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In our text, watching unto prayer and fervent love are closely linked. This is true, too, in the spiritual life. The man who prays only for himself will not find it easy to be in the right attitude towards God. But where the heart is filled with fervent love to others, prayer will continually rise to God for those whom we love, and even for those with whom we do not agree.There would be a great defect in this little book on brotherly love if we neglected to indicate what an important place prayer holds in the life of love. These two fruits of the Spirit are inseparably connected. If you wish your love to grow and increase, forget yourself, and pray, pray earnestly, for Gods children and His Church. And if you would increase in prayerfulness, give yourself in fervent love to the service of those around you, helping to bear their burdens.
What a great need there is, at this time, of earnest, powerful intercessors! Let those who complain that there is so little love among Christians, acknowledge that one of the chief signs of love is lacking in themselves, if they do not pray much and often for their brethren. I am deeply convinced that God desires His children, as members of one body, to present themselves each day before the Throne of grace to pray down the power of the Spirit upon all believers. Union is strength. This is true in regard to the Kingdom of Heaven. Real spiritual unity will help us to forget ourselves, to live unselfishly, wholly for God and our fellow-men. And the word of Peter will be applied to our lives— "watching in prayer—fervent in love."
There can be no surer way of growing in the spirit of love than by uniting daily at the Throne of grace, and finding our joy and life in the oneness of Spirit with the whole Body of Christ.
Let this little book on love be also a book on prayer. As we meditate on love to the brethren, we shall be constrained to have fellowship with God. And we shall attain this, not by reading or thinking, but by intercourse with the Father, and with the Lord Jesus through the Holy Ghost. Love impels to prayer; to believing prayer is vouchsafed the love of God.
The sifting process is going on still. Wherever we go, we are still being winnowed and sifted. In all countries Gods people are being tried "like as corn is sifted in a sieve." Sometimes the devil holds the sieve and tosses us up and down at a great rate, with the earnest desire to get rid of us forever. Unbelief is not slow to agitate our heart and mind with its restless fears. The world lends a willing hand at the same process and shakes us to the right and to the left with great vigor. Worst of all, the church, so largely apostate as it is, comes in to give a more furious force to the sifting process.
What a state of privilege! It includes our justification before God, but the term “acceptance” in the Greek means more than that. It signifies that we are the objects of divine complacence, nay, even of divine delight. How marvellous that we, worms, mortals, sinners, should be the objects of divine love! But it is only “in the beloved.” Some Christians seem to be accepted in their own experience, at least, that is their apprehension. When their spirit is lively, and their hopes bright, they think God accepts them, for they feel so high, so heavenly-minded, so drawn above the earth! But when their souls cleave to the dust, they are the victims of the fear that they are no longer accepted. If they could but see that all their high joys do not exalt them, and all their low despondencies do not really depress them in their Fathers sight, but that they stand accepted in One who never alters, in One who is always the beloved of God, always perfect, always without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, how much happier they would be, and how much more they would honour the Saviour! Rejoice then, believer, in this: thou art accepted “in the beloved.” Thou lookest within, and thou sayest, “There is nothing acceptable here!” But look at Christ, and see if there is not everything acceptable there. Thy sins trouble thee; but God has cast thy sins behind his back, and thou art accepted in the Righteous One. Thou hast to fight with corruption, and to wrestle with temptation, but thou art already accepted in him who has overcome the powers of evil. The devil tempts thee; be of good cheer, he cannot destroy thee, for thou art accepted in him who has broken Satans head. Know by full assurance thy glorious standing. Even glorified souls are not more accepted than thou art. They are only accepted in heaven “in the beloved,” and thou art even now accepted in Christ after the same manner.
A certain man had a demoniac son, who was afflicted with a dumb spirit. The father, having seen the futility of the endeavours of the disciples to heal his child, had little or no faith in Christ, and therefore, when he was bidden to bring his son to him, he said to Jesus, “If thou canst do anything, have compassion on us, and help us.” Now there was an “if” in the question, but the poor trembling father had put the “if” in the wrong place: Jesus Christ, therefore, without commanding him to retract the “if,” kindly puts it in its legitimate position. “Nay, verily,” he seemed to say, “there should be no ‘if’ about my power, nor concerning my willingness, the ‘if’ lies somewhere else.” “If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.” The mans trust was strengthened, he offered a humble prayer for an increase of faith, and instantly Jesus spoke the word, and the devil was cast out, with an injunction never to return. There is a lesson here which we need to learn. We, like this man, often see that there is an “if” somewhere, but we are perpetually blundering by putting it in the wrong place. “If” Jesus can help me—“if” he can give me grace to overcome temptation—“if” he can give me pardon—“if” he can make me successful? Nay, “if” you can believe, he both can and will. You have misplaced your “if.” If you can confidently trust, even as all things are possible to Christ, so shall all things be possible to you. Faith standeth in Gods power, and is robed in Gods majesty; it weareth the royal apparel, and rideth on the Kings horse, for it is the grace which the King delighteth to honour. Girding itself with the glorious might of the all-working Spirit, it becomes, in the omnipotence of God, mighty to do, to dare, and to suffer. All things, without limit, are possible to him that believeth. My soul, canst thou believe thy Lord to-night?
Some of us are shivering and wondering why the Holy Spirit does not fill us. We have plenty coming in, but we do not give it out. Give out the blessing that you have, start larger plans for service and blessing, and you will soon find that the Holy Ghost is before you, and He will present you with blessings for service, and give you all that He can trust you to give away to others. 
In this season, we need to change our lifestyles to wait on the Lord, for anointing and for prayer. We read in the Psalms, ‘I waited patiently for the Lord and He inclined to me, and heard my cry. He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay; and He set my feet upon a rock, making my footsteps firm. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God’. Can we change our lifestyle, becoming someone who waits patiently for the Lord? In our frenetic busyness, we may need to think outside the square in identifying times to pray. It is important to continually bring our own needs before the Lord, and more so, to intercede for others.
The great King David said, ‘My steps had almost slipped … until I came into the sanctuary of God’. Are we like Martha, the sister of another Mary, who was busy? Or are we like Mary, who sat and waited at the feet of Jesus, choosing ‘the better portion’? Waiting at the feet of Jesus in the tumult of our season, we anoint the Lord. Not only can we offer incense, but we can become it. We can convert the trial of the pounding and crushing of our lives to sweet incense and let it ascend. This will carry us, and others, into the Most Holy Place.
‘Bless the Lord, all servants of the Lord, who serve by night in the house of the Lord.’ Wait on Him to find renewal of strength, access for petition, and ability to intercede. Bring thanksgiving, and come with ‘all prayer and supplication’. Let your life ascend as sweet incense.
Both Paul and Peter were preoccupied with grace and peace. Almost all of the letters of the New Testament are introduced with the greeting ‘grace and peace’. This grace is from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Sometimes mercy is commended to us also. The grace of Christ gives us
great initiative and motivation to do His will and fulfil our works. This
transcends all circumstance. Paul wrote to the Philippians, ‘It is only right for me to feel this way about you all, because I have you in my heart,
since both in my imprisonment and in the defence and confirmation of
the gospel, you all are partakers of grace with me’. To varying degrees we are all aware of the persecutions and imprisonments of Paul and Peter. These men were completely devoted to deaconing and priesting the gospel wherever they went. It must have been quite frustrating for them to be imprisoned. It would have appeared as though the work of the gospel was thwarted. Nevertheless, in all these circumstances, they most certainly found grace and peace.
‘Peace be with you’, was among the first words of Jesus when He rose from
the dead. During His ministry He said, ‘Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you’. Multiplied grace, even the fullness of grace coming to us, must be accompanied by His peace. Peter said, ‘Grace and peace be multiplied to you’. At this time, we must
draw aside and find the peace that surpasses all knowledge. It will guard
our hearts and minds. Peace is the evidence and indeed the companion of grace. We must allow the peace of God to arbitrate and rule in our thoughts, intentions, and motivations.
In response to Jesus’ girding Himself with a towel to wash the disciples’ feet, Peter said to Him, ‘You shall never wash my feet!’ Jesus answered him, ‘If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me’. What astonishing words! There can be no participation in Him without being washed. The condition of joining Christ is not that we must be clean, first of all, but that we must be washed. We must be ready to be confronted, adjusted, healed, cleansed and ‘completely clean’. What does this confront in us? What did it confront in Peter, who once again emerged at the forefront of the encounter? We, like Peter, have an innate self-belief that we already have the appropriate demeanour. We hope to be found to have what it takes, already. We don’t mind hearing of the promises, the truths previously introduced by John – the messengers’ word, the changing of a name, the feast, the birth from above, the living water, the living bread, the truth, the light and the life. And in our own minds, we are glad to hear the promise, to respond to the promise and to receive the promise! We believe we are ready for full participation. Then the Master says, ‘No! Where I’m going you can’t come yet! You have to be washed first. There is to be a process for dying with Me, to have a part with Me. You will need to join My offering. You will have to journey with Me through the cross, and beyond. Then you can be to one another, in a culture of offering, what I am to you.’
Jesus said, ‘If you continue in My word, you are truly disciples of Mine’. Our continual obedience to the word of the kingdom, the word of truth, and the word of the cross will grant us an effective priesthood so that we can do the works prepared for us. They are setting the foundation of our discipleship so that we follow from a place outside the camp and begin to inherit our sonship. If we take up our cross, that is to say, if we are appropriating the word of the cross, then we truly have an altar and we can make offering. The altar is our corporate fellowship at the communion table where we eat and drink together. In so doing, we are participating in the offering of Christ and we have embraced the fellowship of His sufferings. These first three aspects of the word are transacted outside the camp. However, the fourth aspect of the word, the word of His grace, is appropriated at the altar after we have taken up our cross and followed Him. We may ask the question: where are we following Him? We are following Him to the altar and to the mercy seat and the throne of grace. He is granting us an abundant entry into His everlasting kingdom. This is not simply referring to our inheritance in heaven. It is referring to that place where He is. He has gone within the veil and we are following Him to the throne of grace to find mercy and grace to help in time of need. If we are appropriating the word of the cross, then He is giving us places to walk so that we can effectively follow Him. It is our goal to follow the Lamb wherever He goes.
