PAUL A PATTERN OF PRAYER

TEXT: “If ye shall ask anything in my name I will do it."-John 14: 14.

Jesus testified in no uncertain way concerning prayer, for not alone in this chapter does he speak but in all his messages to his disciples he is seeking to lead them into the place where they may know how to pray.

In this fourteenth chapter of John where he is coming into the shadow of the cross and is speaking to his disciples concerning those things which ought to have the greatest weight with them, the heart of his message seems to be prayer. What an encouragement it is to his disciples to pray when they remember that he said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. And what

soever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son" (John 14: 12-13).

Jesus was himself a pattern of prayer. He had prayed under all circumstances; with him the day was born in prayer, went along in meditation and closed in most intimate fellowship and communion with his Father. Under all circumstances, whether it be the raising of Lazarus from the dead, or the breathing in of the very spirit of God so essential to him in his earthly ministry, he prayed; and because he was a man of prayer himself, he could speak to his disciples with authority concerning this subject.

If we ourselves would know how to pray there are certain great principles which must be remembered when we come to him.

First: We must believe that he is, and that he is the rewarder of them that diligently seek him. If one has hazy or mystical ideas of Christ then from the very nature of the case prayer is impossible.

Second:

We must believe his word.

Mr. Spurgeon's statement that when he went to God he always went pleading a promise, is the secret of his great success man of prayer. Earthly parents not insensible to the pledges they make to their children and God himself cannot be.

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Third: We must confess and forsake our sins. To confess sin is to arraign before us those sins of which we know ourselves to be guilty, and when they appear before us in solemn and awful procession, we must heartily renounce them.

If we do not we cannot pray.

In another place in God's word we read, "Ye ask and receive not, because,

and

while in the verse the rest of the

sentence is "Ye ask amiss," we might finish by saying, "We ask and receive

not,

because our lives are not right in

God's sight."

Fourth: We must exercise our faith.

The

little child who prayed for rain and then wanted to carry an umbrella with

her when the sun was shining is an oft repeated illustration, but such faith as this is what every child of God must practice.

The text is exceedingly broad. "If ye shall ask anything in my name I will do it." It is broad enough to include temporal blessing and spiritual power, comprehensive enough to lead us to believe that God will direct our lives if we ask him, and will bear our burdens even though they be almost insignificant in their weight. Thank God for the "anything" in the text.

It may be stated truly that God's promises to Israel are especially concerning temporal blessing and that his promises to the church have special reference to spiritual possessions; and they both, the history of Israel and the history of the church, prove that God will give to us both temporally and spiritually. These are both included in the "anything."

I have been greatly impressed with Paul as a pattern in prayer, and for the