Continuing our look into Edward’s sermon, Hypocrites Deficient in the Duty of Prayer, it is worth noting Edwards’ view of prayer: “The true spirit of prayer is no other than God’s own Spirit dwelling in the hearts of the saints. And as this spirit comes from God, so doth it naturally tend to God in holy breathings and pantings.   It naturally leads to God, to converse with him by prayer.” 

Therefore, for a professing Christian not to engage in prayer would require God’s Spirit, which dwells in the hearts of believers, to not tend toward God. And for Edwards (and the apostles and Church fathers) this could not be. A prayer-less life is not a failure of God’s Spirit; it’s simply evidence of someone not having God’s Spirit dwelling within them in the first place.

God calls us to persevere in prayer. The prophet Isaiah encouraged and exhorted Jerusalem to persist in prayer:

You who make mention of the LORD, do not keep silent,
And give Him no rest till He establishes
And till He makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth. Isaiah 62.6,7

Isaiah also chided them for their deficiency in prayers:

But you have not called upon Me, O Jacob;
And you have been weary of Me, O Israel. Isaiah 43.22 

Both Christ (see Luke 18 and the parable of the persistent widow, and Luke 21 where Jesus admonishes the disciples to stay awake at all times praying) and Paul (Col 4.2 and I Thess. 5.17, where Paul exhorts us to pray continually and without ceasing) continue this theme.     

The call to prayer, to consistent, persistent prayer, was championed by Jesus, the prophets, the Apostles, and the pillars of the Church. Any voice that encourages men to complacency in prayer, or that does not stir them up to seek the Lord as He calls us to do (Jer. 33.3) is thus not a voice to be heeded.

The prophets of our comfortable age might not want to “trouble” us to seek the true Spirit of prayer. But let us not succumb to the prophets of our age who lure us with a cheap but empty grace that is devoid of the vibrancy and fullness of a Spirit-led life, and diametrically opposed to our rich Christian heritage.  

Ralph Lehman, Men’s Prayer Coordinator
T. M. Moore, Principal

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.