Pray Without Ceasing by Nevins

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Sep 14, 1876

Pray Without Ceasing.

By Nevins

To present a petition is one thing; to prosecute a suit is another. Most prayers answer to the former; but successful prayer corresponds to the latter. God’s people frequently lodge their petition in the court of Heaven, and there they let it lie. They do not press their suit. They do not employ other means of furthering it beyond the presenting of it. The whole of prayer does not consist in taking hold of God. The main matter is holding on. How many are induced by the slightest appearance of repulse to let go, as Jacob did not! I have often been struck with the manner in which petitions to the legislature are usually concluded—“And your petitioners will ever pray.” So men ought always to pray to God, and never faint. Payson says, “The promise of God is not to the act, but to the habit of prayer.”—Nevins.