Belington progressive. [volume] (Belington, W. Va.) 1912-1927, 1923-11-01

- ~ - Gull uttcutioh w
the fact that In the epistle from which
our text Is taken Paul commends Tim
othy as one who will care" for the
Philippians (2:2O).
On the other hand there are Chris
tians who care" too much. or at least,
In wrong way. They carry useless
burdens, in situations where all their
worry will not help matters In the
least. To these the apostle speaas In
the text the import Of which Ii brought
out better In the rendering OF the Re
vised Version: I'm nothing be anxious
Let 1t be noted that we have here
command from the Lord. Do we take
It seriously2 Are we not inclined to
regard 1t as an improbable injunctionf
Truly 1t would be If we were left to
our own wisdom and strength In the
premises But our interest Is quick
ened when we observe that God fol-
lows the command with prescrip-
ton which viii enable us to keep It.
The essence Of this prescription Is
found In the words: Let your re-
guests be made known unto God"
We are to substitute prayer for fret
ting and worry and In doing so we
shall find relief. Some may declare at
once that they have tried this but II
has not worked. This leads us to
look the more carefully at this pre-
scription, all the ingredients Of which
must be present If the remedy Is to
be successful.
First Of all, we are hidden lin ev-
erything'' to make our requests known
unto God. This covers both material
and spiritual needs. The writer was
once informed by man who pro-
fessed to have reached an exalted
plane in spiritual things that he no
longer prayed for any other than spir-
itual blessings. The attention Of this
taught His disciples to pray for
bread as well as for the forgiveness
Of sins, and that Paul teaches us to
make known our requests to God "in
everything"
Also, everything" covers small mat
tiers as well as great Do we not fall
at this point and carry burdens which
should be cast upon God7 The late
Henry Clay Trumbull for many years
editor Of the Sunday School Times,
understood better than most Christians
the inclusiveness Of that everything"
He tells Of an occasion when 1t was
necessary for him to mail manu-
script that he had prepared for Sum
day School publication before leaving
Boston to keep an important engage
ment. An emergency arose which de-
layed him so that he barely had time
to catch his train. Then he dlscov-
cred he had mislaid his manuscript,
which must be mailed before he could
leave the city. What should he dot
| Some Of us would have fretted our
| selves into a fever, but this man Of
God kneeled and earnestly called upon
the Lord for help. Immediately there
came to him mental impression as II
q voice had said: "Stand up. and
throw Off your coat and vest" He did
SO and found he had placed the pre-
| cious manuscript In the inside pocket
Of his vest, instead of the inside pocket
Of his coat He AYERS that up to that
time he had never known Of such a
| pocket in a vest, although he after
wards found they were common.
We are to make our requests known
to God "by prayer and supplication."
Prayer is the larger and more general
| term, including all reverent, worship
| full approach to God. supplication re-
| fers to our definite petitions Together
they describe the full and free and de-
| tailed presentation Of our requests be-
fore God. Objection may be made that
| God already knows our needs. True,
| vet we find relief from our anxieties
BY telling them out to Him. Our hui
man relationships are analogous. It
has been we'll said that "the mother
loves to have the sobbing child tell
| ali the trouble to her. She UNDER
stands and the child is sure Of sym
pathy and help. The difficulties will
all be smoothed out In mothers arms"
So also with our Father in heaven.
We may have tried the. prescription
! thus far without marked success. but
possibly we have overlooked an i'm
portant ingredient. We are to make
our requests known with thankssiv-
ing" This is often omitted, and the
| omission is serious, for II we were to
cultivate in ourselves the spirit Of
thankfulness our anxieties would often
melt away under its warm sunshine.
| Even in our deepest trials there Is
| cause for thanksgiving.
The command and prescription Of
our text are followed by sure prom
ise: "And the peace Of God, which
passeth all understanding. shall keep
your hearts and minds through Christ
Jesus"