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think that crimes of will are considered lightly in God’s sight. “Nothing from whence any sin what soever proceeds is remote from his sight; because he is neither ignorant, nor does he omit to decree it to judgment.” And then follows the statement -.which we quoted in our first paragraph.’ This whole matter “must give us pause” when we think ■ soberly, remembering that Almighty God sees and knows all, observes the hidden recesses of our hearts and spirits,' discerns the phases of our many motives, distinguishes between the sincere and hypocritical in our nature toward Him —in short, when we recall that He an alyzes us unerringly— We tremble -as we know of our own efforts to hide things from Him, to cover over false thoughts and aspirations, thinking in some way He will not pay attention—oh, the folly of it all! How foolish and thrice foolish we are— and alb of us are so—to imagine we can play so loosely with God! Such at tempts on our part are sins of exceedingly great magnitude, the slyness of them mak ing them the more insidious! We are ipade to think of that hymn we love so well,. so often sung, the fourth verse of which alarms our conscience by its bold pronouncement of the’ tru th : Think that He thy'ways beholdeth; He unfoldeth ", Every fault that lurks within. Every stain of shame glossed over Can discover; , ’ ■ ‘ . And discern each deed of sin. May we beseech our Father for His forgiveness upon our past inconsistency— and live evermore righteously in the light of His countenance. . —John McMillan Minich. — o — The Power of Prayer The potency of prayer hath subdued the strength of fire; -it has bridled the rage of lions, hushed anarchy to rest, extinguished wars, appeased the elements,;expelled, de mons, burst the chains of! death, expanded the gates of heaven, assuaged disease, re pelled frauds, rescued cities from destruc tion, stayed the sun in its course, and ar rested the progress of the thunderbolt. Prayer is. an all-efficient panoply, a treas ure undiminished, a mine which is never exhausted, .a...sky unobscured,,by ;.clouds, a heaven; unruffled by the. storm, .'jit. is the root, the fountain, the mother; o.f a thousand blessings.— Chrysostom.- - ■ .•— o— . I Lift My H eart to Thee I lift my heart •to * Theef, ' Saviour divine, For Thou art all to me, ■And I dm Thine. Is there on earth a closer bond than thisj .That my. Beloved’s miney and . I am His? .; — iT. M. Mudie.
Jesus Teaches Us to Pray Luke 18:9-14 Memory Verse. —“Lord, teach us to pray” (Lk. 11:1). Approach. —As Jesus looked about Him, He saw many proud people, like the Phar isees, who thought they were so good that they didn’t heed anyone to help them.
2. God is never wearied by our con- tinuarcoming to Him for help; and no case that is ever presented to Him in the name of Jesus Christ is ever thrown out of coüft (cf. John 6:37; 16:7). , 3. The lesson teaches the need of pray er—we ought to pray ; it stresses the value of individual prayer, unceasing prayer, importunate prayer, definite prayer for a definite need, humble prayer, effectual prayer of a righteous man. 4. Prayer and waiting, with thanks giving, will keep the heart in peace and will ultimately bring the solution o f ev ery problem. 5. “Pray hardest when it is hardest to pray.”. 6. The prayer of the Pharisee was a monologue ; it did not reach the throne of God, and there was no answering voice from heaven. The Publican’s prayer was a dialogue ; God answered with a Word of pardon and peace. 7. Get the measure of the Pharisee by’ his use of the personal pronoun, “T,” re peated five times. There was selfrconceit, self-sufficiency, and self-congratulation. He felt no need to call upon God. 8. The Publican bowed low in con trition and confession ; and his prayer was heard. Pride has no place in prayer; humility enables one to find the way to the throne of grace. 9. Prayer is real work, Paul asked the church at Rome to strive (agonize) together with him (Rom. 15:30). , 10. The Lord Jesus warned His. dis-- çiples that after His departure they would have tribulation (John 16:33), would be hated and persecuted (John 16:19; 20), would be brought before hostile Jewish and Gentile courts (Lk. 12:11), etc. There was no intimation that they might expect justice from their foes. One of two things might be looked for—martyrdom for the faith or translation when- Christy returned. 11. If God does not; see fit to fully vindicate you when you are wronged, put your case in His hands and leave it with; Him (1 Pet. 4:19). 12. The one continual and agonizing cry of the widowed church in her dis-> tress should be:- “Cottié, Lord Jesus,.- come quickly.” For His coming the groan ing creation waits : (Rom., 8 :22)j the groaning believer pleads (Rom. 8 :23), .and the Holy. Spirit prays ‘(with groanings that cannot be uttered.” ; -, * * * G olden T ext I llustration .. Dean Brown, of Yale (University, in his 1923!Gladden Lectures, quotes the fol lowing historical incident : “When Gen eral Grant was slowly; dying of cancer at. Mt. McGregor, .-an old friend, General Howard, was visiting him. He was speak ing to Grant,of the: distinguished -Seryice he had rendered the country,, and of how he would always be.held in high esteem for his part , in preserving thé „Union- But Grant waved ;all this aside; he was thinking of. other and higher things.. He knew the piety of his old comrade—that! it was as genuine as his valor. ‘Howard,’ he said, ‘tell me something more about prayer.’ ” The greatest experience that can come to any of us is to talk with God, in simple,- unaffected prayer, as a.-man talks'.with his friend.
But Jesus knew that they were proud. He knew, too, that their thoughts were often wicked. To day’s lesson is about two men who were praying. L esson One of these men was a Pharisee. He looked toward heav en as he prayed, and
he told God how good he was, how much better he was than everyone élse. That Wasn’t really a prayer, was it? He didn’t praise God; he just praised himself. He wasn’t sorry for his sins,. so he didn’t bow his head or kneèl before God. He didn’t ask God to forgive him, because he pretended that he hadn’t done any wrong. The other man was a Publican. Publi cans were sometimes very' wicked men.. They gathered the tax money from the people. Sometimes they asked the people fof too much money and kept a great deal of it for themselves. But this Publi-. can was sorry for the wickedness! which he had done. He, too, prayed to God, but he was' so sorry for his sins that he just bowed his head and said, “God, forgive me, for I am a ' sinner.” : Gòd wants us to pray to Him— hut'not the kind of prayer which the Pharisee prayed. When you are talking to some one you love, you are careful of what you say,'’aren’t you? If we truly love God, w e1will thank Him for the good things which He has given to us, we will ask Him for the things which we. need, and we will pray that He will forgive us fór the wrong things that we have done. „ ; If by faith I really see Him, , Shall I doubt His aid? If I really, really love Him, .Can I be afraid? . ^-Record o f Christian Work. ■ ' -—o— ■ Clod’s D iscernment T HERE is a notable statement in Ter- tullian’s . treatise,. “On Repentance,” which invites remembrance :; “He is no dissembler of, no double-dealer with, his Own clear-sightedness.” : The founder of- Latin Christianity has; Been speaking of sin as being either cor poreal or spiritual,: sin df act being cor poreal and sin of mind being Spiritual, both jjypes being subject to God’s judgment.' He then says’that “htifnan finitude judges only Sins of deed,” because it is unable to 'probe; the depths of the will, but we should not A Question If I really, really trust Him, Shall I ever,- fret ? If I really do expect Him, Can -I é’er forget ?
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