The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry. Psalm 34:15.
When Jesus was upon earth, and walked a man among the children of humanity, He prayed, and oh, how earnest were His prayers! How often He spent the whole night upon the damp, cold ground, in agonizing supplication! And yet He was the beloved and sinless Son of God. If Jesus felt the necessity of communion with His Father and manifested so much earnestness in calling upon Him, how much more should we, whom He has called to be heirs of salvation, who are subject to the fiery temptations of the wily foe and dependent upon divine grace for strength to overcome, have our whole souls stirred to wrestle with God....
Satan is ever ready to insinuate that prayer is a mere form and avails us nothing. He cannot bear to have his powerful rival appealed to. At the sound of fervent prayer, the hosts of darkness tremble. Fearing that their captives may escape, they form a wall around them, that Heaven's light may not reach their souls. But if in their distress and helplessness they look to Jesus, pleading the merits of His blood, their compassionate Redeemer listens to the earnest, persevering prayer of faith and sends to their deliverance a reinforcement of angels that excel in strength. And when these angels, all-powerful, clothed with the armory of heaven, come to the help of the fainting, pursued souls, the angels of darkness fall back, well knowing that their battle is lost, and that more souls are escaping from the power of their influence....
If you expect salvation, you must pray. Take time. Be not hurried and careless in your prayers. Intercede with God to work in you a thorough reformation, that the fruits of the Spirit may dwell in you, and that, by your godly life, you may shine as a light in the world....
Take time to pray. And as you pray, believe that God hears you; have faith mixed with your prayers. Let faith take hold of the blessing, and it is yours....
Every petition that is offered to God in faith and with a true heart will be answered. Such prayer is never lost; but to claim that it will always be answered in the very way and for the particular thing that we desire is presumption. God is too wise to err and too good to withhold any good thing from them that walk uprightly.—Signs of the Times, November 18, 1886.
From From the Heart - Page 26
From the Heart