Page 12 - The Importance of Prayer Student Textbook

God’s grace is nothing more than God doing for us, in us, and through us what only He can do through
the person, power, and presence of Jesus Christ. God has tailor-made grace for everything we face. We
all need the grace to pray that everything we do, we do, for His glory. (I Corinthians 10:31; Hebrew 4:16)
(Philippians 1:6) Or have you relegated following Jesus to a check list of a few activities each week? If so,
is it any wonder that His yoke is not easy, and His burden is not light!

I do not want to rush over this thought! R. A. Torrey wrote in his book How to Pray the following.
Remember John 15:7 says, If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it
shall be done unto you. Notice this verse promises that, ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
But there are two conditions that proceeds this promise. First, we are commanded to abide in Christ.
Many definitions have been written about what it means to abide in Christ, but Torrey’s definition
seems to be the best I have found. He explains that prior to this verse our lord had been talking about
the union that the vine had to the branches. There was a union to the vine that the branches had.
Everything that the branches experienced depended upon the life-giving nourishment of the vine. Their
leaves, their blossoms, and their fruit was simply an overflow of the life-giving nourishment of the vine.
Everything absolutely everything depended upon the nourishment of the vine.

Sometimes self-effort is very cleverly disguised in prayer statements that sound very scriptural. For
example, one of the most popular prayer statements that I have heard used is this. Pray like everything
depends upon God but work like everything depends upon you. This sounds very scriptural but look at it
closely in the light of John 15:5 which says, without me ye can do nothing. We are told to pray like
everything depends upon God. The truth is according to John 15:5, everything does depend upon God.
But yet we also see a tension in the scriptures that speaks about running a race. Hebrews 12:1 teaches
us this. Let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance
the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith… Scriptures also
speaks about pressing on. Philippians 3:14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of
God in Christ Jesus. Some may point to I Corinthians 9:24-27 and say that it teaches us that we are to
work like everything depends upon ourselves. Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only
one person gets the prize? So, run to win! All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a
prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So, I run with purpose in every step. I am not
just shadowboxing. I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear
that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified. But looking at these verses let me remind
you that in the context of I Corinthians 9 the apostle Paul says in verse 16, that I am compelled by God
to do it. If you look carefully at Philippians, Paul says he does this in Christ. If you look at Hebrews it
teaches you to run, but to do this, you must look to Jesus. So, let me remind you to always encourage
people to run, box, press on, but realizing it is in Him that we are able to do this.

Again, our Lord says without me ye can do nothing, John 15:5. That is to say that everything we
accomplish for eternal significance flows out of him. There is absolutely nothing in and of ourselves that
we can do to abide in Him, because everything flows from His life-giving nourishment. We must realize
that it is Him that worketh in us both to will and to do His purposes. (Philippians 2:13) Our passions are
His passions working in us. Our power to have the victories over evil are His victories. 2 Corinthians 2:14
words it this way. But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and
through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of Him everywhere. Don’t forget those two little
words that are repeated over and over in the scriptures, “in Christ”. There must be a conscious,
continuous, commitment to denouncing all self-effort. Then a bold proclamation can be made that we
can do all things through Christ who loves us. (Philippians 4:13) We recognize that we simply live
through the overflow of Christ living in us. (Galatians 2:20) So to abide in Christ is a simple matter of

11