Some people ignorantly
ask “what profit can we derive from
prayer?”, we say to ourselves, “We are as happy as flesh and blood can make
us: our kingdom is of this world; we wish for no other portion than that which
we have.” Others say
that since God is loving and good, He will give us all the things we need and
will accomplish His good will whether we pray or not.
“What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? And what profit do we get if we pray to him?”— Job. 21:15
We do ourselves
disfavor we fail to utilize the power of prayer. To live without prayer is to
live without communion or communication with God. Communication with God is the
source of our hope and strength as we journey through this earth. Imagine a
world with no knowledge of God or means of communicating with Him. When we live
without prayer, we live away from
God, and to separate ourselves from him
as far as is possible for the human being to escape from his Maker.
There is one
thing for sure. We cannot go away from the power
of God, for that is around us at all times, and everywhere. We are leaning on
his arm, upheld by his hand, consciously or unconsciously, at every moment. We
cannot go away from the love of God.
For that pursues, and surrounds, and blesses us still, however little we may deserve
it. But we may go away from God by turning
away from him, by forgetting him
and neglecting him. We have the power
of thus turning away, of closing our eyes inwardly, and opening them only
outwardly; closing them toward heaven, and opening them toward earth.
We have this
terrible freedom of escaping, if we choose, from the restraining sense of the
Divine Presence, and so doing our own will, without the immediate rebuke of
conscience.
Most men are
thus turned away, and it is this which makes it hard to pray and easy to err. No man can pray earnestly and walk
in error readily at the same time. We must either leave off erring, or leave off praying.
Consequently,
most men, whether they are erring or outwardly decent and upright, are really
alienated from God. The proof of it is easy. It is, that, though He is always
near to them, they are not aware of it, and the thought and sense of his
nearness never restrains them from committing evil. The presence of a good man
will restrain the tongue of the ribald and the profane, — the presence of the
most insignificant human being influences them more or less, — but the presence
of the Deity does not influence them at all.
Therefore,
it is evident that they do not feel His presence, —that they are alienated from
Him.
Now, when we
have repented of our sins, and determined to lead an upright life, and have begun
to do so, we shall nevertheless find that this alienation from God has not
become impossible. On the other hand, we shall find, in all probability, that,
by allowing ourselves to commit apparently slight transgressions we have again
lost the quick sense of the
surrounding God, and wandered again from our Father’s house.
In this case
prayer becomes a matter of necessity, and prayer not as a gush of feeling, not as an
indulgence of sentiment, but prayer as an act, an earnest act of turning
to God, and holding the soul open to his influences, and to be
fed and renewed by his inflowing life.
When a man desires
a quiet, peaceful and successful life, soon finds out that he cannot live without
prayer. And so he prays daily and hourly, not as a duty, but as a necessity, — prays when it is necessary,
be it seldom or often, — prays till the need is supplied, till the hunger has
ceased, till the empty soul is filled, till his weakness has been made
strength, till his weariness has changed to inward rest, till his ideas takes
shape.
And then,
having prayed from necessity, he
prays again spontaneously, the prayer of thanksgiving and gratitude, the acknowledgment
of this new life and opportunities.
And when not
praying from necessity, or for
himself, he prays for others; he prays for the kingdom of God, for the coming
of peace, truth, and love to the world.
He prays for
the ignorant, the poor, the afflicted, for the slave
and the oppressed, for the vicious and abandoned, for the infidel and the heathen. Then also he finds
pleasure in remembering before God individuals. He intercedes for his friends,
according to what he supposes their needs, temptations, and trials may he. He
enjoys bringing them, one by one, before the mercy-seat, and doing for them in
prayer what he can do for them in no other way.
Thus we
pray, from such motives as these. Out of necessity,
because we are away from God, and are therefore weak, and must pray to gain
strength; because we are wretched, and must pray in order to gain comfort. Out
of gratitude, because our heart is
happy, our cup full, our life advancing; and joy overflows into prayer.
Out of love, because we wish to help our
brother, our sister, and we cannot help them in any other way than this. Out of
interest in Christ’s cause, out of wish to make his kingdom, out of faith in the good time near at hand. Out
of penitence, because we cannot find
peace till we go to our Father and say, “God,
be merciful to me your wayward child!”
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