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PRAYER

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Mar 19, 1901

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 78, No. 12.

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PRAYER

Fellowship in Prayer

SECRET prayer is the hidden bread of God for our souls; but we must not limit ourselves to it. How can I express to you all that I believe concerning the richness and value of fellowship in the prayer life? We must meet at the throne of grace if we are truly to make ourselves known to one another. How often people meet and exchange views, even as friends, of the deeper things; how often fellow workers talk together of all the incidents and details of their work, and feel that they are getting in touch with one another; and yet they are losing the great bond of intimacy unless they live together in the prayer life. I do not know anything that so purges fellowships of all kinds, fellowships in Christian work, friendships, all associations of individuals with one another—I do not know anything that so purges these relationships of pettiness, of little enmities, of exhibitions of selfishness, and of all things that are unworthy, as bending together at the throne of grace.
“There is a place where spirits blend, Where friend holds fellowship with friend; Though sundered far, by faith they meet Around one common mercy-seat.”
It sometimes seems to me that we never see into the soul of our friend until we and that friend have each lost sight of the other in the outpouring of both souls before Christ in prayer. I have known friends to work side by side for years. I have known, even in the household, husband and wife to walk side by side for years; yet in the sight of God, and after the measure of the deeper life, strangers to one another because fellowship in the prayer life was a thing unknown. Their spirits never blended at the throne of grace. Make much of fellowship in the prayer life.
(To be concluded.)