Praying for the Poor

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Dec 13, 1870

Praying for the Poor.

We are taught in the Bible to pray for the poor; but in the Scriptures a great deal more is said about giving to the poor than about praying for them. Probably no class of people are more frequently remembered in prayer than the congregation of the Lord's poor; and yet it is to be feared that most of those who pray for the poor, do but little, if anything, to supply their wants.

A farmer whose cribs were full of corn, was accustomed to pray that the wants of the needy might be supplied; but when any one in needy circumstances asked for a little of his corn, he said he had none to spare. One day, after hearing his father pray for the poor and the needy, his little son said to him: “Father, I wish I had your corn.”

“Why, my son, what could you do with it?” asked the father. The child replied:

“I would answer your prayers.”

We can answer our own prayers oftener than we think. With regard to the poor, Jesus says: “Ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good.” How many answers to prayer depend on our willingness to do good?—Sunday-School Times.