Wistaria, Southern California
P rayer I s the C hristian ’ s V ital B reath There arises from the multitudes of humanity a group of people who, having come to know God through the Lord Jesus Christ, find within themselves an insatiable thirst, an unnatural craving for personal fel lowship with Him; and they cry: "Lord, teach us to pray.” Some learn the sweetness of an early morning watch when the soul is filled with such fragrance of heaven, that it be comes so anchored to the Heavenly Father that it cannot go far astray from Him throughout the day. Others find that, when the worries and stress of the day are over, the cool and quiet of eventide agree most de lightfully with communion. Blessed is the man who is wise enough God- ward to observe them both! Once Ira D. Sankey learned graph ically how vital a breath prayer may be. During his later life, he was asked to accompany a group oi Christian Endeavorers on a moon light boat ride and to sing for them some gospel songs. He chose that beautiful hymn of Fanny J. Crosby’s "Saviour, more than life to me, 1 am clinging, clinging close to Thee.’ When he had finished it, one of th< young people pressed into his hant a note from the captain of the boat It was a request that he come t< his cabin. He opened the door an< faced a man about his own age weather-beaten, and scarred with sin T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S
By Margaret Kann
T HE SCOPE and experience of prayer are so vast that the Christian may meditate upon out a long lifetime, and yet be con stantly discovering absolutely new and unexplored territory. Sometime ago I was asked to lead devotions for a city-wide group of women at their “Day of Prayer.’’ It led me to muse thus: “Prayer, a day of prayer, a week of prayer, a life of prayer— familiar expressions these—but what is prayer?” P rayer I s the G reat C ommon D enominator All men, faced with the humiliat ing realization of personal inability, cry out for help beyond the human realm. I am reminded of my godly mother. One afternoon when the family was gathered around the din ing room table, as was our custom, for the fireplace was in that room, her knee joint suddenly gave way. As she sank to the floor, we heard her say, “O, Lord!” As little chil dren do, we gathered quickly around her and questioned, “Mamma, do you know what you said? You said some thing terrible!” She answered, “No, honey, what did I say?” When we told her, she said sweetly, “I was
not saying anything bad; I was just praying.” So she was; suddenly aware of uncontrollable circum stances, the natural unconscious re action was to call out to God for aid. In a somewhat similar fashion, the blasphemer reels out his oath. Some thing suddenly infuriates him. He is forbidden by law, or is physically un able, to visit upon the cause of his trouble the sort of punishment he deems fitting. Therefore, he calls upon God to visit that person or that thing with catastrophic judgment. In the January, 1946, Reader’s Di gest, there appeared an article en titled Typhoon Off Okinawa in which Lieutenant Commander Robert Es- son Rew, Jr., is quoted as saying, “My heart sank; I held onto a sta tion and prayed.” His experience sounds something like that we read of in Jonah 2:7: “When my soul fainted within me I remembered the LORD.” - When the heart' sinks, and the soul faints, then men call upon God. Multitudes, who have not liked to retain God in their knowledge, in times of extreme calamity and dire distress, have cried out to Him. I doubt if there ever lived a soul who at some time did not cry out for superhuman help. Certainly, prayer is the great common denominator.
their meaning and reality through
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