word, if it be a living power within me, will be a living power with <strong>The</strong>e; what Thy mouth hath spoken Thy hand will perform. Lord! deliver me from the uncircumcised ear. Give me the opened ear <strong>of</strong> the learner, wakened morning <strong>by</strong> morning to hear the Father’s voice. Even as Thou didst only speak what Thou didst hear, may my speaking be the echo <strong>of</strong> Thy speaking to me. ‘When Moses went into the tabernacle to speak with Him, he heard the voice <strong>of</strong> One speaking unto him from <strong>of</strong>f the mercy-seat.’ Lord, may it be so with me too. Let a life and character bearing the one mark, that Thy words abide and are seen in it, be the preparation for the full blessing: ‘Ask whatsoever ye will, and it shall be done unto you.’ Amen.
TWENTY-THIRD LESSON ‘Bear fruit, that the Father may give what ye ask;’ Or, Obedience the Path to Power in <strong>Prayer</strong>. ‘Ye did not choose me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that ye should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should abide: that whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, He may give it you.’— JOHN xv. 16. ‘<strong>The</strong> fervent effectual prayer <strong>of</strong> a righteous man availeth much.’—JAS. v. 16. THE promise <strong>of</strong> the Father’s giving whatsoever we ask is here once again renewed, in such a connection as to show us to whom it is that such wonderful influence in the council chamber <strong>of</strong> the Most High is to be granted. ‘I chose you,’ the Master says, ‘and appointed you that ye should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should abide;’ and then He adds, to the end ‘that whatsoever ye,’ the fruit-bearing ones, ‘shall ask <strong>of</strong> the Father in my name, He may give it you.’ This is nothing but the fuller expression <strong>of</strong> what He had spoken in the words, ‘If ye abide in me.’ He had spoken <strong>of</strong> the object <strong>of</strong> this abiding as the bearing ‘fruit,’ ‘more fruit,’ ‘much fruit;’ in this was God to be glorified, and the mark <strong>of</strong> discipleship seen. No wonder that He now adds, that where the reality <strong>of</strong> the abiding is seen in fruit abounding and abiding, this would be the qualification for praying so as to obtain what we ask. Entire consecration to the fulfillment <strong>of</strong> our calling is the condition <strong>of</strong> effectual prayer, is the key to the unlimited blessings <strong>of</strong> <strong>Christ</strong>’s wonderful prayer-promises. <strong>The</strong>re are <strong>Christ</strong>ians who fear that such a statement is at variance with the doctrine <strong>of</strong> free grace. But surely not <strong>of</strong> free grace rightly understood, nor with so many express statements <strong>of</strong> God’s blessed word. Take the words <strong>of</strong> St. John (1 John iii. 22): ‘Let us love in deed and truth; here<strong>by</strong> shall we assure our heart before Him. And whatsoever we ask, we receive <strong>of</strong> Him, because we keep His commandments, and do the things that are pleasing in His sight.'’ Or take the <strong>of</strong>t-quoted words <strong>of</strong> James: ‘<strong>The</strong> fervent effectual prayer <strong>of</strong> a righteous man availeth much;’ that is, <strong>of</strong> a man <strong>of</strong> whom, according to the definition <strong>of</strong> the Holy Spirit, it can be said, ‘He that doeth righteousness, is righteous even as He is righteous.’ Mark the spirit <strong>of</strong> so many <strong>of</strong> the Psalms, with their confident appeal to the integrity and righteousness <strong>of</strong> the supplicant. <strong>In</strong> Ps. xviii, David says: ‘<strong>The</strong> Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness <strong>of</strong> my hands hath He recompensed me. . . . I was upright before Him, and I kept myself from mine iniquity: therefore hath the Lord recompensed me according to my righteousness.’ (Ps. xviii. 20-26. See also Ps. vii. 3- 5, xv. 1, 2, xviii. 3, 6, xxvi. 1-6, cxix. 121, 153.) If we carefully consider such utterances in the light <strong>of</strong> the New Testament, we shall find them in perfect harmony with the explicit teaching <strong>of</strong> the Savior's parting words: ‘If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love;’ ‘Ye are my friends if ye do what I command you.’ <strong>The</strong> word is indeed meant literally: ‘I appointed you that ye should go and bear fruit, that,’ then, ‘whatsoever ye shall ask <strong>of</strong> the Father in my name, He may give it you.’ Let us seek to enter into the spirit <strong>of</strong> what the Saviour here teaches us. <strong>The</strong>re is a danger in our evangelical religion <strong>of</strong> looking too much at what it <strong>of</strong>fers from one side, as a certain experience to be obtained in prayer and faith. <strong>The</strong>re is another side which God’s word puts very strongly, that <strong>of</strong> obedience as the only path to blessing. What we need is to realize that in our relationship to the <strong>In</strong>finite Being whom we call God who has created and redeemed us, the first sentiment that ought to animate us is that <strong>of</strong> subjection: the surrender to His supremacy, His glory, His will, His pleasure, ought to be the first and uppermost thought <strong>of</strong> our life. <strong>The</strong> question is not, how we are to obtain and enjoy His favor, for in this the main thing may still be self. But what this Being in the very nature <strong>of</strong> things rightfully claims, and is infinitely and unspeakably worthy <strong>of</strong>, is that His glory and pleasure should be my one object. Surrender to His perfect and blessed will, a life <strong>of</strong> service and obedience, is the beauty and the charm <strong>of</strong> heaven. Service and obedience, these were the thoughts that were uppermost in the mind <strong>of</strong> the Son, when He dwelt upon earth. Service and obedience, these must become with us the chief objects <strong>of</strong> desire and aim, more so than rest or light, or joy or strength: in them we shall find the path to all the higher blessedness that awaits us. Just note what a prominent place the Master gives it, not only in the 15th chapter, in connection with the abiding, but in the 14th, where He speaks <strong>of</strong> the indwelling <strong>of</strong> the Three-One God. <strong>In</strong> verse 15 we have it: ‘If ye love me, keep my commandments, and the Spirit will be given you <strong>of</strong> the Father. <strong>The</strong>n verse
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WITH CHRIST IN THE SCHOOL OF PRAYER
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PREFACE WITH CHRIST In the School o
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THIRTEENTH LESSON. 30 'Prayer and f
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'Lord, teach us to pray.' Yes, we f
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Second Lesson 'In spirit and truth.
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Third Lesson 'Pray to thy Father, w
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ecause they cannot find ought to br
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'Thy kingdom come.' The Father is a
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Or, FIFTH LESSON. 'Ask, and it shal
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