Standard Jet DBnb` Ugr@?~1y0̝bǟFN牘X.D^(`T{6k߱wCϯ34ay[|*|OJl>`&_Љ$g'DeFx -{uE%0'X<8%(h'X8%('X8EH'X8958'X9%('X9EH'X4:%('X :%('X!: j'X"0;%(EEE'X#;%`K'X$;%(PER'X%,<Xe@'X&<EH`ueue`'X'<ehheeEeU`s'X((=pe'X)|=x@b'X*='X+$>ux'X,x>VCS           2                     IdParentIdNameType DateCreate DateUpdateOwnerFlagsDatabaseConnect ForeignName RmtInfoShort RmtInfoLongLvLvPropLvModuleLvExtra  ,7P Id ParentIdName        VC@S     2n   ObjectIdSIDACM FInheritableF ObjectId6@5 ObjectIdAttribute       IdParentIdNameType DateCreate DateUpdateOwnerFlagsDatabaseConnect ForeignName RmtInfoShort RmtInfoLongLvLvPropLvModuleLvExtra  Id ParentIdName        VC?S      "    ?  $ ObjectId AttributeOrderName1Name2 ExpressionFlag6@5 ObjectIdAttribute    szObjectszReferencedObjectszRelationshipVCS             szRelationshipgrbitccolumnicolumnszObjectszColumnszReferencedObjectszReferencedColumn   szObjectszReferencedObjectszRelationship h h Id ParentIdName        j@j@Topic Notes@q888,,,,,,,* @ć@ć@MSysRelationships22222222220 ć@ć@MSysQueries,,,,,,,,,,* ć@ć@MSysACEs))))))))))' ć@ć@MSysObjects,,,,,,,,,,* ć@ć@MSysDb''''''''''% ć@ć@Relationships.........., ć@ć@Databases**********( ć@ć@Tables''''''''''%  {qg]SI?56t7@@o{qg]SI?5o{ @@d`w`a`vfvufm`wjrpvijsvw`amfvov}v`bfvov}vrakfbwvov}vtxfujfvov}vufm`wjrpvijsvwrsjbprwfvov}vdaov}vordxmfvov}vordxmfvXov}vrakfbwvov}vtxfujfvov}vufm`wjrpvijsvwrsjbprwfvov}vdavxoo`u}jpgrxvfudfgjpfdusercefinecQ@@ @ d`w``bbfvvs`hfvd`w`a`vfvgruov ordxmfv ufm`wjrpvijsvufsruwv vbujswv v}vufm w`amfvdfw`jmvov}v`bbfvvrakfbwvov}v`bfvov}vordxmfvov}vordxmfvXov}vrakfbwvov}vtxfujfvov}vufm`wjrpvijsvwrsjbprwfvov}vdavxoo`u}jpgrxvfudfgjpfdo{ @dfw`jmvov}v`bbfvvrakfbwvov}v`bfvov}vordxmfvov}vordxmfvXov}vrakfbwvov}vtxfujfvov}vufm`wjrpvijsvwrsjbprwfvov}vdavxoo`u}jpgrxvfudfgjpfdK @ @      !(38#7@38#7@MSysQueries,,,,,,,,,,* 38#7@38#7@MSysACEs))))))))))' 38#7@38#7@MSysObjects,,,,,,,,,,* 38#7@38#7@MSysDb''''''''''% 38#7@38#7@Relationships.........., 38#7@38#7@Databases**********( 38#7@38#7@Tables''''''''''%  {qg]SI? @p p p p p ppp@  @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @                         $ % , -      & ' ( ) * + .!!!(((          ! " #   szObjectszReferencedObjectszRelationship 4z7@4z7@SummaryInfo*********** 4z7@4z7@SysRel%%%%%%%%%%% 4z7@4z7@Scripts&&&&&&&&&&& 4z7@4z7@Reports&&&&&&&&&&& 4z7@4z7@Modules&&&&&&&&&&& 4z7@4z7@Forms$$$$$$$$$$$ 4z7@4z7@DataAccessPages........... >x7@>x7@MSysRelationships22222222220 >x7@>x7@MSysQueries,,,,,,,,,,* >x7@>x7@MSysACEs))))))))))' >x7@>x7@MSysObjects,,,,,,,,,,* >x7@>x7@MSysDb''''''''''% >x7@>x7@Relationships.........., >x7@>x7@Databases**********( >x7@>x7@Tables''''''''''% tle Page0@!33: Keeping The Church Faithful(0$ 33: Keeping The Church Evangelistic/4(31: Keeping The Church Pure,, 30: Keeping Brethren Informed%5z."29: The Importance of Sound Doctrinew5)28: Doing All In Doing Good$.q, 27: Doing All In Exercising Disciplinei!l7+26: Doing All In The Name of The Lord In Worshipz,fA525: Teaching and Preaching In The Name of Christ6_A524: Doing All In The Name of The Lord.Y6*23: The Christian Woman and The Homeh_L5)22: The Christian Woman Working For Christ<D;/21: The Christian Woman Living For Jesus09-20: The Christian Man and The HomeE'3'19: The Christian Man Working For ChristN9-18: The Christian Man Living For z7@z7@SummaryInfo*********** z7@z7@SysRel%%%%%%%%%%% z7@z7@Scripts&&&&&&&&&&& z7@z7@Reports&&&&&&&&&&& z7@z7@Modules&&&&&&&&&&& z7@z7@Forms$$$$$$$$$$$ z7@z7@DataAccessPages........... 38#7@38#7@MSysRelationships22222222220 38#7@38#7@MSysQueries,,,,,,,,,,* 38#7@38#7@MSysACEs))))))))))' 38#7@38#7@MSysObjects,,,,,,,,,,* 38#7@38#7@MSysDb''''''''''% 38#7@38#7@Relationships.........., 38#7@38#7@Databases**********( 38#7@38#7@Tables''''''''''% Q]m5~6t7          2                     IdParentIdNameType DateCreate DateUpdateOwnerFlagsDatabaseConnect ForeignName RmtInfoShort RmtInfoLongLvLvPropLvModuleLvExtra  ," Id ParentIdName        (u@Eu@Topic Notesn@888,,,,,,,* @!,u@,u@MSysModules2----------+ ,u@,u@MSysModules,,,,,,,,,,* %&u@%&u@MSysAccessObjects22222222220 u@u@Details"@444(((((((& @ Tu@Tu@UserDefined1@888,,,,,,,* @ 0u@0u@SummaryInfok@888,,,,,,,* @u@u@SysRel''''''''''% u@u@Scripts((((((((((& u@u@Reports((((((((((& u@u@Modules((((((((((& u@u@Forms&&&&&&&&&&$ u@u@DataAccessPages0000000000. 0u@0u@MSysRelationships22222222220 0u@0u@MSysQueries,,,,,,,,,,* 0u@0u@MSysACEs))))))))))' 0u@0u@MSysObjects,,,,,,,,,,* 0u@\&u@MSysDb@333'''''''% @0u@0u@Relationships.........., 0u@0u@Databases**********( 0u@0u@Tables''''''''''% VCN  2  2   Description AbbreviationCommentsd`w``bbfvvs`hfvd`w`a`vfvgruov ordxmfv ufm`wjrpvijsvufsruwv vbujswv v}vufm w`amfvov}v`bfvov}vrakfbwvov}vtxfujfvov}vufm`wjrpvijsvov}vdavxoo`u}jpgr 07@07@SummaryInfo*********** 07@07@SysRel%%%%%%%%%%% 07@07@Scripts&&&&&&&&&&& 07@07@Reports&&&&&&&&&&& 07@07@Modules&&&&&&&&&&& 07@07@Forms$$$$$$$$$$$ 07@07@DataAccessPages........... 07@07@MSysRelationships22222222220 07@07@MSysQueries,,,,,,,,,,* 07@07@MSysACEs))))))))))' 07@07@MSysObjects,,,,,,,,,,* 07@07@MSysDb''''''''''% 07@07@Relationships.........., 07@07@Databases**********( 07@07@Tables''''''''''% {@@ @ d`w``bbfvvs`hfvd`w`a`vfvgruov ordxmfv ufm`wjrpvijsvufsruwv vbujswv v}vufm w`amfvov}v`bfvov}vrakfbwvov}vtxfujfvov}vufm`wjrpvijsvov}vdavxoo`u}jpgrl that loves Him. He is in the believer, as the sap is in the vine, and the spirit of energetic life in the body. But, in a very deep and blessed sense, the believer is in Christ. Of each of these sides of this marvellous truth there are many illustrations in this Epistle, so specially devoted to the study of the preposition in. We are dealing now with those passages only that assure us, as believers, of being in the Beloved.\par \b WE ARE IN CHRIST, IN THE FATHER'S THOUGHT (\cf1\ul\b0 Eph_1:3-4\cf0\ulnone\b , \cf1\ul\b0 Eph_1:9\cf0\ulnone\b , \cf1\ul\b0 Eph_1:11\cf0\ulnone\b )\par \b0 The disclosures made to the apostle Paul of God{\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252\deff0{\fonttbl{\f0\fswiss\fprq2\fcharset0 Arial;}{\f1\fswiss\fprq2\fcharset0 Tahoma;}{\f2\fnil\fcharset0 MS Sans Serif;}} {\*\generator Riched20 5.40.11.2210;}\viewkind4\uc1\pard\keepn\nowidctlpar\sb240\sa120\lang1033\b\f0\fs32 THE SECRET OF GUIDANCE \f1\par \pard\nowidctlpar\sb120\lang1036\f0\fs24 By F.B. Meyer\b0 \par \b\par \par \pard\keepn\nowidctlpar\sb240\sa120\lang1033\fs32 Contents\f1\par \pard\nowidctlpar\sb120\lang1036\f0\fs24 \par \pard\nowidctlpar\fi-240\li400\b0 1. The Secret of Guidance \par 2. Where Am I Wrong? \par 3. The Secret of Qi'Ij4      v}vufm w`amfvov}v`bfvov}vrakfbwvov}vtxfujfvov}vufm`wjrpvijsvov}vdavxoo`u}jpgr07@07@Details&&&&&&&&&&&  07@07@UserDefined***********  07@07@SummaryInfo*********** 07@07@SysRel%%%%%%%%%%% 07@07@Scripts&&&&&&&&&&& 07@07@Reports&&&&&&&&&&& 07@07@Modules&&&&&&&&&&& 07@07@Forms$$$$$$$$$$$ 07@07@DataAccessPages........... 07@07@MSysRelationships22222222220 07@07@MSysQueries,,,,,,,,,,* 07@07@MSysACEs))))))))))' 07@07@MSysObjects,,,,,,,,,,* 07@07@MSysDb''''''''''% 07@07@Relationships.........., 07@07@Databases**********( 07@07@DescAbbrevComments VC.N..   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But put ink or vinegar or wine into it, and will they pour the tea into the vessel? And can God fill you, can God bless you if you are not absolutely surrendered to Him? He cannot. Let us believe God has wonderful blessings for us if we will but stand up for God and say, be it with a trembling will, yet with a believing heart:\par \par "O God, I accept Your demands. I am Yours and all that I have. Absolute surrender is what my soul yields to You by divine grace."\par \par You may not have such strong, clear feelings of surrender as you would like to have, but humble yourselves in His sight, and acknowledge that you have grieved the Holy Spirit by your self-will, selfconfidence, and self-effort. Bow humbly before Him in the confession of that, and ask Him to break the heart and to bring you into the dust before Him. Then, as you bow before Him, just accept God's teaching that in your flesh "there dwelleth no good thing" (Romans 7:18), and that nothing will help you except another life which must come in. You must deny self once and for all. Denying self must every moment be the power of your life, and then Christ will come in and take possession of you.\par \par When was Peter delivered? When was the change accomplished? The change began with Peter weeping, and the Holy Spirit came down and filled his heart.\par \par God the Father loves to give us the power of the Spirit. We have the Spirit of God dwelling within us. We come to God confessing that, and praising God for it, and yet confessing how we have grieved the Spirit. And then we bow our knees to the Father to ask that He would strengthen us with all might by the Spirit in the inner man, and that He would fill us with His mighty power. And as the Spirit reveals Christ to us, Christ comes to live in our hearts forever, and the self-life is cast out.\par \par Let us bow before God in humility, and in that humility confess before Him the state of{ the whole Church. No words can tell the sad state of the Church of Christ on earth. I wish I had words to speak what I sometimes feel about it. Just think of the Christians around you. I do not speak of nominal Christians, or of professing Christians, but I speak of hundreds and thousands of honest, earnest Christians who are not living a life in the power of God or to His glory. So little power, so little devotion or consecration to God, so little perception of the truth that a Christian is a man utterly surrendered to God's will! Oh, we want to confess the sins of God's people around us, and to humble ourselves.\par \par We are members of that sickly body. The sickliness of the body will hinder us and break us down, unless we come to God. We must, in confession, separate ourselves from partnership with worldliness, with coldness toward each other. We must give ourselves up to be entirely and wholly for God.\par \par How much Christian work is being done in the spirit of the flesh and in the power of self! How much work, day by day, in which human energy-our will and our thoughts about the work-is continually manifested, and in which there is little waiting upon God and upon the power of the Holy Spirit! Let us make a confession. But as we confess the state of the Church, and the feebleness and sinfulness of work for God among us, let us come back to ourselves. Who is there who truly longs to be delivered from the power of the self-life, who truly acknowledges that it is the power of self and the flesh, and who is willing to cast all at the feet of Christ? There is deliverance.\par \par I heard of one who had been an earnest Christian, and who spoke about the "cruel" thought of separation and death. But you do not think that, VCeN"" ,    c  an  rc ee at   h piFlagsFormModuleNameReplicationVersionTypeTypeInfoVersion"'Index1"""to Himself. God's nature is to be always giving. You see it, in the sun and the moon and the stars, in every flower, in every bird in the air, in every fish in the sea. God communicates life to His creatures. And the angels around His throne, the seraphim and cherumbim who are flames of firewhere does their glory come from? It comes from God because He is love, and He imparts to them part of His brightness and His blessedness. And we, His redeemed children-God delights to pour His love into us. Why? Because, as I said, God keeps nothing for Himself. From eternity God had His only begotten Son, and the Father gave Him all things, and nothing that God had was kept back. "God is love."\par \par One of the old Church fathers said that we cannot better understand the Trinity than as a revelation of divine lovethe Father, the loving One, the Fountain of love-the Son, the beloved one, the Reservoir of love, in whom the love was poured out-and the Spirit, the living love that united both and then overflowed into this world. The Spirit of Pentecost, the Spirit of the Father, and the Spirit of the Son is love. And when the Holy Spirit comes to us and to other men, will He be less a Spirit of love than He is in God? It cannot be; He cannot change His nature. The Spirit of God is love, and "the fruit of the Spirit is love."\par \par \b MANKIND NEEDS LOVE\b0\par \par Why is that so? That was the one great need of mankind, that was the thing which Christ's redemption came to accomplish: to restore love to this world.\par \par When man sinned, why was it that he sinned? Selfishness triumphed-he sought self instead of God. And just look! Adam at once begins to ac{qghe woman of having led him astray. Love to God had gone; love to man was lost. Look again: of the first two children of Adam, the one becomes a murderer of his brother.\par \par Does that not teach us that sin had robbed the world of love? Ah! what a proof the history of the world has been of love having been lost! There may have been beautiful examples of love even among the heathen, but only as a little remnant of what was lost. One of the worst things sin did for man was to make him selfish, for selfishness cannot love.\par \par The Lord Jesus Christ came down from heaven as the Son of God's love. "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son" (\cf1\ul Joh_3:16\cf0\ulnone ). God's Son came to show what love is , and He lived a life of love here on earth in fellowship with His disciples, in compassion over the poor and miserable, in love even to His enemies. And, He died the death of love. And when He went back to heaven, whom did He send down? The Spirit of love, to come and banish selfishness and envy and pride, and bring the love of God into the hearts of men. "The fruit of the Spirit is love."\par \par And what was the preparation for the promise of the Holy Spirit? You know that prom@@LVAL %ecause they were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd,' that He called on the disciples to pray for labourers to be sent among them. He did so because He really believed that their prayer was needed, and would help. The veil which so hides the invisible world from us was wonderfully transparent to the holy human soul of Jesus. He had looked long and deep and far into the hidden connection of cause and effect in the spirit world. He had marked in God's Word how, when God called men like Abraham and Moses, Joshua and Samuel and Daniel, and given them authority over men in His name, He had at the same time given them authority and right to call in the powers of heaven to their aid as they needed them. He knew that as to these men of old, and to Himself for a time, here upon earth, the work of God had been entrusted, so it was now about to pass over into the hands of His disciples. He knew that when this work should be given in charge to them, it would not be a mere matter of form or show, but that on them, and their being faithful or unfaithful, the success of the work would actually depend. As a single individual, within the limitations of a human body and a human life, Jesus feels how little a short visit can accomplish among these wandering sheep He sees around Him, and He longs for help to have them properly cared for. And so He tells His disciples now to begin and pray, and, when they have taken over the work from Him on earth, to make this one of the chief petitions in their prayer: That the Lord of the harvest Himself would send forth labourers into His harvest. The God who entrusted them with the work, and made it to so large extent dependent on them, gives them authority to apply to Him for labourers to help, and makes the supply dependent on their prayer.\par \par How little Christians really feel and mourn the need of labourers in the fields of the world so white to the harvest. And how little they believe that our labour-supply depends on prayer, that prayer will rea8LVALD @ @     race to give to you this message-that your God in heaven answers the prayers which you have offered for blessing on yourselves and for blessing on those around you by this one demand: Are you willing to surrender yourselves absolutely into His hands? What is our answer to be? God knows there are hundreds of hearts who have said it, and there are hundreds more who long to say it but hardly dare to do so. And there are hearts who have said it, but who have yet miserably failed, and who feel themselves condemned because they did not find the secret of the power to live that life. May God have a word for all!\par \par Let me say, first of all, that God claims it from us.\par \par \b GOD EXPECTS YOUR SURRENDER\b0\par \par Yes, it has its foundation in the very nature of God. God cannot do otherwise. Who is God? He is the Fountain of life, the only Source of existence and power and goodness. Throughout the universe there is nothing good but what God works. God has created the sun, the moon, the stars, the flowers, the trees, and the grass. Are they not all absolutely surrendered to God? Do they not allow God to work in them just what He pleases? When God clothes the i_VBA_PROJECTaadir|x0* pHd topic @8= Vh @? J< rstdole>stdole h%^*\G{00020430-C 0046}#2.0#0#C:\WINDOWS\System32\e2.tlb#OLE Autom`ation`mADODB> ADOBDDEB1D10-8DAA006D2EA 4D1DProgram Files\CommonM\ado\ms21NMicrosoft ActiveX Data Objects 2.1 LibraryHE LVAL `lly provide 'as many as he needeth.' Not that the dearth of labour is not known or discussed. Not that efforts are not sometimes put forth to supply the want. But how little the burden of the sheep wandering without a Shepherd is really borne in the faith that the Lord of the harvest will, in answer to prayer, send forth the labourers, and in the solemn conviction that without this prayer fields ready for reaping will be left to perish. And yet it is so. So wonderful is the surrender of His work into the hands of His Church, so dependent has the Lord made Himself on them as His body, through whom alone His work can be done, so real is the power which the Lord gives His people to exercise in heaven and earth, that the number of the labourers and the measure of the harvest does actually depend upon their prayer.\par \par Solemn thought! O why is it that we do not obey the injunction of the Master more heartily, and cry more earnestly for labourers? There are two reasons for this. The one is: We miss the compassion of Jesus, which gave rise to this request for prayer. When believers learn that to love their neighbours as themselves, that to live entirely for God's glory in their fellow-men, is the Father's first commandment to His redeemed ones, they will accept of the perishing ones as the charge entrusted to them by their Lord. And, accepting them not only as a field of labour, but as the objects of loving care and interest, it will not be long before compassion towards the hopelessly perishing will touch their heart, and the cry ascend with an earnestness till then unknown: Lord! send labourers. The other reason for the neglect of the command, the want of faith, will then make itself felt, but will be overcome as our pity pleads for help. We believe too little in the power of prayer to bring about definite results. We do not live close enough to God, and are not enough entirely given up to His service and Kingdom, to be capable of the confidence that He will give it in answer to !$ve that the everlasting God Himself will come in to turn out what is wrong. He will conquer what is evil, and work what is well pleasing in His blessed sight. God Himself will work it in you.\par \par Look at the men in the Old Testament, like Abraham. Do you think it was by accident that God found that man, the father of the faithful and the friend of God? Do you think that it was Abraham himself, apart from God, who had such faith and such obedience and such devotion? You know it is not so. God raised him up and prepared him as an instrument for His glory.\par \par Did God not say to Pharaoh: "For this cause have I raised thee up, for to show in thee my power" (\cf1\ul Exo_9:16\cf0\ulnone )?\par \par And if God said that of him, will God not say it far more of every child of His?\par \par Oh, I want to encourage you, and I want you to cast away every fear. Come with that feeble desire. If there is the fear which says-"Oh, my desire is not strong enough. I am not willing for everything that maycome , and I do not feel bold enough to say I can conquer everything"-l implore you, learn to know and trust your God now. Say: "My God, I am willing that You should make me willing." If there is anything holding you back, or any sacrifice you are afraid of making, come to God now and prove how gracious your God is. Do not be afraid that He will command from you what He will not bestow.\par \par God comes and offers to work this absolute surrender in you. All these searchings and hungerings and longings that are in your heart, I tell you, they are the drawings of the divine magnet, Christ Jesus. He lived a life of absolute surrender. He has possession of you; He is living in your heart by His Holy Spirit. You have hindered and hindered Him terribly, but He desires to help you to get a hold of Him entirely. And He comes and draws you now by His message and words. Will you not come and trust God to work in you that absolute surrender to Himself Yes, blessed $MSysDb!@ov}vda&            IdParentIdNameType DateCreate DateUpdateOwnerFlagsDatabaseConnect ForeignName RmtInfoShort RmtInfoLongLvLvPropLvModuleLvExtra  ,7P Id ParentIdName        VC!!N))!!!!   ey2  paIDTitleCommentsfff3a 2()  uty biti)  ID PrimaryKey))nd leave the work. The condition for obtaining God's full blessing is absolute surrender to Him.\par \par And now, I desire by God's grace to give to you this message-that your God in heaven answers the prayers which you have offered for blessing on yourselves and for blessing on those around you by this one demand: Are you willing to surrender yourselves absolutely into His hands? What is our answer to be? God knows there are hundreds of hearts who have said it, and there are hundreds more who long to say it but hardly dare to do so. And there are hearts who have said it, but who have yet miserably failed, and who feel themselves condemned because they did not find the secret of the power to live that life. May God have a word for all!\par \par Let me say, first of all, that God claims it from us.\par \par \b GOD EXPECTS YOUR SURRENDER\b0\par \par Yes, it has its foundation in the very nature of God. God cannot do otherwise. Who is God? He is the Fountain of life, the only Source of existence and power and goodness. Throughout the universe there is nothing good but what God works. God has created the sun, the moon, the stars, the flowers, the trees, and the grass. Are they not all absolutely surrendered to God? Do they not allow God to work in them just what He pleases? When God clothes the lily with its beauty, is it not yielded up, surrendered, given over to God as He works in it its beauty? And God's redeemed children, oh, can you think that God can do His work if there is only half or a part of them surrendered? God cannot do it. God is life, love, blessing, power, and infinite beauty, and God delights in communicating Himself to every child who is prepared to receive Him. But ah! this one lack of absolute surrender is jus{qgthing that hinders God. And now He comes, and as God, He claims it.\par \par You know in daily life what absolute surrender is. You know that everything has to be given up to its special, definite object and service. I have a pen in my pocket, and that pen is absolutely surrendered to the one work of writing. That pen must be absolutely surrendered to my hand if I am to write properly with it. If another holds it partly, I cannot write properly. This coat is absolutely given up to me to cover my body. This building is entirely given up to religious services. And now, do you expect that in your immortal being, in the divine nature that you have received by regeneration, God can work His work, every day and every hour, unless you are entirely given up to Him? God cannot. The temple of Solomon was absolutely surrendered to God when it was dedicated to Him. And every one of us is a temple of God, in which God will dwell and work mightily on one condition-absolute surrender to Him. God claims it, God is worthy of it, and without it God cannot work His blessed work in us.\par \par God not only claims it, but God will work it Himself.\par \par \b GOD ACCOMPLISHES YOUR SURRENDER\par \b0\par I am sure there is(@@LVAL +{\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252\deff0{\fonttbl{\f0\fnil\fcharset0 Georgia;}} {\colortbl ;\red0\green0\blue0;\red0\green0\blue255;} {\*\generator Riched20 5.40.11.2210;}\viewkind4\uc1\pard\sl240\slmult1\lang2058\b\f0\fs22 WITH CHRIST\par In the School of Prayer\par \b0 Thoughts on Our Training\par for the\par Ministry of Intercession\par \par BY\par REV. ANDREW MURRAY\par \par \b Table of Contents\b0\par \par \b PREFACE\b0\par 1.\cf1 \cf0 Lord teach us to Pray\cf1\par \cf0 2.\cf1 \cf0 In Spirit and in Truth\cf1\par \cf0 3.\cf1 \cf0 Pray to Thy Father which is in Secret\cf1\par \cf0 4.\cf1 \cf0 After This Manner, Pray\cf1\par \cf0 5.\cf1 \cf0 Ask and it shall be given you\cf1\par \cf0 6.\cf1 \cf0 How Much More?\cf1\par \cf0 7.\cf1 \cf0 How much more the Holy Spirit\cf1\par \cf0 8.\cf1 \cf0 Because of His Importunity\cf1\par \cf0 9.\cf1 \cf0 Pray the Lord of the Harvest\cf1\par \cf0 10.\cf1 \cf0 What wilt thou?\cf1\par \cf0 11.\cf1 \cf0 Believe that ye have recieved\cf1\par \cf0 12.\cf1 \cf0 Have faith in God\cf1\par \cf0 13.\cf1 \cf0 Prayer and Fasting\cf1\par \cf0 14.\cf1 \cf0 When ye stand praying, forgive\cf1\par \cf0 15.\cf1 \cf0 If two agree\cf1\par \cf0 16.\cf1 \cf0 Speedily, though bearing long\cf1\par \cf0 17.\cf1 \cf0 I Know that thou hearest me always\cf1\par \cf0 18.\cf1 \cf0 Whose is this image?\cf1\par \cf0 19.\cf1 \cf0 I Go unto the Father\cf1\par \cf0 20.\cf1 \cf0 That the Father may be glorified\cf1\par \cf0 21.\cf1 \cf0 If ye abide in Me\cf1\par \cf0 22.\cf1 \cf0 My words in you\cf1\par \cf0 23.\cf1 \cf0 Bear fruit that the Father may give what ye ask\cf1\par \cf0 24.\cf1 \cf0 In My Name\cf1\par \cf0 25.\cf1 \cf0 At that day\cf1\par \cf0 26.\cf1 \cf0 I Have prayed for thee\cf1\par \cf0 27.\cf1 \cf0 Father I will\cf1\par \cf0 28.\cf1 \cf0 Father not what I will\cf1\par \cf0 29.\cf1 \cf0 If we ask according to His will\cf1\par \cf0 30.\cf1 \cf0 An Holy Priesthood\cf1\par \cf0 31.\cf1 \cf0 Pray withoutLVAL , ceasing\cf1\par \par \b Additional End Article\b0\par \par \cf2\ul <\cf0\ulnone [~jumpshowtext George Muller and the Secret of His Power in Prayer::Murray SP: George Muller and the Secret of His Power in Prayer]\cf2\ul >\cf1\ulnone\par \cf0\par \b Preface\par \b0\par -----0-----\par \par \par \par Of all the promises connected with the command, 'ABIDE IN ME,' there is none higher, and none that sooner brings the confession, 'Not that I have already attained, or am already made perfect,' than this: 'If ye abide in me, ask whatsoever ye will, and it shall be done unto you.' Power with God is the highest attainment of the life of full abiding.\par \par And of all the traits of a life LIKE CHRIST there is none higher and more glorious than conformity to Him in the work that now engages Him without ceasing in the Father's presence--His all-prevailing intercession. The more we abide in Him, and grow unto His likeness, will His priestly life work in us mightily, and our life become what His is, a life that ever pleads and prevails for men.\par \par 'Thou hast made us kings and priests unto God.' Both in the king and the priest the chief thing is power, influence, blessing. In the king it is the power coming downward; in the priest, the power rising upward, prevailing with God. In our blessed Priest-King, Jesus Christ, the kingly power is founded on the priestly 'He is able to save to the uttermost, because He ever liveth to make intercession.' In us, His priests and kings, it is no otherwise: it is in intercession that the Church is to find and wield its highest power, that each member of the Church is to prove his descent from Israel, who as a prince had power with God and with men, and prevailed.\par \par It is under a deep impression that the place and power of prayer in the Christian life is too little understood, that this book has been written. I feel sure that as long as we look on prayer chiefly as the means of maintaining our own Christian life, we shall not know fullyLVAL - what it is meant to be. But when we learn to regard it as the highest part of the work entrusted to us, the root and strength of all other work, we shall see that there is nothing that we so need to study and practise as the art of praying aright. If I have at all succeeded in pointing out the progressive teaching of our Lord in regard to prayer, and the distinct reference the wonderful promises of the last night (John xiv. 16) have to the works we are to do in His Name, to the greater works, and to the bearing much fruit, we shall all admit that it is only when the Church gives herself up to this holy work of intercession that we can expect the power of Christ to manifest itself in her behalf. It is my prayer that God may use this little book to make clearer to some of His children the wonderful place of power and influence which He is waiting for them to occupy, and for which a weary world is waiting too.\par \par In connection with this there is another truth that has come to me with wonderful clearness as I studied the teaching of Jesus on prayer. It is this: that the Father waits to hear every prayer of faith, to give us whatsoever we will, and whatsoever we ask in Jesus' name. We have become so accustomed to limit the wonderful love and the large promises of our God, that we cannot read the simplest and clearest statements of our Lord without the qualifying clauses by which we guard and expound them. If there is one thing I think the Church needs to learn, it is that God means prayer to have an answer, and that it hath not entered into the heart of man to conceive what God will do for His child who gives himself to believe that his prayer will be heard. God hears prayer; this is a truth universally admitted, but of which very few understand the meaning, or experience the power. If what I have written stir my reader to go to the Master's words, and take His wondrous promises simply and literally as they stand, my object has been attained.\par \par And then just one thing more. LVAL0ble is we do not give that strong will up to God, to make it a vessel in which God can and will pour His Spirit, so as to fit it to do splendid service for Himself.\par \par We have now had the three thoughts: God gives all; I receive all; I give up all Thousands have in these last years found an unspeakable blessing in learning how completely Christ is our life, and how He undertakes to be and to do all in us that we need. I know not if we have yet learned to apply this truth to our prayer-life. Many complain that they have not the power to pray in faith, to pray the effectual prayer that availeth much. The message I would fain bring them is that the blessed Jesus is waiting, is longing, to teach them this. Christ is our life: in heaven He ever liveth to pray; His life in us is an ever-praying life, if we will but trust Him for it. Christ teaches us to pray not only by example, by instruction, by command, by promises, but by showing us HIMSELF, the ever-living Intercessor, as our Life. It is when we believe this, and go and abide in Him for our prayer-life too, that our fears of not being able to pray aright will vanish, and we shall joyfully and triumphantly trust our Lord to teach us to pray, to be Himself the life and the power of our prayer. May God open our eyes to see what the holy ministry of intercession is to which, as His royal priesthood, we have been set apart. May He give us a large and strong heart to believe what mighty influence our prayers can exert. And may all fear as to our being able to fulfil our vocation vanish as we see Jesus, living ever to pray, living in us to pray, and standing surety for our prayer-life.\par \par ANDREW MURRAY\par \par WELLINGTON, 28th October 1895\par \pard\cf1\lang1033\par ----------------------------\par Placed into E-Sword TOP format by David Cox, \cf0{\field{\*\fldinst{HYPERLINK "http://www.davidcox.com.mx"}}{\fldrslt{\ul\cf2 http://www.davidcox.com.mx}}}\cf1\f0\fs22 \par dcox@davidcox.com.mx. \par \lang2058\par } =(!\V"a5d6z2b)orgia;}} {\colortbl ;\red0\green0\blue0;} {\*\generator Riched20 5.40.11.2210;}\viewkind4\uc1\pard\sl240\slmult1\lang2058\b\f0\fs22 The Deeper Christian Life\par an Aid to its Attainment\par By Andrew Murray\par \b0\par \b CONSECRATION\par \b0\par "But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able!32 George Muller & Secret of His Power in PrayerA5 31. Pray without ceasingK))30. An Holy Priesthood].'29. If we ask according to His will<=4(28. Father not what I will.+27. Father I willn+"26. I Have prayed for theeL=+25. At that day2 24. In My Name923 Bear fruit that the Father may give what ye ask/C722. My words in you(,$21. If ye abide in Me:&20. That the Father may be glorified/5)19. I Go unto the Father+)18. Whose is this image?*)17. I Know that thou hearest me always07+16. Speedily, though bearing longd@2&15. If two agree8(!14. When ye stand praying, forgive4{3'13. Prayer and Fasting4t' 12. Have faith in God+n& 11. Believe that ye have recieved.h2& 10. What wilt thou?R'c$ 09. Pray the Lord of the HarvestS)_1% 08. Because of His Importunity+Y/#07. How much more the Holy Spirit)S2&06. How Much More?3L#05. Ask and it shall be given you/)F2&04. After This Manner, Pray+@, 03. Pray to Thy Father which is in Secret+::.02. In Spirit and in Truth~'5+01. Lord teach us to Pray +/*00 Murray - With Christ in the School of Prayer*@4LVAL 0{\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252\deff0{\fonttbl{\f0\fnil\fcharset0 Georgia;}} {\colortbl ;\red0\green0\blue0;} {\*\generator Riched20 5.40.11.2210;}\viewkind4\uc1\pard\sl240\slmult1\lang2058\f0\fs22 Lord, teach us to pray\par or\par The Only Teacher\par 'And it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, that when He ceased, one of His disciples said to Him, Lord, teach us to pray.'--LUKE 11:1\par \par \par \par THE disciples had been with Christ, and seen Him pray. They had learnt to understand something of the connection between His wondrous life in public, and His secret life of prayer. They had learnt to believe in Him as a Master in the art of prayer--none could pray like Him. And so they came to Him with the request, 'Lord, teach us to pray.' And in after years they would have told us that there were few things more wonderful or blessed that He taught them than His lessons on prayer.\par \par And now still it comes to pass, as He is praying in a certain place, that disciples who see Him thus engaged feel the need of repeating the same request, 'Lord, teach us to pray.' As we grow in the Christian life, the thought and the faith of the Beloved Master in His never-failing intercession becomes ever more precious, and the hope of being Like Christ in His intercession gains an attractiveness before unknown. And as we see Him pray, and remember that there is none who can pray like Him, and none who can teach like Him, we feel the petition of the disciples, 'Lord, teach us to pray,' is just what we need. And as we think how all He is and has, how He Himself is our very own, how He is Himself our life, we feel assured that we have but to ask, and He will be delighted to take us up into closer fellowship with Himself, and teach us to pray even as He prays.\par \par Come, my brothers! Shall we not go to the Blessed Master and ask Him to enrol our names too anew in that school which He always keeps open for those who long to continue their studies in the Divine art of prayer and iLVAL 1ntercession? Yes, let us this very day say to the Master, as they did of old, 'Lord, teach us to pray.' As we meditate, we shall find each word of the petition we bring to be full of meaning.\par \par 'Lord, teach us to pray.' Yes, to pray. This is what we need to be taught. Though in its beginnings prayer is so simple that the feeblest child can pray, yet it is at the same time the highest and holiest work to which man can rise. It is fellowship with the Unseen and Most Holy One. The powers of the eternal world have been placed at its disposal. It is the very essence of true religion, the channel of all blessings, the secret of power and life. Not only for ourselves, but for others, for the Church, for the world, it is to prayer that God has given the right to take hold of Him and His strength. It is on prayer that the promises wait for their fulfilment, the kingdom for its coming, the glory of God for its full revelation. And for this blessed work, how slothful and unfit we are. It is only the Spirit of God can enable us to do it aright. How speedily we are deceived into a resting in the form, while the power is wanting. Our early training, the teaching of the Church, the influence of habit, the stirring of the emotions--how easily these lead to prayer which has no spiritual power, and avails but little. True prayer, that takes hold of God's strength, that availeth much, to which the gates of heaven are really opened wide--who would not cry, Oh for some one to teach me thus to pray?\par \par Jesus has opened a school, in which He trains His redeemed ones, who specially desire it, to have power in prayer. Shall we not enter it with the petition, Lord! it is just this we need to be taught! O teach us to pray.\par \par 'Lord, teach us to pray.' Yes, us, Lord. We have read in They Word with what power Thy believing people of old used to pray, and what mighty wonders were done in answer to their prayers. And if this took place under the Old Covenant, in the time of preparatiLVAL 2on, how much more wilt Thou not now, in these days of fulfilment, give Thy people this sure sign of Thy presence in their midst. We have heard the promises given to Thine apostles of the power of prayer in Thy name, and have seen how gloriously they experienced their truth: we know for certain, they can become true to us too. We hear continually even in these days what glorious tokens of Thy power Thou dost still give to those who trust Thee fully. Lord! these all are men of like passions with ourselves; teach us to pray so too. The promises are for us, the powers and gifts of the heavenly world are for us. O teach us to pray so that we may receive abundantly. To us too Thou hast entrusted Thy work, on our prayer too the coming of Thy kingdom depends, in our prayer too Thou canst glorify Thy name; 'Lord teach us to pray.' Yes, us, Lord; we offer ourselves as learners; we would indeed be taught of Thee. 'Lord, teach us to pray.'\par \par 'Lord, teach us to pray.' Yes, we feel the need now of being taught to pray. At first there is no work appears so simple; later on, none that is more difficult; and the confession is forced from us: We know not how to pray as we ought. It is true we have God's Word, with its clear and sure promises; but sin has so darkened our mind, that we know not always how to apply the word. In spiritual things we do not always seek the most needful things, or fail in praying according to the law of the sanctuary. In temporal things we are still less able to avail ourselves of the wonderful liberty our Father has given us to ask what we need. And even when we know what to ask, how much there is still needed to make prayer acceptable. It must be to the glory of God, in full surrender to His will, in full assurance of faith, in the name of Jesus, and with a perseverance that, if need be, refuses to be denied. All this must be learned. It can only be learned in the school of much prayer, for practice makes perfect. Amid the painful consciousness of ignorance LVAL 3and unworthiness, in the struggle between believing and doubting, the heavenly art of effectual prayer is learnt. Because, even when we do not remember it, there is One, the Beginner and Finisher of faith and prayer, who watches over our praying, and sees to it that in all who trust Him for it their education in the school of prayer shall be carried on to perfection. Let but the deep undertone of all our prayer be the teachableness that comes from a sense of ignorance, and from faith in Him as a perfect teacher, and we may be sure we shall be taught, we shall learn to pray in power. Yes, we may depend upon it, He teaches to pray.\par \par 'Lord, teach us to pray.' None can teach like Jesus, none but Jesus; therefore we call on Him, 'LORD, teach us to pray.' A pupil needs a teacher, who knows his work, who has the gift of teaching, who in patience and love will descend to the pupil's needs. Blessed be God! Jesus is all this and much more. He knows what prayer is. It is Jesus, praying Himself, who teaches to pray. He knows what prayer is. He learned it amid the trials and tears of His earthly life. In heaven it is still His beloved work: His life there is prayer. Nothing delights Him more than to find those whom He can take with Him into the Father's presence, whom He can clothe with power to pray down God's blessing on those around them, whom He can train to be His fellow-workers in the intercession by which the kingdom is to be revealed on earth. He knows how to teach. Now by the urgency of felt need, then by the confidence with which joy inspires. Here by the teaching of the Word, there by the testimony of another believer who knows what it is to have prayer heard. By His Holy Spirit, He has access to our heart, and teaches us to pray by showing us the sin that hinders the prayer, or giving us the assurance that we please God. He teaches, by giving not only thoughts of what to ask or how to ask, but by breathing within us the very spirit of prayer, by living within us as the LVAL 4Great Intercessor. We may indeed and most joyfully say, 'Who teacheth like Him?' Jesus never taught His disciples how to preach, only how to pray. He did not speak much of what was needed to preach well, but much of praying well. To know how to speak to God is more than knowing how to speak to man. Not power with men, but power with God is the first thing. Jesus loves to teach us how to pray.\par \par What think you, my beloved fellow-disciples! would it not be just what we need, to ask the Master for a month to give us a course of special lessons on the art of prayer? As we meditate on the words He spake on earth, let us yield ourselves to His teaching in the fullest confidence that, with such a teacher, we shall make progress. Let us take time not only to meditate, but to pray, to tarry at the foot of the throne, and be trained to the work of intercession. Let us do so in the assurance that amidst our stammerings and fears He is carrying on His work most beautifully. He will breathe His own life, which is all prayer, into us. As He makes us partakers of His righteousness and His life, He will of His intercession. too. As the members of His body, as a holy priesthood, we shall take part in His priestly work of pleading and prevailing with God for men. Yes, let us most joyfully say, ignorant and feeble though we be, 'Lord, teach us to pray.'\par \par \par \par 'LORD, TEACH US TO PRAY.'\par \par -----0-----\par \par \par \par Blessed Lord! who ever livest to pray, Thou canst teach me too to pray, me too to live ever to pray. In this Thou lovest to make me share Thy glory in heaven, that I should pray without ceasing, and ever stand as a priest in the presence of my God.\par \par Lord Jesus! I ask Thee this day to enrol my name among those who confess that they know not how to pray as they ought, and specially ask Thee for a course of teaching in prayer. Lord! teach me to tarry with Thee in the school, and give Thee time to train me. May a deep sense of my ignoranceLVALBs Jesus, that dark object appears, that dreaded form. It is our blessed Lord Himself. And, dear friends, the Master's object, whether it be by affliction or otherwise, is to prepare for receiving the presence of Christ, and through it all Jesus speaks, "It is I; be not afraid." The presence of Christ revealed! I want to tell you that the Son of God, oh believer, is longing to reveal Himself to you. Listen! Listen! LISTEN! Is there any longing heart? Jesus says, "Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid."\par \par Oh, beloved; God has given us Christ. And does God want me to have Christ every moment? Without doubt. God wants the presence of Christ to be the joy of every hour of my life, and, if there is one thing sure, Christ can reveal Himself to me every moment. Are you willing to come and claim this privilege? He can reveal Himself. I cannot reveal Him to you; you cannot grasp Him; but He can shine into your heart. How can I see the sunlight tomorrow morning, if I am spared? The sunlight will reveal itself. How can I know Christ? Christ can reveal Himself. And, ere I go further, I pray you to set your heart upon this, and to offer the humble pra, of the wonderful privilege and power of prayer, of the need of the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of prayer, lead me to cast away my thoughts of what I think I know, and make me kneel before Thee in true teachableness and poverty of spirit.\par \par And fill me, Lord, with the confidence that with such a teacher as Thou art I shall learn to pray. In the assurance that I have as my teacher, Jesus who is ever praying to the Father, and by His prayer rules the destinies of His Church and the world, I will not be afraid. As much as I need to know of the mysteries of the prayer-world, Thou wilt unfold for me. And when I may not know, Thou wilt teach me to be strong in faith, giving glory to God.\par Blessed Lord! Thou wilt not put to shame Thy scholar who trusts Thee, nor, by Thy grace, would he Thee either. Amen.\par \par \par \pard\cf1\par } LVAL 6{\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252\deff0{\fonttbl{\f0\fnil\fcharset0 Georgia;}} {\colortbl ;\red0\green0\blue0;} {\*\generator Riched20 5.40.11.2210;}\viewkind4\uc1\pard\sl240\slmult1\lang2058\f0\fs22 In Spirit and Truth\par or\par The True Worshippers\par \par 'The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth: for such doth the Father seek to be His worshippers. God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth.'--JOHN 4:23-24.\par \par \par \par THESE words of Jesus to the woman of Samaria are His first recorded teaching on the subject of prayer. They give us some wonderful first glimpses into the world of prayer. The Father seeks worshippers: our worship satisfies His loving heart and is a joy to Him. He seeks true worshippers, but finds many not such as He would have them. True worship is that which is in spirit and truth. The Son has come to open the way for this worship in spirit and in truth, and teach it us. And so one of our first lessons in the school of prayer must be to understand what it is to pray in spirit and in truth, and to know how we can attain to it.\par \par To the woman of Samaria our Lord spoke of a threefold worship. There is first, the ignorant worship of the Samaritans: 'Ye worship that which ye know not.' The second, the intelligent worship of the Jew, having the true knowledge of God: 'We worship that which we know; for salvation is of the Jews.' And then the new, the spiritual worship which He Himself has come to introduce: 'The hour is coming, and is now, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth.' From the connection it is evident that the words 'in spirit and truth' do not mean, as if often thought, earnestly, from the heart, in sincerity. The Samaritans had the five books of Moses and some knowledge of God; there was doubtless more than one among them who honestly and earnestly sought God in prayer. The Jews had the true full revelationLVAL 7 of God in His word, as thus far given; there were among them godly men, who called upon God with their whole heart. And yet not 'in spirit and truth,' in the full meaning of the words. Jesus says, 'The hour is coming, and now is;' it is only in and through Him that the worship of God will be in spirit and truth.\par \par Among Christians one still finds the three classes of worshippers. Some who in their ignorance hardly know what they ask: they pray earnestly, and yet receive but little. Others there are, who have more correct knowledge, who try to pray with all their mind and heart, and often pray most earnestly, and yet do not attain to the full blessedness of worship in spirit and truth. It is into this third class we must ask our Lord Jesus to take us; we must be taught of Him how to worship in spirit and truth. This alone is spiritual worship; this makes us worshippers such as the Father seeks. In prayer everything will depend on our understanding well and practising the worship in spirit and truth.\par \par 'God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him, must worship Him in spirit and truth.' The first thought suggested here by the Master is that there must be harmony between God and His worshippers; such as God is, must His worship be. This is according to a principle which prevails throughout the universe: we look for correspondence between an object and the organ to which it reveals or yields itself. The eye has an inner fitness for the light, the ear for sound. The man who would truly worship God, would find and know and possess and enjoy God, must be in harmony with Him, must have the capacity for receiving Him. Because God is Spirit, we must worship in spirit. As God is, so His worshipper.\par \par And what does this mean? The woman had asked our Lord whether Samaria or Jerusalem was the true place of worship. He answers that henceforth worship is no longer to be limited to a certain place: 'Woman, believe Me, the hour cometh, when neither in this mountain, nor iLVAL 8n Jerusalem, shall ye worship the Father.' As God is Spirit, not bound by space or time, but in His infinite perfection always and everywhere the same, so His worship would henceforth no longer be confined by place or form, but spiritual as God Himself is spiritual. A lesson of deep importance. How much our Christianity suffers from this, that it is confined to certain times and places. A man, who seeks to pray earnestly in the church or in the closet, spends the greater part of the week or the day in a spirit entirely at variance with that in which he prayed. His worship was the work of a fixed place or hour, not of his whole being. God is a Spirit: He is the Everlasting and Unchangeable One; what He is, He is always and in truth. Our worship must even so be in spirit and truth: His worship must be the spirit of our life; our life must be worship in spirit as God is Spirit.\par \par 'God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth.' The second thought that comes to us is that the worship in the spirit must come from God Himself. God is Spirit: He alone has Spirit to give. It was for this He sent His Son, to fit us for such spiritual worship, by giving us the Holy Spirit. It is of His own work that Jesus speaks when He says twice, 'The hour cometh,' and then adds, 'and is now.' He came to baptize with the Holy Spirit; the Spirit could not stream forth till He was glorified (John i. 33, vii. 37, 38, xvi. 7). It was when He had made an end of sin, and entering into the Holiest of all with His blood, had there on our behalf received the Holy Spirit (Acts ii. 33), that He could send Him down to us as the Spirit of the Father. It was when Christ had redeemed us, and we in Him had received the position of children, that the Father sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts to cry, 'Abba, Father.' The worship in spirit is the worship of the Father in the Spirit of Christ , the Spirit of Sonship.\par \par This is the reason why Jesus here uses tLVAL 9he name of Father. We never find one of the Old Testament saints personally appropriate the name of child or call God his Father. The worship of the Father is only possible to those to whom the Spirit of the Son has been given. The worship in spirit is only possible to those to whom the Son has revealed the Father, and who have received the spirit of Sonship. It is only Christ who opens the way and teaches the worship in spirit.\par \par And in truth. That does not only mean, in sincerity. Nor does it only signify, in accordance with the truth of God's Word. The expression is one of deep and Divine meaning. Jesus is 'the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.' 'The law was given by Moses; grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.' Jesus says, 'I am the truth and the life.' In the Old Testament all was shadow and promise; Jesus brought and gives the reality, the substance, of things hoped for. In Him the blessings and powers of the eternal life are our actual possession and experience. Jesus is full of grace and truth; the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth; through Him the grace that is in Jesus is ours in deed and truth, a positive communication out of the Divine life. And so worship in spirit is worship in truth; actual living fellowship with God, a real correspondence and harmony between the Father, who is a Spirit, and the child praying in the spirit.\par \par What Jesus said to the woman of Samaria, she could not at once understand. Pentecost was needed to reveal its full meaning. We are hardly prepared at our first entrance into the school of prayer to grasp such teaching. We shall understand it better later on. Let us only begin and take the lesson as He gives it. We are carnal and cannot bring God the worship He seeks. But Jesus came to give the Spirit: He has given Him to us. Let the disposition in which we set ourselves to pray be what Christ's words have taught us. Let there be the deep confession of our inability to bring God the worship that is p2LVAL>:it, who alone can glorify Christ. I may try toleasing to Him; the childlike teachableness that waits on Him to instruct us; the simple faith that yields itself to the breathing of the Spirit. Above all, let us hold fast the blessed truth--we shall find that the Lord has more to say to us about it--that the knowledge of the Fatherhood of God, the revelation of His infinite Fatherliness in our hearts, the faith in the infinite love that gives us His Son and His Spirit to make us children, is indeed the secret of prayer in spirit and truth. This is the new and living way Christ opened up for us. To have Christ the Son, and the Spirit of the Son, dwelling within us, and revealing the Father, this makes us true, spiritual worshippers.\par \par \par \par 'LORD, TEACH US TO PRAY.'\par \par -----0-----\par \par \par \par Blessed Lord! I adore the love with which Thou didst teach a woman, who had refused Thee a cup of water, what the worship of God must be. I rejoice in the assurance that Thou wilt no less now instruct Thy disciple, who comes to Thee with a heart that longs to pray in spirit and in truth. O my Holy Master! do teach me this blessed secret.\par Teach me that the worship in spirit and truth is not of man, but only comes from Thee; that it is not only a thing of times and seasons, but the outflowing of a life in Thee. Teach me to draw near to God in prayer under the deep impression of my ignorance and my having nothing in myself to offer Him, and at the same time of the provision Thou, my Saviour, makest for the Spirit's breathing in my childlike stammerings. I do bless Thee that in Thee I am a child, and have a child's liberty of access; that in Thee I have the spirit of Sonship and of worship in truth. Teach me, above all, Blessed Son of the Father, how it is the revelation of the Father that gives confidence in prayer; and let the infinite Fatherliness of God's Heart be my joy and strength for a life of prayer and of worship. Amen.\par \par \pard\cf1\par } LVAL ;{\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252\deff0{\fonttbl{\f0\fnil\fcharset0 Georgia;}} {\colortbl ;\red0\green0\blue0;} {\*\generator Riched20 5.40.11.2210;}\viewkind4\uc1\pard\sl240\slmult1\lang2058\f0\fs22 Third Lesson\par Pray to The Father which is in secret\par or\par Alone with God\par \par \par \par \lquote But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thine inner chamber, and having shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret shall recompense thee'--MATTHEW 6:6\par \par AFTER Jesus had called His first disciples, He gave them their first public teaching in the Sermon on the Mount. He there expounded to them the kingdom of God, its laws and its life. In that kingdom God is not only King, but Father, He not only gives all, but is Himself all. In the knowledge and fellowship of Him alone is its blessedness. Hence it came as a matter of course that the revelation of prayer and the prayer-life was a part of His teaching concerning the New Kingdom He came to set up. Moses gave neither command nor regulation with regard to prayer: even the prophets say little directly of the duty of prayer; it is Christ who teaches to pray.\par \par And the first thing the Lord teaches His disciples is that they must have a secret place for prayer; every one must have some solitary spot where he can be alone with his God. Every teacher must have a schoolroom. We have learnt to know and accept Jesus as our only teacher in the school of prayer. He has already taught us at Samaria that worship is no longer confined to times and places; that worship, spiritual true worship, is a thing of the spirit and the life; the whole man must in his whole life be worship in spirit and truth. And yet He wants each one to choose for himself the fixed spot where He can daily meet him. That inner chamber, that solitary place, is Jesus' schoolroom. That spot may be anywhere; that spot may change from day to day if we have to change our abode; but that secret place there must be, with tLVAL <he quiet time in which the pupil places himself in the Master's presence, to be by Him prepared to worship the Father. There alone, but there most surely, Jesus comes to us to teach us to pray.\par \par A teacher is always anxious that his schoolroom should be bright and attractive, filled with the light and air of heaven, a place where pupils long to come, and love to stay. In His first words on prayer in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus seeks to set the inner chamber before us in its most attractive light. If we listen carefully, we soon notice what the chief thing is He has to tell us of our tarrying there. Three times He uses the name of Father: 'Pray to thy Father;' 'Thy Father shall recompense thee;' 'Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of.' The first thing in closet-prayer is: I must meet my Father. The light that shines in the closet must be: the light of the Father's countenance. The fresh air from heaven with which Jesus would have it filled, the atmosphere in which I am to breathe and pray, is: God's Father-love, God's infinite Fatherliness. Thus each thought or petition we breathe out will be simple, hearty, childlike trust in the Father. This is how the Master teaches us to pray: He brings us into the Father's living presence. What we pray there must avail. Let us listen carefully to hear what the Lord has to say to us.\par \par First, 'Pray to thy Father which is in secret.' God is a God who hides Himself to the carnal eye. As long as in our worship of God we are chiefly occupied with our own thoughts and exercises, we shall not meet Him who is a Spirit, the unseen One. But to the man who withdraws himself from all that is of the world and man, and prepares to wait upon God alone, the Father will reveal Himself. As he forsakes and gives up and shuts out the world, and the life of the world, and surrenders himself to be led of Christ into the secret of God's presence, the light of the Father's love will rise upon him. The secrecy of the inner chamber aLVAL =nd the closed door, the entire separation from all around us, is an image of, and so a help to that inner spiritual sanctuary, the secret of God's tabernacle, within the veil, where our spirit truly comes into contact with the Invisible One. And so we are taught, at the very outset of our search after the secret of effectual prayer, to remember that it is in the inner chamber, where we are alone with the Father, that we shall learn to pray aright. The Father is in secret: in these words Jesus teaches us where He is waiting us, where He is always to be found. Christians often complain that private prayer is not what it should be. They feel weak and sinful, the heart is cold and dark; it is as if they have so little to pray, and in that little no faith or joy. They are discouraged and kept from prayer by the thought that they cannot come to the Father as they ought or as they wish. Child of God! listen to your Teacher. He tells you that when you go to private prayer your first thought must be: The Father is in secret, the Father waits me there. Just because your heart is cold and prayerless, get you into the presence of the loving Father. As a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth you. Do not be thinking of how little you have to bring God, but of how much He wants to give you. Just place yourself before, and look up into, His face; think of His love, His wonderful, tender, pitying love. Just tell Him how sinful and cold and dark all is: it is the Father's loving heart will give light and warmth to yours. O do what Jesus says: Just shut the door, and pray to thy Father which is in secret. Is it not wonderful? to be able to go alone with God, the infinite God. And then to look up and say: My Father!\par \par 'And thy Father, which seeth in secret, will recompense thee.' Here Jesus assures us that secret prayer cannot be fruitless: its blessing will show itself in our life. We have but in secret, alone with God, to entrust our life before men to Him; He will rewarLVAL >d us openly; He will see to it that the answer to prayer be made manifest in His blessing upon us. Our Lord would thus teach us that as infinite Fatherliness and Faithfulness is that with which God meets us in secret, so on our part there should be the childlike simplicity of faith, the confidence that our prayer does bring down a blessing. 'He that cometh to God must believe that He is a rewarder of them that seek Him.' Not on the strong or the fervent feeling with which I pray does the blessing of the closet depend, but upon the love and the power of the Father to whom I there entrust my needs. And therefore the Master has but one desire: Remember your Father is, and sees and hears in secret; go there and stay there, and go again from there in the confidence: He will recompense. Trust Him for it; depend upon Him: prayer to the Father cannot be vain; He will reward you openly.\par \par Still further to confirm this faith in the Father-love of God, Christ speaks a third word: 'Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask Him.' At first sight it might appear as if this thought made prayer less needful: God knows far better than we what we need. But as we get a deeper insight into what prayer really is, this truth will help much to strengthen our faith. It will teach us that we do not need, as the heathen, with the multitude and urgency of our words, to compel an unwilling God to listen to us. It will lead to a holy thoughtfulness and silence in prayer as it suggests the question: Does my Father really know that I need this? It will, when once we have been led by the Spirit to the certainty that our request is indeed something that, according to the Word, we do need for God's glory, give us wonderful confidence to say, My Father knows I need it and must have it. And if there be any delay in the answer, it will teach us in quiet perseverance to hold on: FATHER! THOU KNOWEST I need it. O the blessed liberty and simplicity of a child that Christ our Teacher would LVAL ?fain cultivate in us, as we draw near to God: let us look up to the Father until His Spirit works it in us. Let us sometimes in our prayers, when we are in danger of being so occupied with our fervent, urgent petitions, as to forget that the Father knows and hears, let us hold still and just quietly say: My Father sees, my Father hears, my Father knows; it will help our faith to take the answer, and to say: We know that we have the petitions we have asked of Him.\par \par And now, all ye who have anew entered the school of Christ to be taught to pray, take these lessons, practise them, and trust Him to perfect you in them. Dwell much in the inner chamber, with the door shut--shut in from men, shut up with God; it is there the Father waits you, it is there Jesus will teach you to pray. To be alone in secret with THE FATHER: this be your highest joy. To be assured that THE FATHER will openly reward the secret prayer, so that it cannot remain unblessed: this be your strength day by day. And to know that THE FATHER knows that you need what you ask; this be your liberty to bring every need, in the assurance that your God will supply it according to His riches in Glory in Christ Jesus.\par \par \par \par 'LORD, TEACH US TO PRAY.'\par \par -----0-----\par \par \par \par Blessed Saviour! with my whole heart I do bless Thee for the appointment of the inner chamber, as the school where Thou meetest each of Thy pupils alone, and revealest to him the Father. O my Lord! strengthen my faith so in the Father's tender love and kindness, that as often as I feel sinful or troubled, the first instinctive thought may be to go where I know the Father waits me, and where prayer never can go unblessed. Let the thought that He knows my need before I ask, bring me, in great restfulness of faith, to trust that He will give what His child requires. O let the place of secret prayer become to me the most beloved spot of earth.\par \par And, Lord! hear me as I pray that Thou wouldest everywhereLVALVanent gift, an attribute of the new nature. The power to do is not a permanent gift, but must be received each moment from the Holy Spirit. It is the man who is conscious of his own weakness as a believer who will learn that by the Holy Spirit he can live a holy life. This man is on the brink of that great deliverance; the way has been prepared for the glorious eighth chapter. I now ask this solemn question: Where are you living? With you, is it, "0 wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me? " with now and then a little experience of the power of the Holy Spirit? Or is it, "I thank God through Jesus Christ! The law of the Spirit hath set me free from the law of sin and of death"?\par \par What the Holy Spirit does is to give the victory. "If ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live" (\cf1\ul Rom_8:13\cf0\ulnone ). It is the Holy Spirit who does this-the third Person of the Godhead. It is He who, when the heart is opened wide tces at once; come bless the closets of Thy believing people. Let Thy wonderful revelation of a Father's tenderness free all young Christians from every thought of secret prayer as a duty or a burden, and lead them to regard it as the highest privilege of their life, a joy and a blessing. Bring back all who are discouraged, because they cannot find ought to bring Thee in prayer. O give them to understand that they have only to come with their emptiness to Him who has all to give, and delights to do it. Not, what they have to bring the Father, but what the Father waits to give them, be their one thought.\par And bless especially the inner chamber of all Thy serv