Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 99, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 April 1911 — A PRAYER FOR YOU [ARTICLE]

A PRAYER FOR YOU

By REV. STEPHEN PAULSON

TEXT—For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father • that Christ may dwell In your hearts by faith.—Eph. Ills 14:17. This la part of a prayer of St Paul for his people. Paul was in a Roman prison. The liberty of his movements was restrained; he was in a stone cell, and he was chained to a Roman soldier —but his prayers were not chained. St. Paul says: "The prayer of a righteous man availeth much;” and ‘there are Burely more things wrought by prayer than we ever imagine. I tell you it Is worth while having one who carries yoij on his heart to such an extent that he prays for your safety and welfare. When Lot’s family was in danger Abraham prayed until God promised them safety. When the Ephesian church was going through the fires of persecution, Paul sent up prayers in their behalf from his prison cell. When Peter was In danger of backsliding, Jesus prayed for him: “Simon, Simon, behold Satan hath desired to have thee, but I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not.” Do not many faithful pastors send up prayers, as Paul did, for the churches committed to their care? Do they not pray for the homes of the congregation and for Individuals who are going through some trial and for the young people who are starting out into life? And now aB of old, the prayer of a true, sincere mqp availeth much. It is a part of a faithful minister’s service which Is very often overlooked and yet Is of tho first Importance. What a fine thing it was for the Ephesians to have St Paul praying for them upon every remembrance. Although he was far away, he was still their pastor, the shepherd of their souls.

But for what did he pray? Did he pray that they might live In comfort and ease and have plenty? Did ho pray that they might be free from persecution and that the church might grow without hindrance? That, probably would have been our prayer under like circumstances. But his prayer was “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith." How wonderfully comprehensive that prayer Is when we begin to analyze It. Oh, it takes the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to make a prayer like that. It takes insight into the deep things of God. and Into the needs of the human hearts. Do you think that there is anything you need more than that? Do you not honestly think that that would make most things right which are wrong, would bifid up broken hearts, would heal things that hurt, and drive out evil things which are spoiling your life? Yes, you know it, and I know it, so let our prayers be that Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith. This is the substance o's your faith. A better and more comprehensible definition of our religion could not be given. It contains the whole of Christianity as the acorn contains the oak. The whole Jewish law had its dl- . vine Inspiration, its secret spirit, but it was hidden in a vast system of forms. Christ said, “I come not to destroy hut to fulfill," and the true spirit of the law was seen in him. In winter an old apple tree is homely, gnarled and twisted. But in spring when it is covered with blossoms there is nothing more beautiful. So the old Jewish law blossoms into beauty and comes to fruit in Jesus Christ. Christianity is not a system of laws, but a state of the heart Christ In a man —that is the Christian religion. It is Chriftt dwelling in the heart by v faith, and then a man begins to know the length and the breadth and height and depth of the love of Christ which passeth knowledge. Outside of personal experience, Christianity is pale as a lunar rainbow.

There are three avenues of experience by which Christ may come to man—sight, intellect, the heart TO have seen Christ was deemed of great importance in the early days. Those who had seen Jesus possessed a certain distinction, Paul, defending his apostleshlp, says, “Have I not seen him?” But how meager was the Christian life of those dayß compared with that of later ages, an<J did not Jesus pronounce a blessing on those who bad not Been and yet believed? Christ may be presented to a man’s Intellect. There are certain facts to be known and understood concerning him, but there are also many that are ' beyond onr understanding. Creeds sum up a few great facts of our religion. Not that the repetition of a creed will make anyone a Christian, but a creed is like the astronomer’s telescope. He sweeps the heavens to find a particular star. By and by the telescope brings it to his eye. It is not the instrument that sees the star, but the man’s eye'. A blind man could not see the heavenly bodies with a telescope, no matter how powerful it might be. So a creed may bring facts to your intellect, but it takes the heart to apprehend and interpret them. Therefore Paul prayed for the Ephesians not greater knowledge, bat that Christ might dwell in their hearts by faith. For the heart may embrace Christ with an enthusiasm of lov% even though 'the Intellectual peroep> lion be Imperfect and vague.