Pulpit Messages
Chrisfianify and Life
(Contributed by Ministers’ Association.)
SHOULD ONE PR.AY? “Can prayer make any differ- | cnee lo anything in a universe • which appears in be governed by ] unalterable law’?” ‘‘lf God knows everything, is there’ any. sense in lolling Him about our; needs of which He is already aware?". “If God is perfectly good, is it not presumptions to ask Him to do what ; perfect goodness will assuredly do in any case?” j “Shall not. the Judge of all the earth ! do right without needing to be moved j thereto by human petitions?” These are only some of the questions j asked about prayer. There is no room | here to deal adequately with so vast a subject as prayer and all the questions which can be raised about it. But. among the many considerations therej arc two which may help to convince us j of the truth underlying our Lord's ! assertion that “man ought always topray and not to faint.” Must Pray To Be At Our Best j Apart from the fact that our Lord,! who is our example, prayed, there is! the important fact that we cannot pos-! .sibly hope to be our best unless we pray. It is ttie commonest of mistakes to suppose that the primary object of prayer is to persuade God to do certain things which we think would be for our advantage. Even though the Lord's Prayer contains such petitions, they are not placed first. Indeed, the first three petitions of that prayer remind us that the primary object of praying is not to ask for things lor ourselves but to! get into touch with God and to have* j spiritual fellowship with Him. When we open our hearts to God’s influence and ofi’er our wills to Him to be at-| tuned to His will, our prayer becomes! centred in God. No man ever comes to; God in real prayer without being re-1 newed thereby. And it is because our [ spiritual life needs incessant renewal that we cannot afford to dispose with our prayers. Apt (o Forget Our Position The .second consideration is that, wo are apt to forget our position as fellowworkers with God as intelligent cooperators with Him in the achieving of! His purposes for mankind. An omnipotent God could, of course, dispense with out assistance. But Me has not .so willed it, and our help is invited. The heart that nears God in prayer will rapidly get tired of itself and of its private concerns, except as they are involved in the welfare of others.' If God's will determines what is to come to pass, His will may also determine that it shall come to pass in answer to ttie prayer which He enables us to make. In prayer for others as well as for ourselves it is not really we who i should begin. It is not that we ask and God responds. Rather, moves us to pray and we respond to this inspiration. And so, believing that without us, God's will will not be done, wo shall come to know how well worth while it is to pray.
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Bibliographic details
Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23097, 9 November 1949, Page 3
Word Count
521Pulpit Messages Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23097, 9 November 1949, Page 3
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