CHAPTER I

PRAYER IN THE LIFE AND WRITINGS OF

PAUL

IN HIS LIFE

PAUL, who was Christ's chief interpreter, and who reflected in his life the spirit of primitive Christianity, puts a high value upon prayer. His soul was steeped in prayer. All his labors were begun, continued, and ended in prayer. He prayed “day and night exceedingly." Behind his life of abounding service and sacrifice, and accounting for it was his hidden life of prayer.

When he met the Lord in the way to Damascus, and bowed before him in complete surrender, it was said in evidence of his conversion, "Behold, he prayeth" (Acts 9. 11). His Christian life was begun with prayer. The first pulse-beat of his new-born soul was a response to God; its first cry was a cry to God. Young Saul had often prayed before this; now he prayed in a new and deeper sense. He prayed as only a Christian can pray. Until Christ's love touched him, and opened up the fountain of the great deep within him, he did not know what true prayer was. From that time a new life of prayer began to develop, which went on deepening and widening until the end, fructifying his own experience, and making glad the waste places of human life.

When Paul was thrust into the inner prison at

Philippi for preaching "concerning the Way" he did not spend his time bewailing his hard lot, or fulminating against the Roman authorities, but in prayer and "singing hymns unto God" (Acts 16. 25). With his back lacerated by cruel scourgings, his feet fast in the stocks, and his ears assaulted by the ribald jests and taunts of the outcasts by whom he was surrounded, he rendered unabashed testimony to the comforting and upholding grace of Christ by lifting up his voice in prayer and praise. An earthquake interrupted these exercises, shaking the prison house to its foundations. Following the earthquake was a revival meeting, at which the jailer and his household were converted. Thus the prison by being made a place of prayer became a place of salvation.

In his defense before the Roman officer on the occasion of his arrest at Jerusalem, he tells that as he "prayed in the temple" (Acts 22. 17); literally, as he "was holding a colloquy with God," he fell into a trance, or state of spiritual ecstasy, in which he saw a vision of his risen Lord, and heard him say: "Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem; because they will not receive of thee testimony concerning me. Depart, for I will send thee hence unto the Gentiles." This was his apostolic commission, and it was received as he was praying. Prayer released him from his bondage to the senses, brought him into direct contact with his unseen Lord, making him sensitive to his touch and responsive to his call.

When Christianity burst its Judaistic bonds and entered upon the work of a world-wide conquest, the church at Antioch became the center of the new missionary propaganda. Deliberating as to what agencies should be adopted, "as they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, "Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away" (Acts 13. 2, 3). To the divine commission which Paul had already inwardly received was now added the ordination of the church, in which act fraternal confidence was expressed, and in connection with which prayer for equipment in service was offered. In the spirit and power of prayer these first missionary projects were conceived and carried out.

In his Epistle to the Romans Paul had expressed a strong desire to visit the imperial city. He had said, "God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you, always in my prayers; making request, if by any means now at length I may have a prosperous journey, by the will of God to come unto you" (Rom. 1. 9, 10). In the Acts of the Apostles, Luke records the answer to that prayer. But how different was the way in which it was fulfilled from that which Paul had expected! Having appealed to Cæsar, he went to Rome as a prisoner to plead his case; and there he abode two whole years before receiving audience of the em

peror, welcoming "all that went in unto him, preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching the things concerning the Lord Jesus Christ" (Acts 28. 30, 31).

His Romeward journey was marked with prayer. Coming to Miletus, he sent for the elders of the church of Ephesus, and after giving them tender counsel regarding the watch-care which they ought to exercise over "the church of the Lord, which he purchased with his own blood," "he kneeled down and prayed with them all" (Acts 20. 36). Later on, when he landed at Tyre, he gathered the disciples together, and as he departed, says the chronicler, "Kneeling down on the beach, we prayed, and bade each other farewell" (Acts 21. 4, 5). In this incidental way we see what a large place the ministry of prayer had in Paul's missionary labors. Still later, when "drifting through the sea of Adria” in a leaky ship, while the heathen sailors were vainly struggling to repair the damage which the storm had wrought, Paul was upon his knees praying for the safety of those who sailed with him; and having received assurance that his prayer had been answered, he gathered the crew and the passengers together and exhorted them to be of good cheer, because their lives would be spared, even as the Lord had spoken unto him (see Acts 27. 25). What a blessing unspeakable to have on board a sinking ship a man of God who coming from the secret place of divine communion can speak with unfaltering assurance of the purpose of God's merciful will. No sooner had the ship gone to pieces on the island

of Mileta than another opportunity came for the ministry of prayer. Publius, the father of the governor, lay seriously sick, and Paul entering in after the manner of the Master, "prayed, and laying his hands on him healed him" (Acts 28. 8), thereby testifying to the grace and power of the Lord whom he served, and incidently securing for his companions in distress many substantial favors. And so through all the details of his life, from his conversion to his martyrdom, the golden thread of prayer was interwoven.

PRAYER IN PAUL'S WRITINGS

1. Individualizing in Prayer.

"God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers" (Rom.

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9). We "do not cease to pray and make request for you, that ye may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding" (Col. 1. 9). "And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and all discernment (Phil. 1. 9). "We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers" (1 Thess. 1. 2).

Paul had a long prayer list. To be a friend of his was to be made a subject of his prayers. He left no one out. He prayed for them one by one; and he doubtless prayed for them frequently by

name.

Many prayers are too vague and indefinite. They