Prayer as a Means of Grace

September 18, 1859
Charles Hodge

I. What is prayer?

It is not simply petition, but converse with God, including, therefore,

1. The expression of our feelings in view of his greatness and glory, i.e., adoration.

2. The expression of our feelings in view of his goodness, i.e., thanksgiving.

3. The expression of our feelings in view of our sins and sinfulness, i.e., confession.

4. The expression of our feelings in view of our wants, i.e., supplication. Of course this verse with God may be,

1st. Solemn and formal, in the use of articulate words and on set occasions, in the closet, family, or sanctuary.

2d. Occasional and ejaculatory, and thus constant, as the bubbling of a spring of living water.

3d. Or in the unuttered aspirations and longings of the soul after God, like the constant ascent of the flame towards heaven.

II. Prayer, or this converse with God, is means of grace.

1. It is not merely a means of spiritual improvement, nor a means of securing divine blessings, but one of the appointed means of supernatural, divine communications to the soul from God.

2. This, therefore, is not due to a law of nature, according to which we are assimilated to those with whom we converse, but to the fact that in prayer God communicates himself, reveals his glory and his love to the soul.

3. The Holy Ghost is the Spirit of prayer, in the sense,

(a) That he reveals those objects which call forth spiritual affections, i.e., the glory of God, his love, the glory and love of Christ, the inexhaustible riches of the divine promises, our own sinfulness and necessities.

(b) That he not only presents these objects, but also awakens the appropriate feelings.

(c) That he leads us to clothe those feelings, those adoring, penitential, grateful or craving feelings, in appropriate language, or in groanings which cannot be uttered. Thus he maketh intercession for us. Thus he is our “παρακλητο” (advocate). Prayer thus inspired is not only always answered in some way, and that the best, but it is also a means of grace. It is the occasion and the channel of infusing new measures of divine life into the soul. It is not therefore prayer as the mere uttering of words, nor prayer as the uttering of natural desires of affection, as when one prays for his own life or the life of those dear to him; but it is prayer as the real intercourse of the soul with God, by the Holy Ghost, that is, the Holy Ghost revealing truth, exciting feeling, and giving appropriate utterance.

III. Our duty in the premises is,

1. To remember that this intercourse with God is optional. We can gain access to him only when he pleases to admit us.

2. That as it is the life of the soul, we should most earnestly desire and diligently seek it.

3. That we must seek it in his appointed way, that is, through Christ and the Spirit.

4. That we must seek it on the occasions on which he is wont to grant it, in the closet, the family, and the sanctuary.

5. That we must not wait for it, so as to pray only when we feel the spirit of prayer. We must go to his courts, knock at his door, bow be. fore the oracle, and expect him in the use of his appointed means.