Anchored in Christ

John Calvin (1509–1564) was not only theologian par excellence and Reformer of the church, he was a pastor that loved God and sought His glory. His systematic theology The Institutes of Christian Religion is evidence of that; not only does Calvin powerfully elucidate his understanding of Scripture’s teachings, he does it in a devotional way.

I have always enjoyed Calvin’s chapter on prayer, and for that reason decided to make it more accessible in the volume titled The Chief Exercise of Faith: John Calvin on Prayer (with Foreword by Colin S. Smith). Here is a sampling of the richness of Calvin’s writing about prayer:

But after we have learned by faith to know that whatever is necessary for us or defective in us is supplied in God and in our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom it hath pleased the Father that all fulness should dwell, that we may thence draw as from an inexhaustible fountain, it remains for us to seek and in prayer implore of him what we have learned to be in him. (3.20.1)

As faith springs from the Gospel, so by faith our hearts are framed to call upon the name of God, (Rom 10:14). (3.20.1)

We see that nothing is set before us as an object of expectation from the Lord which we are not enjoined to ask of Him in prayer, so true it is that prayer digs up those treasures which the Gospel of our Lord discovers to the eye of faith. The necessity and utility of this exercise of prayer no words can sufficiently express. (3.20.2)

It is very much for our interest to be constantly supplicating him; though our most merciful Father never slumbers nor sleeps, he very often seems to do so, that thus he may exercise us, when we might otherwise be listless and slothful, in asking, entreating, and earnestly beseeching him to our great good. (3.20.3)

Let the first rule of right prayer then be, to have our heart and mind framed as becomes those who are entering into converse with God. (3.20.4)

Let every one in professing to pray turn thither all his thoughts and feelings, and be not (as is usual) distracted by wandering thoughts; because nothing is more contrary to the reverence due to God than that levity which bespeaks a mind too much given to license and devoid of fear. (3.20.5)

Let us know, then, that none duly prepare themselves for prayer but those who are so impressed with the majesty of God that they engage in it free from all earthly cares and affections. (3.20.5)

Believers ought to be specially on their guard never to appear in the presence of God with the intention of presenting a request unless they are under some serious impression, and are, at the same time, desirous to obtain it. (3.20.6)

There is not an instant of time during which our want does not exhort us to prayer. (3.20.7)

When will temptation give us a truce, making it unnecessary to hasten for help? (3.20.7)

God promises that he will be near to those who call upon him in truth, and declares that those who seek him with their whole heart will find him: those, therefore, who delight in their own pollution cannot surely aspire to him. (3.20.7)

One of the requisites of legitimate prayer is repentance. (3.20.7)

Supplication for pardon, with humble and ingenuous confession of guilt, forms both the preparation and commencement of right prayer. (3.20.9)

No heart will ever rise to genuine prayer that does not at the same time long for holiness. (3.20.10)

We should be animated to pray with the sure hope of succeeding. (3.20.11)

The best stimulus which the saints have to prayer is when, in consequence of their own necessities, they feel the greatest disquietude, and are all but driven to despair, until faith seasonably comes to their aid; because in such straits the goodness of God so shines upon them, that while they groan, burdened by the weight of present calamities, and tormented with the fear of greater, they yet trust to this goodness, and in this way both lighten the difficulty of endurance, and take comfort in the hope of final deliverance. (3.20.11)

The only prayer acceptable to God is that which springs (if I may so express it) from this presumption of faith, and is founded on the full assurance of hope. (3.20.12)

Prayers are vainly poured out into the air unless accompanied with faith, in which, as from a watchtower, we may quietly wait for God. (3.20.12)

All the passages throughout Scripture in which we are commanded to pray, are set up before our eyes as so many banners, to inspire us with confidence. (3.20.13)

Those who do not invoke God under urgent necessity are no better than idolaters. (3.20.14)

A bold spirit in prayer well accords with fear, reverence, and anxiety, and that there is no inconsistency when God raises up those who had fallen prostrate. (3.20.14)

It is impossible to think of the dread majesty of God without being filled with alarm; and hence the sense of our own unworthiness must keep us far away, until Christ interpose, and convert a throne of dreadful glory into a throne of grace, as the Apostle teaches that thus we can “come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need,” (Heb 4: 16). (3.20.17)

Since faith is founded on the word, and is the parent of right prayer, the moment we decline from the word, our prayers are impure. (3.20.27)

In regard to the office of intercession, we have also seen that it is peculiar to Christ, and that no prayer is agreeable to God which he as Mediator does not sanctify. (3.20.27)

By prayer and supplication we pour out our desires before God, asking as well those things which tend to promote his glory and display his name, as the benefits which contribute to our advantage. By thanksgiving we duly celebrate his kindnesses toward us, ascribing to his liberality every blessing which enters into our lot. (3.20.28)

So great and widely diffused are the riches of his liberality towards us, so marvellous and wondrous the miracles which we behold on every side, that we never can want a subject and materials for praise and thanksgiving. (3.20.28)

Whenever believers beseech the Lord to do anything “for his own name’s sake”, as they declare themselves unworthy of obtaining it in their own name, so they oblige themselves to give thanks, and promise to make the right use of his lovingkindness by being the heralds of it. (3.20.28)

All wishes are vicious and perverse which are not accompanied with thanksgiving. His words are, “In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God,” (Php 4: 6). Because many, under the influence of moroseness, weariness, impatience, bitter grief and fear, use murmuring in their prayers, he enjoins us so to regulate our feelings as cheerfully to bless God even before obtaining what we ask. (3.20.28)

Without the intervention of his priesthood our lips are not pure enough to celebrate the name of God. (3.20.28)

It was not without cause that our Lord himself, when he would engage more earnestly in prayer, withdrew into a retired spot beyond the bustle of the world, thus reminding us by his example that we are not to neglect those helps which enable the mind, in itself too much disposed to wander, to become sincerely intent on prayer. (3.20.29)

We must hold that he who declines to pray in the public meeting of the saints, knows not what it is to pray apart, in retirement, or at home. On the other hand, he who neglects to pray alone and in private, however sedulously he frequents public meetings, there gives his prayers to the wind, because he defers more to the opinion of man than to the secret judgment of God. (3.20.29)

For he who promises to grant whatsoever two or three assembled in his name shall ask, (Mat 18: 20), declares, that he by no means despises the prayers which are publicly offered up, provided there be no ostentation, or catching at human applause, and provided there be a true and sincere affection in the secret recesses of the heart. (3.20.30)

Hence it is perfectly clear that neither words nor singing (if used in prayer) are of the least consequence, or avail one iota with God, unless they proceed from deep feeling in the heart. (3.20.31)

If singing is tempered to a gravity befitting the presence of God and angels, it both gives dignity and grace to sacred actions, and has a very powerful tendency to stir up the mind to true zeal and ardor in prayer. We must, however, carefully beware, lest our ears be more intent on the music than our minds on the spiritual meaning of the words. (3.20.31)

It is also plain that the public prayers are not to be couched in Greek among the Latins, nor in Latin among the French or English, (as hitherto has been every where practised), but in the vulgar tongue, so that all present may understand them, since they ought to be used for the edification of the whole Church, which cannot be in the least degree benefited by a sound not understood. (3.20.33)

The principle we must always hold is, that in all prayer, public and private, the tongue without the mind must be displeasing to God. Moreover, the mind must be so incited, as in ardor of thought far to surpass what the tongue is able to express. (3.20.33)

Christ is not only the earnest and pledge of our adoption, but also gives us the Spirit as a witness of this adoption, that through him we may freely cry aloud, Abba, Father. Whenever, therefore, we are restrained by any feeling of hesitation, let us remember to ask of him that he may correct our timidity, and placing us under the magnanimous guidance of the Spirit, enable us to pray boldly. (3.20.37)

All our prayers ought to bear reference to that community which our Lord has established in his kingdom and family. (3.20.37)

Under the name of Father is set before us that God, who hath appeared to us in his own image, that we may invoke him with sure faith; the familiar name of Father being given not only to inspire confidence, but also to curb our minds, and prevent them from going astray after doubtful or fictitious gods. (3.20.40)

When his throne is fixed in heaven, we are reminded that he governs the world, and, therefore, that it is not in vain to approach him whose present care we actually experience. (3.20.40)

True prayer should pour out the whole soul and every inward feeling before him. (3.20.44)

For if the Spirit of God is our strength in waging the contest with Satan, we cannot gain the victory unless we are filled with him, and thereby freed from all infirmity of the flesh. Therefore, when we pray to be delivered from sin and Satan, we at the same time desire to be enriched with new supplies of divine grace, until completely replenished with them, we triumph over every evil. (3.20.46)

The prayers of Christians should be public, and have respect to the public edification of the Church and the advancement of believers in spiritual communion. (3.20.47)

The Lord’s Prayer contains every thing that we can or ought to ask of God. (3.20.48)

Ought always to raise our minds upwards towards God, and pray without ceasing, yet such is our weakness, which requires to be supported, such our torpor, which requires to be stimulated, that it is requisite for us to appoint special hours for this exercise, hours which are not to pass away without prayer, and during which the whole affections of our minds are to be completely occupied; namely, when we rise in the morning, before we commence our daily work, when we sit down to food, when by the blessing of God we have taken it, and when we retire to rest. This, however, must not be a superstitious observance of hours, by which, as it were, performing a task to God, we think we are discharged as to other hours; it should rather be considered as a discipline by which our weakness is exercised, and ever and anon stimulated. In particular, it must be our anxious care, whenever we are ourselves pressed, or see others pressed by any strait, instantly to have recourse to him not only with quickened pace, but with quickened minds; and again, we must not in any prosperity of ourselves or others omit to testify our recognition of his hand by praise and thanksgiving. (3.20.50)

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