The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1890-06-04
TEACHING TO PRAY.
International Sunday School Lesson for
June g. 1890.


June 9, 1890.
Especially arranged from 8. s. QUARTERLY
LESSON TExT-Luke II :l-1S.
GOLDEN TExT-Ask, and 1t shall be given
you; seek, and We shall find; knock, and It shall
be opened unto you.-Luke ll;a.
CENTRAL TRUTH-True prayer always re-
ceives an answer
TME-November, A. D. 20. Not long after the
last lesson
PLACE-Perea, beyond Jordan, on the same
journey to Jerusalem as the last lesson. Jesus
nearly SO years old.
HELPS OVER HARD PIAcEs-1. One Of his DIS.
ciples: perhaps one Of the 70. Some one who
had not heard Him teach the Lords prayer be-
fore. FIRST PETITION. 9. HdlloDed: held In
reverence, treated as holy, loved and wor'
SHIPPED by ourselves and by all BE thy mann:
Gods name means himself as revealed and
manifested" SECOND PETITION Thy kingdom
come: the reign of God through Christ in the
hearts OF all men, The true praying Of this
prayer implies that we are doing and giving all
in our power to hasten on the coming of this
Kingdom in our own hearts and in the world.
THIRD PETITION. Thy pill be done, as IN Hedp
en-, so In (onl earth. the standard of obedience
is that Of the inhabitants of Heaven, both in
inward spirit and outward form. The petition
implies % that we ourselves desire SO to do
Gods will. (2) That we wish Gods will to be
done in us and for US by His providence and by
His Spirit. This is much more than mere sub
mission to Gods will 80 That all the world
may obey God as perfectly as the angels obey
Him. FOURTH PETITION. Now begins the Sec
ond class Of petitions-those for ourselves. g.
Giue us day BY day our daily Tor needfuD bread:
that which satisfies our daily wants. both bod.
lily and spiritual. FIFTH PETITION. 4. And
n,Iyc 81, - hat rpt md aaa
needs of hehuman soul is forgiveness from our
Heavenly Father-to be received back into His
fellowship, His family and His home. For ue
also Jorgtre: we can not sincerely ask God to
forgive US, If we do not forgive those who have
sinned against US. SIXTH PETITION. And lead
10 not into temptdtsoh: Thou who art the guide Of
our life, lead us away from temptation. For who.
soever wishes to be led into temptation, and
is not afraid lest he fall, is already more than
half fallen. SEVENTH PETITION. But delivfr
"a from emil: not merely from the evil one, but
from evil, every evil, temporal and spiritual.
The great evil of the world is sin, the source
and fountain of nearly all the other evils in
the world The mark Of saint is the
strength of his longing to be delivered from all
sin. 3. Three lOares. small, fiat cakes. The
three would be required for one man. 6. Ihave
nothing: no bread baked; perhaps not even
-four to make them Of. T. Children NTH ms IN
6ed: In one room, but each on his own bed or
mattress. 8. Ask: by words; seek: use every
means, try every method; knock: as at door
within which are treasures. Keep on knock.
ing. II. Bread: q loaf, which was in form like
a fat stone. Fish,. serpent: some kinds resem-
ble each other. A hurtful instead Of helpful
gift. 10. Egg scorpion. the white scorpion
when rolled up looked somewhat like small
egg. 49, II ye then being eou: sinful. selfish.
Give the Holy Spirit: the best Of all gifts, and
including all. Why such importunitys Not be-
cause God Is unwilling to give, but to make US
fit to receive, to make us hungry for the good
things.
COMMENTs-Jesus was man Of
prayer. His disciples probably often
had heard Him pray, and they were i'm
pressed with the difference between His
prayers and theirs. Theirs probably
seemed to them more formal and less
real than His, and this lead them to
wish that they had the power to pray
as He did. So they asked Him to teach
them how to pray. In response to this
request He gave them the Lords Prayer
as model on which to form their
prayers. Then He went on to encour-
age them to ask God for what they
wanted, and gave the promises that are
model prayer will be the task of teacher
and scholar to-day. In talking about
the lesson let us chiefly take up the
question of private prayer, as that is a
very important one.
If we study the Lords Prayer we
shall find that we are tc pray for several
things: (a) We should pray that God s
will may be done in this world perfect
ly, as it is done in Heaven. Verse 2
shows this. If any one is true fol-
lower OF God he has learned to hate sin,
because it is contrary to Gods holy
law. He has learned to mourn over sin
like David, who said: Rivers OF
water run down mine eyes be-
cause they keep not Thy law"
(Ps. l19:136). When the true Chris
tian is in right spiritual condition,
his deepest desire will be for the ad.
J vancement of Gods Kingdom on earth
} 1t is only when we grow cold and in
} different that we lose our anxiety fol
J the salvation of souls, and the spread Of
Gods truth. This petition for the com
: ing of the Kingdom of God is put be
fore the request for daily bread, as If t.
warn us against the danger that we are
always exposed to, of attending t.
earthly things first. 1t was just thi.
temptation that Satan brought to Chris
} when He said, Command that these
stones be made bread" (b) We should
pray for our daily bread. We need no
dwell on this point long, because mer
are ready enough to do this. In fac
many who say the whole Lords Praye
never really pray until they come t.
this part of the prayer. (c) We SHOULD
t pray for the pardon Of our sins. Sc,
how our Divine Lord tells US to pray TO
I this: Forgive us our debts (sin
against God) as we forgive our debtors.
. 1t is very solemn thought that we arr
7 to utter the prayer for pardon in thi
spirit. If am unwilling to forgive an,
1 one who has injured and bitterly of
: Tended me, ought never to utter thi
!. prayer, for it would be the same thinl
! as saying: "Oh, Lord, can never for
8 give my enemy. Now, therefore, as
4 do with him so do Thou with me.
o Here we learn that prayer for pardon i
Q . mockery unless we exercise the sam
Il forgiving spirit towards our enemies
(d) We should pray to be delivered from
8 temptation and evil. This is just wha
= our Master told His disciples to do. H
y said: Watch and pray, that ye ente
o not into temptation" Matt. 26:4l). W.
n are such weak beings, and SO apt to fal