Devotional Column

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 422, 1 May 1937, Page 2

Devotional Column

A Prayer For The Week Set free, O Lord, the souls of Thy servants from all restlessness and anxiety; give us that peace and power which flow from Thee, and keep us in all perplexities and distresses, from any fear and faithlessness; that so upheld by Thy strength and stayed in the rock of Thy faithfulness, through storm and stress we may abide in Thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord. —Amen. Practice Of Prayer The greatest thing anyone can do for God and man is to pray. It is not the only thing, but it is the chief thing. A correct balancing of the possible powers one may exert puts it first. For if a man is to pray right, he must first be right in his motives and life. And if a man be right, and put the practice of praying in its right place, then his serving and giving and speaking will be fairly fragrant with the presence of God. The great people of the earth today are the people who pray. I do not mean those who talk about prayer nor those who say they believe in prayer, nor yet those who can explain about prayer; but I mean those people who take time and pray. They have not time. It must be taken from something else. This something else is important. Very important, and pressing, but still less important and less pressing than prayer. There are people that put prayer first, and group the other items in life’s schedule around and after prayer. These are the people todgy who are doing the most for God and man.—(G. O|. Gordon). Answers To Prayer. In prayer we see two wills at work: the will of God and the will of man—the one acting from perfect know-r ledge, the other limited by partial ignorance. Prayer is the perfect union between these two wills. Perfect prayer is the reasonable surrender ef partial ignorance to perfect omniscience. Otherwise "our ignorance in asking” would make prayer far too perilous a weapon to be used. it would be the lute of Linus In the band of Hercules. But God’s knowledge is man’s security. Hence, His will becomes our will. If we knew what God knows, we should wish what God wills.

Imagine a deputation, presenting a petition to the Prime Minister. The petitioner? submit their requests, base*atpon the knowledge at their disposal. Bu the minister has In his possession information which renders the granting of their requests positively hurtful to the petitioners. Acting upon his more perfect knowledge, he refuses their demands. Time passes. The information is made public. and the petitioners, knowing now al! the Minister knew before, gratefully accept the refusal which at first seemed so unreasonable. Nay! They themselves would have wished for exactly what the Minister wished for them, had they then known what he knew. Common knowledge would have involved a common will. So ft is with God and man. Prayer, to be reasonable, must be a union of wills, based upon “our ignorance in asking,” and God’s knowledge ia answering.—(E. E. Holmes). Perseverance In Prayer • Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication.