T H E
T IM E
T O
P R A Y
By Evangelist Joseph T. Larson
We Need the Day of Prayer Our homes, our pastors, our Sun day school teachers, all Christians need prayer. Jesus declared, “ Men ought always to pray, and NOT to faint.” He Himself spent all night in prayer to His Father. Paul prayed “ without ceasing.” So did the Old and New T e s t a m e n t saints. The reason so many people fall by the wayside is because they do not pray. They allow doubts and fears to bring fretting and the spirit o f de feat. Martin Luther stated, “ Pray right in the midst o f temptation.” Wesley prayed two or three hours at a time. Knox pleaded with the Lord, “ Give me Scotland, or I d ie!” And the Presbyterian Church was the result. Are you worried ? Then pray! Bishop Quayle sat up worrying one night. God spoke to him, saying in his heart, “ You had better go to bed, Quayle; I’ll sit up the rest of the night.” God watches over His own, and it is folly to stay up late and rise up early, depriving yourself o f much- needed rest just to worry over troubles you cannot help. “ He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep” (Psa. 121:4). Here is a good formula fo r worry: Don’t worry about things which neither you nor any other human being can help. Don’t worry about that which God has promised to care for. The Basis of Prayer Let us pray on the basis o f Jesus’ shed blood; let us pray to God on the ( Continued on Page 32J T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
“ Yes,” a humble woman replied, “ But we are all unjust out here.” I did pray for rain. God answered abundantly. It rained for three days and nights, and at one town eighteen inches o f rain poured down the streets. The God of Elijah still lives! He can send rain or fire in answer to prayer. We had a day of prayer in Mon tana. Twelve souls came to Christ the very next Sunday, two of whom be came ministers, and three, ministers’ wives. It was more than worth all the six hours we spent in prayer! When people are in doubt about the future, Christ holds the key to answered prayer, to life eternal, to Heaven, to victory, and to endless glory. When Revival Is Needed It is a place o f blessing; it is a place o f power within for the good of all saints; it is a place o f worship in order to glorify God; it is a place of answered prayer which spells victory; it is a place o f compensation in much joy and service; it is a place o f assur ance and victory; it is a place of blessed communion with God and His saints; it is a place where the Bible becomes blessedly real, and its words live before u s; it is the place of spiritual vision, strong vitality, and the blessed presence o f Himself brought to reality; it is the place o f conquest by His grace, where the soul is led out to possess the land, and “ there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed.” “ Let us rise up and possess the land.”
CC | A OR this shall every one that is M godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found: surely in the floods o f great waters they shall not come nigh unto him” (Psa. 32 :6 ). “When Thou Mayest Be Found” It is time to pray when conditions are bad all over the world. It is time to pray when souls are lost and going to hell every tick o f the clock. When trouble is seen on the horizon, and souls are without spiritual leadership, When you feel the tempter very near, and you feel weak within yourself, When you feel that your soul has lost the first love for Christ that you once knew, When our people are being drawn into ways that are not right, and sinners are preying upon Christian people, When you are at a loss to know what to do, When you sense your situation and see only helplessness in your own efforts, When you have unsaved loved ones that you long to see saved ,— THEN IT IS TIME TO PRAY ! Some years ago, while doing mis sionary work in Montana, I was asked by drouth-stricken farmers to pray for rain. “Why don’t you pray for it yourself?” I inquired. “ Does not God’s Word say, ‘He sendeth rain upon the just and on the unjust’ ?” Page Fourteen
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