THE KING’S BUSINESS
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and expecting the Holy Spirit to pray through us. When the Holy Spirit does ' teach us to pray we shall pray with intense earnestness, “groanings which cannot‘be uttered.” Sometimes the yearning He awakens in our hearts will be too deep and vast for our own clear comprehension. Even God Himself must search the heart to know “what is the mind of the Spirit.” So it Comes to pass that God does exceed ingly abundantly above all that we ask or think (Eph. 3 :20). At other times we “pray with the Spirit and with the under standing also” (1 Cor. 14:15); but in whatever way the Spirit leads us in prayéf, the petition is “according to the will of God,” and is therefore sure to be granted (1 John 5:14, 15). It is the clear teaching of these verses that it is our..privilege in many instances to know the will of -God even when that will is not clearly and defi nitely révealed in the Word, for it is the work of the Holy Spirit to show to us what God's will is, and lead us out iri prayer along the line of His will, and when we are thus guided by the Holy Spirit we may be sure that the thing that we ask is according to God’s will, and therefore sure that God has granted what we asked. Friday, July 20 . Rom. 8 : 28 - 30 . Now we come to a fullness of present privilege that banishes forever all possi bility of anxiety and worry from the heart of him who believes it and keeps it in mind, “we know that all things work together for good to them that love God.” If this is true, how can we ever worry or repine? Whatever comes to me must be part of the “all things,” and instead of fret ting over it or rebelling against it, I will «thank God for it, for I have His own guarantee for it that it will work together with other things for my good. For years these words have banished ¿11 worry from my Own life, and filled every day with song. I have: passed through what would be called great sorrows and trials, but the thought is ever, present, “it is part of thé all things.” And now we come to what is
ihg as sons), to wit, the redemption of our bo(ly.” This means that we are waiting for our full placing as sons (cf. i. e. the time when it will be visibly manifest in our glorified bodies that we are sons of God (cf. Col. 3:4, R. V.). It is not until the redemption of our bodies and the receiv ing of our glorified body that our place as sons is fully manifested. How completely these inspired words of Paul shatter the theories of those who hold an extreme doctrine.of divine healing, viz., that it is the believer’s privilege in the present dis pensation to be “free from all sickness and pain.” Now, it is true that Jesus “took our infirmities, and bore our sicknesses (Matt. 8:17), but the full benefits of that atoning work we shall receive only when we receive the redemption of our bodies at His coming again. We may receive heal ings and deliverances as a sort of first fruits now, but the full benefits of the atonement, especially in the physical sphere, which include not merely freedom from sickness and pain but also freedom from physical death, lie in the age to come that begins with the return of our Lord. As to the present time, we are saved “in hope” (A. R. V,), i. e. we do not see our full sal vation yet, it is not ours in actual posses sion, but we have God’s word for it, and resting upon that Word we confidently hope and “with patience wait for it.” Thursday, July 19 . Rom. 8 : 26 , 27 . While we have not everything in this present age, we have all that we need. Indeed, we have a wonderful fulness of privilege and possessions. One great priv ilege is set forth in these verses, i. e. the privilege we possess of praying “accord ing to the will of God.” We ourselves “know not how to pray as we ought. But while we do not know how to pray as we ought, there is One who does know, One who knows all the mind and will of God. He helpeth our infirmity in this matter of prayer'as He helps our infirmity in many other things. This then is the secret -of true and prevailing prayer, depending upon
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