Call to Worship, December 8, 2024
“Fourthly, In whose name are we to pray? In the name of Christ, John 14:13, 14, ‘Whatsoever you shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you shall ask anything in my name, I will do it.’ This is to plead the merits of Jesus Christ. We must come to God in the name of Christ, laying all the stress upon his merits. All things go by favor in the court of Heaven; the Father hears us for the Son’s sake. This implies that we must be in Christ, before we can pray acceptably. But I shall consider this particular more fully, when I come, in course, to speak of praying in the name of Christ.
Fifthly, There are several kinds of prayer. I shall speak a word to these three, [instantaneous], secret, and family.
1. [Instantaneous] prayer, which is a sudden dispatch of the desires of the soul to Heaven, upon any emergent occasion; sometimes with the voice, and sometimes without it. I will say of it,
(1.) It has been the practice of the saints. Thus Jacob, when making his testament, says, Genesis 49:18, ‘I have waited for your salvation, O Lord.’ And when giving charge to his sons concerning Benjamin, chapter 43:14, ‘God Almighty give you mercy before the man,’ etc. Moses, when brought into a great strait at the approach of the Egyptians, Exodus 14:15, ‘The Lord said unto Moses, Wherefore cry you unto me? Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward.’ David, when told of Ahithophel’s being among the conspirators with Absalom, says, 2 Samuel 15:31, ‘O Lord, I pray you, turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness.’ And Nehemiah, when in the king’s presence, and asked by him his request, says, chapter 2:4, ‘I pray to the God of Heaven.’
(2.) Such prayers are very necessary. Light and strength for duty, against temptation, etc., are often needed, when we cannot get to our knees.
(3.) They are very useful for present help, and are notable means to keep the soul habitually heavenly and in a proper frame, when we make more solemn approaches to God.
(4.) It is no small mercy, that God’s door stands always open, and that our prayers may be at Heaven, before we can be at a secret place.
2. Secret prayer, wherein the man or woman goes alone to a secret place, and they pour out their souls before the Lord.
(1.) It is commanded expressly by our Lord, Matthew 6:6, ‘When you pray, enter into your closet, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father which is in secret,’ etc.
(2.) They will have much ado to evidence their sincerity, whose prayers are all before men, Matthew 6:5, 6, ‘When you pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray, standing in the synagogues, and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men,’ etc. A hypocrite may pray in secret; but a sincere soul will be loath to neglect it.
(3.) As no man knows our case so well as ourselves, so it is a sign of little acquaintance with our own hearts, if we have not something to tell Christ, which we cannot tell before others, Canticles 7:11, 12, ‘Come, my Beloved, let us go forth into the field: let us lodge in the villages. Let us get up early to the vineyards, let us see if the vine flourish, whether the tender grape appear, and the pomegranates bud forth: there will I give you my loves.’
(4.) The greatest enjoyments of the people of God have been in secret prayer; as in the case of Jacob, Daniel, etc.” (Thoms Boston, Discourses on Prayer)