Numerous outposts in South Viet Nam are manned by only a few soldiers. These posts are surrounded by the enemy, and the soldiers live in constant danger.
Although these men are isolated, nevertheless they have a vital link with their command post: two-way radio sets. Through this communication setup they can pass on intelligence and call for reinforcements or for air strikes.
Like soldiers at an outpost, surrounded by the enemy and in constant danger, so Christians find themselves in enemy territory and subject to attack. For this situation God has provided the means and blessing of two-way communication—that is, prayer.
Immediately after Christ told his disciples about how certain, sudden, and final his return to the world would be, he turned to the subject of prayer—the importance of importunity and the spirit in which we should pray.
Our neglect of this privilege is one of life’s greatest mysteries. Through prayer we communicate with God, the Creator and Sustainer of life. Often, even as we pray he speaks to our hearts. Prayer is as necessary for spiritual life as breathing is for physical life. When we pray, God in his infinite wisdom and love releases his power for our good and his glory.
The analogy between soldiers at an outpost and Christians is a valid one. The Apostle Paul graphically says, “Our fight is not against any physical enemy: it is against organizations and powers that are spiritual. We are up against the unseen power that controls this dark world, and spiritual agents from the very headquarters of evil” (Eph. 6:12, Phillips).
But to the believer God gives this comforting word, “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.… For I, the LORD your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, ‘Fear not, I will help you’ ” (Isa. 41:10, 13, RSV).
How do we keep in communication with the one who has given us this promise? By prayer!
Prayer generates faith and faith generates prayer. God answers in his own time and way. He is utterly faithful. His answers, when delayed, are always delayed for a good purpose. There are times when he answers immediately. And there are times when he meets our need even before we pray. If there is a delay, still we realize that he knows best, for he sees everything at the same time—past, present, and future.
At the control tower in any airport there stands a man who may delay the takeoff of a plane. He knows about the other planes that are in the air, about to land, and in the process of taking off. At precisely the right moment he gives the word, and the waiting pilot and his plane can then take off safely.
God knows our hearts. He knows when our prayers are not for our good or for his glory. His answer, whether “yes” or “no,” is always given in love.
Persevering prayer is an exercise in faith—faith in the goodness, love, and wisdom of God. But there are times when he expects us to act rather than pray. Before prayer can be effective, we must deal with sin in our lives.
To Joshua, on his knees after Israel’s defeat at Ai, God said “Arise, why have you thus fallen upon your face? Israel has sinned …” (Josh. 7:10, 11). God would not hear his prayer until the cause of defeat had been removed.
The Psalmist says, “If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened” (Ps. 66:18). Many prayers are ignored by our holy God, who will hear only after there is penitence and confession.
Importunity has its sure reward. George Mueller prayed for one man for sixty years and did not see his conversion. But within a week of Mueller’s death, this man came to Christ.
Along with persistence in prayer our Lord stresses the attitude of the one praying. He told a vivid story about a Pharisee and a tax-collector, both of whom went up to the Temple to pray (Luke 18:9–14). We read it, agree that the Pharisee was wholly wrong, and then go right ahead and act just like him.
Standing in pride and self-righteousness, the Pharisee thought he was praying when all he was doing was complimenting himself. There was in his heart no sense of sin and need, no confession with acknowledgment of guilt, no petition for mercy and grace—only the audacity to boast to God how good he was. And as he praised himself, he despised another.
Like a leper insensitive to pain, the Pharisee was unaware of his sinfulness. Like a ship headed for the rocks while taking its bearings from another doomed ship, he judged himself by earthly standards, even “religious” standards. He was unaware of how far he was from meeting God’s holy requirements.
But the tax-collector uttered a prayer from the heart: “God, be merciful to me a sinner!” Here was real petition, a direct and personal prayer, a prayer, offered in humility, asking for mercy and grace. His cry was like David’s, “Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy steadfast love; according to thy abundant mercy blot out my transgressions” (Ps. 51:1).
How distressingly present is the Pharisee in all of us! How prone we are to compare ourselves favorably with other persons! Self-righteousness is the family disease of all the children of Adam.
Like the tax-collector, we need daily cleansing, daily forgiveness, for we sin again and again in thought, word, and deed and need renewed grace and mercy from the Saviour.
Prayer is a personal thing, just as our relationship with Christ is exceedingly personal. When the tax-collector asked, “God, be merciful to me a sinner,” he placed himself in the direct line of God’s mercy and forgiveness. How prone we are to evade this kind of direct confession by using “we,” “our,” or “us”! We forget that “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (Jas. 4:6). How we need to guard against and repent of the spirit of the Pharisee that lurks within the heart of each of us.
Nothing can do more to give us a right perspective than the realization that God knows all that is in our hearts. Proverbs 28:9 tells us, “If one turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination.” The cure for self-righteousness is self-knowledge, comparing ourselves with the sinless Christ and casting ourselves on his love, mercy, and grace.
Prayer is a precious privilege, a way into the very presence of God, always open in the name of his Son, and always available to the humble and believing. There is such a thing as “praying ground”: no sin unconfessed and unrepented; a right motive; reverent boldness; a submission to the holy will of God in all things.
Like the isolated soldiers in South Viet Nam, we need to keep our two-way communication channel always in working order. And we can claim the promise: “Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” (Luke 11:9).
Reverently and thankfully we say, “Roger, over!”
