The Call to Prayer by Arthur G. Daniells

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Nov 13, 1913

The Call to Prayer

By Arthur G. Daniells

THAT was a wise arrangement made by our leaders a quarter of a century ago to call our people to special prayer and consecration at the close of each year. And we of today are making no mistake in continuing that arrangement. Prayer is the secret of victory in our struggle against the world, the flesh, and the devil. As another has said:—

“The greatest need is to keep in close touch with God; the greatest risk is the loss of the sense of the divine. In a world where every appeal is to the physical senses and through them, reality is in direct proportion to the power and freedom of contact. What we see, hear, taste, touch, or smell—what is material and sensible—we cannot doubt. The present and material absorb attention and appear real, solid, substantial; but the future, the immaterial, the invisible, the spiritual, seem vague, distant, illusive, imaginary.

“Practically the unseen has little or no reality and influence with the vast majority of mankind. Even the unseen God himself is to most men less a verity than the commonest object of vision; to many he, the highest verity, is really vanity, while the world's vanities are practically the highest verities. God's great corrective for this most disastrous inversion and perversion of the true relation of things is prayer.”

Prayer connects us with God, and his presence is assurance of our triumph. God's presence with Joseph was the secret of his victorious life in Egypt. Torn from his father's Christian home when but a young man, he was taken to Egypt and sold as a slave in the public market. In the house of his master he was surrounded with heathen customs and influences. But “the Lord was with Joseph,” and “the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake.” Later he was cast into prison, and still “the Lord was with him, and that which he did, the Lord made it to prosper.”

“The Lord was with Joseph.” That was what he needed. That is what every human being needs, and that is the first and greatest of all human needs. We sometimes say that we need the old-time family religion, or the old-time revivals in our churches, or the old-time missionary zeal. All must admit that we greatly need all these, but really our great need is God. It was contact with God that gave our fathers the old-time family religion, revivals, and missionary zeal. God's presence will bring the same results today. And prayer, communion with God, will enthron him in the heart. For our own personal spiritual uplift, we need this week of special prayer and intercession.

But there is another reason why we as a people should welcome and conscientiously improve this week of prayer, and that is the triumph of our glorious cause. In his matchless love and kindness, God has revealed to us his message for this generation. He has honored us with a place in his work. He has made us laborers together with himself. In this he has placed within us the brightest and most cheering hope that can come to men and women in this world of sin, and sorrow, and death. This cause calls for our united, prevailing prayers. Our gospel workers all need our prayers for success. The teachers in charge of the thousands of our children and young people need and long for our earnest prayers. Our missionaries battling with the depressing influences of heathenism need our prayers. Our brethren exposed to persecutions and imprisonment need our intercessions. And lost men and women need the prayers of those whom God has brought into the light of his love and salvation.

Surely there is reason enough why we should set apart a week for prayer, reconsecration, and full surrender to God. O that we may all be deeply impressed with the importance of this occasion, and give ourselves to earnest prayer as we never have before!

A. G. DANIELLS.