Thoughtful Moments

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 8, Issue 10, 22 September 1944, Page 2

Thoughtful Moments

OUR SUNDAY MESSAGE

(Supplied by the Whakatnne Ministers' Association).

WAITING ON GOD by Rev. J. H. Dcane, 8.A., B.D. In the war in North Africa in which we have, been particularly concerned, we have been struck again and again with the considerable delays between major actions. The cause of the delay has be.cn— "Waiting for supplies"—supplies of men and materials. The pause between the collapse of Tunisia and the attack on Sicily was for the same purpose. The army dare not proceed to the attack without vast and ample stores of ammunition, weapons petrol food men etc. etc. 1 A T S 9 '» It is not otherwise in the Christian life.. We need supplies, daily,, from above. Ignorant or foolish is the Christian who thinks he is a match for life and Satan, apart from constant and ample supplies from above. I know of nothing so needful as the cultivation of that sense of need, and that spirit of dependence. that confides in God, and ret fuses to move without His constant supply of grace and strength. For how long can a branch go on once it is. severed from the vine ? Not an instant! But supposing it. is an old branch, which has been growing on the vine for 2!) years, has become nearly as big as the maw stem has drunk in its supplies without ceasing for all those years, can it not manage for a while without fresh sap and life? Not for an in r i stant. Sever it from the stem,, its instant death is sealed! Unconsciously and unintelligently, it remains abiding, depending on the vine for its all. So, consciously, intelligently, I must remain abiding, confiding } depending on the True Vine (of which I am a branch) for all my daily s hourly, strength and grace.. This is not quite the same as praying. There may be much prayer and but. little Avaiting on God. Prayer is often occupied with self, our needs, our efforts our will and wishes and wants, Waiting on God"Ts, first of filled with the thought of Him upon Whom we wait. We come into His Presence, w r e arc quiet, we seek a sense; of His overshadowing Presence. We seek to get away from ourselves, to empty ourselves, and to present, ourselves, before > Him that He may impress Himself on us, fill us with Himself.

This spirit we should cultivate when we come to pray. Bow quietly before Him; seek to realise who He is: how near: how willing to help. Wait quietly while the Holy Spirit s.tirs%p in you the sample, childlike spirit of submission and dependence and expectation. Think of v Goci as One who longs to fill you with Himself His love His full salvation. • y i

Think of His love and of that love dircctccl right on you, waiting to impart itself to you and fill you. Think of yourself as the object of an infinite love. Let intervals of silence and stillness come in your prayer time, in which you wiil yield yourself to God to hear Him while He brings things to your mind, revealing deficiencies, plans. Let us. wait on Him then for the supply of our vital life, apart from which we cannot wage our daily warfare. He supplies all the needs of the, world of nature, will He be less generous in the world of grace? WISDOM FROM-THE DESERT I met the Squadron Leader, writes Major Stephen when he returned tcf England, and asked him what he had learnt from his time in the Middle East. His first reply was: "The power of prayer." Then he we,lit on: "Let me tell you of one incident to illustrate this. We were over the desert on a daylight show when a fighter got on our tail. 1 was in the astro-hatch and the bullets- were zipp'fig past. I'm not a | brave person by nature and might have been in a flap,, but. found myself quite coolly thinking of the other chaps and the right kind of evasive, tactics. I' put that down to the fact that I had knelt, down on the floor oi' the 'plane and prayed just, before we went into actibn. Like the time when we were lost over the desert, God showed me the right course to take. I'm convinced that He can do that in any circumstances." WHAT PRAYER IS NOT Now that the National Day of prayer is over, it is instructive to look back and wonder just how many of those who thronged the churches —many of them for the first time for years—had a true conception of what prayer really and what it is not. A little leaflet, to be obtained from the Rev. F. W. T. Cras-lte, Room 3G3 Church House, WestminJ 1 ster, has these pertinent things to say on this point: Prayer is not a last-minute S.O.S. It. is not a way of getting out of a tight corner nor a magical way of getting what you ■want nor above all a substitute 5 ' ' for action. "The National Day of Prayer " say the authors of this leaflet, "can only be viewed rightly When you see it as a day fori tjie nation, as a whole "to get in touch with God with a view to seeking and doing His Will."