by OSWALD J. SM ITH
realization of his presence and op position. Interruptions innumer able will come. The telephone will ring, visitors will call and a hun dred other things that never would have bothered otherwise will have to be taken into account. We are living in the 20th century. Never have we known such bustle and rush and hurry. The whole world is forging ahead at a terrific pace. Hours of quietness and retirement are becoming more and more dif ficult to observe. Thus the work of intercession becomes hard. Then, too, discouragement will cross our pathway. Again and again we will feel like giving up. No wonder the Lord gave the par able of the friend at midnight. Im portunity is one of the greatest requisites. We pray on for a cer tain time and then because the an swer does not come, we grow dis couraged and give up. Thus Satan uses his most successful weapon against us and breaks down our de termination to become intercessors. Then, when all else has failed, Satan will burden us with Chris tian work and fill our lives so full of service for God that we will be driven from our place of real pow er and thus our intercessory minis try will be destroyed. Satan would rather have us work than pray any time. Full well he knows that prayerless work will be powerless and fruitless. Hence if he can only keep us busy so that we do not have time to pray he will have ac complished his purpose. Away with work that hinders prayer, ’Twere best to lay it down; For prayerless work, however good, W ill fail to win the crown.
is not an intercessor such a state ment seems absurd. Prayer to most people is looked upon as an easy occupation . Difficulties are un known. But that is because they know nothing at all of the minis try of intercession. Their prayers for the most part are centered upon themselves, their loved ones and their own personal interests with an occasional petition for the per ishing heathen. They spend per chance 5 to 15 minutes of prayer in the morning and the same again at night. To set aside a special hour during the day or to wait before Your Prayer Requests Each morning at eight the editorial staff of T he K ing ’ s B usiness magazine gathers for prayer. Over the years God has answered the heartcry of thousands. 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 Editors, T he K ing ’ s B usiness , 55 8 So. Hope St., Los Angeles 17, Calif. God for half a night never enters their mind. Their prayer life is spasmodic. It is considered a side issue and is readily neglected if other things demand attention. Such a person is in no way affect ing the kingdom of Satan. Hence prayer, so-called, is easy. But the Christian who enters upon the ministry of intercession will pass through a very different experience. Satan will do every thing in his power to hinder and obstruct. There will be a conscious
needs. His burden was always for the multitudes that thronged Him on every side. Intercessory prayer is prayer for others. That means that we put our selves alongside the Lord Jesus Christ, seek to know the burden of His heart, find out the plan, the program that He wants carried out and then pray with that in mind. So often we do not think of this. The whole burden of our prayer is centered upon ourselves. It is our needs, our desires that are upper most in our prayers. We must get past this. We must pray until we have dealt with everything that concerns ourselves and then launch out in intercession on behalf of others. What does God want done? What is His plan for this work or that work? How best can we serve the interests of the Lord Jesus Christ and glorify Him? These are the questions that must be asked. Let us therefore wait before Him until He reveals the burden of His heart, and then, putting ourselves alongside Jesus Christ, let us inter cede and bring His program to pass. That means that we must take into account the enablement of the Holy Spirit for He alone knows the mind of God. The life yielded to Him will be directed, guided and illuminated so that the petitions of fered will not miss the mark. He will lead us to pray along the line of God’s plan and God’s purpose if we but trust Him and place our selves entirely at His disposal. Oh, the joy of praying with Jesus Christ! That is a different thing than praying for ourselves. Intercessory prayer is without doubt not only the highest form of Christian service but also the hard est kind of work. To the person who
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