We know he does not always answer, ‘yes’. He sometimes says, ‘no’, and often he says, ‘wait’; but we must get to the point where we are aware he has heard and answered. The call to prayer is a call to perseverance – Jesus tells us to ‘ask, seek, knock (Matthew 7:7-12)’, to keep on asking (Luke 11:8)… and to not give up (Luke 18:1-8). There are many times when God is asking us to wait, and the temptation for us is to give up.

Dear all at IPC,

I am reading the biography of the 19th Century Scottish Minister Alexander Moody Stuart*. He was part of a golden generation of Scottish Ministers which included Robert Murray McCheyne and the Bonar brothers, that did so much good for the gospel. Moody Stuart gave 3 instructions on prayer which I’ve found helpful:

1.     Pray till you pray
2.     Pray till you are conscious of being heard
3.     Pray till you receive an answer.

This is helpful to us because there is a recognition here that prayer is not always easy. Very often it can feel as if we are going through the motions, rattling through a list. 

Lists are helpful for prayer. I was once bemoaning them, when my mother said to me, ‘when you go to the shop, do you find a list restrictive?’ It’s a great point that when I go to the shop, I make sure I have a list to remind me what I need. However, the danger in prayer is we go onto autopilot, and we think we’ve prayed by going through our lists.

Moody Stuart recognises that we need to pray until we pray. That is, in prayer we are engaging with God, seeking to bring our utter impotency before him. It is the practical expression of our need, without him we cannot work, we have nothing. There is a reliance and dependence on God which gives expression to prayer. It is a recognition that we need God and God is one who has drawn near, who is able, who does act, who does love and who gives. Our hearts are stirred as we bring before him his character and his nature, and we are reminded of our privilege.

We move from going through our list to realising we are in the presence of God, that his Son is interceding for us. His Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are Children of God, and it is at that point we can, “pour out our hearts before him” (Psalm 62:8). We need not, nor can we hold anything back from him. We are coming to one to whom all hearts are open, he knows us, he understands us and yet he loves us passionately. He delights to hear us pray. 

This takes time. In our human relations, if we are to have important conversations, we know that we must give time to them; put the phone down, get away from the screens. It is no different with God. It is why Jesus tells us to go into our closet (Matthew 6:6).

We need to see how cold our hearts often are. They need to be warmed by God’s love and grace in his Son.

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