Call to Worship November 24, 2024
“Of the Nature of Prayer in General; with the Import of Praying Without Ceasing
1 Thessalonians 5:17, ‘Pray without ceasing.’…
Secondly, The parts of prayer are three,
(1.) Confession,
(2.) Thanksgiving, and
(3.) Petition.
1. Confession, Daniel 9:4, 5, ‘I prayed unto the Lord my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant, and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments: we have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled,’ etc. It well becomes sinful dust and ashes, in addresses to God, to come with a blush in the countenance, and tears in the eye, and confession in the mouth. It is necessary to humble us in the sight of God, and it is the humble only that are heard, Psalm 10:17. Confession is the vomiting up of the sweet morsel, and God has joined pardon and confession together, 1 John 1:9, ‘If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.’ God’s ears are shut to those whose mouths are bound up from this. Some say they cannot pray: O can you not confess what you are, have done, and daily are doing? How can you want matter of prayer, while you have so many sins to confess?
2. Thanksgiving, Philippians 4:6, ‘In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God.’ Every man is God’s debtor for mercies, as well as sins; the least return you can make, is to acknowledge debt. He who is unthankful for what he has got, cannot think to come speed in addresses for more.
3. Petition, wherein prayer properly consists. It is an offering up of our desires to God. Wherein we may note the act of prayer, ‘offering up our desires.’ The prayer that God makes account of is first in the heart, 1 Corinthians 14:15, ‘I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also.’ It is a pouring out of the heart to God, Psalm 62:8. The Spirit of God moves on the waters of our affections, and then they are poured out before the Lord, as the water of the well of Bethlehem was by David. Many times our prayers come as mud out of a vessel; but as water they should flow freely. In prayer there are real desires of what we seek of God, which desires are offered to the Lord. The mouth must not speak out anything but what is the desire of the heart. It is dangerous to mock God, who knows the heart; to confess sin, and not have the heart affected with it; to seek supply of wants from him, and not have the heart impressed with a due sense of the want of them. There are two sorts of desires.
(1.) There are natural desires, which are the mere product of our own spirits, offered unto God, but not regarded as prayer (Hosea 7:14.) by the Lord. These may be not only for temporal things but for spiritual also, as those who said to Christ, ‘Lord evermore give us this bread.’ A natural man, from a gift of prayer, may seek grace and glory, as a bridge to lead him over the waters of wrath; but coming only from their own spirits, such a prayer is not acceptable.
(2.) There are spiritual desires, Zechariah 12:10; which the saints breathe out unto God, having them first breathed into them by the Spirit, Romans 8:26. And these may be for temporal things, as well as spiritual, accepted, seeing they are put up in a spiritual manner. These are always sincere and fervent, so as the soul earnestly craves the things sought.” (Thomas Boston, Discourses on Prayer)