The wonders of prayer : $b A record of well authenticated and wonderful answers to prayer — John Shaqi
The wonders of prayer : $b A record of well authenticated and wonderful answers to prayer
Religion
The wonders of prayer : $b A record of well authenticated and wonderful answers to prayer
Prayer
So in the very constitution of man's being there is the highest
reasonableness in prayer. And, if the position of man in his relation to
the earth he inhabits is recognized and understood, there is no
unreasonableness in a God-fearing man looking to God for help and
deliverance under any and all circumstances, in all the vicissitudes of
life. The earth was _made_ for man. One has said "there is nothing great
in the world but man; and there is nothing great in man but his soul."
With this in view, how absurd to talk about "fixed laws" and
"unchangeable order," in a way to keep man in his trouble from God. It
is all the twaddle of the conceit of man setting himself up to judge and
limit his maker. "To whom then will ye liken Me, or shall I be equal?
saith the Holy One." The Creator is greater than his creation; the law
giver is supreme over all law. He created the earth that it might be
inhabited by man, and He governs the earth in subordination to the
interests, the eternal and spiritual welfare of the race of immortal
beings that are here being prepared for glory and immortality.
Laws, indeed, are fixed in their operation and results as subserving the
highest good in the training and the disciplining of the race, giving
them hope in their labor and sure expectation of fruit from their toil.
But as set in operation for _man's good_, so, in an exigency that may
make necessary their suspension, to secure his deliverance from peril
and bring man back to the recognition of the personal God, as above,
law, is it unreasonable to believe that God has power thus to suspend or
overrule his own arrangements? A wise father will govern his children by
rules as securing their best good. But he will retain in his power the
suspending of those rules when special occasions arise, when the object
for which they exist can be better secured by their suspension. Shall
not the living God have the same right?
So much as to the reflections suggested by the dogmas of natural
religion. They sustain in reason our faith in prayer. The basis,
however, of our faith rests upon the unchanging and unchangeable
revelation of God, and not upon man's philosophy. Jesus taught his
disciples to pray, saying, "Our Father which art in Heaven." As
Christians, this is our authority for prayer. In the words, "OUR
FATHER," our Blessed Lord has given us the substance of all that can be
said, as to _the privilege of prayer, what to pray for_, and _how to
pray_. There can be no loftier exercise of soul ever given to created
intelligence than to come into conscious contact with the living God,
and be able to say "_My_ Father."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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