by Andrew Kasahara
I ask whether you pray, because prayer is absolutely needful to a man’s salvation.
Young men, do you understand the importance of prayer? I plead with you to consider your private prayer life. Private prayer is a very good test of your motives. Because our heart is very deceitful, we can do "good" in a way that serves no one but ourselves. Though we give to the poor, we seek our own glory. When we serve, we look for the praise of men. When we tithe, we desire to look spiritual. This is not so with private prayer. Private prayer is an outpouring of the heart with no other goal than to plead for the presence and power of God in our lives. No one will recognize you for your private prayer life. It is one of the best ways to examine our hearts. The content of our private prayers are also good indicators of our spiritual health. Do you hold fast to God and His promises, or do you pray only to soothe your guilty conscience? Do you pray for ease, or do pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit? It is necessary to understand the importance of prayer in our life to comprehend a seriousness of a call to prayer.
Before going on any further, I would like to define what I mean by private prayer. By private prayer, I mean what Jesus says in Matthew 6:5-15. ""And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. "And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then like this:
"Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil."
Jesus warns us about being hypocritical in public prayer. He wants us to pray not to be seen by others, but by our Father who is in secret. In private prayer, God calls us to pray for ourselves and for the nations. First, in private prayer, we pray for God to hallow His name. For a long time, I wondered what the word "hallowed" meant. Only recently did I learn through Pastor Piper what it means. It means, "set apart." It means that we pray that God’s name would be more valued than anything else in our life. Food, sports, and friends – all take a backseat to God’s name. By praying that His name would be hallowed, we pray that His name would be treasured above all things, and that we would make choices that make the joy we have in Him manifest. (Thanks, Pastor Piper) The next part of the passage pleads that God’s kingdom would come, that He would reign as supreme in all the nations. It means praying in a way that longs for the day when every tongue, every people, every tribe, and every language would join around the throne of the Lamb, saying, "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!" It also means praying for our needs and the needs of others. It says in Ephesians 6 that we need to make supplications for all the saints. So in your private prayer, don’t neglect to pray Matthew 6 over yourself, your church body, and the nations.
J.C. Ryle argues that prayer is absolutely necessary for our salvation. No one was ever saved by just reading the Bible, nor was anyone saved by just the public proclamation of the good news. There is no such reference in the Bible of anyone being saved without asking for salvation. Not that prayer saves you. J.C. Ryle makes that very clear. He says, "I can find that nobody will be saved by his prayers, but I cannot find that without prayer anybody will be saved." Salvation is a gift, but a gift that must be asked of God. Undeniably, God sovereignly chose His own before the creation of the world, but He requires that we ask for salvation in our human responsibility.
J.C. Ryle then gives an analogy that I thought was very helpful. He compared prayer with our physical needs as humans. Eating, drinking, and sleeping –these are things that you must do for yourself. Similarly, you are the only one that can turn yourself from wickedness to God (speaking from man’s perspective), confessing your need of Him in prayer. J.C. Ryle states, "To be prayerless is to be without God." Ponder the seriousness of prayer, especially relating to salvation.
Andrew K.
