XIII. Prayer Miracles
George Benfield, a driver on the Midland Railway, living at
Derby, was standing on the footplate oiling his engine, the train being
stationary, when his foot slipped; he fell on the space between the lines. He
heard the express coming on, and had only time enough to lie full length on the
"six-foot" when it rushed by, and he escaped unhurt. He returned to his home in
the middle of the night and as he was going up-stairs he heard one of his
children, a girl about eight years old, crying and sobbing. "Oh, father," she
said, "I thought somebody came and told me that you were going to be killed,
and I got out of bed and prayed that God would not let you die." Was it only a
dream, a coincidence? George Benfield and others believed that he owed his life
to that prayer. -- DEAN
HOLE
THE earthly career of our Lord Jesus Christ was no mere episode, a sort of
interlude, in His eternal life. What He was and what He did on earth was
neither abnormal nor divergent, but characteristic. What He was and what He did
on earth is but the figure and the illustration of what He is and what He is
doing in heaven. He is "the same yesterday and to-day, and forever." This
statement is the Divine summary of the eternal unity and changelessness of His
character. His earthly life was made up largely of hearing and answering
prayer. His heavenly life is devoted to the same Divine business. Really the
Old Testament is the record of God hearing and answering prayer. The whole
Bible deals largely with this all important subject.
Christ's miracles are object lessons. They
are living pictures. They talk to us. They have hands which take hold of us.
Many valuable lessons do these miracles teach us. In their diversity, they
refresh us. They show us the matchless power of Jesus Christ, and at the same
time discover to us His marvellous compassion for suffering humanity. These
miracles disclose to us His ability to endlessly diversify His operations.
God's method in working with man is not the same in all cases. He does not
administer His grace in rigid ruts. There is endless variety in His movements.
There is marvellous diversity in His operations. He does not fashion His
creations in the same mould. Just so our Lord is not circumscribed in His
working nor trammelled by models. He works independently. He is His own
architect. He furnishes His own patterns which have unlimited variety.
When we consider our Lord's miracles, we discover
that quite a number were performed unconditionally. At least there were no
conditions accompanying them so far as the Divine record shows. At His own
instance, without being solicited to do so, in order to glorify God and to
manifest His own glory and power, this class of miracles was wrought. Many of
His mighty works were performed at the moving of His compassion and at the call
of suffering and need, as well as at the call of His power. But a number of
them were performed by Him in answer to prayer. Some were wrought in answer to
the personal prayers of those who were afflicted. Others were performed in
answer to the prayers of the friends of those who were afflicted. Those
miracles wrought in answer to prayer are very instructive in the uses of
prayer.
In these conditional miracles, faith holds the
primacy and prayer is faith's vicegerent. We have an illustration of the
importance of faith as the condition on which the exercise of Christ's power
was based, or the channel through which it flowed, in the incident of a visit
He made to Nazareth with its results, or rather its lack of results. Here is
the record of the case:
"And he could there do no mighty work, save that
he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them.
"And he marvelled because of their unbelief."
Those people at Nazareth may have prayed our Lord
to raise their dead, or open the eyes of the blind, or heal the lepers, but it
was all in vain. The absence of faith, however much of performance may be seen,
restrains the exercise of God's power, paralyzes the arm of Christ, and turns
to death all signs of life. Unbelief is the one thing which seriously hinders
Almighty God in doing mighty works. Matthew's record of this visit to Nazareth
says, "And he did not any mighty works there because of their unbelief." Lack
of faith ties the hands of Almighty God in His working among the children of
men. Prayer to Christ must always be based, backed and impregnated with
faith.
The miracle of miracles in the earthly career of
our Lord, the raising of Lazarus from the dead, was remarkable for its prayer
accompaniment. It was really a prayer issue, something after the issue between
the prophets of Baal and Elijah. It was not a prayer for help. It was one of
thanksgiving and assured confidence. Let us read it:
"And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I
thank thee that thou hast heard me.
"And I know that thou hearest me always. But
because of the people that stand by, I said it, that they may believe that thou
hast sent me."
It was a prayer mainly for the benefit of those
who were present, that they might know that God was with Him because He had
answered His prayers, and that faith in God might be radiated in their
hearts.
Answered prayers are sometimes the most
convincing and faith-creating forces. Unanswered prayers chill the atmosphere
and freeze the soil of faith. If Christians knew how to pray so as to have
answers to their prayers, evident, immediate, and demonstrative answers from
God, faith would be more widely diffused, would become more general, would be
more profound, and would be a much more mighty force in the world.
What a valuable lesson of faith and intercessory
prayer does the miracle of the healing of the centurion's servant bring to us!
The simplicity and strength of the faith of this Roman officer are remarkable,
for He believed that it was not needful for our Lord to go directly to his
house in order to have his request granted, "But speak the word only, and my
servant shall be healed." And our Lord puts His mark upon this man's faith by
saying, "Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in
Israel." This man's prayer was the expression of his strong faith, and such
faith brought the answer promptly.
The same invaluable lesson we get from the prayer
miracle of the case of the Syrophenician woman who went to our Lord in behalf
of her stricken daughter, making her daughter's case her own, by pleading,
"Lord, help me." Here was importunity, holding on, pressing her case, refusing
to let go or to be denied. A strong case it was of intercessory prayer and its
benefits. Our Lord seemingly held her off for a while but at last yielded, and
put His seal upon her strong faith: "O woman, great is thy faith! Be it unto
thee even as thou wilt." What a lesson on praying for others and its large
benefits!
Individual cases could be named, where the
afflicted persons interceded for themselves, illustrations of wonderful things
wrought by our Lord in answer to the cries of those who were afflicted. As we
read the Evangelists' record, the pages fairly glisten with records of our
Lord's miracles wrought in answer to prayer, showing the wonderful things
accomplished by the use of this divinely appointed means of grace.
If we turn back to Old Testament times, we have
no lack of instances of prayer miracles. The saints of those days were well
acquainted with the power of prayer to move God to do great things. Natural
laws did not stand in the way of Almighty God when He was appealed to by His
praying ones. What a marvellous record is that of Moses as those successive
plagues were visited upon Egypt in the effort to make Pharaoh let the children
of Israel go that they might serve God! As one after another of these plagues
came, Pharaoh would beseech Moses, "Entreat the Lord your God that he may take
away this death." And as the plagues themselves were miracles, prayer removed
them as quickly as they were sent by Almighty God. The same hand which sent
these destructive agencies upon Egypt was moved by the prayers of His servant
Moses to remove these same plagues. And the removal of the plagues in answer to
prayer was as remarkable a display of Divine power as was the sending of the
plagues in the first instance. The removal in answer to prayer would do as much
to show God's being and His power as would the plagues themselves. They were
miracles of prayer.
All down the line in Old Testament days we see
these prayer miracles. God's praying servants had not the least doubt that
prayer would work marvellous results and bring the supernatural into the
affairs of earth. Miracles and prayer went hand in hand. They were companions.
The one was the cause, the other was the effect. The one brought the other into
existence. The miracle was the proof that God heard and answered prayer. The
miracle was the Divine demonstration that God, who was in heaven, interfered in
earth's affairs, intervened to help men, and worked supernaturally if need be
to accomplish His purposes in answer to prayer.
Passing to the days of the early Church, we find
the same Divine record of prayer miracles. The sad news came to Peter that
Dorcas was dead and he was wanted at Joppa. Promptly he made his way to that
place. Peter put everybody out of the room, and then he kneeled down and
prayed, and with faith said, "Tabitha, arise," and she opened her eyes and sat
up. Knee work on the part of Peter did the work. Prayer brought things to pass
and saved Dorcas for further work on earth.
Paul was on that noted journey to Rome under
guard, and had been shipwrecked on an island. The chief man of the island was
Publius, and his old father was critically ill of a bloody flux. Paul laid his
hands on the old man, and prayed for him, and God came to the rescue and healed
the sick man. Prayer brought the thing desired to pass. God interfered with the
laws of nature, either suspending or setting them aside for a season, and
answered the prayer of this praying servant of His. And the answer to prayer
among those heathen people convinced them that a supernatural power was at work
among them. In fact so true was this that they seemed to think a supernatural
being had come among them.
Peter was put in prison by Herod after he had
killed James with the sword. The young Church was greatly concerned, but they
neither lost heart nor gave themselves over to needless fretting and worrying.
They had learned before this from whence their help came. They had been
schooled in the lesson of prayer. God had intervened before in the behalf of
His servants and interfered when His cause was at stake. "Prayer was made
without ceasing of the Church unto God for him." An angel on swift wings comes
to the rescue, and in a marvellous and supernatural way releases Peter and
leaves the prison doors locked. Locks and prison doors and an unfriendly king
cannot stand in the way of Almighty God when His people cry in prayer unto Him.
Miracles if need be will be wrought in their behalf to fulfill His promises and
to carry forward His plans. After this order does the Word of God illustrate
and enlarge and confirm the possibilities of prayer by what may be termed
"Prayer miracles."
How quickly to our straits follow our
enlargements! God wrought a wonderful work through Samson in enabling him with
a crude instrument, the jaw bone of an ass, to slay a thousand men, giving him
a great deliverance. Shortly afterward he was abnormally thirsty, and he was
unable to obtain any water. It seemed as if he would perish with thirst. God
had saved him from the hands of the Philistines. Could he not as well save him
from thirst? So Samson cried unto the Lord, and "God clave a hollow place that
was in the jaw, and there came water thereout, and when he had drunk, his
spirit came again and he revived." God could bring water out of the jaw bone
just as well as He could give victory by it to Samson. God could change that
which had been death-dealing to His enemies and make it life-giving to His
servant. God can and will work a miracle in answer to prayer in order to
deliver His friends, sooner than He will work one to destroy His enemies. He
does both, however, in answer to prayer.
All natural forces are under God's control. He
did not create the world and put it under law, and then retire from it, to work
out its own destiny, irrespective of the welfare of His intelligent creatures.
Natural laws are simply God's laws, by which He governs and regulates all
things in nature. Nature is nothing but God's servant. God is above nature, God
is not the slave of nature. This being true, God can and will suspend the
working of nature's laws, can hold them in abeyance by His almighty hand, can
for the time being set them aside, to fulfill His higher purposes in
redemption. It is no violation of nature's laws when, in answer to prayer, He
who is above nature makes nature His servant, and causes nature to tarry out
His plans and purposes.
This is the explanation of that wonderful prayer
miracle of Old Testament times, when Joshua, in the strength and power of the
Lord God, commanded the sun and moon to stand still in order to give time to
complete the victory over the enemies of Israel. Why should it be thought a
thing incredible that the God of nature and of grace should interfere with His
own natural laws for a short season in answer to prayer, and for the good of
His cause? Is God tied hand and foot? Has He so circumscribed Himself that He
cannot operate the law of prayer? Is the law of nature superior to the law of
prayer? Not by any means. He is the God of prayer as well as the God of nature.
Both prayer and nature have God as their Maker, their Ruler and their Executor.
And prayer is God's servant, just as nature is His servant.
The prayer force in God's government is as strong
as any other force, and all natural and other forces must give way before the
force of prayer. Sun, moon and stars are under God's control in answer to
prayer. Rain, sunshine and drouth obey His will. "Fire and hail, snow and
vapour, stormy wind fulfilling his word." Disease and health are governed by
Him. All, all things in heaven and earth, are absolutely under the control of
Him who made heaven and earth, and who governs all things according to His own
will.
Prayer still works miracles among men and brings
to pass great things. It is as true now as when James wrote his Epistle, "The
fervent, effectual prayer of a righteous man availeth much." And when the
records of eternity are read out to an assembled world, then will it appear how
much prayer has wrought in this world. Little is now seen of the fruits of
prayer compared to all that it has accomplished and is accomplishing. At the
judgment day, then will God disclose the things which were brought to pass in
this world through the prayers of the saints. Many occurrences which are now
taken as a matter of course will then be seen to have happened because of the
Lord's praying ones.
The work of George Muller in Bristol, England,
was a miracle of the nineteenth century. It will take the opening of the books
at the great judgment day to disclose all he wrought through prayer. His
orphanage, in which hundreds of fatherless and motherless children were cared
for, to sustain which this godly man never asked any one for money with which
to pay its running expenses, is a marvel of modern times. His practice was
always to ask God for just what was needed, and the answers which came to him
read like a record of apostolic times. He prayed for everything and trusted
implicitly to God to supply all his needs. And it is a matter of record that
never did he and the orphans ever lack for any good thing.
Of a holy man who has done so much for Christ and
suffering humanity, it was said at the grave about him:
"He prayed up the walls of an hospital, and the
hearts of the nurses. He prayed mission stations into being, and missionaries
into faith. He prayed open the hearts of the rich, and gold from the most
distant lands."
Luther is quoted as once saying: "The Christian's
trade is praying." Certainly, for a great reason, the preacher's trade should
be praying. We fear greatly that many preachers know nothing of this trade of
praying, and hence they never succeed at this trade. A severe apprenticeship in
the trade of praying must be served in order to become a journeyman in it. Not
only is it true that there are few journeymen at work at this praying trade,
but numbers have never even been apprentices at praying. No wonder so little is
accomplished by them. God and the supernatural are left out of their
programmes.
Many do not understand this trade of praying
because they have never learned it, and hence do not work at it. Many miracles
ought to be worked by our praying. Why not? Is the arm of the Lord shortened
that He cannot save? Is His ear heavy that He cannot hear? Has prayer lost its
power because iniquity abounds and the love of many has grown cold? Has God
changed from what He once was? To all these queries we enter an emphatic
negative. God can as easily to-day work miracles by praying as He did in the
days of old. "I am the Lord; I change not." "Is anything too hard for the
Lord?"
He who works miracles by praying will first of
all work the chief miracle on himself. Oh, that we might fully understand well
the Christian's trade of praying, and follow the trade day by day and thus make
to ourselves great spiritual wealth!