Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1917-12-14

bring about the coming of Gods king
dom.
Half the people when they pray don't
mean il. They will turn around and
do the things that they know will pre-
vent the coming of Gods kingdom. II
Gods will were done you would get
down on your knees and pray and you
would go to prayer meetings instead of
the theater
If Gods will were done you wouldn't
be sitting down at friends table
and drinking wine and cocktails. They
do not want Gods will done.
Prayer leads to activity. You can't
pray for the conversion of your hus-
band and then not DO everything in
your power to bring that man to Christ
Neither can you pray for the CONVEX
sion of your neighbOr or a community
in the world and then do nothing to
help God to answer your prayer. If
you want to know how much God
thinks about prayer when you make it,
how much sacrifice are you willing to
make to have that prayer answered?
Prayers are costly.
God translated the Bible so that
three hundred million people can read
it that would not have read it.
David Livingstone prayed for the
people of dark and benighted Africa
and God said. Answer your own
prayer" and Livingstone went out in
the jungles OF Africa to answer his
prayer.
David Brainerd prayed for the In
dams and God said, Answer your own
prayer" and Brainerd went out and
answered his own prayer
John Elliott prayed and God said,
Answer your own prayer" and he
translated the Bible into the Indian
language so the Indians could reach
about Jesus Christ and the Son Of God.
/ was preaching in a town in Iowa
and every time l asked if there was
any one who wished me to pray for
them a woman jumped to her feet and
asked me TO pray for her son. And
every time l asked for people to come
forward l noticed a young man get up
and go for the door. A little later on
/ saw this woman go out; l had no
idea there was any connection between
the two Incidents; and as soon as [
could find out l discovered that this
boy went to a little restaurant which
was the loafing place of the town.
''Come on and Give
Your Heart to God"
Sometimes it is a barber shop; some
times ii is a livery stable; sometimes a
little back room in a corner grocery
This woman followed her boy to the
store and she said, Come on and give
your heart to God"
He said. 81 don't want to go out.
will stay here"
She said, 81 am ashamed to think
that you think more of the company
here than you do of me. / cared for
you and worked for you and now when
L ask you to do something, to think
that men like this have a greater influ-
ence with you than have, l am asham-
ed that 1 ever gave you birth"
Then she took hold of his hand and
prayed for twenty solid minutes.
He said, Mother, you need not pray
any more for me; L am going with you;
come on, we'll go back"
l can see her face now as il lighted
up like a halo of glory when she pushed
him over the threshold of that open
door and followed him in and down the
aisle and 1 can see her as she said:
Mothers don't give up. He is thirty
eight years old and l have prayed for
him every day since the day 1 first
kissed him"
Don't give up. Prayers are costly.
They lead to activity. If you pray for
somebody God will tell you to go after
him. You can't sit around like a frog
on a log and expect the preacher to do
it or anybody else, and you fan your
self and say, oh" isn't ii hot?"
You can't pray earnestly and then be
unwilling to give of your time and or
your money as you are able to give for
the cause of Jesus Christ and His pur-
pose in this old world.
Men give of their means TO the devil,
they give of their means to defeat the
cause of Jesus Christ and it's purpose
kffNNsa tXF
that the saloon-keepers spent nearly
five hundred thousand dollars fighting
me in the New York campaign alone.
The church of God ought to be just
as liberal and stand up for Jesus Christ
as they fight against it. They try to
make believe it is my vulgarity that
shocks them. IL is because this meet
ing is making sober men out of drunk
ards and they can't get rid of their
booze.
When Judge Gary proposed a toast
at the steel meeting, it was in water
instead of wine. That is what hurts
that gang.
And when the impression you get of
the mind and character of God repro
duces within you a desire to be like
God.
We all want to be well, sure. We
all want TO be on easy street, sure.
We all like to have an automobile, GER
tainly, 1 don't blame you. l think one
of the greatest inventions of comfort
and happiness and joy came out of the
brain of the man that invented the
automobile.
So prayer impresseS us. Who are
the people that are most like God?
They are the people who pray the most.
To be lige God in holiness, in humility,
in peace of mind, one must pray.
The trouble with Job seemed to be
it was 81, /, l." The personal pro-
noun, nominative 1, possessive, my; OBJ
jective, me. That don't go.
Perfect peace will cast out fear.
Submission to will. The will of God.
The late President Garfield said:
THE supreme object of my life is to
pray God concerning his will about me
and then to live in harmony with it,"
A friend sent me a poem Here it
is:
said, will walk in the fields"
God said, Nay, walk in the town."
l said, There are no flowers there
He said, NO flowers, but a crown
1 said, But the fogs are thick and the
clouds
Are yelling the sun"
He answered, But hearts are sick and
souls
In the dark undone"
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