Bible Review V15: October 1916 - March 1918 - Iapsop.com

1917 KNOWING con 279
the promise, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and
ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you"
(Matt. vii. 7); "Him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out" (John vi. 37). Thus we are introduced to One
knowing, feeling, having had experience like our own,
yet so far transcending our highest ideals, that we can
form no idea of his glory save by the revelations of the
past ani by the gradual unfoldment of our own individual
growth.
If it was necessary that God
come down to see if
Sodom was altogether as reported to him, the question
or knows
may arise as to whether he hears our prayers
our needs. The apostle has well asked, "Are they not
all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them
who shall be heirs of salvation?" (Heb. i. 14). Yes,
there are millions of ministering _angels, messengers,
who go and come between man and God. All our physical
and mental states are carefully watched, and every
prayer uttered from the soul is borne to the Source and
Center of all the government and power of our system;
and, consequently, our prayers are not in vain.
But James (iv. 3) says, "Ye ask, and recieve not, because
ye ask amiss." The apostle had here a welldefined
idea of the cause of one's
prayers not being
answered. If one-thousandth part of the wordy, so~
called prayers from the pulpits of our day were answered,
the world would be thrown into confusion. In order to
be answered, prayer must arise from the consciousness of
the spirit within of our needs, and then, as St. Paul
says, "The Spirit itself maketh intercession for us vsith
groanings which cannot be uttered" (Romans viii. 26).
Again, altho hard for men to believe, yet it is true,
that there are many things which we need most sadly
and for which we pray most earnestly, and yet we would
not receive those very things were they given us; we are