Prayer

Prayer

Prayer Brings Revival
James Duncan, preaching with great unction and power, was asked what was the secret of such powerful preaching. "The secret," he said, was "thirteen hours of consecutive prayer."
When asked the secret of his spiritual power, Charles Spurgeon said: "Knee work! Knee work!"
Livingston of Shotts, on two different occasions, preached with such power that in each service 500 were converted. Both sermons were preceded by a night of prayer.
Charles Finney, after spending a day in the woods in prayer and fasting, preached that night to a phenomenally irreligious congregation. The sermon was accompanied by such divine power that the whole congregation, except one man, fell prostrate upon the floor, and voiced their agony under conviction of sin, in such loud outcries that the preacher was forced to stop.
Of "Uncle" John Vassar, the Tract Society colporteur, his pastor said: "He absolutely prayed day and night-prayed about everything, prayed for almost everything, prayed with almost everybody he met.
"He prayed when he went out and when he came in. He prayed before every religious service, and then prayed all the way through it. I have occupied the same room with him night after night and rarely went to sleep without hearing him in prayer, or awoke without finding him in prayer."

Prayer of a Husband and a Wife
Keep us, O Lord, from pettiness.
Let us be thoughtful in word and deed.
Help us to put away pretense and face each other in deep trust without fear or self-pity.
Help us to guard against fault-finding, and be quick to discover the best in each other and in every situation.
Guard us from ill temper and hasty judgment; encourage us to take time for all things, to grow calm, serene and gentle.
Help us to be generous with kind words and compliments.
Teach us never to ignore, never to hurt, never to take each other for granted.
Engrave charity and compassion on our hearts.

God Uses His People to Answer Our Prayers
During the World's Fair in Chicago many years ago, Mr. Dwight Moody was carrying on a campaign which cost a great many thousands of dollars. A little group met one day to plan and assist and pray with Mr. Moody about the work. As they sat down to eat, Mr. Moody said, "We need $7,000 today for the work. I have already received $1,000, but before we eat I propose that we pray and ask God for the other $6,000." So with simple childlike faith, Mr. Moody presented this problem to the Father.
About an hour later after the little group had finished their luncheon and completed their plans for the day, a boy came in with a telegram in his hand. Mr. Moody read it and handed it to Reuben Torrey to read aloud. This was what it said: "Mr. Moody, your friends in North Field had a feeling that you needed money in Chicago. We have just taken up a collection and there is $6,000 in the basket." North Field is nearly a thousand miles from Chicago. That morning, as a service was coming to a close in North Field, someone proposed that they take a collection for Mr. Moody's work in Chicago.
God lives! The believers know He is alive by their intimate experience of Him. The Weariness of Prayer
"He ... continued all night in prayer to God" (Luke 6:12).
We never read that Joshua's hand was weary with wielding the sword, but Moses' hand was weary with holding the rod. The more spiritual the duty, the more apt we are to tire of it. We could stand and preach all day; but we could not pray all day. We could go forth to seek the sick all day, but we could not be in our closets all day nearly as easily. To spend a night with God in prayer would be far more difficult than to spend a night with man in preaching. Oh! take care, take care, that thou dost not cease thy prayers!

How They Prayed for Missions
George Whitefield, the famous English evangelist, said, "O Lord, give me souls, or take my soul!"
Henry Martin, a missionary, cried as he knelt on India's coral strands, "Here let me burn out for God."
David Brainerd, missionary to the North American Indians in the early 18th century, prayed, "Lord, to Thee I dedicate myself, oh accept of me, and let me be Thine forever. Lord, I desire nothing else, I desire nothing more." The last words in his diary written several days before he died were, "Oh come, Lord Jesus, come quickly. Amen."
Thomas à Kempis, 1379-1471, said, "Give what Thou wilt, and how much Thou wilt, and when Thou wilt. Set me where Thou wilt and deal with me in all things as Thou wilt."
Dwight L. Moody implored, "Use me then, my Savior, for whatever purpose and in whatever way Thou mayest require. Here is my poor heart, an empty vessel, fill it with Thy grace."
Martin Luther prayed thus on the night preceding his appearance before the Diet of Worms: "Do Thou, my God, stand by me against all the world's wisdom and reason. Oh, do it, Thou must do it. Stand by me, Thou true, eternal God!"
"Praying Hyde," a missionary in India, pleaded, "Father, give me these souls, or I die."
Mrs. Comstock, a missionary in India, uttered this prayer of parting when she sent her children home: "Lord Jesus, I do this for Thee."
How do you pray for Missions?

Amen!
A layman who was widely known for his use of the term "amen," was asked on one occasion why he used it.
"Just what does 'amen'mean?" asked a friend.
The sincere brother replied, "In most cases it means just this to me: 'Yes, Lord, I am with it, and I will stand my share of the expenses.'"
"What do you mean when you say 'amen'at the end of your prayers?" he was asked.
"When I say 'amen'at the end of a prayer I mean just this: 'God, I am working with you that this may be true, but I am willing to receive any one of your three replies: yes, no, or wait.'"

How Much Does a Prayer Weigh?
There is a story of a man who tried to weigh a prayer. He owned a little grocery store. It was the week before Christmas, shortly after World War I.
A tired-looking woman came into the store and asked for enough food to make a Christmas dinner for the children. The grocer asked her how much she could spend.
"My husband did not come back; he was killed in the War. And I have nothing to offer but a little prayer," she answered.
The storekeeper was not very sentimental nor religious, so he said, half mockingly, "Write it on paper, and I will weigh it."
To his surprise, the woman took a piece of paper from her pocket and handed it to the man, saying, "I wrote it during the night while watching over my sick baby."
The grocer took the piece of paper before he could recover from his surprise and, because other customers were watching and had heard his remarks, he placed the unread prayer on the weight side of the old-fashioned scales. Then he began to pile food on the other side; but to his amazement, the scale would not go down.
He became angry and flustered and finally said, "Well, that's all the scale will hold. Here's a bag; you will have to put it in yourself, I am busy."
With trembling hands the woman filled the bag, and through moist eyes expressed her gratitude and departed.
After that the store was empty of customers, the grocer examined the scales. Yes, they were broken and they had become broken just in time for God to answer the prayer of the woman. But as the years passed, the grocer often wondered about the incident. Why did the woman come at just the right time? Why had she already written the prayer in such a way as to confuse the grocer so that he did not examine the scales?
The grocer is an old man now, but the weight of the paper still lingers with him. He never saw the woman again, nor had he seen her before that day. Yet he remembers her more than any of his customers.
And he treasures the slip of paper upon which the woman's prayer had been written-simple words, but from a heart of faith, "Please, Lord, give us this day our daily bread."

Prayer for a New Year
Lord, I confess before You that:
I have had longings and nudges from You which I did not translate into action.
I have made decisions without consulting You, then have blamed You when things went wrong.
I have said that I trusted You, yet have not turned my affairs over to You.
I have been greedy for present delights and pleasures, unwilling to wait for those joys which time and discipline alone can give.
I have often sought the easy way and have consistently drawn back from the road that is hard.
I have been fond of giving myself to dreams of which I am going to do sometime, yet have been so slow in getting started to do them.
Forgive me for all the intentions that were born and somehow never lived.
And now I claim Your promise to change me. Do for me what I cannot do for myself. Lead me into a new tomorrow with a new spirit. Cleanse my heart; create within me new attitudes and new ideas, as only You can. Amen. But for Those Prayers, We Should Have Failed
A clergyman from New York, during a call on President Lincoln at the White House said: "I have not come to ask any favors of you, Mr. President; I have only come to say that the loyal people of the North are sustaining you and will continue to do so. We are giving you all that we have, the lives of our sons as well as our confidence and our prayers. You must know that no boy's father or mother ever kneels in prayer these days without asking God to give you strength and wisdom."
His eyes brimming with tears, Mr. Lincoln replied:
"But for those prayers, I should have faltered and perhaps failed long ago. Tell every father and mother you know to keep on praying, and I will keep on fighting, for I know God is on our side."
As the clergyman started to leave the room, Mr. Lincoln held him by the hands and said: "I suppose I may consider this as sort of a pastoral call?" "Yes," replied the clergyman. "Out in our country," replied Lincoln, "when a parson makes a pastoral call, it was always the custom for the folks to ask him to lead in prayer, and I should like to ask you to pray with me today. Pray that I may have the strength and the wisdom."
The two men knelt side by side, and the clergyman offered the most fervent plea to Almighty God that ever fell from his lips. As they arose, the President clasped his visitor's hand and remarked in a satisfied sort of way: "I feel better."

Replace Fretting with Trust
Psalms 37:1 begins, "Do not fret," and those words are repeated later in the chapter. The dictionary defines "fret" as "to eat way, gnaw, gall, vex, worry, agitate, wear away."
Whenever H. Norman Wright hears this word, he is reminded of the scene he sees each year when he hikes along the Snake River in the Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. Colonies of beavers live along the riverbanks, and often he sees trees that are at various stages of being gnawed to the ground by them. Some trees have slight rings around their trunks where the beavers have just started to chew on them. Other trees have several inches of bark eaten away, and some have already fallen to the ground because the beavers have gnawed through the trunks. Worry has the same effect on us. It will gradually eat away at us until it destroys us.
In addition to telling us not to fret, Psalm 37 gives us positive substitutes for worry. First, it says, "Trust [lean on, rely on, and be confident] in the Lord" (Psalms 37:3 AMP). Trust is a matter of not attempting to live an independent life or to cope with difficulties alone. It means going to a greater source for strength.
Second, verse four says, "Delight yourself also in the Lord" (AMP). To delight means to rejoice in God and what He has done for us. Let God supply the joy for your life.
Third, verse five says, "Commit your way to the Lord" (AMP). Commitment is a definite act of the will, and it involves releasing your worries and anxieties to the Lord.
And fourth, we are to "rest in the Lord; wait for Him" (Psalms 37:7 AMP). This means to submit in silence to what He ordains but to be ready and expectant for what He is going to do in your life.
Stop worrying and start praying (Philippians 4:6-9; Psalms 34:1-4). The passage in Philippians can be divided into three basic stages. We are given a premise: Stop worrying. We are given a practice: Start praying. And we are given a promise: Peace. The promise is there and available, but we must follow the first two steps in order for the third to occur. We must stop worrying and start praying if we are to begin receiving God's peace.
The results of prayer as a substitute for worry can be vividly seen in a crisis in David's life that prompted him to write Psalm 34. (See 1 Samuel 21:10; 1 Samuel 22:2). David had escaped death at the hands of the Philistines by pretending to be insane. He then fled to the cave of Adullam along with four hundred men who were described as distressed, discontented, and in debt. In the midst of all this, David wrote a psalm of praise that begins, "I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth" (Psalms 34:1 RSV). He did not say he would praise the Lord sometimes, but at all times, even when his enemies were after him.

Amazing Prayer
God, Creator of all, invites us, mere creatures, to pray, and He assures us He will hear. He is holy, separate from sinners and undefiled, and we are rebellious and sinful, but as a Father, He invites us to ask favors and promises help. "Ask and it shall be given to you...for everyone that asketh receiveth ...If you, then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give good things to them that ask him" (Matthew 7:7-11). Amazing!
Prayer changes things. The Bible says, "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much" (James 5:16). Prayer for the sick is not a substitute for medicine, prayer for daily bread is not a substitute for work, and prayer for the lost is no substitute for the gospel, but those things are no substitute for prayer either. Because Christians pray, some are well who would still be sick, some alive who would be dead (James 4:15), souls are saved that would be lost (Romans 10:1), doors of opportunity are open that would still be closed (Colossians 4:3), some are wiser than they were (James 1:5). "More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of." And many more things yet would be wrought by it, if we prayed more: "You have not, because you ask not" (James 4:2). How amazing!
God commands us to pray. "Pray without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:17). "Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving (Colossians 4:2). "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God" (Philippians 4:6). The greatest of all privileges is not only allowed, but is even enjoined upon us. To let us pray would be marvelous, but He commands us. Amazing indeed!
God urges us to be persistent in prayer. If at first we do not get what we ask for, we are to keep asking. If God, who hears all things, appears deaf to our cries, we are to cry longer. Jesus told a parable about an unjust and uncaring judge, who finally ruled in favor of a poor widow simply because she wore him out with her persistent pleas. He told that parable, He said, to teach us that we "ought always to pray and not give up" (Luke 18:1). God is not unjust and uncaring, like that judge; but we are to be persistent, like that widow. God never wearies of our asking, even when it appears He is not hearing. Astoundingly amazing!
We are invited to pray and God has promised to hear. Great things happen because of prayer. We are commanded to pray by the One who loves us, and reminded that we show Him our love by keeping His commandments. We can "come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need" (Hebrews 4:16). Yet, believing all of that, many of us pray so little! That is most amazing of all!

God Said "No" to David
The reign of David was the end of an era in Judah. David was 30 years of age when he became king and he reigned 40 years. His shoes were so big that none who came after him could ever fill them. As great as Solomon was, he never attained the stature of his father David, spiritually speaking. In Acts 13:36, Paul tells us that David served his own generation by the will of God.
David's dream was to build a house for the Lord. In 1 Samuel 7:1-3, David experienced a peaceful interlude, a calm, quiet period in his life, which for him was really unique. He was a courageous warrior, usually involved in battle with one or another of the surrounding nations.
At this point, while sitting quietly, he looked around at his own beautiful palace and compared it to the tent that housed the ark of God. The comparison sorrowed David. He wanted to build a beautiful, permanent home for the holy vessels of the Tabernacle. His motive was pure and admirable because he wanted it for God's glory, not his own. He expressed this desire to Nathan the prophet, who encouraged him.
But God had a different plan. The Lord spoke to Nathan and told him to tell David that it was not His will for David to build His house, but He promised to make David's dream come true through Solomon, his son.
God refused David's request, reminding him that he was a soldier, a man of war, but not a builder. How often we have wished for talents other than those God gave us. Many times, God's "NO" is just a redirection of His plan for us according to His will.
When we pray each day for divine guidance and direction, we need feel no guilt when our plans do not work out. We can have confidence that God's way is best and we can leave the results in His hand. When God says "NO," He has a better way, and our best reaction is submissive cooperation.
God has put each of us here for a purpose, however humble. Not many are called to fulfill such a great purpose as David, or to build temples. God's intended purpose for you may not be as great as your dreams, or it may be greater than you ever imagined. How sad that so many never become aware of that purpose which is the only way to true happiness and satisfaction.

Prayer: A Habit Worth Dying For
Nathan Hale, a great American patriot during the Revolutionary War, was captured and hung by British soldiers. His now famous final words were, "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country." He was willing to die for his nation and its freedom.
During the final days of World War II, it was apparent that the Japanese were fighting a losing battle. Yet many of their pilots, dubbed "kamikaze," willingly flew suicide missions. There was great honor in dying for a cause. The pilots were willing to die for glory.
Not long ago, a mother in Philadelphia went back into a burning building to rescue her children who were trapped inside. After saving two, she died in the flames trying to save the other two. The mother was willing to die for her children.
In the ancient empire of Persia, a law was passed making it a crime punishable by death to pray to anyone but the emperor. One aged government official refused to obey the edict. It was his habit to pray three times daily to the one true God. As a result, he was cast into a den of lions. Even though God saved Daniel, Daniel was still willing to die rather than give up his habit of prayer (Daniel 6:3-11).
How important is prayer to you? Is it a habit worth dying for? Or, would someone need to pass a law demanding daily prayer or a trip to the lions' den to get you into the habit of prayer? People are willing to die for that which is of great importance to them. Prayer should be that important! It is our link to God. Without the lifeline of prayer, we grow spiritually weak. Do not neglect the privilege that God has given to us as His children to pray. Does Christianity Mean Easy Lives?
Do not pray for easy lives: pray to be stronger people! Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers; pray for powers equal to your task. Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle, but you shall be a miracle. Every day you shall wonder at yourself, the richness of life which has come to you by the grace of God. Do Not Give Up
A lady in the church who invited her neighbor to go to services with her kept count of the times the neighbor refused. It came to 49. She pleasantly mentioned the count to her friend as she issued her fiftieth invitation at the time of a special meeting. At first the friend declined again but later called and said she would go. "If you are interested enough in me to ask me 50 times to go, I will go with you and see what it is like." She went out and liked what she saw. She returned and she was converted-all because someone did not give up too soon. Not a Guest
A little girl of five was saying grace at the table. She prayed as she had heard others pray, "Come, Lord Jesus, be our Guest." Then turning suddenly to her mother, she said, "But, Mother, I do not want Jesus to be our Guest!"
"Why dear?" asked the horrified mother.
To which the little one replied, "Well, a guest is one who comes here sometimes. I want Jesus here all the time!"

Pray Believing
Little Johnnie was saying his bedtime prayers a week before his birthday. In a loud voice he listed all the things he wanted. "Do not pray so loudly," his mother instructed. "The Lord is not hard of hearing!"
"Maybe He isn't," admitted Johnnie, "but Grandma is."
A lot of our prayers may be like Johnnie's. We ask God, yet make other provisions. There is something good about the axiom, "Pray as if everything depended on God and work as if everything depended on you." But, in one sense, it reveals our spirit of independence. It conveys the notion: "I will have to do it all myself, anyway!"
We must admit the essentiality of dialogue with God. And our requests must come from righteous lips, for "he hears the prayer of the righteous" (Proverbs 15:29). Prayers are like skyhooks-if we get enough fastened in up there we will have something to hang on to when the world is jerked out from under us.
Yes! Pray believing! Then God will answer your prayer. He may answer, "No!" He may answer, "Later!" He may answer, "Maybe!" Or he many answer, "Yes!" But let us understand one universal truth. The Father in heaven is eager to hear and answer in positive ways those of us who are his faithful children.
"Almighty Father, accept our prayers of faith as confessions of our utter dependence upon your love and generous mercy. In Jesus' name. Amen."

I Traveled on My Knees
Last night I took a journey
to a land across the sea,
I did not go by boat or plane,
I traveled on my knees.
I saw many people there in deep sin,
and I did not want to send my prayers in.
But Jesus said I should go and see,
how many I could win.
I said, "Jesus, I cannot go and work
with such as these."
He answered quickly, "Yes, you can by traveling on your knees."
He said, "You pray, I will meet the need.
You call and I will hear."
So I knelt in prayer and felt at ease
as I traveled on my knees.
I said, "Yes, Lord. I know I can do the job,
and my desire is to please.
I will heed Your call,"
and I traveled on my knees. The Old Barn
An artist painted a picture of an old dilapidated barn. The barbed wire fence by the side of it was rusty and falling down. The door leaned drunkenly on hinges eroded by time and weather. It was a sad sight.
Some might call it "picturesque," but it was only a sad reminder of how temporary the things of life really are. Those who built it will not pass this way again. The things which were important to them are now only memories. The days of work and worry around this barn are long past. Life does not wait, and in its passing, "things" are left to rust and decay.
God has given us the means to correct this mistake of human weakness if we would only recognize it. He has given us "Sunday" in which to gather with those who share the dream of eternity with us; a time for reminding one another of things which do not ever swing on rusty hinges nor erode with time. He has offered us a constant audience with Him in prayer-a moment-by-moment opportunity to leave the temporary for the eternal.
Write out your prayers sometimes and see how much of the time you spend thanking God for and praying for the doors which hang on rusty hinges and how little time praising Him for the doors which open to things which "moth and rust" cannot corrupt.

How Moody Won the Children
Dwight L. Moody was passing along the streets of Chicago when he spied two little girls playing out in front of an underground saloon. His heart was instantly moved with compassion for the children, and he walked straightway into the cellar.
The barkeeper, thinking that he wanted a drink, said, "What will you have?" "Those children for my Sunday school," replied Moody. "Children for your Sunday school! Do you know where you are? An infidel club meets here every Thursday night."
But the tactful soul winner knew it was not a time for retreat, so, resting his elbows on the bar, he looked into the face of this father and pleaded with him earnestly in behalf of the little girls.
Finally, the man's heart was touched and he said, "I will tell you what I will do, parson. If you will come down here next Thursday night and meet the boys in a joint discussion, and you win, you shall have the children; but if not, it is all off." "Agreed," exclaimed Moody. "I will be here." Taking his departure, he looked up a little crippled newsboy whom he knew, who could pray effectually and said to him, "Tommy, I want you next Thursday night."
When the hour arrived, Tommy and the evangelist entered the saloon. It was full. The men were sitting on whiskey barrels, on beer kegs and on the counter, while others were at the windows in expectation of a debate.
Moody opened the meeting by saying: "Gentlemen, it is our custom to open our meetings with prayer. Tommy, jump on that barrel and pray," whereupon Tommy perched himself on the barrel, turned his little face up toward heaven, and how he did pray! As the tears stole down his cheeks, the more tenderhearted beat a retreat; and finally those more rock-like, subdued by the pathos and spiritual power of the occasion, slowly retired, until there were none left except the barkeeper, Moody and the praying boy.
"That will do, Tommy," exclaimed the evangelist. "I claim the children," said he, turning to the father. "They are yours according to contract," replied the father, "but it is a queer way to fight." "It is the way I win my battles," said Moody. He had instructed the little boy not to cease praying until he had prayed them all out. It was a piece of strategy full of tactfulness. The reality, the venturesomeness, and the tact of such a man is worth emulating. Can You Wait?
Having to wait for someone or something is difficult. What we want, we want now. Our fast food must be just that-fast. Instant pudding, instant rice, and instant results are part of our way of life. One individual prayed for patience and told the Lord that he wanted it "Right away!"
However, we know so agonizingly well that the Lord does not work on our time table. Having to wait upon the Lord (Psalms 27:14; Psalms 37:34) can be painful at times! The principle of the Lord working as He wills requires faith. He is never late! His promises are sure.
May we have the faith and patience to wait! The Lord will work out His plan, His way and in His time.

Revelation
I knelt to pray when day was done,
and prayed, "O Lord, bless everyone;
Lift from each saddened heart the pain,
and let the sick be well again."
And then I awoke another day,
and carelessly went on my way.
The whole day long I did not try
to wipe the tear from any eye;
I did not try to share the load
of anybody on the road;
I did not even go to see
the sick man just next door to me.
But once again, when day was done,
I prayed, "O Lord, bless everyone...."
But as I prayed, into my ear
there came a voice that whispered clear,
"Pause just now, before you pray;
Whom have you tried to bless today?
God's sweetest blessings always go
to hands that serve Him here below."
And then I hid my face and cried,
"Forgive me, God, for I have lied.
Let me but see another day,
and I will live the way I pray." When Is It Time to Pray?
Have you ever had anyone come to you and say, "Tell me...how do you know when it is time to pray?"
I mean our stomachs growl when it is time to eat.
Our eyes start closing when it is time to sleep.
When our feelings get hurt, it is time for tears,
With a new birth it is time to care.
People will often tell us, quite so,
When it is time to come, or stay, or go.
But how do you know when it is time to pray?
Does an alarm go off next to your bed?
Or is there a clanging inside your head?
Do your eyes start blinking, a horn start blowing?
Or do you listen for a rooster crowing?
Just what is your way of knowing when it is time to pray?
With me...
I find it is time to pray
At the beginning and ending of each day.
And when I am sick and feeling bad,
Or scared, or lonely, or lost, or sad.
When the bills blow in like sand
I seek a touch of the Master's hand.
When I need patience, hope and peace
And an abiding love that will not cease.
When I am thankful for all there is
That now is mine, and yet is His.
Gladness, sadness, joy and grief
We share in prayer. And it is my belief
That whenever my heart has something to say
That is how I know when it's time to pray. This New Year Everybody Can Do Something
A preacher asked a hard-working servant girl what she was doing for the Lord. She explained that she had very little time to be involved in "church work." "But," she added, "I always take the newspaper to my bedroom each night."
Surprised, the preacher asked what possible good that could do. "Well," she explained, "I turn to the column of births. I pray that each of the newborns will be led to the Savior at an early age and become a great blessing to the world. Next, I check the column of weddings and pray that the couples will always remain true to each other and build their homes on Christ. Then I go over the death notices and mention the bereaved families by name to God, asking that, in their sorrow they will turn to the Lord."

Success in Prayer
Prayer pulls the rope below and the great bell rings above in the ears of God. Some scarcely stir the bell, for they pray so languidly; others give but an occasional pluck at the rope; but he who wins with heaven is the man who grasps the rope boldly and pulls continuously, with all his might. The Power of the Bended Knee
Have you ever watched how a bird sleeps on its perch and never falls off? How does it manage to do this?
The secret is the tendons of the bird's legs. They are so constructed that when the leg is bent at the knee, the claws contract and grip like a steel trap. The claws refuse to let go until the knees are unbent again. The bended knee gives the bird the ability to hold on to his perch so tightly.
Is this not also the secret of the holding power of the Christian? Daniel found this to be true. Surrounded by a pagan environment, tempted to compromise with evil, urged to weaken his grip on God, he refused to let go. He held firm when others faltered because he was a man of prayer. He knew the power of the bended knee.
From sleeping birds we can learn the secret of holding things which are most precious to us-honesty, purity, thoughtfulness, honor, character. That secret is the knee bent in prayer, seeking to get a firmer grip on those values which make life worth living. When we hold firmly to God in prayer, we can rest assured He will hold tightly to us.

Just Stopped by for a Visit
When I was a boy, we had a neighbor lady who frequently came to the back door of our home. She never wasted any time coming to the point. Her words were always the same: "I just want to borrow (something)." The problem was she never came at any other time. My mother graciously let her have what she wanted, then she would be gone.
I know my mother never appreciated her as much as the other neighbors, but she never complained.
I often think of this lady when I hear some people pray. Some people never call on God until they want something. God is loving, and He probably gives them what they ask of Him. But would not it be a lot better if they would call on God at other times?
We had another neighbor who came frequently, and never asked for anything. She always started her conversation by saying, "Just stopped by for a visit."
I think God would like us to do that, "Just stop by for a visit." The next time you pray, why not do it-just for a visit? A Much Needed Prayer
Make deaf my ears to slander that is told:
Silence my tongue to aught that is unkind;
Let only thoughts that bless dwell in my mind.
Let me so kindly be, so full of cheer,
That all I meet may feel Thy presence here.
O clothe me in Thy beauty, this I pray,
Let me reveal Thee, Lord, through all the day. The Lord Sent It
Years ago an old lady had no money to buy food. She prayed, "Dear Lord, please send me a side of bacon and a sack of corn meal." Over and over again she prayed the same prayer aloud. One of the town's unscrupulous citizens decided to play a trick on her. He dropped a side of bacon and a sack of corn meal down her chimney. It landed in front of her as she knelt in prayer.
Jumping to her feet, she exclaimed, "Oh Lord! You have answered my prayer!" Then she went all over town telling everyone the good news.
This was too much for the scoundrel who dropped the food down her chimney. He ridiculed her publicly and told her that God did not answer her prayer; he did. The old lady replied, "Well, the devil may have brought it, but it was the Lord who sent it!"
God answers prayers in many ways.

Sometime-Somewhere
A young woman, a great lover of flowers, had set out a rare vine at the base of a stone wall. It grew vigorously, but it did not seem to bloom. Day after day she cultivated it and tried every possible way to coax it to bloom.
One morning, as she examined the vine disappointedly, her invalid neighbor called to her and said. "You cannot imagine how much I have been enjoying the blooms of that vine you planted." The owner followed her neighbor's gaze and on the other side of the wall was a mass of blooms. The vine had crept through the crevices and produced flowers on the other side.
How often we think our efforts are thrown away because we do not see fruit! We need to learn that in God's service our prayers, our toil, our crosses are never in vain. They will bear fruit and hearts will receive blessings and joy, sometimes, somewhere.

Answer to Prayer Requires Preparation!
A rather lazy student noticed that a fellow student always recited her lessons well, so he said to her, "How is it that you always say your lesson so perfectly?" She replied, "I always pray that I may say my lessons well." "Do you?" said the boy somewhat surprised. "Well, then, I will pray, too." However, the next morning he could not even repeat a word of his assigned lesson. Perplexed, he ran to his friend and reproached her as deceitful. "I prayed," said he, "but I could not say a single word of my lesson." "Perhaps," rejoined the other, "you didn't study hard enough!" "I didn't study at all," answered the boy. "I thought I didn't have to study after praying about it."

Good Retreat
In the Korean conflict, which was never officially termed a "war," the Eighth United States Army and the North Korean Communists ravaged the city of Seoul three times. It was a battle of wits as well as of arms because the American soldiers were thousands of miles from the source of their ammunition supply. At the outset of the conflict, they had to be ready to fight, to dig in and hide, or to retreat, if ordered. The very word "retreat" has always had a shameful connotation on the battlefield, so the generals and colonels chose to call it "a strategic withdrawal." Sometimes, when the battle against sin and Satan becomes hot in the Christian's life, discretion is the better part of valor, and a hasty retreat to the place of prayer is not only indicated but wise.

Prayer Limited
There was a sexton in a church who was very devoted to the pastor. A new pastor came, and someone asked the sexton what he thought of the new preacher. "Well," said the sexton, "I like him pretty well, but when it comes to praying, the former preacher asked the Lord for things the new preacher doesn't even know the Lord's got." Our immaturity and finite nature many times do not permit us to see what God has for us, blessings which are far better than those we want for ourselves.

Kill the Spider
A Christian who attended prayer meeting faithfully always confessed the same things during testimony time. His prayer was seldom varied: "O Lord, since we last gathered together, the cobwebs have come between us and Thee. Clear away the cobwebs, that we may again see Thy face." One day a brother called out, "O Lord God, kill the spider!"

Action Needed
We are reminded of the little girl who told a friend who was visiting her father that her brothers set traps to catch birds. He asked her what she did. She replied, "I prayed that the traps might not catch the birds." "Anything else?" "Yes," she said, "I prayed that God would keep the birds out of the traps." "Anything else?" "Yes, then I went and kicked the traps all to pieces." That little girl was bright enough to understand that life needed action as well as prayers.

They Stayed On
A small party of missionaries were invited to go to Tibet at a time when missionary activity was forbidden there. They were told their task was to help stem the tide of a plague that was raging out of control. When the plague was over, the government asked the missionaries to leave. But these servants of Christ felt a responsibility to minister to the souls of the Tibetans as well as to their bodies. The authorities threatened to kill them, but the fear of death did not deter them from their purpose. They stayed on.
One night the Tibetans encircled their house with flaming torches. They began dancing around in a wide circle, ever diminishing in size seeking to achieve their aim of setting the place ablaze. The missionaries fell to their knees in prayer, and became so intent as the wild chanting came closer that they never realized it had ceased. When they arose, the mob had dispersed, and they were allowed to remain. Years later, one of their converts told them that he had been in the circle, and they had every intention of burning the missionaries to death in their house. However, as they approached the dwelling, there stood before the door a figure in white apparel holding a flaming sword. They fled in fright. And thus the door was opened for the gospel in Tibet, because God honored the faith of those who were willing to die at any time for their Lord.

Answer to Prayer
A man prayed fervently every morning at family worship for the poor in the community, but he was never known to give anything to the poor. One morning at the conclusion of family worship, after the usual prayer had been offered for the poor and destitute, his little son said, "Father, I wish I had your corncrib." "Why, my son?" asked the father. "Why, because then I would answer your prayer myself."

Use the Battering Rams
When St. Paul's Cathedral in England was being demolished to make room for a new edifice, thirty men operated a battering ram for one whole day on a certain part of the wall. Not seeing any immediate effect, they thought this a colossal waste of time, but they were told nonetheless to continue. On the second day, the wall began to tremble at the top and fell in a few hours. If our prayers and repentances do not appear to overcome our inner corruption, we must still continue to use these battering rams, for through faith in Christ the power of evil shall be overthrown.

God Our King
It is related of Alexander the Great that on one occasion a courtier asked him for some financial aid. The great leader told him to go to his treasurer and ask for whatever he wanted. A little later, the treasurer appeared and told Alexander the man had asked for a large sum and that he hesitated to pay out so much. "Give him what he asks for," replied the great conqueror. "He has treated me like a king in his asking, and I shall be like a king in my giving." Oh, for the realization of the greatness of the God to whom we come in prayer! From such a God we can only beg humbly; we cannot demand anything.

Prayer Answered
One day a lady was giving her little nephew some lessons. He was generally a good, attentive child, but on this occasion he could not fix his mind on his work. Suddenly he said, "Auntie, may I kneel down and ask God to help me find my marble?" His aunt gave her consent, and the little boy knelt by his chair, closed his eyes, and prayed silently. Next day, almost afraid of asking the question lest the child had not found his toy and so might lose his simple faith, the lady said to him, "Well, dear, have you found your marble?" "No, Auntie," was the reply, "but God made me not want to." That is the way God many times answers our prayers and thus rids us of division within ourselves.

Ask for Rain, Carry Umbrella
Dr. Guthrie, that great Scotch preacher, prayed in the morning service for rain. As he went to church in the afternoon, little Mary, his daughter, said, "Here is the umbrella, Papa." "What do we need it for?" he asked. "You prayed for rain this morning, and don't you expect God will send it?" They carried the umbrella, and when they came home they were glad to take shelter under it from the drenching storm.

Belief in Prayer
A little boy came to the preacher and asked him to have the folks in prayer meeting pray that the Lord might cause his sister to read the Bible. The preacher made the request known, but as soon as someone began to pray about it, little Johnny got up and left. Everyone thought him very rude, and the next day the preacher scolded him for it. But Johnny said, "Sir, I wanted to go and see my sister read the Bible for the first time."

Needs or Wants
A parent does not give a child everything that he asks for. If my little boy came to me and told me just before supper that he wanted a lollipop, should I give it to him? Of course not. Then, if he turns to me and says, "But Daddy, I need it," he can say it as many times as he wishes. He is not going to get a lollipop just before supper. The expression of a need does not always represent a true need. Many times we act more inconsiderately before our Heavenly Father than our children act before us. We give utterance to our wants as if they were real needs. Let us watch this tendency. God is never fooled. He knows a real need from a want.

Praying in His Name
A little child who had just learned the alphabet kept repeating time after time the letters of the alphabet in an attitude of prayer. A missionary approached her and asked what she was saying. The little girl's answer was, "I am praying." "But why do you repeat the alphabet?" "I felt that I should pray, and because I did not know how to pray, I repeated the letters of the alphabet, knowing that the great Lord would fit the letters together to make words out of them" The little girl was only expressing something that we do unconsciously every time we close our prayer "In the name of the Lord." We invoke the totality of His revelation to us, all His attributes and all His omnipotence. We call upon Him as our Priest, our Mediator, our Prophet, our Redeemer, our Savior, our All in all.

Pray for Each Other
A minister was praying at the bedside of a dying woman. "Wait a moment," she said, as he started to rise from his knees. "I want to pray for you." Very tenderly she prayed with her hands upon his head. "For ten years, ever since you became my pastor, I have offered that prayer for you every morning and night," she told him. The minister went away with tears in his eyes and a strange warmth in his heart. He had known that this woman was sweet-spirited and true, but he had never guessed that he had a place in her prayers day and night. "I wonder how many of my six hundred members pray for me," he asked himself. Let us remember others in our prayers even as we want others to remember us.

Effectual Prayer
A lady lay in bed suffering violent head pains. While thus suffering she said to a friend who was watching by her side, "If only I could get ten minutes' sleep, I should feel better." The friend said nothing but offered up a silent prayer to God to grant the ten minutes' sleep. True, the petition was feeble, and the faith feeble, but the Lord, who is very tender, did not despise either the feebleness of the faith or the smallness of the subject of the request. The patient presently slept and described her sleep as most delicious. Specific prayer availeth much. We must narrow down our prayers if we want God to give us that which we need. Our children feel free to come to us and ask us for even the most insignificant things. The only hope of their getting that which they want is by asking, and asking specifically.

Jesus, Have Mercy
One time the plane in which I was traveling was caught in a violent storm. All the passengers, including myself, were getting sick. To take my mind off what was happening, I opened my New Testament to Luke 17:12-19, which deals with Christ's encounter with the ten lepers. When I couldn't finish reading the passage because the plane was being blown about like a bird in the wind, I had reached verse thirteen. The lepers standing afar off had cried out, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us."

Happy Prayer Time
During the Welsh revival a minister was approached by a humble saint in his church and was asked this question. "Can you guess what is the happiest time I have in religion?" The minister thought he could easily answer and so he said, "Why, we are all as happy as we can be during these revival days, and at our prayer meetings night after night." The old man seemed somewhat surprised. "Well," he said, "That is true, but I was not thinking about that. Try again." "Then," said the minister, "it must be when you are at prayer." "You are getting near it now," said the old man, "but it is not exactly when I pray. It is when I am done praying, and God and I are just chatting." If we knew that a great dignitary would accept us if we went to him, would we not go? If he invited us to stay with him and be on intimate terms with him, would we not stay? How much more wonderful it is when we think that the dignitary is God Himself. He will be our eternal Companion, if we go to Him through Jesus Christ.

Forty Martyrs of Sebaste
St. Basil was a great man of God, one of the greatest of the Church Fathers. One of his noble orations is dedicated to the memory of forty martyrs of Sebaste who were ordered by the officers of Licinius, in the year a.d. 320, to offer sacrifices to heathen idols. These were soldiers who had proven to be excellent in every respect. But Licinius the emperor issued a decree that they must renounce Christ or else their lives would be in danger. Those who refused to give up Christ were submitted to indescribable brutalities and tortures.
"The torturers were called forth. The first was ready and the sword was sharpened.... Then some of the persecuted Christians fled, others succumbed, others wavered, and some before even being submitted to the tortures, were afraid because of their threatenings. Some, when facing the tortures, became faint. Others entered the battle, but were not able to persevere to the end in suffering the pains, and in the middle of the martyrdom they renounced Christ.
"However, the invincible and gallant soldiers of Christ proceeded visibly to the middle, at the time when the judge was showing the decree of the king and was asking them to submit to it. Without being afraid of anything which they saw, nor losing their heads as a result of the threatenings, they confessed that they were Christians.
"These Christians soldiers were offered money and honors in order to induce them to join the ranks of the heathen. To earthly honors they would not yield. Then came threats of indescribable tortures. What an answer these Christian soldiers gave: 'Do you have blessings of equal value to those you endeavor to deprive us of, to give us? We hate your gift because it will mean our loss. We do not accept honor which is the mother of dishonesty. You offer us money which remains here, glory which fades away.... We have despised the whole world. Those things which we see in the world do not have for us the value of the heavenly things which we hope and long for.... We are afraid of only one punishment, the punishment of hell. We are here ready to be tortured ... for you to twist our bodies and to burn them.'
"The judge was infuriated by the courage of these brave Christians, and so he devised a slow and most painful way of putting them to death. It was very cold. He waited for the night when the wind was violent and the air freezing. He ordered these soldiers to be thrown naked on a frozen lake in the center of the town to die from freezing. There is no more atrocious and painful death than that. These Christian soldiers did not have to be forced to take off their clothes. They took them off themselves and marched on to the frozen lake. As each went, he said, 'We are not merely putting off our clothes, but we are putting off "the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts" ' (Ephesians 4:22). All together they shouted, 'The winter is bitter, but heaven is sweet; the freezing painful, but sweet the rest. Let us persevere a little longer and we shall be warmed in the bosom of the Patriarch [meaning Christ]. Let us exchange all of eternity for the pains of one night. Let the leg be burned so that it may ever dance with the angels.... How many soldiers have died in battle remaining faithful to a mortal king, and we, for the sake of remaining faithful to the true king, shall we not sacrifice this life?... We are going to die anyway; let us die so that we may live.' Their prayer was unanimous and ascended with one voice, 'Forty have we entered this ordeal, may all forty of us receive the crown of martyrdom. Oh, Despot, grant that not one of our number may yield.... You honored this number because you fasted forty days.'
"In spite of this earnest prayer, one of their number did not persevere and gave in to the offers of the heathen persecutors. Great sorrow came upon the others because only thirty-nine remained in the arena of death. Their plea became even more vigorous to their Heavenly Father. Forty entered the ordeal and forty wanted to see the face of the Lord. The deserter came to the warm place prepared by the emperor's executioners. But going from the extreme cold to the warm place, and plunging himself into warm water, he died instantly. The guard, a heathen who was watching all the developments and saw angels ministering to these saints of God, on hearing their prayers, decided to answer them. He took off his clothes and declared with a loud voice, 'I am a Christian, too,' and jumped naked on the frozen lake joining the thirty-nine to complete their number to forty. Thus their prayer was answered, forty entered the ordeal of martyrdom and forty saw the face of Jesus Christ. Now, whose memory was cursed and whose was blessed? We call the saints who persevered unto death blessed, indeed."

Praying for Others
Unfortunately, countless Christians become selfish in their prayers. They pray for themselves and their families and care little about others. The moon is a lavish giver that owes all her beauty to her habit of giving. Suppose the moon should swallow up and keep to herself all the years of light which the sun gives her and should refuse to share them with us; what would the effect be? She would stop shining. The moment she stopped shining, she would lose all her beauty. All the beauty and the brilliancy of a diamond are caused by its reflecting, or giving away, the light which it receives. It is the same way with the moon. If it should stop shining, or giving away the light it gets from the sun it would hang up in the sky like a great, black, ugly-looking ball. All its brightness and beauty would be gone. Which would we rather be, as we pray: a black ugly ball in God's sky, or a shining light, constantly giving of the light we so abundantly receive?

Power of Prayer
A man dreamed, while traveling, that he came to a little church. On the roof was a devil fast asleep. He went along farther and came to a log cabin which was surrounded by devils all wide awake. He asked one of them what it meant. Said the devil, "I will tell you. The fact is that the whole church is asleep, and one devil can take care of all the people; but here are a man and a woman who commune with God in prayer, and they have more power than the whole church."

Don't Play God
If the President of the United States invited us to visit him, and we tried to assume the prerogatives of the Presidency ourselves, he'd soon put us out. Yet, this is how some of us act toward God. He has told us to ask, but our asking often demonstrates an attitude of irresponsibility on our part. We ask Him to overrule His natural laws, to act as our servant who must accede to our command. We must never play God when we pray.

Seek and Find
Carey, the great missionary to India, found his Savior in a cobbler's workshop at Kackleton. Mary Slessor discovered the riches of Christ in a factory in Dundee; Livingstone found them at his loom in Blantire; and John Bunyan in the streets of Bedford, while he carried on his work as an itinerant mender of household utensils, a tinker. Yes, and God's richest treasure, His only begotten Son, was found by simple shepherds, not in a gilded cradle in a palace of splendor and wealth, but in the manger of a Bethlehem stable. You and I might find that same Savior while carrying on our daily duties in the workshop, office or home. "Seek," said Jesus, "and ye shall find."

Selfish Prayer
"I have prayed long for the conversion of my husband," said a woman, "but he's as far off from conversion as ever." "Why do you want your husband converted?" she was asked. "Oh," she replied, "it would be so nice. How different the house would be." "You are forgetting," was the rebuke, "the good of your husband and the glory of God. You appear to be thinking mainly of yourself. Pray for his conversion simply for the glory of God and your husband's need of a Savior."