PRAYER | AdventAI

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 24, 1862

PRAYER.

By prayer we obtain true peace of mind, that peace to which those who never pray are utter strangers. This peace is a calm and entire resting upon God for the supply of every necessity, of body and soul for time and eternity. It is casting all our burden, whatever it be, upon a kind, compassionate, almighty friend, who willingly sustains it, and relieves and comforts us. “Casting all your care on him for he careth for you.” Let the Christian follow the apostle’s direction, “Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God,” and he may fully expect the effect which the apostle describes—“and the peace of God which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” How calm and composed may he be, amid all the storms and distractions of this world, who has daily and hourly communion with the Creator, Ruler, and Preserver of all things. The Christian falls below his true happiness in this life, if he does not enjoy constant peace of mind. “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusted in thee.” With peculiarly filial confidence may those approach him when they are in trouble, whose habit of mind, whose continual practice, whose whole life is a continual drawing near to God. The command and the promise belong to them, “Call upon me in the day of trouble and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.” Indeed what Christian has not found in his own experience, the truth of the declaration, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in

trouble.” When no other ear could hear but His, no other arm save, no other power relieve or help; when we were destitute and almost in despair, then his ear heard, and through his mercy we were delivered. Prayer, like the precious metal, comes most pure from the heated furnace. Are you depressed under your guilt, your weakness, your ignorance or ingratitude? You may spread your distress as Hezekiah did his letter before God, and you need not fear but that God will help you. And what a comfort it is that we can never come unreasonably to him. A great man or a friend may be so circumstanced that we cannot interrupt him, or he may soon be wearied with our repeated application, or he may be so distant that we cannot gain access to him. But our God is very nigh unto us—he is always with us; “a very present help in trouble.” Other friends, if willing, may not be able to help us—but He has both the will and the power to give the greatest blessings. Even our guilt when confessed becomes a plea for relief, and the worst condition becomes the strongest reason to pray—all that is given being given not for our merits, but for Christ’s sake. The following affecting anecdote is related us of a poor colored woman. She was a pious slave in the West Indies, and was forbidden by her master to attend public worship and threatened with severe punishment if she did. The only reply she made was, “I must tell the Lord that,” a reply that so affected her owner, that he no longer refused her liberty to go. What a view does this give us of the blessedness of prayer, that a poor friendless outcast may thereby obtain the aid and grace of the great Governor of the universe.—Sel.