have been greatly disturbed personal ly, in dealing with others, at our will ingness to accept a lower standard of spiritual living than that which God has made available to us in His Word. We are saved by grace through faith, and yet we persist in the folly that through itself determination we can live victoriously over sin and tempta tion; that through the energy of the flesh we can pray, and accomplish things for God. Paul said, “I know that in my flesh liveth no good thing.” And God said, “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit . . .” Constant surrender to Him is the answer. Prayerlessness is a problem of the affections. In Cplossians 3:2, The Apostle Paul writes, “Set your affection on things above and not on things on the earth.” Is it not strange that we seem to have time to adjust our schedule to do the things we really want to do? We be lieve that this applies to prayer also. Prayer,' in a very real sense, is a matter of personal fellowship with God. It is a two-way communication in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, our FRIEND. We can always find time to spend with those with whom we really wish to be. The same thing ap plies to our fellowship with the Lord, if we love Him. He should be the cen trality of our thinking. Notice this verse more closely: “Set your affection . . .” To set implies a definite act of the will, which will should be in surrender to Hi m. “.... your affection (or your thought life) on things above. . . ” To our eter nal shame our prayer life is something that is an appendage to the day’s ac tivities. And as an afterthought we hurriedly take time for a few minutes of perfunctory prayer. God has not been in our thoughts at all, we have been planning in an opposite direction. Suddenly we remember and give the Lord a few moments of thought. We need to know the reality of which David speaks in Psalm 34:1, “I will bless the Lord »t all time»: his
praise shall continually be in my mouth.” The success of prayer, in a very real sense, depends on the con tinuity and surrender of our thought life to the Lord. But let me hasten to say that the problem of prayerlessness Is also the prob lem of our faith life. Do we really be lieve God? Notice the words of our Saviour in John 14:13, 14 — “And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do i t ” Here in Los Angeles County there is a tax exemption for veterans. The government has instructed us that if we report to a certain place, present our credentials, and sign a slip of paper, we will receive a tax reduction. It is a very simple procedure and a very simple promise on the part of the government. I have yet to see a person who has stumbled over its simplicity and refused to claim the benefit. God’s promises concerning prayer are equally simple, and based upon the changing character of our Mighty God Himself, through unbelief — just as the children of Israel failed to claim the Promised Land, so we fail to march in faith on to the promised ground of prayer and reap its rich benefits. May we suggest several simple Steps to those who do not pray in faith be cause they do not really love the Lord: First — ask Gpd to put His finger of conviction upon anything in your life that may be displeasing to Him, or might grieve the Holy Spirit. Secondly — Acknowledge to God that your prayerlessness is a sin before Him and confess it to Him. Finally — Yield yourself afresh to the Holy Spirit day by day, exposing every facet of your being and every circumstance of your life to the ade quacy of the Lord Jesus Christ. God has blessed experiences and untold re sources await those who will wait be fore Him saying, “Lord teach us to pray . . .” 15
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