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How wonderful the link between our prayers and Christs glorifying the Father in heaven. Much prayer on earth brings Him much glory in heaven. Much prayer on earth far as we are concerned, little glory to the Father. What an incentive to much prayer, to unceasing intercession. Our prayer is indispensable to the glorifying of the Father.So deep was the desire of Christ in the last night that His disciples should learn to believe in the power of His Name, and to avail themselves of His promise of a sure and abundant answer, that we find the promise repeated seven times over. He knew how slow men are to believe in the wonderful promise of answer to prayer in His name. He longs to rouse a large and confident faith, and to free our prayer from every shadow of a doubt, and to teach us to look upon intercession as the most certain and most blessed way of bringing glory to God, joy to our own souls, and blessing to the perishing world around us.
And if the thought comes to us that such prayer is not easy of attainment, we only need to remember what Christ told them. It was when the Holy Spirit came that they would have power thus to pray. It is to draw us on to yield ourselves fully to the control of the blessed Spirit that He holds out to us the precious promise, "Ask and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full." As we believe in the power of the Spirit working in us in full measure, intercession will become to us the joy and the strength of all our service.
When Paul wrote (Col iii. 17), "Whatsoever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus," he reminds us how in daily life everything is to bear the signature of the name of Jesus. It is as we learn to do this, that we shall have the con¬fidence to say to the Father that as we live in that Name before men we come to Him with the full confidence that our prayer in that name will be answered. The life in intercourse with men is to be one with the life in intercourse with God. It is when the name of Jesus rules all in our life that it will give power to our prayer too.
This was for Cyrus; but it is evermore the heritage of all the LORDs own spiritual servants. Only let us go forward by faith, and our way will be cleared for us. Crooks and turns of human craft and satanic subtlety shall be straightened for us; we shall not need to track their devious windings. The gates of brass shall be broken, and the iron bars which fastened them shall be cut asunder. We shall not need the battering ram nor the crowbar: the LORD Himself will do the impossible for us, and the unexpected shall be a fact.
When we give our hearts with our alms, we give well, but we must often plead to a failure in this respect. Not so our Master and our Lord. His favours are always performed with the love of his heart. He does not send to us the cold meat and the broken pieces from the table of his luxury, but he dips our morsel in his own dish, and seasons our provisions with the spices of his fragrant affections. When he puts the golden tokens of his grace into our palms, he accompanies the gift with such a warm pressure of our hand, that the manner of his giving is as precious as the boon itself. He will come into our houses upon his errands of kindness, and he will not act as some austere visitors do in the poor mans cottage, but he sits by our side, not despising our poverty, nor blaming our weakness. Beloved, with what smiles does he speak! What golden sentences drop from his gracious lips! What embraces of affection does he bestow upon us! If he had but given us farthings, the way of his giving would have gilded them; but as it is, the costly alms are set in a golden basket by his pleasant carriage. It is impossible to doubt the sincerity of his charity, for there is a bleeding heart stamped upon the face of all his benefactions. He giveth liberally and upbraideth not. Not one hint that we are burdensome to him; not one cold look for his poor pensioners; but he rejoices in his mercy, and presses us to his bosom while he is pouring out his life for us. There is a fragrance in his spikenard which nothing but his heart could produce; there is a sweetness in his honey-comb which could not be in it unless the very essence of his souls affection had been mingled with it. Oh! the rare communion which such singular heartiness effecteth! May we continually taste and know the blessedness of it!
Our heavenly Father often draws us with the cords of love; but ah! how backward we are to run towards him! How slowly do we respond to his gentle impulses! He draws us to exercise a more simple faith in him; but we have not yet attained to Abrahams confidence; we do not leave our worldly cares with God, but, like Martha, we cumber ourselves with much serving. Our meagre faith brings leanness into our souls; we do not open our mouths wide, though God has promised to fill them. Does he not this evening draw us to trust him? Can we not hear him say, “Come, my child, and trust me. The veil is rent; enter into my presence, and approach boldly to the throne of my grace. I am worthy of thy fullest confidence, cast thy cares on me. Shake thyself from the dust of thy cares, and put on thy beautiful garments of joy.” But, alas! though called with tones of love to the blessed exercise of this comforting grace, we will not come. At another time he draws us to closer communion with himself. We have been sitting on the doorstep of Gods house, and he bids us advance into the banqueting hall and sup with him, but we decline the honour. There are secret rooms not yet opened to us; Jesus invites us to enter them, but we hold back. Shame on our cold hearts! We are but poor lovers of our sweet Lord Jesus, not fit to be his servants, much less to be his brides, and yet he hath exalted us to be bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh, married to him by a glorious marriage-covenant. Herein is love! But it is love which takes no denial. If we obey not the gentle drawings of his love, he will send affliction to drive us into closer intimacy with himself. Have us nearer he will. What foolish children we are to refuse those bands of love, and so bring upon our backs that scourge of small cords, which Jesus knows how to use!
God takes a thousand times more pains with us than the artist with his picture, by many touches of sorrow, and by many colors of circumstance, to bring us into the form which is the highest and noblest in His sight, if only we receive His gifts of myrrh in the right spirit.
The hope of the gospel is that we become sons of the Father. With this in view, we need to consider that the Father chastens every son whom He receives, ‘For what son is there whom his father does not discipline’. Hence, Jesus forewarned the disciples that many trials awaited them.
At the Last Supper, Jesus told His disciples that they must eat His flesh and drink His blood in order to have His life. In His fervent prayer at Gethsemane, Jesus defined ‘the cup’ as His sufferings. Although we must all partake of the cup of His sufferings, it is only the measure that He apportions to us. In Gethsemane, Jesus did not require His disciples to join Him in the fullness of His agonising struggle. He left them in a ‘clean place’ to wait, to watch and pray. Nevertheless, they found this level of participation difficult and they fell asleep from sorrow. Jesus went a ‘stone’s throw’ further. To the Jews, the casting of stones was symbolic of judgement. In this place of cursing, Jesus became sin for us and was judged and condemned on our behalf.
By His priestly work, our judgement has been commuted to chastisement. We participate with Him, but our sufferings are no longer punitive. They are not the result of punishment. Our sufferings bring us into the fellowship of His sufferings. They are life-giving, and by them we cease from sin. And more so, our sufferings allow us to participate with Christ in His offering, and therefore the giving of His life. Paul described chastening as painful at the time but of great value afterwards when it yields the peaceable fruits of righteousness. The disciples were being trained by their suffering. God the Father was dealing with them as sons just as a natural father trains and disciplines his children.
Jesus is our great High Priest and He is able to save forever those who draw near to God. He is forever living to make intercession for us. The great prophet Elijah was a man with a nature like ours and the Lord withheld the rain for three and half years on account of his prayer. This kind of determined prayer is intercession. In this way, we pray for one another. And we pray for those we know so that the will of God might be done in their lives. The effective and fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
Paul asked all of the churches to pray for him and those with him. He asked the Thessalonians to pray that the word of the Lord would spread
rapidly and be glorified. ‘Pray without ceasing’, he said. Pray that God will
open to us a door for the word that we may speak forth the mystery. Paul committed this mandate to all the churches so that the word would grow and multiply. When we meet for prayer, we must do likewise. We must pray for one another and pray for our churches.
Concerning all of the disciples, Paul said, ‘We have not ceased to pray for
you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will’. Paul
was a father indeed. His preoccupation was the well-being of sons. He prayed that the eyes of our heart might be enlightened so that we might know the hope of our calling. And again, he prayed that we might be made
complete. Our prayer is often simple but never superficial. We pray for
ourselves but we must not be self-centred. In praying for others, we bless them by praying that they will be counted worthy of their calling.
Concerning his own work, Paul spoke of himself as a preacher and a teacher. And from this work, Paul brought forth great fruit in the lives of Apollos, Priscilla and Aquila. It is apparent that the beginning of the work of the gospel is in a praying and worshipping house. Mary and Lydia are nominated in this way. However, it is not until the teaching brethren are effective that the church is established. There are a number of disciples that are referred to with the church in their house. Paul spoke of Nympha, in the city of Laodicea, and the church that was in her house. Philemon was referred to as a beloved brother and fellow worker. Paul wrote to him and to the church in his house. On two occasions, Paul referred to Priscilla and Aquila and the church that was in their house. It appears that their worthy house was the centre of the work in Ephesus. We know that after travelling some time with Paul, they stayed in Ephesus. In his letter to the Romans, Paul spoke of them as ‘my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, who for my life risked their own necks, to whom not only do I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles’. It was in Ephesus that Priscilla and Aquila found Apollos. This man was mighty in the Scriptures. Nevertheless, they instructed him in a more excellent way. They were evidently teachers. As tent makers, Priscilla and Aquila travelled with Paul and participated in a fellowship of offering. Like Paul, they did not receive any remuneration for their preaching of the gospel. They laboured without charge.
Offering is the fear of God because it is our expression of fellowship and the beginning of worship and full appreciation. Offering and appreciation are essential for fellowship. If we are going to have fellowship with the Father and the Son, we will have to have the fear of God. The concept of fellowship without the fear of God, in a love-slave, is not fellowship at all. Appreciation in the fear of God is the evidence that one believes and has become a son who obeys. The one who fears, appreciates, believes, and offers himself is a love-slave. This is the foundation of our fellowship. When Abraham believed God and did God’s works of righteousness, it was reckoned to him as righteousness and he was accepted. Abraham, our father, was justified by these righteous works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar. According to James, faith was working with his works. And as a result, his works of faith were perfected. The Scripture was fulfilled. Abraham was called, ‘The friend of God’. He was a God-fearer, love-slave and ‘the friend of God’. Abraham was in fellowship with the Lord, and his worshipful appreciation was expressed in his offering, by which it was known that he was living in the fear of God. This is true fellowship. The one who fears, who appreciates and believes, offers Himself as a love-slave. When Abraham believed God and did God’s works of righteousness, they were accredited to him as the righteousness of faith. They were accredited to him because he was doing God’s works of righteousness as an involuntary slave. Therefore, the Lord set him free to his own name as a son by accrediting to him the works that he did as a slave. They were now his works.
