THE KING’S BUSINESS
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power loose in our lives and others, and God’s power is omnipotent. “Is anything too hard for the Lord?— Gen. 18:14. “There is nothing too hard for Thee.— Jer. 32:17. “ If ye abide in Me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.—John 15:7. “Again I say unto you, That if two of ypu shall agree' on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them o f my Father which is in heaven.” —Matt. 18:19. “ Never was faithful prayer lost at sea. No merchant trades with such certainty as the praying saint.' Some prayers, indeed, have a longer voyage than others; but then they come with the richer lading at last.”— Gurnall. Horton. 6:11). In the raising o f Lazarus, He lifted His voice in prayer (John 11:41-43). At His transfiguration, H e 1 is praying (Luke 9 :29). You see Him at prayer in the Gar den (Luke 22:41), and hear His voice on the cross (Luke 23:34). You ' cannot think Jesus-ward without thinking of prayer. It was this fact which moved the disciples to say, “Lord, teach us to pray.” Not how; they knew how to go through the form. John the Baptist taught his disciples to pray ; every Jew knew how to bray ; but they did not know this thing o f prayer as they saw it in Jesus; this going apart to a solitary place ; this all- night praying;#this doing business with God, His Father in supplication with strong crying. And this is o f greater importance to us than the form o f words which we utter. I f He who was God manifest in the flesh,, found it the essential thing in every crisis o f His life to give Himself to prayer, how can we hope to live a Christ-like life without prayer? How dare we attempt things for God without first seeking His wisdom and His power? Is not thé great failure o f our life, here? Is not this
man came rushing out, put his arms around the stranger, took him into his office, sent for a cab, told his clerks he would be gone for the afternoon, and took his poor, sick visitor up to his own beautiful home, where he was the guest o f honor until he was well again. Why? The letter was from the business man’s son at the front, and told how this stranger had rescued him from death, getting wounded in doing it, and ask ing his father to be kind to him for his son’s sake. The son’s name opened the father’s heart and home. See Heb. 4:14, 16. 9. In deep-earnestness. Rom. IS :30; Col. 2 :1 ; Luke 22:44. 10. Persistently. Luke 11:8; 18:1-8, 35- 43; Mark 7:25-30. III. What Prayer Will Accomplish. Anything—everything. Prayer lets God’s By T. C. H ERE is an opportunity to teach a great lesson on prayer, using The Petition for Prayer, v. 1. The Pattern Prayer, vs. 2-4. The Parable on Prayer, vs. 5-12. The Pledge o f Prayer, V. 13. You cannot cover all o f the material here in one lesson. Many teachers fail in seek ing to bring out too many lessons. Use the pattern prayer as' the basis, and the others as illustrations. If we can make one or two strong points and drive them home, we will accomplish the most good in our teaching. The background o f the lesson is the pic ture o f our Lord in the attitude o f prayer; “ It came to pass as He was praying in a certain place.” Things always came to pass when He was praying. Almost every important event o f His life was associated -with prayer; at His baptism in Jordan “ It came to pass that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heavens were opened” (Luke 3:21). After an all-night prayer meeting in the mountains, He called the twelve apostles and sent them forth (Luke 6:12, 13). When He wrought the miracle o f the loaves and fishes, He prayed (John
HEART OF THE LESSON
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