How to Pray

What the Bible Tells Us About Genuine, Effective Prayer

Reuben A. Torrey

• Publisher: Aneko Press
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781622455713
• eBook ISBN: 9781622455720
• Topic: Théologie et religion
• Subtopic: Religion

Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit and watching in this with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints – Ephesians 6: 18Prayer. Satan laughs as he looks at the church today and says to himself, "You can have your Sunday schools and your young people's small groups, your boys' and girls' programs, your vacation Bible schools, your Christian schools, your elegant churches, your retreats, your music programs, your brilliant preachers, and even your revival efforts – as long as you don't bring the power of almighty God into them by earnest, persistent, believing, mighty prayer." It is not necessary that the whole church prays to begin with. Great revivals always begin first in the hearts of a few men and women whom God arouses by His Spirit to believe in Him as a living God, as a God who answers prayer, and upon whose heart He lays a burden from which no rest can be found except in persistent crying unto God. May God use this book to inspire many who are currently prayerless, or nearly so, to pray earnestly. May God stir up your own heart to be one of those burdened to pray, and to pray until God answers.

Chapter 1

The Importance of Prayer

In Ephesians 6:18 we read words that point out the tremendous importance of prayer, with startling and overwhelming force: praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit and watching in this with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.

When we stop to weigh the meaning of these words and take note of the connection in which they are found, the intelligent child of God is driven to say, “I must pray, pray, pray. I must put all my energy and all my heart into prayer. Whatever else I do, I must pray.”

The American Standard Version is, if possible, even more forceful: with all prayer and supplication praying at all seasons in the Spirit, and watching thereunto in all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.

Note the alls: with all prayer, at all seasons, in all perseverance, for all the saints. Note the piling up of strong words: prayer, supplication, perseverance. Note once more the strong expression, watching thereunto, or more literally, “being sleepless thereunto.” Paul realized the natural laziness of man, and especially his natural laziness in prayer. How seldom we pray things through! How often churches and individuals get right up to the verge of a great blessing in prayer and just then let go, get drowsy, and quit. I wish these words, “being sleepless unto prayer,” would burn into our hearts. I wish the whole verse would burn into our hearts.

But why is this constant, persistent, sleepless, overcoming prayer so needful?

First of all, because there is a devil. He is cunning, he is mighty, he never rests, and he is always plotting the downfall of the children of God; and if the children of God relax in prayer, the devil will succeed in ensnaring them.

This is the thought of the context of our passage of Scripture. Ephesians 6:12 says, For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the lords of this age, rulers of this darkness, against spiritual wickedness in the heavens. The next verse states, Therefore, take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day and stand fast, all the work having been finished. Then a description follows of the different parts of the Christian’s armor, which we are to put on if we want to stand against the devil and his powerful schemes. In verse 18, Paul brings it to a culmination, telling us that to everything else we must add prayer – constant, persistent, untiring, sleepless prayer in the Holy Spirit, or else all that we do will be for nothing.

A second reason for this constant, persistent, sleepless, overcoming prayer is that prayer is God’s appointed way for obtaining things, and the main reason for that which we lack in our experience, in our life, and in our work is neglect of prayer.

James brings this out very forcibly in his epistle, where he says that you have not that which ye desire because ye ask not (James 4:2). These words contain the reason for the poverty and powerlessness of the average Christian: neglect of prayer.

“Why is it,” many Christians ask, “that I make so little progress in my Christian life?”

“Neglect of prayer,” God answers. “You have not that which ye desire because ye ask not.”

“Why is it,” many pastors ask, “that I see so little fruit from my labors?”

Again God answers, “Neglect of prayer. You have not that which ye desire because ye ask not.”

“Why is it,” many Sunday school teachers ask, “that I see so few converted in my Sunday school class?”

Still God answers, “Neglect of prayer. You have not that which ye desire because ye ask not.”

“Why is it,” pastors and congregations ask, “that the church of Christ makes so little headway against unbelief, error, sin, and worldliness?”

Once more, we hear God answering, “Neglect of prayer. You have not that which ye desire because ye ask not.”

The third reason for this constant, persistent, sleepless, overcoming prayer is that those men, such as the apostle Paul, whom God set forth as a pattern of what He expected Christians to be, regarded prayer as the most important business of their lives.

When the increasing responsibilities of the early church crowded in upon them, they called the multitude of the disciples unto them and said, It is not right that we should leave the word of God and serve tables; therefore, brethren, seek out among you seven men of whom you bear witness, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. And we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word (Acts 6:2-4).

It is evident from what Paul wrote about praying for churches and individuals that much of his time, strength, and thought were given to prayer (see Romans 1:9; Ephesians 1:15-16; Colossians 1:9; 1 Thessalonians 3:10; 2 Timothy 1:3).

All the mighty men of God outside the Bible have been men of prayer. They have differed from one another in many things, but they have been alike in being men of prayer.

But there is a still weightier reason for this constant, persistent, sleepless, overcoming prayer. It is that prayer occupied a very prominent place and played a very important part in the earthly life of our Lord.

For example, turn to Mark 1:35. We read, And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out and departed into a solitary place and prayed there. The preceding day had been a very busy and exciting one, but Jesus shortened the hours of needed sleep so that He might rise early and give Himself to much greatly needed prayer.

Turn to Luke 6:12, where we read, And it came to pass in those days that he went out into the mountain to pray and continued all night in prayer to God. Our Savior sometimes found it necessary to spend a whole night in prayer.

The words “pray” and “prayer” are used at least twenty-five times in connection with our Lord in the brief record of His life in the four Gospels, and His praying is mentioned in places where those words are not used. Evidently, Jesus spent much of His time and strength in prayer, and a man or woman who does not spend much time in prayer cannot properly be called a follower of Jesus Christ.

There is another reason for constant, persistent, sleepless, overcoming prayer that seems, if possible, even more forceful than the previous reason, namely, that praying is the most important part of the present ministry of our risen Lord.

Christ’s ministry did not close with His death. His atoning work was finished then, but when He arose and ascended to the right hand of the Father, He entered upon other work for us just as important in its place as His atoning work. It cannot be separated from His atoning work. Intercessory prayer, or praying on behalf of others, rests upon His atoning work as its basis, but it is necessary for our complete salvation.

This great present work by which Jesus carries our salvation on to completeness is told about in Hebrews 7:25: Therefore he is able also to save to the uttermost those that come unto God by him, seeing he ever lives to make intercession for them. This verse tells us that Jesus is able to save us to the uttermost – not merely from the uttermost, but to the uttermost. He is able to save us unto entire completeness and absolute perfection, because He not only died, but He also ever lives. The verse also tells us for what purpose He now lives: to make intercession for us – to pray. Praying is the main thing He is doing these days. It is by His prayers that He is saving us.

The same thought is found in Paul’s remarkable, triumphant challenge in Romans 8:34: Who is he that condemns them? Christ, Jesus, is he who died and, even more, he that also rose again, who furthermore is at the right hand of God, who also makes entreaty for us.

If we are to have fellowship with Jesus Christ in His present work, then we must spend much time in prayer. We must give ourselves to earnest, constant, persistent, sleepless, overcoming prayer. I know of nothing that has so much impressed upon me the sense of the importance of praying at all times and being constantly in prayer as the thought that this is the current main business of my risen Lord. I want to have fellowship with Him, and for that reason I have asked the Father that whatever else He may make me, to make me at all times an intercessor – to make me a man who knows how to pray and who spends much time in prayer.

This ministry of intercession is a glorious and mighty ministry, and we can all have a part in it. The man or woman who cannot get to a prayer meeting at church can still have a part in this ministry of intercession. The woman who cleans offices for a living can have a part; she can offer prayers for the saints, for her pastor, for the unsaved, and for foreign missionaries as she cleans. The hardworking businessman can have a part in it, praying as he hurries from duty to duty or from appointment to app...

Table of contents

• Contents
• The Importance of Prayer
• Praying unto God
• Praying and Obeying
• Praying in the Name of Jesus and According to His Will
• Praying in the Spirit
• Always Praying and Not Fainting
• Abiding in Christ
• Praying with Thanksgiving
• Hindrances to Prayer
• When to Pray
• The Need of a General Revival
• The Place of Prayer Before and During Revivals
• R. A. Torrey – A Short Biography
• Other Similar Titles