The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1911-05-19
The Privilege Of
Prayer
By REV. GEORGE R. LOCKWOOD

TEXT-Be careful for nothing; but in
everything by prayer and supplication
with thanksgiving let your requests be
made known unto God. And the peace OF
God, which passeth all understandings,
shall keep your hearts and minds through
Jesus Christ.-Philippians 4. 81.
Let me ask you, in the very begin
aing of this sermon, four very personal
questions: Do you realize what
privilege prayer is? Has prayer been
Of real blessing to you? Can you put
POUR finger on any particular prayer
and say: Il know that prayer was
answered; 1t was particular blessing
10 me?" Is your God not your moth
er's God, or your fathers God, or some
body elses God, but is your God a
prayer-answering God?
Now, if anybody had any knowledge
IF God except yourself and you were
10 bear witness to the fact that God
Is hearing and answering prayers,
would you be able to bring illustra-
lions out of your own individual ex-
perience! That is an intensely per-
Ional and practical question. And the
fourth one: Do you feel free to go
% God at any time; are you so much
1t home with God that you cannot
hold yourself back at times from go
ing and having a talk with Him!
In prayer a privilege that you enjoy?
Now, let us clear the field for &C
lion by bringing the testimony OF
Christ before us. In the chapter that
[ have just read you will notice GER
tain ones coming to Jesus on very
interesting occasion. They saw Him
praying. and when He got through
praying they Immediately came to
Him and said: Teach us to pray.
Lord"
1t seems to me that that picture
comes right before our minds. We
can see Jesus kneeling there in
prayer, and there is a radiance about
His countenance; there Is sincerity
about His voice; there Is an intimacy
In the whole atmosphere that sur
rounds Jesus, and the disciples who
are looking at Him feel, why, | have
never had an experience of that sort
IN my life; that man is enjoying some
thing / wish / could"
And so they come to Him manfully
and bravely and say: Lord, teach US
% pray" And Jesus teaches the great
Lords prayer. And you will notice
that as He goes on down in His beauti-
,ul conversation with them He says:
Knock, and it shall be opened unto
you; ask, and We shall receive"
Prayer is a privilege we may all
enjoy. Anybody, anywhere, any time,
anything. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall
be saved" Any tine-"men ought al
ways to pray" Anywhere-you re-
member that woman Ct Samaria, there
at the well. She had an idea that ii
was necessary to go on long pilgrim
age to Jerusalem, to certain par
icular temple, in order to come in
communion with God. Jesus said:
Woman, not Jerusalem; God is
spirit, and they that would worship
God must worship Him in spirit and in
ruth Anything-'in everything let
your requests be made known unto
Cod
I will tell you three reasons that
are the real enemies of prayer. 1t is
interesting sometimes to look into
your life and ask yourself the ques-
ton: who are my enemies, after
all?" They are not on the outside;
the real enemies of prayer are on
the inside And what are those things
In your life that make 1t difficult for
you to realize how near God is, and
how willing God is to answer your
prayer? The first answer that very
naturally comes is Sin" 1t is the
business of sin to close our eyes to
soul from its Creator.
Who are the people who say: Il
don't believe there is God?" They
are those who don't believe that there
is any God, because their lives are in
a condition of sin. Sin creates in our
hearts a distaste for prayer
The second enemy of prayer is 'tRea-
son." Reason would take the bread
out of the hand of a starving child
Reason would go to the bedside Of
sick and dying soul and would take
the wise physician and drive him
away from the bed Reason would
even reach it's arm out into the sky
and tear God out of the universe, If
1t only had the power to do it. Reason
is one of the biggest blessings and one
of the biggest curses that this world
has ever had; 1t all depends upon
or not
Then there Is another enemy, and
that is "Formality." Some of us are
taught to pray at this hour or that
hour; some are taught to pray in the
morning or at night when we retire
But the very minute that you dis
cover that Formally in prayer is be-
coming simply little fetch that you
are putting in the place of God, that
moment stop right where you are and
say: God forgive me; l have been
making a little fetch out of prayer
and that little fetch has blinded me
to thy presence"
Let me place upon your lips two
prayers. The first one: "Oh, God!
help me to realize Thy presence" And
when you feel God coming right
through the darkness and standing
right in front OF you, your prayers will
become real blessing to you. Also,
place on your lips this prayer: "Oh,
God! help me to be very honest in my
prayer" And the peace that passeth
all understanding shall keep your
hearts and your minds in Christ