It is thus men come to know God and become His friends, whose
prayers He will assist and will not deny.
Such men talk with God as friend with friend, and the Holy Spirit
helps their infirmities; encourages them to urge their prayer in
faith; teaches them to reason with God; enables them to come
boldly in the name of Jesus, when oppressed with a sense of their
own insignificance and unworthiness; and, when words fail them
and they scarcely know how to voice their desires, He intercedes
within them with unutterable groanings, according to the will of
God (Romans viii. 26, 27; 1 Cor. ii. 11).
A young man felt called to mission work in China, but his mother
offered strong opposition to his going. An agent of the mission,
knowing the need of the work, and vexed with the mother, one day
laid the case before Hudson Taylor.
"Mr. Taylor," said he, "listened patiently and lovingly to all I
had to say, and then gently suggested our praying about it. Such
a prayer I have never heard before! It seemed to me more like a
conversation with a trusted friend whose advice he was seeking.
He talked the matter over with the Friend from every point of
view--from the side of the young man, from the side of China's
needs, from the side of the mother, and her natural feelings, and
also from my side. It was a revelation to me. I saw that prayer
did not mean merely asking for things, much less asking for
things to be carried out by God according to our ideas; but that
it means _communion_, fellowship, partnership, with our
Heavenly Father.
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