Magnificent Prayer #333
Magnificent Prayer #333
In thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.
Psalm 16:11 KJV
Why is it that prayer in the name of Christ brings such fullness of joy? In part, because we get what we ask. But that is not the only reason, nor the greatest. It makes God real. When we ask something definite of God, and He gives it, how real God becomes! He is right there! It is blessed to have a God who is real, and not merely an idea.
I remember how once I was taken suddenly and seriously sick all alone in my study. I dropped upon my knees and cried to God for help. Instantly all pain left me—I was perfectly well. It seemed as if God stood right there, and had put out His hand and touched me. The joy of healing was not so great as the joy of meeting God.
There is no greater joy on earth or in heaven, than communion with God, and prayer in the name of Jesus brings us into communion with Him. The Psalmist was surely not speaking only of future blessedness, but also of present blessedness when he said, “in Thy presence is fullness of joy.” O the unutterable joy of those moments when in our prayers we really press into the presence of God!
Does someone say, “I have never known any such joy as that in prayer”?
Do you take enough leisure for prayer to actually get into God’s presence? Do you really give yourself up to prayer in the time which you do take?
R. A. TORREY
Pray About It: Every second we spend in prayer should be a rewarded second. First, there is the reward of God Himself. Second, the joy that His company brings. Third is the answer to our prayers. For Torrey, he experienced a dramatic physical healing. But note, he records that the joy of being healed wasn’t as great as the joy of meeting with God. Never look to the joy of miracles. Look to the One who makes miracles.
When once touched with this divine magnet of prayer, for ever after the soul feels a divine attraction, and continually turns to its center: God. And if diverted therefrom by temptation, yet when that obstruction is removed, like as a needle touched by a lodestone when your finger is taken away, turns to its rest, its center, its God, its All, again.
GEORGE WHITEFIELD
From the book
