If we ask for success, it
is not that we may be exalted, but that God may be glorified;
that Jesus may secure the purchase of His blood; that men may be
saved, and the Kingdom of Heaven be established upon earth.
If we ask for daily bread, it is not that we may be full, but
that we may be fitted for daily duty. If we ask for health, it is
not alone that we may be free from pain and filled with physical
comfort, but that we may be spent "in publishing the sinner's
Friend," in fulfilling the work for which God has placed us here.
2. Unbelief must be destroyed. Doubt paralyzes prayer. Unbelief
quenches the spirit of intercession. Only as the eye of faith
sees our Father God upon the Throne guaranteeing to us rights and
privileges by the blood of His Son, and inviting us to come
without fear, and make our wants known, does prayer rise from the
commonplace to the sublime; does it cease to be a feeble, timid
cry, and become a mighty spiritual force, moving God Himself in
the interests which it seeks.
Men, wise with the wisdom of this world, but poor and naked and
blind and foolish in matters of faith, ask: "Will God change His
plans at the request of man?" And we answer, "Yes," since many of
God's plans are made contingent upon the prayers of His people,
and He has ordered that prayer offered in faith, according to His
will, revealed in His word, shall be one of the controlling
factors in His government of men.
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