Ought Always to Pray by C. M. S.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Dec 9, 1909

Ought Always to Pray

By C. M. S.

JESUS at one time spoke a parable to the intent that “men ought always to pray, and not to faint.” It was not a precept without an example; for Jesus himself put life into the precept by carrying it out in his own life. Wherever he was, and whatever his work, he always found time to draw on the arsenal of divine power through the agency of prayer.

If prayer was necessary in the days of Christ’s personal ministry on earth, and necessary to such a one as he, then such as we are certainly can not neglect it in such a time as this. Beyond question, there are forces more subtle at work in our day than during any generation in the past. Satan has come down with great wrath, knowing that he has but a short time. Everything that this world has ever learned in the dark ways of sin it is practising in our generation. No ordinary experience in religious profession, and no semiserious faith on our part will equip us for the struggles that are just ahead. He who has the utmost degree of faith and of religious experience will have none to spare. Like the wise virgins, what he has can not be divided with others. There is the utmost need on our part that we appropriate every means God has given to fit his people to pass in triumph through the experiences of the last days. It will be no child’s play. Every weapon known to the adversary of souls will be in use. The most convincing philosophies and the most subtle dogmas will be spread before the eyes or sounded in the ears of all people, while the innuendoes of doubt and the positive assertions of open disbelief will meet us on every hand. And added to that will be the powerful, insistent force of the great religious systems entrenched behind and supported by the civil power, while strife and war at home and abroad will add to the turmoil and the terror of the times.

It is at such a time that men’s hearts will fail them for fear and for looking after those things that are coming upon the earth. But then is the time when the Christian must not faint if he expects to hear the “Well done” from the lips of his Redeemer. Says the prophet:—“For yet a very little while, and he that cometh shall come, and shall not tarry. But my righteous one shall live by faith; and if he shrink back, my soul hath no pleasure in him.” Heb. 10:37, 38.

But some will go through; for “he shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied.” Again: “They overcame him [the accuser] because of the blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony.” Rev. 12:11. “And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire; and them that come off victorious from the beast, and from his image, and from the number of his name, standing by the sea of glass, having harps of God.” Rev. 15:2.

Before that occurs, the record of every soul will be sealed for eternity; every case before the bar of heaven will have been decided. Cases are being decided now. The Advocate of those who have stood for God through the ages pleads, with his blood and the cruel marks of his crucifixion, for the souls of his humble and faithful people.

We have cases at that bar, cases that must go by default if our own worthiness or our own ability are depended on to carry us through. They need not depend upon that. The Son of God is our advocate, his righteousness pleads in place of our unrighteousness, and his strength is ours to enable us to stand. The Father is the Judge, and we can know that his judgment will be just.

But “the wages of sin is death,” and we have all earned that wage. “So death passed unto all men, for that all sinned.” There is no work that man can do for the future that will be able to make compensation for the penalty of death already earned. In such a condition, and having been led into trusting in “good works” of their own for salvation, thousands on thousands will go down to perdition; or trusting in some scheme of human devising, they will discount the plan of God and pass it by, while they look everywhere but in the Word of God for a lamp to light their pathway. It is a time of tremendous importance. Six thousand years of sin, misery, sorrow, strife, oppression, and deception are culminating now. We are in the focal point of the ages; yet out of this generation, harrassed by the accumulated intrigues of a wily foe, God will bring the polished jewels of his grace. It should be to us a time of deep concern—not a time of fearful trembling and anxious worry, but a time of heart searching, of determined seeking after God.

The time is near when the heavens will reveal him who is the hope of the world; but now he stands at the bar of God pleading the case of his people, who have made a covenant with him by sacrifice. His standing in that court is unquestioned; for he is the sinless Son of the merciful Judge, and has already been received at the right hand of the throne of the Father. Everything has been done that even Infinity could do to make possible for man a way of escape from eternal death and a way of attaining eternal life. The only thing that now stands between us and everlasting life is our refusal to repent of sin and put our case in the hands of him who is at once our Friend, our Brother, our Redeemer, and our all-powerful Advocate at the bar of eternity. Our eternal destiny hangs upon our willingness or unwillingness to submit our case to the only One in all God’s universe who is able to carry it through.

Having put our case into his hands, thrown ourselves meritless upon his mercy, forsaken sin, and declared our allegiance to the kingdom of righteousness, the power of heaven is ours to see us through. That power comes through prayer. Wherefore, “men ought always to pray, and not to faint.”

C. M. S.