation of the power of the Holy Spirit throughout the
Church. I have given the words of that invitation as subject for
the first day, and taken the same thought as keynote all through.
The more one thinks of the need and the promise, and the greatness
of the obstacles to be overcome in prayer, the more one feels
it must become our life-work day by day, that to which every
other interest is subordinated.
[p205]
But while not forming a large prayer union, it is suggested that
it may be found helpful to have small prayer circles to unite in
prayer, either for one month, with some special object introduced
daily along with the others, or through a year or longer, with the
view of strengthening each other in the grace of intercession. If a
minister were to invite some of his neighbouring brethren to join
for some special requests along with the printed subjects for supplication,
or a number of the more earnest members of his congregation
to unite in prayer for revival, some might be trained to take their
place in the great work of intercession, who now stand idle because
no man hath hired them.
5. Who is sufficient for these things?—The more we study and
try to practise this grace of intercession, the more we become overwhelmed
by its greatness and our feebleness. Let every such
impression lead us to listen: My grace is sufficient for thee,
and to answer truthfully: Our sufficiency is of God. Take
courage; it is in the intercession of Christ you are called to take
part. The burden and the agony, the triumph and the victory
are all His. Learn from Him, yield to His Spirit in you, to know
how to pray. He gave Himself a sacrifice to God for men, that He
might have the right and power of intercession. “He bare the sin
of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” Let your
faith rest boldly on His finished work. Let your heart wholly
identify itself with Him in His death and His life. Like Him,
give yourself to God a sacrifice for men: it is your highest
nobility, it is your true and full union to Him; it will be to you, as
to Him, your power of intercession. Beloved Christian! come and
give your whole heart and life to intercession, and you will know
its blessedness and its power. God asks nothing less; the world
needs nothing less; Christ asks nothing less; let nothing less be
what we offer to God.
[p206] First Day
WHAT TO PRAY.—
“I bow my knees unto the Father, that He would grant you
that ye may be strengthened with power through His Spirit.”—Eph.
iii. 16.
“Wait for the promise of the Father.”—Acts i. 4.
“The fuller manifestation of the grace and energy of the Blessed
Spirit of God, in the removal of all that is contrary to God’s revealed
will, so that we grieve not the Holy Spirit, but that He
may work in mightier power in the Church, for the exaltation of
Christ and the blessing of souls.”
God has one promise to and through His exalted Son; our Lord
has one gift to His Church; the Church has one need; all prayer
unites in the one petition—the power of the Holy Spirit. Make it
your one prayer.
HOW TO PRAY.—
“If a son ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he
give him a stone? How much more shall your Heavenly Father
give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?”—Luke xi. 11, 13.
Ask as simply and trustfully as a child asks bread. You can
do this because “God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into
your heart, crying, Abba, Father.” This Spirit is in you to give
you childlike confidence. In the faith of His praying in you, ask
for the power of that holy Spirit everywhere. Mention places or
circles where you specially ask it to be seen.
SPECIAL PETITIONS
[p207] Second Day
WHAT TO PRAY.—
“The Spirit Himself maketh intercession for us.”—Rom.
viii. 26.
“I will pour out the Spirit of Supplication.”—Zech. xii. 10.
“The evangelisation of the world depends first of all upon a revival
of prayer. Deeper than the need for men—ay, deep down at
the bottom of our spiritless life—is the need for the forgotten secret
of prevailing, world-wide prayer.”
Every child of God has the Holy Spirit in him to pray. God
waits to give the Spirit in full measure. Ask for yourself, and all
who join, the outpouring of the Spirit of Supplication. Ask it for
your own prayer circle.
HOW TO PRAY.—
“With all prayer and supplication, praying at all seasons in
the Spirit.”—Eph. vi. 18.
“Praying in the Holy Spirit.”—Jude 20.
Our Lord gave His disciples on His resurrection day the Holy
Spirit to enable them to wait for the full outpouring on the day
of Pentecost. It is only in the power of the Spirit already in us,
acknowledged and yielded to, that we can pray for His fuller
manifestation. Say to the Father, it is the Spirit of His Son in
you is urging you to plead His promise.
SPECIAL PETITIONS
[p208] Third Day
WHAT TO PRAY.—
“With all prayer and supplication praying at all seasons, and
watching thereunto in all perseverance and supplication for
all saints.”—Eph. vi. 18.
Every member of a body is interested in the welfare of the
whole, and exists to help and complete the others. Believers are
one body, and ought to pray, not so much for the welfare of their
own church or society, but, first of all, for all saints. This large,
unselfish love is the proof that Christ’s Spirit and Love is teaching
them to pray. Pray first for all and then for the believers
around you.
HOW TO PRAY.—
“By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye
have love one to another.”—John xiii. 35.
“I pray that they all may be one, that the world may believe
that Thou didst send Me.”—John xvii. 21.
“I beseech you, brethren, by the love of the Spirit, that ye
strive together with me in your prayers to God for me.”—Rom.
xv. 30.
“Above all things being fervent in your love among yourselves.”—1
Pet. iv. 8.
If we are to pray we must love. Let us say to God we do love
all His saints; let us say we love specially every child of His we
know. Let us pray with fervent love, in the love of the Spirit.
SPECIAL PETITIONS
[p209] Fourth Day
WHAT TO PRAY.—
God is the Holy One. His people is a holy people. He speaks:
I am holy: I am the Lord which make you holy. Christ
prayed: Sanctify them. Make them holy through Thy Truth.
Paul prayed: “God establish your hearts unblamable in holiness.”
“God sanctify you wholly!”
Pray for all saints—God’s holy ones—throughout the Church,
that the Spirit of holiness may rule them. Specially for new
converts. For the saints in your own neighbourhood or congregation.
For any you are specially interested in. Think of their
special need, weakness, or sin, and pray that God may make them
holy.
HOW TO PRAY.—
The things that are impossible with men are possible with
God. When we think of the great things we ask for, of how little
likelihood there is of their coming, of our own insignificance. Prayer
is not only wishing, or asking, but believing and accepting. Be
still before God and ask Him to give you to know Him as the
Almighty One, and leave your petitions with Him who doeth
wonders.
SPECIAL PETITIONS
[p210] Fifth Day
WHAT TO PRAY.—
“Holy Father, keep through Thine own name those whom
Thou hast given Me. I pray not that Thou shouldest take them
out of the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the
evil. They are not of the world, as I am not of the world.”—John
xvii. 11, 15, 16.
In the last night Christ asked three things for His disciples: that
they might be kept as those who are not of the world; that they
might be sanctified; that they might be one in love. You cannot
do better than pray as Jesus prayed. Ask for God’s people that
they may be kept separate from the world and its spirit; that
they, by the Holy Spirit, may live as those who are not of the
world.
HOW TO PRAY.—
“Beloved, if our hearts condemn us not, then have we confidence
toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him,
because we keep His commandments, and do those things that
are pleasing in His sight.”—1 John iii. 21, 22.
Learn these words by heart. Get them into your heart. Join
the ranks of those who, with John, draw nigh to God with an
assured heart, that does not condemn them, having confidence
toward God. In this spirit pray for your brother who sins
(1 John v. 16). In the quiet confidence of an obedient child plead
for those of your brethren who may be giving way to sin. Pray
for all to be kept from the evil. And say often, “What we ask,
we receive, because we keep and do.”
SPECIAL PETITIONS
[p211] Sixth Day
WHAT TO PRAY.—
“I pray that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them
and Thou in Me; that the world may know that Thou didst
send Me, and hast loved them as Thou hast loved Me ... that
the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them, and I
in them.”—John xvii. 23.
“The fruit of the Spirit is love.”—Gal. v. 22.
Believers are one in Christ, as He is one with the Father. The
love of God rests on them, and can dwell in them. Pray that the
power of the Holy Ghost may so work this love in believers, that the
world may see and know God’s love in them. Pray much for this.
HOW TO PRAY.—
“I have set watchmen on thy walls, which shall never hold
their peace day nor night: ye that are the Lord’s remembrancers,
keep not silence, and give Him no rest.”—Isa. lxii. 6.
Study these words until your whole soul be filled with the consciousness,
I am appointed intercessor. Enter God’s presence in
that faith. Study the world’s need with that thought—it is my
work to intercede; the Holy Spirit will teach me for what and
how. Let it be an abiding consciousness: My great life-work,
like Christ’s, is intercession—to pray for believers and those who
do not yet know God.
SPECIAL PETITIONS
[p212] Seventh Day
WHAT TO PRAY.—
“I beseech you that ye strive together with me in your
prayers to God for me.”—Rom. xv. 30.
“He will deliver us; ye also helping together by your supplication
on our behalf.”—2 Cor. i. 10, 11.
What a great host of ministers there are in Christ’s Church.
What need they have of prayer. What a power they might be, if
they were all clothed with the power of the Holy Ghost. Pray
definitely for this; long for it. Think of your own minister, and
ask it very specially for him. Connect every thought of the ministry,
in your town or neighbourhood or the world, with the prayer
that all may be filled with the Spirit. Plead for them the promise,
“Tarry till ye be clothed with power from on high.” “Ye shall
receive power, when the Holy Ghost is come upon you.”
HOW TO PRAY.—
“But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy inner chamber,
and having shut to thy door, pray to the Father which is in
secret.”—Matt. vi. 6.
“He withdrew again into the mountain to pray, Himself
alone.”—Matt. xiv. 23; John vi. 15.
Take time and realise, when you are alone with God: Here am
I now, face to face with God, to intercede for His servants. Do not
think you have no influence, or that your prayer will not be
missed. Your prayer and faith will make a difference. Cry in
secret to God for His ministers.
SPECIAL PETITIONS
[p213] Eighth Day
WHAT TO PRAY.—
“Ye also helping together on our behalf; that for the gift
bestowed upon us by means of many, thanks may be given by
many on our behalf.”—2 Cor. i. 11.
What multitudes of workers in connection with our churches
and missions, our railways and postmen, our soldiers and sailors,
our young men and young women, our fallen men and women,
our poor and sick. God be praised for this! What could they
accomplish if each were living in the fulness of the Holy Spirit?
Pray for them; it makes you a partner in their work, and you
will praise God each time you hear of blessing anywhere.
HOW TO PRAY.—
“What wilt thou that I should do unto thee?”—Luke xviii. 41.
The Lord knew what the man wanted, and yet He asked him.
The utterance of our wish gives point to the transaction in which
we are engaged with God, and so awakens faith and expectation.
Be very definite in your petitions, so as to know what answer you
may look for. Just think of the great host of workers, and ask
and expect God definitely to bless them in answer to the prayers
of His people. Then ask still more definitely for workers around
you. Intercession is not the breathing out of pious wishes; its
aim is, in believing, persevering prayer, to receive and bring down
blessing.
SPECIAL PETITIONS
[p214] Ninth Day
WHAT TO PRAY.—
“The evangelisation of the world depends first of all upon a
revival of prayer. Deeper than the need for men—ay, deep down
at the bottom of our spiritless life, is the need for the forgotten
secret of prevailing, world-wide prayer.”
“As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost
said, Separate Me Barnabas and Saul. Then when they had
fasted and prayed, they sent them away. So they, being sent
forth by the Holy Ghost, departed.”—Acts xiii. 2, 3, 4.
Pray that our mission work may all be done in this spirit—waiting
on God, hearing the voice of the Spirit, sending forth men
with fasting and prayer. Pray that in our churches our mission
interest and mission work may be in the power of the Holy Spirit
and of prayer. It is a Spirit-filled, praying Church will send out
Spirit-filled missionaries, mighty in prayer.
HOW TO PRAY.—
“I give myself unto prayer.”—Ps. cix. 4.
“We will give ourselves continually to prayer.”—Acts vi. 4.
“Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be
hasty to utter anything before God.”—Eccles. v. 2.
“And He continued all night in prayer to God.”—Luke vi. 12.
Time is one of the chief standards of value. The time we give
is a proof of the interest we feel.
We need time with God—to realise His presence; to wait for
Him to make Himself known; to consider and feel the needs we
plead for; to take our place in Christ; to pray till we can
believe that we have received. Take time in prayer, and pray
down blessing on the mission work of the Church.
SPECIAL PETITIONS
[p215] Tenth Day
WHAT TO PRAY.—
“What the world needs to-day is, not only more missionaries,
but the outpouring of God’s Spirit on everyone whom He has sent
out to work for Him in the foreign field.”
“Ye shall receive power, when the Holy Ghost is come upon
you: and ye shall be My witnesses unto the uttermost parts of
the earth.”—Acts i. 8.
God always gives His servants power equal to the work He asks
of them. Think of the greatness and difficulty of this work,—casting
out Satan out of his strongholds,—and pray that everyone
who takes part in it may receive and do all his work in the power
of the Holy Ghost. Think of the difficulties of your missionaries,
and pray for them.
HOW TO PRAY.—
“He is faithful that promised.” “She counted Him faithful
who promised.”—Heb. x. 23, xi. 11.
Just think of God’s promises to His Son, concerning His kingdom;
to the Church, concerning the heathen; to His servants,
concerning their work; to yourself, concerning your prayer; and
pray in the assurance that He is faithful, and only waits for prayer
and faith to fulfil them. “Faithful is He that calleth you”
(to pray), “who also will do it” (what He has promised).
Take up individual missionaries, make yourself one with them,
and pray till you know that you are heard. Oh, begin to live for
Christ’s kingdom as the one thing worth living for!
SPECIAL PETITIONS
[p216] Eleventh Day
WHAT TO PRAY.—
“Pray ye the Lord of the harvest, that He send forth labourers
into His harvest.”—Matt. ix. 38.
What a remarkable call of the Lord Jesus for help from His
disciples in getting the need supplied. What an honour put upon
prayer. What a proof that God wants prayer and will hear it.
Pray for labourers, for all students in theological seminaries,
training homes, Bible institutes, that they may not go, unless He
fits them and sends them forth; that our churches may train their
students to seek for the sending forth of the Holy Spirit; that
all believers may hold themselves ready to be sent forth, or to
pray for those who can go.
HOW TO PRAY.—
“Jesus saith unto them, Have faith in God. Whosoever
shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou
cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall
believe that what he saith shall come to pass, he shall have it.”—Mark
xi. 22, 23.
Have faith in God! Ask Him to make Himself known to you
as the faithful, mighty God, who worketh all in all; and you will
be encouraged to believe that He can give suitable and sufficient
labourers, however impossible this appears. But, remember, in
answer to prayer and faith.
Apply this to every opening where a good worker is needed.
The work is God’s. He can give the right workman. But He
must be asked and waited on.
SPECIAL PETITIONS
[p217] Twelfth Day
WHAT TO PRAY.—
“I will send the Comforter to you. And He, when He is
come, will convict the world in respect of sin.”—John xvi. 7, 8.
God’s one desire, the one object of Christ’s being manifested, is
to take away sin. The first work of the Spirit on the world is
conviction of sin. Without that, no deep or abiding revival, no
powerful conversion. Pray for it, that the gospel may be
preached in such power of the Spirit, that men may see that
they have rejected and crucified Christ, and cry out, What shall
we do?
Pray most earnestly for a mighty power of conviction of sin
wherever the gospel is preached.
HOW TO PRAY.—
“Let him take hold of My strength, that he may make
peace with Me.”—Isa. xxvii. 5.
“There is none that calleth upon Thy name, that stirreth
himself to take hold of Thee.”—Isa. lxiv. 7.
“Stir up the gift of God which is in thee.”—2 Tim. i. 6.
First, take hold of God’s strength. God is a Spirit. I cannot
take hold of Him, and hold Him fast, but by the Spirit. Take
hold of God’s strength, and hold on till it has done for you what
He has promised. Pray for the power of the Spirit to convict
of sin.
Second, stir up yourself, the power that is in you by the Holy
Spirit, to take hold. Give your whole heart and will to it, and
say, I will not let Thee go except Thou bless me.
SPECIAL PETITIONS
[p218] Thirteenth Day
WHAT TO PRAY.—
“And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion shall
be called holy: when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of
the daughters of Zion, by the spirit of judgment and the spirit
of burning.”—Isa. iv. 3, 4.
A washing by fire! a cleansing by judgment! He that has
passed through this shall be called holy. The power of blessing
for the world, the power of work and intercession that will avail,
depends upon the spiritual state of the Church; and that can
only rise higher as sin is discovered and put away. Judgment
must begin at the house of God. There must be conviction of sin
for sanctification. Beseech God to give His Spirit as a spirit of
judgment and a spirit of burning—to discover and burn out sin
in His people.
HOW TO PRAY.—
“Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do. If ye shall
ask Me anything in My name, that will I do.”—John xiv. 13, 14.
Ask in the name of your Redeemer God, who sits upon the
throne. Ask what He has promised, what He gave His blood for,
that sin may be put away from among His people. Ask—the
prayer is after His own heart—for the spirit of deep conviction of
sin to come among His people. Ask for the spirit of burning.
Ask in the faith of His name—the faith of what He wills, of what
He can do—and look for the answer. Pray that the Church may
be blessed, to be made a blessing in the world.
SPECIAL PETITIONS
[p219] Fourteenth Day
WHAT TO PRAY.—
“That the children might not be as their fathers, a generation
that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not
steadfast with God.”—Ps. lxxviii. 8.
“I will pour My Spirit upon thy seed, and My blessing upon
thy offspring.”—Isa. xliv. 3.
Pray for the rising generation, who are to come after us. Think
of the young men and young women and children of this age, and
pray for all the agencies at work among them; that in association
and societies and unions, in homes and schools, Christ may
be honoured, and the Holy Spirit get possession of them. Pray
for the young of your own neighbourhood.
HOW TO PRAY.—
“The Lord grant thee according to thine own heart.”—Ps.
xx. 4.
“Thou hast given him his heart’s desire.”—Ps. xxi. 2.
“I cried with my whole heart; hear me, O Lord.”—Ps. cxix. 145.
God lives, and listens to every petition with His whole heart.
Each time we pray the whole Infinite God is there to hear. He
asks that in each prayer the whole man shall be there too; that
we shall cry with our whole heart. Christ gave Himself to God
for men; and so He takes up every need into His intercession. If
once we seek God with our whole heart, the whole heart will be in
every prayer with which we come to this God. Pray with your
whole heart for the young.
SPECIAL PETITIONS
[p220] Fifteenth Day
WHAT TO PRAY.—
“As for Me, this is My covenant with them, saith the Lord:
My Spirit that is upon thee, and My words which I have put in
thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the
mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith
the Lord, from henceforth and for ever.”—Isa. lix. 21.
The future of the Church and the world depends, to an extent we
little conceive, on the education of the day. The Church may
be seeking to evangelise the heathen, and be giving up her own
children to secular and materialistic influences. Pray for schools
and colleges, and that the Church may realise and fulfil its
momentous duty of caring for its children. Pray for godly
teachers.
HOW TO PRAY.—
“They limited the Holy One of Israel.”—Ps. lxxviii. 41.
“He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.”—Matt.
xiii. 58.
“Is anything too hard for the Lord?”—Gen. xviii. 14.
“Ah, Lord God! Thou hast made the heaven and the earth
by Thy great power; there is nothing too hard for Thee. Behold,
I am the Lord: is there anything too hard for Me?”—Jer. xxxii.
17, 27.
Beware, in your prayer, above everything, of limiting God, not
only by unbelief, but by fancying that you know what He can do.
Expect unexpected things, above all that we ask or think. Each
time you intercede, be quiet first and worship God in his glory.
Think of what He can do, of how He delights to hear Christ, of
your place in Christ, and expect great things.
SPECIAL PETITIONS
[p221] Sixteenth Day
WHAT TO PRAY.—
“Thus saith the Lord, Even the captives of the mighty shall
be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered:
for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I
will save thy children.”—Isa. xlix. 25.
Every part of the work of God’s Church is His work. He must
do it. Prayer is the confession that He will, the surrender of ourselves
into His hands to let Him, work in us and through us.
Pray for the hundreds of thousands of Sunday-school teachers, that
those who know God may be filled with His Spirit. Pray for your
own Sunday school. Pray for the salvation of the children.
HOW TO PRAY.—
“We have a great High Priest, Jesus the Son of God. Let us
therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace.”—Heb. iv.
14, 16.
These hints to help us in our work of intercession—what are
they doing for us? Making us conscious of our feebleness in
prayer? Thank God for this. It is the very first lesson we need
on the way to pray the effectual prayer that availeth much. Let
us persevere, taking each subject boldly to the throne of grace. As
we pray we shall learn to pray, and to believe, and to expect with
increasing boldness. Hold fast your assurance: it is at God’s command
you come as an intercessor. Christ will give you grace to
pray aright.
SPECIAL PETITIONS
[p222] Seventeenth Day
WHAT TO PRAY.—
“I exhort therefore, first of all, that supplications, prayers,
intercessions, thanksgiving, be made for all men; for kings, and
all that are in high places; that we may lead a tranquil and
quiet life in all godliness and gravity.”—1 Tim. ii. 1, 2.
What a faith in the power of prayer! A few feeble and despised
Christians are to influence the mighty Roman emperors, and help
in securing peace and quietness. Let us believe that prayer is
a power that is taken up by God in His rule of the world. Let us
pray for our country and its rulers; for all the rulers of the
world; for rulers in cities or districts in which we are interested.
When God’s people unite in this, they may count upon their
prayer effecting in the unseen world more than they know. Let
faith hold this fast.
HOW TO PRAY.—
“And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a
golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense,
that he should add it unto the prayers of all the saints upon the
golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of
the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God
out of the angel’s hand. And the angel taketh the censer; and
he filled it with the fire upon the altar, and cast it upon the
earth: and there followed thunder, and voices, and lightning,
and an earthquake.”—Rev. viii. 3–5.
The same censer brings the prayer of the saints before God
and casts fire upon the earth. The prayers that go up to
heaven have their share in the history of this earth. Be sure that
thy prayers enter God’s presence.
SPECIAL PETITIONS
[p223] Eighteenth Day
WHAT TO PRAY.—
“I exhort therefore, first of all, that supplication be made for
kings and all that are in high places; that we may lead a tranquil
and quiet life in all godliness and gravity. For this is good and
acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour.”—1 Tim. ii. 1–3.
“He maketh wars to cease to the end of the earth.”—Ps. xlvi. 9.
What a terrible sight!—the military armaments in which the
nations find their pride. What a terrible thought!—the evil
passions that may at any moment bring on war. And what a
prospect the suffering and desolation that must come. God can,
in answer to the prayer of His people, give peace. Let us pray
for it, and for the rule of righteousness on which alone it can be
stablished.
HOW TO PRAY.—
“What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will
pray with the understanding.”—1 Cor. xiv. 15.
We need to pray with the spirit, as the vehicle of the intercession
of God’s Spirit, if we are to take hold of God in faith and
power. We need to pray with the understanding, if we are really
to enter deeply into the needs we bring before Him. Take time
to apprehend intelligently, in each subject, the nature, the extent,
the urgency of the request, the ground and way and certainty of
God’s promise as revealed in His Word. Let the mind affect the
heart. Pray with the understanding and with the spirit.
SPECIAL PETITIONS
[p224] Nineteenth Day
WHAT TO PRAY.—
“Having a form of godliness, but denying the power
thereof.”—2 Tim. iii. 5.
“Thou hast a name that thou livest, and thou art dead.”—Rev.
iii. 1.
There are five hundred millions of nominal Christians. The
state of the majority is unspeakably awful. Formality, worldliness,
ungodliness, rejection of Christ’s service, ignorance, and
indifference—to what an extent does all this prevail. We pray for
the heathen—oh! do let us pray for those bearing Christ’s name,
many in worse than heathen darkness.
Does not one feel as if one ought to begin to give up his life,
and to cry day and night to God for souls! In answer to prayer
God gives the power of the Holy Ghost.
HOW TO PRAY.—
“My soul is silent unto God: from Him cometh my salvation.”—Ps.
lxii. 1.
Prayer has its power in God alone. The nearer a man comes to
God Himself, the deeper he enters into God’s will; the more he
takes hold of God, the more power in prayer.
God must reveal Himself. If it please Him to make Himself
known, He can make the heart conscious of His presence. Our
posture must be that of holy reverence, of quiet waiting and
adoration.
As your month of intercession passes on, and you feel the
greatness of your work, be still before God. Thus you will get
power to pray.
SPECIAL PETITIONS
[p225] Twentieth Day
WHAT TO PRAY.—
“Behold, these shall come from far; and these from the
land of Sinim.”—Isa. xlix. 12.
“Princes shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia shall haste
to stretch out her hands to God.”—Ps. lxviii. 31.
“I the Lord will hasten it in His time.”—Isa. lx. 22.
Pray for the heathen, who are yet without the word. Think
of China, with her three hundred millions—a million a month
dying without Christ. Think of Dark Africa, with its two hundred
millions. Think of thirty millions a year going down into the
thick darkness. If Christ gave His life for them, will you not do
so? You can give yourself up to intercede for them. Just begin,
if you have never yet begun, with this simple monthly school of
intercession. The ten minutes you give will make you feel this is
not enough. God’s Spirit will draw you on. Persevere, however
feeble you are. Ask God to give you some country or tribe to
pray for. Can anything be nobler than to do as Christ did? Give
your life for the heathen.
HOW TO PRAY.—
“Call unto Me, and I will answer thee, and will shew thee
great things and difficult, which thou knowest not.”—Jer.
xxxiii. 3.
“Thus saith the Lord God: I will yet be inquired of, that I
do it.”—Ezek. xxxvi. 37.
Both texts refer to promises definitely made, but their fulfilment
would depend upon prayer: God would be inquired of to do it.
Pray for God’s fulfilment of His promises to His Son and His
Church, and expect the answer. Plead for the heathen: plead
God’s Promises.
SPECIAL PETITIONS
[p226] Twenty-First Day
WHAT TO PRAY.—
“I will pour out upon the house of David, and the inhabitants
of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and Supplication; and
they shall look unto Me whom they pierced.”—Zech. xii. 10.
“Brethren, my heart’s desire and my supplication to God is
for them, that they may be saved.”—Rom. x. 1.
Pray for the Jews. Their return to the God of their fathers
stands connected, in a way we cannot tell, with wonderful blessing
to the Church, and with the coming of our Lord Jesus. Let us not
think that God has foreordained all this, and that we cannot
hasten it. In a divine and mysterious way God has connected His
fulfilment of His promise with our prayer. His Spirit’s intercession
in us is God’s forerunner of blessing. Pray for Israel and
the work done among them. And pray too: Amen. Even so,
come, Lord Jesus!
HOW TO PRAY.—
“We know not how to pray as we ought; but the Spirit Himself
maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be
uttered.”—Rom. viii. 26.
In your ignorance and feebleness believe in the secret indwelling
and intercession of the Holy Spirit within you. Yield yourself to
His life and leading habitually. He will help your infirmities in
prayer. Plead the promises of God even where you do not see
how they are to be fulfilled. God knows the mind of the Spirit,
because He maketh intercession for the saints according to the will
of God. Pray with the simplicity of a little child; pray with the
holy awe and reverence of one in whom God’s Spirit dwells and
prays.
SPECIAL PETITIONS
[p227] Twenty-second Day
WHAT TO PRAY.—
“Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them;
them that are evil entreated, as being yourselves in the body.”—Heb.
xiii. 3.
What a world of suffering we live in! How Jesus sacrificed all
and identified Himself with it! Let us in our measure do so too.
The persecuted Stundists and Armenians and Jews, the famine-stricken
millions of India, the hidden slavery of Africa, the poverty
and wretchedness of our great cities—and so much more: what
suffering among those who know God and who know Him not.
And then in smaller circles, in ten thousand homes and hearts,
what sorrow. In our own neighbourhood, how many needing
help or comfort. Let us have a heart for, let us think of the
suffering. It will stir us to pray, to work, to hope, to love more.
And in a way and time we know not God will hear our prayer.
HOW TO PRAY.—
“He spake unto them a parable to the end that they ought
always to pray, and not to faint.”—Luke xviii. 1.
Do you not begin to feel prayer is really the help for this
sinful world? What a need there is of unceasing prayer? The very
greatness of the task makes us despair! What can our ten
minutes of intercession avail? It is right we feel this: this is the
way in which God is calling and preparing us to give our life to
prayer. Give yourself wholly to God for men, and amid all your
work, your heart will be drawn out to men in love, and drawn up
to God in dependence and expectation. To a heart thus led by
the Holy Spirit, it is possible to pray always and not to faint.
SPECIAL PETITIONS
[p228] Twenty-Third Day
WHAT TO PRAY.—
“I labour, striving according to His working, which
worketh in me mightily.”—Col. i. 29.
You have your own special work; make it a work of intercession.
Paul laboured, striving according to the working of God
in him. Remember, God is not only the Creator, but the Great
Workman, who worketh all in all. You can only do your work in
His strength, by Him working in you through the Spirit. Intercede
much for those among whom you work, till God gives you
life for them.
Let us all intercede too for each other, for every worker throughout
God’s Church, however solitary or unknown.
HOW TO PRAY.—
“Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you.”—Jas.
iv. 8.
The nearness of God gives rest and power in prayer. The nearness
of God is given to him who makes it his first object. “Draw
nigh to God”; seek the nearness to Him, and He will give it;
“He will draw nigh to you.” Then it becomes easy to pray in
faith.
Remember that when first God takes you into the school of
intercession it is almost more for your own sake than that of
others. You have to be trained to love, and wait, and pray, and
believe. Only persevere. Learn to set yourself in His presence,
to wait quietly for the assurance that He draws nigh. Enter
His holy presence, tarry there, and spread your work before Him.
Intercede for the souls you are working among. Get a blessing
from God, His Spirit into your own heart, for them.
SPECIAL PETITIONS
[p229] Twenty-Fourth Day
WHAT TO PRAY.—
“Beginning at Jerusalem.”—Luke xxiv. 47.
Each one of us is connected with some congregation or circle of
believers, who are to us the part of Christ’s body with which we
come into most direct contact. They have a special claim on our
intercession. Let it be a settled matter between God and you that
you are to labour in prayer on its behalf. Pray for the minister
and all leaders or workers in it. Pray for the believers according
to their needs. Pray for conversions. Pray for the power of the
Spirit to manifest itself. Band yourself with others to join in
secret in definite petitions. Let intercession be a definite work,
carried on as systematically as preaching or Sunday school. And
pray, expecting an answer.
HOW TO PRAY.—
“Watchmen, that shall never hold their peace day nor
night.”—Isa. lxii. 6.
“His own elect, that cry to Him day and night.”—Luke
xviii. 7.
“Night and day praying exceedingly, that we may perfect
that which is lacking in your faith.”—1 Thess. iii. 10.
“A widow indeed, hath her hope set in God, and continueth
in supplications night and day.”—1 Tim. v. 5.
When the glory of God, and the love of Christ, and the need of
souls are revealed to us, the fire of this unceasing intercession will
begin to burn in us for those who are near and those who are far
off.
SPECIAL PETITIONS
[p230] Twenty-Fifth Day
WHAT TO PRAY.—
“He is able to save completely, seeing He ever liveth to make
intercession.”—Heb. vii. 25.
“We will give ourselves continually to prayer and the
ministry of the word.... And the word of God increased;
and the number of the disciples multiplied exceedingly.”—Acts
vi. 4, 7.
Christ’s power to save, and save completely, depends on His
unceasing intercession. The apostles withdrawing themselves
from other work to give themselves continually to prayer was
followed by the number of the disciples multiplying exceedingly.
As we, in our day, give ourselves to intercession, we shall have
more and mightier conversions. Let us plead for this. Christ
is exalted to give repentance. The Church exists with the Divine
purpose and promise of having conversions. Let us not be
ashamed to confess our sin and feebleness, and cry to God for
more conversions in Christian and heathen lands, of those too
whom you know and love. Plead for the salvation of sinners.
HOW TO PRAY.—
“Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs.... O
woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt.”—Matt.
xv. 27, 28.
You feel unworthy and unable to pray aright. To accept this
heartily, and to be content still to come and be blest in your
unworthiness, is true humility. It proves its integrity by not
seeking for anything, but simply trusting His grace. And so it is
the very strength of a great faith, and gets a full answer. “Yet
the dogs”—let that be your plea as you persevere for someone
possibly possessed of the devil. Let not your littleness hinder
you for a moment.
SPECIAL PETITIONS
[p231] Twenty-Sixth Day
WHAT TO PRAY.—
“Peter and John prayed for them, that they might receive
the Holy Ghost; for as yet He was fallen upon none of them:
only they had been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.”—Acts
viii. 15, 16.
“Now He which establisheth us with you in Christ, and
anointed us, is God; who also gave us the earnest of the Spirit
in our hearts.”—2 Cor. i. 21, 22.
How many new converts who remain feeble; how many who
fall into sin; how many who backslide entirely. If we pray for
the Church, its growth in holiness and devotion to God’s service,
pray specially for the young converts. How many stand alone,
surrounded by temptation; how many have no teaching on the
Spirit in them, and the power of God to establish them; how
many in heathen lands, surrounded by Satan’s power. If you
pray for the power of the Spirit in the Church, pray specially that
every young convert may know that he may claim and receive the
fulness of the Spirit.
HOW TO PRAY.—
“As for me, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in
ceasing to pray for you.”—1 Sam. xii. 23.
It is sin against the Lord to cease praying for others. When
once we begin to see how absolutely indispensable intercession is,
just as much a duty as loving God or believing in Christ, and how
we are called and bound to it as believers, we shall feel that to
cease intercession is grievous sin. Let us ask for grace to take up
our place as priests with joy, and give our life to bring down
the blessing of heaven.
SPECIAL PETITIONS
[p232] Twenty-Seventh Day
WHAT TO PRAY.—
“I will bless thee; and be thou a blessing: in thee shall all
the families of the earth be blessed.”—Gen. xii. 2, 3.
“God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause His face
to shine upon us. That Thy way may be known upon earth,
Thy saving health among all nations.”—Ps. lxvii. 1, 2.
Abraham was only blessed that he might be a blessing to all
the earth. Israel prays for blessing, that God may be known
among all nations. Every believer, just as much as Abraham, is
only blessed that he may carry God’s blessing to the world.
Cry to God that His people may know this, that every believer
is only to live for the interests of God and His kingdom. If this
truth were preached and believed and practised, what a revolution
it would bring in our mission work. What a host of willing
intercessors we should have. Plead with God to work it by the
Holy Spirit.
HOW TO PRAY.—
“Peter said, What I have, I give unto thee.... The
Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning....
God gave them the like gift, as He gave unto us.”—Acts iii. 6,
xi. 15, 17.
As you pray for this great blessing on God’s people, the Holy
Spirit taking entire possession of them for God’s service, yield
yourself to God, and claim the gift anew in faith. Let each
thought of feebleness or shortcoming only make you the more
urgent in prayer for others; as the blessing comes to them, you
too will be helped. With every prayer for conversions or mission
work, pray that God’s people may know how wholly they belong
to Him.
SPECIAL PETITIONS
[p233] Twenty-Eighth Day
WHAT TO PRAY.—
“The Spirit of truth, whom the world knoweth not; but
ye know Him; for He abideth with you, and shall be in you.”—John
xiv. 17.
“Know ye not that your body is a temple of the Holy Ghost?”—1 Cor.
vi. 19.
The Holy Spirit is the power of God for the salvation of men.
He only works as He dwells in the Church. He is given to enable
believers to live wholly as God would have them live, in the full
experience and witness of Him who saves completely. Pray God
that every one of His people may know the Holy Spirit!—That
He, in all His fulness, is given to them! that they cannot expect
to live as their Father would have, without having Him in His
fulness, without being filled with Him! Pray that all God’s
people, even away in churches gathered out of heathendom, may
learn to say: I believe in the Holy Ghost.
HOW TO PRAY.—
“Epaphras, who is one of you, saluteth you, always labouring
fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and
complete in all the will of God.”—Col. iv. 12.
To a healthy man labour is a delight; in what interests him he
labours fervently. The believer who is in full health, whose heart
is filled with God’s Spirit, labours fervently in prayer. For what?
That his brethren may stand perfect and complete in all the will
of God; that they may know what God wills for them, how He
calls them to live, and be led and walk by the Holy Ghost. Labour
fervently in prayer that all God’s children may know this, as
possible, as divinely sure.
SPECIAL PETITIONS
[p234] Twenty-Ninth Day
WHAT TO PRAY.—
“I chose you, and appointed you, that ye should go and bear
fruit; that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in My name,
He may give it you.”—John xv. 16.
“Hitherto ye have asked nothing in My name. In that day ye
shall ask in My name.”—John xvi. 24, 26.
Has not our school of intercession taught us how little we have
prayed in the name of Jesus? He promised His disciples: In that
day, when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, ye shall ask in My name.
Are there not tens of thousands with us mourning the lack of the
power of intercession? Let our intercession to-day be for them and
all God’s children, that Christ may teach us that the Holy Spirit
is in us; and what it is to live in His fulness, and to yield ourselves
to His intercession work within us. The Church and the world
need nothing so much as a mighty Spirit of Intercession to bring
down the power of God on earth. Pray for the descent from
heaven of the Spirit of Intercession for a great prayer revival.
HOW TO PRAY.—
“If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatsoever
ye will, and it shall be done to you.”—John xv. 7.
Our acceptance with God, our access to Him, is all in Christ. As
we consciously abide in Him we have the liberty, not a liberty to
our old nature or our self-will, but the Divine liberty from all self-will,
to ask what we will, in the power of the new nature, and it
shall be done. Let us keep this place, and believe even now that
our intercession is heard, and that the Spirit of Supplication will
be given all around us.
SPECIAL PETITIONS
[p235] Thirtieth Day
WHAT TO PRAY.—
“Our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in
power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance.”—1
Thess. i. 5.
“Those who preached unto you the gospel with the Holy Ghost
sent forth from heaven.”—1 Pet. i. 12.
What numbers of Bibles are being circulated. What numbers of
sermons on the Bible are being preached. What numbers of Bibles
are being read in home and school. How little blessing when it
comes “in word” only; what Divine blessing and power when it
comes “in the Holy Ghost,” when it is preached “with the Holy
Ghost sent forth from heaven.” Pray for Bible circulation, and
preaching and teaching and reading, that it may all be in the Holy
Ghost, with much prayer. Pray for the power of the Spirit with the
word in your own neighbourhood, wherever it is being read or heard.
Let every mention of “The Word of God” waken intercession.
HOW TO PRAY.—
“Continue steadfastly in prayer, watching therein with
thanksgiving; withal praying for us also, that God may open
for us a door for the word.”—Col. iv. 2, 3.
Do you not see how all depends upon God and prayer? As long
as He lives and loves, and hears and works, as long as there are
souls with hearts closed to the word, as long as there is work to be
done in carrying the word—Pray without ceasing. Continue
steadfastly in prayer, watching therein with thanksgiving.
These words are for every Christian.
SPECIAL PETITIONS
[p236] Thirty-First Day
WHAT TO PRAY.—
“I am the Vine, ye are the branches.”—John xv. 5.
“That ye should do as I have done to you.”—John xiii. 15.
As branches we are to be so like the Vine, so entirely identified
with it, that all may see that we have the same nature, and life,
and spirit. When we pray for the Spirit, let us not only think of
a Spirit of power, but the very disposition and temper of Christ
Jesus. Ask and expect nothing less: for yourself, and all God’s
children, cry for it.
HOW TO PRAY.—
“That ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for
me.”—Rom. xv. 30.
“I would ye knew what great conflict I have for you.”—Col.
ii. 1.
All the powers of evil seek to hinder us in prayer. Prayer is a
conflict with opposing forces. It needs the whole heart and all
our strength. May God give us grace to strive in prayer till we
prevail.
SPECIAL PETITIONS
Transcriber’s Notes
Minor errors and inconsistencies in punctuation and hyphenation have
been silently corrected.
On page , the heading “What the Health that Jesus Offers.”
is as in the original text.
As explained in the section on ,
on each daily page in the tract “Pray Without Ceasing”,
several lines are ruled to leave room for “SPECIAL PETITIONS”.
These are hidden on screen in this version, but can be displayed by
following the instructions in the file header.
The ruled lines will be displayed if the text is printed.
