Quiet Talks with World WinnersGordon, S. D. (Samuel Dickey)
Religion
Quiet Talks with World Winners
Gordon, S. D. (Samuel Dickey)
Christian life
Then prayer is <i>a life</i>. The life is what you are in yourself. It is not
the mere span of years you live through. Your thoughts and loves, your
heart's ambitions and gripping purposes, the things you will to do, and to
be--that is your life. That exerts an enormous influence upon the circle
in which you live, and upon the world.
If underneath all else that driving purpose, that warm, intense
love-power, that yearning desire, is Godward, and manward, and world-ward,
that becomes a prayer, a continual prayer. You are not thinking of it that
way. But that is your life, and that life is a prayer. Its influence
against the evil one and for God is enormous.
That is a prayer unceasing, as long and as strong as your life itself.
Satan fears it. It hinders him and thwarts him every day. The fragrant
incense from the censer of your life rises up before the throne of God
continually, and affects the events on the earth.[28]
And then prayer is <i>a person</i>. That is to say, you yourself may be a
prayer, a walking prayer offered up in Jesus' name. Your presence will
affect the evil one, and change events, and help God in His plans. You may
be so allied with Jesus in the simple gripping purpose of your heart that
you yourself, where you are, by your mere presence, will be recognized by
evil spirits, and by the Master Himself as a mighty power for God.
Your presence disturbs the evil one's plan. It has an influence upon those
you meet. It is helping God. The whole effect of your presence is
precisely the same as a prayer. You are a prayer yourself, though
unconsciously. The whole trend of your life says, "Thy Kingdom come; Thy
will be done on earth as in heaven."
A few years ago President Roosevelt's daughter was a member of the Taft
party that visited parts of the Orient. She did not go as the President's
daughter, of course. There could be no official significance attached to
her presence. We Americans can understand better than some others that she
went simply as a young woman eager to see Japan and China, not as the
President's daughter.
But everywhere she went in the Orient she was treated not merely as a
member of the party, but as the daughter of the President of the United
States. Presents were made to her, receptions tendered, and deference
shown, because of her personal relation to her father. To the Orientals
her presence stood for the head of our Government. They treated her in
relation to him.
Even so it is with us Christians. The evil one doesn't think of you and
me for ourselves simply. He thinks of us in relation to the Jesus, who is
his Victor. We stand to him down here for Jesus. He fears us as he fears
Jesus. That is, he can be made to fear us, by our being true to our Lord.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account