PLEADING FOR PRAYER – Charles Spurgeon
PLEADING FOR PRAYER
“Now I beseech you, Brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ’s sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in your prayers to God for me; that I may be delivered from those in Judea who do not believe, and that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be accepted of the saints; that I may come unto you with joy by the will of God, and may, with you, be refreshed. Now the God of Peace be with you all. Amen.” Romans 15:30-33.
The Apostle of the Gentiles held a very useful and glorious office, but he had by no means a smooth path in life. When we read the account of his sufferings, persecutions, and labors, we wonder how a single individual could have gone through them all. He was a true hero. Though a Hebrew of the Hebrews, he stands in the very front of the whole Gentile Church as its founder and teacher under God. And we owe to him what we can never fully estimate.
When we consider the struggles of his life, we do not wonder that the Apostle was sometimes in great sorrow of heart and heavily burdened in spirit. He was so at the time when he wrote this Epistle to the Christian friends at Rome. It was a great delight to him to have to go to Jerusalem—it was a place which was much reverenced and loved by him. It was a greater privilege for him to go and exchange salutations with his brother Apostles, and it was the most joyous privilege of all to be the bearer of a contribution from the Gentiles to relieve the necessities of the saints at Jerusalem. He rejoiced much more in that gift to Jewish Believers than if it had been anything for himself.
But he was well aware that there were those in Judea who hated him with deadly hatred and would seek his life. He had been the rising hope of the Jewish party and he had become a Christian—therefore the bigoted Jews regarded him as an apostate from the faith of their fathers. They had, moreover, a special venom against him, since he was more bold than any other Christian teacher in going among the Gentiles and shaking off, altogether, the bonds of the Ceremonial Law. He also came out more clearly than any other man upon the Doctrines of Grace and salvation by the Cross of Christ—and this provoked the fiercest hostility.
Paul had also the apprehension that he would not be well received even by the Brethren at Jerusalem. He knew what a strong conservative feeling there was among the circumcision for the maintenance of the old Jewish Law and how he was a marked man because he had shaken off entirely that yoke of bondage. Thus he had fears as to foes and doubts about friends. His case was peculiarly difficult.
What did Paul do when his spirit was greatly oppressed? He wrote to his Brothers and Sisters to pray for him! He asked the good friends at Rome that they would lift up their hearts earnestly and unitedly to God, that he might be preserved from the double evil which threatened him. In the last chapter of this Epistle, we have the names of a great many of those private individuals at Rome to whom the Apostle appealed. We do not know any of them, except it is the Priscilla and Aquila, of whom we have heard elsewhere. But this great man, this Inspired Apostle of God who was not a whit behind the very chief of Christ’s servants, makes his appeal to these unknown and humble individuals, that they would strive together with him in their prayers.
I delight in this! It shows the lowly spirit of the Apostle Paul and it reveals to us his high value for the prayers of obscure men and women. He feels that he needs what the prayers of these people can bring to him—he is sure that without those prayers, he will be in danger of failure, but that with them he will be strong for his great enterprise. He sees what prayer can do and he would awaken it into powerful action.
Does it astonish you that a man so rich in Grace as Paul should be asking prayers of these unknown saints? It need not astonish you, for it is the rule with the truly great to think most highly of others. In proportion as a man grows in Grace, he feels his dependence upon God and, in a certain sense, his dependence upon God’s people. He decreases in his own esteem and his Brothers and Sisters increase!
A flourishing tradesman, a man who has a large business is the man who needs others—he prospers by setting others to labor on his behalf. The larger his trade, the more he is dependent upon those around him. The Apostle was, so to speak, a great master trader for the Lord Jesus. He did a great business for his Lord and he felt that he could not carry it on unless he had the co-operation of many helpers. He did not so much need what employers harshly call, “hands,” to work for him, but he did need hearts to plead for him and he, therefore, sent all the way to Rome to seek such assistance! He wrote to those whom he had never seen and begged their prayers, as if he pleaded for his life.
The great Apostle entreats Tryphena and Tryphosa, and Mary and Julia to pray for him. His great enterprise needs their supplications! In a great battle, the general’s name is mentioned, but what could he have done without the common soldiers? Wellington will always be associated with Waterloo, but, after all, it was a soldiers’ battle! What could the commander have done if those in the ranks had failed him? The commander-in-chief might very well have touched his hat to the least subaltern or to the humblest private and have said, “I thank you, Comrade. Without you, we could not have conquered.”
The chief troubles of the great day of Waterloo arose from certain very doubtful allies who wavered in the hour of battle—those were the general’s weakness—but his hope and strength lay in those regiments which were as an iron wall against the enemy. Even thus, the faithful are our joy and crown, but the unstable are our sorrow and weakness.
Every ministering servant of the Lord Jesus Christ is in much the same condition as Paul. True, we are of a lower grade and our work is on a smaller scale, but our needs are just as great. We have not all the Grace which Paul possessed and, for that very reason, we make the more pathetic an appeal to you, our friends and fellow helpers, while we use the Apostle’s language, and cry, “We beseech you, Brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ’s sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with us in your prayers to God for us.”
I shall call your attention to this text with the longing in my own heart that I, myself, may more abundantly live in your prayers. I have to rejoice in the prayers of thousands of holy men and women who love me in the Lord. I am deeply grateful for the affectionate supplications of multitudes whom I have not seen in the flesh, to whom the printed sermons go week by week. I am a debtor, not only to the beloved people around me, but to a larger company all over the world. These are my comfort, my riches, my strength. To such I speak at this time. Beloved, I need your prayers more than ever! I am more and more conscious of their value—do not restrain them! Just now there is, to me, a special need of Grace on many accounts, and I hope that some of those who have long borne me up will give me a special portion of aid at this hour. I am not worthy to use the same language as the Apostle Paul, but I know no better, and my necessity is even greater than his—therefore I borrow his words, and say, “Brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ’s sake, and for the love of the Spirit, strive together with me in your prayers to God for me.”
I. PRAYER ASKED FOR
First, here is PRAYER ASKED FOR. We will look at the Apostle’s request for prayer in general and then, afterwards, we will look to the details which are mentioned in the 31st verse.
First, here is a request to the people of God for prayer in general. He asks it for himself—“That you strive together with me in your prayers to God for me.” He knew his own weakness. He knew the difficulty of the work to which he had been called. He knew that if he failed in his enterprise, it would be a sad failure, injurious through coming ages to the entire Church. He cried, “Agonize for me,” because he felt that much depended upon him.
It is like a man who is willing to lead the forlorn hope, but he says to his comrades, “You will support me.” It is like one who is willing to go into a far country, bearing his life in his hands, but he plaintively exclaims, “You won’t forget me, will you? Though you stay at home, will you think of me?” It reminds us of Carey, who says, when he goes to India, “I will go down into the pit, but Brother Fuller and the rest of you must hold the rope.”
Can we refuse the request? Would it not be treachery? It is not according to the heart of true yoke-fellows. It is not according to the instincts of our common humanity that we should desert any man whom we set in the front of the battle! If we choose a man to be our representative in the service of our God, we must not desert him! A man cannot be charged with egotism if he begs for personal support when he is engaged in labors for others and is not seeking success for himself but the success of the great cause! Under heavy responsibilities he does well to enlist the sympathies and prayers of those whom he is serving—and he has a right to have them!
Beloved friends, if you are with me in the great battle for God and His Truth—and if you count me worthy to bear the brunt of this war, I beseech you, for Christ’s sake, support me by your importunate wrestling at the Throne of Grace. Pray for all ministers and workers, but pray, also, for me! I am, of all men, the most miserable if you deny me this!
Observe in what relationship he regards them when he puts the request. “Now,” he says, “I beseech you, Brethren.” “I beseech you.” It is the strongest word of entreaty he can find. It is as if he said, “I go down on my knees to you and implore you. I ask it of you as the greatest favor you can do me. I ask it of you as the dearest token of your love, that you strive together with me in your prayers to God for me.”
He does not call them companions, or fellow workers, or friends. He addresses them as Brothers and Sisters. “You are my Brethren,” he says, “I feel a love to you, you Romans, converted to God. I have a longing in my heart to see you and though I have not so much as spoken with you, face to face, yet we are Brethren. The life that is in you beats also in my heart. We are born again of the same Father, we are quickened by the same Spirit, we are redeemed by the same Savior—therefore, spiritually—we are Brethren. Shall not Brethren pray for one another?”
He seems to say, “If you are Brethren, show this token of your brotherhood. You cannot go up with me to Jerusalem and share my danger, but you can be with me in spirit—and, by your prayers, surround me with Divine protection. I do not ask you to come, you Romans, with your swords and shields, and make a bodyguard about me, but I do beg of you, my true Brothers and Sisters, if you are, indeed so, to agonize together with me in your prayers to God for me.”
If there remains in the Christian Church any brotherhood whatever, every leader of the host, every preacher of the Gospel, every pastor of a Church should receive the proof of that brotherhood in the shape of daily intercession! Every sent servant of God beseeches his Brethren that they strive together with him in prayer to God for him—and I am not a whit behind any of them in the urgency of my request to the many who have, until now, proved themselves my Brethren! I know your love has not grown cold to me. I have abundant evidence of that. O my Brothers and Sisters, act as Brothers and Sisters to me, now, and beseech the Lord to bless me!
But observe what kind of prayer he asks for—“That you strive together”—that you “agonize”—that is the word. You have before you, in this expression, a reminder of that great agony in Gethsemane, and I should think the Apostle had that picture before his eyes. In the Garden, our Lord not only prayed as was His habit, but with strong crying and tears He made His appeal to God. “Being in an agony He prayed more earnestly.” He wrestled till He “sweat, as it were, great drops of blood falling down to the ground,” but none agonized together with Him! That was one of the deepest shades of the picture, that He must tread the winepress alone and, of the people there, must none be with Him. Yet did our Lord seem to ask for sympathy and help— “Backward and forward thrice He ran, As if He sought some help from man,” but He found none even to watch with Him one hour, much less to agonize with Him!
The Apostle felt that an agony alone, was too bitter for him and he, therefore, piteously cries, “I beseech you, Brethren, that you agonize with me in prayer to God for me.”
Now, as the disciples ought to have sympathized with the Savior and entered into His direful grief, but did not, even so it may happen to us. But, Brothers and Sisters, I trust that the unfaithfulness to the Master will not be repeated upon His servants. It remains to all that are true Brethren in Christ, that when they see a man in agony of heart for Christ’s sake and for souls’ sake, they should bow the knee side by side with him and be true Brethren to him.
When his labors become intense; when his difficulties are multiplied; when his heart begins to sink and his strength is failing him—then the man must wrestle with his God—and then his Brethren must wrestle at his side! When the uplifted hands of Moses are known to bring a blessing, Aaron and Hur must hold them up when they are seen to grow weary! When Jacob is struggling at Jabbok and we see him there, we must turn in and help him to detain the Angel of the Covenant. If one man can hold Him fast by saying, “I will not let You go unless You bless me,” surely a score of you can make a cordon round about Him and speedily win the blessing! What may not a hundred do? Let us try the power of agonizing prayer! Do we know, as yet, what it means? Let us rise as one man and cry, “O Angel, whose hands are full of benedictions, we will not let You go, except You give us Your own blessing—the blessing of Your Covenant!”
If two of you are agreed as touching anything concerning the Kingdom, you shall be heard. But what if hundreds and thousands of the faithful are of one mind and one mouth in this matter? Will you not at once cry unto God, “Bless Your servants! Establish the work of our hands upon us! Yes, the work of our hands, establish it!”
You see, it is earnest prayer which Paul asks for, not the prayer which foams itself away in words, but prayer with force, with energy, with humble boldness, with intensity of desire, with awful earnestness—prayer which, like a deep, hidden torrent, cuts a channel even through a rock! His request was, “that you wrestle with me in your prayers to God for me.”
And this is our request this day. He does not, however, wish for a single moment to exclude himself from the prayer, for he says, “that you agonize with me.” He is to be the first to agonize. This should be the position of every minister. We ought to be examples of wrestling prayer. We ought to be men of prayer, ourselves, before we beg others to pray for us.
II. THE BLESSING GIVEN
I have but little time left to notice THE BLESSING GIVEN, indeed, it occupies but one verse in the text, and that verse is the shortest of the four and, therefore, I may give it due consideration in a brief space. See how Paul, with all his anxiety to gain the prayers of his friends, cannot finish the chapter without uttering a benediction upon them. “Now the God of Peace.” What a blessed name!
In the Old Testament Scriptures He is the “Lord of Hosts.” But that is never the style in the New Testament. The “Lord of Hosts” is God as He was revealed under the old dispensation in the majesty of His power, “the Lord is a man of war, the Lord is His name.” But now that our Lord Jesus Christ has further unveiled the Father, we see Him as “the God of Peace.” Is not this a greater, sweeter, and more cheering title? O God of Peace, we long for Your Presence with us all!
What does Paul wish for them? “The God of Peace be with you.” Not only “peace be with you,” but, better far— “The God of Peace”—and so the Source and Fountain of Peace! He wishes them not the drops, but the Fountain itself! Not the light, only, but the sun! He would have God Himself to be with us as “the God of Peace.” He would have the Lord to fill us with an inward peace, so that we may never be disturbed in our minds. He would have the Lord shed abroad His own peace in our hearts, so that we may always feel at peace with God—no cloud coming between our souls and our heavenly Father—no ground of quarrel arising between us and the great King.
When “the God of Peace” makes peace with us and so keeps our minds at peace within, He also creates peace with one another, so that we bear one another’s burdens and those who are strong are willing to bear the infirmities of the weak. “The God of Peace be with you.”
Our Apostle says, “the God of Peace be with you all”—not with some of you, with Priscilla and Aquila, but with Mary, Amplias, Apelles, Tryphena, Tryphosa and with “the beloved Persis which labored much in the Lord.” And with “Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother.” And “Philologus, and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas and all the saints which are with them.” The benediction is, “The God of Peace be with you all.”
Unless all are at peace, none can be perfectly quiet. One Brother who is quarrelsome can keep a whole Church in turmoil! One fellow knocking about the boat may stop the oarsmen, rend the sails and run the boat on a rock! I should not like one stray shot from a rifle to be traveling near my windows, for even if all the other shots which are in the armory should lie quiet, that one flying danger might be the end of me! Oh that the peace of God may be with all the saints in all the Churches!
It is a blessed benediction. Such a benediction we pronounce with all our heart this morning—“Now the God of Peace be with you all. Amen.” Do you not think that Paul implies that this will be the result of their prayer? If you will but strive together with me in your prayers, then the God of Peace will be with you. May we not view it as the reward of such prayer? You have prayed for the Lord’s servant and now God will bless you with an abundance of peace. Or did he hint that this is a necessary condition and cause of true prayer?
When they were all at peace among themselves, happy in their own minds and full of communion with God, then they would begin to pray for God’s servants. Put it first or last, may this peace come to you and may there be hearty pleading prayer to God that His blessing may rest upon the Church and upon the testimony of His servants.
Now we draw to a close, Brethren. Prayer is sought most earnestly by me at this moment. I speak, I think, in the name of all those who have to stand prominent as preachers of the Gospel of Christ. We beseech you, our beloved Friends and fellow laborers, that you wrestle together with us with God on our behalf that our testimony may be with power and with success, for the times are very difficult. The very air is full of unbelief! The solid earth seems well near to tremble with unrest—social and political—a deep and terrible unrest that fills us with dark forebodings of the future.
The hope of the world lies, under God, in the Church of Jesus Christ. Therefore we beseech you, Brothers and Sisters, if in other days and softer times you did, in a measure, hold back prayer, do so no longer, but wrestle for us with God! What is coming no man knows. We wish not to play the Cassandra, prophesying evil things continually, but who is there, though he is a Prophet bright-eyed as Isaiah, who can give you a good forecast? Are not all the signs of the times big with terror? Therefore to your tents, O Israel, and in your tents cry to God that a blessing may come upon this nation and the world!
Men are perishing all around us! Whatever may have been the state of the world in Paul’s day—and it was, no doubt, horrible to the last degree—it is not much better now! The population of the world has so largely increased since those days that all her problems have become more difficult. We are much more aware of the miseries of vast populations than people could have been in Apostolic times. Paul knew but little of the world except that portion of it which bordered on the Mediterranean Sea—the whole world, then, seemed to lie in a nutshell—but now our discoverers and geographers, our steamboats and telegraphs have brought a greater world close to our doors.
We share with the sorrows of India! We groan in the darkness of Africa! The cries of China are at our doors and Egypt’s griefs are our own! If a population anywhere is starving or suffering oppression, our newspapers declare the evil to all readers and general feeling is awakened! Our sympathies for humanity are called forth much more than in former times and, so far, this is good, but then it heaps heavier burdens upon the thoughtful and increases the terrible responsibility of those who are able to lend a helping hand!
Increase of knowledge demands increase of prayer! “The world for Jesus” is our motto, but how can the world be for Jesus if the Church of Jesus does not wrestle in her prayers? Dear Brothers and Sisters, remember that the Truth of God, alone, if not enforced by the Spirit of God, will not sink into the hearts of men. They say, “Truth is mighty and will prevail.” But this is only half the case. If you put the Truth of God upon a shelf and let the dust lie on her record, of what use will it be to men?
Truth unknown—how can it enlighten? Truth not felt—how can it renew? There must, therefore, be the preacher to call attention to the Truth—but how shall they preach except they are sent? And how shall they be sent aright except in the power of the Holy Spirit? And how can we expect the Holy Spirit if we do not ask for His working? Therefore, we pray you, wrestle together with us in your prayers, that the Holy Spirit may go forth with the Truth of God and by the Truth of God!
This will be to your profit. No man hears his pastor preach without deriving some benefit from him, if he has earnestly prayed for him. The best hearers who get the most out of a man are those who love him best and pray most for him. God can make us dry wells to you if you offer no prayers for us! He can make us clouds that are full of rain if you have pleaded with God on our behalf!
But the master argument with which we close is that which Paul mentions—“For Christ’s sake.” Oh, for God’s sake, for His name and Glory’s sake, if you would honor the Father, if you would let Jesus see of the travail of His soul, wrestle together with us in your prayers for the Divine working!
It is so, Brothers and Sisters, you know it is so that we are wholly dependent upon the Spirit of God! If it is so, that without God’s blessing we can do nothing, and that God’s blessing is given if we inquire of God for it, then I need not press you further—you will pray for me and for other preachers of the Word of God!
If your hearts are right, you will, each one, resolve to offer special, continuous and fervent prayer in private and in your families and in our holy convocations—and these shall deepen into an agony before God—and then a blessing shall be given us which we shall scarcely have room enough to receive! Lord, teach us to pray!