How to Pray: The Final Chapter

This is a lengthy portion of the work, as he lists the various hindrances to our prayers. Here goes!

1. (I LOVE this!!) The true purpose in prayer is that God may be glorified in the answer. If we ask any petition merely that we may receive something to use in our pleasures or in our own gratification in one way or another, we "ask amiss" (James 4:3).

Torrey lists a few examples of this, but the most poignant is this: The wife of an unbelieving husband may "pray amiss" that her husband might be saved, for the fear that he "might die and be lost forever." Her true desire should be his salvation because she can't bear the thought that "God the Father should be dishonored by her husband trampling underfoot the Son of God." WOW!! That's radical!

2. Another hindrance to our prayers may be that some sin in the present is cherished, and is very likely not even looked upon as sin. In Torrey's own experience, he remembers confessing, "If this is wrong, I will give it up," when he knew full well that it was wrong. It is no wonder, then, that he received no answer, even though it seemed to him that he must have his request or God would be dishonored. When at last he said, "This is wrong. I have sinned. I will give it up," he found peace, and an assurance of his request having been answered.

For this reason, "anyone who would have power in prayer must be merciless in dealing with his own sins." If there be "any controversy with God," we cannot expect Him to heed our prayers.

3. Perhaps of even more hindrance than this is how idolatrous we so easily become, a point to which Ezekiel 14:3 speaks: "Son of man (speaking to the prophet), these men have taken their idols into their heart, and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their face: should I be inquired of at all by them?" asks the Lord. We all know that idols are not simply of stone or wood, and there certainly are not remnants of the past; nevertheless, we often overlook our own idolatries in this present age, presuming them justified. Ezekiel 14:3 applies as much today as then.

4. Yet another hindrance to our prayers, so often overlooked, is that of a lack of generosity. I'll allow the Word to speak for itself: Luke 6:38 says "Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." Certainly God answers our requests with an eye to those we have answered around us. Again, 1 John 3:21-22: "Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. Consider the context, as it is made in "direct connection with generosity toward the needy." Finally, consider that "my God shall fulfill every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:19). This, too, was made in direct reference to the generosity of the Philippian church.

5. Per Torrey, "When one thinks of the selfishness of the professing church today (circa 1904), how the orthodox churches of this land do not average one dollar per year per member for foreign missions, it is no wonder that the church has so little power in prayer." Can it be that dissimilar in our present day, if not worse?

6. Torrey further states that "an unforgiving spirit is one of the commonest hindrances to prayer," because, whether we like it or not, we get a certain "miserable gratification in hating somebody."

7. "Many a man who makes great pretensions to piety, and is very active in Christian work, but shows little consideration in his treatment of his wife" is hindering his prayers, according to 1 Peter 3:7. The same applies to "many a woman who is very devoted to the church, and very faithful in attendance upon all services, but treats her husband with the most unpardonable neglect, being cross and peevish toward him, and wounding him by the sharpness of her speech and ungovernable temper." Furthermore, "there is much of sin covered up under the holy name of marriage that is a cause of spiritual deadness."

8. The final hindrance listed is that of unbelief. God demands that we believe His Word absolutely. To question it is to make Him a liar. How many prayers are hindered by our wretched unbelief! (And so I find myself)

9. In Torrey's final chapter, he recounts when to pray, drawing from Christ's example.
a. "in the morning" (Mark 1:35) - More can be accomplished in prayer in the first hours of the day than at any other time during the day, so that the first thing we do each day should be to go alone with God and face the duties, the temptations, and the service of that day, and get strength from God for them all.
b. "in the night hours" (Luke 6:12) - In the night hours the world is hushed in slumber, and we can easily be alone with God and have undisturbed communion with Him.
c. "before great crisis" (Luke 3:21-22; 6:12-13; 9:18, 28-29; 22:39-46; mark 1:35-38). He found Himself in many crises, and prayed consistently over them. "He prepared for every important crisis by a protracted season of prayer."
d. "after great achievements and important crises" (Matthew 14:23; John 6:15) - Many and many a man in answer to prayer has been endued with power and thus has wrought great things in the name of the Lord, and when these great things were accomplished, instead of going alone with God and humbling himself before Him and giving Him all the glory for what was achieved, he has congratulated himself upon what has been accomplished, has become puffed up, and God has been obliged to lay him aside." A lot there, but very true.
e. "when life is busy" (Luke 5;15-16) - the more the work crowded, the more He prayed.
f. "before great temptations" (Matthew 26:36) - in Gethsemane, especially. "many of the temptations of life we can see approaching from the distance, and in such cases the victory should be won before the temptation really reaches us."
g. "without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:17; Ephesians 6:18) - "There should be a constant upward looking of the soul to God."