all day long. God is not too busy with what He is doing to talk with you continually. The Christian who desires to know the will o f God should learn the fine art o f uninterrupted prayer. As soon as he rises in the morning he should commit the day to God. Every time the thought crosses his mind through out the day he should lift his heart in praise or petition. The number of prayers each day may mount into the scores. But this is exactly God’s will for us. It is just as if the Lord Jesus were walking by our side hour after hour ■and we kept up a continual (though, o f course, reverential) con versation with Him (Phil. 1:21 ; Gal. 2 : 20 ). Thus will God’s leadership be al most without conscious cognizance, and dangers, failures and pitfalls will be avoided before they occur. By un ceasing prayer we will understand His will for us. Search the Scriptures It’s just impossible to overempha size this point if you want to really know the will o f God for your life. How marvelous it is to have a Book from God—an inerrant Book, an in fallible Book, an eternal Book (2 Tim. 3:15, 16; Mark 13:31)1 It is a Book which is complete — lacking nothing; a Book which contains the answer to every problem in human life. No one can know all the will of God today without a knowledge o f the Bible.
Let’s be practical too. Don’t fail to take this matter to God in definite prayer (Phil. 4 :6 ). Don’t think that this is,the one problem you can settle by yourself. Believe me, your effi ciency in the Christian life can be per manently impaired by a wrong de cision here. And don’t think God is uninterested. There isn’t the slightest doubt but that He has this part of your life planned too. . Look for “Mr. Right” or “ Miss Right” where truly consecrated Christians gather. Church is a good place, or a summer Bible Conference, or a Bible School. Look for the kind that live the life and testify with the lip. Don’t be hasty. Measure this step by the same measurements you use in determining other steps in the will o f God for you (Phil. 4 :8 ). God will not fail you here. Pray Without Ceasing Prayer is a most amazing thing. It’s almost unbelievable. Think now. At any time we desire . . . for as long as we choose . . . and from any place we happen to be, we may look up into the face of our Father (who also happens to be the God o f the universe) and pour our petition into His waiting ears (Col. 1 :3 ; 1 Thess. 5 :17 ; 1 Tim. 2-:8). We know this is true. It has been proven by multitudes o f God’s saints times without number. However, there is a tendency, because prayer is so easy, and God is so available, to forget the infinite possibilities of prayer (John 14:13). What unheard- of results may be accomplished by a Christian who knows how to pray and so becomes able to move the arm o f God in his behalf (John 1 5 :7 )! But prayer is more than this. Prayer becomes a two-way line of communication between a Christian who desires to know the will o f God, and a God who desires that His chil dren know fulfill His will. This is one indispensable factor in ascertaining the plan and pur pose o f God fo r our lives. We should learn to pray without ceasing (1 Thess. 5 :17 ). Day after day, hour after hour, mo ment after moment, the Chris tian should have his prayer line open. Nor need you be always on your knees before God. This is a good exercise without doubt, but prayer is something that should be engaged in constantly
may add to his education even in our non-Christian universities, and there witness for Christ. Denominational committees and mission boards are almost unanimous in suggesting that their candidates for Christian service have a thorough education, including Bible school and college. Possibly this is the will o f God for the present day. Certainly there is nothing in Scripture which forbids a complete training. The man who by the grace o f God became the great Apostle to the Gen tiles, and who was led o f God to write fourteen out of our twenty-seven New Testament books, was educated according to the highest standards of his day (2 Tim. 4 :17 ; Acts 22 :3 ). God mightily used Paul who three times suggests that we follow him as he followed Christ (1 Cor. 4 :16 ; 1 Cor. 11:1 ; Phil. 3 :17 ). Shall I Marry? It’s quite right that you should be concerned about this matter. Next to the decision to receive the Lord Jesus, and to make Him Master o f your life, this is the great step o f your life. The right life partner can be the g r e a t e s t inspiration to real ac complishments for God, and the wrong partner can absolutely wreck your Christian service. But a Christian may marry. Some have called attention to Paul’s advice seemingly directed against marriage (1 Cor. 7:26-40). But this was in view o f the dire and ever-increasing persecution o f that day (v. 26). Paul was teaching that a more efficient work for God might be carried on under those conditions by a single man, unencumbered with the respon sibilities o f a family. There are still difficult and dangerous places where one might do a better job for the Lord single. That is, if you love Christ enough. Christ said something about this too (Matt. 19:10-12). But for those who will marry surely this is a matter in which to exercise the most prayerful caution. First, Christians must marry only Christians (2 Cor. 6 :14 ). It isn't really safe to become even a close friend o f someone who doesn’t love Jesus Christ sincerely. But there’s more than that. How can two walk together unless they be agreed? I f God is leading you into a specific field o f Christian service, then the one in whom you are inter ested ought to be concerned about that field too. This would be one o f the marks o f the Lord’s approval.
Page Seventeen
A U G U S T , 1 9 5 0
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker