Secret Prayer
Family prayer and 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—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 the 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
.]
While engaged in our daily work, we should lift the soul to heaven
in prayer. These silent petitions rise like incense before the throne of
grace; and the enemy is baffled. The Christian whose heart is thus
stayed upon God cannot be overcome. No evil arts can destroy his
peace. All the promises of God’s word, all the power of divine grace,
all the resources of Jehovah, are pledged to secure his deliverance.
It was thus that Enoch walked with God. And God was with him, a
present help in every time of need.
Christ’s ministers must watch unto prayer. They may come with
boldness to the throne of grace, lifting up holy hands without wrath or
doubting. In faith they may supplicate the Father in heaven for wisdom
and grace, that they may know how to work, how to deal with minds.
Prayer is the breath of the soul. It is the secret of spiritual power.
No other means of grace can be substituted, and the health of the soul
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be preserved. Prayer brings the heart into immediate contact with
the Well-spring of life, and strengthens the sinew and muscle of the
religious experience. Neglect the exercise of prayer, or engage in
prayer spasmodically, now and then, as seems convenient, and you
lose your hold on God. The spiritual faculties lose their vitality, the
religious experience lacks health and vigor.
It is only at the altar of God that we can kindle our tapers with
divine fire. It is only the divine light that will reveal the littleness, the
incompetence, of human ability, and give clear views of the perfection
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