The Pastor's Public Prayer

As you can see on the right, one of the books I'm currently reading is Charles Spurgeon's Lectures to My Students. While I've loved the book so far, I must admit at the outset that when I saw the chapter entitled "Our Public Prayer" I was not excited in the least to read it.

However, like King David I stand rebuked and corrected. This was a great chapter. In fact, it was so good I thought I'd share some of his almost 150 year old insights with you.

He begins by asserting what I think would be a controversial subject in our day, the fact that listening to a sermon is an act of worship:

"if the observation be meant to imply that the hearing of sermons is not worshipping God, it is founded on a gross mistake, for rightly to listen to the gospel is one of the noblest parts of the adoration of the Most High. ... True preaching is an acceptable adoration of God by the manifestation of his gracious attributes: the testimony of his gospel, which pre-eminently glorifies him, and the obedient hearing of revealed truth, are an acceptable form of worship to the Most High, and perhaps one of the most spiritual in which the human mind can be engaged" (59-60).

I'm sure many in our day would disagree with him because, sadly, the last thing they hear is true preaching so they can't possibly imagine that what they hear can equate with worship.

His purpose in giving this lecture to his pastor's college students was to caution them "against spoiling your services by your prayers" (60). So, to accomplish this goal Spurgeon gives 17 instructions for public prayer. I'm just going to deal here with some of the highlights, which will make this--I hope--applicable to pastors and non-pastors alike.

In #2, he tells his students why public prayers can become so empty:

"The secret is that we are not so really devout at heart as we should be. Habitual communion with God must be maintained, or our public prayers will be vapid or formal. If there be no melting of the glacier high up in the ravines of the mountain there will be no descending rivulets to cheer the plain" (61).

In #3, he argues for a "heavenly frame of mind" in prayer saying:

"In supplication we are peculiarly before the throne of the Infinite, and as the courier in the king's palace puts on another mien [= a facial expression] and another manner than that which he exhibits to his fellow courtiers, so should it be with us. ... we must put our shoes from off our feet, for the place whereon we stand is holy ground" (61, 62).

My favorite part of the chapter, favorite because the same thing rubs me the wrong way, is caution #6, the avoiding at all costs of "an unhallowed and sickening superabundance of endearing words," by which he means:

"When 'Dear Lord,' and 'Blessed Lord,' and 'Sweet Lord,' come over and over again as vain repetitions, they are among the worst of blots. ... The strongest objection exists to the constant repetition of the word 'Lord' ... The words, 'Oh Lord! Oh Lord! Oh Lord!' grieve us when we hear them so perpetually repeated. ... God's name is not a stop-gap to make up for our want of words. Take care to use most reverently the name of the infinite Jehovah" (63).

I'd never thought of this before, but what he says in #9 is quite intriguing. I'm not sure I agree with what he says here, but his argumentation above leads to the conclusion that:

"...it is my solemn conviction that the prayer is one of the most weighty, useful, and honourable parts of the service and that it ought to be even more considered than the sermon. ... Let the sermon be slurred sooner than the approach to heaven" (65).

Throughout the chapter, I marked out important quotes and what I called "Keys to Prayer," which are:

1. "Remember the people in your prayers, but do not mould your supplications to win their esteem; look up, look up with both eyes" (62).
2. "Better far, however, for us to amend our own blunders than find fault with others" (66).
3. "You cannot pray too long in private. ... The more you are on your knees alone the better" (68).
4. The pastor is to pray the congregation "into a good frame of mind" and not "out of it again" by droning on and on and on (68).
5. "It is necessary in prayer to draw near unto God, but it is not required of you to prolong your speech till everyone is longing to hear the word 'Amen'" (69).
6. "I feel, my brethren, that we ought to prepare ourselves by private prayer for public praying" (77).
7. To help your prayers, memorize "the Psalms and parts of Scripture containing promises, supplications, praises, and confessions," and he'd add make sure to memorize them correctly (69-74), "such as may be helpful in the act of prayer" (77).

I conclude with what I thought applicable to my own heart and life. As I read these I asked myself "Does this describe you? Do you want it to? Do you not want it to? What are doing now to make sure it describes you in the future if not now?":

1. "Praying in the Holy Ghost is not universal among us, neither do all pray with the understanding as well as with the heart" (60). -- What about me?
   
2. Concerning Jesus' prayers, "they so impressed his disciples that they said, 'Lord, teach us to pray'" (61). -- What about mine?
   
3. "Habitual communion with God must be maintained, or our public prayers will be vapid or formal" (61). -- Are my prayers vapid or formal?
   
4. "...beware of becoming rhetorical to please the listeners" (62). -- Do I do this?
   
5. "'No man in his time spoke with such evidence and power of the Spirit'" (67). -- Do I want this said of me? What am I doing so that God would be pleased to have this be said of me?