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DIRECT DEALIG WITH GOD I PRAYER.
BY REV. JOH McElLL
" Be careful for nothing ; but in every thing by prayer and supplicationwith thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And thepeace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts andminds through (or 'in') Christ Jesus." — Phil. iv. 6, 7.The Apostle, in the words of our text, seems to speak exaggeratingly, carelessly, almost harshly, when he says," Be careful for nothing." But he quickly unfolds hisreason for that seeming off-hand dealing with what isto us such a real, such a clinging experience : troubleand anxiety. " Ah ! " he says virtually, " I was not harsh.I was not off-hand. Hear me out to the end. Do notinterrupt my speech in the middle. Hear all that I havegot to say. Be full of care for nothing, but in every thing by[As this is Synod week, I am obliged to break the regular issue of tlieSabbath morning discourse. The present sermon is the continuation of that on the same text, entitled "The Cure for Care" (Vol. II.— o. 23).It is a very simple and also very inadetiuate treatment of a most pressingand practical matter. But may it do thee good, my dear reader ; and bepassed on to some troubled neighbour by thee, who greatly needs a hearty^^]MX tecum " from God and the Preacher.]Vol. III.— o. 25.378 DIRECT DEALIG WITH GOD I PRAYEE.prayer and supplication make your requests known untoGod."I should like to begin there. He says, " Let your requestsbe made known unto God." This injunction is well worthyof our emphasis. Tell God. " The disciples," we are told,on one occasion, " went and told Jesus." And always whenwe think of the subject of prayer in its practical aspect, thatword comes into our minds — "Go and tell Jesus." Andwhen you are praying to God, remember that God is inChrist, and Christ is in God, and do not be stilted, do not
 
be stiff, do not use falsetto language, but pray freely, openly,pointedly, naturally, to your Heavenly Father about every-thing. " Let your requests be made known." Ah ! howmany of us tell God ? The word in Greek for making knownour requests is the very same word that is used, when weread in the twenty-third chapter of Luke's Gospel thatPilate gave sentence that it should be done according as thechief priests and the great mob and rabble "requested."Well, that was Jiot very polite " requesting," was it ? Look at how they requested, how they asked, how. they " let it beknown" to Pilate what they wanted done. You read, in averse or two before, that they shouted. " They cried with aa loud voice, Crucify Him! Crucify Him! Away withHim! ot this fellow, but Barabbas!" But to me it isvery, very wonderful that just that same idea is lyinghere in this expression, "Let your requests be madeknown unto God." The fact of the matter is, friends,we barely yet begin to understand how we can prayto God. I find such texts as these, "Ask and yeDIRECT DEALIG WITH GOD I PRAYER. 379shall receive " ; " Seek and ye shall find " ; " Let your re-quests be made known unto God," and then when I go toreligious literaturq, I find that these texts are watered downand divided into ever so many subdivisions. " Ask withresignation to the Divine will " ; " And your petitioners willever pray " ; " The humble petition of so-and-so showeth,that, whereas," &c. I am afraid that we have got that ideain our minds. ow, that is not praying. Come to God.There is no person in this world with whom you are saferthan when you are on your knees telling God, it may behotly, it may be with temper, it may be with passion. Iwant to tear away all the falsity that has gathered roundthis idea of God, especially with His child. His erring, buthumbled, blood-bought, trusting child. Go straight inupon Him. You cannot take Him by surprise, and youcannot, when it comes to the point, be too free with Him."Let your requests be made known unto God." Whatdo you want ? Tell Him. You are not allowed to go downtown there into a bank and loaf and loiter about the place,and come to the counter and go back again from thecounter. You would be hustled out. It is supposedthat if you come, you come for some transaction across thecounter, either to put in something or to take out
 
something. When we come to God, let us be as directat least as in our business transactions. Prayer alwaysmeans business, and over the door that lets you into theplace of prayer God always has this inscription written toguide us, and to warn us, and to put us on our mettle : " oadmittance except on business." Do not come to palaver380 DIEECT DEALIG WITH GOD I PKAYER.about this, and that, and the other. If I am to obey rulesand rubrics, I will not ask very much. When we went toask things of our father and our mother long ago, did westop to ask ourselves greatly if it was in accordance withtheir will ? We went and found that out hy-and-hye. Wewent and asked ; we took good care that we let them knowlohat we tcanted. I speak openly; I speak, if you like,unguardedly ; but what I am driving at is this — understandto whom you are speaking, and let your requests be madeknown. God will not fly in your face if you should put thething very urgently and very unguardedly. If you are hotabout it, let Him see that you are hot. Maybe you shouldnot get it. If you should not, you will not. Do not go toHim as if you were drawing up a petition to the Queen.You would put that into a lawyer's hands, very likely, andyou would take out all your hotness, all your emphasis,and express yourself in all manner of careful, guarded,respectful, periphrastic, round-about speech. Do not prayin that way. For Heaven's sake don't ! God does not careone bit for you to come to Him as a deputation and recitelong texts of Scripture. That is nothing to Him. " Letyour requests be made known unto God." Everythingthat troubles you, tell Him. Ask Him for meat or meal ormoney, fish or flesh or good red-herring. Tell Him whatyou would rather have. Tell Him your prayer; but forany sake understand that He is your Father, that thecommissariat department is altogether in His hands aswell as the grace department, that all things are in Hishands, and without Him ye can nothing. And that isDIRECT DEALIG WITH GOD I PRAYER. 381why the Scripture is always telling us, in every way, topray to God.
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