Privilege of Prayer
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anxiety harass the soul, no joy cheer, no sincere prayer escape the lips,
of which our heavenly Father is unobservant, or in which He takes no
immediate interest. “He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up
their wounds.”
Psalm 147:3
. The relations between God and each soul
are as distinct and full as though there were not another soul upon the
earth to share His watchcare, not another soul for whom He gave His
beloved Son.
Jesus said, “Ye shall ask in My name: and I say not unto you, that
I will pray the Father for you: for the Father Himself loveth you.” “I
have chosen you: ... that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in My
name, He may give it you.”
John 16:26, 27
;
15:16
. But to pray in the
name of Jesus is something more than a mere mention of that name at
the beginning and the ending of a prayer. It is to pray in the mind and
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spirit of Jesus, while we believe His promises, rely upon His grace,
and work His works.
God does not mean that any of us should become hermits or monks
and retire from the world in order to devote ourselves to acts of worship.
The life must be like Christ’s life—between the mountain and the
multitude. He who does nothing but pray will soon cease to pray, or
his prayers will become a formal routine. When men take themselves
out of social life, away from the sphere of Christian duty and cross
bearing; when they cease to work earnestly for the Master, who worked
earnestly for them, they lose the subject matter of prayer and have
no incentive to devotion. Their prayers become personal and selfish.
They cannot pray in regard to the wants of humanity or the upbuilding
of Christ’s kingdom, pleading for strength wherewith to work.
We sustain a loss when we neglect the privilege of associating
together to strengthen and encourage one another in the service of
God. The truths of His word lose their vividness and importance in
our minds. Our hearts cease to be enlightened and aroused by their
sanctifying influence, and we decline in spirituality. In our association
as Christians we lose much by lack of sympathy with one another.
He who shuts himself up to himself is not filling the position that
God designed he should. The proper cultivation of the social elements
in our nature brings us into sympathy with others and is a means of
development and strength to us in the service of God.
If Christians would associate together, speaking to each other of
the love of God and of the precious truths of redemption, their own
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