Mountain advocate. (Barbourville, Ky.) 1904-1935, 1914-01-30
LESSON FOR FEBRUARY I
THE uNERlENDLY. NEIeHeoR.

IHE UNIT HlENbLI. NElO'SS"
LESSON TEXT-Inike 1i:l-l2.
GOLDEN TEXT-"Ask and IL shall be
given unto you: seek. and ye shall odd;
knock and Il shall be opened unto you
Lake 11:9.
The only record we have Of this par
Able is in this gospel This portion of
Scripture is usually thought Of as be-
Ing a great teaching on prayer. 1t is
that. and 1t is more than that. II Is a
great illustration of the sound princi-
pies of pedagogy employed by that
wonderful Bible teacher. our Lord and
Savior.
1. Teaching by example ". u. There
was that in the prayer life OF Jesus
that was different than that of the for
malistic religionists Of his day, some
thing that inspired the request, Lord
teach us to pray" His prayer life was
different, it was effectual. Notice, In
passing, the respect of the disciples
when he had ceased" II there is one
lesson the oncoming generation needs
| to learn IL Is that of reverence. His
prayers were too sacred to permit OF
any intrusion. His praying also awoke
in their memory the prayer life OF
John the Baptiser. There in deep psy-
chology here. Observation, memory,
perception, concept. all in their logical
order
Most Wonderful Prayer
II. Teaching by formula wv. 24). The
human mind is weak and needs that
assistance which is to be found In a
clear statement of truth. Not always
can we have the benefit OF a strong
personality. Hence Jesu, gives us
formula, or prayer, often called the
Lords Prayer" but more correctly
termed the disciples prayer" This
Ia in some respects the worlds most
wonderful prayer, certainly the most
familiar. Lacking in personal pro-
nouns, It begins with that matchless
conception of God, our Father" 1t de-
scends step by step from considera-
ton Of his hallowed name, his king
dom. and his will luke 22:42) in
heaven and upon earth, down to the
question of our need Of daily food. 1t
then sweeps backward through the re-
lations of mankind to each other, to
temptation, to the power OF sin, back
Matt. 6:13) to God once more, back
to the Alpha and Omega. In 1t is In
vocation, duplication and alteration.
Ii sweeps the whole gamut of man s
need. physical, mental and spiritual. 1t
begins in heaven, it encircles the
earth it rebounds to those realms OF
glory from which the Son came, and to
which he returned. A study Of the
prayers of the saints, living and dead.
ought to be more emphasized. This
kingdom here mentioned Is yet to be
fully established. A kingdom de-
mands king (Rev. 22:20 its begin.
ming, though, is in the hearts of men {;
it implies entire submission to Gods
) will (Luke 22:42); 1t delights in doing
that will John 6:3S, Eph. 6:6)j it de-
mands an entire sanctiHcation of our
; lives, and a desire that his will shall
rule in the earth Il Thess., 4:Sl. The
= fifth petition is not the prayer OF the
} unsaved sinner John 9:3D. Fellow
ship with God depends upon our will
ingness to forgive others Matt. ola
is; Mark 1925; but that is not the
! ground Of Gods forgiveness (Eph. III;
4:32). God does not tempt men Jas
1913; he does permit temptation to
assail US, such as modern economic
t conditions MARK 1:l2. 49,, but God
: never allows US to be tempted above
; what We can bear Il Cor. 1913. Vol
umes have been written about this
> prayer and yet its fulness has not even
|, been suggested. The teacher who
r really prays cannot be failure, for be
, has the power of God behind his labor
/, He must, however, not limit himself &c
1 his prayer only (Phil 4:6; Jas. BIB
, l4). The Christians prayer must be
. in the name of Christ, which is moi
!. named here. for he was not yet cruel
. fed
D The Holy Spirit.
r III. Teaching by parable wv. 6-lO) "A
9 parable Is an earthly story with
y heavenly meaning" Only the teacher
/; who can translate truth into terms o.
y 1T is like" has really begun to teach
. Let us beware, however, OF wrong
comparison and OF to vivid details
This is not a picture Of God, only by
way Of contrast is he suggested. There
are three friends here: (D The needy