Charles Wesley was an avid preacher. He was a prolific hymn writer. He was also committed to prayer.
Charles Wesley was a powerful man of prayer. Here are twenty-one quotes from Charles on prayer. They expose his heart and commitment to prayer in his own life. They also demonstrate his faith in the importance and power of prayer in his life and ministry.
The humility of Charles and his dependence upon his God are evident. God worked powerfully through the ministry of Charles Wesley. Prayer was foundational for him. Is it for you? My favorite is #8.
1. The Altar of the Heart
Charles wrote a hymn inspired by Leviticus 6:13. He desired for the fire in his heart to burn continually. He never wanted it to go out.
O Thou who camest from above
1. O thou who camest from above,
The pure celestial fire t’impart,
Kindle a flame of sacred love
On the mean altar of my heart.
There let it for thy glory burn
With inextinguishable blaze,
And trembling to its source return,
In humble prayer, and fervent praise.
-Charles Wesley, in Kimbrough, Lyrical Theology, p. 207.
Charles understood his need for grace. Christ came into the world to save sinners. Charles needed salvation.
He asked the Jesus to kindle the flame in his heart. He didn’t want to rely on his own ability. Charles wanted always to return to the source – to His Lord and Savior – with two things:
- Humble prayer
- Fervent praise.
Charles was big on prayer. He was also big on praise. (You can read this post about Charles on Singing here.) The hymn concludes:
2. Jesus, confirm my heart’s desire
To work, and speak, and think for thee
Still let me guard the holy fire,
And still stir up thy gift in me,
Ready for all thy perfect will,
My acts of faith and love repeat,
‘Till death thy endless mercies seal,
And make my sacrifice complete.
-Ibid.
Until his death, Charles sought to guard the holy fire within.
How would he do so? Through humble prayer and fervent praise.
2. A Life of Faith and Prayer
In a hymn for preachers, we find these words:
4. With all the servants of my Lord,
Whom on my heart I bear,
I fain would live, to preach thy word,
A life of faith and prayer.
5. The power of praying faith and love
Into our souls infuse,
With gifts and talents from above
Prepare us for thy use:
-Charles Wesley, in Kimbrough, Unpublished Poetry, 3:35.
Prayer was a source of power. It was preparation. It was to be a characteristic of all who serve the Lord.
Charles implored ministers to live a life of faith and prayer. He modeled it in his own life and ministry.
3. For Those Dead in Sin
1. Eternal Son of God most high,
Whose only voice can wake the dead,
Speak to the souls, for whom we cry,
For whom we in thy Spirit plead,
And bring them up from Nature’s grave
And now stretch out thine arm to save.
2. The dead in trespasses convince,
And turn from Satan’s power to God,
Reveal thy wrath against their sins,
Orewhelm them with the mountain-load,
Till all that load of guilt and fear
Rolls off—into thy sepulchre.
-Charles Wesley, “For the Unawakened,” in Unpublished Poetry, 3:227, bold added.
Charles Wesley was not a Calvinist. Yet, he still prays in the Spirit for God to effect salvation in the lives of the unawakened.
Charles asks God to wake them up. He asks God to bring them up from the grave. He asks God to convict them of their sin and their need to unburden themselves by trusting in Christ alone.
4. Praying For Disobedient Children
Jesus, th’ essential Power divine,
Thy virtue on this Rebel shew,
His iron-sinew’d neck incline,
His stubborn heart by love subdue,
And glad all heaven with the sound,
“The dead’s alive, the lost is found!”
-Charles Wesley, “For A Disobedient Child,” ibid., 3:231.
Charles relied on the love of God and the power of prayer to break through stiff-necked, obstinate rebellion.
He also exhibits a delight in the salvation of the rebel, in joining with the praise heard in heaven.
Many pray for circumstances to change so they can be more comfortable. Charles demonstrates that the heart of prayer is in God being glorified in heaven and on earth.
5. For A Dying Unbeliever
The sinner sad, who void of Thee
Is turning to the wall his face,
Save as the Felon on the tree,
To shew forth all thy power of grace,
And bid him from thy cross, arise,
And reign with Thee in paradise.
-Charles Wesley, “For A Dying Unbeliever,” ibid., 3:233.
Before Charles Wesley’s evangelical conversion, he denied the possibility of death-bed conversions. After his own instantaneous conversion, he saw that he was wrong.
(You can read more about Charles’s evangelical conversion in this post.)
He had the opportunity to preach to many as they neared death. This prayer-hymn demonstrates the nature of his prayer and hope for the salvation of those nearing eternity without Christ.
6. Charles’s Conversion Prayers
Charles Wesley experienced the new birth on Sunday, May 21, 1738. He records much of his own prayer experience in his journal.
After visiting with his brother John and some friends in the morning, Charles prayed to the Lord.
I betook myself to prayer; the substance as follows: “O Jesus, thou hast said, I will come unto you. Thou hast said, I will send the Comforter to you. My father and I will come unto you, and make our abode with you. Thou art God who canst not lie. I wholly rely upon thy most true promise. Accomplish it in thy time and manner.”
-Charles Wesley, MS Journal entry Sunday, May 21, 1738.
Circumstances of that day revealed that God’s time for him was that day. Later in the same entry Charles records:
Still I felt a violent opposition and reluctance to believe. Yet still the Spirit of God strove with my own and the evil spirit, till by degrees he chased away the darkness of my unbelief. I found myself convinced—I knew not how, nor when—and immediately fell to intercession.
Ibid., bold added.
Charles’s conversion was completely encompassed in prayer. It’s no wonder he fervently prayed and interceded for the faith of others for the rest of his life.
7. Power In Intercession
I rose in great heaviness, which neither private nor joint prayer could remove. At last I betook myself to intercession for my relations, which was greatly helped and enlarged herein, particularly in prayer for a most profligate sinner.
-Charles Wesley, MS Journal entry Saturday, May 27, 1738.
Charles was prone to bouts of depression. In this case, private prayer didn’t lift it. Neither did corporate prayer.
But intercession brought him personal victory as he sought the good of others.
He found that this power was especially present in praying for someone lost and dead in their trespasses and sins.
8. Prayer and Witness
We adjourned to Mr Piers and joined in prayer for a poor woman in despair, one Mrs Searle, whom Satan had bound these many years. I saw her pass by in the morning and was touched with a sense of her misery. After pleading his promise of being with us to the end of the world, we went down to her in the name of Jesus.
-Charles Wesley, MS Journal entry Sunday, June 11, 1738, bold added.
Charles took God at His word. He believed the promises of Scripture.
In this brief entry, we see four key points.
- Prayer for the person,
- Compassion for the person,
- Reliance on the abiding presence of Christ, and
- Obedience to preach the gospel in the name of Jesus.
It’s easy to separate these elements. To be content with some of them. Charles demonstrates we can do all of the above. Here’s the result from that same entry:
I asked her whether she thought God was love and not anger, as Satan would persuade her. Then I preached the gospel which she received with all imaginable eagerness. When we had for some time continued together in prayer, she rose up another creature, strongly and explicitly declaring her faith in the blood of Christ and full persuasion that she was accepted in the Beloved.
Ibid.
Praise God! And go, do likewise. For the praise of His great name.
For more on witnessing, check out my posts with quotes from Charles Wesley on Evangelism and The Gospel.
9. Forced To Pray
Most Christians can relate to seasons of dryness. Times we just don’t want to pray.
Pray anyway.
At Mr Syms’s, extremely averse to prayer, would fain have stole away without it. But Mr Bray stopped me, saying my deadness could not hinder God, and forced me to pray. I had scarce begun when I was quite melted down, and prayed more fervently than ever before.
-Charles Wesley, MS Journal entry Saturday, July 1, 1738.
Sometimes we need the same encouragement Charles needed. Sometimes we can be the one who encourages a brother or sister in Christ to pray through their deadness, relying on God to break through and revive us.
10. Begged To Pray
During a dispute with a man Charles begged him to pray. To seek the wisdom of the Lord.
Told him he was yet in his sins, and knew nothing, and begged him to pray for direction.
-Charles Wesley, MS Journal entry Wednesday, July 12, 1738.
Charles was unable to convince this man. So, he begged him to seek the Lord. Charles trusted that the Lord would show him his error and shine light into the darkness if he truly sought Him.
11. Don’t Follow Your Heart
Many think it is a good thing to follow your heart. Charles disagreed. He prayed against it.
I prayed earnestly that neither he nor I might ever be left to follow our own heart’s desires.
-Charles Wesley, MS Journal entry Saturday, August 19, 1738.
Charles believed the testimony of Scripture that the heart was wicked. Deceitful.
He prayed for himself and for others that they would not be carried away by their own fanciful lusts, whims, and desires. He wanted to walk in the will of God. To follow the Lord, not his heart.
12. Healed
Prayed, pleading the promises in much bodily pain. Asked in faith that it might leave me. It did, while I was walking to James’s.
-Charles Wesley, MS Journal entry Thursday, October 12, 1738.
Charles believed that God could heal miraculously and instantly. He was in a great deal of pain. He prayed in faith.
He asked God to take his pain away. God answered. Charles did not always receive healing when he prayed, but he both asked and received on this day.
13. Increased Importunity
Asked particularly that some one might then receive the atonement. … He received faith in immediate answer to our prayer; professed it; full of peace, and joy, and love. Expressed a strong desire to pray for Mr Stonehouse. I prayed again with vehemence and tears. … yet no answer. Mr Stonehouse said the blessing was withheld from him to increase our importunity.
-Charles Wesley, MS Journal entry Sunday, October 15, 1738, emphasis in original.
Charles prayed and received an answer to his prayer. A soul was saved by grace through faith in Christ.
Many would’ve ended there. But Charles pressed on in prayer. He prayed with vehemence. With tears. You can see the seriousness and emotion of Charles. These are not dead, lifeless prayers offered in formality. His prayers are an overflow of his heart.
Yet, no answer came. The man they were praying for suggested that God delayed His answer to increase their importunity. Importunity means persistence. An urgent pleading.
14. Wrestling In Prayer
Charles describes a woman weary and heavy-laden with sin. She found it hard to believe she could ever be saved. Her sin was too great.
We wrestled in prayer for her, and she declared her burden taken off and her soul at peace. The more we prayed, the clearer still she was, till at last she testified that she did believe in Jesus with her whole heart. We continued in mighty prayer for all gross sinners, and I offered myself willingly to be employed peculiarly in their service.
-Charles Wesley, MS Journal entry Wednesday, February 21, 1739.
For Charles, wrestling in prayer wasn’t just a phrase or a cliché. It was a true description of his activities and ministry. The struggled until this woman was free in Christ. Then they continued for all under the burden of sin.
15. Praying For Persecutors
Preached afterwards at our house, and prayed fervently for the opposers. … At night I was greatly strengthened to expound and pray for our persecutors.
-Charles Wesley, MS Journal entry Sunday, April 29, 1739.
Jesus told His followers to pray for those who persecute them. It’s much easier to complain and grumble about those who oppose us.
Charles took His Lord’s command and example seriously. He prayed from the heart for those who opposed the gospel. He prayed they would turn from their opposition and believe the gospel.
16. Praying With Tears
She was brought so strongly to my mind, that I was even constrained to pray for her with tears.
-Charles Wesley, MS Journal entry Tuesday, May 15, 1739.
As Charles set his heart and mind upon the work of the ministry, the Lord brought people to his mind. Charles prayed for them from the heart and with emotion.
The love Charles had for both God and people is often revealed by his praying with tears.
17. Prayer For A Church
Full of prayer that the Lord would gather a church in this place.
-Charles Wesley, MS Journal entry Friday, May 25, 1739.
Charles often prayed for the salvation of individuals. In this entry we see him full of prayer that the Lord would gather a church.
Charles didn’t just want believers to float around. Without fellowship, accountability, or leadership. Charles knows that the Lord loves His church. So did Charles.
So, he prayed for the Lord to gather believers and establish a community of faith in a place that had none. So that the church could be an enduring witness of worship and love.
18. Prayer God Always Answers
I preached and prayed believing. I was led to ask a sign of God’s universal love. He always answers that prayer.
-Charles Wesley, MS Journal entry Friday, September 7, 1739.
The sign Charles sought was someone receiving power to believe the gospel. He asked the Lord to confirm his message regarding God’s universal love – that all are invited to come to the Savior and find redemption in His blood.
According to Charles, God always answers this prayer.
The same entry records two people – a poor ignorant man and a lady named Mrs Ayers – testifying their receiving Christ and the forgiveness of their sins.
19. Pray Until Answered
I exhorted the colliers, by the example of the Syro-Phoenician woman, to pray always, till their requests are granted.
-Charles Wesley, MS Journal entry Tuesday, October 2, 1739.
Many people give up in prayer too soon. They don’t feel the burden. They don’t set themselves to the work.
Not all prayers require persistence. Some are answered right away. Others require persistence. Some may never receive an answer because they lack the necessary persistence.
20. Praying For Offence
We bless God for this cause of offence, and pray it may never be removed.
-Charles Wesley, MS Journal entry Saturday, October 13, 1739, emphasis in original.
Taken out of context, this may be a shocking quote. In context, Charles is remarking that he prays new believers will keep being added to the fold.
Some of the religious folks were offended at the number of new communicants seeking baptism and communion as a result of the gospel ministry of Charles and others.
Charles hoped this was a problem that would continue.
21. Prayer For Love
God help me to love him! I abhor both his principles and practices.
-Charles Wesley, MS Journal entry Saturday, May 10, 1740.
It can be difficult to love people who act and believe differently than what we think is right. Charles knew he couldn’t wink at sin or condone wicked principles and practices.
Yet, Charles was called to love even his enemies. That’s often easier said than done.
So, Charles prayed for divine help. Help to love the person despite their sinful ways.
Many have heard the phrase, “love the sinner, but hate the sin.” I’ve seen this quote incorrectly attributed to Mahatma Gandhi. But Charles Wesley actually used this phrase at least as early as 1739. That’s 130 years before Gandhi was born.
Charles wanted to love people. He urged others to love them, too. No matter how notorious or vile their sin.
Do you not find a disdain and loathing of her person; and can you understand that distinction of hating the sin, but loving the sinner? … If you do feel a fierceness and bitterness against sinners, a scornful disdain, an unrelenting hate, a forwardness to accuse, a readiness to condemn, a joy and triumph in their punishment, however you may cloak this spirit under the mask of zeal for justice, it is the Pharisee, it is the devil in you. It is as contrary to the mind which was in Jesus, as darkness to light, hell to heaven, you to Christians.
-Charles Wesley, sermon on John 8:1-11, in Newport, Sermons, p.255.
Charles believed all could be saved. If they would only repent and believe. He urged for compassion in the heart of Christians. He said this was the heart of Christ. Who came to save sinners by His sacrifice.
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