Quest. CLXXXIII. For whom are we to pray?
Answ. We are to pray for the whole church of Christ, upon earth, for magistrates and ministers, for ourselves, our brethren, yea, our enemies, and for all sorts of men living, or that shall live hereafter, but not for the dead, nor for those that are known to have sinned the sin unto death.
Quest. CLXXXIV. For what things are we to pray?
Answ. We are to pray for all things tending to the glory of God, the welfare of the church, our own, or other’s good, but not for any thing that is unlawful.
As there is no duty that we can perform in a right manner, without help obtained from God—And the same may be said, in particular, concerning that of prayer: Accordingly we are led,
I. To speak of the help that the Spirit of God is pleased to afford believers, in order to their engaging aright in this duty. Here we may observe,
1. That it is supposed that we know not what to pray for as we ought, or how to bring our souls into a prepared frame for this duty, without the Spirit’s assistance.
(1.) We are oftentimes at a loss with respect to the matter of prayer; and this may be said to proceed from our being unacquainted with ourselves, and not duly sensible of our wants, weaknesses, or secret faults: Sometimes we cannot determine whether we are in a state of grace or no; or, if we are, whether it is increasing or declining; or, if we have ground to complain by reason of the hidings of God’s face, and our want of communion with him, we are oftentimes hard put to it to find out what is that secret sin which is the occasion of it; nor are we sufficiently apprized of the wiles of Satan, or the danger we are in of being ensnared or overcome thereby. Moreover, we are oftentimes not able to know how to direct our prayers to God aright, as we know not what is most conducive to his glory, or what it is that he requires of us, either in obedience to his commanding will, or in submission to his providential will. Hence it arises, that many good men, in scripture, have asked for some things which have been in themselves unlawful, through the weakness of their faith, and the prevalency of their corruption: Thus some have desired, that God would call them out of this world by death, being impatient under the many troubles they met with therein; accordingly we read concerning Elijah, that ‘he requested for himself that he might die, and said, It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers,’ 1 Kings xix. 4. and Job says, ‘O that I might have my request! and that God would grant me the thing that I long for! Even that it would please God to destroy me; that he would let loose his hand, and cut me off,’ Job vi. 8, 9. And Jonah says, ‘O Lord, I beseech thee, take my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live,’ Jonah iv. 3. And Moses, though he had the character of the meekest man upon earth, and doubtless excelled all others in his day, in those graces which he had received from God, as well as in the great honours conferred on him; yet he puts up a most unbecoming prayer, both as to the matter and manner thereof; as it is observed, that he said unto the Lord, ‘Wherefore hast thou afflicted thy servant? and wherefore have I not found favour in thy sight, that thou layest the burden of all this people upon me? Have I conceived all this people? have I begotten them, that thou shouldest say unto me, Carry them in thy bosom (as a nursing-father beareth the sucking child) unto the land which thou swarest unto their fathers? Whence should I have flesh to give unto all this people? for they weep unto me, saying, Give us flesh, that we may eat. I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me. And if thou deal thus with me, kill me, I pray thee, out of hand, if I have found favour in thy sight; and let me not see my wretchedness,’ Numb. xi. 11-15. And, in another instance, he asks for a thing which he knew before hand, that God would not grant him, when he says, ‘I pray thee, let me go over and see the good land that is beyond Jordan, that goodly mountain, and Lebanon:’ Upon which God says, ‘Let it suffice thee, speak no more unto me of this matter,’ Deut. iii. 25, 26.—Many instances of the like nature are mentioned in scripture; and, indeed, nothing is more obvious from daily experience, that what the apostle James observes, that persons ‘ask and receive not, because they ask amiss,’ James iv. 3. or what the apostle Paul says, ‘We know not what we should pray for as we ought,’ Rom. viii. 26.
(2.) We are, at other times, straitened in our affections, and so know not how to ask any thing with a suitable frame of spirit: It is certain we cannot excite our affections, or especially put forth those graces which are to be exercised in prayer, when we please. Our hearts are sometimes dead, cold, and inclined to wander from God in this duty; and, at other times, we pray with a kind of indifferency, as though it was of no great importance whether our prayer were answered or no. How seldom do we express that importunity in this duty which Jacob did, ‘I will not let thee go, except thou bless me?’ Gen. xxxii. 26. And as for those graces that are to be exercised in prayer, we often want that reverence, and those high and awful thoughts of the divine Majesty, which we ought to have, who draw nigh to a God of infinite perfection; nor, on the other hand, do we express those low and humble thoughts of ourselves, as our own meanness, the imperfection of our best performances, and the infinite distance which we stand at from God, ought to suggest; and to this we may add, that we are often destitute of that love to Christ, and trust in him, which are necessary to the right performance of this duty, as also of that hope of being heard, which is a very great encouragement to it.
2. We are now to enquire wherein the Spirit is said to help our infirmities; and this may be considered as adapted to that two-fold necessity which we are often under, respecting the matter or frame of spirit with which this duty is to be performed.