439
THE K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S Romans, he says to those Roman be- lie te rs, “ I remember you in my pray ers.” The Corinthian church was a tho rn in th e side of Paul, and he w rote them a le tte r full of biting acid; b u t when he closes it he says, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, th e love of God, the fellowship and communion of th e Holy Spirit, be w ith you.” Learn to be ten der while you are terrib le, and th en you will be terrib le while you are tender. The church of Galatia wounded Paul too, and he told them they were foolish Galatians who had been bew itched; and yet in closing th a t epistle he takes them in prayer and says, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be w ith your sp irit.” When he w rites to th e Ephesians— I never dare quote his prayer—Xalways read it, always shall. “F o r th is cause I bow my knees unto th e F ath e r of our Lord Jesus Christ, th a t He would g ran t you according to th e riches of his glory, th a t ye may be streng thened w ith power th rough the Spirit in th e inward man; th a t Christ may dwell in your h earts th rough faith, th a t ye being rooted and grounded in love may be strong to ap prehend w ith all th e sain ts w hat is the b read th and length and 'height and depth of the love of Christ, which pass- eth knowledge; and th a t ye may be filled w ith all th e fulness of God.” When he w rites to th e Philippians he says, “ I have you in my h e a rt.” And I" never read th a t sentence or hear it b u t I th in k of Longfellow’s exquisite Averse. Do you remember how he is playing w ith his grandchildren and he says to one little blue-eyed laughing lassie. “ I have you safe up in my fortress, And from it you shall never depart. E u t th ere I will bind you forever In th e round tower of my h ea rt.” “ I have you in my h e a rt," he says to th e saints in Philippi; and adds, “And
in every prayer of mine I make request for you,” He says th e same th ing to th e Chris tians of Thessalonica; and when he w rites to Timothy he says, “ I exhort th a t supplications and prayers and in tercessions and prayers of thanksgiving be made for all men.” And th is morn ing I looked a t th a t sentence as if I never had seen it -before, and I said, “ Soul of mine, what a world we should have if everybody did th a t.” Well, th a t day Will come, either in th is Jerusalem , or in the New Jerusalem . It will come. And th en he speaks in Colossians of a man he knew, and he names him and says th is wonderful th ing about him. I wonder if you can find out who the man is. “He h ath greatly striven for you in p rayer.” I wonder how much of th e peace and glory of th a t churcn in Colossi was th e resu lt of Epaphras who greatly strove and struggled in prayer. And then when he w rites to Timothy he names another man. And you read Timothy, and find out who th a t man is. But he says two things of him , “He h ath often refreshed me; not being ashamed of my chains.” You see Paul was a prisoner and was chained to his guard, and Onesiphorus was not ashamed of his chain, and h e refreshed P aul by his prayerfulness. Oh, a child can show an angel th e way to go; and an unknown man can refresh th e w riter of th e book of Romans. So let us not despise small gifts. You come to James, and he says, “The prayer of faith will' raise up th e sick,” a fact we have strangely lost sight of in these days, and quite badly perverted. And then in th e last book, you read th a t John in th e Holy City saw chalices of gold, and they were full of th e prayers of th e saints; and they rose up on th e fra g ra n t wings of incense, and were pleasing to Jesus Christ. Now hear the tex t again. “And he wondered th a t th ere was no in tercesso r!” And if in-
Made with FlippingBook HTML5