Covenanter Witness Vol. 54 - Rparchives.org

spirit"
again."
feated. And on this field of combat God depends on
the Christian to win the battle for Him. The battle is
for the souls of men and God has decreed that man
shall be a free agent, his soul cannot be coerced. But
man is not expected, in fact is totally unable, to win
the battle alone. Knocking at the door of his soul,
waiting to be invited in, is the greatest power in the
universe, God's Holy Spirit. A man or woman filled
with that spirit and completely and fully controlled
by that spirit, is irresistible. Nothing can stop him.
Five Power Outlets
There is just one source of power in our lives,
God's Holy Spirit, but there are five power outlets by
which He can work through us through our lives,
what we are ; through our lips, what we say ; through
our service, what we do; through our money, what
we give; through our prayer, what we claim in
Christ's name. Now the value of a life is limited to
one spot at a time ; of
words, to the life back of them ;
of service, by time and distance; of money, by the
motive for giving ; but prayer has no limits, the uni
verse is its field of action.
Prayer on the part of the Christian is essential
to the working out of God's plan of salvation. God
will do as the result of the praying of the humblest
believer what otherwise He, the Omnipotent, could
not do. Startling, but those are Christ's very words,
"that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in My
name He may do it."
(John 15:16). God, although
all-powerful, must have our co-operation in this fate
ful combat, because He has willed that man shall
fight the battle and win the world for Christ. Our
prayer then is God's opportunity to get into the
world that would shut Him out so that there He may,
through us, contend with the forces of Satan.
Radio Is a Clue
The radio gives us a little clue as to the way
prayer works. Each devout believer is both a re
ceiving and a sending set. As a receiver he can, al
ways through the action of the Holy Spirit, tune in
on God's great sending station in heaven and receive
all the energy he can or will accept. And then, in turn
he can be a transmitting station, directing his power
beam to any quarter of the globe. And where that
beam hits, a telling blow has been struck against the
concealed foe, the only kind of offense, repeated of
ten enough and with enough power, inevitably puts
him to rout.
Or another illustration of prayer is the main
switchboard of a city's electrical system. Into that
center comes the power from the generating plant.
can direct
The operator, by merely flicking switches,
that power wherever he chooses over the outgoing
lines. And prayer, like electricity, is power, and
prayer does get results. Again witness Elijah. But
there are myriads of modern instances, things hap
pening around us daily, for which prayer is the only
possible explanation.
Three Phases
Prayer is intercourse with God and consists of
three distinct phases. The first is communion, simply
being tuned in, being on good and familiar terms with
God through the blood of the cross shed for our sins.
This communion is the basis of all prayer, it is the
essential breath of the Christian's life.
18
The second phase is petition, asking for what
we need. That includes everything, for all good things
are from God. With our station tuned in on God,
there is and should be a constant, almost uncon
scious, stream of petitions going up all the time,
and a return stream of answers and power coming
back. "Praying always with all prayer and supplica
tion in the (Ephesians 6:18).
The third phase of prayer is intercession. True
prayer never stops with oneself, it is constantly
reaching out for others. Communion and petition
charge the battery of our lives, intercession turns
that power into useful work in the whole world about
us. And those directional beams travel with the speed
of thought. Like radar they can instantly be directed
where we will to a sick bed in a a loved
hospital^to
one far away, to a struggling missionary in Liberia,
or Japan, or China, or on the Bowery, to a President
beset on every side to wherever the battle is the
fiercest and the help most needed.
Six Basic Facts
There are six basic facts underlying prayer
which should be noted. First The earth is the
Lord's, His by creation and sovereign rule. Second
God gave the dominion of the earth to man. Third
Man, by his sin of disobedience to God and
obedience to Satan, lost that dominion and
automatically turned it over to the devil. Fourth
The kingship or rulership of the earth, which was
given to man, now belongs to Satan. Fifth Since
man, in the person of Adam, the representative of all
mankind, gave the earth away, God, to get it back,
must have another representative man. And the only
man capable of doing that, of waging successful war
against the arch enemy, was the God-Man, Jesus
Christ. Sixth For 33 years God's Man and the pre
tender-prince fought a duel on and for the earth, the
most terrific combat ever waged or witnessed. "The
waster prince of subtilty and force" did his best and
his worst, and finally triumphed when God's Man
hung dead upon the Cross. But did he On the third
day Jesus rose triumphant, victorious over Death and
Hell, and Satan knew that he was vanquished.
But Satan refuses to acknowledge his defeat, he
refuses to surrender his dominion until he must, he
has the consent of the vast majority of men to his
control, and he still hopes to make his possession of
the earth permanent.
Strange Sequel
And now comes the strange and glorious sequel
to this battle. What does Christ the victor do "He
has left the conflict open, left the defeated chief on
the field so that He, Christ, may win the whole prodi
gal race back to His Father's home circle But,
before that is accomplished, a great pitched battle,
the last, must be fought on the earth. Apparently
Satan is trying hard to get a Jesus, a representative
man who will stand for him as Jesus stood for God,
and when he finds that man then the great final
battle will be fought.
"Now prayer is this :
a man down here on this
sin-cursed earth, his life in full touch with the Victor,
and contending against the pretender, insistently
claiming that Satan shall yield before Jesus' victory,
step by step, life by life. Jesus is the victor. Satan
knows it and fears Him. He must yield before this
COVENANTER WITNESS