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to the best advantage. Careful plans should be matured. There are
minds among us that can invent and carry out if they are only put to
use. Great results would follow well-directed and intelligent efforts.
The prayer meetings should be the most interesting gatherings
that are held, but these are frequently poorly managed. Many attend
preaching, but neglect the prayer meeting. Here, again, thought is
required. Wisdom should be sought of God, and plans should be laid
to conduct the meetings so that they will be interesting and attractive.
The people hunger for the bread of life. If they find it at the prayer
meeting they will go there to receive it.
Long, prosy talks and prayers are out of place anywhere, and
especially in the social meeting. Those who are forward and ever
ready to speak are allowed to crowd out the testimony of the timid and
retiring. Those who are most superficial generally have the most to
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say. Their prayers are long and mechanical. They weary the angels
and the people who listen to them. Our prayers should be short and
right to the point. Let the long, tiresome petitions be left for the closet,
if any have such to offer. Let the Spirit of God into your hearts, and it
will sweep away all dry formality.
Music can be a great power for good, yet we do not make the most
of this branch of worship. The singing is generally done from impulse
or to meet special cases, and at other times those who sing are left to
blunder along, and the music loses its proper effect upon the minds of
those present. Music should have beauty, pathos, and power. Let the
voices be lifted in songs of praise and devotion. Call to your aid, if
practicable, instrumental music, and let the glorious harmony ascend
to God, an acceptable offering.
But it is sometimes more difficult to discipline the singers and
keep them in working order than to improve the habits of praying and
exhorting. Many want to do things after their own style; they object to
consultation, and are impatient under leadership. Well-matured plans
are needed in the service of God. Common sense is an excellent thing
in the worship of the Lord. The thinking powers should be consecrated
to Christ, and ways and means should be devised to serve Him best.
The church of God who are trying to do good by living out the truth
and seeking to save souls, can be a power in the world if they will be
disciplined by the Spirit of the Lord. They must not feel that they can
work carelessly for eternity.