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Why We Pray

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jul 6, 1916

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 93, No. 33.

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Why We Pray

By William Covert

WILLIAM COVERT
We pray for things just beyond our reach. Feeling the need of something which God can bestow, we ask for it of him. We work and we wait, but always find ourselves hedged about by the ending of the ways. We see in part, we hear in part, and we know in part; and yet at every point where the curtain is parted and we see into the beyond, there loom up promises and interrogatives which speak of things to be desired, but not yet in hand. And where we see over these, we bow to pray, and extend our hands like the child that asks for more.
One who does not believe in a prayer-answering heavenly Father cannot pray effectively. The one who comes to God in prayer must believe that God exists, and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. He must pray in faith, nothing doubting. He must believe in an answer, and even extend thanks as a recipient when he prays. It is the effectual, fervent prayer of the righteous man that avails to bring the gifts from heaven to earth, where men can use them.
Two hungry traveling missionaries were on horseback, riding in the wilds of Africa. When at a place where there was neither house nor home in sight, one proposed that they dismount and bow in prayer, asking for, and returning thanks to God for, a good breakfast and food for their hungry horses. They did as was proposed; and when they had mounted their horses again and gone but a short distance, around a clump of bushes they suddenly came upon a home, and the gentleman of that house came out to meet them. Extending a hearty welcome, he gave them just that for which they had returned thanks a short time before. It was my privilege to hear the late Arthur T. Pierson relate this incident, and he vouched for its truthfulness.
How good it is to know that God's ears are open to the cries of his children, and that by his Spirit he ever prompts us to ask for that which he desires to bestow. He says, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” Let us cultivate faith and learn how to pray.
Aurora, Ill.