The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-10-21
REV. BARNES SAYS NOW IS TIME FOR
 PRAYER FOR ALL
''Is Any Among You Af- flicted? Let Him Pray" James 5-13, Theme of
 Discourse

Let Him Pray
 Like many others. I have been deeply
 and profoundly concerned about condi-
 tions in our beloved city. There is much
 suffering, many deaths, and in one way
 or another almost every one of us has been touched more or less, directly or indirectly by this disease now visiting our ctiy.
 Tn this hour of affliction should we
 not turn to God in prayer9 Is any
 among you afflicted? Let him pray? Pray for what?
 q. For Gods presence.
 why standest thou afar off, I Jeho- yah? Why hidest Thou Thyself in times
 of trouble?' (Ps. 10. 1)
 " Hide not thy face from me in the day of my distress CPS. 102, 2.) " God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble (Ps 46, l.) " How a child longs and even cries to have mother in the room with him when he is sick. She may not be able to alleviate the pain, but she can hold his hand; she can lay her hand tehder- ly on the fevered brow; she can just stay there where he can see her. and that will be such a great help. Where IS the Christian who has not had this same experience? Have you not borne afflic- tion and may even now be bearing af-
 fliction, and bearing it bravely because God has given you that delightful sence and consciousness of his presence. | ''2. That God consider our trouble, Re- member, o Jehovah, what is come upon us: Behold and see our reproach' (Lam. 1 5, 1.) Isn't it natural for us to go to some one with our troubles. Do we not find relief in telling our tale of woe to some one, even though we may be tell ing it into unsympathetic ears? But nev- ertheless we go to our neighbor with our ! burdens Why not spread the whole mat | ter before God, OUT tue friend. lie wants us to do 1t. He invites us to do it.. He says to us, Let us plead together e For divine teaching. That which l see not teach Thou me: If l have done iniquty I will do it no more. (Job H, s2.) Teach me to do Thy will: for Thou art my God (Ps. 143 10) All chasten- ing seemeth for the present to be not joy
 ous but grievous; yet afterward it yield eth peaceable fruit unto them that have
 been exercised sthereby, even the fruit
 of righteousness (TIeb. 12. 11) Tt is the part of wisdom on the part of every Christian, to ascertain the di- vine cause of our affllction. It is also the part of wisdom that we pray that ,, it may work out fin us the divine lesson. The object of the afflictions sent upon the children of God is to direct us Tn the way of truth to make us to under
 stand Gods will better, and to lead us to live more nearly as He would have us to live. Are we learning any lessons during these days of affliction? God grant that we may.
 "4. For deliverance. The troubles or
 my heart are enlarged Oh bring Thou
 me out of my distresses. CPS. 25 l7)
 Remove Thy stroke away from me: I am
 consumed by the blow of Thy hand
 CPS. 3s, 10) Heal me, o Jehovah, and 1
 shall be saved; for Thou art my praise
 Ger. IT, 14.) We say, certainly if there
 is anything that we feel sure that we
 can pray for. it Is deliverance from af-
 flction. But even here we are apt to
 be mistaken Let us not pray for deliv
 erance in the spirit of a demand. Let us
 not talk as though God ought not to
 have allowed this affliction to come upon
 us, and in justice to us He ought to take
 it away. Let us rather go to God In
 faith, for All things, whatsoever ye
 shall ask in prayer believing, ye shall re-
 ceive.' (Matt. 21, 22.) Let us also pray
 in humble submission to Gods will, for
 If we ask anything according to His
 will, He heareth us q. John 5, 14) It is possible that no greater curse could
 come upon us than an answer to some
 prayer we might make.
 1T once read of a mother whose child
 was very sick. When her pastor called
 they knelt together in prayer. In his prayer the minister prayed that If it be
 His will, the child might be restored to
 health. The mother interrupted in the
 midst of the prayer and cried, Lord, it must be your will, my child must get
 we'll The Lord heard that mothers
 prayer and the child was restored to
 health. But that mother lived to see
 her boy hanged on the gallows. When
 the Father does not grant our requests, can we not say with the master, Father,
 not as I will, but as thou wilt
 ''5 That it may turn iis to God. Turn
 us again. o God of host and cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved
 CPS SO:7. Turn us. Q God of our sal vation, and cause thine inNgnation to-
 ward us to cease" (Pc S5:). When
 thou art in trlbulation. and all these things are come upon thee. in the latter
 days thou shalt return to JehovSH thy
 God, and harken unto his voice." Oeut. 4 30) Such dark hoHrs as these through
 which we are now passing have often been the bright dawn of a day of Chris tian usefulness It is physical pain. and
 physical weakness, which many of us
 are now suffering. which ought to make Us turn our ldccS toN'Auo NHC 1iC1t Physician.
 "Affliction or trouble comes to us in
 one of two ways, and we are to decide
 for ourselves which way it shall be. It
 may come as sanctified trouble or un-
 sa notified trouble It came in both forms to the two thieves who were crucified,
 with Jesus. To one thief, the physical agony was unsanctified trouble, causing
 hi n,to curse and deride Jesus. To the other thief. 1t came as sanctified trou- ble. causing him to plead for mercy.
 IJnsanctified trouble comes to a man who
 in a time like the present, becomes em-
 bittered and sets his jaw in rebellion and says: No good God would send such
 an afflicton as this upon the world
 "Sanctified trouble came to the young
 man who said to his pastor: Pastor. l
 don't want you to come into my sick
 room to make merely social call. 1 want you to come to pray with me that I may learn my lesson from this af- fiction Are you ready to feel that in these dark hours of your life Christ is waiting to speak to you. waiting to help you? Friend, today in your troubles. can you not hear the voice of Jesus speaking to you2 Shall we not turn to God? Shall we not pray? Is any among , YOU afflicted? Let him pray.
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 4 CIk Gl