South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1914-01-31
IMPORTUNATE PRAYER.


4. 1t is Natural to Pray. Man is
by nature religious, that is he has
the instincts Of God and immortality;
he has an Unborn consciousness of the
supernatural and his heart hungers
for God. He does not always know
what his craving is for. but he gener-
ally learns that it is a craving for
help from a power that is higher
than himself. and for the love of a
being that is more than human. This
Is the reason why all nations and
tribes have some 1Drm of religion,
and some sort of belief in prayer.
Men in all the ages have prayed; II
has been as much n necessity of
their nature as are hunger and thirst.
The man does not live who has not
prayed. in some form or other to
being superior to himself. The
sense of the supernatural rests upon
all of US. l cannot conceive of any
man, however emotionless, who can
walk through the silent woods alone,
and not feel that he is in the presence
of some great supernatural power
whom though he canOt see, yet feels.
Which Of us in the early morning
or at sunset can stand upon the sea-
shore, and look out over the mighty
deep, without feeling the presence
of the great God.
,. We should Pray in Words.
Jesus uttered the words of this text
in connection with the story he tod
of an unfriendly neighbor, and this
story in turn was a part of the an
swer which he gave his disciples in
response TO their request to be taught
how TO pray. The story is concern
ing a man at whose home a traveller
called at night He was hungry and
tired. and the good man of the house
not having any bread went to a
neighbor and asked for the loan of
three loaves. This neighbor was re-
luctant TO get out of bed as IL was
after midnight, and at first refused
to grant the request, but by the per-
sistent demand of the caller he at last
got up and let him have what he
wanted. This man plainly asked for
the loan of three lOaves and kept on
asking until he received them. In
like manner Jesus states we should
ask God for what we want, stating
our desires in words and to keep on
asking until our needs are supplied.
Jesus gave in connection with this
story, what we call the Lords
Prayer and this voices our daily. or
ordinary general needs. but he tells
the story of the unfriendly neighbor
TO emphasize the duty of asking for
our specific needs To come to God
without being able to tell what we
want. is lacking in the most accepta-
BILE method Of making our requests
known. The text says ask"
,. We Are to "Seek" or Keep
Asking. A great many prayers are
answered Immediately indeed, many
of them are answered while we are
yet speaking. The words are not out
of our mouths before God graciously
answers some of our petitions. There
are, however, prayers, and ii may be
the most important petitions which
we ask of God, that are not answered
with the first time of asking and
I hence Jesus directs that we are to
| seelI' for the answers. 1t seems to
| US sometimes as if God were either
/ deaf or asleep, for all the sensible no.
/ tice which he takes of our prayers
! Job, speaking from his experience
| states: Verify, thou art a God that
| hidest myself" and the Psalmist is
| constrained to write: Il waited pa
| tiently for the Lord" while Jesus fire.
/ Quently spent all night long in prayer;
/ in his agony in the garden he prayed
SO long, so insistently without appar-
/ emily receiving any answer, that he
\ sweat as ii were great drops Of blood
1 When the SyrOphenician woman en-
! treated Jesus for her daughter the
/ Master. to test her faith, said: 1T i:
/
/ and to cast il unto the dogs But
/ that did not discourage her, for sh'
continued to pray, and answered hin
! by saying: Yes. Lord: yet the dog:
/ under the table eat of the children:
! crumbs" II is necessary to be i'm
| Fortunate in prayer; not that Coo
/ does not hear, or is not willing t
/ answer. but because the time ma,
not be ripe, or that God may develop
our patience and perseverance.
4. We Are Still TO Persist. AND
this is indicated by the expression
knock, and it shall be opened unto
/ YOU" In the text Jesus uses three
terms. ask seek. knock. They come
ia natural sequence, the latter tern
being the most urgent, for TO knOcl
means TO make a noise, or to double
or Quadruple, the earnestness of ou1
petition. II means TO argue the mat
ter with the Lord. to present reason
why our prayers should be answered
il implies being specific, to cease gen
l eraliZing, and ask for such things a
we need. and feel we must have
! il is a family matter. keep on askin;
I God in the presence of the family
for what you want; If a church mat
/ ter keep on praying in the hearing o
the church. one reason why reviV
ais do not break out. as in the Older
days, is that there is so little urgent
vehement PRAYER.
Copyright 1913. by L. :. DavidsonD