If the Lord doesn't draw nearer to them than they do to
Him I doubt that their prayers are really of very great force."
The ability to pray is the great test of a spiritual life. "The faith to
pray" is a gift to be cultivated through devoted practice. The teacher
who would have his pupils draw nearer to him must himself draw near to
the Lord. The promise, "Ask, and ye shall receive, seek, and ye shall
find," was given only to those who ask in faith. This constant prayer of
faith, then is the first great guarantee of the Spirit.
The second is a clean life. Just as it is impossible for water to make
its way through a dirty, clogged pipe, so it is for the Spirit to flow
through a channel of unrighteous desires. A visitor was interested a
short time ago in Canada in attempting to get a drink out of a pipe that
had been installed to carry water from a spring in the side of a
mountain to a pool at the side of the road. Due to neglect, moss and
filth had been allowed to collect about the bottom of the pipe, until it
was nearly choked up. Getting a drink was out of the question. And yet
there was plenty of water in the spring above--just as fine water as had
ever flowed from that source. It was simply denied passage down to those
who would drink. And so with the Spirit.
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