Alone In Prayer
How pride shuts the prayer closet while humility gains access to the mercy seat
What greater humility that to be Infinite God who came to His own as a Babe, in a manger? Our Savior did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking on human form and coming as a servant.
And shepherds and wise men came to Him on bended knee.
Humble. To have a low estimate of oneself; to be modest, not seeking recognition or publicity or high office, but seeking obscurity; perhaps to be alone. It is an absence of pride and self. It is the very opposite of those around us in this world.
Perhaps that is why those in the ministry of prayer are often alone, or in small groups. There are seldom big crowds, spotlights and microphones. We are tucked away in the closet. One has described it as the furnace room of the church building: not seen by the public, but touching every part of the whole building with its vents. You certainly notice when the furnace is not turned on!
Do we notice when the prayer closet is not turned on? Few do, for praying people aren’t usually recognized from the pulpit. We prefer to be bowed before the throne of grace, beseeching the One on the mercy seat, eyes not on self but on God and on others.
God, writes E. M. Bounds, puts a great price on humility of heart, for He resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. “That which brings the praying soul near to God is humility of heart,” says Bounds. Lowliness of mind gives wing to prayer. But pride and self-esteem will shut the door to prayer.
Jesus presents to us the great picture of humility in that He came and died for us. Much of His time here was spent praying, most often alone, in quiet places in the early hours or through the night.
If humility in approaching the throne of God is so necessary to prayers, is such a characteristic of praying, and an attribute of the one praying, how is it we become so? Bounds tells us “humility is born by looking at God, and His holiness, and then looking at self and man’s unholiness.” In this we begin to recognize what we deserve from Him—and what He deserves from us. The result should be a low estimate of ourselves, that is, humility.
Pride cannot pray…There is no praying without humility 1
Make no mistake, we each enjoy praying together in a small group, for where two or three are gathered, Jesus is there. But we all value our private prayer time, shut in silence, seclusion, solitude, where we are alone with the Lord, to seek Him in praise, supplication and with humble heart.
O let us pray well by learning most the lesson of a humble and contrite heart.
Lord! what is man, that You are mindful of him? and the son of man, that You visit him? for You has made him a little lower than the angels, and have crowned him with glory and honor. You made him to have dominion over the work of Your hands: You have put all things under his feet. O Lord our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth!
Lord God! how low has sin made man to sink. And how terribly has it darkened his mind, that he does not even know his Divine destiny, to be Your servant and representative. Alas! that even Your people, when their eyes are opened, are so little ready to accept their calling and to seek to have power with God, that they may have power with men too to bless them.
Lord Jesus! it is in You the Father hath again crowned man with glory and honour, and opened the way for us to be what He would have us. O Lord, have mercy on Your people, and visit Your heritage! Work mightily in Your Church, and teach Your believing disciples to go forth in their royal priesthood, and in the power of prayer, to which You have given such wonderful promises, to serve Your kingdom, to have rule over the nations, and make the name of God glorious in the earth. Amen.
A Prayer by Andrew Murray 2
Praying for the People of God from the Word of God
Lord God Almighty we are praying today for our brothers and sisters in the Lord...that we would stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. We ask you keep us from being snared or bewitched in a false gospel, or adrift with every wave of doctrine, but stand firm on the Rock of Jesus. Amen
The Essentials of Prayer, E.m. Bounds, Prayer and Humility, p. 19-27