p. 5 | What Will Be Accomplished? by F. M. W.

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

What Will Be Accomplished?

By F. M. W.

BEFORE another number of this paper reaches its readers, the week of prayer for 1909 will have come and gone. As one looks over the great field, it is interesting to contemplate this concert of prayer in which our people will engage. What will be accomplished by this season? Will it bring a revival to our churches, a deeper consecration in the individual experiences of our brethren and sisters? If it does, it will surely accomplish a blessed result; falling short of this, it will signally fail of its purpose.

Appointed occasions for seeking the Lord places every believer in a different relationship to God. It serves either to deepen Christian experience or to bring to the heart a spirit of greater indifference, as each individual relates himself to the occasion. While much may depend upon the leaders of the public service, upon the readings that have been prepared and sent out, after all the real burden of obtaining a closer connection with God falls to each individual member. Without this individual effort but little can be accomplished.

To make the most out of this concert of prayer, every child of God should seek by an examination of his own heart to prepare the way for the coming in of the Lord Jesus. If he has committed sin, that should be humbly confessed. First, let him make right every wrong in his own family. An acknowledgment may be due the husband or the wife, the parent or the child. Remove out of the way the stumbling-blocks. From there, let the work of righting wrong extend to the church itself. Hasty words should be recalled; misunderstandings

be cleared away. It is this work of humiliation and confession, followed by complete consecration to God, that brings into the life the power of his Holy Spirit.

Nor should each one feel content with bringing himself into a right relationship. Each should reach out for every other. If a member in the church is discouraged and cast down, he should be visited. Every effort should be made to reclaim the backslidden. If this work is entered upon, if this spirit of true revival shall be present in all our churches during the week-of-prayer occasion, and if there possesses the hearts of our people the spirit of true consecration, we need have no fear but that the demands of our mission treasury will be met.

When once this people have given their all to God and made a full and complete surrender to their Saviour, there will be no lack of either men or means to carry forward the work. The burden of this work resting upon the hearts of the believers in this message will lead them to respond to its demands. To them the call of God will be more than a call to formal service. In giving themselves, they will give their all to God,—house, lands, flocks, and merchandise,—counting themselves only the stewards of God to use the means entrusted to their care as the Spirit shall lead and the providence of God indicate.

Hence, our burden is not primarily to see a large offering, although that is greatly needed, but to witness a refreshing from the presence of the Lord, a revival of true-hearted service, an old-time faith in this message, and a burden of soul for those who know it not. This is the great need. The offering will follow as its first-fruits.

There is but little need to argue with an unregenerate heart against following the fashions of the world, and indulging in the pleasures of sin. He who does these things needs a new birth in Christ Jesus. When the heart is truly converted, its chief delight will not be found in dress, or display, but in loving service for the Master, and the time spent in sinful and useless pleasures will be given to the work of soul-saving. It is this way in the matter of gifts and offerings for gospel work. A truly converted heart and consecrated life will find its highest expression of love in service, in imparting to others the newfound joy in Christ Jesus. It will need no urging. A knowledge of existing need will be sufficient to enlist the service of heart and hand in its alleviation.

Let all unite to make the week of prayer for this year a great spiritual feast, a time of sweet communion with God. There should be much praying. Let little groups get together and seek for special blessing. Let families unite several times a day in prayer to God. Above all let there be much personal prayer. Alone with God each soul can gain a strength that will come in no other way. Daily searching of the Scriptures, daily quiet meditation and daily prayer, with the putting away of every wrong and the consecration of every power to God,—in this simple but effective way each soul may bring the rich blessing of heaven into his own experience, and become an agent in the hands of the Spirit for imparting the grace of God to his fellows.

F. M. W.