SUNDAY READING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 7008, 3 May 1884, Page 4 (Supplement)

SUNDAY READING.

\ Bx Me. D. L. Moodx.

SOME ELEMENTS OF TBUE PRAYER,

' . - • ; PETITION. , How of ten we go to prayer-meetings without really asking for anything. Our prayers go all i.rouud the world without anything definite hbing asked for. We do not expect anything.. Many people would be greatly surprised if God did answer their prayers. _ I remember hearing of a. very eloquent man who was leading a meeting in prayer.., There were not a single definite petition in. the whole. A poor earnest woman shouted pat, "Ask Him "suinmat, inan." How often yon hear what ie called prayer .Without any asking. "Ask, and ye ahall receive." I believe if we put all the stumbling-blocks out of the way God will answer our petitions. If we put away sin and come" into' His presence with pnre hands, as He has commanded us to come, our prayers will have power with Him. In Luke's Gospel we have a supplement to the "Disciple'e Prayer" (chapter xi.). "Ask, and it shall be given yon; seek, and ye ehall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." Some people think God does not like to be troubled with our constant coming and asking. The only way to trouble God is not to come at all. He encourages us to come to Him repeatedly, and push our claims. Having read the illustrations used by our Lord, in this chapter, of the man who ronsed his friend at the midnight hour that he might prefer his request, Mr. Moody said : I believe you will find three kinds of Christians in the Church to-day. The firet class are those who "ask;" they naver get beyond that; they do not wait or look for the answer. I remember when. I was a little' boy I went to a neighbouring town where there was a house with an oldfashioned knocker on the door; it was oldfashioned then. I used to think to myself, I would like to hear how the knocker sounds. One day I plucked up courage and lifted the knocker, then I let it go, and off I went as' fast as 1 could. I thought it sounded pretty good, and L would like to hear it again. So I used to pass that way on the road to school and lift the knocker; but one day I got caught, and I have never done it since. A great many people pray in that way ; they do not wait for tho answer. Our Lord teaohes us here that we are not only to ask, but we are to wait for the answer; if it does not come, we must seek to find out the reason. I believe that we get a good many blessings jußt by asking; others we do not get, because there may be something in our life that needs to be brought to light. When Daniel began to pray in Babylon for the deliverance of his people, he sought to find out what the trouble was, and why God had turned away His face from them. So there may be something in our life that is keeping back the blessing; if there ie, we want to firtdit out. Some one speaking on this subject hae said, we are to ask with a beggar's humility, to seek with a servant's carefulness, and to knock with the confidence of a friend. How often people become • discouraged, and say they do not know whether or not God does answer prayer. In Luke xviii. Christ teaches us how we are not only to pray and seek, but to find. If the unjust judge heard the petition of the poor woman who poshed her claims, how much more will our Heavenly Father hear our cry. A good many years ago an Irishman ; in the State of Uew Jersey was condemned to be- hanged. Every possible influence was brought to bear upon the' Governor to have the man reprieved, but he stood firm and refused to alter the sentence. One' morning the wife of tho condemned man with her ten children went to see the Governor.; When he came to his office, they all fell on their faces before him, and they sought him to have mercy on the husband—the father! The Governor s heart was moved, and he at once wrote ont a reprieve. The importunity of the wife and child saved the life of the man, just as the woman in the parable who pushed her claims induced the unjust judge to grant her request. It was thia that brought the answer to the prayer of blind Bartimeus. The people, and even the diaoiples tried to hush him into silence, but he only oried out the louder, "Thou Son of David, have mercy upon me!" You notice, that prayer ie hardly ever mentioned in the Bible alone j it is prayer and earnestnees, prayer and watchfulness, prayer and thanksgiving. So you will find that throughout Scripture prayer is always"linked with something else. Bartimeus' was in earnest, and the Lord heard his cry. THen. the highest type of Christian is the one who has got clear beyond asking and seeking, and keeps knocking till the answer comes. If we knock, .God has promised to open the door and grant our request. It may be yeara before the answer comes; He may keep us knocking: but He has promised that the answer will come. I will tell you what I think it means to knock. In Philadelphia, a number o£ years ago, when we were having great meetings, it came to a point where there seemed to Dβ very little power. We called together all the mothers, and aeked them to meet and pray for their children. About 1500 mothers came together, and poured out their hearts to God in prayer. One mother said, "I wish you wonld pray for my two boys. They have gone off on a drunken spree, and it seems as if my heart would break." She was a widowed mother. A few mothers gathered together, and said, "Let us have a prayer-meeting for these boys." They oried to God for these two wandering boys. See how God answered their prayer. That day these two brothers had planned to meet at the corner of the street where our meetings were being held. They were going to spend the night in debauchery and sin. About seven o'clook the first boy came to the appointed place; he saw the people going into the meeting. As it was a stormy night, he thought he would go in for a little while The Word of God reached him, and he went into the inquiry-room, where he gave his heart to the Saviour. The other brother waited at the corner until the meeting broke up, expecting his brother to come; he did not^know that he had been

in the meeting. There was a young men's meeting in the church near by, and this brother thought he would like to see what was going on, so he followed the crowd into the meeting. He' waa also impressed with what he heard, and was the first one to go into . the inquiry-room, where he fonnd peace. While this was happening, the younger i one had gone home to cheer bis mother's heart with the good news. He found her on her knees. She had bsen knocking at the mercy-seat. While she was doing so her boy came in and told her that her jarayers had been answered; his soul was saved. It was not long before the other brother came in and told his story— how he, too, had been blessed. On the following Monday night the first to.get.up at: the young men's meeting was one of these brothers, who told the story of their conversion. No sooner had he taken his seat than the other jumped up and said, ". All that my brotfier has told you ie true, for I am hie brother. The Lord has indeed met us and blessed us." I heard of a wife in this country who had an unconverted husband. She resolved that she would pray every day for twelve months for his conversion. Every day at twelve o'clock she went to her room alone and cried to God. Her husband would not allow her to speak . to him on the subject, but she could speak to God on his behalf. It may be that some of you have got some friend who does not wish to be spoken with about his salvation ; you can do as this w6man did —go and pray to God about it. The twelve months passed away, and there was no sism of his yielding. Sue resolved to pray for six months longer; so every day she went alone and prayed for the conversion of her husband.. The «ix months passed -and still there was no sign, no answer. The question arose in her mind, Gould she give him up? ".No," she said; "I will pray for him as long as God gives me breath." That very day, when he came home to dinner, instead of going into the dining-room he. went_ upstairs. She waited and waited and waited, but he did not come down to dinner. Finally she went to his roam, and found him on his knees orying to God to have mercy upon him.: God convicted, him of sin; he not only became a Christian, but .the Word of God-had free course and was glorified in him. God used him mightily. That was God answering the payers of this Christian wife; she knocked and knocked till the answer came. _.'■■.... <. I heard something the other-day that cheered me wonderfully. : A man was prayed for about forty years, but there was no sign of any answer. It seemed as though he was going- down" to "his grave one of the most self-righteous men on the face.of the earth. Conviction came, all in -one night. In the

morning he sent for the . members , ' of his family, and said to his daughter, "I want you to pray for me/ Pray that God would forgive my sins; my -whole life haa been nothing but sin—*iri." And all this .conviotion came, as I have said, in one night. What,we want is to press our case right up to the throne of God. X have often known cases of men who came to our meetings and could not hear a word that was said.' It seemed "as though some .unseen power laid hold of them,'so that they were convicted and converted then and there. . .■

I remember at one place where we were in America, a wife came, to the first meeting and aaked me to talk with her husband. " He is not interested," she said, " but I am in hopes he will become so." I talked with him, and I think I hardly ever epoke to a man that seemed to be so self-righteous. It looked as though I might as well have talked to an iron post; he seemed to be so encased in self-righteousness. I said to his wife that he was not at all interested. She said, " I told yon that, but I am interested for him." All the thirty days we were there that wife never gave him up. I "must confess she had ten times more faith for him than I had. I had spoken to him several times, but I could see no ray of hope. The last night but two the man came to me and said, "Would you juet see me in another room ?" I went aside with him, and asked him what was the trouble. He said, "I am lie greatest sinner in the State-of Vermont. , "How is that?" I said. "Is there particular sin you have been guilty of ¥' I must confess I thought he had committed some awful crime, . which he was covering up. and that he now wanted to make confession. "My whole life," he said, has been nothing but sin. God has shown it to me to-day." He asked the Lord to have mercy on him, and he went home rejoicing in the assurance of sins forgiven. There was a man convioted and converted in answer to prayer. So if you are anxious abontth.6 conversion of some relative, or some friend, make up your mind that yon will give God no rest, day or night, till Hβ grauts yonr petition. He can reaoh them, wherever they are—at their places of business, in their homes, or anywhere—and bring them to His feet. The last element in prayer is

SUBMISSION. All true prayer mnst be .offered in full submission to God. After we have made onr requests known to Him onr language shonld be, "Thy.will be done." I would a thousand times rather that God's will shonld be dona than my own. I cannot see into the fiitnre as God can; therefore, it is a good deal better to let Him choose for me than to choose for myself. I know His mind about spiritual- things. His will is that I should be sanctified ; so I can with confidence pray to God for that, and expect an answer to my prayers. Bat when it comes to temporal matters it is different; what I ask for may not be God's purpose concerning me. Some of the best men the world lias ever seen have made great mistakes on this point. Moses could pray for Israel and could pre. vail with God, but God did not answer his petition for himself. He asked that God would take him over Jordan, that he might see Lebanon; after the forty years wandering in the wilderness he desired to go into the Promised Land, but the Lord did not grant his desire. Was that a sign that God did not love him ? By no means. He was a nun greatly beloved by God, like Daniel, and yet God did not answer this prayer of his. Your child says, "I want this or that," but you- do not grant the request, because you know that it would be the ruin of the child to give him everything he wants.' Moses wished to enter the Promised Land, but the Lord had something else in store for him. As some one has said, God kissed away his soul, and took him home to Himself. "God buried him"—the greatest honour ever paid to mortal man. Fifteen hundred years afterwards God answered Ms prayer; he allowed him to go into the Promised Land and to get a glimpse of the coming glory. On the Mount of Transfiguration, with Elijah, the great prophet, and with Peter, J»me», and John, he heard the voice come from the throne of God,

''This is My beloved Son." That was better than to have gone over Jordan, as Joshua did, and sojourn for thirty years in the land of Canaan. So when our prayers for worldly things are not answered, let us submit to the will of God, and know that it is all right. Elijah was mighty in prayer ; he brought fire down from Heaven on his sacrifice, and his petitions brought rain on the thirsty land. He stood fearlessly before King Ahab in the power of prayer. Yet we find him sitting under a juniper tree like a coward, asking God that he would let him die. The Lord loved him too well for that; Hβ was going to take him up to Heaven in a chariot of fire. So we must not allow the devil to take advantage of us, and make us believe that God does not love as because He does not just grant all onr petitions. As Moses takes up more room in the Old Testament than any other character, so it is with Paul in the New Testament, except, perhaps, the Lord Himself. Yet i Paul did not know how to pray for himself. He besought the Lord to take away " the thorn in the flesh." His request was not granted, but the Lord bestowed on him a greater blessing. He gave him more grace. It may be we have some trial—some thorn in the flesh. If it is not God's will to take it away, let us aak Him to give us more grace, in order to bear it. ,We find that Paul gloried in his reverses and his infirmities, because all the more the power of God rested upon him. It may be there are some of us who feel as everything was going againet us. May God give ub grace to take Paul's platform, and say, " All things work together for good to them that love God." So when we pray to God we must be submissive, and say, "Thy will be done."