Cultivating the Gift of Public Prayer, Part 2

The point: Avoid all meaningless repetition of pet phrases in public prayer.

Martin quotes Dabney's observation that frequent and mechanical repetition of formulas, names of God, or pet phrases is a grave fault that grates on the ear and betrays either mannerisms or vacuity of heart.

But what I've said is avoid all meaningless repetition of pet phrases. Listen to Dabney on page 347 as he observed this. In his day, it is a grave fault to repeat frequently and mechanically any formula of words as interjections, the names and titles of God, or favorite phrases. Inordinate repetition grates on every ear.

2:47 - 3:22 Read in full sermon

The point: Avoid all language of indecent familiarity with God in public prayer.

Martin quotes Spurgeon's warning against an 'unhallowed and sickening superabundance of endearing words' like 'dear Lord' or 'sweet Lord' when they become vain repetitions, indicating a lack of understanding of God's majesty.

Thirdly, avoid all the language of indecent familiarity with God. Avoid all the language of indecent familiarity with God. Spurgeon on page 56 addresses this matter as follows. Another fault equally to be avoided in prayer is an unhallowed and sickening superabundance of endearing words.

3:58 - 4:36 Read in full sermon

The point: Avoid the assumption of a 'praying voice' that is qualitatively different from your normal speaking voice.

Martin quotes Newton's observation that some people adopt a 'praying tremor' or guttural tone, making their voice qualitatively different from their normal speaking voice, which can be disconcerting to listeners.

Some people take on a praying tremor. Some people take on a praying guttural tone in their voices. In the article by Newton that you've received, printed in the Banner of Truth, Newton says the tone of the voice is likewise to be regarded. Some have a tone in prayer so very different from their usual way of speaking that their nearest friends, if not accustomed to them, could hardly know them by their voice.

9:34 - 10:07 Read in full sermon

The point: Avoid monotone in prayer; use the full range of your voice appropriate for ordinary speech.

Martin compares a monotone voice in prayer to a metronome, noting its soporific effect and suggesting it's as unengaging as repeating a ritual in Latin.

It has a very soporific effect. Don't let your voice drone on like a monotone. Oh, dum-de-dum-de-dum-de-dum. You may as well be repeating a ritual in Latin.

11:42 - 11:55 Read in full sermon

The point: Avoid indistinctness and insufficient volume in your prayers; speak up clearly so all can understand and be edified.

Martin shares his personal irritation at having to strain to hear someone pray or preach, expressing a desire to shout 'speak up!' to those who mumble.

Some words or sentences will be lost, which will render what is heard less intelligible and agreeable. I find one of the most irritating things is to have to strain to listen to someone pray or preach. I can get as carnal as I can. I want to say, man, speak up!

14:11 - 14:29 Read in full sermon

The point: Be sensitive to many variables (your own state, people's customs, children's capacity) when determining the length of public prayers.

Martin draws a parallel between the varied appropriate lengths for preaching (20 minutes for some, an hour for others) and the need for sensitivity in determining the length of public prayers, based on the speaker and the audience.

You see, it's parallel to the question in relationship to how long should someone preach. Well, for some men to preach longer than 20 minutes, is the height of folly, as well as of torture to their hearers. For other men to preach less than an hour, is to cheat the souls of the listeners. So therefore, in answer to such questions as these, you will have to be sensitive to your own state as a Christian man, your relationship to your people, your experience, your knowledge, the measure of unction that God is giving you, many, many variables.

16:28 - 17:10 Read in full sermon

The point: Avoid at all costs being too long in public prayer; it is better to stop while people wish you would continue.

Martin quotes Spurgeon's negative canon: 'do not let your prayer be long,' emphasizing that it's better to stop while people wish you would continue than to go on too long.

First warning is, avoid at all costs being too long. Far better to cut off your prayer wishing your people, your people wishing you would go on, than to go on a minute beyond the point at which they wish you had stopped. Because they'll remember that last minute, and forget everything that went before. Spurgeon says, then by way of a negative canon, verse 60, I say, do not let your prayer be long.

18:16 - 18:52 Read in full sermon

The point: Avoid at all costs being too long in public prayer; it is better to stop while people wish you would continue.

Martin recounts John McDonald's wise advice: if you're in the spirit of prayer, don't be long because others can't keep pace; if you're not, don't be long because you'll weary the listeners.

I think it was John McDonald who used to say, if you're in the spirit of prayer, do not be long, because other people will not be able to keep pace with you in such unusual spirituality. And if you're not in the spirit of prayer, do not be long, because you will surely then weary the listeners. Isn't that wise advice? He says, if you're in the spirit of prayer, don't be long, because other people will probably not keep pace with your unusual heightened state of spiritual liberty and unction and fire.

18:52 - 19:27 Read in full sermon

The point: Avoid at all costs being too long in public prayer; it is better to stop while people wish you would continue.

Martin shares Livingstone's account of Robert Bruce, who was short in public prayer, with every sentence like a 'strong bolt shot up to heaven,' but spent much time wrestling in private prayer.

And if you're not in the spirit of prayer, don't be long, because you'll weary the listeners. Livingstone says of Robert Bruce of Edinburgh, the famous co-temporary of Andrew Melville, no man in his time spoke with such evidence and power of the Spirit. No man had so many seals of conversion. Many of his hearers thought no man since the Apostles spoke with such power.

19:27 - 19:51 Read in full sermon

The point: Avoid a predictable length to your public prayers.

Martin quotes Blakey on the impossibility of heartily joining in very long prayers and the fatigue involved in following another's devotion, advocating for increasing the number of prayers rather than the length of one.

Secondly, with regard to the length of our prayers, avoid a predictable length to your prayers. Avoid a predictable length to your public prayers. And here again, I can advise you to consult Spurgeon, page 67, and then I'll just give you this little choice quote from Blakey, page 178. Nothing is more clearly shown by experience than the impossibility of continuing to join heartily in very long prayers.

20:20 - 20:54 Read in full sermon

The point: Avoid a predictable length to your public prayers.

Martin recounts Whitefield's remark to a minister: 'You prayed me into a good frame, and you prayed me out of it,' illustrating the negative effect of overly long prayers.

For people to throw themselves into the current of another man's devotion involves great mental effort, and in proportion to the greatness of the effort, a liability to fatigue. Whitefield is said to have remarked to an excellent minister whose prayer was unreasonably long, quote, You prayed me into a good frame, and you prayed me out of it. End quote. A minister is not, of course, to have regard to the outcry of every worldly-minded person who sighs for short prayers, short sermons, short services, and, as someone proposed to add, short religion in general.

20:54 - 21:37 Read in full sermon

The point: Establish the practice of preparing the framework or outline of your public prayers, considering the Psalm, church state, and sermon text.

Martin quotes Shedd, who argues that a prayer should have a plan as much as a sermon, and that extemporaneous prayer often lacks the devout reflection and premeditation necessary for an orderly structure.

I find it most helpful, if I'm leading the worship on a Lord's Day morning, to look at the Psalm, to let my opening prayer be framed by the thrust of that Psalm, to think through how the elements in that Psalm can be incorporated into an appropriate opening prayer. Think of the weather, the state of the church, the text in the consecutive reading, the Scripture that you're going to preach upon. Let all of those factors enter into your careful, prayerful preparation of the framework or the outline of your public prayers. Shedd, in his book on homiletics, page 271, writes, he ought to study meth...

27:04 - 28:17 Read in full sermon

The point: Establish the general practice of joining your own public prayers with your preaching, praying before and after the sermon.

Martin notes in a footnote that the great Chalmers occasionally wrote out his prayers in full, providing an example of premeditation in public prayer.

Everything in prayer, and especially in public prayer, ought to be well considered and well weighed. And in a footnote he says, the great Chalmers was accustomed occasionally to write out the prayer in full which he was to offer up. And then he furnishes the proof of that. And so I would urge you to establish this practice early.

28:48 - 29:14 Read in full sermon

The point: Let your prayers be earnest, full of fire, vehemence, and prevalence, so that they compensate for any perceived lack in the sermon.

Martin concludes by reading Spurgeon's final paragraph on public prayer, urging earnestness, fire, and vehemence, so that even if a sermon is lacking, the prayer compensates and leads people to the throne of grace.

And then, in conclusion, I can do no better than read the last brief paragraph in Spurgeon's lectures to his students on this theme. Let your prayers be earnest, full of fire, vehemence, prevalence. I pray the Holy Ghost to instruct every student of this college so to offer public prayer that God shall always be served of his best. Let your petitions be plain and heartfelt.

30:19 - 30:53 Read in full sermon

The point: Let your prayers be earnest, full of fire, vehemence, and prevalence, so that they compensate for any perceived lack in the sermon.

Martin shares his experience of hearing men pray so refreshingly and invigoratingly that it excited him to hear them preach, demonstrating the powerful impact of Spirit-filled public prayer.

And while your people may sometimes feel that the sermon was below the mark, may they also feel that your prayer compensated for all. It's a terrible thing when a man's prayers are vapid and lacking in fire, and then his preaching is the same, but what Spurgeon says, though the sermon may have lacked much, let your people leave, saying, But ah, he led me into the throne of grace when he prayed. I have often found with some men, not often, but enough, with certain men, when I've heard them pray, I've said, Oh Lord, I can't wait to hear them preach. Because their prayers reflected a reality, a l...

30:53 - 32:17 Read in full sermon

The point: Be determined to press on to increasing efficiency in public prayer, recognizing that improvement requires grace, prayer, and pains, not just time.

Martin quotes Dabney's recommendation of Dr. Samuel Miller's work on public prayer, noting that many of Dabney's own advices were borrowed from it, highlighting its merit.

Thankfully, as I've mentioned, Miller on public prayer has been reprinted. And it's very interesting. At the end of Dabney's chapter, he says, Let me in conclusion recommend to you the little work of Dr. Samuel Miller on public prayer.

34:16 - 34:31 Read in full sermon