us and so the condition of the prayer of faith. There is a second, more general lesson: our daily life in the world is made the rest of our intercourse with God in prayer. How often the Christian when he comes to pray does his utmost to cultivate certain frames of mind which he thinks will be pleasing. He does not under stand, or forgets, that life does not consist of so many loose pieces of which now the one, then the other, can he taken up. Life is a whole and the pious frame of the hour of prayer is judged of by God from the ordinary frame of the daily life of which the hour of prayer is but a small part. Not the feeling I call up, but the tone of my life during the day, is God’s criterion of what I really am and desire. My drawing nigh to God is of one piece with my inter course with men and earth; failure here will cause failure there. And that not only when there is the distinct consciousness of anything wrong between my neighbor and myself; by the ordinary current of my th in k in g and judging, the unloving thoughts and words I allow to pass unnoticed, can hinder my prayer. The effectual prayer of faith comes out from a life given up to the will and the love of God. Not according to what I try to be when praying, but when I am not praying, is my prayer dealt with by God. We may gather these thoughts into a third lesson: in our life with men the one thing on which every thing depends is love. The spirit of forgiveness is the spirit of love. Because God is love, He forgives: it is only when we are dwelling in love that we can forgive as God forgives. In love to the brethren we have the evidence of love to the Father, the ground of confidence before God and the assurance that our prayer will be heard (1 John 4:20, 3:18-21,23). “ . . . let us . . . love . . . in deed and in truth. And hereby . . . assure our hearts before him . . . if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence to ward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him. . . .” Neither faith nor work will profit if we have not love; it is love that unites with God, it is love that proves the reality of faith. As essential as in
the word that precedes the great prayer-promise in Mark 11:24, “Have faith in God,” is this one that follows it, “Have love to men.” The right relations to the living God above me and living men around me are the conditions of ef fectual prayer. This love is of special conse quence when we labor for such and pray for them. We sometimes give ourselves to work for Christ from zeal for His cause, as we call it, or for our own spiritual health with out giving ourselves in personal self-sacrificing loye for those whose souls we seek. No wonder that our faith is feeble and does not conquer. To look on each wretched one, how ever unlovable he be, in the light of the tender love of Jesus the Shepherd seeking the lost; to see Jesus Christ in him and to take him up for Jesus’ sake in a heart that really loves — this, this is the secret of believing prayer and suc cessful effort. Jesus, in speaking of forgiveness, speaks of love as its root. Just as in the Sermon on the Mount He connected His teaching and promises about prayer with the call to be merciful as the Father in heaven is merciful (Matt. 5:7, 8, 22, 38-48), so we see it here: a Your Prayer Requests Each morning at eight the editorial staff of T h e K in g ’ s B usiness magazine gathers for prayer. Over the years God has answered the heartcry of thousands. Should you have a request we would count it a privilege to take it to the throne of grace. Your request will be held in the strictest confidence. Address: The Editors, T h e K in g ’ s B usiness , 5 58 So. Hope St., Los Angeles 17, Calif. It has been said there is nothing so heart-searching as b e lie v in g prayer or even the honest effort to pray in faith. Oh, let us not turn the edge of that self-examination by the thought that God does not hear our prayer for reasons known to Himself alone. By no means. “ Ye ask and receive not, because ye ask amiss.” Let that Word of God search us. Let us ask whether our loving life is the condition of be lieving prayer.
prayer be indeed the expression of a life wholly given over to the will of God and the love of man. Love is the only soil in which faith can strike its roots and thrive. As it throws its arms up and opens its heart heavenward, the Father al ways looks to see if it has them opened towards the evil and the unworthy too. In that love, not indeed the love of perfect attain ment, but the love of fixed purpose and sincere obedience, faith can alone obtain the blessing. It is he who gives himself to let the love of God dwell in him and in the practice of daily life to love as God loves who will have the power to believe in the Love that hears his every prayer. It is the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne: it is suffering and forbearing love that prevails with God in prayer. The merciful shall obtain mercy; the meek shall inherit the earth. Lord, Teach Us To Pray Blessed Father! Thou art Love, and only he that abideth in love abideth in Thee and in fellowship with Thee. The blessed Son hath this day again taught me how deeply true this is of my fellowship with Thee in prayer. 0 my God, let Thy love, shed abroad in my heart by the Holy Spirit, be in me a fountain of love to all around me, that out of a life in love may spring the power of believing prayer. Oh my Father, grant by the Holy Spirit that this may be my experi ence, that a life in love to all around me is the gate to a life in the love of my God. And give me especially to find in the joy with which I forgive day by day who ever might offend me, the proof that Thy forgiveness to me is a power and a life. . Lord Jesus, my blessed Teacher, teach Thou me to forgive and to love. Let the power of Thy blood make the pardon of my sins such a reality that forgiveness as shown by Thee to me and by me to others may be the very joy of heaven. Show me whatever in my inter course with my fellow-men might hinder my fellowship with God, so that my daily life in my own home and in society may be the school in which strength and con fidence are gathered for the prayer of faith. Amen. END.
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JANUARY 1957
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