           Phe
     STANDARD
r BEARER
           A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE                                        T


     Dear Reader:
       This is the first of our special issues for the
     current volume-year. It is devoted in its en-
     tirety to the subject of Prayer. While you will
     find a variety of articles on the subject, the
     treatment is not, and is not intended to be,
     exhaustive. Originally we had planned to
     have ten articles in this issue; but due to
     space limitations one article, on "The Inter-
     cession of the Spirit," is being held over to
     the December 15 issue.
       We hope you will find this issue instruc-
     tive and spiritually helpful.                              -HCH

h                                              * Vol. LXI, No. 5, December 1, 1984  -


98                                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER



                                                                                      I                               THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                                                                                               ISSN 03624692
                                   CONTENTS                                                          Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
                                                                                                      Published b the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
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      Meditation -                                                                         Editor-in-Chief:  Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
                                                                                           Department Editors: Rev. Ronald Cammenga,  Rev. Arie den Hartog, Prof. Robert
         Never Be Anxious . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .98              D. Decker, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman C. Hanko, Rev. Ronald Hanko,
                                                                                           Mr. David Harbach, Rev. John A. Heys, Rev. J. Kortering, Rev. George C.
      That "Chief Part of Thankfulness" ............. 101                                  Lubbers, Rev. Thomas C.  Mtersma, Rev.  Marinus  Schipper, Rev. James  Slopse-
                                                                                           ma, Rev. Gise J. Van Baren, Rev. Herman Veldman.
      PrayerandtheCounselofGod.. . . :. . . . . . . . . . .103
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MEDITATION



                                                     Never Be Anxious
                                                                        Rev. H. Hoeksema
                                                                 Translated by Rev. C. Hanko

                   Be careful for nothitig;  but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let
                 your requests be made known unto God.                                                                                   -Philippians 4:6


      Hear, 0 ye of little faith!                                                             the Lord as your portion, even as-you walk in the
      Incline your ear, open your heart, ye children of                                       midst of pain and sorrow, burdened with a thou-
the Most High, who walk in the midst of this world!                                           sand cares, anxiously troubled with a thousand
      Listen attentively, ye who believe, ye who have                                         fears.


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  99



  Take heed! It is God, your God, Who speaks! He              We have certain needs, wants, and desires. We
addresses, admonishes, encourages you, saying,              need food and clothing, a roof over our heads,
"Be careful for nothing . . . . But in everything by        money to meet our obligations; we want conditions
prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your          in which we can find work for our hands; health
requests be made known unto God."                           and strength to perform our labors and to supply
  God, Who is GOD, is speaking to you! And when             our needs and the needs of our families. There are
He speaks, it behooves you to be silent, to listen, to      many things to which we are devoted and which
believe.                                                    deeply concern us. Often we are afraid that we
                                                            shall not receive the things we so sorely need, that
  Our sinful heart is so readily inclined to contra-        everything will go wrong, so that we will lack those
dict when God speaks. His divine Word stands op-            things that are so necessary for our lives.
posed to the shallow, lying word of man. It rules
and triumphs over the things that are seen. It does           Worry is aroused in us by the things we cannot
exactly what it says. It carries out all that God wills.    control, concerning which we have nothing to say,
It is highly exalted, far above our judgment of             over against which we are completely helpless, be-
things. It contradicts that judgment. And it requires       cause we cannot change them. Nor do we have a
that we surrender our judgment, and believe what            calling to change them. They are the things which
He says. Therefore that divine Word seems so im-            only God can and does' control. The farmer entrusts
possible, so contradictory, so humanly unattain-            his seed to the soil; he looks to the sky, but there is
able. And for that very reason our vain and foolish         no rain; and he becomes concerned about his crops.
hearts find thousands of reasons to cast His Word           The laborer is dependent upon the economy, but
from us, and to follow the dictates of our own              there is no work. The enemy creeps into the church
minds, as things appear to us, or to listen to the          and deceives many, whether by means of false doc-
word of man . . . .                                         trines and worldlimindedness, or by threats of
                                                            sword and fire. Gods cause seems to be delivered
  This was true already when we were confronted             into the hands of the enemy. God's child sees all
with the Word of God immediately preceding this             this and is filled with fear for the future . . . .
verse: "Rejoice in the Lord always!" How im-
possible that appears to be; how completely in con-           It is always concerning Gods work that we are
flict with all reality: to rejoice always!                  filled with anxiety.
  This applies also to this Word of God. Be careful           What fills our souls with worry is the fear that
for nothing!                                                God is leading us in the wrong direction, so that His
                                                            cause will meet with disaster.
  Yet it is God Who speaks.                                   What smallness of faith!
  Therefore, let your ear be attentive and your
heart receptive to this divine Word, in order that            When our eye strays from the living God and
you may respond with the Psalmist:                          stares at things, when things seem dark and
                                                            momentarily we see no way out, we want to direct
           0 why art thou cast down, my soul                for ourselves the course of our lives and the lives of
           And why so troubled shouldst thou be?            our dear ones, as well as the future of God's cause.
           Hope thou in God, and Him extol,                 As we see it, everything will go completely wrong
           Who gives His saving help to me.                 in the future. That is what creates worry . . . .
           *    *  * *  rjr  * *  al: * *                     For the moment all is well!
  Do not be careful! That is, be concerned about              The crops have not yet failed. We still have our
nothing; never be anxious!                                  daily bread. God's cause has never yet met with
  It is obvious that this is the negative of the posi-      defeat . . . . But!
tive statement, "Rejoice always; again I say, Re-             We look to the future. And that future fills us
joice!"                                                     with apprehension. Tomorrow, or the day after
  For who has not experienced that troublesome,             tomorrow; next week, or the next generation . . . .
oppressive frame of mind that burdens our lives             What will come of it all? Where is it all going? . . . .
and fills our hearts with anxiety and robs us com-            To that anxious heart of little faith this Word of
pletely of our joy in the Lord? Anxiety and joy are         God is directed. It demands: Be anxious for
mutually exclusive. They show themselves on the
face of the child of God by completely different            nothing! The Word is so absolute, so all-compre-
                                                            hensive, that it precludes any idea of an exception
creases and lines.                                          to the rule, any idea that the situation is so alarming
  Worry - who is not acquainted with it? Who has            that we have reason to worry, after all, about the
not experienced it?                                         future. In nothing!


100                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER



Be anxious in nothing! Be without anxiety in                    things must work together for good for those who
respect to all things!                                          love God. There is simply no reason why we should
  No, you understand, God's Word does not en-                   be troubled. We can understand this, and can even
courage a sort of careless attitude such as you some-           rest assured that this is so very true, but without ap-
times encounter in the world, which in the most                 plying it to our own hearts, so that when we face
difficult situations and under the most trying cir-             anxious days and the way becomes steep and diffi-
cumstances seeks to comfort you with saying,                    cult we fail to cast our way upon the Lord.
"Everything will be all right." The trouble with                  There is such a great difference between know-
such a careless attitude, with which the world flat-            ing the truth and applying it!
ters itself, is that it has no basis for its vain op-             Our practical living is far different from our con-
timism. Nor does Scripture teach that Gods people,              fession!
who are in the world, should assume an attitude of
cold, stoical indifference toward the things of the               How, then, can we bring this Word of God into
world, suppressing every desire and feeling, not                practice in our lives: Be careful for nothing?
caring what happens.                                              But! And then follows: In everything by prayer
  But God's Word does require of us that we shall               and supplication with thanksgiving let your re-
walk, also in our daily affairs, in childlike trust in          quests be made known unto God. Be careful in
the Most High.                                                  nothing, but! . . . . The one excludes the other. If
                                                                you make your requests known with prayer and
  He does all things well!                                      supplication with thanksgiving before God, you no
  In His eternal counsel, even from before the                  longer worry. You cannot worry. When you make
foundations of the world, God has determined a                  your requests known to God in everything, you have
place and purpose for all things. Nothing is ex-                nothing about which to worry. And if you worry
cluded. In that eternal counsel, Christ, His Church,            about anything at all, the reason is exactly that you
and all the elect have a place. For God wills to                have not made that matter known to God!
glorify Himself in Christ and in the eternal salva-               Your requests! That is, whatever lives in your
tion of His people in Him. Everything serves that               heart concerning the things you think you should
one great purpose, so that all things are so directed           have or the things which should happen; things you
by God that they serve that eternal purpose. Also               desire; upon which you have set your heart; things
those things that worry us must work together to                you expect.
realize that great and glorious purpose.                          Make them known to God!
  Be careful then in nothing!
  These are the things which the Most High God                    The idea is: do not go to your neighbor to make
has determined and decreed in eternal wisdom. No,               your complaints to him; do not shout from the
even more than that. He actually does all things and            housetop, complaining loudly about your needs.
works them out according to His eternal wisdom!                 Do not mull over them in your own mind, choking
The reins that control the course of events are in              yourself in your worries which crop up. But go
His almighty hands, and nothing escapes His                     with your requests, with aZZ your requests, to stand
power. He directs all things in sovereign love for              before the face of God and pour them out! If you go
His people, revealed to them in Christ Jesus!                   to your neighbor with your needs, he will not help
                                                                you. If you shout them from the housetop, you will
  Therefore, be not anxious! Be careful for                     find companions in your misery by the dozen. If
nothing! Ever!                                                  you mull over them in your own mind, the way
  Hope thou in God!                                             becomes darker and you become more anxious. But
  For this God is our God, forever and ever!                    turn your face to God, and then speak. Make your
                                                                requests known with your face directed to God.
  He will be our Guide even unto death!                         Not, you understand, to enlighten God, as if He
       *    *     *    *    *    *    *    *    *     *         does not know what you need; not to tell Him what
  Be careful for nothing . . . . But!                           actually should be done; but for your own sake!
  The Word of God also points out the way in                      Do you worry?
which we can be delivered from all our vain care                  Then go to God, tell Him, pour out your heart
and be truly care-free in the midst of this world.              before Him. Show Him your situation. Open your
  0, indeed, we can know all about this. We can                 innermost heart to Him. Tell Him everything. Hold
understand that God gave everything its place in                back nothing!
the counsel of His will, that He carries out that                 Do that by prayer, that is, by that act of faith
counsel in eternal wisdom, and that therefore all               whereby you sincerely approach the living God


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 101



      and acknowledge Him as the ;overflowing Fountain          pear; and if you would try to express them,. they die
      of every good and perfect gift, whereby you thirst        on your lips. We `probably thought we had reason
      after Him . . . .                                         for complaint or reason to be concerned about food
         Then it naturally follows that throughout your         and clothing. But before the face of -God our com-
      prayer and supplication you will give thanks. For         plaint is changed into shame, and we realize we
       all sincere prayer ends in a song of thanksgiving!       have never yet lacked. We still have food and drink
                                                                and clothing. We thought we should make our-
         And your care has disappeared!
I                                                               selves concerned about our business; and, behold,
         Be careful in nothing . . . . Buti                     He has provided throughout the ages. You speak
I        Why is that the way? Why do our prayers and            before the face of God, the true God, and all your
       supplications with thanksgiving deliver us from all      desires melt away like wax!
       our vain cares? Does this mean that if we are con-         Secondly, that means that we are filled with en-
       cerned about a certain thing ,which we strongly          tirely different desires, eternal and spiritual desires,
       want and think we so sorely need, God will grant it      seeking after God in Christ, to have our desires
     , to us as soon as we make our requests known to           abundantly supplied by His Spirit and grace!
      Him?                                                        And, thirdly, this prayer brings about the realiza-
         Perish the thought! Prayer and supplication in-        tion that He is our God and that all worry is
      tended as a magic charm to impose our desires             evidence of lack of faith . . . . And the peace of God,
      upon God and bring about a change in His way is           which passeth all understanding, fills your hearts.
      no prayer; nor does this ever end in thanksgiving!          Be careful for nothing . . . But!
         Take note: Unto God!                                     Tell it to God, Who is GOD!
         You should make your requests known with                                                                 H.H.
      prayer and supplication unto GOD! You fully, con-
       sciously place yourself before the face of God!          [This meditation originally appeared in Volume X,
       What does that mean? First of all, immediately           p. 481, in the Dutch language. It has been slightly
       many of your imaginary needs and desires disap-          condensed to meet .space limitations. HCHJ





                   That "Chief -Part of Thankfulness"
                                                     Rd. G. Van  Baren




         Briefly and simply the Heidelberg Catechism,           of his promises, in order that his declarations,
       Lord's Day 45, states that prayer "is the chief part     which they have implicitly believed, may in time of
       of thankfulness." This is the answer to the question     necessity be verified in their experience."
       concerning the necessity of prayer. If the answer is       The first principle of proper prayer is that it is to
       correct, as we firmly believe it is, then there is no    be addressed to the living, sovereign God Who has
       doubt but that prayer has an essential place in the      revealed Himself in His Word. There are many
       life of every Christian.                                 who do indeed appear to pray. Many address
        -John Calvin also expounds prayer and em-               "God." Our nation itself is considered a "pious"
      phasizes its importance in his "Institutes" as also in    nation - especially since the coins express, "In
       his various commentaries. He states, "By means of        God we trust," and the pledge of allegiance con-
      prayer . . . we penetrate to those riches which are       tains a reference to "one nation under God." Yet
       reserved with our heavenly Father for our use. For       the principle is violated.
       between God and men there is a certain communi-            Many consider that any prayer to any "god' is in
       cation; by which they enter into the sanctuary of        reality a prayer to the true God.. There are those
      heaven, and in his immediate presence remind him          who address "Allah." The Jews address "Jehovah'


 102                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



 - but not the Triune God. Others have their idols         correctly thank God through proper praise.
 to which prayer is made. Some flippantly speak fre-         Such thanksgiving through every form of prayer
 quently, "Oh, my God!" - though there is no               expresses one's gratitude to God for such great
 desire to come to God nor worship Him. Offence is         deliverance which is ours in Christ. He has re-
 taken if any imply that these "prayers" are not           deemed His people from sin and death - and that,
 prayers at all.                                           by taking upon Himself the guilt of our sins. There-
   God has revealed Himself in Holy Scripture              fore, gratitude and thanksgiving properly are ex-
 through Jesus Christ. He has shown Himself in His         pressed in all of our prayers to God. Prayer, uttered
 Word that He is the sovereign God Who rules over          in the consciousness of what God has accomplished
 all things. He presents what we need to know con-         through Christ, becomes important, sincere, urgent
 cerning His eternity, .His infinity, His almighty         before God. Who could neglect or minimize prayer
 power. But He has shown, too, in His Word the             - knowing such great salvation which He has ac-
 love and grace and mercy in the highest way               complished in His Son?
 through the sending of His only-begotten Son Jesus          A final important principle in proper prayer is
 Christ.                                                   that it must be presented by the regenerated, con-
   Thus,. in prayer one must address God properly          verted Christian to God.
 - as He has revealed Himself. All other utterances          It has been often implied, if not openly main-
 can not be termed "prayer." God must be ad-               tained, that anyone can pray. One need not the
 dressed as the true God.                                  work of the Spirit in his heart in order to pray. One
   Each must then carefully study the Word of God.         who addresses the idol, one who addresses
 Where else can we know God as He must be ad-              "Allah," or any other god of man's imagination, is
 dressed in prayer? It is surely true, all other things    presented as a good religious person. He prays -
 being equal, that the Christian who knows best the        and is to be commended for his endeavor.
 Word of God is the one also who most carefully and          Frequently, too, it is said that we are to urge the
 properly addresses God.                                   unregenerate to pray to God for forgiveness and
   The second principle involved in prayer is that         deliverance. Just as the dead sinner is urged to open
 prayer must be expression of true thanksgiving. It        up his heart's door to admit the Savior, so also the
 must be the "chief part of thankfulness."                 dead sinner is urged to address God and make re-
   That thankfulness must show itself in a proper          quest for His favors.
 asking of God that which is needed. In asking of            It must be understood that prayer is the fruit of
 God, a thankfulness is seen in that we acknowledge        regeneration. Not prayer leads to regeneration, but
 that all which we have, and all that we need, comes       regeneration and conversion produce proper
 forth from our God. The thankful Christian asks for       prayer. Just as a baby, obviously, can not call to
 all that which God has promised for Jesus' sake.          father or mother before conception or birth, so also
   We have our needs: both of body and of soul.            none can address "Father in heaven" except he is
 The Christian must seek his daily bread from              born again.
 Father in heaven. God provides all material things          It is true, certainly, that one born again does not
 which one receives. The Christian, in prayer, ex-         know the time of that rebirth. Before becoming
 presses this knowledge as he comes to God.                aware of rebirth, there stirs in him the desire to
   But, above all, in thanksgiving one acknowledges        seek God and to cry out to Him for mercy and
 that every spiritual blessing is of God. God pro-         grace. That prayer is heard, and the elect sinner is
 vides that way of salvation: the cross. In that cross,    brought to an awareness of his salvation in Christ.
_, Cod also bestows all spiritual blessings. He pro-         This same Christian continues to pray earnestly
 vides His Spirit Who guides in all the truth. He          to God. Because he is converted, he knows his deep
 gives His love and grace according to the need.           dependence upon God. He knows that he must
   Thanksgiving -in prayer manifests itself also in        come to his heavenly Father in order to receive all
 that praise is expressed to God. He made and sus-         that which God has promised. God is pleased to
 tains all things .by the Word of His power. He            provide for His people always in the way of their
 directs and governs according to His sovereign will.      asking of Him.
 And God has shown Himself as the God of all                 One's prayer-life reflects, then, the work of God
 power Who accomplishes all of His purpose. For            within one's heart. Where there is no prayer, where
 this, the Christian would adore and praise the            there is no concern about prayer, surely there is no
 Name of God in prayer. He must surely ascribe all         evidence of the work of the Holy Spirit in the heart.
 power to God. He acknowledges that which God              Where prayer is seen, there one also sees evidence
 does. Prayer becomes that means whereby one can           of God's work in the heart.


I                                                                                                                          I
                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                               103



       What then is prayer for the child of God? Is it a        applies himself, there is the growing ability to pray
     gift of God - or a special talent given to some? If        in harmony with Scripture to the glory of God.
     prayer is only a gift, then is it true that some Chris-      How does one develop this gift of prayer? First,
     tians can not properly pray - because they failed to       of course, one must know what to pray for as he
     receive the gift? One hears this at times. There are       ought. There can be presented no better model than
     Christians who claim an inability to pray - they           that which Christ presented to His disciples. In
     never received that gift.                                  answer to their request, "Lord, teach us to pray,"
       Prayer is indeed a gift of grace. We said that           He gave to them the well-known "Lord's Prayer."
     prayer is the fruit of regeneration. Not all receive       No more perfect model can be found. And the
     this gift in equal measure. Some of the saints can         meaning of that prayer is beautifully set forth in the
     pray in a manner which is almost envied by others.         Heidelberg Catechism. So,  a study of Scripture, a
     So eloquently, so fervently, can they come before          study of the Lords Prayer, a study of instances of
     God and bring their petitions. Others seem only to         prayer in Scripture all assist the Christian to
     be able to stammer a few words.                            develop in his own ability to pray.
       Still, all are given this great gift in regeneration.      And there is the matter of practice. Just as piano
     The gift is necessary in one's spiritual relationship      practice is necessary if a gifted person is to become
     to God. There can be no "tongue-tied" Christians.          an artist, so also regular practice is required for the
     There must be communion with God.                          Christian. He must be on his knees before God. He
       Prayer is also an ability or talent which can be         must learn to pray with his family. Nor is it out of
     developed. Just because the gift comes with regen-         line to expect that he also practice at praying in
     eration, does not mean that there is no change or          public. Constant effort bears blessed fruit. Prayer
     development of this gift. The abilities which God          seldom comes easy. Effort produces increasing im-
     gives can also grow. When one has the ability to           provement in one's prayers.
     play the piano, it takes much practice and great ef-         Let us be encouraged in learning to pray. It is the
     fort to become an accomplished pianist. So it is           chief part of thankfulness - which each must show
     with prayer. Where there is little effort, one's abili-    towards the God of our salvation.
     ty to pray does not develop. Where one faithfully





                     .Prayer and the Counsel of God
                                                      Prof. H. Hanko




       "Prayer Changes Things."                                   The expression itself sounds rather pious, and
       It is an old saying that is often used. I have even      appeal is even sometimes made to Scripture in sup-
     seen it inscribed on a plaque and hung on the wall         port of this contention. One is reminded, for exam-
     of a room in peoples' houses. It is evidently in-          ple, of the fact that God sent Isaiah the prophet to
     tended to inspire those who read it to be more faith-      tell Hezekiah to set his house in order, because he
     ful in prayer, by means of a promise that prayer           was going to die; but after the prayer of Hezekiah,
     really means something and can accomplish some-            the prophet was sent back to tell the king that his
     thing which we earnestly desire. It usually reminds        life would be extended fifteen years (II Kings
     me of appeals that are periodically addressed to the       20: l-11). Or one is told to read what James writes:
     electorate either to write one's congressman about         "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man
     an issue or to vote when elections are held, for your      availeth much" (James 5:16), which statement is
     letter (or vote) "can make a difference." Things in        followed by a reminder that the Lord withheld and
     Washington can be changed to your liking.                  sent rain upon Israel in the days of Ahab at the


104                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



word of Elijah. Did not Elijah's prayer change fruit-     and sickness, riches and poverty, yea, and all things
ful years to barren times,. and famine to a time of       come, not by chance, but by God's fatherly hand"
plenty?                                                   (Heidelberg Catechism, Lords Day X).
   Now it is true that the motto, "Prayer Changes           The counsel of God is also unchangeable. Because
Things," can have a good interpretation. It all de-       God determines His counsel from all eternity, it
pends upon what one means by the word "things."           cannot be changed. God never changes His mind
If by that is meant that prayer changes those who         about things. He never alters what He has peter-
pray, this would certainly be true, and no one            mined to do. Not all the prayers of all men and all
would deny it. But it must be admitted that this is       angels, brought with fervency and earnestness,
usually not the idea. People are not things. And the      made continuously for twenty years running, can
motto expresses the hope, especially by appeals to        make Him Who is God alone; change His eternal
the passages of Scripture mentioned above, that           mind about the smallest detail of history or of the
prayer will change the mind of God, so that those         course of our life. The prophet Malachi expresses
things which He has apparently determined to do           God's Word in this respect: "I am the Lord, I
are altered or amended by the prayers of people.          change not." The wise king of Israel testified of this
   No one can deny that this is a very common con-        truth: "There are many devices in a man's heart,
ception of prayer. Why else are people urged to           nevertheless the counsel of the Lord, that shall
pray long and fervently when a crisis comes into          stand' (Prov. 1921). And through Isaiah the Lord
their life? Why are "prayer chains" and "prayer           says, "My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my
vigils" organized when someone in a congregation          good pleasure" (Isaiah 46: 10).
is desperately ill? One cannot help gettingthe im-          There are here important truths which we ought
pression that through a storm of prayer the Most          to understand. God is God, high and lifted up above
High will be prevailed upon to do what so many            all His creation. He is great and glorious, the
want Him to do - even though His will is other-           sovereign Lord of all things. He sees and deter-
wise. It seems as if we are being told that by batter-    mines all that happens in heaven and on earth as
ing down the doors of heaven with large numbers           one perfect whole, with an eye and mind that spans
of people who press Gods throne with fervent and          the universe and comprehends 6000 years of the
anxious petitions, God can be persuaded to change         world's history. He determines all things with such
His mind and do something other than He had               perfection that every detail fits into place as all
originally intended to do.                                things serve the purpose which He has determined
  It is precisely this mistaken (and very carnal) no-     - the glory of His own great name in the everlast-
tion of prayer which creates the problem suggested        ing kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ.
in the title of this article.                               We see things in infinitely small measure. We
  In order to appreciate the problem fully, we must       see what happens at the moment, in a given minute
understand, first of all, what the Scriptures teach       of the worlds history. We see things as they appear
concerning God's counsel. There are several truths        to us with our weak and almost blind eyes. The dif-
concerning Gods counsel which are important for           ference between the minute things which concern
our discussion.                                           us at the moment and the all-comprehensive coun-
                                                          sel of God is greater than the difference between a
  In the first place, Scripture is clear on the point     small drop of rain which falls on our noses and the
(and it has always been maintained by those who           vast expanse of the oceans on our planet.
are truly Calvinists) that Gods counsel is all-com-
prehensive. By this we mean that God's counsel,             Therefore to presume to change the mind of the
which is His eternal plan, is absolutely inclusive of     Almighty God is a presumption so great, so start-
all that takes place in all the history of the world.     ling; so wicked, that it scarcely can be taken in. We
All that happens on earth, in heaven, and in hell is      who know nothing and understand nothing,
`determined absolutely in the counsel of God. We          bothered by something which for the moment we
need quote only one text in support of this: "For of      do not like, are going to tell the great Ruler of the
him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to      universe how He ought to do things? We are going
whom be glory for ever. Amen" (Rom.  11:36).              to attempt to prevail upon Him to alter His counsel
From the viewpoint of our own lives in the world,         to meet our whims? There is a pride and presump-
this means that every detail of our lives is deter-       tion here which is too great to ponder.
mined by God before the worlds were formed by               Nevertheless, a problem arises for all that. And
His creative Word. The believer confesses that God        the problem has to do with the fact that. we are en-
"upholds and governs heaven, earth, and all               joined by Scripture to pray. Prayer is -absolutely _
creatures; so that herbs and grass, rain and drought,     essential to the spiritual life of the child of God.
fruitful and barren years, meat and drink, health         Prayer is as important to him as breathing is to a liv-


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                               105



ing creature. Prayer is so critically a part of his life    fundamental truths of Scripture which we must un-
that he cannot even be a child of God without pray-         derstand, truths which are intended also to lead us
ing.                                                        into the true patterns for prayer.
  Now there are, of course, many different kinds              First of all, it must never be forgotten that,
of prayer. And with some of them we have no prob-           because God's counsel is all-comprehensive, it in-
lem. We are enjoined by all of Scripture, for exam-         cludes in it all our prayers. God has determined
ple, to use prayer as a means of praising God and           from eternity every prayer which every saint has
extolling His great and glorious name. Prayer is to         ever made. Prayer is a blessing, a privilege, a good
be an expression of our gratitude to God for all He         work. And God has determined from all eternity
has done for us. Prayer is to confess before God His        the relation between our prayers and their answers.
truth which He has revealed to us in Christ Jesus.          This, too, is known and fixed by God in His eternal
With these kinds of prayers there is no problem.            purpose. That we are still commanded to pray is
  But prayer is also for other purposes. Prayer is to       due to the fact that God does not save us as stocks
confess before the face of God and in the conscious-        and blocks, but as rational, moral creatures. What
ness of the atoning work of Christ on the cross all         is true of all the calling of all God's people is also
our sins, so that we may find forgiveness and par-          true of prayer.
don, peace for our troubled and burdened souls.               Secondly, prayer must always be made in the
Prayer is even the means which God uses to give to          deepest submission to the will of God. I fear that
us the blessings of His salvation. God will, after all,     C.S. Lewis, to whom we referred above, has never
give His grace and Holy Spirit only to those who            really come to grasp the spiritual importance of this
sincerely ask Him for them.                                 truth. When the Lord taught us to pray, He taught
  And it is here that we begin to see the problem.          us, first of all, to ask for the hallowing of His name,
Briefly stated, the problem is this: why ought we to        then submission to His will. These are the two
seek these things from the hand of God if God has           "hurdles" to overcome in prayer. If we can get over
determined to give them to us in His counsel? If it is      these two mountains, the rest of prayer becomes
true that His counsel determines to save us, and if it      very easy. Unreservedly to want Gods will, and
is true that all the blessings which He purposes to         not our own, is absolutely requisite to all prayer. In
give to us are surely ours in Christ Jesus, why need        fact, in the texts referred to above, where God prom-
we still seek them at His hand? Will we not receive         ises us whatever we ask, it is added that we must
them whether we ask or not? Jesus .makes the point          pray in faith. And while this certainly means more,
very strongly when He tells us that our prayers             it surely also means that we believe and confess that
ought not to be vainly repetitious, as if we shall be       God's will is always good. We pray for His will.
heard because of our much speaking, for "your               When we know what that will is - as in prayers
Father knoweth what things ye have need of,                 which seek Gods blessings of salvation upon us -
before ye ask him" (Matt. 6:7, 8).                          we do pray according to the will of God. When we
  But the problem is greater than this. We are              know not what His will may be - as in our prayers
repeatedly told in Scripture that we must bring not         for the recovery of a loved one who is desperately
only all our needs to God, but all our problems and         ill - we bow in humble submission to God's will.
troubles. We are even told to cast all our cares upon         Nor must we be reluctant to pray this. We may
God in the knowledge that He cares for us (I Peter          think we know what is good for us. We may ear-
5:7). And, as if this is not enough, we are told in         nestly and fervently want something from God
Scripture that he who asks will receive; he who             which seems to us to be essential for our life. But
seeks will find; he who knocks at heaven's door             we are so small and see so imperfectly that we can-
will have it opened to him. Even more strongly,             not tell what is really good. If we pray in the con-
Jesus tells us in Matthew 21:22: "And all things,           sciousness that God always seeks our good, no mat-
whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye            ter what great sorrows and troubles He sends upon
shall receive." (Cf. also Matt.  21:21;  18:19;  Mk.        us, we will readily pray for His will to be done.
9:22, 23; John 14:13.)                                      After all, all things work together for our good -
  It is interesting that C.S. Lewis claims to find          also the great afflictions of life.
here an insoluble problem. He does not know what              In the third place, and just because we are little
these statements of the Lord mean, and he cannot            children, God wants us to seek all things at His
understand the absolute problem of these verses in          hand. We do not pray to inform Him of things
the light of our calling to pray that the Lord's will       which are taking place here in the world; we do not
be done. (Cf. his essay, `"Petitionary Prayer: A Prob-      have to let Him know what we want; He knows
lem Without An Answer.")                                    before we ask. But we confess our dependence
  In answer to these problems there are several             upon Him when we come with all our needs to


106                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



Him. Even an earthly parent deals with his children      Hezekiah had died. God used this announcement of
in this way. A parent knows beforehand what he           his death to bring Hezekiah to his knees and to
plans to give his children, such as food at dinner-      teach him that Christ had to come through him. In
time. But he wants his children to come to him to        Gods counsel, it was all arranged: Gods first an-
seek these things from him. He is delighted when         nouncement to Hezekiah, Hezekiah's prayer, God's
his children seek these things from him. God is          promise of longer life, the birth of Manasseh. Much
pleased, too, when we seek what we need from His         is learned through prayer. Much which we would
hand: for we confess that we are His children, ut-       not otherwise understand is taught us when we are
terly dependent upon Him, Who is the fountain of         brought on our knees, also in our great needs,
all good.                                                before the throne of grace.
  In the fourth place, when we really come to God          Prayer changes things? Thank God it is not so.
in our prayers with Scripture in our hearts, then        The child of God who has learned what it means to
often our worldly, carnal, selfish, and even wicked      pray does not want prayer to change things. In-
petitions die on our lips. We may boast loudly that      deed, if he had the slightest suspicion that his
we are going to demand of the president that he do       prayers would alter the eternal and unchangeable
this or that for us; but when we are ushered into his    purpose of God, he would never dare to pray at all:
presence and see him in the majesty of his God-          for he would then be faced with the awful prospect
given office, our petitions choke in our throats. So     of having his weak, sinful, carnal, insignificant will
much more when we come to God. Standing con-             substituted for the all-wise, all-good, eternally
sciously before His face, filled with awe and            perfect will of His heavenly Father, Who always
wonder at His greatness and power, overcome by           does what is best and what will serve his everlast-
His majesty and everlasting goodness to His people,      ing salvation.
we dare no longer utter what we had intended to            It is never easy to pray. No one has said it is.
say.                                                     There are many times in our lives when our first
  Finally, God uses prayer to teach us what our          prayer is: "Lord, teach us to pray." For all prayer is
calling and obligations are. This was the case with      the work of grace, contrary to our nature, but given
Hezekiah. As is clear from the context, Hezekiah         us as a wonderful gift of love from our Father in
had no son. The line of David was stopped with           heaven.
hi until such a time as he produced an heir. Christ        (Slightly condensed to meet space requirements.
could not come unless Hezekiah brought forth             HCH)
seed. What a terrible thing it would have been if





Christ's Intercessory Prayer and Our Praying
                                               Rev. G. Lubbers




  Our subject is a weighty one and it is of extreme      throne, but not as members of the body of Christ
importance to come to grips with the Biblical impli-     Jesus (Heb. 1:14; Psalm 103:lO; Matt. 18:18). Satan
cations of it. The matter here under consideration is    cannot and will not pray, nor can anyone outside of
prayer, which is the chief part of Christian grati-      Christ pray the prayer of thankfulness to God, a
tude when exercised by believers in the midst of         prayer which is acceptable to Him.
this present world. Angels too worship the Lord
God before the great white throne day and night;           When we speak of the prayers of the saints we
they ever behold the face of our Father in heaven,       are not thinking of the prayers of the future ages in
but their prayers are in a sense qualitatively dif-      the perfection of heavenly glory as the full perfec-
ferent from the prayers of the redeemed saints.          tion of the covenant of God with man, face to face
They ever worship as attending servants of the           in the vision of God (the Visio Dei). On the contrary


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                               107



we are here concerned with the praying of the               of the saints - and in that order, too.
church in the here and now as redeemed, justified,            The first and basic proposition is that Christ's
and principally sanctified saints. We think of the          prayer is such that it affects the prayers of the
prayers of all saints as they are placed upon the           saints. There are, numerous Scripture passages
altar, the golden altar of incense in heaven, while         which we could cite at this point. However, we will
the saints are in the battle here on earth, running         limit ourselves to a classic passage from the Old
the race with patience. We are dealing with the             Testament Scriptures. Space forbids a broader con-
mystery of covenant godliness in relationship to the        sideration. We refer to Zechariah 12:9-14.  We in-
Redeemer - Christ in glory.                                 vite the reader to check this passage from his own
   We are interested in a better understanding of           Bible (KJV) .
the prayer-life of the Spirit-indwelt Christian upon          We notice here that the prophetic light shines
whom rests the Spirit of God and of glory (I Peter          toward what God will surely do in the future, in a
4:15). Apart from this Holy Spirit the children of          very definitely appointed time. It will be "in that
God can do nothing (John 15:5,6); they cannot even          day." (See Zechariah 12:3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 11; 13:1, 2, 4.)
say from the heart "Lord Jesus" (I Cor. 12:3); no           It will be the day when God will smite the shep-
one can confess the blessed name except through             herd, and by this smitten Shepherd He will gather
the Holy Spirit! Only those who abide in Christ as          His flock  (Zech.  13:7). This refers, of course, to
living branches in the vine can pray, for God is ever       what God wrought in the crucifixion of the Lamb of
far from the prayer of the wicked (John 9:31; Ps.           God. It refers to Calvary (John  19:34; Rev.  1:7).
18:41;  34:15, 16; Prov. 1:28; etc.).                       Here we see the water and the blood flow from
   That is one element in my subject.                       Christ's riven side after He has given up the Ghost
                                                            and died; after He was delivered for our offenses
   The second element in my topic is that there is          and was raised for our justification (Is.  53:5, 6;
also a prayer of Christ as high priest. This is His,in-     Rom. 4:25). And this smitten Christ is raised unto
tercessory prayer in glory before the face of the           God's right hand, ever to pray for us as the glorified
Father. We read clearly in the Bible that Christ ever       Mediator (Acts 2:32-34).
lives to pray for His struggling saints in the world;
in the battle of the ages they daily and without ceas-        Furthermore, the text in Zechariah 12:lO speaks
ing have to deal with their mortal foes: Satan, the         of the miracle of the grace of Pentecost, the pouring
world, and their own flesh. The living and glorified        out of the Spirit upon all flesh. The text says that
Christ intercedes for us. The nature of this interces-      God will pour out the Spirit of prayer and of suppli-
sion we hope to explore just a bit. It is comforting to     cations upon the house of David and upon the in-
know that in the conflict we have a high priest Who         habitants of Jerusalem. He will make suppliants of
can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities          the most stubborn and obstinate people; a people
(Heb. 7:25; 4:15; 5:2, 3). Due to Christ's interces-        who are by nature dead in trespasses and sins. And
sion we receive mercy and grace in the time of need         these shall be such people who come in earnest
(Heb. 4:15).                                                supplications when they shall look upon "ME,
                                                            JEHOVAH" Whom they have pierced. The power
   Obviously there are .two things which stand out          of the Cross will cause those to bow before the
in bold relief. We are here dealing with two dif-           throne. When John views the wonder at Calvary of
ferent prayers, two praying subjects: Christ the            actual water and actual blood flowing from a dead
merciful high priest in the things pertaining to God        Christ, he sees the fountain of grace and glory
(Heb.  2:17, 18), and the saints, who pray in their         opened! Yes, we look upon "HIM" Who was pierced
capacity of being a spiriitual  priesthood, a holy na-      for our sins. Ever we see the Christ as such. We ever
tion, called out of darkness into Gods marvelous            seek Jesus Who was crucified. From this pierced
light, to declare God's praises, as fruit of their sanc-    "Lord' the streams of water flow, so that it
tified lips (Ex. 19:5, 6; I Pet. 2:9; Deut. 33:4; Deut.     becomes in us waters springing up unto everlasting
7:6).                                                       life, rivers of waters from our bowels (John 4:14;
   Scripture teaches the most intimate relationship         7:38).
between the intercessory prayer of the Christ and             Do not forget ever that Christ went to heaven for
the prayers of all saints (Rev. 8:4). Frequently in the     the very purpose to fulfil His commission to give
book of Revelation we read of these prayers of the          repentance unto Israel for the forgiveness of sins.
saints as connected with the temple of God and              And this repentance and complete change of heart
with the great high priest in the temple (Rev.              is given to Israel as well as to the elect Gentiles
15:3-5;  22:17).                                            upon Christ's intercessory asking (John 14:16; Acts
  We shall now attempt briefly to show under two            5:3; Acts 2:33, 37; 11:18).
basic propositions these two prayers of Christ and            Such is the Spirit of grace and of supplications.


I                                                                                                                         I

     108                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



     The Spirit of grace is poured out in copious                 which we must put off. And hence, without
     measure; it is thus upon each of the elect individu-         Christ's intercession for us, to impart grace or
     ally according to the measure of the gift of Christ          repentance to us, we would not even ask as we
     (Eph. 4:7, 8). What a full measure! Our cup over-            ought in principle. Apart from Me ye can do
     flows! It is grace abounding. Such is the power of           nothing, and no one can come unto the Father, ex-
     Christ's intercessory prayer. The windows of                 cept through Me, Who am the way, the truth, and
     heaven are opened. There shall be showers of bless-          the life (John 14:6).
     ings (Ex. 34:26; Mal. 3:lO).                                   Then too there is not a perfect letting ourselves
       It is the Spirit of grace. It places us, who are legal-    rely upon Christ's accomplished work. Ever our
     ly "under grace," so under the influence of the              prayers of trusting alone in Christ must be made,
     Spirit that we are made to be full of "supplica-             having the intercessory approval of Christ. We
     tions." Notice the plural number. This term for              need to have the examination of Christ's Spirit
     supplication in the Hebrew is only employed in the           whether we truly hate with perfect hatred those
     plural. And the Hebrew term has in it the root               who are Christ's enemies, so that we can so unite
     "than" = grace. It is the fruit of grace; it is perhaps      ourselves with Christ in prayer and say "all Thine
     the most infallible fruit of election (Canons of             and mine enemies" cast Thou them into hell, and
     Dordt, I, 12). It is the incessant hearty sighing after      take me and all the elect with Thee into eternal
     the grace of the Holy Spirit (Heid. Cat. Lord's Day          W-Y.
     44. Ques. 115). Of these "supplications" the Psalms            Shall our prayers then be heard we need the in-
     speak often (Ps. 28:2, 6; 31:12; 116:1, etc.). Daniel's      tercessory prayer of Christ, the Son of God in our
     great prayer is an excellent example of these "sup-          flesh, risen and glorified. For He is the very
     plications" (Dan. 9:3, 23).                                  "Amen" of God. In His name we say "Amen." And
       Now our prayers all need to be purified by Christ          that is no mere term to indicate that our prayer has
     as good works of thankfulness. They are all im-              ended, but it is the blessed assurance that God will
     perfect and polluted with sin. We pray so imper-             more surely hear my imperfect, stammering prayer
     fectly. Alas, this is our everyday experience. We            than what I feel in my heart that I even desire such
     shall not worship God perfectly in spirit and in             great benefits from Him. He hears us for Christ's
     truth until we arrive in heaven. It is a refreshing          Name, for Christ's prayer's sake.
     wind from heaven's grace to know that there we                 Yes, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus
     shall see God face to face in Christ. The true ear-          Christ, the righteous one. He is there to plead our
     marks of a prayer which is acceptable to God and             case legally, but also as our advocate, Who works in
     heard of Him we have but in principle, a very small          us both to will and to do according to God's good
     principle.                                                   pleasure.
       In the first place they are not wholly and unspot-           Christ's intercessory prayer vouchsafes the hear-
     tedly directed to the one only true God as revealed          ing of our imperfect prayer. And presently, in
     in Gods word. God's perfect law and our prayers              heaven's glory, His prayer will too be all in all in
     are not to be disregarded. We do not yet serve God           our prayers!
     only in our prayers with all our heart, and mind,
     and soul, and strength. Christ must make our
     prayers His own. Our prayers are as of the mem-
     bers of Christ's church, which is His body, the
     fulness of Him that filleth all in all (Eph. 2:23). Only
     thus, when Christ makes our prayers His as the                   The Standard Bearer
     High Priest, the head of the church, are they accep-
     table. God is too pure of eyes to behold sin. We                     makes a thoughtful
     have a high priest which becomes us: holy, harm-
     less, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made                          gift for the sick
     higher than the heavens (Heb. 7:26).
       In the second place we must ever bear in mind                 and shut-in. Give the
     that we do not entirely know our need. The Lord
     knows His own and their errors as God knows and
     sees them. Often we do not even know what we                         Standard Bearer.
     should ask for. Besides, there is ever the unwilling-
     ness of the flesh to admit the depth of our need. We
     are too often filled with hypocrisy and self-righ-
     teousness. There is so much malice, guile, and evil


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                               109



                              Pray Without Ceasing
                                                  Rev. J. Kortering





  How important is prayer in your life?                      observation: "Prayer meetings, or hours for prayer,
  In grasping for an answer to this important ques-          are undoubtedly to be recommended, even though
tion, we undoubtedly evaluate our prayer life on             our Holland people will never succeed to give to
two levels. First, we ask ourselves, how frequently          these meetings the character of the English prayer
do we pray? Do we pray when we arise at the be-              meetings. These little talks, after which six or seven
ginning of the day? Do we sit down quietly at meal           hearers lead in a short prayer, compose an art
time and have devotions? If we are engaged in                which the English understand very well, but we
Christian education or have Christian gatherings,            alas, do not." E Voto (Commentary on the Heidel-
do we begin and end the meetings in prayer? What             berg Catechism) Vol. 4, p. 420. One wonders
about the end of the day? Even as we begin to think          whether we encounter the same thing when we
about the frequency, we are reminded that there              consider our Singapore brothers and sisters who
are times we pray alone, and other times when we             earnestly engage in prayer cells, opening their
have group prayers. How important is this? Second-           hearts to the Lord in the presence of one another.
ly, we evaluate on another level: how sincere are            Can we even do that here? Are we spiritually able?
these prayers? Importance is not determined mere-            CONSTANT PRAYER
ly on the basis of frequency; we must add the
spiritual dimension of sincerity. If prayer is impor-          The Word of God does emphasize the need to
tant, it will not be an empty act of external piety,         pray without ceasing. These words are taken literal-
expected of me to perform, yet one I don't delight           ly from I Thessalonians 5:17. Our Lord empha-
in. Rather, we will pray from the heart and have             sized, "Watch ye therefore and pray always, that ye
communion with our God. It will furnish us with              may be accounted worthy to escape all these things
spiritual energy and worshipful praise.                      that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son
                                                             of man" (Luke 21:36). Luke also emphasized, "And
  It is rather significant that in evaluating our            he spake a parable unto them to the end that men
prayer life we exercise caution and patience. It is          ought always to pray and not to faint" (Luke 18: 1).
very easy for us to throw up our hands in utter              Enoch's covenant communion with God is de-
dismay and say, my prayer life is so empty and I             scribed thus: "And  Enoch walked with God"
cannot honestly say it is important. Prayer is a             (Genesis  5:22). This must have included constant
measure of godliness, and we struggle with our lack          prayer. The Psalmist declared, "My soul, wait thou
of godliness. It is hard work to pray. We say this not       only upon God!" (Psalm 62:5). Such waiting was an
as an excuse for spiritual indifference and worldli-         act of prayer.
ness, rather we must encourage one another not to
despair, but to press on in our growth in spiritual-           What does it mean to pray always, or without
ity, also as it relates to prayer. It is good to compare     ceasing? Let's use an illustration. We say the sun
ourselves to men of God who were giants in prayer,           always shines in Jamaica. Presumably that means
whether they are those mentioned in the Bible or            that not a day goes by without sunshine. It is
those whose accounts are recorded in daily                  physically true. We also say, a covetous man is
memoirs. Think of men like August Toplady, Ralph             always greedy. This means that his character is
Erskine, John Owen, Andrew Bonar, and D.M.                   morally possessed by greed; his thoughts, his ac-
M'Intyre.  Add to that list one like the great mis-         tions, his secret motives are greedy. Applying these
sionary George Whitefield. These English divines            two usages to prayer, we do not interpret the
spent hours in prayer. Time and again they would             "always" in a physical sense, that we must do
set aside an entire day for spiritual reflection and        nothing other than being physically engaged in
prayer. Even when they were busy with religious             prayer. Rather, the second idea applies, the whole
duties, some would arise from 2-4 a.m. in order to          of our lie from a moral perspective is prayerful.
be alone with God.                                          We are mindful of God's presence, our whole life is
                                                            one cathedral within which we worship our God in
  The English and Puritans have this pietistic em-          everything we do. It may have been easier for Jacob
phasis which is quite different from our Dutch              to do this within his tent and while caring for his
tradition. Abraham Kuiper offers this interesting           family and possessions, yet the principle is the


110                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



same for us. A mother prays without ceasing when          are at the table. The time for meaningful discussion
she makes her home a house of worship, when the           on Scriptures or a prayer of any length is inappro-
music that fills the home, the programs of enter-         priate at the beginning of the meal. All are hungry
tainment, the books and magazines that are avail-         and the meal will get cold. Besides, after eating at a
able for reading, the conversation and conduct of         leisurely pace (if this is possible, surely desirable)
family members, all are done in the awareness of          and enjoying dinner conversation with the family,
God's presence. The same is true in the  work-            the children are getting restless and are least
world. Amidst the hammer blows of construction,           responsive for spiritual devotions of any length.
the beeps of computers, the roaring sounds of in-         Hence meal time devotions are usually short, with
dustry, the Christian laborer prays without ceasing       Scripture and a meaningful point of application.
as he engages in his work knowing that God is             Family circumstances can altar this considerably.
sovereign over all and that all this work serves          When to have meaningful family worship is con-
Him.                                                      st,antly a challenge that each family has to work out
PRAYER TIME                                               for the best of all concerned, taking into considera-
                                                          tion the circumstances of the individual family.
   Within such an environment of Christian living,
we are also commanded by God to spend time in               The point we should make here is this, it is im-
prayer. It will not do for us to say, I don't need to     portant for the father and mother to pray out loud
pray when I wake up or during the day, I'm pray-          at these devotions. Silent pray is not appropriate.
ing without ceasing all the time.                         I'm thankful that this influence of some Dutch
                                                          families is fading away. Our children must hear
  What better example do we have than our Lord            father and mother pray! They must have the
Himself. "And in the morning, rising up a great           assurance that these prayers include them and they
while before day, he went out, and departed into a        hear that. They themselves will learn to pray from
solitary place and there prayed' (Mark 1:35). We          such audible prayers. In these family prayers,
read often how Jesus either took the disciples along      mother has her place to pray as well. Headship
or even went alone and spent the night in solitary        doesn't mean only father prays. He must, to be
prayer. From this point of view, Jesus instructs us,      sure, but the role of helpmeet includes spiritual
"But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet       assistance, also in family praying. There also will
and when thou hast shut the door, pray to thy             be time when our children will be encouraged to
Father which is in secret and thy Father which            pray aloud with the family.
seeth in secret shall reward thee openly" (Matt.
6:6).                                                       A few thoughts yet on our private individual
  You may wonder, where did we get the idea of            prayers.
praying at meal time? We read of this in Psalm              The one word that speaks the most to this impor-
55:17: "Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I         tant activity in the inner closet is QUIET! Surely,
pray, and cry aloud and He shall hear my voice."          we need a quiet place. The Lord went to the wilder-
Similarly, Daniel opened his window while in              ness. It may be a room, it may be in the barn, it may
Babylon and prayed, three times a day, looking            be in the woods, but it must be quiet. Away from
toward Jerusalem, "and he gave thanks before his          the activities of life, the soul has opportunity to
God" (Daniel 6:lO). Whether that was connected            worship, to think, to read, to reflect, to open up to
with eating we are not told. It is a conclusion we        the God of heaven. In our age, this has to be
draw. Daniel was engaged in private devotions.            planned, because quietness is a rare commodity to-
The Lord Jesus emphasized that "Man shall not live        day. In that quiet place we need a quiet hour, We
by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth         need to set aside time. Often the question arises,
out of the mouth of God" (Matt. 4:4). Join these          how long should our devotions last? You can see
ideas together and we are on good Biblical ground         from the examples of godly saints, time is not
to have devotions at meal time.                           mechanically set, it follows from the heart that is in
                                                          communion with God. Here too, we can do much
  W.e must carefully distinguish private prayer           to fill precious time with sweet communion with
(devotions) from family prayer (devotions). These         God. If we recall what prayer is, we can easily fill
two aspects of our- prayer life must not be com-          hours with prayer. We worship God in prayer, fill
bined or confused. It is not enough for our spiritual     our minds with divine thoughts. This is done with
welfare to pray at table with our families and not to     our Bible open, when we meditate upon God's
have private devotions. We must have both,                precious Word. Many times devotional reading
  Family devotions are to be encouraged. Whether          assists us, singing quietly lifts our souls to God, or
all our family devotions are at the table when we         we enjoy the beauty of nature. Prayer is a confes-
eat is another subject. All of us learn that there are    sion of sin - not a general reference, but an honest
definite limitations with family devotions when we        review of our past life before the holy face of God.


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 111



We wrestle, making explicit mention of these sins          the cross of Jesus, the peace of God that passes all
and seeking forgiveness. Also, we have many re-            understanding floods our souls.
quests that we make for things natural and spiri-            As we think upon our prayer life, may God keep
tual. God provides for us in the way of our asking.        us from both extreme evils: praying out of empty
We have many needs which take much time in ex-             tradition, or not praying at all. May our prayers lift
pressing. Finally, prayer requires a quiet, heart. In      us to the gate of heaven; and even if our pillow be a
the way of confessing our sins and meditating upon         stone, may it be Bethel, the House of God.





                                Praying for the Sick
                                             Prof: Robert D. Decker




  There are not a few questions concerning this            die. Believest thou this?" (John  11:25, 26). The
subject among God's people. There are many dif-            child of God does not die in the sense that he
ferences of opinion concerning this subject as well.       perishes forever in hell. Death for the Christian has
For what may we pray for the sick? What ought to           been changed. Through the cross and resurrection
be the contents of prayers offered on behalf of            of Jesus Christ, death has become the passage from
those who are ill? May we pray for healing? The            this earthly life (which is nothing but a continual
question concerning prayers for the healing of the         death) into perfect fellowship with God in the glory
sick provokes the most discussion and even contro-         of heaven. Already now, through the principle of
versy. Some, many in fact, believe we must pray            regeneration, we have the life of Christ in our
for the physical restoration of the sick. Many teach       hear+. When the Lord returns we shall be raised in-
that if we pray "&n faith" God will heal the sick in       corruptible to enjoy God's fellowship eternally in
answer to our prayers. Among some, prayer chains           the New Creation. In that faith and out of that hope
are formed so that when illness or tragedy strikes         we are able to exclaim with the Apostle, "So when
someone, many prayers will ascend on that                  this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and
person's behalf. What does Scripture teach con-            this mortal shall have put on immortality, then
cerning these matters?                                     shall be brought to pass the saying that is written,
  We must understand that sickness is the result of        Death is swallowed up in victory. 0 death, where is
the fall of the human race into sin. There was no          thy sting? 0 grave, where is thy victory? The sting
sickness before the fall. But when Adam and Eve            of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
fell-into sin God said, "In the sweat of thy face shalt    But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory
thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for      through our Lord Jesus Christ" (I Corinthians
out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto     15:54-57).
dust shalt thou return" (Genesis 3:19). When man             Sickness, like death itself, of which it is part, has
fell into sin he became dead in trespasses and sins.       also been changed. Sickness is not something bad
God executed His sentence: ". . . for in the day thou      for the child of God. By this we do not mean that
eatest thereof thou shalt surely die" (Genesis             the child of God is exempt from the anguish, pain,
2:17b).  Sickness is part of that death which has          anxiety, and misery which accompany the physical
passed upon all men on account of sin.                     ills he experiences. Quite the contrary! What we
  Christ has redeemed us from the curse through            mean is that sickness belongs to the "all things"
His suffering and death on the cross. Jn the resur-        which work together for good to them who love
rection of Christ we and all of the elect are              God, who are the called according to His purpose
delivered from the power of death. Jesus said, "I          (cf. Romans 8:28). Sickness belongs to the chasten-
am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth        ing of the Lord. Sickness, therefore, has a sanctify-
in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And         ing effect in the life of the Christian. This is plainly
whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never           taught in Hebrews 12:5-11.  In this passage Scrip-


112                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



ture admonishes us not to despise the chastening of        He must be content with such things as he has in
the Lord, nor to faint when we are rebuked by Him.         the confidence that God will never leave or forsake
The reason is that God chastens those whom He              him. He needs the grace to confess, "The Lord is
loves. The Lord scourges every son whom He                 my helper, and I will not fear what man can do un-
receives. Chastening, of which sickness is a form, is      to me" (cf. Heb. 13:5, 6). This applies to all of life,
proof of the fact that we are Gods children, the           but especially when one is sick. The sick need grace
ones whom He loves in Christ Jesus. Just as an earth-      to be conformed to the will of God whether that
ly father disciplines his children in love, corrects       will of God be healing or whether the sickness
them when they do evil, so God, our heavenly               result in death.
Father, chastens His children. God does this for our         For this we must pray when we are sick. This is
spiritual profit. His purpose is to work holiness in       the prayer we must bring for the sick. This is what
us. Even though it be true that no chastening, no          Jesus taught us when He said, "After this manner
sickness, seems joyous in this life, but grievous,         pray ye: Our Father which are in heaven, Hallowed
afterwards it yields the peaceable fruit of righteous-     be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy wiZZ be done
ness in the ones exercised by it.                          . . . " (Matt. 6:9, 10). This is the need of the sick.
  How true to our experience! No one denies the            Gods will must be done in his life. Therefore,
misery and pain which sickness brings. Countless           when we pray in our sickness we pray that we may
of Gods people experience the anguish, both                have grace to accept the will of God for us. This is
physical and mental, which comes with cancer,              precisely how Jesus prayed when, in anticipation of
heart disease, stroke, and other forms of sickness.        the cross, He poured out His heart in the Garden of
But in all of that they learn their utter dependence       Gethsemane. Jesus was experiencing terrible suf-
upon God, and their own weakness. God's people             fering. He was in agony: ". . . and His sweat was as
in their sickness learn more and more not to set           it were great drops of blood falling down to the
their affection on things earthly, but to seek the         ground' (Luke 22:44). Jesus told His disciples, "My
Kingdom of God. They learn to trust in the Lord, to        soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death . . . "
pour out their hearts before Him. In the way of            (Matt. 26:38). In all that agony (a suffering we shall
sickness they are reminded of the fact that they are       never have to endure) Jesus prayed three times
strangers in the earth, pilgrims as all their fathers      these words: "0 My Father, if it be possible, let this
were. When God's child is put upon a bed of pain           cup (the agonies of hell on the cross) pass from Me;
he learns that God sends that sickness in His love         nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt" (Matt.
and wisdom, not to destroy him but to save him.            26:39). This is how we too must pray for the sick.
God in His love uses sickness and other trials to          We need to conform to Gods will in our sicknesses
prepare and mold His children for the place Jesus is       and pains. This means we need to know that God
preparing for them in the Father's House of many           loves us and that our sins are forgiven for Jesus'
mansions. Sometimes, often in many cases, this in-         sake. We need to know that God knows what is
volves a profound spiritual struggle for the Chris-        best for us. That God in His inscrutable wisdom is
tian; but always this is the effect of sickness in the     leading us in ways of sickness in order to prepare
life of God's child. By faith the Christian is given to    us for our place in glory is what we need to know.
see that "our light affliction, which is but for a mo-     Along these lines, therefore, we must pray. And
ment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eter-        when we know these things we will have peace
nal weight of glory" [II Cor. 4:17, 18).                   with God and we will be content in whatever way
  Understanding what sickness is according to the          God leads.
teaching of God's Word we can also understand the            This does not mean that we may not express our
needs of the sick. It ought to be evident that the         desires to the Lord when we or a loved one is sick.
need of the sick is not necessarily physical healing       We certainly may. God wants us to tell Him exactly
or restoration. When God strikes one of His                how we feel and what we desire. God wants us to
children with sickness, His will for that person may       pour out our hearts to Him and to cast all of our
very well be that he recover and continue for a time       burdens upon Him. The Lord cares for us and He is
his earthly pilgrimage. But it is also very well possi-    our refuge and strength. A husband may certainly
ble that God's will is that the sickness terminate in      express in prayer his desire that his sick wife be
the death of that person. How then should we pray          restored to health for his and his children's sakes.
for that person, and how should the sick person            But the deepest desire of that husband must be that
himself pray? The great need of the sick is to be          God's will be done and that he and his wife and
content in whatever way God leads him. His con-            children learn to be content.
versation (manner of living) must be without covet-          In this connection the question often arises con-
ousness. This means the sick must not desire that          cerning the meaning of James 5:14-16.* The text
which God does not give him or intend to give him.         reads: "Is any sick among you? let him call for the


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                                           113



elders of the church; and let them pray over him,                being saved from his spiritual sickness. He is saved
anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And              and raised up by the Lord in the way of his sins' be-
the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord            ing, forgiven. This in brief is the meaning of this
shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins,               passage.
they shall be forgiven him." This text is appealed to               In our sicknesses let us pray, "Have Thine own
by Pentecostals  and faith healers as support for                way, Lord, have Thine own way. Thou art the Pot-
their errors. It does  not- teach what they say it               ter, I am the clay. Mold me and make me after Thy
teaches. The term for "sick' refers to spiritual sick-           will . . . ."
ness or weakness which makes it impossible for a
person to pray. In this event he must call the elders            *For a detailed explanation of this passage the reader may con-
of the church to pray for him. The anointing with                 sult Prof. H. Hanko's articles in the Protesfanf  Reformed Theo-
oil is symbolic of the Holy Spirit. That this is correct          ZogicaZ JoumaZ;  vol. VIII, 2 - IX, 1,2. These issues are available
is clear from verse 15 which speaks of the person's               at the Seminary Book&ore.





                       Learning to Pray in Public
                                                   - Rev. James Slopsema




  There are a number of occasions in which we                    school functions simply because they fear being
may be called upon to pray in public. By praying in              with people and doing things in front of people.
public we mean praying audibly before a group of                 And part of that fear is the fear of leading in prayer.
people. We may be called to do this at the conclu-
sion of a Bible Society meeting or while visiting                   Others there are who can manage when called to
with friends at meal time. We may be asked to -pray              pray publicly. Nevertheless, they find leading in
at a congregational meeting or a school society                  prayer very difficult and nerveracking. If they
meeting. There are certain positions in the church               know ahead of time that they must close a meeting
and kingdom that require that we pray regularly                  with prayer, it ruins the meeting for them. In turn,
before others. Consistory members are expected to                they feel that their prayers in public are bumbling
take turns closing the consistory meetings with                  and inadequate. They are very uncomfortable with
prayer and to lead the consistory in prayer before               it all and wish they could do better.
the worship service. They must also lead in prayer as               Praying in public is something in which we
they conduct family visitation, go on sick calls, and            ought to gain a certain amount of proficiency. Cer-
visit the poor. Sunday School teachers are expected              tainly we ought not allow the fear of leading in
to lead in prayer. So too are teachers in the Chris-             prayer ruin what otherwise would be a profitable
tian school. We could go on. There are innumerable               and enjoyable time with our fellow saints. Nor
situations in which we may be called on to pray in               must we let this same fear hinder us from taking
public. This is true of both men and women, young                our proper place in the church and kingdom of
and old.  ,'                                 Ii                  God.
  There are many in the church who find it dif-                     Howl does one learn to pray in public?
ficult, if not impossible, to pray in these kinds of                The best time to learn this is during one's youth.
situations.                                                      Youth is the time of learning. We learn best and
  Some find it impossible to pray in public. The                 most, easily in the years of our youth. This is true
thought of praying before others sends them into a               not only for prayer, but essentially for everything.
panic. Consequently, they avoid those situations                 Consequently, the ideal is to learn to pray in public
where they may be called to lead in prayer. They                 as a child and young person. Parents and teachers
wish they could lead in prayer; but they find that               must attend to this. Parents must teach their
they simply can not. We might be surprised to                    children to pray in the home, not only in their
know how many people regularly avoid church and                  private devotions but also out loud during the fami-


114                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



ly devotions. Teachers also ought to require their             What's the solution?
students to pray out loud and lead in prayer. This is          The solution is first that we must learn to pray.
true of the teachers both of the Christian school and
Sunday school. This is the ideal way to learn to pray          Prayer is something that must be learned. Prayer
in public.                                                   is not something that comes naturally or that is in-
                                                             stinctive. This is due to the very nature of prayer
  However, not all have learned to pray in public            itself. Prayer is a profoundly spiritual thing. Prayer
as children. What of them? They too can learn to             is an act of communion with the living God. In
pray in public. It may not be as easy for them as for        prayer we very really come before the presence of
children. But they too can and ought to learn to             the living God Who is spirit and therefore invisible,
pray publicly.                                               Who is also holy and just so that His eyes are too
  There are usually two reasons why people find              pure to behold sin. And as we come before that God
public prayer difficult.                                     in prayer we are able to communicate with Him.
  The first reason is that they find prayer in               We are able to speak to Him, praise Him, thank
general difficult. Those who have extreme difficul-          Him, lay before Him our burdens and needs. This
ty praying in public frequently find it just as diffi-       is not something we are able to do by nature. We
cult to pray in private. The simply don't know how           are able to come before God in prayer only by vir-
to pray. They really don't know what to ask for in           tue of the work of God's grace that transforms us
prayer; they don't know what to say. They are at a           from darkness into light. And even then prayer
loss when it comes to prayer. And therefore they             must be learned. We must learn not only the proper
don't pray very much either, even in the privacy of          manner in which we are to approach God but also
their homes. Yes, they pray at meal times. They              what we are to say to Him.
may even lead in prayer at home. But their prayers             To learn to pray requires first that we learn the
generally follow a pattern. They're essentially all          principles of prayer. There are certain principles
the same with only minor variations from time to             that God has laid down that must guide us in
time. And therefore their prayers tend to be mean-           prayer. These principles our Lord has incorporated
ingless over the course of time and are uttered              in the Lord's Prayer. Without the guiding light of
thoughtlessly. When and if they pray in addition to          these basic principles, prayer becomes meaning-
the meal time devotions, their prayers partake of            less, frustrating, impossible. The first step therefore
the same nature as their meal time prayers. They             in learning to pray is to learn these principles. It is
may even be the same prayer uttered at meal time,            the purpose of this special issue of the Standard
again with slight variations. But it all tends to be         Bearer on prayer to set forth these principles. These
automatic, meaningless, unfulfilling, frustrating. It        principles can be learned from any good exposition
certainly isn't what it ought to be.                         of the Lord's Prayer, such as is found in Volume 3
  Here we come to the root of the problem. If one            of The Triple Knowledge, by Herman Hoeksema.
finds difficulty praying even in the privacy of his          These principles ought also to be taught in the
home, he will also find it difficult to pray in public       catechism room and from the pulpit.
before others. In fact, the difficulties one ex-               The next step in learning to pray is by doing.
periences praying in private will become exagger-            That's how we learn any skill. First you learn the
ated as he tries to pray in public.                          principles. But principles alone aren't enough. One
  And that leads us to the second reason why peo-            must also learn how to put principles into practice.
ple find it difficult to pray before others. Many peo-       And that's learned simply by doing. The same is
ple are nervous and self-conscious in front of peo-          true with prayer. Having learned the principles of
ple, especially when they speak in front of a crowd.         prayer, we learn to put these principles into prac-
This is called stage fright. It's also called the fear of    tice simply by praying. We must start with our own
performance. But it's a common problem. Some                 private prayers. We must pray, and pray often. We
people have been able to overcome this problem to            must pray at the family altar and we must pray in
one degree or another; others have not. Some peo-            our own private devotions. And always we must
ple will do almost anything to avoid standing in             strive to put into practice the principles of prayer
front of other people. And this serves to explain in         we have learned. And simply by doing we slowly
many instances why people can not pray in public.            learn how to pray - what to say in prayer, the
Because of stage fright even those comfortable with          proper manner of prayer, how to pray meaning-
prayer in the privacy of their homes will often fail         fully, how to feel comfortable with prayer.
when it comes to praying in public. And as we have             This is 90% of the solution to learning to pray in
already suggested, if prayer is a struggle generally,        public. 90% of all public speaking is simply having
being required to pray in front of others will simply        something worthwhile to say that you want to tell
compound the problem.                                        others. And the same is true with prayer. Knowing


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                115



how to pray is 90% of praying in public.                    to men. And therefore we ought to be concerned
  The next step is to learn to do in public what you        that God is pleased with our prayers, not men. And
have learned to do privately.                               God is pleased with our prayers, public and
                                                            private, when our prayers arise from a sincere
  In this connection there are several suggestions.         heart of faith.
  First, we must remember that we need not be                 Thirdly, it is important to remember to pray for
eloquent when we lead in prayer; nor must we try            the occasion. Some make the mistake of praying for
to be eloquent. The feeling that we must somehow            everything under the sun when they must open or
wax eloquent in prayer hinders many in their                close a meeting with prayer or must lead the con-
prayers, especially when they pray in public. All           sistory in prayer before the worship service. These
too. often the attempt to be eloquent in prayer             prayers can often be long and tedious. They are not
brings one into the same error against which Jesus          always so profitable for those being led in prayer.
warns in Matthew 6:5 - praying to be seen of men.           Neither are they easy to utter, especially if one
Instead of seeking eloquence in prayer we must              finds it somewhat difficult to lead in public prayer.
simply pray from the heart. Our prayers, even               Much better and easier to limit one's prayer to the
public prayer, ought to be nothing more than a sim-         occasion, asking God's blessing on the activities on
ple, yet sincere, outpouring of what lives in our           hand. And be simple and precise. Utter what is in
hearts. The people who are truly eloquent in prayer         your heart and then be done.
are not those who consciously seek to be eloquent
but who simply pour out their hearts to God in                Finally, if we know ahead of time that we will be
prayer.                                                     called upon to lead in public prayer, a little prepara-
  Secondly, we ought not to worry what men will             tion is helpful. Don't write out or memorize a
think of our prayers. Most stage fright in public           prayer. Instead, collect your thoughts as to what
speaking and also in leading in prayer comes from           kind of things you ought to mention in this prayer.
an over-concern with what people will think. We             And then commit the matter to God Who has prom-
want people to approve. Above all we don't want to          ised to give us that which we are to say when
make a mistake that will cause others to disap-             called upon to bear testimony of Him.
prove. We ought not to' be too concerned with this.           In all this bear in mind that it's never too late to
After all, when we pray we are praying to God, not          learn to pray, even in public.





                     Prayers That God Will Hear
                                                 Rev. John A. Heys




  Even as it is true that all that glitters is not gold,    ness that blood-washed sinners have through fel-
so is it true that some of the prayers that seem to us      lowship with God in prayer.
to be those that God will surely hear are instead an          Let us begin with that truth. Praying is having
abomination to Him. What is more, prayers that to           fellowship with God. It is communing with Him as
us seem to be directed to God are often instead             surely as your speaking to a friend or relative by
prayers wherein a man approaches a god of his own           means of a phone is having fellowship with that
fabrication, a god the way he wants God to be.              person, even though you do not see each other face
  But do not take my word for it. Search the Scrip-         to face in the literal, physical sense of the word.
tures and you will find that the above is true and is       And make no mistake about it, prayer is not a one-
not man's silly notion or gloomy conclusion. Con-           way street on which man walks toward God but
sider what God Himself declares. And be assured             God does not come to meet him, or a monologue
that these lines are presented to help us in our            with man doing all the talking. Man speaks in
prayers, and that we may have the joy and blessed-          prayer, but so does God. I say that God speaks in


116                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



prayer and not simply afterward, when He fills the          direct those who follow us so that they too stand
request or denies it. In prayer man speaks to God in        before God's face. Jesus taught us that in the model
his soul. And in prayer God speaks to man in that           prayer which He gave us. Therein He taught us
soul, although his ears do not hear one word from           that, before we make our request for a blessing
God. But then, how o'ften is it not that God hears us       upon ourselves, we must have Him before us as our
speak in our souls and hears not one word from our          Father in heavenly glory Whose name, and not
mouths? If we come properly to Him in prayer, He            ours, must be hallowed; Whose kingdom, and not
will by His Spirit speak to us by reminding us of           ours, must come; Whose will, and not ours, must
what He speaks in His Word. In that way we do               be done on earth as it is in heaven. We must in our -
have fellowship with God. After all, fellowship re-         souls see Him as the God that He is. Otherwise we
quires not only that o'ne listens to the other but that     come before a god manufactured by man according
the other one speaks and -thereby is encouraging            to fleshly whims and fancies.
and making known his friendship and love. That                The Pharisee in Jesus' parable did that. 0, yes, he
God does while and not simply after we pray to              seemsto be praying to God and uses His name. But
Him. While we pray He, by reminding us of what              note how he is in darkness. He prays, "God, I
He speaks in His Word, fills us with awe and                thank thee that I am not as other men are, extor-
humility and impresses on us the majesty and faith-         tioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this
fulness of Him with Whom we speak. That is why              publican" (Luke 18: 11). Plainly; the god to whom
we, after such communion, leave His face with               he was praying was with him in darkness, a god
 comfort and confidence. Often we will, while pray-         who listens to the prayers of. conceited, hypocrit-
ing to Him, fail to make certain requests because           ical people, and approves of hating the neighbor -
we become aware of the wrongness of that desire as          in this case the sin-confessing publican - instead of
we stand before Him and, because of what He                 a holy God Who demands that we love the neigh-
revealed in His Word and now reminds us of by His           bor. .His god is not the God of the psalmist who in
Spirit, we see Him in His holiness, sovereignty, and        Psalm  66:18 writes, "If I regard iniquity in my
faithfulness, and our own calling before Him.               heart, the Lord will not hear me." His god is not the
   Here, for example, is one of those truths that He        God of the blind man whose sight was restored and
may bring before our minds: "If we say that we              in John 9:31 said, "Now we know that God heareth
have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness,             not sinners." He had not the wisdom of Solomon
we lie and do not the truth; But if we walk in the          who wrote in Proverbs 28:9, "He that turneth away
light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one        his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall
with the other, and the blood of Jesus Christ His           be abomination." He did not know the God of
 Son cleanseth us from all sin" (I John 1:6, 7). Verse      Isaiah 1:15 Who declares, "And when ye spread
 3 reveals that "fellowship with Him" means fellow-         forth your hands, I will hide -mine eyes from you;
 ship "with the Father and with His Son Jesus               yea when ye make your prayers, I will not hear
 Christ." Now fellowship with a friend by means of          you: your hands are full of blood."
 a phone demands dialing a phone where that friend            Do you not now see how easy it is, and how often
 is. We here in America cannot have fellowship with         it happens that our prayers are not to God but to a
 a relative who is also in America by being con-            god of our imagination - to one who is not holy,
 nected to a phone in Europe. So it is that to have fel-    from whom sins can be hidden, and who entertains
 lowship with God in prayer we must be in the light,        sinful thoughts with us? Such prayers insult God,
even as He is in the light. While walking in the            attach shame to Him, deny Him His glory and im-
 darkness of sin we can have no fellowship with             ply that He dwells in darkness with us. Such prayers
 Him. Try to pray to Him while holding on to your           are sin; and such prayers He does not hear.
 sins, loving. them, enjoying them, and you have
dialed the wrong number. You have come to a god               The same thing is true when we in our prayers
 of your own imagination, even though you use               try to get God to help us in satisfying the lusts of
 God's name and address your idol by that name.             our flesh, and when we try by prayer to impose our
                                                            will upon Him. Then, as James 4:3 teaches us, "Ye
   Let us point out that it is extremely important          ask and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye
 that we have the God of Scripture clearly before           may consume it upon your lusts." Indeed, in such
 our minds, before as well as while we pray. So             prayers which are amiss we miss God and are
 often in public meetings the one leading in prayer         speaking to a god our-carnal minds have fabricated.
 will say, "Let us pray," and then without any hesi-
 tation begin to speak. We ought rather to wait - no          All this reveals how tremendously important
 matter how long it takes - until we have the holy          doctrine and doctrinal preaching is for our prayer
 God of Scripture clearly before our minds. Then,           life. We must know God as He is to pray to Him.
 too, when leading others in prayer we ought to             Our children must be taught not simply that God


                                          THE STANDARD BEARER                                              117



saves us but Who He is and how He is. Yes, God is          Let us then follow the example of the publican  in
love, but He is also "a consuming fire" according to     that parable of Jesus. He approached God confes-
Hebrews 12:29.  He is merciful but also just and ho-     sing his sins and thus to God Whom he knew to be
ly and lives in the light.                               holy. He revealed a sincere hatred of the sins that
  But did Jesus not teach us in Matthew 7:7, "Ask        still cleaved unto him, and in that sense was walk-
and it shall be given to you; seek and ye shall find;    ing in the light. He did not try to hide his sins from
knock and it shall be opened unto you?" And then         God, as the Pharisee tried, nor to talk them away.
in verse 8 He adds, "For every one that asketh           He came seeking forgiveness as the biggest sinner
receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him       he knew. In the Greek we read that he said, "God
that knocketh it shall be opened." To be sure, God       be merciful to me the sinner." Now he was not the
is faithful and keeps His word. But do you not see       greatest sinner. The Pharisee was a bigger sinner.
that when we try to come to God with sin in our          But the publican knew his own heart, and in his
hands and with carnal requests, with the idea that       own eyes he was the biggest sinner that he knew.
we can twist Him around our fingers, if we only          And he sought forgiveness in the mercy of God. He
pray often enough and get enough people to do so         came to God as the One Who is justly merciful,
with us that then we are not praying to the God of       because His Son died for the sins of His people. The
Scripture Who alone is) God? Then we do not even         publican did not know Christ and His cross, for
have Him in mind. Am I really writing a letter to        these had not yet taken place. But he knew them in
President Reagan if I address him as head of the         the types and shadows. And note that he went
Democratic party, extol him for choosing a woman         home justified. God heard his prayer and forgave
for his vice-president, and ask him to reduce the        his sins.
taxes in his great country of Canada? Plainly I have       And we will be heard and will receive forgive-
another man in mind, another political party, and        ness when we come with our sins, revealing that
another country - one that does not even exist.          we hate them and want them taken away from us.
Similarly, when we, even though we use God's             Carry them in your back pocket and God will still
name, pray to one who will listen to those who love      see them, and see them as something that you want
sin, enjoys fellowshiping with them, will give them      to keep. He will not hear that prayer. But come
their carnal lusts, and let them make him change         holding them out at arm's length as that which you
his mind for the sake of their carnal ambitions, we      loathe, and He will hear your prayer.
are not praying to God but to a god who is the fig-        Call Him your "Father which art in heaven" with
ment of our sinful minds and carnal cravings.            those sins in your back pocket as that which you
  Indeed there are times when God will give what         treasure, and you call Him the Father of sinners.
we ask for from an idol. As the everywhere present       Pray that His name be hallowed, His kingdom
and all-knowing God He hears it when we pray to          come and will be done while you are holding on to
this idol which we have created in our minds. He         your sins for your name and kingdom's sake, and
knows exactly what we asked this god to do for us        you are going contrary to His will on earth, the will
or give us. And He may give us what we seek, but         you claim you want done as it is done in heaven.
not as a blessing. Turn to Psalm 106:13-E. There         Do you not see that your prayer then is a breaking
we find that Israel, dissatisfied with the abundant      of the second commandment? You make a likeness
and nourishing manna, "lusted exceedingly in the         of sinful men and call that your god, and you bow
wilderness, and tempted God in the desert. And He        down before it. It is not a graven image, but it is a
gave them their request; but sent leanness into          mental image that denies God His glory.
their souls." Here we see that He punished Israel          Come to Him as He is revealed in Scripture,
for making this carnal request from their God. They      manifesting your hatred of sin, and He will hear
were given the quails that their flesh wanted, but       you and bless you. That prayer glorifies Him, for it
were not given what their souls needed. They got         confesses Him to be holy. That He is pleased to
what they considered a blessing, but actually it was     hear. And He is a "jealous God. . . . showing mercy
a curse to them. Their stomachs were filled, but         unto thousands of them that love Him and keep His
there was a famine in their souls.                       commandments."

                              Take time to read and study
                                 The Standard Bearer!


118                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



                  Teaching Our Children to Pray
                                                Gertrude Hoeksema





  If we, with David, can pray each day, "As for             we covenant parents, by our example, are shaping
me, I will call upon God; and the Lord shall save           the prayers of the coming generations of covenant
me. Evening and morning, and at noon, will I pray,          parents.
and cry aloud: and He shall hear my voice," (Psalm            There is no point in time in our parental lives
55:16, 17) then we as covenant parents will know            whenthe training of our children by example ends
and understand the importance of the most inti-             and our training by active teaching begins. Rather,
mate relationship with our Father in heaven, both           the example and the teaching run side by side, so
for us and for our children. One of the most impor-         that while we are consciously striving to be godly
tant tasks in our lives as covenant parents is to           examples as we lead in prayer, we are at the same
teach our children to pray. We must Zearn to pray,          time training our young children to pray. Listening
for prayer does not come to us and our children             is the first step in our very small children's learning
spontaneously. Prayer  - true, sincere, earnest             to pray. We must teach them to listen, not merely to
prayer - is an art, a learned skill that needs con-         keep quiet. How do we do that? If their hearing is
tinual instruction and practice every day of our            normal, don't they listen to our prayers? Not neces-
lives. When we consider that prayer is a holy art           sarily. It is easy for children to "turn us off." There-
and that we address the Lord of heaven and earth,           fore, we train them to listen by prodding them:
we as godly parents know what an awesome task it            "Can you tell me what I just prayed about?"
is to teach our children to pray.                             Careful listening to our prayers and the prayers
  How do we go about it? In a three-fold way: by            they hear in church or Sunday School will give our
example, instruction, and practice. We parents are          children a beginning of an understanding of what
examples for our children, especially our young             prayer is. But listening is passive. How do we go
children, whether or not we want to be. Before we           about positive teaching so that they will begin to
teach them their first simple prayer, we would do           know the spiritual wonder of talking with their
well to examine our own prayers; for surely, before         Father in heaven? Because He is the pure and
we utter a word of instruction to our smallest              perfect Almighty God, we tell them that - in so
children in their high chairs, we have already              many words; and we tell them with a sincerity and
taught them more than we realize about prayer.              a reverence that helps to instill in them an attitude
  How? By our attitude. How do we as parents                of sincerity and reverence. We know, of- course,
come to God in prayer? What is our posture? Do we           that we cannot put reverence or any other spiritual
try to create an atmosphere of reverence and deep           virtues into their little hearts. Only the Spirit can do
humility? What place does prayer hold in our lives?         that. But God uses means to bring them to con-
If it is a precious, all-important part of our lives, so    sciousness of those virtues, and we are the means
important that we take the time to prepare for our          He uses when our children are small.
prayers, lest they become stale and repetitive, or            The next step in our instruction is in the content
lest they are not directed to the specific needs of a       of their prayers. What do we pray about? What do
growing family, our children will take note and             we pray for? If we are wise parents, we will take
understand;                                                 our children with us to the Bible to find the
  Are we as parents satisfied to have our prayers           answers. In a simple way with our younger
used as models for the prayers of our children?             children and in greater detail with our older
What are the contents of our prayers? They will in          children we will take them to the Psalms and show
all likelihood be the contents of the prayers of our        them how to pray happy prayers: "Praise ye the
children. If we use variety and fresh Scriptural ap-        Lord. Praise the Lord, 0 my soul. Happy is he that
proaches to our Father in heaven, and if we pray            hath the God of Jacob for his help! whose hope is in
with sincerity from the depths of our hearts, our           the Lord his God" (Psalm  146:1, 5); penitent
children will hear and heed. If we use the memor-           prayers: "Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity,
ized cliches our own parents may have used, our             and cleanse me from my sin, for I acknowledge my
children will learn to use those same stilted phrases       transgression: and my sin is ever before me" (Psalm
in their prayers. It is urgent for us to remember that      51:2, 3); trusting prayers: "I will say of the Lord, He


                                          THE STANDARD BEARER                                               119



is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in Him will I     learned from our instruction? Through the years
trust" (Psalm 91:2); prayers about God's great love     when our children are in grade school, they are as
to us: "Because Thy lovingkindness is better than       yet immature "prayer learners." If prayer is a holy
life, my lips shall praise Thee" (Psalm 63:3).          art, `and ii is; and if prayer is a skill which demands
   How do we go about incorporating Scripture's         a measure of spiritual maturity, and it does; then
direct words or Scripture's concepts into our           our children are not ready to lead in prayer until
children's prayers? For our very young children, I      they have learned the holy art and until they have
would suggest teaching them short texts as prayers,     developed a measure of spiritual maturity. During
such as Psalm 19:14, Psalm 119:33,  and the Lord's      their grade school years, I am convinced by more
Prayer. Children enjoy praying memorized versifi-       than twenty years of close contact with grade
cations of Psalms, too, such as the third stanza of     school children of all ages, they are still learners,
Psalter number 60 or the last stanza of Psalter         not leaders.
number 40; or a rhymed children's prayer such as          What about our children of higher grade school
the following from the Scottish.PsaZter  and Church     age? Should we let them have practice in occasional
Hymnary:                                                leading in prayer at home or at school? Before we
       Jesus, high in glory,                            answer that question, we will read verse 7 of
       Lend a listening ear;                            Deuteronomy 6: "And thou shalt teach them
       When we bow before Thee,                         diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them
       Children's praises hear.                         when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou
       We are little children,                          walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and
       Weak and apt to stray,                           when thou risest up." Scripture is a good teacher
       Savior, guide and keep us                        for us, too, and we learn from this text that while
       In the heavenly way.                             they are chiZdren, we parents are called to "teach
                                                        them diligently," for all of their childhood is a
       Save us, Lord, from sinning                      drinking-in time, a time for absorption of know-
       Watch us day by day;                             ledge. Scripture is full of the truth that childhood is
       Help us now to love Thee;                        a time for instruction: "My son, hear the instruc-
       Take our sins away.                              tion of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy
       Then, when Thou shalt call us                    mother" (Prov. 1:8); "Hear, ye children, the in-
       To our heaven home,                              struction of a -father, and attend to know under-
       We will gladly answer,                           standing" (Prov. 4: 1).
       "Savior, Lord, we come."                           We parents would not consider giving our
  Praying memorized prayers in unison with one          twelve-year-old son the keys to the car, saying,           --
or more family members helps young children to          "Son, you have watched us drive long enough.
be comfortable in praying aloud. During the years       Now you take over." The results would likely be
when I taught first grade classes, I expanded this      tragic. Why? Because a twelve-year-old does not
idea and we as classroom prayed at least one unison     have the judgment, maturity, nor ability to handle a
prayer a day from a rather large number we had          car in traffic.
memorized. The children enjoyed praying together.         The results in giving our children the liberty to
In fact, some former first graders, now grown up,       take over the leadership in prayer are even. more
tell me they still remember and treasure those texts    tragic, because they bear longlasting spiritual ef-
and rhymed prayers.                                     fects. Our children do not have the judgment,
  Finally, we teach our children that God has           maturity, nor ability to lead others as yet. What
promised -that He will surely hear and answer the       happens when a child prays in public? He is ner-
prayers which His children utter in spirit and in       vous. His nervousness may make him forget his
truth. We can teach them about fervent prayers.         prepared prayer; it may make him giggle; and at
from James 5: 16: "The effectual fervent prayer of a    best it will make him utter a few trite platitudes.
righteous man availeth much." And because we            That is all he is ready for. He is not spiritually
know that our prayers are poor and weak, we take        mature enough to pray properly for "the best gifts"
them to Romans 8:26: "Likewise the Spirit also          (I Cor. 12:31).
helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we          Junior high school students have often confided
should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself      to me when they took their turns to pray in the
maketh intercession for us with groanings which         classroom: "It all degenerates into everyone saying
cannot be uttered."                                     what everyone else says, and it doesn't seem like
  How do our covenant children put into practice        prayer at all." These prayers are not nurturing
what they have observed by our example and              them when they still need nurture. These children


  THE STANDARD BEARER
       P.O. Box 6064
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506





                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R


know and confess their weaknesses; and there is a                  Seventy Weeks of Daniel 9. Our main criticism of
danger that our children will keep these weak-                    the book is that Godet makes too many concessions
nesses and bad habits of trite, routine prayers with              to Science in his discussion of the Six Days of Crea-
little content, into their adult years.                           tion in chapter three. The chapter on Angels by
  When should we encourage our children to pray                   itself makes the book worth having.
in public? Depending on the natures of individual                      The volume on the New Testament consists of
children, probably at high school or college level.               five chapters on the following subjects: The Origin
Then they can look back on the invaluable instruc-                 of the Four Gospels; Jesus Christ as the Son of Man,
tion during their youth, and as mature young peo-                 the Son of God, the God-Man; The Work of Jesus
ple study the prayers in Scripture; and with a better              Christ; The Four Principal Apostles (Peter, James,
understanding of the work of the Spirit in their                   Paul, John); Essay on the Apocalypse (the latter a
hearts, further develop their spiritual skills in                  summary of the Book of Revelation, nearly one
prayer.                                                            hundred pages in length).
  In conclusion, I re-emphasize the thought, with                      Godet is a good exegete, one committed to the in-
which I started: one of the most important - and                  spired, infallible Scriptures. He was one of the most
most difficult - tasks in our lives as covenant                   influential Swiss theologians of the 19th century.
parents is to teach our children to pray. It is also              He unhesitatingly opposed the liberalism of the
one of the most rewarding tasks, and for our God-                 Protestant churches and seminaries of his day and
fearing children produces the most blessed                        was one of the founders of the Free Evangelical
benefits: the goodness and mercies of our covenant                Church. From 1873 until his death in 1900 Godet
God. We and our children take no honor nor merit                  was professor of New Testament Exegesis in the
for our feeble efforts in prayer, for we have done it             Free Evangelical Theological School on Neuchatel.
all through grace and by the power of the Spirit of
our Lord Jesus Christ in our hearts. To Him be all
the glory!                                                                          The Standard Bearer
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              Book Review                                                    for the sick and shut-in.
                                                                           Give the Standard Bearer.
                                                                  L
STUDIES ON THE OLD TESTAMENT, by Fred-                                                        NOTICE!!!
eric L. Godet; Kregel Publications, Grand Rapids,                      The newly organized Heritage Christian School of Hudsonville,
MI, 351 pp., (cloth) $10.95 (Reviewed by Prof. R.D.                Michigan is in need of teachers for grades K through 9 for the 1985-
                                                                   1986 School Year.
Decker).                                                               Please contact Mr. Ervin Kortering, 253 East 19th St., Holland,
STUDIES ON THE NEW TESTAMENT,  by Fred-                            Michigan 49423. Phone number is  (616) 396-4966.
eric L. Godet; Kregel Publications, Grand Rapids,                                                                 Erv. Kortering, Sec'y.
MI, 406 pp., $10.95 (cloth), (Reviewed by Prof.
R.D. Decker).                                                                                 NOTICE!!!
  Both of these volumes would make worthwhile                          After December 1, 1984, all orders for Catechism Books must be
                                                                   sent to: MR. ROGER DYKSTRA, 5101 BURTON ST., S.E., GRAND
additions to anyone's library. Ministers and lay per-              RAPIDS, Ml 49506.
sons alike will find them helpful aids to the study of
Holy Scripture. The work ,on the Old Testament                                                NOTICE!!!
contains chapters on: Angels, The Plan of the                          The two books  - "FREEBORN SONS OF SARAH" and "THE
                                                                  GLORY OF THE TRUE TABERNACLE" can be obtained by writing to
Development of Life on Our Earth, The Six Days of                 the author, Rev. George C. Lubbers, 2074 Cranbrook Dr., N.E.,
Creation, The Four Greater Prophets (Isaiah, Jere-                Grand Rapids, Michigan 49505.
miah, Ezekiel, Daniel), The Book of Job, The Song                      Price per copy is $5.63 and $11.86 (postage included) respec-
of Songs. In addition there are appendices dealing                tively. These books make excellent gifts to give to relatives and
                                                                  friends. The books can also be obtained at the Baker Book House and
with the Four Monarchies of Daniel 7 and the                      Kregel's Book Store in Grand Rapids.


