[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
Three-One God. Through the Spirit, Christ s prayers become ours, and ours are made
102
His: we ask what we will, and it is given to us. We then understand from experience,
Hitherto ye have not asked in my Name. At that day ye shall ask in my Name.
Brother! what we need to pray in the Name of Christ, to ask that we may receive
that our joy may be full, is the baptism of this Holy Ghost. This is more than the Spirit
of God under the Old Testament. This is more than the Spirit of conversion and
regeneration the disciples had before Pentecost. This is more than the Spirit with a
measure of His influence and working. This is the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the
glorified Jesus in His exaltation-power, coming on us as the Spirit of the indwelling
Jesus, revealing the Son and the Father within. (John xiv. 16-23.) It is when this Spirit
is the Spirit not of our hours of prayer, but of our whole life and walk, when this Spirit
glorifies Jesus in us by revealing the completeness of His work, and making us wholly
one with Him and like Him, that we can pray in His Name, because we are in very
deed one with Him. Then it is that we have that immediateness of access to the Father
of which Jesus says, I say not that I will pray the Father for you. Oh! we need to
understand and believe that to be filled with this, the Spirit of the glorified One, is the
one need of God s believing people. Then shall we realize what it is, with all prayer
and supplication to be praying at all seasons in the Spirit, and what it is, praying in
the Holy Ghost, to keep ourselves in the love of God. At that day ye shall ask in my
Name.
And so once again the lesson comes: What our prayer avails, depends upon
what we are and what our life is. It is living in the Name of Christ that is the secret of
praying in the Name of Christ; living in the Spirit that fits for praying in the Spirit. It is
abiding in Christ that gives the right and power to ask what we will: the extent of the
abiding is the exact measure of the power in prayer. It is the Spirit dwelling within us
that prays, not in words and thoughts always, but in a breathing and a being deeper
than utterance. Just so much as there is of Christ s Spirit in us, is there real prayer. Our
lives, our lives, O let our lives be full of Christ, and full of His Spirit, and the
wonderfully unlimited promises to our prayer will no longer appear strange. Hitherto
ye have asked nothing in my Name. Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be
full. At that day ye shall ask in my Name. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever
ye shall ask the father in my Name, He will give it you.
LORD , TEACH US TO PRAY.
-----0-----
O my God! in holy awe I bow before Thee, the Three in One. Again I have seen
how the mystery of prayer is the mystery of the Holy Trinity. I adore the Father who
ever hears, and the Son who ever lives to pray, and the Holy Spirit, proceeding from
the Father and the Son, to lift us up into the fellowship of that ever-blessed, never-
ceasing asking and receiving. I bow, my God, in adoring worship, before the infinite
condescension that thus, through the Holy Spirit, takes us and our prayers into the
Divine Life, and its fellowship of love.
O my Blessed Lord Jesus! Teach me to understand Thy lesson, that it is the
indwelling Spirit, streaming from Thee, uniting to Thee, who is the Spirit of prayer.
103
Teach me what it is as an empty, wholly consecrated vessel, to yield myself to His
being my life. Teach me to honour and trust Him, as a living Person, to lead my life
and my prayer. Teach me specially in prayer to wait in holy silence, and give Him
place to breathe within me His unutterable intercession. And teach me that through
Him it is possible to pray without ceasing, and to pray without failing, because He
makes me partaker of the never-ceasing and never-failing intercession in which Thou,
the Son, dost appear before the Father. Yea, Lord, fulfil in me Thy promise, At that day
ye shall ask in my Name. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the
Father in my Name, that will He give. Amen.
------0-----
NOTE.
Prayer has often been compared to breathing: we have only to carry out the comparison fully to
see how wonderful the place is which the Holy Spirit occupies. With every breath we expel the impure
air which would soon cause our death, and inhale again the fresh air to which we owe our life. So we
give out from us, in confession the sins, in prayer the needs and the desires of our heart. And in
drawing in our breath again, we inhale the fresh air of the promises, and the love, and the life of God in
Christ. We do this through the Holy Spirit, who is the breath of our life.
And this He is because He is the breath of God. The Father breathes Him into us, to unite
Himself with our life. And then just as on every expiration there follows again the inhaling or drawing
in of the breath, so God draws in again His breath, and the Spirit returns to Him laden with the desires
and needs of our hearts. And thus the Holy Spirit is the breath of the life of God, and the breath of the
new life in us. As God breathes Him out, we receive Him in answer to prayer; as we breathe Him back
again, He rises to God laden with our supplications. As the Spirit of God, in whom the Father and the
Son are one, and the intercession of the Son reaches the Father, He is to us the Spirit of prayer. True
prayer is the living experience of the truth of the Holy Trinity. The Spirit s breathing, the Son s
intercession, the Father s will, these three become one in us.
104
TWENTY-SIXTH LESSON.
I have prayed for thee;
Or, Christ the Intercessor.
But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not. LUKE xxii. 32.
I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you. JOHN xvi. 26.
He ever liveth to make intercession. HEB. vii. 25.
LL growth in the spiritual life is connected with the clearer insight into what Jesus [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl akte20.pev.pl
Three-One God. Through the Spirit, Christ s prayers become ours, and ours are made
102
His: we ask what we will, and it is given to us. We then understand from experience,
Hitherto ye have not asked in my Name. At that day ye shall ask in my Name.
Brother! what we need to pray in the Name of Christ, to ask that we may receive
that our joy may be full, is the baptism of this Holy Ghost. This is more than the Spirit
of God under the Old Testament. This is more than the Spirit of conversion and
regeneration the disciples had before Pentecost. This is more than the Spirit with a
measure of His influence and working. This is the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the
glorified Jesus in His exaltation-power, coming on us as the Spirit of the indwelling
Jesus, revealing the Son and the Father within. (John xiv. 16-23.) It is when this Spirit
is the Spirit not of our hours of prayer, but of our whole life and walk, when this Spirit
glorifies Jesus in us by revealing the completeness of His work, and making us wholly
one with Him and like Him, that we can pray in His Name, because we are in very
deed one with Him. Then it is that we have that immediateness of access to the Father
of which Jesus says, I say not that I will pray the Father for you. Oh! we need to
understand and believe that to be filled with this, the Spirit of the glorified One, is the
one need of God s believing people. Then shall we realize what it is, with all prayer
and supplication to be praying at all seasons in the Spirit, and what it is, praying in
the Holy Ghost, to keep ourselves in the love of God. At that day ye shall ask in my
Name.
And so once again the lesson comes: What our prayer avails, depends upon
what we are and what our life is. It is living in the Name of Christ that is the secret of
praying in the Name of Christ; living in the Spirit that fits for praying in the Spirit. It is
abiding in Christ that gives the right and power to ask what we will: the extent of the
abiding is the exact measure of the power in prayer. It is the Spirit dwelling within us
that prays, not in words and thoughts always, but in a breathing and a being deeper
than utterance. Just so much as there is of Christ s Spirit in us, is there real prayer. Our
lives, our lives, O let our lives be full of Christ, and full of His Spirit, and the
wonderfully unlimited promises to our prayer will no longer appear strange. Hitherto
ye have asked nothing in my Name. Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be
full. At that day ye shall ask in my Name. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever
ye shall ask the father in my Name, He will give it you.
LORD , TEACH US TO PRAY.
-----0-----
O my God! in holy awe I bow before Thee, the Three in One. Again I have seen
how the mystery of prayer is the mystery of the Holy Trinity. I adore the Father who
ever hears, and the Son who ever lives to pray, and the Holy Spirit, proceeding from
the Father and the Son, to lift us up into the fellowship of that ever-blessed, never-
ceasing asking and receiving. I bow, my God, in adoring worship, before the infinite
condescension that thus, through the Holy Spirit, takes us and our prayers into the
Divine Life, and its fellowship of love.
O my Blessed Lord Jesus! Teach me to understand Thy lesson, that it is the
indwelling Spirit, streaming from Thee, uniting to Thee, who is the Spirit of prayer.
103
Teach me what it is as an empty, wholly consecrated vessel, to yield myself to His
being my life. Teach me to honour and trust Him, as a living Person, to lead my life
and my prayer. Teach me specially in prayer to wait in holy silence, and give Him
place to breathe within me His unutterable intercession. And teach me that through
Him it is possible to pray without ceasing, and to pray without failing, because He
makes me partaker of the never-ceasing and never-failing intercession in which Thou,
the Son, dost appear before the Father. Yea, Lord, fulfil in me Thy promise, At that day
ye shall ask in my Name. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the
Father in my Name, that will He give. Amen.
------0-----
NOTE.
Prayer has often been compared to breathing: we have only to carry out the comparison fully to
see how wonderful the place is which the Holy Spirit occupies. With every breath we expel the impure
air which would soon cause our death, and inhale again the fresh air to which we owe our life. So we
give out from us, in confession the sins, in prayer the needs and the desires of our heart. And in
drawing in our breath again, we inhale the fresh air of the promises, and the love, and the life of God in
Christ. We do this through the Holy Spirit, who is the breath of our life.
And this He is because He is the breath of God. The Father breathes Him into us, to unite
Himself with our life. And then just as on every expiration there follows again the inhaling or drawing
in of the breath, so God draws in again His breath, and the Spirit returns to Him laden with the desires
and needs of our hearts. And thus the Holy Spirit is the breath of the life of God, and the breath of the
new life in us. As God breathes Him out, we receive Him in answer to prayer; as we breathe Him back
again, He rises to God laden with our supplications. As the Spirit of God, in whom the Father and the
Son are one, and the intercession of the Son reaches the Father, He is to us the Spirit of prayer. True
prayer is the living experience of the truth of the Holy Trinity. The Spirit s breathing, the Son s
intercession, the Father s will, these three become one in us.
104
TWENTY-SIXTH LESSON.
I have prayed for thee;
Or, Christ the Intercessor.
But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not. LUKE xxii. 32.
I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you. JOHN xvi. 26.
He ever liveth to make intercession. HEB. vii. 25.
LL growth in the spiritual life is connected with the clearer insight into what Jesus [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]