Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1911-07-06
The Privilege of
Prayer
D RIv. GEORGE Z. LOCKWOOD

rExr-Bs careful for nothing: but In
everything by pray~r and suppucatton
with thanksgiving lst your requests be
made known unto Cod And the peace Of
God. which passs<h all undsrstandinss
shall keep your hearts and minds through
Jesus Christ -Phtiipotsns 4 ~
Let me ask you h the vsry begfn-
ming Of this ssrmon. four very personal
questions: Do yoa realize what .
privilege prayer isf Has prayer been
OF real blessing 70 your Can 700 put
your finger on any particular prayer
and say: I know that prayer was
nswersd; II was Q particular blessing
to met II your God not your moth
er's God. or your fathers God. or some
body slsSs God. but n your God .
praysr-ansvsrtng God!
Now, II anybody bad any knowledge
Of God except yourself and you were
70 bear witness TO the fact that God
Il hearing and answering prayers.
would you be able 70 bring uustra-
tons out OF your own Individual sx-
periencsy That 10 an intensely per
sonal and practical question And the
fourth one: Do you feel free to go
TO God At any time: are you 20 much
at home with God that you cannot
hold yourself back ~ times from so
ing and having . talk with Him!
In prayer . privilege that you enjoy
Now, lot US clear the neld for sc-
tion By bringing the testimony OF
Christ before Us. In the chapter that
| have just read you viii notice Ger
tain ones coming TO Jesus on very
interesting occasion They saw Him
praying. and when He got through
praying they Immediately came 10
Him and said: Teach " 70 pray,
Lord
II 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 countenanes: there Is q 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 LIE; that man II enjoying some
thing vish could
And 30 they come to Him mantully
and bravely and say: Lord. teach US
to pray" And Jesus teaches the great
Lords prayer And you will notice
that As He goes on down In His bsauti-
full conversation with them He says:
Knock. and It shall be opened unto
you: ask. and 70 shall receive"
Prayer u privilege we may all
enjoy Anybody, anywhere. any time,
anything. Anybody-"whososv shall
call upon the name OF the Lord shall
be saved" Any timS-"msn ought al
ways to pray" Anywhers-you re-
member that woman Ct Samaria. there
at the well. She had an idea that II
was necessary TO 60 on long pilgrim
age TO jerusalem, TO . certain par
ticular temple, In order to come In
communion with God Jesus said:
Woman. not Jerusalem; God 10
spirit, and they that would worship
God must worship Him In spirit and in
y
your requests be made known unto
God"
i will tell you three reasons that
are the real enemies Of prayer. II IL
interesting sometimes TO look into
your life and ask yourself the Qass-
ton: Who are my enemies. after
air. 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 II difncult for
you TO realize how near God IL, and
how willing God 10 TO answer your
prayer! The FIRST answer that very
naturally comes IL Sin" II 10 the
business of sin TO close our eyes TO
the presence Of God: To separate the
soul from It's Creator.
Who are the people who say: Il
don't believe there is q 0odr' They
are those who don't believe that there
Is any God, because their lives are IN
q condition Of sin. Sin creates In our
hearts a distaste for prayer.
The second enemy Of prayer is 'Rea-
son" Reason would take the bread
out OF the hand Of starving child.
Reason would 90 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, II
II only had the power TO do IT, Reason
Ia one Of the biggest blessings and one
Of the biggest curses that this world
has ever had; II all depends upon
whether reason IL In its rightful place
o. not
Then there II another enemy, and
that IL Formally" Some Of u are
taught to pray at this hour or that
hour: some are taught to pray in the
morning or NJ night when We retire.
But the very minute that you dis
cover that Formally In prayer 10 be-
coming simply little fetch that you
are putting In the place Of God. that
moment stop right whore you are and
say: God forgive me: I have been
making Q little fetch out Of prayer
and that littla fS<trh has hltuA>H M