Pagina-afbeeldingen
PDF
ePub

the spirit, the feeling, which should always be felt and spoken by us when we pray. Have you thought, my young reader, what it is to pray? I have seen many children bow their heads in the Sabbath school, and repeat together the Lord's prayer; I have seen them kneel with their parents around the family altar; and in the public assembly I have seen them stand quietly listening while the minister offered prayer to God-but it may be very few of all these children really thought what they were doing or how they should feel. Prayer is an offering of the heart; it is telling God the truth. We may call it prayer, but the great and holy God does not, unless our thoughts and feelings are all taken away from earth, and raised up to him in our words. When we bow before God, we may remember our friends only, to ask him to bless them; we may remember ourselves only, to think that we are sinful and unworthy, and must be lost without his pardoning mercy; but our minds should be filled with thoughts of the majesty and purity, the mercy and love of our Creator; and we should at the moment we are bowing before him, give ourselves away to him entirely, and be willing that he should do with us, and with all who are dear to us, just what he chooses to do. If we come before God with this spirit, and with these exercises of mind, and pray to him with such feelings, he will accept our worship, and listen to our requests.

We may raise our thoughts and feelings to our Heavenly Father even in a low whisper, and he will understand and answer us. When your parent or minister is offering prayer, you should lift your thoughts to God, adopt his words, and express in

your mind the same feelings that he utters. If you do this you will pray, but if you merely repeat the best of words, even the Lord's prayer, without thinking what you say, or without raising your thoughts to God, it is not an acceptable prayer.

Now let us attend carefully to the example of prayer which Jesus gave his disciples. "Our Father." Here we have a name given us by which we may address the mighty God; and what a fond, endearing name it is! Our Father. Every one of us may claim this relationship, because he has made us all, and we are his children. "In him we live, and move, and have our being," and he is watching over us every moment, and taking care to supply all our wants, as a mother watches over a helpless infant to see that it is always comfortable and happy. "Who art in heaven." Heaven is the place which is filled with the presence of God, because all is happiness and love there, but this expression does not mean that God is only in heaven. He is every where. Read the one hundred and thirty-ninth Psalm, and you will feel that it is impossible to escape the eye of God, or go to any place where he will not be looking at your heart, and understanding all your feelings. God is every where. "Hallowed be thy name.' This means

that all the inhabitants of the earth should worship God, and that his name should never be spoken of, or thought of, without fear, and praise, and honor. Very many of the beings whom God has placed on the earth, men, women, and children, appear to forget their Maker entirely. They rise in the morning without thanking God for his preserving care; attend to their business or their

pleasure all the day, without lifting one thought to him; and at night they lie down forgetful of Him who has been watching over them, and giving them all the blessings they have enjoyed; and who might easily call away their spirits, and cause them to sleep the sleep of death before the rising of another sun. Such persons do not hallow the name of God. There are others who think of God, and often speak of him, but not with reverence. Some openly profane his name, others speak of him in a very light and careless manner. I once heard a little boy in the time of a tempest, while the lightning was flashing around, and the thunder rolling through the sky, speak some wicked words about the noise that God was making over our heads. He was repeating something that he had heard some very wicked men say, and he smiled, and seemed to think it was witty; but I do not think he would have thought so, nor would he have dared or wished to use such language, if he had felt the spirit of the Lord's prayer. This boy did not hallow the name of God. When we pray, one of the strong desires of our hearts should be that all men should reverence and honor the name of the great and holy God.

Thy kingdom come." A kingdom has three parts, a king, subjects, and laws. The king rules, and the people have to obey him. Jesus is king in Zion. This whole world, where you and I live, belongs to God, but the people have turned away from his government, and have chosen to disobey him, and indulge their own wicked dispositions. When we say "thy kingdom come," if we really pray, we desire and ask that all who are opposed

to God on earth may become his friends. And when we say, "thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven," we pray that every thing wicked may be driven from the earth by the gospel and spirit of God, and that every being here should obey God's holy laws, and love, and peace, and happiness be enjoyed, and God be praised and honored here just as he is in heaven. It should be noticed, that before we ask for personal favors, we are taught to pray for the spread of the gospel and the conversion of the world. This should teach us that the kingdom of God should have the first and highest place in our thoughts and prayers. "Give us this day our daily bread." We should ask for such earthly comforts as we daily need, but we may not ask for honors, or riches, for this world is not our home, and we should not seek to lay up treasure here. "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." Our debts are our sins, or our transgressions of God's holy law; and we should always feel, especially when we come before our Heavenly Father in prayer, that we are sinners, and must have his pardon or forgiveness, or be lost for ever. “Lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil." These expressions are a petition that God would keep us from every thing that will lead us to forget his commandments, and entice us to do wrong. Let us never forget that we have within us such evil hearts, that we shall be led by every bad example, and continually grow worse and worse, if we are not guarded and guided by the spirit of God. "For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory for ever." If we truly feel these words when we speak them in prayer, we

acknowledge the right God has to reign in us, and over us, and through all the world. If we truly feel these words, our spirits bow before our Maker, and we worship him as the angels do in heaven. "Amen." This word at the end of the prayer means "May it be so." Jesus therefore said in one word as he closed the prayer, "My heart approves it all."

I told you, dear reader, that prayer was an offering of the heart to God. This examination of the Lord's prayer shows us what kind of offering it should be. Are you prepared to pray in this manner? If not, still it is your duty to pray, not with the lips only, but with the heart. All prayer to God must be made in the name of our Saviour. God cannot hear and answer the prayers of any sinful being, only through Christ as a mediator and intercessor. All our offerings to God must be presented in HIS NAME. How can you learn to pray aright? None but God can teach you. Study his word, believe in Jesus as your Saviour. Ask

him to give you a clean heart, and a right spirit." Ask him to "search you, and try you, and see if there be any wicked way in you, and lead you in the way everlasting." You need not fear to come to him in the name of Christ, for the Bible says, "If ye," that is earthly parents, "know how to give good gifts to your children; how much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them

that ask him."

« VorigeDoorgaan »