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Privilege of Prayer
59
most humble child, but still we seem almost afraid to tell Him what
we need.
What must the angels of heaven think of poor, helpless people
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who are tempted to sin and yet will not ask for help? God’s heart of
infinite love is ready to give them more than they can ask or think.
Yet they pray so little and have such little faith. The angels love
to bow before God; they love to be near Him. Their greatest joy
is sharing their time and thoughts with Him. The people of earth
need the help that only God can give. Yet they seem willing to live
without feeling Him near and without the light of His Spirit.
The darkness of Satan, the evil one, is around those who do not
pray. The enemy leads them into sin because they do not meet with
God in prayer. Why should the sons and daughters of God be slow
to pray? God has a great storehouse of blessings, and prayer is the
key in the hand of faith that unlocks heaven’s storehouse.
Unless we pray often, we are in danger of growing careless. We
may be led to turn from the right path. Satan is always trying to
block the path to God. He does not want us to receive grace and
power through prayer to resist evil.
We can expect God to answer our prayers, but we must meet
certain conditions. One of the first conditions is that we must feel
our need of help from Him. He has promised, “I will give water to
the thirsty land and make streams flow on the dry ground.”
Isaiah
44:3
. Those who are hungry and thirsty for God’s righteousness will
be filled. The heart must be open to the Spirit’s influence, or His
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blessings cannot be received.
We need God’s help. He knows this and wants to give it to us,
but we must ask Him for it. He says, “Ask, and you will receive.”
Matthew 7:7
. Paul wrote that “God ... did not even keep back his
own Son, but offered him for us all! He gave us his Son.—will he
not also freely give us all things?”
Romans 8:32
.
The Lord will not hear us if we hold on to any known sin. But He
always hears the prayers of a person who is sorry for sin. When all
known wrongs are made right, we may believe that God will answer
our prayers. Our own goodness will never cause God to love us. It
is the goodness of Jesus that will save us; it is His blood that will
make us clean. Yet we have a work to do in meeting the conditions
for being accepted.