thinking with the facts about Je sus Christ. If you are coming into the presence of God to pray, come in the Lord Jesus Christ, trust ing in Him and abiding in Him. Now there is one more consid eration, the sixth, that you will want to have in mind to qualify you, as it were, as you come into the presence of God to pray. It is found in the words: “ Thy will be done!” You must come before God yielded to Him. Before you can come that way, you must give up on your own ideas. I can tell you right now, that the one way you can give up your own ideas is when you go through your own Gethsemane. You’ll find out what I mean. When you come into the presence o f God, you must want to do God’s will. You can ask your self at the very outset at any time when you are to pray: “Have I committed everything to God? Is everything really in God’s hands ? Am I trusting in Him? Have I turned everything over to Him? Am I willing for God to have His way? Is it going to be all right with me whether He does what I ask or whether He doesn’t? Am I now in the presence o f God so yielded to God that it can be either way? Do I just want God’s will done?” Believe me, when we come that way, God hears and answers prayer! 0 0
tial. Simply put, it means this: you don’t come on your own. You don’t come because of who you are. Whoever you may be, you are a sinner and you’ve no claim on God. But if you come in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, you have a ready, free access into the pres ence of God. Don’t come writing your own check, because in the sight of God you are bankrupt. There are insufficient funds for any check you would draw on yourself. Draw on His account. Let the check that you bring be on the Lord Jesus Christ who gave Himself for you. What you are asking from God in prayer will be in His name, in His will. You know the great thing about this is that in the sight of God you are not on your own. You are coming on the ground of the Lord Jesus Christ. You are coming in the name o f the Lord Jesus Christ. It is because Christ Jesus is who He is, that you can come as you are and receive the blessing of God. Now the fifth thing in these considerations is that in praying unto God you should be abiding in Him. “ If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you,” (John 15:7). Abiding in Christ will mean that you will think about what He has done. When you come before God in prayer, think about the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember He is standing good for you. Your trust is in Him. What is it that Christ Jesus wants you to do? Think about what He thinks and then ask about that. Then think of what He could do. What could He do? You have promises in the Bi ble about it. You may have to read and search the Scriptures to find these things, but they are there for you. So take them, think about these things, read the Bible and books on the spiritual life. Read everything good you can get hold of and have fellowship with peo ple who are believers. Go to Bible classes and church where men preach and think on these things. Abide in Him. Saturate y ou r
Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son” (Luke 15:18, 21). If you have a great desire to pray, even though you haven’t understood the whole Gospel, perhaps you have not as yet established a re lationship with Jesus Christ and this is your great need. Maybe you wouldn’t count yourself a Christian, but you need help and you know that God could help and you wonder w h e th e r you could pray. Yes, a non-believing person can pray. You have a very simple prayer arranged for you. It is this: “God be merciful to me a sinner” (Luke 18:13). You can call on Him. You see, in either case, whether for the Christian or the non- Christian, the matter of repen tance is most essential. Just keep in mind that God is holy and sin is sin. Now God can deal with it if we come before Him in a re pentant frame of mind. I must judge myself before God. If I re gard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. The third idea is this: Christ died for me. Thank God that even though I have sinned, that God is holy and I am ungodly, here is my wonderful good fortune: Christ died for me! God commended His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Here is something that you can carry in your heart and mind that will give you strength. “ He that spared not his own Son, but freely gave him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” (Rom. 8:32). If Christ Jesus died for you, you can come to God. Your debt has been paid. There is nothing on the books against you. You want to come? If you will, just keep in mind that Christ died for you and that God is ready to receive you because the Lord Jesus Christ has opened the way for you. Now here is a fourth idea: When you come unto God, come in the Name of His Son. This matter of coming in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ is essen- JANUARY, 1969
Dr. Thomas G. Lawrence
T he H oly S pirit is prominent in every phase of the believ er’s life. While it is true that Christ is the believer’s life, it is also true that the Holy Spirit is the administrator of that life. 31
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