Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 February 1916 — ABIDING IN CHRIST [ARTICLE]

ABIDING IN CHRIST

Prayer Must Be Guitfed by the Reverential Desire That Is Always Within Us. Prayer is asking God to give or do something. Prayer is not praise; it is not worship. Praise ought to go with it; thanksgiving and worship ought to he mingled with petition; but prayer as defined by the Lord Jesus is asking God to give or do something. “Ask, and ye shall receive.” "If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it." God’s gifts we need, but more than gilts we need the Giver. - . Let us go a step further: Prayer is asking God to give or do something within the circle of his will. It is unthinkable that God should give or do something outside the circle of his will. That would be Immoral. “This is the boldness which we have toward him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he beareth us.” And his will is a large circle. Salvation for the lost Is the will of God. The Holy Spirit for service is the will of God. Workers for the harvest field is the win of God. Pray that they may be sent forth. Another step: Prayer is asking God to give or do something within the circle of his will specified by human wish and will. “What things soever ye de sire, when ye pray, believe that ye recelve them, and ye shall have them.” “Lord, have mercy on us.” “What will ye that I should do unto you?” "Lord, that our eyes may be opened." Then, “straightway they received theix sight.” - ■ 7■' . » Prayer Must .Be Specific. The Lord' waited for the general wish to be specified; and in order for prayer to be answered it must be definite. The man who came at midnight asked for three loaves —not for four loaves, but three; and he pleaded for the three because that was what he needed. General prayers amount to little. They may be helpful as a spiritual exercise; we may get a sort of reflex blessing from them; but the prayers that secure the gift and act of God are very definite. “Whatsoever things ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.’ Focalize your prayers and tell God exactly what you want. Again: Prayer is asking God to give or do something within the circle oi his will, specified by human wish and Will in the name of Christ Of course, for the sake of Christ, but that is not all of it. In the name of Christ meant within the character of Christ. “Name” in the Bible stands for character. Prayer within the circle of God’s will is in the character of Christ. And asking the Lord Jesus Christ to do something outside the limitations of his character is equally incongruous, Bring your desire, your definite need, to the test of the character of Christ A step further still: Prayer is asking God to give or do something within the circle of his will, specified by human wish and will, in the name ot Christ, that the Father may be glorified. “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it vrmiv nurn lliata ” TTrtF tfY ATI-* swer a selfish prayer would be to cultivate selfishness. For &od to give what you wish to consume upon your own pleasures would be to pander to a worldly spirit Finally: Prayer’is asking to give or do something within the circle of his will, specified by human wish and will, in the name of Christ, that the Father may be glorified, while we are in fellowship with God and with one another. True Prayer Always Answered. “If ye abide In me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye. will, and it shall be done unto you.” If you are abiding in Christ as the branch abides in the vine; like the branch asking the vine for sap and life, that it may be fruitful and useful, ye may ask Christ what ye will, for there Is nd discord between the will of the branch and the will of the vine, and no discord between the branches themselves. “If ye abide in me.” That means more than childlife. The child can be five thousand miles away from the parent and yet live; but If the branch is a thousandth -part of an Inch away from the vine, it dies. Branch-life means abiding life; and if you are in harmony with God, God’s thoughts and God’s will and God’s purpose circulating through your spiritual arteries and veins, what you ask for will be the expression of God’s wish and will. There is to be no discord between us and God. But “when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have aught against any.” There is to be not only harmony with Christ, but harmony with Christians, harmony with your fellows. The unforgiving spirit prevents an answer toprayer. When you pray, stop and think: Am in harmony with God? Am I willing to do his will? Am lat variance with my neighbor? Have lan unforgiving spirit towards anybody? If so, bring that under the blood and have God touch it away before you go a step farther in your prayer. Harmony with God and a forgiving spirit towards everybody is. necessary to successful praying.—Rev. A. C. Dixon. .