THE K I NG ' S B U S I N E S S
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chewed it. Do you know w hat you w ant? Where to get it? How to get it? W hat to do w ith it? You w ent to the telephone and called up a friend. You made known your requ est and walked away. Your wife said, “Did you get h im ?” “Yes.” “W h at did he say?” “ Oh, I don’t know, I couldn’t w ait for ah answ er.” Then you wasted your friend ’s tim e and yours. Yet th is is a parable of much th a t we call prayer. The value of prayer is in the answer, not the request. And you haven’t tim e to w ait for th e answer. Take tim e to be holy. It tak es tim e to be holy. Some things you can h u rry ; prayer cannot be hastened. I have a friend in Buffalo who owns an electric automobile. He watches the indicator carefully lest he be le ft w ith a dead machine far from home. He used th e last of th e cu rren t to reach the garage. The m anager pu ts the machine again st the dynamo. The owner sleeps. The dynamo p u rrs th rough the n igh t and a new soul is born. Do you know how to put your soul up ag ain st God and leave it th e re and let Him pour H imself into your life and renew your streng th ? T h at is prayer. We can get wisdom to win souls th rough the Bible and from God in prayer. How shall we use it? F irst, in life; second, in speech, for though speech is a p art of life yet we divide th e two. Be w hat you w ant others to become. Example is more th a n speech. You can’t hope to win o th ers to a life you do not live, to a God you don’t love, to principles you. don’t practice. Second; Speech. You say, “ I don’t like to h ear th a t man talk . He doesn’t live w hat he professes.” Is th a t why you are silent? We p ervert words. F o r many years I advertised th e “ Sunday Service.” Now I advertise th e “ Sab bath W orship.” You called on John the o th er Sunday morning. H is wife said th a t he had gone to service. You asked, “W hat— does John work on the Lord’s D ay?” She said, “Why, no, he
thinking. P reparation for any profes sion involves a m astering of th e litera tu re and th e lite ra tu re moulds th e mind. If you w ant wisdom to win souls, study the Book of Life, th e one book th a t sums up w hat men have been ta u g h t by God and th e way to God and w hat God has revealed of Btimself to man and the secret of finding Him. Search the Scriptures, for they are they th a t testify to th e one who is made unto us the wisdom of God. Study them as the doctor studies th e medical book, as th e lawyer studies the book of law, and th e wisdom of th e book shall become your wisdom and you will win souls. The second source of wisdom is life. A book is a door into th e h e a rt of th e au tho r, not a b a rrier between th e w riter and th e th inker. In preparing for col lege I studied a g ramm ar w ritten by a professor a t Brown University. I though t I knew something of th e man from the book, b u t months in a class room ta u g h t me how little a man can pu t of him self into a book. The Bible is not a sub stitu te for God b u t a way to God,— and He who speaks to you th rough others will speak to you directly if you seek Him. If any man lack wisdom let him ask of God, who giveth freely to all men and upbraid- eth not. Do you know how to pray? “Ask and ye shall receive; seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you.” But, you say, you have not received. Have you asked? The door has no t been opened. Have you knocked a t th e door or bruised your knuckles on th e walls? You have not found. But, have you sought? Do you know how to pray? The o ther day a lad went into a drug store. He deposited a cent in an open ing in a m etal box fastened foi th e wall. He drew out a little package. He went away w ith it. He knew w h at he wanted. He knew where it was. He knew how to get it. He knew w hat to do w ith it. He had offered a m etal prayer to a m etal god and got a gum answer and
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