“The life to which the Holy Scriptures calls men is no picnic, or holiday junketing. It is no pastime, no pleasure jaunt. It entails effort, wrestling, struggling; it demands the putting forth of the full energy of the spirit in order to frustrate the foe and to come off, at the last, more than conqueror. It is no primrose path, no rose-scented dalliance. From start to finish it is war.”
“How can the brave warrior for Christ be made braver still? How can the strong soldier be made stronger still? How can the victorious battler be made still more victorious? Here are Paul’s explicit directions to that end: “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;”
“The soldier-prayer must reflect its profound concern for the success and well-being of the whole army. The battle is not altogether a personal matter, victory cannot be achieved for self, alone. There is a sense, in which the entire army of Christ is involved. The cause of God, his saints, their woes and trials, their duties and crosses, all should find a voice and a pleasder in the Christian soldier, when he prays. He dare not limit his praying to himself. Nothing dries up spiritual secretions so certainly and completely; nothing poisons the fountain of spiritual life so effectively; nothing acts in such a deadly fashion, as selfish praying.”
“The Christian soldier must needs be always fighting. He should, of sheer necessity, be always praying.”
“Without prayer the Christian graces will wither and die. Without prayer, we may add, preaching is edgeless and a vain thing, and the Gospel loses its wings…”
Leave a Reply