These general points in the type prayer given by Jesus, it is well to remember. God is not to be reached by many words. It is the broken spirit and the contrite heart that call down the love of the Father. Neither will the hollow, selfish prayer please the Father of us all. But as we pray, finding our own words in which to express the desires of our hearts, let us remember the characteristics of the prayer that Jesus gave. It is brief. It is direct. It is sincere. It is unselfish. It expresses a simple, unshakable confidence in the providence of God. {95} Moreover, Jesus prayed often. So should we all. Only then may we hope to live in the presence of God. "O Thou by whom we come to God, The Life, the Truth, the Way! The path of prayer Thyself hath trod; Lord, teach us how to pray." THE REFERENCES Luke 11:1-4. THE QUESTIONS 1. Repeat the Lord's prayer. 2. What prompted Jesus to utter this prayer? 3. What is the difference between the Lord's prayer, and the prayers of the Jews in general? 4. What are the characteristics of Jesus's prayers? 5. Analyze the Lord's prayer. 6. What do we learn to guide us in our own prayers? {96} PICTURE: RIVER JORDAN, PALESTINE {97} XIII PERSISTENCE IN PRAYER [Sidenote: The Lord will answer.] Everyone who has prayed devoutly and sincerely has undoubtedly experienced at times the keenest kind of disappointment because he has not received an immediate answer to his prayer, Perhaps you have yourself prayed sometimes for something that you wanted badly. It was an insistent, an urgent desire. You felt that you could hardly wait even to utter the prayer. Yet, your prayer has remained apparently unanswered. At such times you may have found comfort in this beautiful Sunday School hymn: "Unanswered yet? Tho' when you first presented This one petition at the Father's throne, It seemed you could not wait the time of asking, So urgent was your heart to make it known. Tho' years have passed since then, do not despair; The Lord will answer you, sometime, somewhere." This is a beautiful hope, a sublime faith; and every one of us should cultivate such hope, such faith. Moreover, everyone of us should practice such persistency in prayer as is described by the poet in this hymn. "The prayer your lips have pleaded In agony of tears these many years?" For very often, without question, our prayers fail to move the Father, because they are not urged upon Him, nor are they upheld by that hopeful trust which knows no wavering. Jesus emphasized two points in this connection that we should grapple to our hearts. [Sidenote: Pray often and persistently.]