Privilege of Prayer
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wants to God. What can the angels of heaven think of poor helpless
human beings, who are subject to temptation, when God’s heart of
infinite love yearns toward them, ready to give them more than they
can ask or think, and yet they pray so little and have so little faith?
The angels love to bow before God; they love to be near Him. They
regard communion with God as their highest joy; and yet the children
of earth, who need so much the help that God only can give, seem
satisfied to walk without the light of His Spirit, the companionship of
His presence.
The darkness of the evil one encloses those who neglect to pray.
The whispered temptations of the enemy entice them to sin; and it is
all because they do not make use of the privileges that God has given
them in the divine appointment of prayer. Why should the sons and
daughters of God be reluctant to pray, when prayer is the key in the
hand of faith to unlock heaven’s storehouse, where are treasured the
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boundless resources of Omnipotence? Without unceasing prayer and
diligent watching we are in danger of growing careless and of deviating
from the right path. The adversary seeks continually to obstruct the
way to the mercy seat, that we may not by earnest supplication and
faith obtain grace and power to resist temptation.
There are certain conditions upon which we may expect that God
will hear and answer our prayers. One of the first of these is that we
feel our need of help from Him. He has promised, “I will pour water
upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground.”
Isaiah 44:3
.
Those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, who long after God,
may be sure that they will be filled. The heart must be open to the
Spirit’s influence, or God’s blessing cannot be received.
Our great need is itself an argument and pleads most eloquently in
our behalf. But the Lord is to be sought unto to do these things for us.
He says, “Ask, and it shall be given you.” And “He that spared not His
own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him
also freely give us all things?”
Matthew 7:7
;
Romans 8:32
.
If we regard iniquity in our hearts, if we cling to any known sin,
the Lord will not hear us; but the prayer of the penitent, contrite soul is
always accepted. When all known wrongs are righted, we may believe
that God will answer our petitions. Our own merit will never commend
us to the favor of God; it is the worthiness of Jesus that will save us,