Faith and Prayer
197
a drawing out of the heart after God. Prayer is a necessity; for it is the
life of the soul. Family prayer, public prayer, have their place; but it is
secret communion with God that sustains the soul life.
It was in the mount with God that Moses beheld the pattern of that
wonderful building which was to be the abiding place of His glory. It
is in the mount with God—in the secret place of communion—that we
are to contemplate His glorious ideal for humanity. Thus we shall be
enabled so to fashion our character building that to us may be fulfilled
His promise, “I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be
their God, and they shall be My people.”
2 Corinthians 6:16
.
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It was in hours of solitary prayer that Jesus in His earth life received
wisdom and power. Let the youth follow His example in finding at
dawn and twilight a quiet season for communion with their Father in
heaven. And throughout the day let them lift up their hearts to God. At
every step of our way He says, “I the Lord thy God will hold thy right
hand, ... Fear not; I will help thee.”
Isaiah 41:13
. Could our children
learn these lessons in the morning of their years, what freshness and
power, what joy and sweetness, would be brought into their lives!
These are lessons that only he who himself has learned can teach.
It is because so many parents and teachers profess to believe the word
of God while their lives deny its power, that the teaching of Scripture
has no greater effect upon the youth. At times the youth are brought
to feel the power of the word. They see the preciousness of the love
of Christ. They see the beauty of His character, the possibilities of a
life given to His service. But in contrast they see the life of those who
profess to revere God’s precepts. Of how many are the words true that
were spoken to the prophet Ezekiel:
Thy people “speak one to another, everyone to his brother, saying,
Come, I pray you, and hear what is the word that cometh forth from
the Lord. And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit
before thee as My people, and they hear thy words, but they will not
do them: for with their mouth they show much love, but their heart
goeth after their covetousness. And, lo, thou art unto them as a very
lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an
instrument: for they hear thy words, but they do them not.”
Ezekiel
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33:30-32
.
It is one thing to treat the Bible as a book of good moral instruction,
to be heeded so far as is consistent with the spirit of the times and our