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Noon-Hour Prayer

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jan 23, 1913

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 90, No. 4.

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Noon-Hour Prayer

“Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice.” “And the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends.”
Many and precious are the promises which our Heavenly Father gives to his praying children, but he bids us to be constant in our asking, to “pray without ceasing.” This is a call to habitual rather than never-ceasing prayer. It is the daily, regular habit of holding on to God that brings things to pass. We know the evil of frequent breaks and interruptions in our daily tasks; if we pray to-day and forget to pray to-morrow, if we cry to God this week and are silent next, our prayer life will suffer in the same way. If we would live a life of power, we must live a life of prayer. Ceasings and interruptions in our daily communion with heaven bring a loss of power. And this loss of power in prayer is entirely our own fault, for God is omnipotent. Unrivaled wisdom, boundless skill, limitless power, infinite resources, are his. “He who shrouded the land of Egypt in awful darkness; he who turned her streams of water to streams of blood; he who laid his hand upon her first-born and filled her borders with mourning; he who broke the stubborn will of her impious king; he who led forth his people Israel, with a mighty arm and an outstretched hand; he who parted the great sea, and made the glassy walls of water to be bulwarks of safety to them, and swift avalanches of death to their pursuing foes; he who, when his children cried for water, sweetened the bitter wells to quench their thirst; he who, when they hungered, sent
them bread from heaven; he who, when they marched about Jericho in utter self-helplessness, leveled its towering walls by the word of his power; he who walked with his three children in the fierce, fiery furnace, yet kept them even from the smell of scorching garments; he who stilled the tempest, walked on the seas, cast out devils, healed the living and raised the dead,”—it is this same mighty Friend who says to you and to me, If ye ask, I will do. But before we can claim this promise, we must be willing to “pray without ceasing.”

Requests for Prayer

39. A mother in Vermont asks prayer for the conversion of two children, a son and a daughter.
40. A Pennsylvania sister desires us to pray that her husband may be led to accept this truth and to give up the use of strong drink and tobacco; also that her parents and brothers and sisters may be converted.
41. From Indiana a sister sends the request that we pray for the healing of her niece. The doctors give very little hope for her recovery.
42. “I desire prayer in behalf of my aunt, who is an invalid, that she may be healed if it is the Lord’s will,” writes a brother from Michigan.
43. An afflicted sister in Canada requests that prayer be offered for her restoration to health.
44. An aged Michigan sister asks that we pray during the noon-hour season for the conversion of her relatives who know the truth but fail to walk therein.
45. An isolated sister desires prayer for the conversion of her husband, five sons, three daughters, and an aged mother.
46. A sister writing from California sends the request that the conversion of her father, who is a policeman in Arkansas, be made a subject of prayer. He makes no profession whatever of Christianity.
47. An anxious mother in the same State (California) asks prayer for the conversion of three sons and two daughters-in-law; also for herself that she may be restored to health and strength.
48. Still another request has come from California. An isolated sister desires us to pray for the work of God in her community, and for the conversion of her children and their families.
49. A burdened Colorado mother earnestly desires our prayers for a son who has given up the truth, and for a daughter who has married an unbeliever, that she may not become discouraged.
50. A friend in New Mexico, who is interested in this truth, asks prayer for herself and husband that they may have courage and strength to obey God in all things.
51. A pathetic request comes from a mother in the East. She desires that prayer be offered for the conversion and healing of her husband, who is suffering from an incurable disease; for the healing of her little daughter who has infantile paralysis; and for the conversion of a brother and a brother-in-law.