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The Noon-Hour Prayer

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 12, 1912

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 89, No. 37.

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The Noon-Hour Prayer

By Editor

"Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice." "And the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends."
SINCE the last issue of the REVIEW, our mail has brought a number of earnest requests. Some express their great thankfulness that this department has been opened in our church paper. While they have burdens to present themselves, they feel glad to unite in the noon-day service in behalf of their afflicted brethren and sisters.
42. A sister in Detroit, Minn., who has had poor health for years, and has gradually grown worse until at the present time she is unable to do much of any work, believes that the time has been reached for her to ask direct help from the Lord. If she were well, there is much she could do in the teaching of a church-school or in selling our publications. She desires the prayers of the believers in Minnesota, and especially of the ministers in that conference, that God will give to her health and strength.
43. A burdened wife and mother writes from New Jersey, asking the prayers of her brethren and sisters in behalf of her unconverted children and husband. She has also an afflicted son, for whose healing she feels a special burden.
44. From North Carolina an afflicted brother writes, asking that his case may be presented before the throne of grace for healing, in order that he may have a part in carrying the third angel's message to the world. His heart goes out also in earnest desire for his wife, who has grown cold, and has entered the service of the world. Pray for her restoration to the Lord.
45. A sister in Oklahoma writes in behalf of a relative afflicted with tuberculosis who feels some interest in the truth, and some desire to give herself to the Lord, but has not strength to obey the Master's call. Pray for her healing of body and soul.
46. From Maine comes a request from one of our sisters that her husband, and also a friend of his, who are under conviction of the truth, may be led to yield to this conviction.
47. A brother in Norway writes of one of our sisters in Christiania, who is suffering from tuberculosis of the lungs and of one leg. Let us remember this Scandinavian sister in earnest prayer.
48. The husband of one of our sisters in Ohio is a traveling man. As such, he is thrown into associations the influence of which is to draw him farther and farther away from the Lord. Her heart goes out in earnest desire for his conversion, and she asks the prayers of her brethren and sisters that God may bring this about.
49. A similar request comes from another wife in behalf of her unconverted husband; also in behalf of her daughter, who is suffering with a serious affliction. Pray that God may send healing of soul to one, and of the body to the other.
50. The son of one of our sisters in Maine, who at one time loved the Lord and earnestly engaged in his service, has been drawn off by evil associates. He is her only son. The mother stands alone in seeking to lead him to God. Pray that the earnest desire of her heart may be realized in his conversion, and in the conversion of her husband, who likewise is cold and indifferent.
51. From New York City a sister writes of the wonderful conversion which she experienced some thirty years ago. This prepared her to go through the terrible affliction that followed in the death of her husband. She was left alone with ten children. Later she became a Seventh-day Adventist, and rejoices in the soon coming of the Lord. This hope she earnestly desires to share with her children, but thus far only three of them are keeping the Sabbath. Some of her children are now suffering serious affliction. For their conversion and restoration to health she earnestly requests prayer.
52. A similar burdened request comes from a mother in North Dakota who has two sons, aged fourteen and sixteenyears. They once knew the Lord, but have left the truth. For their return to the Father's house, and for the conversion of her husband, she most earnestly desires the help afforded by the prayers of others.
53. In Fitchburg, Mass., lives one of our sisters who for four years has suffered from a very painful disease. Remedies have proved of no avail, and she is slowly succumbing to its ravages. She asks to be remembered in prayer that the door of deliverance may be opened to her.
54. Of the evil influences associated with worldly schools this people has many times been warned. In order that our youth and children might be safeguarded and trained for God and for his work, Seventh-day Adventists have put into operation the system of church-schools found in this denomination, and the great army of youth among us who love and fear God bear witness to the wisdom of this plan. Some, however, have failed to realize the importance of placing their children in denominational schools. A spirit of heart-anguish is borne by a letter coming from one of our sisters in Michigan regarding this matter. Her heart's desire was to educate her daughter for the work of God. She did not feel, however, that she could arrange to send her to one of our own schools, and sent her instead to a school of the world. In one short year she married out of the truth, and as a result has become careless about questions which she once sacredly regarded. The burden of this mother's heart is that she herself may be sustained in this experience of 'the most bitter disappointment of life,' and that her daughter may be awakened to her sense of duty to God and to his truth.
These requests for prayer represent but a small part of the great burden borne by a disappointed, suffering world. There are but few hearts that have not felt their full burden of woe, but few homes where death has not entered. Let us hold up in the arms of our faith our suffering, faltering, discouraged brethren and sisters. They need our sympathy and our prayers. And let us not confine ourselves alone to these requests which are made from week to week. Every reader of this paper lives within personal touch of some poor, suffering heart. Let us stand ready to extend the helping hand, to speak the sympathetic word. If we give to others in their affliction love, or sympathy, or temporal benefit, we shall be doubly blessed in return.