# Spiritual Prayer (by Thomas watson)



## jambo (Apr 26, 2008)

Prayer is the soul’s traffic with heaven.

Prayer is spiritual when it is:

_Prayed with knowledge (Eccl 5.2; 1 Cor 14.15)_
When the incense of prayer burns, the lamp of knowledge must be lit.
We must know the majesty and holiness of God, so that we may be deeply affected with reverence when we come before him.
He that prays he knows not how, shall be heard he knows not when.

_Prayed with heart and spirit (1 Sam 1.13; Ro 10.1)_
If the heart does not accompany duty, it is speaking not praying

_Prayed with fervency (Ro 8.26; Jas 5.16)_
Fervency is the wing of prayer by which it ascends to heaven
When the heart is inflamed with prayer, a Christian is carried as it were in a fiery chariot up to heaven.

_Prayed with a broken heart (Ps 51.17)_
It is not a voluble tongue but a melting heart which God accepts.
God accepts broken expressions when they come from broken hearts.

_Believing prayer (Mt 21.22)_
The reason why so many prayers suffer shipwreck is because they split on the rock of unbelief. Praying without faith is shooting without bullets. When faith takes prayer by the hand then we draw near to God.

_Holy prayer (Ps 66.18; Mal 3.3; 1 Tim 2.8)_
Prayer must be offered on the altar of a pure heart. Sin lived in makes the heart hard and God’s ear deaf.
It is foolish to pray against sin and then to sin against prayer.
If the heart is holy, this altar will sanctify the gift.

_Humble prayer (Gen 18.27; Ps 10.17; Lk 18.13)_
The lower the heart descends the higher the prayer ascends.

_Prayed in Christ’s name (Jn 14.13-14; 16.23-26)_
To pray in the name of Christ is not only to name Christ in prayer, but to pray in the hope and confidence of Christ’s mediation. As a child claims his estate in the right of his father who purchased it, so we come for mercy in the name of Christ who has purchased it for us in his blood. Unless we pray thus, we do not pray at all; we rather provoke God.

_Prayed out of love to prayer (Is 56.7; Job 27.10)_
A godly man is carried on the wings of delight. He is never so well as when he is praying. He is not forced with fear but fired with love.

_Has spiritual goals (Jas 4.3)_
There is a vast difference between a spiritual prayer and a carnal desire. The sinner prays more for food than grace. This, God does not interpret as praying but as howling
Prayers which lack a good aim lack a good answer.
A godly man engages on the trade of prayer so that he may increase the stock of grace.

_Using the means (Ex 17.8-16; Is 38.21; Acts 6.4; Ro 10.1)_
When Hezekiah was sick he did not only pray for recovery, but he laid “a lump of figs to the boil” (Is 38.21). When we pray for grace and use opportunities to the full, this is laying a fig on the boil which will help us recover. To pray for holiness and neglect the means is like winding up a clock and taking off the weights

_Leaves a spiritual mood in the heart_
A Christian is better after prayer. He has gained more strength over sin as a man by exercise gets strength. Having been with God on the mount, Moses’ face shone. So having been on the mount of prayer, our graces shine and our lives shine. The gift of prayer is ordinary, like culinary fire. But spiritual prayer is more rare and excellent, like elemental fire which comes from heaven.

(Taken from Thomas Watson 'The Godly Mans Picture)


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