03.16. The Word Of God In The Holy Presence
The Word og God in the Holy Presence
I never take any book but the Bible into the secret place. It is my prayer book. I seek no external aids to devotion, such as the cross or crucifix. I have no altar but the one within the veil. Other minds have other ways. Most people have some devotional classic, but I do not take even my hymn book. I will write more fully on the devotional use of the Bible, and at present I will content myself with saying that I feed upon it by searching its truth, appropriating its affirmations, and turning its psalms and prayers into personal thanksgiving and supplication. Questions of criticism, textual or otherwise, do not enter into my mind in the secret place, any more than questions of chemical analysis trouble me when I eat my dinner. The Word is more to me than my necessary food. It thrills and moves me with tremendous power. The Word of God instructs us how to pray. The posture of the body must be determined by conditions of health and comfort. Normally, to kneel is reverent and helpful. One of my friends tells me that he sits, and close by him he places a vacant chair. The habit should be to kneel, but conditions of health and soul will dictate their own posture. it is fitting that we should "kneel before the Lord our Maker."
Prayer is more than asking, but even our asking should be instructed under the direction of the Holy Spirit. I find it good to rehearse and review my daily life in the Holy Presence. It is there I make my plans. God keeps the pattern of earthly things in the holy mount.
Thomas Champness talked with God about his work and his evangelists every morning from five to six. God guides with His eye, and eyes speak best in the place of secret communion. It is there we are assured of His will and are made to understand His way.
It is the place of intercession. That is the place where we can talk freely with God about other people. The family, the church, the business, the friendships, the state, the world, are all subjects of earnest and believing private prayer. Class leaders should go, over the classbook name by name; the Sunday school superintendent over the teachers’ roll, and the teacher over the class register in the same way, name by name. Keep a prayer list of subjects for intercession, and always have a list of people for whom you pray. It is not necessary to tell anyone else the things you tell to God. The Father is in secret, He sees in secret, He hears in secret; leave it to Him to make it known. The God in secret is our Father. Prayer is filial; we pray as sons and daughters in the Father’s house. He knows our need better than we can tell, Him, and He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all we can ask or think; therefore ask in confidence, nothing doubting. It is in the secret place we learn that silence is the best speech and listening is the best part of praying. Those who speak are; heard, and those who listen hear. Of Jesus it is said, "And in the morning, a great while before day, he rose up and went out, and departed into a desert place, and there prayed" (Mark 1:35).