Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1917-12-07

they used to read the Bible and pray
twice "A day, and many times father
would go into the closet and pray. And
when the children we're playing he'd al
ways put "A handkerchief out in front of
the door. and whenever we saw that
white sentinel on guard then we'd stop
our laughter and our play and we'd
wait until he come out, and if we had
occasion to go by the closet we'd do
ii on tip toe lest we might disturb our
father and break the connection between
our father and the Lord" He said:
"Out from an atmosphere in a home
like that. | walked to do what / am
doing. 1t is no credit to me but to my
good old father and mother"
Begin each day with prayer. and 1
will tell you the devil won't be drag
cling so many of our boys and girls
away. In Mathew XVI. l read And
when He had sent the multitudes away
He departed into a solitary place and
there He prayed"
No doubt He asked God to help Him
feed them, now He wanted to get away
to thank God for the fact that He had
had the privilege. to feed them.
Always ask God to help you do a
thing, then don't forget to thank Him.
He no doubt asked the Lord to help
Him. then He wanted to get away to
thank Him that He'd had the privi-
lege.
My friends, pray for success. l be-
lieve in that. But don't forget to thank
God for the success, because the sue
cess was not by might nor by power,
but by Gods spirit, and give the Lord
credit.
II all comes from God. There is
nothing Of ourselves. Not at all! 1t is
God that gives us the food to eat We
can't make the seed grow. The God
that gives us the water to drink and the
wood and coal to warm us, is the God
that gives the sunshine, it isn't ours,
Thank Him for 1t!
Surprising the sun don't come up, you
can summon all the world tomorrow
morning and they couldn't make 1t
come up 1t is beyond their power TO
do that. So the Lord is doing all these
things for us.
In John XI, | read these things: And
when they had taken the stone away
from the place where the dead was
laid, Jesus lifted up His eyes and said:
Father, l thank Thee that Thou hast
heard me, ana l knew that Thou hear
est me always, but because OF them
that stood by. | said and Wheh ne
Il
arus. come forth and he came forth
hound head and foot, bound with nap
kin, and Jesus said: Loose him. ana let
him 60 "
think that one of the finest eX-
ampIes of the power of God, and II the
church would only keep in touch WIN
the Lord, we'd have power ana pray
and God would hear us always. he
said. 81 thank you, Father, that You
hear me always" Always! So, II the
church CGod) would do that way, bene-
dictions and blessings would come 10
US.
Now. I read this in Luke TX, And as
he prayed the fashion of his counten-
ance was altered"
There is something that will change
all, take the wrinkles from around your
ewes, and will be better than anything
YOU can buy at a drug store.
And as he prayed, the fashion of his
countenance was altered"
That is the cure for the weakness OF
the church. So as we pray it will all
change. A wonderful cure for 1T.
Moody was holding a meeting in chi
chief usher who is that assistant
usher you have helping you? l don't
like his looks, who is he?'
DO you know who he was?-Charles
J. Guiteau, who shot Garfield.
He prayed and the fashion of his
countenance altered If man lives in
sin, or a woman, you can tell by look
ing i'm their face they are serving some
devil You can tell You can tell by
looking in their faces that they don't
know the Lord.
Two men were walking down the
streets of London some years ago.
~ fot hnr %
nowned philanthropist and Christian.
The other was a shrewd criminal law
yer and a shrewd liar named Ray, and
thew were talking about religion, and
Penn's father said there was so much
Transforming power in the gospel ana
in prayer that you could see it by look
ing into q persons face; but Ray dldn
believe a word of it and asked for
practical demonstration and Of course
Penn was too much of Christian TO
offer himself as an example. although
a better one couldn't have been found
throughout the kingdom, and they
were walking the streets discussing the
matter, and looking up they saw hobo
coming down asking aims of passers-
by and said Ray: "Yonder comes a
man who lives because of his ability to
read the hearts of people as 1t is re-
vealed in their countenance. Now, let
see if he asks either of us aims and II
so, who"
And they purposely stopped in front
Of this mendicant. He looked into the
hard lines and the face of Ray, made
by his legal action, then he turned
and looked into the heavenly face of
PENIS father, and again he scanned the
face of the great lawyer. Then he
turned again and looked into the face
of William PENIS father with his hand
outstretched he said, 80, man, with
God and Heaven in your face, please
give me a penny"
Ray said, There must be something
in it: he didn't know what we were
talking about"
"As he prayed the fashion of his
countenance was altered. His raiment
was white and glistening."
If you want to change it, get down
in prayer and have the blessing that
will come to you.
Do you know that the great revival
of 1S57-and the one that went around
the world-Started in New York, in
John Street church, when a few men,
promised and pledged God that they
would pray every day for a worldwide
revival, and they got other people In
terested and all the city became inter-
ested until they filled places with new
meetings, and the spirit leaped to Phil
adelphia 1t jumped to Baltimore and