Part 10 (2/2)

(2) _In Christ's Name._--”Whatsoever ye shall ask in My Name” (John xiv. 13). Throughout the Holy Scriptures, _name stands for nature_.

The Master says, ”You must ask My Nature.” In other words, when we pray, it must not be as the self-nature, but as the Christian-nature dictates. We always know when that is paramount. It excludes boasting; it is pure, peaceable and loving; it is far removed from the glare and gaud of the world, it is full of Calvary, Olivet, and Pentecost. There are days in our life when we feel borne along on its tidal current; when Christ is in us, the hope of glory; when a power is working within us beyond what we can ask or think; when we live, yet not we, but Christ in us--these are the times most propitious for prayer. Pour out your heart before G.o.d. Let Christ, who is in you by the Holy Spirit, speak to the Christ who is above you on the throne.

Let the living water, which has descended from the eternal city, return back to its source through the channel of your heart. This is praying in His Name, and according to His Nature.

Before we can expect our prayers to prosper, let us sit quietly down, and, putting aside all other voices, permit the Christ-nature to speak.

It is only in proportion as it countersigns our pet.i.tions that they will reach the audience-chamber of eternity. Surely, if this test were properly applied, many of the pet.i.tions we now offer so glibly would never leave our lips, and we should be satisfied about the fate of many another prayer which, like some ill-fated barque, has left our sh.o.r.es, and never been heard of again. But again let it be remembered that none can pray in the name of Christ who do not live for that name, like those early evangelists of whom John says that for the sake of the Name they took nothing of the Gentiles. The name of Christ must be predominant in life, if it is to be efficacious in prayer.

(3) _Abide in Christ._--”If ye abide in Me, . . . ask what ye will”

(John xv. 7). We are in Christ, by the grafting of the great Husbandman, who took us out of the wild vine of nature, and incorporated us with Christ. That union is forever, but its conscious enjoyment and helpfulness arise only in so far as we keep His commandments. A limb may be in the body, and yet be dislocated and useless. If you are in a train running through to your destination at the terminus, all that is necessary is to resist the temptation to alight at the stations _en route_, and to remain where you are. If, then, G.o.d the Father has put you into Christ, and is seeking to establish you in Him, be careful to resist every temptation or suggestion to depart from living fellows.h.i.+p by any act of disobedience or unbelief.

If you abide in Christ in daily fellows.h.i.+p, it will not be difficult to pray aright, for He has promised to abide in those who abide in Him; and the sap of the Holy Ghost, securing for you fellows.h.i.+p with your unseen Lord, will produce in you, as fruit, desires and pet.i.tions similar to those which He unceasingly presents to His Father.

Throughout the ages Christ has been asking of G.o.d. This is the perpetual att.i.tude of the Son to the Father. He cannot ask what the Father may not give. To get then into the current of His prayer is to be sure of success. Abide in Him, that He may abide in you; not only in the activities of holy service, but in the intercessions and supplications of the hour of private prayer.

(4) _Submit prayer to the correction of the Word._--”If My words abide in you” . . . (John xv. 7). Christ's words have been compared to a court of solemn and stately presences, sitting to try our prayers before they pa.s.s on into the Master's presence.

Here is a prayer which is selfish and earth-born, grasping at the prizes of worldly ambition and greed. But as it enters it encounters that solemn word, ”_Seek ye first the kingdom of G.o.d and His righteousness,_” and it turns back surprised and ashamed.

Here is another prayer, full of imprecation and unkindness toward some one who has maligned or injured the pet.i.tioner. But it is met by that solemn word of the Master, ”_Love your enemies, pray for them that despitefully use you,_” and it hastens to retire.

Here is another prayer full of murmuring regret because of the pressure of the cross, the weight of the restraining yoke. But forthwith that notable word of Christ forbids its further progress, saying, ”_In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world._” In the presence of that reminder and rebuke, the prayer, abashed, turns away its face and departs. Like the accusers of the woman taken in the act of sin, prayers like these are inwardly convicted of unfitness, and go forth.

The words of Christ forbid unsuitable prayer, but they also stir the heart with great desire for the realization of those good things which Christ has promised to them that love Him. In this sense prayer becomes a dialogue between the Master who says, ”Seek ye My face,” and the disciple who responds, ”Thy face, Lord, will I seek.”

(5) _Fruit-bearing._--”I appointed you that ye should bear fruit that . . .” (John xv. 16). In other words, answers to prayers depend very largely on our ministry to others. If we are prompted by desire for our own comfort, peace, or enjoyment, we shall stand but a poor chance of audience in the secret of His presence. If, on the other hand, our prayers are connected with our fruit-bearing--that is, with our ministry to others, with the coming of the kingdom, and the accomplishment of G.o.d's purpose of salvation--the golden sceptre will be extended to us, as when Ahasuerus said to Esther, ”What is thy request? Even to the half of the kingdom it shall be performed.”

Is sun needed to ripen the fruit? Ask for it. The Father waits to give it. Is dew or rain needed that the pitchers may be filled to the brim with water which is to be made wine? Ask for it. G.o.d is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love. Ask for all but pruning; this the Father will administer, according to the good pleasure of His goodness. The fruit-bearing branches have a right to claim and appropriate all that is needed for the sweetening and ripening of their precious burden.

The temple of prayer is thus guarded from the intrusion of the unprepared footstep by many tests. At the foot of the marble steps, we are challenged for the watchword; and if we do not speak in harmony with G.o.d's glory, our further pa.s.sage is peremptorily stayed. The key, engraven with the name of Jesus, will only obey the hand in which His nature is throbbing. We must be in Him, if He is to plead in us. His words must prune, direct, and control our aspirations; His service must engage our energies. We must take part in the camp with His soldiers, in the vineyard with His husbandmen, in the temple-building with His artificers. It is as we serve our King, that we can reckon absolutely on His answer to our prayers.

THREE CONCLUDING THOUGHTS REMAIN.

_First_. It is clear that our prayers depend very largely on our inner life. Where that is vigorous and healthy, they will be the same. But let deterioration and failure set in there, and the effect will be instantly apparent in our prayers. They act and react. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks; and when the mouth is opened in prayer and supplication, the heart speaks.

_Second_. Bespeak the Spirit's indwelling. He is the bond of communion and fellows.h.i.+p between the Father and the Son, and will lift us into the holy circle of that eternal life, so that the current may pa.s.s through us with uninterrupted velocity and force. He makes inward intercession for the saints according to the will and mind of G.o.d.

_Third_. Expect that prayer will become ever more engrossing, as the Divine impulse is yielded to; so that what now occupies but a comparatively small portion of time and energy will become with us, as with the great Apostle, an exercise which we prosecute with unceasing ardor, an ever-delightful method of promoting the Redeemer's Kingdom.

XVII

The hatred of the World

”They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth G.o.d service. And these things they will do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor Me.”--JOHN xvi. 2, 3.

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