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THE K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
can keep them from building nests in your hair. ’’ D on’t le t such thoughts have house room. Suppose you held the fro n t door of your house open, saying to every tram p and vagrant, “ Come in .” They would come in and th e y ’d eat you out of house and home. Why le t every v ag ran t thought come in and tak e the loan of you? When these verm in come in, tak e a stick and chase them out like rats. God w ill give H is own power over th eir spirits. You don’t need to lie down in despair. I ’ll give you one of two cues. Dump out th a t dark thought to some one and give him a chance to k ill it. I f God h a d n ’t given me a call to preach I tru st I ’d have been contented w ith another m inistry altogether. Supposa I could be a C hristian in the railroad business where I was converted. I ’d like to be a Chris tia n to whom other Christians in the 'dumps m ight corné on blue Mondays and black Fridays to dump out th eir thoughts, th a t Ï . m ight pu t them back on the track. Be a Barnabas—“ a son of consolation. ” . W asn ’t there someone in D av id ’s day? Years a fte r when David came to the throne, some old man m ight have been able to tell his children’s children—“ I remem ber when our g reat king d id n ’t sit on a throne. I found him in a hole in the hill side. He had lost fa ith and hope. He leaned oh my shoulder till he got his wind. I m ay-be unknown and obscure, b u t I ’m the man on whom David leaned when the devil had made a th ru st a t him .’’ Say— keep some m ighty swimmer from going under w ater. God w ants to use you to do it. W e’ve a glorious life if w e ’d ju st be in God’s hand every day. T here’s another relief. P ra y it out. No m atter how lonely you are, if yo u ’re a » Christian -you ’re never alone. Why d id n ’t David pray? I t Was a bad day and he d id n ’t even pray. T here !s no b e t te r way to unpack your loaded heart. I t was a w asted day. The devil knows the strangle h o ld s.. He ’ll stop the mouth of* prayer if he can. He n eedn ’t work it on
you. You can b eat him. Why d id n ’t he say w hat he said in his h eart rig h t out to God? I f he had, as he w ent on w ith his prayer the flat blasphemy of his own mouth would have made him say, “ Get thee behind me S a ta n .” Why do n ’t we pray more? No wonder yo u ’re kicked about like a football. How much did you pray today? Y ou’re feeble, useless, de feated, down and out. I d o n ’t care how you may sit in your pew. P ray er is the secret place of power and victory. D on’t let the devil get the strangle hold on you. The bravest, cleverest thing you ever can do in a dark day is to drop down on your knees. E.very day w ithout prayer is a w asted day. And why d id n ’t David sing? Another g reat door of escape. A lig h t often sur prises us when we sing. Some say, “ I c a n ’t sing. ’’ I d id n ’t say you could. I t ’s not polite for me to contradict. Why don’t you sing? We do n ’t h alf as much as we used to. I see people standing sing ing off the hymn book th e y ’re on the way to heaven. - Their faces look as if they were going to be hung. Y ou’re so good a t telling us preachers how we look—al low me to tell how you look. You sing glowing words and look dull and gloomy. W ith th a t face on you, th e y ’ll stop you a t th e door and w on’t let you in. You and I are eagles, made to soar near th e sun. Some of you are hopping about in- the hen yard. Spread your wings or y o u ’ll lose the use of them. Why don’t you sing? I t w ill help you to soar up into the blue of fellowship w ith th e very living, fa ith fu l God. You don’t need to be a singer. H ave some lines handy for a dark hour and see how it will change things. David couldn’t sing th a t day. He couldn’t tu rn such words into a hymn. O friends, “ Kejoice always ” —“ pray w ithout ceasing.” David d id n ’t perish afte r all and y o u ’ll not. Tell th a t to the devil.
Presents Make the Heart Grow Fonder. See Back Cover.
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