deal in vapory generalities. The more earnest prayer becomes, the more definite it becomes. A parent praying for the recovery of a sick child does not allow his thoughts to wander over creation, but focalizes them into one definite and reiterated request. A parent praying for the conversion of a wayward child narrows his prayers in the same way. A Sunday school teacher who is watching for the flowering time in the spiritual life of the members of her class will pray definitely for them, taking them to the throne of grace one by one. A pastor who, like the Good Shepherd, knows his own sheep by name will pray for them individually, as their special needs come up before him. And any Christian who gives himself to prayer for others will be drawn out to consider their special circumstances; he will not scatter his fire but will pray for special things. This will give his prayer point and power. Definite asking will bring definite answers. It is worthy of note that the things which Paul asked for his friends were spiritual things. He prayed that they might increase in the knowledge of the divine will, that they might abound in love and in spiritual discernment. He sought for them the best gifts. A great deal of intercessory prayer is keyed too low, and it is concerned chiefly with outward interests. Many hasten to pray for the deliverance of a friend from the grip of some fell bodily disease, and show no solicitude for his spiritual safety. They pray for his relief from com mercial disaster, and forget to pray for him when his soul is imperiled by the corrupting and enervating influences of commercial prosperity. In his praying for others Paul puts the emphasis upon the inner and supreme things. 2. The Deeper Answer. "And by reason of the exceeding greatness of the revelations, that I should not be exalted overmuch, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, that I should not be exalted overmuch. Concerning this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he hath said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Cor. 12. 7-9). Paul's thorn in the flesh was evidently some humbling physical infirmity, which was seen of others. His thrice repeated prayer for its removal was refused. Every time he besought the Lord that it might depart he was promised something else. When he prayed, "Take away this rankling thorn," the Lord answered, "I will give you grace to bear it, and to profit by it." He asked one thing and got another. Was Paul's prayer unanswered because the specific boon which he requested was denied? To think so is a mistake. Looking at the matter superficially, he got a blank refusal; looking at it more deeply, he got what in his heart of hearts he desired. The formal request was denied, but something better was given. Paul as a Christian man desired above all else that God's will might be done in everything in his life. In that will he was ever ready to acquiesce. In things beyond his knowledge he was ready to leave the choice with God; for he believed that he alone knew what to give or what to withhold, so as to secure for him the highest spiritual ends. While asking, therefore, for the removal of this bodily weakness, he was offering the deeper prayer that God's will might be done; and in giving him a spiritual blessing rather than a temporal one God gave him a deeper answer. "When we beg deliverance," says Leighton, "we are not unanswered if he give patience and support." Thus was Paul's prayer answered when, instead of the removal of his stake in the flesh, he received sufficiency of grace to enable him to say, "Most gladly, therefore, will I glory in my infirmity, that the power of Christ may rest upon me." His prayer "was no doubt dictated rather by his anxiety for the welfare of the gospel than by any longing for personal ease or comfort" (J. E. McFadyen). And when he came to see that his infirmity was no impediment to his work, if by it he was brought to a deeper experience of Christ's strengthening grace, he did not merely submit to it, he gloried in it. Many who pray for the removal of bodily disease are not cured. They have to bear the burden of their infirmity to the end of life. In spite of their sincere belief in God's power to heal, and in spite of their prayers and the prayers of others, the disease refuses to depart and runs its course to a fatal end. What does this mean? Does it show that God has failed to respond to the cry of his child in the hour of his direst need? May it not, rather, imply that God may have been better to him than his prayers, denying his surface petition that he might grant his heart's deep desire? To secure the highest good to his children the heavenly Father does not hesitate to deny the lower for the higher. He denies the stone that is asked so that he may give the loaf that is needed; he denies the removal of the thorn that he may bestow his triumphing grace. Pray on, sad heart, That which thou pleadest for may not be given, But in the lofty altitude where souls are lifted, there Thou shalt find help to bear thy daily lot Which is not elsewhere found. (Ella Wheeler Wilcox.) 3. Desire and Prayer. "My heart's desire and my supplication to God is for them, that they may be saved" (Rom. 10. 1). Desire is dynamic. If unchecked, it will express itself in prayer. Paul's desire for the salvation of his kinsmen according to the flesh, drove him to his knees, and could find relief only in earnest and continued supplication to God on their behalf. Desire and prayer are twins, born at the same moment. Prayer is the soul's sincere desire Desires are heard in heaven. "God hears us sigh, though mute." He "hears the desire of the humble," but Fénelon reminds us that while "to pray is to desire, it is to desire what God would have us desire." To which sentiment H. Clay Trumbull adds, "No child of God has a right to pray for that which he has no right to desire." How needful, then, to see that our desires themselves are right! Whatever is good to wish, ask that of heaven; The word which Paul uses, and which is rendered "desire," expresses more than mere well-wishing, or a good disposition of the heart. It carries with it the idea of intention of will. It is something that seeks realization-an underground stream that seeks to come to the surface, a heart-wish that must needs find voice. The prayer into which it passes is prayer in its most distinct and urgent form; it is free, familiar, bold approach to God; it is earnest pleading with God after the manner in which Abraham pleaded for Sodom. The thing for which Paul agonizingly longed and prayed, with the intensity of a God-begotten love, was Israel's salvation. That was the deepest desire of his heart. He believed in the possibility of its final fulfillment because God had given him the heart to pray for it. Hence we do not wonder at him expressing his conviction that "all Israel shall be saved." It was the inspiration of this mighty |