THE KING’S BUSINESS
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and on the throne. His life on the earth—what was it? A life of intense activity, never ending work. I do not believe Jesus ever had an idle mo ment. He had moments of relaxa tion, rest, recreation, but never of idleness. He worked as few have ever worked. If the “many other things which Jesus did should have been written everyone, even the world itself would not contain the books that should be written.” But was He man of prayer? What part and place did intercession have in His life? A careful study of the records cannot fail to convince us that intercession was put absolutely first that the Son of Man was pre-eminently a man of prayer. Prayer was to Him commun ion with His Father without which He could*not work. It was to Him, as the Sent One of God, the supreme and the greatest working force with out which His whole mission to sick, sightless, sinful men would have failed. He never worked apart from prayer. He spent long hours, whole nights in intercession. “The greater the pressure of work the more deter mined He seemed to be that there should be no shortening of the timé nor flurrying of the spirit.” Jesus, though the very Son of God, had to have His supplies replenished by con tinual and long continued seasons of prayer. His life, work, suffering, death were all accomplished through prayer. Our Christ was a praying Christ. The life He lived for us was a life of intercession. All that Christ was as an intercessor we may be. The part that intercession played in His life as a working force it may—nay, it must—play in yours and in mine. Prayer in Christ on earth and in us cannot be two different things. But one shrinks from saying or even thinking that he can literally, really, follow the example of our Lord on earth, for He was the very Son of
things I shall mention as this bedrock foundation. The Will of God The first is the will of God. What is the will of God for every man and woman—if He had His way in human lives? Stated negatively, "God is not willing that any should perish.” Stat ed positively, “For this is the will of the Father that everyone that behold- eth the Son and believeth on Him shall have eternal life.” Everyone in China? Yes, “everyone that behold- eth and believeth.” God is love. He is no respecter of persons. He wants men to be saved. How then does He mean that they shall “behold and be lieve” ? By the release of His power through some personality in response to prayer. It is a combination lock. The loss of any one part means fail ure to unlock human hearts to the message of the Gospel. We have here the simple statement of our Fa ther’s will for the people among whom we live and work in China. We came to China to do His will. Are we doing it? If not, where is the failure in the combination? Is it in our prayer lives? “My meat and drink is to do the will of my Father” was part of the bedrock foundation of Jesus’ life on earth and it com pelled and constrained Him to spend whole nights in prayer that men might “behold and believe.” Is it part of the bedrock foundation of your life and of mine? Does the clearly re vealed will of the Father-God for perishing men and women compel and constrain us to pray ? The Life of Jesus Christ on Earth and on the Throne This leads me to the second stratum in this bedrock foundation which is the life of Jesus Christ on the earth
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