How
to Pray Clear Through
By
William J. Harney
"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." (Matt. 7:7.)
“If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it.” (John 14:14.) “If ye abide in me, and my words abide
in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” (John 15:7.) “And the prayer of faith shall
save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up, and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.” (James 5:15.)
“Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it rained not
on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought
forth her fruit.” (James 5:17, 18.) “And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according
to His will, he heareth us, And if we know that He heareth us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that
we desired of Him.” (1 John 5:14, 15.)
For
one to pray clear through, necessarily, first, there must be a burden, an object in view; something must have been pressed
upon your mind by the Spirit that needs praying for, or about. Here is a child very sick. The doctors tell the parents that
the child is most likely going to die. Someway the parents feel led out in prayer for the healing of the child's body. They
read some promises, they wait upon God. They pray, and there comes upon them a spirit of prayer, a burden of prayer. There
comes upon them arguments, poetry, prose, promises, and they really get into soul travail. They fast, they cry to God, they
agree, the fire falls, the witness comes. They pray clear through. The child gets well.
One
morning while a good woman was washing her dishes, a burden of prayer seized her spirit for a missionary friend in India.
She saw that her friend was in great danger, bodily danger, danger of being killed. She saw robbers on her track. She saw
them pursuing her. She fled to her bedroom, fell upon her knees, and prayed right through to God, and her friend was gloriously
delivered.
One
may not get right into the spirit of prayer the minute he goes to prayer, or the second he falls upon his knees. It may take
quite a little while to get into the spirit of prayer, to get in touch with the forces of the skies. Sometimes when we get
up to build a fire there is just a coal or a small chunk of fire. What do we do? We shave some fine kindlings; place them
upon the coals of fire; them blow lightly until a small blaze leaps up. Then put on some more kindling; then we put on the
fuel, and soon there is a roaring fire, and the room in comfortably warm.
Oftentimes
when we've gone to prayer, we were dry, and the devil did his best to keep us dry, but we had gone to prayer, and meant to
pray clear through before we quit. We had taken it by the job. We were not in a hurry. We had plenty of time for prayer. We
should read the 21st Psalm, the 91st Psalm, and 14th chapter of St. John, 13th
chapter of 1 Corinthians, testify of His goodness, meditate, reflect, sing “Jesus Lover of My Soul,” pray awhile,
praise Him, and keep this up. Don't quit. Don't get up off your knees. Stay down until you hear from Heaven. Stay there until
you get into a spirit of prayer. We get what we want, that is, we get what we pray for. If we want the spirit of prayer badly
enough, and will go down in earnest, it will be ours to enjoy.
A
young man who was convinced that a Methodist pastor should have a helpmeet, began to cast his eyes about, and at last they
fell upon a handsome young lady, the sister of a great Congressman. She was well educated, and a great musician. The preacher
said, “She just suits me. She can carry on the musical side of the parish, and that is a great help.” But he went
to prayer. He fasted and prayed. He went daily before God over this all-important step, for much hinges upon this step. He
knew that many a preacher's life had been injured, his ministry hurt, by choice of a wrong companion; hence this preacher
waited upon God. Seemingly, he could not get the ear of God, and he could not get the mind of God. But he kept praying. One
time he prayed clear through, and the Spirit said, “No, she's not the woman for you.”
Thirteen
years had come and gone, and this preacher had become a famous evangelist. Conducting a series of meetings in a large Southern
city, he saw an eminent lawyer one night at the altar, crying and pleading with God for pardon. He knelt by the lawyer's side;
placing his arms about him, he said, “Sir, what is your trouble?” The lawyer looked up into his face, and said,
“May I have a private interview with you tomorrow?” During the conference the lawyer said to the preacher, “I
married a Congressman So-and-so's sister. She was a beautiful woman, well educated, and a great musician, but she is making
life a hell on earth to me.” When this preacher got back into his room, he jumped all over the floor, clapping his hands,
and praising God that he didn't get her for a wife. You see if the devil could have kept that preacher from praying clear
through, perhaps he would have gotten that woman, and thousands of souls would not have been saved.
When
a burden comes upon your soul, or the Spirit leads you out along any line in prayer, take time, plenty of time to get alone
with God in prayer. Stay there. Don't get up. Don't be in a hurry. Don't get nervous. Don't look at your watch. Never stop
until you get the mind of God. It is dangerous to your own soul; it is destructive to God's cause committed to you. It will
cause you to lose the blessed spirit of prayer, when He leads you out, and you fail to follow; fail to stay upon your knees;
fail to pray clear through. God would not burden your heart, God would not make you hungry, lead you out, causing you to wrestle,
to agonize, to fast and pray, unless He meant to answer. It's proof of the fact when the burden continues, and the Spirit
continues to lead you out, that there's an answer, and God wants you to pray clear through.
A
good woman who was tied to her bed by a malady, prayed three years, once every day, for one hour, for a great revival to break
out in her home town. Sunday after Sunday she would ask her sister, who was taking care of her, when she came from church,
whether anything had happened. Had anything new taken place? God kept burdening her. The spirit of prayer kept leading her
out. She became more anxious. She would weep and cry, but every Sunday when her sister came in from church, she told her that
the same old, dry folks prayed those long, dry prayers, and the choir sang so but few in the audience could understand anything
they said, and the preacher discussed science, and there was nothing being done. The devil teased this honest heart. He said,
“You prayed and cried and fasted for three years, and there isn't a single sign of revival.” But one Sunday morning
the sister came in and went right to the bed of her sick sister, saying, “A new preacher preached this morning, and
I tell you he was a warm member. He woke things up.” That night the sister came home about 10:30, and said the altar
was crowded, and there were between two hundred and fifty and five hundred souls blessedly saved in that meeting.
Get
on two or three good promises. Press down hard on them. Anchor to them. Things will break up. Things will break loose. Things
will break over. God hears you, and His thoughts toward you are good. He will answer. Dare to trust Him anywhere. God always
hears and answers prayer.
