Isaiah 6:6-8

Isaiah 6:6

There must be a relation between prayer and action: between prayer, which is the soul of the inward life; and action, which is the substance of the outward.

I. Prayer is the preparation for action. What prayer is to preaching, that is action to prayer, its end and goal. That sermon is successful which makes men pray; that prayer is successful which makes men act. (1) It is necessary to remember that action has a spiritual field as well as an outward. There is an action of the soul, which is the highest of all practical workings. That living energy of conscious and fervent love love to God, and love to man which goes forth in holy aspirations, charitable feelings, and benevolent designs, is action, and the noblest action. (2) Prayer, which is the arming of the soul, must have respect to the items of the conflict even more than to the sum. The prayer which would affect action must be minute and detailed, as well as earnest.

II. Action is the working out of prayer. Even as the prophet, when the live coal had touched his lips, purging iniquity, heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" and answered, "Here am I; send me," so will the man of prayer, and the man to whom Christ is all, go forth in the spirit of prayer and in the strength of faith, to do the work of God, inward and outward, in his vocation. (1) In prayer he has received power; (2) he has anticipated trial; (3) he acts in the spirit of prayer; (4) he looks forward to the prayer of evening. The prospect of prayer is powerful with him, like its retrospect. He would fain be able to close the day, not in depression, but in thankfulness; not as a vanquished man, but as one who has done all and stands.

C. J. Vaughan, Voices of the Prophets,p. 194.