January 1929
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T h e
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name of Christ today. When men see more manifestations of genuine repen tance, they will place more stock in our doctrine of regeneration.
suggestive, teachers will no doubt desire s o m e systematic arrangement of ma terial. The poet says, “Prayer is the soul’s s i n c e r e desire, uttered or unex
FRED S'. SHEPARD ’S BLACKBOARD OUTL INE
S IN „................Rom. 3 :23 ENTEN CE Ezek. 18:4 ALVATION ....Isa. 55 :7 Turn ye, for why will ye die? —Ezek. 33:11
T he F ather and T hree S ons Acts 2:32-39; Luke 15:11-24
pressed,”—but prayer, in the Scripture sense, is more than this. True prayer is a born-one’s petition to his Father. Wishes and unexpressed anxieties may prepare the heart for prayer, but the Scripture definitions of prayer all imply definite asking. The promises are not addressed to our wants, but our petitions. Prayer is beseeching from the Lord (Exo. 32:11); calling upon the Lord (Acts 7 :59) ; crying unto the Lord (Exo. 22:23, 27) ; pouring out the soul before God (Psa. 62:8). We are exhorted to let our requests be made known unto the Lord (Phil. 4:6). Direct address to the Father in the name of Christ and on the basis of His atoning work, is prayer in the usual Bible sense. It so happens that in Mt. 7 :7, we find an acrostic on the word “ask." "Ask and ye shall receive; Seek and ye shall find; Knock and it shall be opened unto you." Asking is the highest form of prayer. Knocking implies that one is on the wrong side of the door. •Seeking implies that one is out of touch. Joseph and Mary were seeking the boy Jesus for three days before they found Him. But when one asks, it is implied that he has gained an audience. Therefore, we believe in the use of words in prayer. It is not sufficient to silently exhale sentimental piety. “Take with you WORDS and turn to the Lord,” said Hosea; and when our Lord would teach His disciples how to pray, He gave them a form of words, the most simple and sublime ever breathed by human lips. Words (even though not audibly spoken) classify thought and intensify desire. There are various elements in the prayer life. 1. Adoration of God begins the prayer Jesus taught. 2. Meditation upon the promises quickens desire. 3. Thanksgiving should be a part of every prayer. 4. Confession of sin should find a place in our prayers daily. 5. Petition has to do with personal blessings. 6 . Supplication is earnest plea for the ful fillment of promise. 7. Intercession for others should be given a large place in the prayer life. The normal order of prayer is to the Father. Our Lord addressed Him simply as “Father” (Jn. 17:1) or “Holy Father” (Jn. 17:11) or “Righteous Father” (Jn. 17:25). He taught us to say: “Our Father who. art in heaven” (Mt. 6:9). Paul addressed God a s : “The God of our Lord” (Eph. 1 :17). or “The Father of our Lord" (Eph. 3 :14) or “Our God and Father" (1 Thess. 3:11). There may be warrant for praying to Jesus (1 Cor. 1 : 2 ), and this was evidently characteristic of Christians (Acts 9:14,21), but it should be remembered that Jesus Himself teaches us to pray to the Father. There is no recorded prayer to the Holy Spirit, although the communion of the Spirit is spoken of. We look to the Holy Spirit to lead out our desires and form our prayer (Rom 8:26). The normal order of prayer would seem to be outlined in Eph. 2:18, a passage in which the three persons of the Godhead are linked in relation to prayer: “Through Him
Remembering that Jesus bids us have the faith of a little child, and that it is comparatively easy for a child to repent, it is possible that in this lesson on
of Lincoln and Washington, whose birth day anniversaries occur this month. TELL ME, TEACHER : What do you mean by “goods,” “liv ing,” “substance,” “joined himself,” “he came to himself,” “my son was dead” ? Did the father just happen to see the son “a great way off” ? What is the one big lesson that I should learn from this story? How may I be sure of the Father’s love? TELL ME, CLASS: Why was there such a difference in these two boys who had the same par ents? Just how may we waste our “sub stance” ? Do you treat your chums the same when they have nothing to share as when they do have? Do you believe that there are times when it is better for your parents to deny your requests? Texts: Gen. 18:23-33; Exo. 32:31-32; Neh. 1:4-11; Dan. 6:10; Mt. 6:5-15; Lk. 18:1-14; Jn. 17:1-26; 1 Thess. 5:17; 1 Jn. 5:14-15. L esson in O utline I. The Faithful Intercession of Abra ham in behalf of the Doomed Cities of the Plains. Gen. 18:23-33. II. The Prevailing Intercession of Moses in behalf of Sinfur Israel. Ex. 32:31. III. The Soul-stirring Prayer and Con fession of Nehemiah in behalf of the Wretched Returned Exiles. Neh. 1:4-ll. IV. The Child-like Prayer of Daniel for a Closer Walk with God. Dan. 10 : 12 . V. Instructions Concerning Praying and A Model Prayer Given by the Saviour to His Disciples. Matt. 6:5-15. VI. Persistent, Effectual Prayer Illus trated. Lk. 18:1-14. VII. The Saviour’s Prayer on the Eve of the Cross. Jno. 17:1-26. A general study of the subject of prayer may be made very profitable in the Sunday-school class. While the refer ences assigned furnish much that is February 17, 1929 Prayer
“Repentance a n d Faith” the teacher may well become the taught. In Acts 2 :32-39 we have the obedi ent Son abased by men and exalted by the Father, and in Luke 15:11-24 we see the disobedient a n d self-debased son restored again by the same loving
Father; so that in both cases it is the Father’s love that merits the real emphasis, and this is well. Love alone begets confidence in the child ; and unless there is confidence that forgiveness will follow, the child will not confess with repentance and faith. The details of the disobedient son’s bitter experience need not be emphasized to the child mind in order to give full place to our Lord’s full obedience. Surely the child needs to come to know that God’s law, moral and spiritual as well as physical, cannot be violated without resultant penalty; that we all have put our “fingers in the fire” and been burned, and that our loving heavenly Father has provided the only perfect remedy in Jesus Christ ; but let us give the prominence to the Father and his yearning heart of love, so that the feet of our boys and girls shall be turned the more readily and abidingly to the Father’s house. Peter and the others found here that lives that were made different by Jesus were thought to be queer by others ; and that is still true, for the same spirit is still manifest even among boys and girls who know and who do not know Jesus. Peter had the courage to show the others why they were wrong and how to get right,—what about our boys and girls as they face the same thing, only in a new day and way ? Do our boys and girls find it difficult or easy to share our Lord’s interest in “all that are afar off” but who never theless may be near at hand? That is, is it possible for them to be interested in missions “afar off” and yet mistreat or fail to take a proper interest in the one from “afar,” namely, the foreigner in the midst? What about that as a way to test the presence or absence of the Spirit of Jesus in the heart? It may be of more than passing interest to the younger classes, it may make for added interest, if we who teach remind them that it was the younger son who got into such great difficulty. How do you suppose the boys and girls would write or tell the story of the Father’s love (let us call it that and not the “prodigal son”) in terms of their own vocabulary and experience? This might be a good approach to the lesson. In this and in next week’s lesson we may find help in drawing upon the lives
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