Prevailing Prayer: What Hinders It?Moody, Dwight Lyman
Religion
Prevailing Prayer: What Hinders It?
Moody, Dwight Lyman
Christian life; Prayer -- Christianity
What we want is to get hold of God in prayer. You are not going to
reach the masses by great sermons. We want to “move the Arm that moves
the world.” To do that, we must be clear and right before God. “For if
our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all
things, Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence
toward God; and whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep
His commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.”
Confession.
“No, not despairingly
Come I to Thee;
No, not distrustingly
Bend I the knee;
Sin hath gone over me,
Yet is this still my plea,
Jesus hath died.
“Ah, mine iniquity
Crimson has been;
Infinite, infinite,
Sin upon sin;
Sin of not loving Thee,
Sin of not trusting Thee.
Infinite sin.
“Lord, I confess to Thee
Sadly my sin;
All I am, tell I Thee,
All I have been.
Purge Thou my sin away,
Wash Thou my soul this day;
Lord, make me clean!”
--_Dr. H. Bonar._
CHAPTER IV.
RESTITUTION.
A third element of successful prayer is RESTITUTION. If I have at
any time taken what does not belong to me, and am not willing to
make restitution, my prayers will not go very far toward heaven. It
is a singular thing, but I have never touched on this subject in my
addresses, without hearing of immediate results. A man once told me
that I would not need to dwell on this point at a meeting I was about
to address, as probably there would be no one present that would need
to make restitution. But I think if the Spirit of God searches our
hearts, we shall most of us find a good many things have to be done
that we never thought of before.
After Zaccheus met with Christ, things looked altogether different.
I venture to say that the idea of making restitution never entered
into his mind before. He thought, probably, that morning that he was a
perfectly honest man. But when the Lord came and spoke to him, he saw
himself in an altogether different light. Notice how short his speech
was. The only thing put on record that he said was this: “Behold, Lord,
the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken anything
from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.” A short
speech; but how the words have come ringing down through the ages!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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