Pastor Andrew’s Reflections on Chapter Ten
The Inner Sanctum of Puritan Piety
Pastor Andrew’s Reflections
Chapter Ten, “The Practice of Union with Christ”
There are some people in this life who enjoy considering the intangible realities and hypothetical possibilities of human experience. We love to philosophize and wonder. We spend hours asking questions that no one could possibly answer. Sometimes we even ignore the responsibilities in which we are engaged so that we can chase down the elusive rabbit of tangential connection as it runs down one trail after another. Perhaps one day there will be life application to all of our musings.
And then there are some people in this life who enjoy nothing more than the concrete, tactile, solid, tangible, physical, palpable, corporeal, touchable, observable, verifiable (got any more synonyms for me?) realities of human experience. If it can be seen, touched, smelled, tasted, or heard, it’s OK by me. We want to know the answers to the questions, “How do we get down to the brass tacks?” and “Where does the rubber meet the road?” and “Why does this really matter?” and “What do I do with this information?” Very important questions for all of us to consider.
To a degree, Yuille has taken the first nine chapters of his reflections on Flavel’s teaching to give us the first portion – the intangible realities of our mystical union with Christ. In chapter 10, we get to the question and its answer, “What do I do with this information?”
Flavel delivers a deeply convicting regimen for what are the duties of the believer, those things that we are all called to DO out of joyful obedience and in loving union with Jesus Christ. He gives a list of five – Christians are called to be a people of Watching, Listening, Meditating, Praying, and Partaking of the Lord’s Supper. I’d like to reflect on one of these – Prayer.
Let’s consider prayer. As quoted in our study from the WSC, “Prayer is an offering up of our desires unto God for things agreeable to his will, in the name of Christ, with confession of our sins, and thankful acknowledgement of his mercies” (Q/A 98). This is a helpful statement, no doubt. But how are we to know what is agreeable to the will of God? If I were writing a catechism with that question I would answer it simply, “We are to know what is agreeable to the will of God by reading and meditating on the Word of God.”
This is, of course, what Flavel advances. The idea is that prayer is not to be an exercise in New Age Eastern Mysticism, with the emptying of the mind. On the contrary, Christians are called to fill their minds with the truths of God’s Word, to study it so they can be ready in season and out of season, to store up God’s word in their hearts, to “take up the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Eph. 6:17b). Having done this, we are then to pray with Scripture as our foundation. This is how we can pray according to the will of God.
So very often we pray in ways that are neither properly informed or properly motivated. James talks about this in the fourth chapter of his Epistle, verses 2-3, “You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.”
A playful prank has been going around for a while where a dad or mom pulls into the parking lot of an auto parts store and sends his kids in to ask for some “blinker fluid.” The kids, having no idea that such a thing does not exist, sheepishly return to the car a minute or two later and chastise their parent for embarrassing them with such a silly request. How very often we in our prayers are like those kids who go into the store asking for something that is informed by ignorance (at best) or even deception.
Flavel gives some very helpful structure to the call to prayer. He points out that humility, sincerity, zeal, readiness, and faith are key qualities to faithful and effective prayer. Are your prayers characterized by these marks?
From there, among other things, Flavel encourages frequency in prayer. Now here’s a question to consider, eh? How often should one pray? How many times a day? It seems that David and Daniel made the habit of praying three times a day (see Psalm 55:17 and Daniel 6:10), is that enough for me? Is it actually possible to “pray without ceasing” like Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 5:17?
I think for me the answer to the question necessarily depends on the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of each individual believer. This frequency can vary from one season to another. The length of the prayer is also going to depend on many internal and external factors. But there is one truth that I think can be applied broadly to every believer – we are to pray as often as we possibly can.
How sorrowful would it be to have an opportunity to pray and choose not to?
How discouraged would our hearts be if the one we loved only spoke to us when they had to?
How unhelped would we remain if we regularly neglected to ask for help?
The privilege of prayer is not one to take lightly but to rejoice in regularly. We as God’s people have been given privileged access to the throne of God’s grace. We go to him and call him Abba. We bring to him our cares and our worries, our troubles and temptations, our joys and delights, and everything in between. When you share life with someone your greatest joy is to tell them about the things that have filled you with joy and/or frustrated you to tears. And with whom else do we more share life than with Jesus Christ? How false would be our love for him if we did not go to him with all our burdens and joys?
That old hymn, “Sweet Hour of Prayer,” is one with which we are all familiar. But have you ever taken the time to soak in the truths of the lyrics? Here they are. Think on them, understand them, rejoice in them. It is not Scripture, but it repeats the truths of Scripture, and in this we rejoice.
Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
That calls me from a world of care,
And bids me at my Father’s throne
Make all my wants and wishes known.
In seasons of distress and grief,
My soul has often found relief,
And oft escaped the tempter’s snare,
By thy return, sweet hour of prayer!
Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
The joys I feel, the bliss I share,
Of those whose anxious spirits burn
With strong desires for thy return!
With such I hasten to the place
Where God my Savior shows His face,
And gladly take my station there,
And wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer!
Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
Thy wings shall my petition bear
To Him whose truth and faithfulness
Engage the waiting soul to bless.
And since He bids me seek His face,
Believe His Word and trust His grace,
I’ll cast on Him my every care,
And wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer!
Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
May I thy consolation share,
Till, from Mount Pisgah’s lofty height,
I view my home and take my flight.
This robe of flesh I’ll drop, and rise
To seize the everlasting prize,
And shout, while passing through the air,
“Farewell, farewell, sweet hour of prayer!”
May the Lord watch over and keep you as you look to him in diligent prayer, trusting him that he is working all things together for good to those who love him and are called according to his purpose.
Fondly,
Pastor Andrew