SECTION III
1. To pray is as it were to be on speaking
terms with Me, and so by being in communion with and abiding in Me to become
like Me. There is a kind of insect which feeds upon and lives among grass and
green leaves and becomes like them in colour. Also the polar bear dwelling
among the white snows has the same snowy whiteness, and the tiger of Bengal
bears upon its skin the marks of the reeds among which it lives. So those, who
by means of prayer abide in communion with Me partake, with the saints and
angels, of My Nature, and being formed in My image become like Me.
2. When for but a short time I drew Peter, James,
and John into communion with Me upon the Mount, I showed them somewhat of My
glory, and of all the saints two only, Moses and Elias, appeared to them; they
were so captivated with that brief glimpse of heavenly glory that they wished
to erect three tabernacles in order to live there (Matt. xvii.1-5). How
wonderful, then, will be the happiness of those who abide in Me, and with
saints and angels innumerable enter into their longed-for heaven, and share
with Me My full glory which knows no loss nor shadow of change (John xvii.24;
James i.17). The man of prayer shall never be alone, but he shall abide with Me
and My holy ones for ever (Matt. xxviii.20; Zach. iii.7-8).
3. It is not a great thing to control and make
use of wild animals, lightning, the wind, and light, and other powers of
nature, but to gain the mastery over the world and Satan and self, with all its
passions, is of a truth a most momentous and necessary thing. Upon those only
who live a life of prayer do I bestow the power to overcome all the might of
the enemy (Luke x.17,20), so that even while they live in this world they abide
with Me in the heavenly places (Eph. ii.6), and Satan being below and they
above he is never able to reach them, but they abide for ever with Me in safety
and without a tremor of fear.
Although men have now obtained control over the
powers of nature they are not to travel beyond the bounds of the air, while the
man of prayer, having mastered Satan and self, can range at will the
everlasting heavens.
4. Just as the bee collects the sweet juice of
the flowers and turns it into honey without injuring their colour or fragrance,
so the man of prayer gathers happiness and profit from all God's creation
without doing any violence to it. As bees also gather their honey from flowers
in all sorts of different places and store it in the honeycomb, so the man of
God gathers sweet thoughts and feelings from every part of creation, and in
communion with his Creator collects in his heart the honey of truth, and in
enduring peace with Him at all times and in all places, tastes with delight the
sweet honey of God.
5. Now is the time to obtain and keep in the
vessels of our hearts the oil of the Holy Spirit, as the five wise virgins did
(Matt. xxv.1-13); otherwise like the five foolish ones we shall meet with
nothing but grief and despair. Now also you must collect the manna for the true
Sabbath, otherwise there will be nothing left you but sorrow and woe (Ex.
xvi.15,27). "Pray, therefore, that your flight may not be in the winter," that
is, in time of great distress or the last days, "or on the Sabbath day," that
is, the reign of a thousand years of eternal rest, for such an opportunity will
never occur again (Matt. xxiv.20).
In the same way as climate produces a change in
form, colour, and the habits of growth in plants and flowers, so those who
maintain communion with Me undergo a development of their spiritual nature in
habit, appearance, and disposition; and putting off the old man they are
transformed into My own glorious and incorruptible image.
With my finger I wrote upon the ground the sinful
state of each of those who, regardless of their inner vileness, brought the
woman taken in adultery for condemnation, so that they left her one by one and
went away abashed and ashamed. With My finger, too, I point out in secret to My
servants their wounds of sin, and when they repent, with a touch of the same
finger I heal them; and in the same way as a child grasps his father's finger
and by it help walks along with him, so I with My finger lead My children along
the road from this world to their home of rest and everlasting peace (John
xiv.2,3).
7. Oftentimes men pray to the Father in My name,
but do not abide in Me, that is, they take My name into their mouths and on
their lips, but not into their hearts and lives. That is the reason why they do
not obtain what they pray for. But when I abide in them and they in Me, then
whatever they ask from the Father they receive, because they pray under the
direction of the Holy Spirit in that condition. The Holy Spirit shows them what
will glorify the Father and be best for themselves and for others. Otherwise
they will get such an answer as a bad son got from a governor whom his father
had served with great courage and honour. When the son presented a petition in
his father's name and asked for some employment and favour, the governor
pointed out to him his evil life and habits, and said, "Do not petition me in
your father's name, but first go and act according to his example. Let his high
worth be not on your lips only, but carry it into your life, and then your
petition will be accepted."
8. Between the prayers of those who worship and
praise Me with their lips only and of those who do so from their heart there is
a very great difference. For instance, one who was a true worshipper was
constantly praying for another that his eyes might be opened and that he might
accept the truth, while the other was a worshipper in name only often prayed in
his enmity against My true worshipper that he might be struck blind. Finally
the prayers of the true worshipper were heard by the loving will of God, and he
who was formerly only a hypocrite received spiritual sight. With his heart full
of joy this man became a true believer, and a sincere and lasting brother of My
true servant.
9. Prayer makes things possible for men which
they find impossible by other means, and they experience such wonderful things
in life as are not only opposed to the rules and opinions of worldly wisdom,
but are held to be impossible altogether. Scientific men do not recognize that
He who set all created things in order and made laws for them, cannot be
imprisoned behind the bars of his own laws. The ways of the great Lawgiver are
inscrutable, because His eternal will and purpose is the blessing and
prosperity of all His creatures, and the reason the natural man cannot grasp
this fact is because spiritual things are spiritually discerned (1 Cor.
ii.14).
The greatest of all miracles is the new birth in
man, and to the man who has experienced this miracle all others become
possible. Now in very cold countries a bridge of water is a common sight,
because when the surface of a river is frozen hard the water beneath still
flows freely on, but men cross over the icy bridge with ease and safety. But if
one were to speak of a bridge of water spanning a flowing river to people who
are constantly perspiring in the heat of a tropical clime, they would at once
say that such a thing was impossible and against the laws of nature. There is
the same great difference between those who have been born again and by prayer
maintain their spiritual life, and those who live worldly lives and value only
material things, and so are utterly ignorant of the life of the soul.
10. He who desires by prayer to obtain from God
the blessing of a spiritual life must believe and obey without questioning. The
man who came to Me with a withered hand, when I commanded him to stretch out
his hand instantly obeyed, and so his hand became whole as the other (Matt.
xii.10-13). But suppose instead of that instant obedience he had begun to argue
and say, "How can I stretch out my hand? If I had been able to do that, why
should I have come to Thee? First of all heal my hand, and then I shall be able
to stretch it out." All this would have been considered very reasonable and to
the point, but his hand would never have been healed.
He who prays must believe and be obedient, and
stretch out to Me in prayer his weak and withered hands, and then it will be
for Me to give him spiritual life, and according to his need it shall be
granted to him (Matt. xxi.22).