Bible Truths Illustrated by J. C. Ferdinand Pittman

"
—
BIBLE TRUTHS ILLUSTRATED
" 'Thy will be done' is the keynote to which every prayer
must be turned."
"Prayer is the slender nerve that moveth the muscles of
Omnipotence."
Talmage suggested that many public prayers would be better
and more helpful if we cut a bit off from each end and set fire
to the middle.
657. What labour cannot do, prayer will; and these two are
not the same thing, in spite of the old saying that to labour is
to pray. "Whither art thou going?" asked the Roman Emperor
Valens of a trusted Christian nobleman who had worked long
and hard, but in vain, to serve the state for him. "Out to the
desert, sire," he answered, "to pray for your empire." Huntington.
658. "A gentleman while buying a paper from a newsboy
said to him, 'Well, my boy, do you ever find it hard work to be
good?' 'Yes, sir,' said the little fellow. 'Well, so do I. But
I have found out how to get help.' 'How, sir?' 'I just send a
telegram.' The boy looked surprised. The gentleman touched
the boy's forehead and said, 'What do you do in there?' 'Think,'
said the boy. 'Can God see what you think?' 'Yes.' 'Well/
said the gentleman, 'when you want help to sell your papers or
to be a good boy, just send a sky telegram, "Jesus, help me;"
and God will see and hear.'
659. Stonewall Jackson, having once used the expression
"instant in prayer," was asked what was his idea of its meaning.
"I will give you," he said, "my idea of it by illustration, if you
will allow it, and will not think that I am setting myself up as
a model for others." On being assured that there would be no
mis judgment, he went on to say: "I have so fixed the habit in
my own mind, that I never raise a glass of water to my lips
without a moment's asking of God's blessing. I never seal a
letter without putting a word of prayer under the seal. I never
take a letter from the post without a brief sending of my
thoughts heavenward. I never change my classes in the sectionroom
without a minute's petition on the cadets who go out and
those who come in." "And don't you sometimes forget this?"