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THE KING’S BUSINESS
doors, and then many o f them are foolish enough to. attribute it to the Christian Sci ence they learned in Los Angeles. No, it was the good air you got in Los Angeles. So in the' spiritual life, to grow we must have plenty o f good spiritual air. . Where do we get good spiritual air? 1. Above all else in prayer. If we really pray we go up into the mountain where the air is fresh and pure and plenty of it. The air o f the world is stuffy and foul, it stunts our growth, unless we often go alone into, the mountain. “ They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.” (Isa. 40:31). Even the Lord Jesus, when He lived in this world, found it necessary to go off into the mountains to pray. W e read in Mark 1 :35, “And in the morning, a great while before day, he rose up and went out, and departed into a desert place, and there prayed.” And in Luke 6:12, “And it came to pass in those days, that He went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.” I f the Lord Jesus needed thus to go alone with God to pray and breathe the air o f heaven, how much more do we need to do so. 2. Another place where we get good air is in Christian fellowship. In Heb. 10:25 God warns us against “ forsaking the assem bling o f ourselves together, as the manner o f some is.” No one can grow,well with out Christian fellowship. What a change in the atmosphere there is when we leave the society o f the .worldly, even worldly Christians, and get among really godly peo ple. Join the church. It is necessary for your growth. Some people get converted and then go into a hole and pull the hole in after them. They keep aloof from Christian fellowship; they join no church. Such people, never become strong, full grown Christians. But not only join the church, but join a church where the fel lowship really is helpful, a church where they preach the Bible and lots o f it. Avoid the churches where they pull the Bible to pieces. They will hurt you, not help you. And avoid the churches where they neglect the Bible. Join the church that makes
much o f prayer. Join the church where the conversation and tone is high spirit ually. But it is not enough just to join the church, cultivate the society o f Christians. Many people join the church and then keep aloof from fellowship with' their fellow members. Little good comes from that. Go to the prayer meeting regularly. The prayer meeting Christian is the growing Chris tian. One o f the noblest Christian men we ever had in the American army was Major General O. O. Howard. He was emphat ically a prayer-meeting Christian. Some years ago when he came to the coast to take charge o f the forces out here the peo ple o f San Francisco proposed to make a reception for him. They chose for the night o f the reception the prayer meeting night. On informing General Howard o f the reception he thanked them for their kindness but told them that he could not go to a reception on that night, that that was prayer meeting night and he always made a practice o f attending the prayer meeting and would not put the prayer meeting aside for any other consideration. I f you wish to be a growing Christian be a prayer-meeting Christian. V. Exercise. One more thing is necessary for growth and that is exercise. Our muscles will not grow strong unless we use them, and our moral and spiritual muscles will be flabby unless we give them good, stiff exercise. I took a pair o f Sandow’s dumb bells around the world with me to keep in phys ical trim. I knew that unless my body was kept in physical health and strength I could not do the work. When we began our five months campaign in-the City o f London, with the enormous buildings in three different parts o f the city, the com mittee who had the matter in charge, feel ing that there was so much money involved in my being able to go through with the campaign, and that there would be so much lost if I should break down, went to Lloyd’s to get them to insure me against a physical break down. Lloyd’s thought the risk was
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