Public Prayer
151
sincerity will be increased, and they will listen with willing ears to the
instruction given.
Our prayers should be full of tenderness and love. When we yearn
for a deeper, broader realization of the Saviour’s love, we shall cry to
God for more wisdom. If ever there was a need of soul-stirring prayers
and sermons, it is now. The end of all things is at hand. O that we
could see as we should the necessity of seeking the Lord with all the
heart! Then we should find Him.
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May God teach His people how to pray. Let the teachers in our
schools and the ministers in our churches, learn daily in the school of
Christ. Then they will pray with earnestness, and their requests will be
heard and answered. Then the word will be proclaimed with power.
Our Attitude in Prayer
Both in public and in private worship, it is our privilege to bow
on our knees before the Lord when we offer our petitions to Him.
Jesus, our example, “kneeled down, and prayed.” [
Luke 22:41
.] Of
His disciples it is recorded that they, too, “kneeled down, and prayed.”
[
Acts 9:40
;
20:36
;
21:5
.] Paul declared, “I bow my knees unto the
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” [
Ephesians 3:14
.] In confessing before
God the sins of Israel, Ezra knelt. [See
Ezra 9:5
.] Daniel “kneeled
upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before
his God.” [
Daniel 6:10
.]
True reverence for God is inspired by a sense of His infinite great-
ness and a realization of His presence. With this sense of the Unseen,
every heart should be deeply impressed. The hour and place of prayer
are sacred, because God is there; and as reverence is manifested in
attitude and demeanor, the feeling that inspires it will be deepened.
“Holy and reverend is His name,” [
Psalm 111:9
.] the psalmist declares.
Angels, when they speak that name, veil their faces. With what rev-
erence, then, should we, who are fallen and sinful, take it upon our
lips!
Well would it be for old and young to ponder those words of Scrip-
ture that show how the place marked by God’s special presence should
be regarded. “Put off thy shoes from off thy feet,” He commanded
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Moses at the burning bush, “for the place whereon thou standest is
holy ground.” [
Exodus 3:5
.] Jacob, after beholding the vision of the