THE PRAYER MEETING
Extract from a reading with Mr. J. Taylor
JT I think it would be well to look at the prayer meeting. It is, you might say, a promise in the end of Isaiah 40. It is a chapter that speaks of God in His greatness, in His creation, and it says, “Dost thou not know, hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God.
Jehovah, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not nor tireth? There is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to him that hath no might, he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and shall tire”. It is not natural, relying on natural strength, “and the young men shall stumble and fall; but they that wait upon Jehovah shall renew their strength—they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not tire; they shall walk, and not faint”, Isaiah 40: 28–31. That is a fine promise. You go out of the prayer meetings stronger than when you came in. If you go to a dance or a football game, or the like, you will be tired out at the end; but not at the prayer meetings; it is the very reverse. You renew your strength and mount up. Is that not what you find?
RWS It is often a test after the Lord’s day and week-end meetings, it is very testing as to the prayer meeting, because of being so tired. This scripture would cover that.
JT Yes; it is wash-day and other things on Monday interfere and people think nothing of staying at home. With many there is no idea of delinquence in staying at home on Monday. They think the Lord’s supper is the day of the feast, and they stop there, but this one is quite as important, and especially in chapter 56 where we have a formal statement of the house of prayer; God’s house of prayer, and what God is telling us now is that we will be less tired when we come home from the prayer meeting than when we went.
(Vol. 54, pp.23, 24)
MUSINGS
A SUPREME PROMISE—No richer promise is made to the overcomer than that in Revelation 21: 7—“I will be to him God”. The Lord Jesus is the Speaker, but He is speaking as God. The earlier verses set out the eternal securing of all divine purposes in the holy city, new Jerusalem, and the tabernacle of God with men. This view of the assured consummation of all God’s ways is set before us to strengthen and empower us to be overcomers in the present time. What is before us is victory and the glorious securing of God’s eternal purpose.
So the overcomer is on a path of victory now, comforted and
strengthened by the blessed end to which his path is leading. The light of the holy city illumines his way. And—greatest of all favours—he has this word, “I will be to him God”.
We can think of God in relation to the whole creation; we can think of Him in relation to all saints, but here He so graciously places Himself in relation to one person, the overcomer, making available to him all that He is in His love, grace, power, comfort and wisdom. It is a marvellous promise! There could be no greater comfort or assurance, whatever the surrounding circumstances may be.
Then He adds, “He shall be to me son”, showing the complacent delight God has in persons who are walking here in an adverse scene in the character of life and devotion which, in its unique perfection, was the Father’s delight when His beloved Son was here.
FCM
THE DAY OF GOD
A. J. Gaskin
The day of God how blest,
When time shall be no more,
And we shall reach God’s endless rest
On yon eternal shore.
The glories of that day
What human lips could tell?
God will His thoughts for men display
And ever with them dwell.
A scene of cloudless joy
Where sorrow has no place,
No longer dimly shall we see
But clearly face to face.
How soon that day will come,
God’s purpose we shall prove,
And we shall reach our endless home
In joy and perfect love.
Aberdeen