asked for the Bible and began to read it. At meal time, he said grace, and from that time on, took an active part in church affairs. By this time, he was 82 years of age. A year of service on the church board thrilled his heart with joy that he could still render a little service to his Saviour. At this ad vanced age he had begun a new life. Five years later, his wife passed away, but he testified that the joy of those five years exceeded all the joys of their previous mar ried life. Even a self-righteous man is not immune from the persistent prayers of a loving wife who will lead a consistent Christian life. M uch of this article has dealt with the husband- wife relationship, but the principles noted are ap plicable to all members of the fam ily. Bishop H. C. G. Moule has written: “How is it with your fam ily? Do you recognize that they also belong to your Master? By the He brew law of slavery they would do so; and they do so by the law of Christ. Is your first concern, your first prayer effort, for your chil dren, that they should live unto God, should be of use for God? True, you cannot almightily bend their wills, nor give them grace. But you can present them unre servedly and daily to One who can. Can you, by His grace, so live before them as to commend Him to them as their end and all? And can you so manage their education as to have a first regard, and not merely a second, to their establish ment in the faith and their prepar ation for God’s service?” It is not enough to merely tell our loved ones that we love them and that we love Christ. We must act as if we did. Prayer, faith, con secration, the elements of a mature Christian personality — these, the Lord will use to bring our loved ones to Christ. END.
However, his wife did live a consistent Christian life, and was greatly concerned for the salvation of her husband. She prayed consis tently to that end, but year after year nothing happened. There was no apparent indication that the Lord was answering her prayer. Still she persisted. For 35 years she prayed! Toward the close of this period, Mr. S. required hospitaliza tion for a short time, and was visit ed by the pastor. Still, he showed no evidence the Lord was dealing with him. Sometime after this, he was in attendance at the regular Sunday morning Bible class. The pastor felt Prayer Each morning at eight the
ing is difficult. But do the unusual! Use the tactful technique of sur prise. Do the supernatural and by doing so give indisputable testi mony of the validity of your faith by meeting each day with serenity, poise, faith and trust. It isn’t the natural reaction but the super natural. And that is what will count. T he following cases will illus trate some of the points which have been made. I will start with the story of Bill and Mary. The names are fic titious, but the people are real. Bill wasn’t interested in religious things.. He didn’t want anything to inhibit his desires. The army called him, and he was soon overseas. He en tered into all of the vices available. After their marriage, Mary had become a Christian. Many a wife with such a drunken, carousing husband would have made this along with his unfaithfulness, grounds for divorce, but not Mary. Instead, she loved him and prayed. In spite of the fact that she knew what kind of a life he was living, she had no reproach for him in the letters which she sent regularly, only the manifestation of a meek and a quiet spirit. When he returned from overseas, there was still no reproach; nothing but love. She lived her life on a supernatural plane, and that was what the Lord used to convict Bill. Such a life and such love was more than he could stand. It got him! He broke under it and was saved, and today, he and Mary are working faithfully in their church. I n sharp contrast to Bill, Mr. S. was a fine moral man. In fact he was so moral that he could see no r ea son for be i ng a Christian. He believed that he lived his life on a plane as high or higher than most Christians, which was probably true.
editorial staff of King's Busi ness magazine g a t h e r s for prayer. Over the years God has answered the heartcry of thou sands. Should you have a request we would count it a privilege to take it to the throne of grace. Your request will be held in the strictest confidence. Address: The Edi tors, King's Business, 558 So. Hope St., Los Angeles 17, Calif.
led to give an invitation for those who would like to accept the Lord. To this Mr. S. responded. On leav ing, that morning, the pastor asked him, “Are you trusting the Lord?” And he said, “Yes.” The pastor wondered if he replied in this man ner out of mere courtesy. But the wife of Mr. S. soon dispelled any doubts of the reality of the experi ence. For on arriving home, Mr. S.
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