Helping Together by Prayer by M. E. Olsen

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D.C. · Apr 3, 1913

"Helping Together by Prayer"

By M. E. Olsen

M. E. OLSEN

“Ye also helping together by prayer.” 2 Cor. 1:11.

“I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ’s sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers.” Rom. 15:30.

THERE is a kind of support that the institutions of this cause need even more than money, and that is the united prayers of God’s people. There is danger that the very magnitude which this

work has assumed under the prospering hand of God may prove a drawback to its continued spirituality. When our institutions were small and had to struggle under all manner of difficulties, they were the subjects of prayer at the family altar and in the closet, and there were not wanting earnest men and women who remembered them also in the night-seasons. Their progress as recorded in the weekly issues of the Review was watched with loving anxiety; and if one or the other was in financial straits, some faithful brother was ready, if need be, to part with a humble little home or a piece of land in order that the institution might continue its God-appointed work.

In those days of small beginnings there was an immediacy of contact between the people and institutions that helped greatly to emphasize the spiritual needs of the latter. Moreover, the weakness of the institutions was in itself an appeal for prayerful support. When all our denominational printing was done on a single power-press, and when our one sanitarium consisted of a made-over farmhouse with half-trained nurses and the most meager of treatment appliances, it was evident to all concerned that such humble instruments could accomplish nothing except in the hands of an almighty God. Accordingly, fervent prayers went up to heaven continually, and were gloriously answered in the growth and development of those feeble instrumentalities into mighty agencies for good, whose influence is felt to-day in remote corners of the world.

Yet, while we thank God for the growth, one thing we should remember: Our institutions of to-day, while comparatively numerous and in many cases well provided with modern facilities, are just as helpless as their humble predecessors, apart from the divine blessing. In themselves they can do nothing. Moreover, the demands made upon them have vastly increased. We face a situation to-day which is in many ways far more difficult than that of a generation ago. A subtle wave of skepticism has rolled over the whole earth; men have lost faith in the Bible; they have largely lost faith in the fundamental principles of morality and good government; so that in presenting the truth to-day one must build a foundation, where in former days he had one ready to hand. To-day men’s minds are so calloused by the daily reading of sensational newspapers and by frequenting popular places of amusement that they do not respond readily to the message of the printed page. Where formerly a single truth-filled paper or tract led a half-dozen persons to accept the truth, now the repeated visits of a paper, supplemented by tracts and books, and perhaps by a course of meetings or a stay at one of our institutions, may be necessary to effect the conversion of one.

Surely, under these circumstances, we must all be devoutly thankful that the institutions which are such mighty agencies for both the training of workers and the winning of souls, have literally lengthened their cords and strengthened their stakes, even with the result in many instances of incurring a heavier load of debt. Of course, we wish that this progress could have been made without incurring increased financial obligations and thus threatening the usefulness of the institutions; but when we consider the excellent work which has been going on in these various schools and sanitariums, and when we further consider how urgent have been the reasons, in many cases at least, for the enlargement, we can not but acknowledge that growth under such circumstances is a far more hopeful sign than stagnation.

Perhaps if we looked more closely into the situation, we should come to the conclusion that what our institutions chiefly lack is the earnest, united prayers of God’s people. They have seemed to us so well fitted out with modern appliances, so well organized as to boards of control, etc., that we have not carried for them the burden of prayer that we should have carried. We have not watched over them with the tender solicitude with which a parent watches the development of his child. We have not realized that they are in the fullest sense of the word spiritual agencies, and as such stand continuously in need of the support that comes from prayer and the intelligent co-operation of the whole family of believers.

It is well to remember, too, that while our obligations have increased, our resources have also greatly increased. The debt on our schools, which has been incurred largely because we have tried to do the impossible by expecting an educational institution to pay its own way, may foot up to something over half a million, and yet that large sum averages hardly more than fifteen dollars to each family of Seventh-day Adventists in this country. And are there many families who could not, by earnest self-denial and rigid economy, save up in a year’s time fifteen dollars in addition to what they are already doing for our home and foreign work? It might require severe effort of some, but others, by merely cutting off luxuries which are really not appropriate to the character of a people awaiting the near return of their Lord, could save double or treble the amount, and in so doing receive a rich spiritual blessing. It is safe to say that if for the space of a single year we could as a people practise the daily self-denial that was practised by the pioneers in this message, we should thereby save enough money to pay off the entire indebtedness on our schools, and have something left with which to provide some of them with better facilities. Moreover, the experience would, apart from its financial results, be a blessed one to this people. To deny ourselves for the sake of the institutions which are giving a Christian training to our boys and girls, and which have already put into the field hundreds of efficient workers, would be one of the best possible ways in which to lay up treasure in heaven. Such an experience would in itself be an education in practical godliness the value of which can not be estimated.

But while we sacrifice in order to give, let us not forget to pray. God’s institutions are a part of his cause, and they literally live upon the prayers of his people. It is his desire to bless and prosper them, but it is also his desire to do this at our request and with our co-operation.