A Word To You Who Would Be Useful

A Word To You Who Would Be Useful

By Samuel Logan Brengle


Does the devil ever tempt you to feel that you are of no use and can do nothing? Every genuine Christian wants to be useful, fruit-bearing, and a soul-winner. This desire is characteristic of the new nature, received at conversion. When Paul was converted, he wanted to go back to Jerusalem and tell all his old friends about it, that they, too, might be saved. When you were converted your heart went out to God for the salvation of your friends, and you tried to so live your life before them that they would be brought to Jesus, and it is largely this desire for usefulness and the salvation of others that has led you to become a soldier or an officer. But now that you are fairly in the Army and in its work, do you ever feel that you are useless; that you can do nothing; that your words are powerless to lead people to Jesus?

I find a great many such people, and maybe you are such an one, and if so, it is for you I write. I have often felt as you do myself; and therefore can sympathize with you, and maybe can write something to encourage you. And first I would say, do what you can. 'Angels can do no more.' Your talents may not be great, but use what talents you have and God will surely increase them. It is a law of God, that what is used shall be increased. Everything that has life begins small. The largest oak was once enfolded in an acorn. The most skillful musician in the world at one time did not know one note from another. The most learned man now living once did not know A from Z. Moses was once a helpless babe in a floating ark of bulrushes. The General was once a young convert. But they grew and increased. If there is spiritual life in you, you will grow, if you will do with your might what your hands find to do.

Cultivate your talents. There are many thousands of bandsmen in the Army today who at one time could not play an instrument, and who did not know a cornet from a concertina. But they began to practice. It was slow work at first. But they kept at it. Probably, the first day they could not see that they had made any progress at all, nor the second day; but in a week or a month they could see. They began, kept patiently at it, and at last succeeded. That is the way to cultivate any talent we have. That is the way to become mighty in prayer, to become acquainted with the Bible, to learn to speak or sing or fish for souls. Begin and keep at it.

Do not get discouraged because you cannot do as well as someone else. God has a work for you to do, and no one else can do it; not even the General can do it. God meant that work for you and you for that work, and if you do not do it, it will never be done. The thing then for you to do is to go to God and thank Him for what gifts you have and for giving you some work to do, and then ask Him for wisdom to do it bravely, faithfully and wisely, and He will surely be with you.

Do not sit down in the discouragement of unbelief and think because you have not the talents of some gifted person you know that therefore you can do nothing. That is wicked. It is dishonoring to God, pleasing to the devil, and will surely result in a great loss to your soul, if not in the final loss of your soul. Jesus tells us that the man with five talents put his money out at use and gained five talents more, and likewise the man with two talents. But He says the man with one talent went and wrapped it in a napkin and hid it, and so lost it, and was himself cast out as a slothful and wicked servant into outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.

"Rooted and grounded in love" (Eph. iii. 17).

  

Days of Heaven Upon Earth





"Rooted and grounded in love" (Eph. iii. 17).

There is a very singular shrub, which grows abundantly in the west, and is to be found in all parts of Texas. It is no less than the "mosquito tree." It is a very slim, and willowy looking shrub, and would seem to be of little use for any industrial purposes; but is has extraordinary roots growing like great timbers underground, and possessing such qualities of endurance in all situations that it is used and very highly valued for good pavements. The city of San Antonio is said to be paved with these roots. 
It reminds one of those Christians who make little show externally, but their growth is chiefly underground--out of sight, in the depth of God. These are the men and women that God uses for the foundation of things, and for the pavements of that city of God which will stand when all earthly things have crumbled into ruin and dissolved into oblivion.

Deeper, deeper let the living waters flow;
Blessed Holy Spirit! River of Salvation!
All Thy fulness let me know.

The Enriching Savior!

The Enriching Savior!

William Nicholson, 1862

"The same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him!" Romans 10:12

The Gospel is not confined to any nation or people. It is proclaimed and offered to the world. Mark 16:15. Once the Divine favor rested principally upon Israel, Romans 9:4, 6, but it is now extended to the Gentiles. "For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek," verse 12. The middle wall of partition is broken down, and believers of every nation may approach the mercy-seat.

I. The Character of Christ, the Great Enricher. "The same Lord over all."

This verse is full of precious consolation. It implies his Divinity, without which he could not be the enriching Savior.

He is called:

1. "The same Lord," the same Divine Savior as described, verse 4. He is the end of the law, and the procurer of righteousness for rebellious man. He lived in conformity to that law, and he endured its penalty on the cross, Romans 3:20-26.

2. "The same Lord," as described, verse 9, "Lord Jesus, whom God raised from the dead." The Divine Savior, who burst the barriers of the tomb, indicating that his death was successful — that his mediation was triumphant. By his resurrection, he was "declared to be the Son of God with power."

3. He is said to be "over all." This expresses his universal dominion and government.

He is "Lord over all" the heavenly world, Ephesians 1:20-22.

He is "Lord over all" the angels, Hebrews 1:4-8.

He is "Lord over all" the earth, and Hell, the abode of the lost, Philippians 2:9-11.

He is "Lord over all" the Church, Ephesians 1:22, 23.

He is "Lord over all" the universe, Colossians 1:15-17. The "government is upon his shoulder."

II. His Enriching Influence.

As "Lord over all" he is able to enrich others. As the Mediator of the new covenant, he possesses an inexhaustible stock of spiritual blessings, by which he can "be rich unto all who call upon him." "For it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell."

1. He enriches the guilty one, with the pardon of all his sins, however numerous and flagrant. 1 John 1:7; Acts 13:38.

2. He enriches those condemned by the law, with deliverance and justification. Acts 13:39. Romans 5:1; 8:1.

3. He enriches the unrighteous and defiled, with cleansing grace and regenerating power, to make them "new creatures in Christ Jesus." 2 Corinthians 5:17.

4. He enriches the outcast and abandoned, with adoption into His redeemed family, and all its precious privileges.

5. He is a rich, full, free, and inexhaustible fountain!

What more can be said?

He enriches . . .
  the ignorant with wisdom,
  the weak with strength,
  the fearful with  courage,
  the depressed with consolation,
  the soldier of the cross with armor, success, and conquest,
  the tempted and tried with support and a way of escape,
  the afflicted and bereaved with strength according to the day,
  the dying with the hope of immortality, and afterwards with Heaven itself.

He can make all grace to abound to all his people.

"For the LORD God is a sun and shield. The LORD gives grace and glory. No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly!" Psalm 84:11

III. The Objects of His Enriching Grace. "Unto all who call upon him."

1. To call upon him implies a deep sense of need. None else will call upon him.

2. To call upon him implies believing prayer. Without faith it is impossible to please God.

3. To such he is rich without distinction. He spiritually enriches without distinction.

(1.) As to rank. He enriches the rich and the poor, the great and the low, the noble and the ignoble, the monarch and the peasant.

(2.) As to mental endowment or literary acquirements. He enriches the learned and the ignorant, the great philosopher and the man of small intellect.

(3.) As to age or gender. He enriches the male and female, the aged and the youth — all are welcome to Christ.

(4.) As to nation. He enriches the Jew and Gentile. This is asserted verse 12, and Colossians 1:11.

(5.) As to enormity of crime and aggravation of guilt — if they only repent.

The Fact of Faithfulness

 
George H. Morrison - Devotional Sermons

      The Fact of Faithfulness
     
      Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of the lord--Mat 25:21
     
      Faithfulness, a Test of Character
     
      One might dwell for a long time upon this parable without exhausting its message or its meaning. It is like a sea in which men fish for pearls, and in which every diver has some new reward. These parables are terribly practical, yet in their suggestion they are boundless. Again and again do we return to them, only to be amazed with their significance.
     
      I want to center your thoughts upon one theme--upon the fact of faithfulness, and to speak to you for a little while on that; and my prayer is that as I dwell upon that subject and show you one or two of the bearings of it, we may all be moved to cry, "Please God, I shall be more faithful in the days ahead."
     
      What is our Lord's doctrine of fidelity as we find it in this parable before us? Let me endeavour to present it to you. In the first place what impresses me is this, that our Lord makes faithfulness a test of character.
     
      These men in the parable are sifted out, and the cause that separates them is faithfulness. It is not a case of having great abilities or of being dowered with the gift of genius. It is not along such lines there is a cleavage, with the one servant here and the other there. The touchstone of character is faithfulness; by that they stand, through lack of that they fall; the men go to their blessing or their curse, and the basis of it is fidelity.
     
      To show you that this is a leading thought with Jesus, I might ask you to recall His praise of John the Baptist. For what was the distinguishing feature of John's character? It was his fidelity to God and duty. "What went you out into the wilderness to see: A reed shaken by the wind"--a man swayed to this side and that with every breath that blew upon his soul? True poet that he was, Christ saw the contrast between that reed bowing to every gale and the figure of the Baptist by the river standing four-square to every wind that blew. That is the glory and the strength of John. Nothing could ever move him from his duty. In desert and dungeon the Baptist was magnificently true. I want you to note that it was such a character, conspicuous above all else in faithfulness, that won from our Lord that so majestic praise when He called John the greatest born of women.
     
      According to the measurements of Jesus, then, we are face to face here with a test of character. It is in faithfulness that men are great; it is in unfaithfulness that they are weak. When the morning breaks and we get our welcome, it will never be, "Well done, thou brilliant servant." The highest praise even for all the talents will be, "Well done, good and faithful servant."
     
      But, after all, when we think of the world's great men, when we get to know them intimately in their lives, there is perhaps nothing so arresting as the fidelity which we discover there. When we are young we are ready to imagine that the great man must be free from common burdens; we think he has no need to plod as we do and face the weary drudgery daily; we picture him lighthearted and inspired, moving with ease where our poor feet are bleeding. Ah! in such terms we dream about the great in the days when we know little of them, but as knowledge widens we see how false that is.
     
      We see that at the back of everything is will. We come to see how every gift is squandered if it be not clinched with quiet fidelity, until at last we dimly recognise that the very keystone of the arch of genius is something different from all the gifts, and that something is called fidelity.
     
      Examples of Faithfulness
     
      One of the critics of Shakespeare, Professor Bradley, insists upon the faithfulness of Shakespeare. It is the fidelity of Shakespeare, in a mind of extraordinary power, he says, that has really made Shakespeare what he is. I turn to Sir Walter Scott, and the same thing meets me there. It is written on every page of his journal. If there ever was a man who was faithful unto death, faithful to honour, to duty, to work, and I shall say, to God, it was that hero who so loved his country, and died beside the murmur of the Tweed.
     
      My point is that one mark of all the greatest is a fidelity which is sublime. No gifts, no brilliance, no genius can release a man from being faithful. Not in the things we do but how we do them, not in fame but in fidelity, is the true test of a man's work, according to the teaching of our Lord.
     
      Faithfulness--a Result of Courage
     
      In the second place our Lord recognises that faithfulness calls for courage. It is significant that the man who hid his talent said to his lord, "I was afraid." In trading there was a certain risk, as in all commerce, I suppose there is a certain risk, and the man with the one talent was unfaithful because he had not the courage for that venture. It was far easier to wrap his talent up than to give it out to the traffic of the market. I dare say he slept a deal more comfortably than the others, who tossed with their anxieties; but God has not sent us into this stirring world just to sleep comfortably and wake at ease. He has sent us to work, and to carry to the market every power that He has dowered us with. It is only in doing that that we are faithful; it is only in taking the risk which that involves. And when our Lord makes the servant say, "I was afraid," and bury his talent without using it, He indicates in His own exquisite way that in faithfulness there is the element of courage.
     
      As our life advances we come to see clearly that our Lord is right. To be faithful in one's duty, whether for layman or for minister, may come to be the finest of heroisms. In youth we are hardly awakened to that fact. When we are young it seems easy to be faithful, for youth is a time of generous enthusiasm and a heavenly disregard for the world's judgment. But the outlook alters when we get a little older; we grow more cautious, more prudent, more worldly wise, until to be quietly and gladly faithful is only possible when the heart is brave.
     
      When Thomas Carlyle, with no prospect of a settled income, received the offer of the editorship of a London magazine, it was an honourable offer; it required competence. A man less sure of a mission would have jumped at it; but Carlyle, faithful to his trust, refused it, and only a brave man would have done that.
     
      It is a brave thing when morning after morning a man goes cheerfully to his unpleasant duty, and it is a brave thing when a daughter year after year nurses an aged mother, or toils for a motherless family. It is a brave thing when a wife is faithful to a husband when he has ceased to be a man and plays the brute. Yes, there is nothing spectacular in that long fortitude: the world will never hear it and applaud; but I think that Jesus understands its courage and will not forget the reward when He returns.
     
      The Rewards of Faithfulness
     
      In the third place, observe that our Lord makes faithfulness the road to power. "Because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee a ruler over many things." Now, we must remember God's rewards are never arbitrary like the prizes boys get for running races. God's rewards grow out of the struggle that we wage, as the fruit of the autumn grows from the flower of spring. All the rewards that we shall ever gain are with us in their rudiments, just as the doom that waits some in eternity is germinating in their heart this very hour.
     
      You see, then, in the light of that, why Christ associates faithfulness and rule, "Because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things." It is because one is the outflow of the other, as is the brook among the heather in the spring. It is because, as the flower blossoms from the bud, influence blossoms from fidelity.
     
      There are many pathways to power in this world, some of which may lie far away from us. There is wealth, there is social influence, there is charming manner; all these make a man powerful enough, but the power that an earnest heart will covet most is not an authority that is external; it is the influence that radiates from the heart to hearten those who struggle by our side. That is the rule, I take it, of which Jesus speaks here. That is the power which is so much worth possessing, and having it makes a man's life worth living. Now our Lord here shows that the road to it is not to be feverishly anxious to do good, but rather to be faithful in the least.
     
      Do you think Abraham had an eye for power when he obeyed God's call to leave his home? Do you think that Moses dreamed of majesty when he loyally accepted his great task? Moses and Abraham were sublimely faithful, passionately bent on being loyal, and all the power in the lives of men has sprung from their fidelity to God.
     
      Now if you believe in Christ at all, I want you to believe in that. I want you to believe that your life is bound to show if you are day by day faithful in the least. Seekest thou great things for yourself? Seek them not; study to be quiet and to do your work within your own path, and follow it to the end. Men will be helped toward the feet of God by you, and there is not one of us who does not have an audience.
     
      The Joy of Faithfulness and the Sorrow of Unfaithfulness
     
      Then I want you to observe, Christ associates faithfulness with joy. To the faithful servant came this benediction: "Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." It is not success and joy, it is not fame and joy; it is not these that are joined in our Lord's teaching, but faithfulness and joy. These are the bride and bridegroom and the mystical marriage of our Lord.
     
      Then look at the doom of the unfaithful servant; it is outer darkness and wailing and gnashing of teeth. I trust none will take these words of parable as a correct description of a material hell. A man who is unfaithful is always moving nightwards. He has been false to the light God gave him for his journey; and the man who has been unfaithful, when the day is done, what can he look for but remorse and tears?
     
      Here are two men engaged in the same work, both of them intelligent and skillful craftsmen. One is careless and scamps his work, while the other does it with his heart and soul. Is the work easier for the man who does it negligently? Is he happier when the bell rings in the evening? I tell you that every nightfall, had he but eyes to see it, he might detect the shadow of the outer darkness. It is only the faithful workman who has joy, no matter how hard and laborious his work be; he understands, when he lays down his tools, why Christ associates faithfulness with gladness.
     
      Or here are two young men starting in life with bright ideals and dreams of a great future. And one holds fast his ideals through failure and toil; the other is overcome and barters them. He may be very prosperous indeed and an honourable citizen, but all his prosperity will never compensate him for having ceased to walk in the direction of his dreams. He has gained much, but he has lost himself, and the bitter note is that he knows it. He sees things in their proper values now, and would give half the world to begin again. He understands the meaning of those words, perhaps the most solemn that were ever spoken, "What shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" Lord, keep our young men from that successful tragedy. We wish to live no less than well, therefore to be faithful, whatever our trust be, no matter how hard and wearisome the toil along that road is, if the words of Christ mean anything, the song of triumph will echo by and by.

Desperate Situations

  
Streams in the Desert

      Desperate Situations
     
      "The angel of the Lord came upon him (Peter) and a light shined in the prison; and he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly. And his chains fell off" (Acts 12:7).
     
      "And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God. . . . And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and every one's bands were loosed" (Acts 16:25, 26).
     
      This is God's way. In the darkest hours of the night, His tread draws near across the billows. As the day of execution is breaking, the angel comes to Peter's cell. When the scaffold for Mordecai is complete, the royal sleeplessness leads to a reaction in favor of the favored race.
     
      Ah, soul, it may have to come to the worst with thee ere thou art delivered; but thou wilt be delivered! God may keep thee waiting, but he will ever be mindful of His covenant, and will appear to fulfill His inviolable Word. --F. B. Meyer
     
      There's a simplicity about God in working out His plans, yet a resourcefulness equal to any difficulty, and an unswerving faithfulness to His trusting child, and an unforgetting steadiness in holding to His purpose. Through a fellow-prisoner, then a dream, He lifts Joseph from a prison to a premiership. And the length of stay in the prison prevents dizziness in the premier. It's safe to trust God's methods and to go by His clock. --S. D. Gordon
     
      Providence hath a thousand keys to open a thousand sundry doors for the deliverance of His own, when it is even come to a desperate case. Let us be faithful; and care for our own part which is to suffer for Him, and lay Christ's part on Himself, and leave it there.--George MacDonald
     
      Difficulty is the very atmosphere of miracle--it is miracle in its first stage. If it is to be a great miracle, the condition is not difficulty but impossibility.
     
      The clinging hand of His child makes a desperate situation a delight to Him.

Famous Prayers

Famous Prayers

By Russell DeLong


Scripture Reading: Matthew 6:9-14

Animals do not pray. Only man, created in God's own image, reaches out beyond himself

for a Being greater than himself to whom he can commit and upon whom he can rest his own self. Intercourse between man and man is called conversation, between man and God is called prayer, between God and man is called divine revelation.

Prayer is of supreme importance. Heiler says, "Prayer is the center of religion," ". . . is the

central phenomenon of religion, the very hearthstone of all piety." Schleiermacher said, "To be religious and to pray -- that is really one and the same thing." Deissmann declared, "Religion, wherever it is alive in man, is prayer." Tiele made a similar observation when he said, "Where prayer has wholly ceased, it is all over with religion itself." Stolz added, "Prayer is the blood and the circulation of the blood in the religious life." Thomas Aquinas declared, "Prayer is the practical proof of religion."

Gergensohn uttered a mighty truth when he said: "Prayer is a perfectly accurate instrument for grading the religious life of the soul. Did one only know how a man prays, and what he prays about, one would be able to see how much religion that man has. When a man without any witnesses speaks with God, the soul stands unveiled before its Creator."

James Montgomery, the poet, wrote a classic:

"Prayer is the soul's sincere desire,

Unuttered or expressed;

The motion of a hidden fire

That trembles in the breast.

"Prayer is the simplest form of speech

That infant lips can try;

Prayer, the sublimest strains that reach

The Majesty on high.

"Prayer is the Christian's vital breath,

The Christian's native air,

His watchword at the gate of death;

He enters heaven with prayer.

Lord Tennyson asserted correctly, "More things are wrought by prayer than this world

dreams of."

Men in great moments -- in extreme crisis, in depths of sorrow -- have uttered sublime

prayers from the depths of their souls, revealing complete consecration and entire commitment to God's will.

George Whitefield, the famous evangelist, prayed, "O Lord, give me souls, or take my

soul."

Henry Martyn, the great apostle to India, cried out, "Here let me burn out for God."

David Brainerd, missionary to the North American Indians, declared: "Lord, to Thee I

dedicate myself. Oh, accept me, and let me be Thine forever. Lord, I desire nothing else; I desire nothing more."

Thomas a Kempis offered one of the classic prayers: "Give what Thou wilt, and how much Thou wilt, and when Thou wilt. Set it where Thou wilt and deal with me in all things as Thou wilt."

Dwight L. Moody, one of America's most famous evangelists, implored God as follows:

"Use me then, my Saviour, for whatever purpose and in whatever way Thou mayest require. Here is my poor heart, an empty vessel; fill it with Thy grace."

Martin Luther, the night before he appeared before the Diet of Worms, prayed: "Do Thou, my God, stand by against all the world's wisdom and reason. Oh, do it! Thou must do it. Stand by me, Thou true, eternal God!"

The greatest of all prayers, the classic utterance of all time, is commonly called "The

Lord's Prayer." It is the prayer Jesus taught His disciples. It is only sixty-five words long and yet it embodies every need the human heart has and every desire man craves from God. It is incomparable, matchless, classic, supreme, sublime.

Wellington said, "The Lord's Prayer contains the sum total of religion and morals."

Notice its comprehensive, universal, ethical, personal, and social scope. Jesus said,

"After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy

name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory for ever. Amen. (Matt. 6: 9-14).

In conclusion permit me to ask these pertinent, personal questions:

1. Do you pray?

2. For what do you pray?

3. Is your life such that God will hear and answer your prayer?

Here are some of the criteria or yardsticks for effective praying.

First, Psalms 66: 18:

If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.

Second, John 15: 7 --- Jesus said,

If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be

done unto you.

Third, James 5: 16:

The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

The qualifying word for effectual prayer is righteous.

If St. James had said a wealthy man or an educated man or a powerful man, only a minority could have qualified. But he said "a righteous man." Here all can meet the requirement through Christ, who first will "cleanse us from all unrighteousness" and thus enable every man to come before the throne of grace and utter the desire of his innermost being with assurance that God will hear and will respond.

Prayer and Praying Men By E.M. Bounds

Prayer and Praying Men

By E.M. Bounds

Table of Contents

› 1 - PRAYING SAINTS OF THE OLD TESTAMENTS - The Holy Spirit will give to the praying saint the brightness of an immortal hope, the music of a deathless song, in His baptism and communion with th ...read

› 2 - PRAYING SAINTS OF THE OLD TESTAMENTS (Continued) - Bishop Lambeth and Wainwright had a great M. E. Mission in Osaka, Japan. One day the order came from high up that no more meetings would be allowed in ...read

› 3 - ABRAHAM, THE MAN OF PRAYER - Oh for determined men and women, who will rise early and really burn out for God. Oh for a faith that will sweep into heaven with the early dawning of ...read

› 4 - MOSES, THE MIGHTY INTERCESSOR - Intercessory Prayer is a powerful means of grace to the praying man. Martyn observes that at times of inward dryness and depression, he had often foun ...read

› 5 - ELIJAH, THE PRAYING PROPHET - "I have known men," says Goodwin-it must have been himself-"who came to God for nothing else but just to come to Him, they so loved Him. They scorned ...read

› 6 - HEZEKIAH, THE PRAYING KING - One can form a habit of study until the will seems to be at rest and only the intellect is engaged, the will having retired altogether from exercise. ...read

› 7 - EZRA, THE PRAYING REFORMER - Before the Great War there were many signs of a new interest in PRAYER and new hope from its exercise. How these signs have multiplied is known to eve ...read

› 8 - NEHEMIAH, THE PRAYING BUILDER - We care not for your splendid abilities as a minister, or your natural endowment as an orator before men. We are sure that the truth of the matter is ...read

› 9 - SAMUEL, THE CHILD OF PRAYER - That was a grand action by Jerome, one of the Roman fathers. He laid aside all pressing engagements and went to fulfill the call God gave him, viz., t ...read

› 10 - DANIEL, THE PRAYING CAPTIVE - It is a wonderful historical fact that the men of prayer have always been the men of power in the world. I want to convince you about this. Some of yo ...read

› 11 - FAITH OF SINNERS IN PRAYER - A certain preacher whose sermons converted many souls received a revelation from God that it was not his sermons or works by all means but the prayers ...read

› 12 - PAUL, THE TEACHER OF PRAYER - Fletcher of Madeley, a great teacher of a century and a half ago, used to lecture to the young theological students. He was one of the fellow-workers ...read

› 13 - PAUL AND HIS PRAYING - In the life of Frank Crossley it is told how one day in 1888 he had said good-bye at the station to his friends, General and Mrs. Booth; but before th ...read

› 14 - PAUL AND HIS PRAYING (Continued) - William Law has this very pertinent word in his "Devout Life": "When you begin your petitions use such various expressions of the attributes of God as ...read

› 15 - PAUL AND HIS REQUESTS FOR PRAYER - I desire above all things to learn to pray. We want to sound the reveille for the Christian warriors. We desire to find truth of the lack of real pray ...read

› 16 - PAUL AND HIS REQUESTS FOR PRAYER (Continued) - We announce the law of prayer as follows: A Christian's prayer is a joint agreement of the will and his cabinet, the emotions, the conscience, the int ...read

Prayer Availeth Much

Book	T.M. Anderson Prayer Availeth Much: The Foreword       The brief messages on prayer contained in this little book have been written for the purpose of stimulating a greater interest in the importance of praying without ceasing. I am convinced that the people of God have not explored the boundless possibilities of prayer. We evidently believe that the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man av ...read
	Prayer Availeth Much: 1. The Fellowship of Prayer        "Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God."--PHIL. 4:6. This timely exhortation stresses the fact that God's people should consult with Him in every matter pertaining to life. Unless they see the imperative necessity of prayer, and give it an important pla ...read
	Prayer Availeth Much: 2. Our Requests Made Known unto God        "... Let your requests be made known unto God."--PHIL. 4:6. Paul, the pattern saint, would have us see the value of revealing our needs to God in prayer. We must not presume that the things required to sustain life will be granted without making our requests known unto God. Our requirements on earth and God's resources in heaven are meant for ...read
	Prayer Availeth Much: 3. God's Peace Obtained in Answer to Prayer        "... Let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."--PHIL. 4:6,7. When we make our requests known unto God by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving we are assured of receiving His peace through Christ Jesus. When we enter into the sacr ...read
	Prayer Availeth Much: 4. The Praying that Glorifies God        "... Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son."--JOHN 14:13. Jesus revealed His purpose in answering prayer when He said, "... That the Father may be glorified in the Son." In order to achieve His exalted purpose to glorify the Father, the Son has bestowed on His redeemed people the inali ...read
	Prayer Availeth Much: 5. Praying without Doubting         "... And shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith."--MARK 11:23. These interesting words are a part of the Saviour's discourse on the power of faith. The disciples were greatly astonished by the power manifested in the Master's words which dried up t ...read
	Prayer Availeth Much: 6. Praying with Desire         "... What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them."--MARK 11:24. These inspiring words of Jesus disclose that He has obligated Himself to satisfy the incessant and insistent desires of His praying people. His words leave no doubt in our minds regarding His willingness to answer our requests. ...read
	Prayer Availeth Much: 7. A Manifestation of God in Answer to Prayer        "... When they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness."--Acts 4: 31. This remarkable manifestation of God reveals the effectiveness of prevailing prayer. It vividly discloses the fact that prayer can accomplish much. It is ...read
	Prayer Availeth Much: 8. The Intercessory Prayers of Christians        "... Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine in his journey is come to me ..."-LUKE 11:5, 6. There is evidently a ministry of prayer even as there is a ministry of preaching. The teachings of Jesus contained in the parable show us that praying and preaching are integral parts of the plan of salvation. Preaching is God's way of ...read
	Prayer Availeth Much: 9. The Three Essentials of Prayer         "... Every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened."--LUKE 11:10. The plain teachings of Jesus accord us a valid reason to believe that every sincere prayer offered by His people shall be answered. Jesus stated the three essentials of prayer when He said, "Ask, seek, knock." He d ...read Prayer Availeth Much: 10. Asking and Receiving         "... Every one that asketh receiveth ..."--Luke 11:10. When our Lord uttered these immortal words He gave to every child of God the inalienable right to pray. He impressed His disciples with this fact by asking them some pertinent questions: "If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fis ...read Prayer Availeth Much: 11. Seeking and Finding         "... He that seeketh findeth.--LUKE 11:10. When Jesus said, "He that seeketh findeth ...," He disclosed the second fundamental principle of prevailing prayer. His immortal words assure us that we can make some important discoveries through prayer. His brief statement presents the greatest challenge known to mortal man. His teachings about ...readPrayer Availeth Much: 12. The Knocking That Obtains An Opening        ". . . To him that knocketh it shall be opened." -- Luke 11:10 These words of the Master reveal the third fundamental principle of the effectual fervent prayer that availeth much. The Master disclosed the value of praying persistently in His discourse about the man asking three loaves at midnight. There is something much more encouraging in ...readPrayer Availeth Much: 13. The Immortal Prayers of Saints        "... Golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints." -- REV. 5:8. Christ frequently chooses some unusual place on earth to reveal Himself to mankind. It is obviously consistent with His Divine Nature and eternal purpose in redemption to disclose Himself in some unusual place and in some unexpected manner. He revealed Himsel ...readPrayer Availeth Much: 14. Christ Pleads His Will        "Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am ..."--JOHN 17:24. Jesus presented the precious legacy of His prayer when He offered His intercessory prayer preserved for us by John. The Lord let His disciples have the pleasure of knowing what His intercession for them in heaven as their High Priest was like. The ...read

Prevailing Prayer by T.M. Anderson

Pamphlet	T.M. Anderson Prevailing Prayer: Foreward        Dedicated To His own elect, which cry day and night unto Him. The Foreword The labor of love represented in this little book has been presented in hope that it will be a means to promote a greater interest in the power of prayer. The reader will please accept my witnessing to the truth concerning my personal experience in praying. ...read
	Prevailing Prayer: 1: A Covenant of Prayer       In the Month of January, 1950, I entered into a covenant of prayer with the Savior. At the time this covenant was made I was teaching in the Department of Bible at Asbury College. It was my purpose to do some writing on the Epistle to the Hebrews, and I had made plans to begin this work in January. In order to have the time to devote to my writing ...read
	Prevailing Prayer: 2: The Scriptures Revealed in Answer to Prayer       During the quiet hours of the morning, in January, 1950, I prayed the Savior would be pleased to give me a greater measure of understanding in His Word. For many years I had made a study of the Scriptures; in fact, I could read several books of the Bible without looking at the printed pages. But I knew that the Scriptures had a depth of meaning, ...read
	Prevailing Prayer: 3: A Spiritual Awakening in Answer to Prayer       A few weeks after I had made the covenant of prayer with the Savior, I learned that several students in Asbury College were praying for a revival. Some of these earnest souls prayed all night; and others joined them in prayer after midnight. On February the twenty-third, 1950, during the morning service in the chapel, the great revival began. It ...read
	Prevailing Prayer: 4: A Revelation Of God in Answer to Prayer        "Shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.. "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father." A man can express much in a few words of prayer. When Philip made this request for a revelation of the Father, he voiced the deepest longing of a human heart; no man can be satisfied without a full revelation of God. Philip did not ask the Savior for the i ...read
	Prevailing Prayer: 5: The Secret Place of Prayer in the Heart        "But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret." (Matthew 6:6) There is a time to pray, and there is a place to pray. It was a custom of our Lord to depart into a solitary place, and there pour out His heart to the Father. He often found relief from His burden of pra ...read
	Prevailing Prayer: 6: A Sufficient Provision For Prayer        "Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him." (Matthew 6:8) After revealing the truth about the secret place of prayer, the Savior continued His discourse on prayer, and revealed the Heavenly Father's provision for answering prayer. We should take sufficient time to meditate on this revealed truth; because it is exceedi ...read
	Prevailing Prayer: 7: A Scriptural Pattern of Prayer        "After this manner therefore pray ye." (Matthew 6:9-15) The Lord's prayer is not a form of prayer, it is a pattern of prayer. The manner of our praying will follow this pattern of praying if we ask according to the instructions of Jesus. The prayer proceeds in an orderly manner from the opening words to the final Amen. There is perfect continu ...read
	Prevailing Prayer: 8: The Throne of Grace        "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace for help in time of need." (Hebrews 4:16) It has been stated previously that the approach to the throne of grace is through Jesus, our High Priest. I have also said that it is important to form a mental picture of the Savior seated on His mediatori ...read
	Prevailing Prayer: 9: Praying in His Name        "If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it." (John. 14:14) The Father has given all things into the hands of His Son. The Word says, that God hath appointed the Son heir of all things. All power in heaven and in earth is given to Jesus, our Lord: and all praying must be done in His Name, because He is the only Mediator between God and ...read
	Prevailing Prayer: 10: The Savior Prays For His People        "He ever liveth to make intercession for them." (Hebrews 7:25) The people of God can derive great comfort from the fact that the Savior is interceding for them. He is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing that He ever liveth to intercede for them. Prayer is apparently an essential part of the plan of salvation ...read

The Weapon of Prayer

The Weapon of Prayer

By Amy Carmichael


"Oh, Amma! Amma! Do not pray! Your prayers are, troubling me!" We all looked up in astonishment. We had just had our Band Prayer Meeting, when a woman came rushing into the room and began to exclaim like this. She was the mother of one of our girls, of whom I told you once before. She is still in the Terrible's den. Now the mother (A devote Hindu) was all excitement and poured out a curious story.

"When you went away last year I prayed. I prayed and prayed, and prayed again to my god to dispel your work. My daughter's heart was impressed with your words. I cried to my god to wash the words out. Has he washed them out? Oh no! And I prayed for a bridegroom for my daughter, and one came; and the cart was ready to take her away, and a hindrance occurred; the marriage fell through. And I wept till my eyes well-nigh dissolved. And again another bridegroom came, and again an obstacle occurred. And yet again did a bridegroom come, and yet again an obstacle; and I cannot get my daughter married, and the neighbors mock, and my Caste is disgraced" - and the poor old mother cried, just sobbed in her shame and confusion of face. "Then I went to my god again and said, 'What more can I offer you? Have I not given you all I have? And you reject my prayer!' Then in a dream my (demon) god appeared, and he said, 'Tell the Christians not to pray, I can do nothing against their prayers. Their prayers are hindering me!' And so, I beseech you, stop your prayers for fourteen days - only fourteen days - till I get my daughter married !" "And after she is married?" We asked. "Oh, then she may freely follow your God! I will hinder her no more!" Poor old mother! All lies are allowed where such things are concerned. We knew the proposed bridegroom came from a place three hundred miles away, and the idea was to carry the poor girl off by force as soon as she was married. We have been praying night and day to God to hinder this. And He is hindering!

Jesus On Prayer

Jesus On Prayer

By Martyn-Lloyd Jones


IN MATTHEW 6:5-8, we come to an example taken by our Lord to illustrate His teaching concerning piety or the conduct of the religious life. This is the theme which He considers in the first eighteen verses of this chapter. "Take heed," He says in general, "that ye do not your righteousness before men, to be seen of them: else ye have no reward with your Father which is in heaven." Here is His second illustration of this. Following the question of almsgiving comes the whole question of praying to God, our communion and our fellowship with God. Here, again, we shall find that the same general characteristic which our Lord has already described is, alas, far too much in evidence. This portion of Scripture, I sometimes think, is one of the most searching and humbling in the entire realm of Scripture.

But we can read these verses in such a way as really to miss their entire point and teaching, and certainly without coming under conviction. The tendency always when reading this is just to regard it as an exposure of the Pharisees, a denunciation of the obvious hypocrite. We read, and we think of the kind of ostentatious person who obviously is calling attention to himself, as the Pharisees did in this matter. We therefore regard it as just an exposure of this blatant hypocrisy without any relevance to ourselves. But that is to miss the whole point of the teaching here, which is our Lord's devastating exposure of the terrible effects of sin upon the human soul, and especially sin in the form of self and of pride.

Sinful Attitudes 

Sin, He shows us here, is something which follows us all the way, even into the very presence of God. Sin is not merely something that tends to assail and afflict us when we are far away from God, in the far country as it were. Sin is something so terrible, according to our Lord's exposure of it, that it will not only follow us to the gates of heaven, but-if it were possible-into heaven itself. Indeed, is not that the Scripture teaching with regard to the origin of sin? Sin is not something which began on earth. Before man fell there had been a previous Fall. Satan was a perfect, bright, angelic being dwelling in the heavenlies; and he had fallen before ever man fell. That is the essence of the teaching of our Lord in these verses. It is a terrible exposure of the horrible nature of sin.

Nothing is quite so fallacious as to think of sin only in terms of actions; and as long as we think of sin only in terms of things actually done, we fail to understand it. The essence of the biblical teaching on sin is that it is essentially a disposition. It is a state of heart. I suppose we can sum it up by saying that sin is ultimately self-worship and self-adulation, and our Lord shows (what to me is an alarming and terrifying thing) that this tendency on our part to self-adulation is something that follows us even into the very presence of God. It sometimes produces the result that even when we try to persuade ourselves that we are worshiping God, we are actually worshiping ourselves and doing nothing more.

That is the terrible nature of His teaching at this point. This thing that has entered into our very nature and constitution as human beings is something that is so polluting our whole being that when people are engaged in their highest form of activity they still have a battle to wage with it. It has always been agreed, I think, that the highest picture that you can ever have of a person is to look at him on his knees waiting upon God. That is the highest achievement of man; it is his noblest activity. Man is never greater than when he is there in communion and contact with God. Now, according to our Lord, sin is something which affects us so profoundly that even at that point it is with us and assailing us. Indeed, we must surely agree on the basis of New Testament teaching that it is only there we really begin to understand sin.

We tend to think of sin as we see it in its rags and in the gutters of life. We look at a drunkard, poor fellow, and we say: There is sin; that is sin. But that is not the essence of sin. To have a real picture and a true understanding of it, you must look at some great saint, some unusually devout and devoted man. Look at him there upon his knees in the very presence of God. Even there, self is intruding itself, and the temptation is for him to think about himself, to think pleasantly and pleasurably about himself, and really to be worshipping himself rather than God. That, not the other, is the true picture of sin. The other is sin, of course, but there you do not see it at its acme; you do not see it in its essence. Or, to put it in another form, if you really want to understand something about the nature of Satan and his activities, think of that wilderness where our Lord spent forty days and forty nights. That is the true picture of Satan where you see him tempting the very Son of God.

All that comes out in this statement. Sin is something that follows us even into the very presence of God.

Necessary Rebirth 

Before we come to our analysis of this, I would make one other preliminary observation which seems to me to be quite inevitable. If this picture does not persuade us of our own utter sinfulness, of our hopelessness as well as our helplessness, if it does not make us see our need of the grace of God in the matter of salvation, and the necessity of forgiveness, rebirth, and a new nature, than I know of nothing that ever can persuade us of it. Here we see a mighty argument for the New Testament doctrine about the absolute necessity of being born again, because sin is a matter of disposition, something that is so profound and so vitally a part of us that it even accompanies us into the presence of God.

But follow that argument beyond this life and world, beyond death and the grave, and contemplate yourself in the presence of God in eternity for ever and ever. Is not the rebirth something which is a bare essential? Here, then, in these instructions about piety and the conduct of the religious life, we have implicit in almost every statement this ultimate New Testament doctrine of regeneration and the nature of the new man in Christ Jesus.

Indeed we can go on even beyond that and say that even if we are born again, and even if we have received a new life and a new nature, we still need these instructions. This is our Lord's instruction to Christian people. It is His warning to those who have been born again; even they have to be careful lest in their prayers and devotions they become guilty of this hypocrisy of the Pharisees.

Two Ways of Praying 

First, then, let us take this subject in general before coming to a consideration of what is commonly called "the Lord's Prayer." We are looking merely at what we might call an introduction to prayer as our Lord teaches it in these verses, and I think that once more the best way of approaching the subject is to divide it into two sections. There is a false way of praying and there is a true way of praying. Our Lord deals with them both.

False Way 

The trouble with the false way is that its very approach is wrong. Its essential fault is that it is concentrating on itself. It is the concentrating of attention on the one who is praying rather than on the One to whom the prayer is offered. That is the trouble, and our Lord shows that here in a very graphic and striking way. He says: "When thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men." They stand in the synagogue in a prominent position; they stand forward.

You remember our Lord's parable of the Pharisee and the publican who went into the temple to pray. He makes exactly the same point there. He tells us that the Pharisee stood as far forward as he could in the most prominent place, and there he prayed. The publican, on the other hand, was so ashamed and full of contrition that "standing afar off" he could not even so much as lift up his face to heaven, but just cried out, "God be merciful to me a sinner." In the same way our Lord says here that the Pharisees stand in the synagogues and in the corners of the street, in the most prominent position, and pray in order that they may be seen of men. "Verily I say unto you, They have their reward." ,

According to our Lord, the reason for their praying in the street corners is something like this. A man on his way to the temple to pray is anxious to give the impression that he is such a devout soul that he cannot even wait until he gets to the temple. So he stands and prays at the street corner. For the same reason, when he reaches the temple, he goes forward to the most prominent position possible. Now what is important for us is to extract the principle, so I put that as the first picture.

The second is put in the words: "When ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking." If we take these two pictures together, we shall find that there are two main errors underlying this whole approach to God in prayer. The first is that my interest, if I am like the Pharisee, is in myself as the one who is praying. The second is that I feel that the efficacy of my prayer depends upon my much praying or upon my particular manner of prayer. Let us look at these separately.

First Error - Showing Off 

The first trouble, then, is this danger of being interested in myself as one who prays. This can show itself in many different ways. The first and the basic trouble is that such a person is anxious to be known among others as one who prays. That is the very beginning of it. He is anxious to have a reputation as a man of prayer, anxious and ambitions is that respect. That in itself is wrong.

The next step in this process is that it becomes a positive and actual desire to be seen praying by others. That, in turn, leads to things which will ensure that others do see us. This is a most subtle matter that is not always blatant and obvious. There is a type of person who parades himself and puts himself in a prominent position and is always calling attention to himself. But there are also subtle ways of doing this self-same thing.

The biographer, who was anxious to show the saintliness of an author, illustrated it like this. "Nothing was quite so characteristic of him," he said, "as the way in which, when he was walking from one room to another, he would suddenly in the corridor fall down on his knees and pray. Then he would get up and go on his way again." That, to the biographer, was proof of the saintliness and devoutness of this particular man.

I do not think I need explain what I mean. The trouble with the Pharisees was that they tried to give the impression that they could not wait until they got to the temple; they had to stand where they were at the street corners to pray, at once both blatant and obvious. Yes, but if you fall down on your knees in a corridor in a house, it is rather wonderful! I want to show on the basis of our Lord's teaching that that man would have been a greater saint if he had not dropped on to his knees, but rather had offered up his prayer to God as he was walking along that corridor. It would have been an equally sincere prayer, and nobody would have seen it. How subtle this is!

"Enter into thy closet, and ... shut thy door." My prayer is always going to be the secret prayer. Yes, but it is possible for a man to pray in secret in such a way that everybody knows he is praying in secret, because he gives the impression that by spending so much time there he is a great man of prayer.