G. B. THOMPSON by G. B. Thompson

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Nov 28, 1907

G. B. THOMPSON

By G. B. Thompson

Prayer—No. 6

G. B. THOMPSON

To Daniel a messenger from heaven said, “Thou art greatly beloved.” We do not read just this concerning any other man. This was a wonderfully comforting message to be brought from heaven by the high and holy Gabriel to a poor, sinful man. It told how he was regarded in heaven. A sinner greatly loved in heaven! How cheering!

But why was Daniel, an erring man, so loved in heaven? The secret of this we feel sure is that he was a man of prayer. We find him at the “time of the evening oblation,” “speaking in prayer.” We read of his “supplications,” and how he set his face to “seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting and sackcloth, and ashes,” to understand the will of the Lord.

Daniel was much in secret prayer. “Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.”

This was secret prayer. It was his custom. He had been doing it “aforetime.” Here is explained the secret of the life of this remarkable man, and it tells why he was “greatly beloved.” He was a man of prayer. Nothing, not even death itself, could hinder him from communing with God. When he “knew that the writing was signed” which consigned him to a den of hungry lions, he went to his accustomed place, and with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he bowed before Jehovah and prayed for help, just as he had before. What an example of secret prayer!

And he did not allow business to rob him of his secret devotion. He was a busy man. The affairs of many provinces were in his hands. He was “first” of the three presidents who were over the “whole kingdom.” But he took time to pray. He made duty first and secular things second; and he did not take time to pray once a day, but “three times a day” he “prayed, and gave thanks before his God.” “At evening, and morning, and at noon” he repaired to his closet to pray. This tells why “an excellent spirit was in him,” and why he was “preferred above the presidents and princes.”

We are admonished to pray in secret. “And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.” When “every man went into his own house,” the Saviour “went unto the Mount of Olives,” and there alone, in the cold mountains, with the dew of night falling upon him, he “continued all night in prayer to God.” O that professed Christians would follow the example of secret prayer left us by our divine Master! The absence of prayer tells why many are weak and ready to die.

“We should pray also in the family circle; and above all, we must not neglect secret prayer, for this is the life of the soul. It is impossible for the soul to flourish while prayer is neglected. Family or public prayer alone is not sufficient. In solitude let the soul be open to the inspecting eye of God. Secret prayer is to be heard only by the prayer-hearing God. No curious ear is to receive the burden of such petitions. In secret prayer the soul is free from surrounding influences, free from excitement. Calmly, yet fervently, will it reach out after God. Sweet and abiding will be the influence emanating from him who seeth in secret, whose ear is open to hear the prayer arising from the heart. By calm, simple faith, the soul holds communion with God, and gathers to itself rays of divine light to strengthen and sustain it in the conflict with Satan. God is our tower of strength.

“Pray in your closet; and as you go about your daily labor, let your heart be often lifted to God. It was thus that Enoch walked with God. These silent prayers rise like precious incense before the throne of grace. Satan can not overcome him whose heart is thus stayed upon God.

“There is no time or place in which it is inappropriate to offer up a petition to God. There is nothing that can prevent us from lifting up our hearts in the spirit of earnest prayer. In the crowds of the street, in the midst of a business engagement, we may send up a petition to God, and plead for divine guidance, as did Nehemiah when he made his request before the King Artaxerxes. A closet of communion may be found wherever we are. We should have the door of the heart open continually, and our invitation going up that Jesus may come and abide as a heavenly guest in the soul.”—“Steps to Christ,” pages 120, 121.

Takoma Park, D. C.