With Christ in the School of Prayer

[Soldier4Christ]

THIRTIETH LESSON.

  ‘An holy priesthood;’

  Or,    The Ministry of Intercession.

   ‘An holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by
   Jesus Christ.’—I Peter ii. 5.

   ‘Ye shall be named the Priests of the Lord.’—Isaiah lxi. 6.

   THE Spirit of the Lord God is upon me:  because the Lord hath anointed
   me.’  These are the words of Jesus in Isaiah.  As the fruit of His work all
   redeemed ones are priests, fellow-partakers with Him of His anointing with
   the Spirit as High Priest.  ‘Like the precious ointment upon the beard of
   Aaron, that went down to the skirts of his garments.’  As every son of
   Aaron, so every member of Jesus’ body has a right to the priesthood.  But
   not every one exercises it:  many are still entirely ignorant of it.  And
   yet it is the highest privilege of a child of God, the mark of greatest
   nearness and likeness to Him, ‘who ever liveth to pray.’  Do you doubt if
   this really be so?  Think of what constitutes priesthood.  There is, first,
   the work of the priesthood.   This has two sides, one Godward, the other
   manward.  ‘Every priest is ordained for men in things pertaining to God’
   (Heb. v. 1); or, as it is said by Moses (Deut. x. 8, see also xxi. 5,
   xxxiii. 10; Mal. ii. 6):  ‘The Lord separated the tribe of Levi,  to stand
   before the Lord to minister unto Him, and to bless His Name.’  On the one
   hand, the priest had the power to draw nigh to God, to dwell with Him in His
   house, and to present before Him the blood of the sacrifice or the burning
   incense.  This work he did not do, however, on his own behalf, but for the
   sake of the people whose representative he was.  This is the other side of
   his work.  He received from the people their sacrifices, presented them
   before God, and then came out to bless in His Name, to give the assurance of
   His favour and to teach them His law.

   A priest is thus a man who does not at all live for himself.  He lives with
   God and for God.  His work is as God’s servant to care for His house, His
   honour, and His worship, to make known to men His love and His will.  He
   lives with men and for men (Heb. v. 2).  His work is to find out their sin
   and need, and to bring it before God, to offer sacrifice and incense in
   their name, to obtain forgiveness and blessing for them, and then to come
   out and bless them in His Name.  This is the high calling of every
   believer.  ‘Such honour have all His saints.’  They have been redeemed with
   the one purpose to be in the midst of the perishing millions around them,
   God’s priests, who in conformity to Jesus, the Great High Priest, are to be
   the ministers and stewards of the grace of God to all around them.

   And then there is the walk of the priesthood, in harmony with its work.  As
   God is holy, so the priest was to be especially holy.  This means not only
   separated from everything unclean, but holy unto God, being set apart and
   given up to God for His disposal.  The separation from the world and setting
   apart unto God was indicated in many ways.

   It was seen in the clothing:  the holy garments, made after God’s own order,
   marked them as His (Ex. xxviii.).  It was seen in the command as to their
   special purity and freedom from all contact from death and defilement (Lev.
   xi. 22).  Much that was allowed to an ordinary Israelite was forbidden to
   them.  It was seen in the injunction that the priest must have no bodily
   defect or blemish; bodily perfection was to be the type of wholeness and
   holiness in God’s service.  And it was seen in the arrangement by which the
   priestly tribes were to have no inheritance with the other tribes; God was
   to be their inheritance.  Their life was to be one of faith:  set apart unto
   God, they were to live on Him as well as for Him.

   All this is the emblem of what the character of the New Testament priest is
   to be.  Our priestly power with God depends on our personal life and walk.
   We must be of them of whose walk on earth Jesus says, ‘They have not defiled
   their garments.’

   In the surrender of what may appear lawful to others in our separation from
   the world, we must prove that our consecration to be holy to the Lord is
   whole-hearted and entire.  The bodily perfection of the priest must have its
   counterpart in our too being ‘without spot or blemish;’ ‘the man of God
   perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works,’ ‘perfect and entire,
   wanting nothing’ (Lev. xxi. 17-21; Eph. v. 27; 2 Tim. ii. 7; Jas. i. 4).
   And above all, we consent to give up all inheritance on earth; to forsake
   all, and like Christ to have only God as our portion:  to possess as not
   possessing, and hold all for God alone: it is this marks the true priest,
   the man who only lives for God and his fellow-men.

   And now the way to the priesthood.  In Aaron God had chosen all his sons to
   be priests:  each of them was a priest by birth.  And yet he could not enter
   upon his work without a special act of ordinance—his consecration.  Every
   child of God is priest in light of his birth, his blood relationship to the
   Great High Priest; but this is not enough:  he will exercise his power only
   as he accepts and realizes his consecration.

   With Aaron and his sons it took place thus (Ex. xxix.):  After being washed
   and clothed, they were anointed with the holy oil.  Sacrifices were then
   offered, and with the blood the right ear, the right hand, and the right
   foot were touched.  And then they and their garments were once again
   sprinkled with the blood and the oil together.  And so it is as the child of
   God enters more fully into what THE BLOOD and THE SPIRIT of which he already
   is partaker, are to him, that the power of the Holy Priesthood will work in
   him.  The blood will take away all sense of unworthiness; the Spirit, all
   sense of unfitness.

   Let us notice what there was new in the application of the blood to the
   priest.  If ever he had as a penitent brought a sacrifice for his sin,
   seeking forgiveness, the blood was sprinkled on the altar, but not on his
   person.  But now, for priestly consecration, there was to be closer contact
   with the blood; ear and hand and foot were by a special act brought under
   its power, and the whole being taken possession of and sanctified for God.
   And so, when the believer, who had been content to think chiefly of the
   blood sprinkled on the mercy-seat as what he needs for pardon, is led to
   seek full priestly access to God, he feels the need of a fuller and more
   abiding experience of the power of the blood, as really sprinkling and
   cleansing the heart from an evil conscience, so that he has ‘no more
   conscience of sin’ (Heb. x. 2) as cleansing from all sin.  And it is as he
   gets to enjoy this, that the consciousness is awakened of his wonderful
   right of most intimate access to God, and of the full assurance that his
   intercessions are acceptable.

[Soldier4Christ]

   And as the blood gives the right, the Spirit gives the power, and fits for
   believing intercession.  He breathes into us the priestly spirit—burning
   love for God’s honour and the saving of souls.  He makes us so one with
   Jesus that prayer in His Name is a reality.  He strengthens us to believing,
   importunate prayer.  The more the Christian is truly filled with the Spirit
   of Christ, the more spontaneous will be his giving himself up to the life of
   priestly intercession.  Beloved fellow-Christians!  God needs, greatly
   needs, priests who can draw near to Him, who live in His presence, and by
   their intercession draw down the blessings of His grace on others.  And the
   world needs, greatly needs, priests who will bear the burden of the
   perishing ones, and intercede on their behalf.

   Are you willing to offer yourself for this holy work?  You know the
   surrender it demands—nothing less than the Christ-like giving up of all,
   that the saving purposes of God’s love may be accomplished among men.  Oh,
   be no longer of those who are content if they have salvation, and just do
   work enough to keep themselves warm and lively.  O let nothing keep you back
   from giving yourselves to be wholly and only priests—nothing else, nothing
   less than the priests of the Most High God.  The thought of unworthiness, of
   unfitness, need not keep you back.  In the Blood, the objective power of the
   perfect redemption works in you:  in  the Spirit its full subjective
   personal experience as a divine life is secured.  The Blood provides an
   infinite worthiness to make your prayers most acceptable:  The Spirit
   provides a Divine fitness, teaching you to pray just according to the will
   of God.  Every priest knew that when he presented a sacrifice according to
   the law of the sanctuary, it was accepted:  under the covering of the Blood
   and Spirit you have the assurance that all the wonderful promises to prayer
   in the Name of Jesus will be fulfilled in you.  Abiding in union with the
   Great High Priest, ‘you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto
   you.’  You will have power to pray the effectual prayer of the righteous man
   that availeth much.  You will not only join in the general prayer of the
   Church for the world, but be able in your own sphere to take up your special
   work in prayer—as priests, to transact it with God, to receive and know the
   answer, and so to bless in His Name.  Come, brother, come, and be a priest,
   only priest, all priest.  Seek now to walk before the Lord in the full
   consciousness that you have been set apart for the holy Ministry of
   Intercession.  This is the true blessedness of conformity to the image of
   God’s Son.

   ‘LORD TEACH US TO PRAY.’

   ——0——

   O Thou my blessed High Priest, accept the consecration in which my soul now
   would respond to Thy message.

   I believe in the HOLY PRIESTHOOD OF THY SAINTS, and that I too am a priest,
   with power to appear before the Father, and in the prayer that avails much
   bring down blessing on the perishing around me.

   I believe in the POWER OF THY PRECIOUS BLOOD to cleanse from all sin, to
   give me perfect confidence toward God, and bring me near in the full
   assurance of faith that my intercession will be heard.

   I believe in the ANOINTING OF THE SPIRIT, coming down daily from Thee, my
   Great High Priest, to sanctify me, to fill me with the consciousness of my
   priestly calling, and with love to souls, to teach me what is according to
   God’s will, and how to pray the prayer of faith.

   I believe that, as Thou my Lord Jesus art Thyself in all things my life, so
   Thou, too, art THE SURETY FOR MY PRAYER-LIFE, and wilt Thyself draw me up
   into the fellowship of Thy wondrous work of intercession.

   In this faith I yield myself this day to my God, as one of His anointed
   priests, to stand before His face to intercede in behalf of sinners, and to
   come out and bless in His Name.

   Holy Lord Jesus!  accept and seal my consecration.  Yea, Lord, do Thou lay
   Thy hands on me, and Thyself consecrate me to this Thy holy work.  And let
   me walk among men with the consciousness and the character of a priest of
   the Most High God.

   Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins IN HIS OWN BLOOD, AND
   HATH MADE US kings and priests unto God and His Father; TO HIM be glory and
   dominion forever and ever.  Amen

[Soldier4Christ]

THIRTY-FIRST LESSON.

  ‘Pray without ceasing;’

  Or,    A Life of Prayer.

   ‘Rejoice evermore.  Pray without ceasing.  In everything give thanks.—I
   Thess. v. 16, 17, 18.

   OUR Lord spake the parable of the widow and the unjust judge to teach us
   that men ought to pray always and not faint.  As the widow persevered in
   seeking one definite thing, the parable appears to have reference to
   persevering prayer for some one blessing, when God delays or appears to
   refuse.  The words in the Epistles, which speak of continuing instant in
   prayer, continuing in prayer and watching in the same, of praying always in
   the Spirit, appear more to refer to the whole life being one of prayer.  As
   the soul is filling with the longing for the manifestation of God’s glory to
   us and in us, through us and around us, and with the confidence that He
   hears the prayers of His children; the inmost life of the soul is
   continually rising upward in dependence and faith, in longing desire and
   trustful expectation.

   At the close of our meditations it will not be difficult to say what is
   needed to live such a life of prayer.  The first thing is undoubtedly the
   entire sacrifice of the life to God’s kingdom and glory.  He who seeks to
   pray without ceasing because he wants to be very pious and good, will never
   attain to it.  It is the forgetting of self and yielding ourselves to live
   for God and His honour that enlarges the heart, that teaches us to regard
   everything in the light of God and His will, and that instinctively
   recognises in everything around us the need of God’s help and blessing, an
   opportunity for His being glorified.  Because everything is weighed and
   tested by the one thing that fills the heart—the glory of God, and because
   the soul has learnt that only what is of God can really be to Him and His
   glory, the whole life becomes a looking up, a crying from the inmost heart,
   for God to prove His power and love and so show forth His glory.  The
   believer awakes to the consciousness that he is one of the watchmen on
   Zion’s walls, one of the Lord’s remembrancers, whose call does really touch
   and move the King in heaven to do what would otherwise not be done.  He
   understands how real Paul’s exhortation was, ‘praying always with all prayer
   and supplication in the Spirit for all the saints and for me,’ and ‘continue
   in prayer, withal praying also for us.’  To forget oneself, to live for God
   and His kingdom among men, is the way to learn to pray without ceasing.

   This life devoted to God must be accompanied by the deep confidence that our
   prayer is effectual.  We have seen how our Blessed Lord insisted upon
   nothing so much in His prayer-lessons as faith in the Father as a God who
   most certainly does what we ask.  ‘Ask and ye shall receive;’ count
   confidently on an answer, is with Him the beginning and the end of His
   teaching (compare Matt. vii. 8 and John xvi. 24).  In proportion as this
   assurance masters us, and it becomes a settled thing that our prayers do
   tell and that God does what we ask, we dare not neglect the use of this
   wonderful power:  the soul turns wholly to God, and our life becomes
   prayer.  We see that the Lord needs and takes time, because we and all
   around us are the creatures of time, under the law of growth; but knowing
   that not one single prayer of faith can possibly be lost that there is
   sometimes a needs-be for the storing up and accumulating of prayer, that
   persevering pray is irresistible, prayer becomes the quiet, persistent
   living of our life of desire and faith in the presence of our God.  O do not
   let us any longer by our reasonings limit and enfeeble such free and sure
   promises of the living God, robbing them of their power, and ourselves of
   the wonderful confidence they are meant to inspire.  Not in God, not in His
   secret will, not in the limitations of His promises, but in us, in ourselves
   is the hindrance; we are not what we should be to obtain the promise.  Let
   us open our whole heart to God’s words of promise in all their simplicity
   and truth:  they will search us and humble us; they will lift us up and make
   us glad and strong.  And to the faith that knows it gets what it asks,
   prayer is not a work or a burden, but a joy and a triumph; it becomes a
   necessity and a second nature.

   This union of strong desire and firm confidence again is nothing but the
   life of the Holy Spirit within us.  The Holy Spirit dwells in us, hides
   Himself in the depths of our being, and stirs the desire after the Unseen
   and the Divine, after God Himself.  Now in groanings that cannot be uttered,
   then in clear and conscious assurance; now in special distinct petitions for
   the deeper revelation of Christ to ourselves, then in pleadings for a soul,
   a work, the Church or the world, it is always and alone the Holy Spirit who
   draws out the heart to thirst for God, to long for His being made known and
   glorified.  Where the child of God really lives and walks in the Spirit,
   where he is not content to remain carnal, but seeks to be spiritual, in
   everything a fit organ for the Divine Spirit to reveal the life of Christ
   and Christ Himself, there the never-ceasing intercession-life of the Blessed
   Son cannot but reveal and repeat itself in our experience.  Because it is
   the Spirit of Christ who prays in us, our prayer must be heard; because it
   is we who pray in the Spirit, there is need of time, and patience, and
   continual renewing of the prayer, until every obstacle be conquered, and the
   harmony between God’s Spirit and ours is perfect.

   But the chief thing we need for such a life of unceasing prayer is, to know
   that Jesus teaches us to pray.  We have begun to understand a little what
   His teaching is.  Not the communication of new thoughts or views, not the
   discovery of failure or error, not the stirring up of desire and faith, of
   however much importance all this be, but the taking us up into the
   fellowship of His own prayer-life before the Father—this it is by which
   Jesus really teaches.  It was the sight of the praying Jesus that made the
   disciples long and ask to be taught to pray.  It is the faith of the
   ever-praying Jesus, whose alone is the power to pray, that teaches us truly
   to pray.  We know why:  He who prays is our Head and our Life.  All He has
   is ours and is given to us when we give ourselves all to Him.  By His blood
   He leads us into the immediate presence of God.  The inner sanctuary is our
   home, we dwell there.  And He that lives so near God, and knows that He has
   been brought near to bless those who are far, cannot but pray.  Christ makes
   us partakers with Himself of His prayer-power and prayer-life.  We
   understand then that our true aim must not be to work much and have prayer
   enough to keep the work right, but to pray much and then to work enough for
   the power and blessing obtained in prayer to find its way through us to
   men.  It is Christ who ever lives to pray, who saves and reigns.  He
   communicates His prayer-life to us:  He maintains it in us if we trust Him.
   He is surety for our praying without ceasing.  Yes, Christ teaches to pray
   by showing how He does it, by doing it in us, by leading us to do it in Him
   and like Him.  Christ is all, the life and the strength too for a
   never-ceasing prayer-life.

[Soldier4Christ]

   It is the sight of this, the sight of the ever-praying Christ as our life,
   that enables us to pray without ceasing.  Because His priesthood is the
   power of an endless life, that resurrection-life that never fades and never
   fails, and  because His life is our life, praying without ceasing can become
   to us nothing less than the life-joy of heaven.  So the Apostle says:
   ‘Rejoice evermore; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks.’  Borne
   up between the never-ceasing joy and the never-ceasing praise, never-ceasing
   prayer is the manifestation of the power of the eternal life, where Jesus
   always prays.  The union between the Vine and the branch is in very deed a
   prayer-union.  The highest conformity to Christ, the most blessed
   participation in the glory of His heavenly life, is that we take part in His
   work of intercession:  He and we live ever to pray.  In the experience of
   our union with Him, praying without ceasing becomes a possibility, a
   reality, the holiest and most blessed part of our holy and blessed
   fellowship with God.  We have our abode within the veil, in the presence of
   the Father.  What the Father says, we do; what the Son says, the Father
   does.  Praying without ceasing is the earthly manifestation of heaven come
   down to us, the foretaste of the life where they rest not day or night in
   the song of worship and adoration.

   ‘LORD, TEACH US TO PRAY.’

   ——0——

   O my Father, with my whole heart do I praise Thee for this wondrous life of
   never-ceasing prayer, never-ceasing fellowship, never-ceasing answers, and
   never-ceasing experience of my oneness with Him who ever lives to pray.  O
   my God!  keep me ever so dwelling and walking in the presence of Thy glory,
   that prayer may be the spontaneous expression of my life with Thee.

   Blessed Saviour!  with my whole heart I praise Thee that Thou didst come
   from heaven to share with me in my needs and cries, that I might share with
   Thee in Thy all-prevailing intercession.  And I thank Thee that Thou hast
   taken me into the school of prayer, to teach the blessedness and the power
   of a life that is all prayer.  And most of all, that Thou hast taken me up
   into the fellowship of Thy life of intercession, that through me too Thy
   blessings may be dispensed to those around me.

   Holy Spirit!  with deep reverence I thank Thee for Thy work in me.  It is
   through Thee I am lifted up into a share in the intercourse between the Son
   and the Father, and enter so into the fellowship of the life and love of the
   Holy Trinity Spirit of God!  perfect Thy work in me; bring me into perfect
   union with Christ my Intercessor.  Let Thine unceasing indwelling make my
   life one of unceasing intercession.  And let so my life become one that is
   unceasingly to the glory of the Father and to the blessing of those around
   me.  Amen.

[Soldier4Christ]

GEORGE MULLER, AND THE SECRET OF HIS

   POWER IN PRAYER

   WHEN God wishes anew to teach His Church a truth that is not being
   understood or practised, He mostly does so by raising some man to be in word
   and deed a living witness to its blessedness.  And so God has raised up in
   this nineteenth century, among others, George Muller to be His witness that
   He is indeed the Hearer of prayer.   I know of no way in which the principal
   truths of God’s word in regard to prayer can be more effectually illustrated
   and established than a short review of his life and of what he tells of his
   prayer-experiences.

   He was born in Prussia on 25^th September 1805, and is thus now eighty years
   of age.  His early life, even after having entered the University of Halle
   as a theological student, was wicked in the extreme.  Led by a friend one
   evening, when just twenty years of age, to a prayer meeting, he was deeply
   impressed, and soon after brought to know the Saviour.  Not long after he
   began reading missionary papers, and in course of time offered himself to
   the London Society for promoting Christianity to the Jews.  He was accepted
   as a student, but soon found that he could not in all things submit to the
   rules of the Society, as leaving too little liberty for the leading of the
   Holy Spirit.  The connection was dissolved in 1830 by mutual consent, and he
   became the pastor of a small congregation at Teignmouth.  In 1832 he was led
   to Bristol, and it was as pastor of Bethesda Chapel that he was led to the
   Orphan Home and other work, in connection with which God has so remarkably
   led him to trust His word and to experience how God fulfils that word.

   A few extracts in regard to his spiritual life will prepare the way for what
   we specially wish to quote of his experiences in reference to prayer.

   ‘In connection with this I would mention, that the Lord very graciously gave
   me, from the very commencement of my divine life, a measure of simplicity
   and of childlike disposition in spiritual things, so that whilst I was
   exceedingly ignorant of the Scriptures, and was still from time to time
   overcome even by outward sins, yet I was enabled to carry most minute
   matters to the Lord in prayer.  And I have found “godliness profitable unto
   all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to
   come.”  Though very weak and ignorant, yet I had now, by the grace of God,
   some desire to benefit others, and he who so faithfully had once served
   Satan, sought now to win souls for Christ.’

   It was at Teignmouth that he was led to know how to use God’s word , and to
   trust the Holy Spirit as the Teacher given by God to make that word clear.
   He writes:—

   ‘God then began to show me that the word of God alone is our standard of
   judgment in spiritual things; that it can be explained only by the Holy
   Spirit; and that in our day, as well as in former times.  He is the Teacher
   of His people.  The office of the Holy Spirit I had not experimentally
   understood before that time.

   ‘It was my beginning to understand this latter point in particular, which
   had a great effect on me; for the Lord enabled me to put it to the test of
   experience, by laying aside commentaries, and almost every other book and
   simply reading the word  of God and studying it.

   ‘The result of this was, that the first evening that I shut myself into my
   room, to give myself to prayer and meditation over the Scriptures, I learned
   more in a few hours than I had done during a period of several months
   previously.

   ‘But the particular difference was that I received real strength for my soul
   in so doing.  I now began to try by the test of the Scriptures the things
   which I had learned and seen, and found that only those principles which
   stood the test were of real value.’

   Of obedience to the word of God, he writes as follows, in connection with
   his being baptized:—

   ‘It had pleased God, in His abundant mercy, to bring my mind into such a
   state, that I was willing to carry out into my life whatever I should find
   in the Scriptures.  I could say, “I will do His will,” and it was on that
   account, I believe, that I saw which “doctrine is of God.”—And I would
   observe here, by the way, that the passage to which I have just alluded
   (John vii. 17) has been a most remarkable comment to me on many doctrines
   and precepts of our most holy faith.  For instance:  “Resist not evil; but
   whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
   And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him
   have thy cloak also.  And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with
   him twain.  Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of
   thee, turn not thou away.  Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do
   good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you,
   and persecute you” (Matt. v. 39-44).  “Sell that ye have, and give
   alms”(Luke xii. 33).  “Owe no man any thing, but to love one another”(Rom.
   xii. .  It may be said, “Surely these passages cannot be taken literally,
   for how then would the people of God be able to pass through the world?”
   The state of mind enjoined in John vii. 17 will cause such objections to
   vanish.  WHOSOEVER IS WILLING TO ACT OUT these commandments of the Lord
   LITERALLY, will, I believe, be led with me to see that to take them
   LITERALLY is the will of God.—Those who do so take them will doubtless often
   be brought into difficulties, hard to the flesh to bear, but these will have
   a tendency to make them constantly feel that they are strangers and pilgrims
   here, that this world is not their home, and thus to throw them more upon
   God, who will assuredly help us through any difficulty into which we may be
   brought by seeking to act in obedience to His word.’

[Soldier4Christ]

  This implicit surrender to God’s word led him to certain views and conduct
   in regard to money, which mightily influenced his future life.  They had
   their root in the conviction that money was a Divine stewardship, and that
   all money had therefore to be received and dispensed in direct fellowship
   with God Himself.  This led him to the adoption of the following four great
   rules:  1.  Not to receive any fixed salary, both because in the collecting
   of it there was often much that was at variance with the freewill offering
   with which God’s service is to be maintained, and in the receiving of it a
   danger of placing more dependence on human sources of income than in the
   living God Himself.  2.  Never to ask any human being for help, however
   great the need might be, but to make his wants known to the God who has
   promised to care for His servants and to hear their prayer.  3.  To take
   this command (Luke xii. 33) literally, ‘Sell that thou hast and give
   alms,’ and never to save up money, but to spend all God entrusted to him on
   God’s poor, on the work of His kingdom.  4.  Also to take Rom. xiii. 8, ‘Owe
   no man anything,’ literally, and never to buy on credit, or be in debt for
   anything, but to trust God to provide.

   This mode of living was not easy at first.  But Muller testifies it was most
   blessed in bringing the soul to rest in God, and drawing it into closer
   union with Himself when inclined to backslide.  ‘For it will not do, it is
   not possible, to live in sin, and at the same time, by communion with God,
   to draw down from heaven everything one needs for the life that now is.’

   Not long after his settlement at Bristol, ‘THE SCRIPTURAL KNOWLEDGE
   INSTITUTION FOR HOME AND ABROAD’ was established for aiding in Day, Sunday
   School, Mission and Bible work.  Of this Institution the Orphan Home work,
   by which Mr. Muller is best known, became a branch.  It was in 1834 that his
   heart was touched by the case of an orphan brought to Christ in one of the
   schools, but who had to go to a poorhouse where its spiritual wants would
   not be cared for.  Meeting shortly after with a life of Franke, he writes
   (Nov, 20, 1835):  ‘Today I have had it very much laid on my heart no longer
   merely to think about the establishment of an Orphan Home, but actually to
   set about it, and I have been very much in prayer respecting it, in order to
   ascertain the Lord’s mind.  May God make it plain.’  And again, Nov. 25:
   ‘I have been again much in prayer yesterday and today about the Orphan Home,
   and am more and more convinced that it is of God.  May He in mercy guide
   me.  The three chief reasons are—1.  That God may be glorified, should He be
   pleased to furnish me with the means, in its being seen that it is not a
   vain thing to trust Him; and that thus the faith of His children may be
   strengthened.  2.  The spiritual welfare of fatherless and motherless
   children.  3.  Their temporal welfare.’

   After some months of prayer and waiting on God, a house was rented, with
   room for thirty children , and in course of time three more, containing in
   all 120 children.  The work was carried on it this way for ten years, the
   supplies for the needs of the orphans being asked and received of God
   alone.  It was often a time of sore need and much prayer, but a trial of
   faith more precious than of gold was found unto praise and honour and glory
   of God.  The Lord was preparing His servant for greater things.  By His
   providence and His Holy Spirit, Mr. Muller was led to desire, and to wait
   upon God till he received from Him, the sure promise of £15,000 for a Home
   to contain 300 children.  This first Home was opened in 1849.  In 1858, a
   second and third Home, for 950 more orphans, was opened, costing £35,000.
   And in 1869 and 1870, a fourth and a fifth Home, for 850 more, at an expense
   of £50,000, making the total number of the orphans 2100.

   In addition to this work, God has given him almost as much as for the
   building of the Orphan Homes, and the maintenance of the orphans, for other
   work, the support of schools and missions, Bible and tract circulation.  In
   all he has received from God, to be spent in His work, during these fifty
   years, more than one million pounds sterling.  How little he knew, let us
   carefully notice, that when he gave up his little salary of £35 a year in
   obedience to the leading of God’s word and the Holy Spirit, what God was
   preparing to give him as the reward of obedience and faith; and how
   wonderfully the word was to be fulfilled to him:  ‘Thou hast been faithful
   over few things; I will set thee over many things.’

[Soldier4Christ]

   And these things have happened for an ensample to us.  God calls us to be
   followers of George Muller, even as he is of Christ.  His God is our God;
   the same promises are for us; the same service of love and faith in which he
   laboured is calling for us on every side.  Let us in connection with our
   lessons in the school of prayer study the way in which God gave George
   Muller such power as a man of prayer:  we shall find in it the most
   remarkable illustration of some of the lessons which we have been studying
   with the blessed Master in the word.  We shall specially have impressed upon
   us His first great lesson, that if we will come to Him in the way He has
   pointed out, with definite petitions, made known to us by the Spirit through
   the word as being according to the will of God, we may most confidently
   believe that whatsoever we ask it shall be done.

   PRAYER AND THE WORD OF GOD.

   We have more than once seen that God’s listening to our voice depends upon
   our listening to His voice.  (See Lessons 22 and 23.)  We must not only have
   a special promise to plead, when we make a special request, but our whole
   life must be under the supremacy of the word:  the word must be dwelling in
   us.  The testimony of George Muller on this point is most instructive.  He
   tells us how the discovery of the true place of the word of God, and the
   teaching of the Spirit with it, was the commencement of a new era in his
   spiritual life.  Of it he writes:—

   ‘Now the scriptural way of reasoning would have been:  God Himself has
   condescended to become an author, and I am ignorant about that precious book
   which His Holy Spirit has caused to be written through the instrumentality
   of His servants, and it contains that which I ought to know, and the
   knowledge of which will lead me to true happiness; therefore I ought to read
   again and again this most precious book, this book of books, most earnestly,
   most prayerfully, and with much meditation; and in this practice I ought to
   continue all the days of my life.  For I was aware, though I read it but
   little, that I knew scarcely anything of it.  But instead of acting thus and
   being led by my ignorance of the word of God to study it more, my difficulty
   in understanding it, and the little enjoyment I had in it, made me careless
   of reading it (for much prayerful reading of the word gives not merely more
   knowledge, but increases the delight we have in reading it); and thus, like
   many believers, I practically preferred, for the first four years of my
   divine life, the works of uninspired men to the oracles of the living God.
   The consequence was that I remained a babe, both in knowledge and grace.  In
   knowledge, I say; for all true knowledge must be derived, by the Spirit,
   from the word.  And as I neglected the word, I was for nearly four years so
   ignorant, that I did not clearly know even the fundamental points of our
   holy faith.  And this lack of knowledge most sadly kept me back from walking
   steadily in the ways of God.  For when it pleased the Lord in August 1829 to
   bring me really to the Scriptures, my life and walk became very different.
   And though ever since that I have very much fallen short of what I might and
   ought to be, yet by the grace of God I have been enabled to live much nearer
   to Him than before.  If any believers read this who practically prefer other
   books to the Holy Scriptures, and who enjoy the writings of men much more
   than the word of God, may they be warned by my loss.  I shall consider this
   book to have been the means of doing much good, should it please the Lord,
   through its instrumentality, to lead some of His people no longer to neglect
   the Holy Scriptures, but to give them that preference which they have
   hitherto bestowed on the writings of men.

   ‘Before I leave this subject, I would only add:  If the reader understands
   very little of the word of God, he ought to read it very much; for the
   Spirit explains the word by the word.  And if he enjoys the reading of the
   word little, that is just the reason why he should read it much; for the
   frequent reading of the Scriptures creates a delight in them, so that the
   more we read them, the more we desire to do so.

   ‘Above all, he should seek to have it settled in his own mind that God alone
   by His Spirit can teach him, and that therefore, as God will be inquired of
   for blessings, it becomes him to seek God’s blessing previous to reading,
   and also whilst reading.

   ‘He should have it, moreover, settled in his mind that although the Holy
   Spirit is the best and sufficient Teacher, yet that this Teacher does not
   always teach immediately when we desire it, and that therefore we may have
   to entreat Him again and again for the explanation of certain passages; but
   that He will surely teach us at last, if indeed we are seeking for light
   prayerfully, patiently, and with a view to the glory of God.’ [4]

    We find in his journal frequent mention made of his spending two and three
   hours in prayer over the word for the feeding of his spiritual life.  As the
   fruit of this, when he had need of strength and encouragement in prayer, the
   individual promises were not to him so many arguments from a book to be used
   with God, but living words which he had heard the Father’s living voice
   speak to him, and which he could now bring to the Father in living faith

[Soldier4Christ]

   PRAYER AND THE WILL OF GOD.

   One of the greatest difficulties with young believers is to know how they
   can find out whether what they desire is according to God’s will.  I count
   it one of the most precious lessons God wants to teach through the
   experience of George Muller, that He is willing to make know, of things of
   which His word says nothing directly, that they are His will for us, and
   that we may ask them.  The teaching of the Spirit, not without or against
   the word, but as something above and beyond it, in addition to it, without
   which we cannot see God’s will, is the heritage of every believer.  It is
   through THE WORD, AND THE WORD ALONE, that the Spirit teaches, applying the
   general principles or promises to our special need.  And it is THE SPIRIT,
   AND THE SPIRIT ALONE, who can really make the word a light on our path,
   whether the path of duty in our daily walk, or the path of faith in our
   approach to God.  Let us try and notice in what childlike simplicity and
   teachableness it was that the discovery of God’s will was so surely and so
   clearly made known to His servant.

   With regard to the building of the first Home and the assurance he had of
   its being God’s will, he writes in May 1850, just after it had been opened,
   speaking of the great difficulties there were, and how little likely it
   appeared to nature that they would be removed:  ‘But while the prospect
   before me would have been overwhelming had I looked at it naturally, I was
   never even for once permitted to question how it would end.  For as from the
   beginning I was sure it was the will of God that I should go to the work of
   building for Him this large Orphan Home, so also from the beginning I was as
   certain that the whole would be finished as if the Home had been already
   filled.’

   The way in which he found out what was God’s will, comes out with special
   clearness in his account of the building of the second Home; and I ask the
   reader to study with care the lesson the narrative conveys:—

   ‘Dec. 5, 1850.—Under these circumstances I can only pray that the Lord in
   His tender mercy would not allow Satan to gain an advantage over me.  By the
   grace of God my heart says:  Lord, if I could be sure that it is Thy will
   that I should go forward in this matter, I would do so cheerfully; and, on
   the other hand, if I could be sure that these are vain, foolish, proud
   thoughts, that they are not from Thee, I would, by Thy grace, hate them, and
   entirely put them aside.

   ‘My hope is in God:  He will help and teach me.  Judging, however, from His
   former dealings with me, it would not be a strange thing to me, nor
   surprising, if He called me to labour yet still more largely in this way.

   ‘The thoughts about enlarging the Orphan work have not yet arisen on account
   of an abundance of money having lately come in; for I have had of late to
   wait for about seven weeks upon God, whilst little, very little
   comparatively, came in, i.e. about four times as much was going out as came
   in; and, had not the Lord previously sent me large sums, we should have been
   distressed indeed.

   ‘Lord!  how can Thy servant know Thy will in this matter?  Wilt Thou be
   pleased to teach him!

   December 11.—During the last six days, since writing the above, I have been,
   day after day, waiting upon God concerning this matter.  It has generally
   been more or less all the day on my heart.  When I have been awake at night,
   it has not been far from my thoughts.  Yet all this without the least
   excitement.  I am perfectly calm and quiet respecting it.  My soul would be
   rejoiced to go forward in this service, could I be sure that the Lord would
   have me to do so; for then, notwithstanding the numberless difficulties, all
   would be well; and His Name would be magnified.

   ‘On the other hand, were I assured that the Lord would have me to be
   satisfied with my present sphere of service, and that I should not pray
   about enlarging the work, by His grace I could, without an effort,
   cheerfully yield to it; for He has brought me into such a state of heart,
   that I only desire to please Him in this matter.  Moreover, hitherto I have
   not spoken about this thing even to my beloved wife, the sharer of my joys,
   sorrows, and labours for more than twenty years; nor is it likely that I
   shall do so for some time to come:  for I prefer quietly to wait on the
   Lord, without conversing on this subject, in order that thus I may be kept
   the more easily, by His blessing, from being influenced by things from
   without.  The burden of my prayer concerning this matter is, that the Lord
   would not allow me to make a mistake, and that He would teach me to do His
   will.

   ‘December 26.—Fifteen days have elapsed since I wrote the preceding
   paragraph.  Every day since then I have continued to pray about this matter,
   and that with a goodly measure of earnestness, by the help of God.  There
   has passed scarcely an hour during these days, in which, whilst awake, this
   matter has not been more or less before me.  But all without even a shadow
   of excitement.  I converse with no one about it.  Hitherto have I not even
   done so with my dear wife.  For this I refrain still, and deal with God
   alone about the matter, in order that no outward influence and no outward
   excitement may keep me from attaining unto a clear discovery of His will.  I
   have the fullest and most peaceful assurance that He will clearly show me
   His will.  This evening I have had again an especial solemn season for
   prayer, to seek to know the will of God.  But whilst I continue to entreat
   and beseech the Lord, that He would not allow me to be deluded in this
   business, I may say I have scarcely any doubt remaining on my mind as to
   what will be the issue, even that I should go forward in this matter.  As
   this, however, is one of the most momentous steps that I have ever taken, I
   judge that I cannot go about this matter with too much caution,
   prayerfulness, and deliberation.  I am in no hurry about it.  I could wait
   for years, by God’s grace, were this His will, before even taking one single
   step toward this thing, or even speaking to anyone about it; and, on the
   other hand, I would set to work tomorrow, were the Lord to bid me do so.
   This calmness of mind, this having no will of my own in the matter, this
   only wishing to please my Heavenly Father in it, this only seeking His and
   not my honour in it; this state of heart, I say, is the fullest assurance to
   me that my heart is not under a fleshly excitement, and that, if I am helped
   thus to go on, I shall know the will of God to the full.  But, while I write
   this, I cannot but add at the same time, that I do crave the honour and the
   glorious privilege to be more and more used by the Lord.

[Soldier4Christ]

  ‘I desire to be allowed to provide scriptural instruction for a thousand
   orphans, instead of doing so for 300.  I desire to expound the Holy
   Scriptures regularly to a thousand orphans, instead of doing so to 300.  I
   desire that it may be yet more abundantly manifest that God is still the
   Hearer and Answerer of prayer, and that He is the living God now as He ever
   was and ever will be, when He shall simply, in answer to prayer, have
   condescended to provide me with a house for 700 orphans and with means to
   support them.  This last consideration is the most important point in my
   mind.  The Lord’s honour is the principal point with me in this whole
   matter; and just because this is the case, if He would be more glorified by
   not going forward in this business, I should by His grace be perfectly
   content to give up all thoughts about another Orphan House.  Surely in such
   a state of mind, obtained by the Holy Spirit, Thou, O my Heavenly Father,
   wilt not suffer Thy child to be mistaken, much less deluded.  By the help of
   God I shall continue further day by day to wait upon Him in prayer,
   concerning this thing, till He shall bid me act.

   ‘Jan. 2, 1851.—A week ago I wrote the preceding paragraph.  During this week
   I have still been helped day by day, and more than once every day, to seek
   the guidance of the Lord about another Orphan House.  The burden of my
   prayer has still been, that He in His great mercy would keep me from making
   a mistake.  During the last week the book of Proverbs has come in the course
   of my Scripture reading, and my heart has been refreshed in reference to
   this subject by the following passages:  “Trust in the Lord with all thine
   heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.  In all thy ways
   acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths”  (Prov. iii. 5, 6).  By the
   grace of God I do acknowledge the Lord in all my ways, and in this thing in
   particular; I have therefore the comfortable assurance that He will direct
   my paths concerning this part of my service, as to whether I shall be
   occupied in it our not.  Further:  “The integrity of the upright shall
   preserve them”  (Prov. xi. 3).  By the grace of God I am upright in this
   business.  My honest purpose is to get glory to God.  Therefore I expect to
   be guided aright.  Further:  “Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy
   thoughts shall be established”  (Prov. xvi. 3).   I do commit my works unto
   the Lord, and therefore expect that my thoughts will be established.  My
   heart is more and more coming to a calm, quiet, and settled assurance, that
   the Lord will condescend to use me still further in the orphan work.  Here
   Lord is Thy servant.’

   When later he decided to build two additional houses, Nos. 4 and 5, he
   writes thus again:—

   ‘Twelve days have passed away since I wrote the last paragraph.  I have
   still day by day been enabled to wait upon the Lord with reference to
   enlarging the Orphan work, and have been during the whole of this period
   also in perfect peace, which is the result of seeking in this thing only the
   Lord’s honour and the temporal and spiritual benefit of my fellow-men.
   Without an effort could I by His grace put aside all thoughts about this
   whole affair, if only assured that it is the will of God that I should do
   so; and, on the other hand, would at once go forward, if He would have it be
   so.  I have still kept this matter entirely to myself.  Though it be now
   about seven weeks, since day by day, more or less, my mind has been
   exercised about it, and since I have been daily praying about it, yet not
   one human being knows of it.  As yet I have not even mentioned it to my dear
   wife in order that thus, by quietly waiting upon God, I might not be
   influenced by what might be said to me on the subject.  This evening has
   been particularly set apart for prayer, beseeching the Lord once more not to
   allow me to be mistaken in this thing, and much less to be deluded by the
   devil.  I have also sought to let all the reasons against building another
   Orphan House, and all the reasons for doing so pass before my mind:  and now
   for the clearness and definiteness, write them down. . . .

   ‘Much, however, as the nine previous reasons weigh with me, yet they would
   not decide me were there not one more.  It is this.  After having for months
   pondered the matter, and having looked at it in all its bearings and with
   all its difficulties, and then having been finally led, after much prayer,
   to decide on this enlargement, my mind is at peace.  The child who has again
   and again besought His Heavenly Father not to allow him to be deluded, nor
   even to make a mistake, is at peace, perfectly at peace concerning this
   decision; and has thus the assurance that the decision come to, after much
   prayer during weeks and months, is the leading of the Holy Spirit; and
   therefore purposes to go forward, assuredly believing that he will not be
   confounded, for he trusts in God.  Many and great may be his difficulties;
   thousands and ten thousands of prayers may have ascended to God, before the
   full answer may be obtained; much exercise of faith and patience may be
   required; but in the end it will again be seen, that His servant, who trusts
   in Him, has not been confounded.’

[Soldier4Christ]

  PRAYER AND THE GLORY OF GOD.

   We have sought more than once to enforce the truth, that while we ordinarily
   seek the reasons of our prayers not being heard in the thing we ask not
   being according to the will of God, Scripture warns us to find the cause in
   ourselves, in our not being in the right state or not asking in the right
   spirit.  The thing may be in full accordance with His will, but the asking,
   the spirit of the supplicant, not; then we are not heard.  As the great root
   of all sin is self and self-seeking, so there is nothing that even in our
   more spiritual desires so effectually hinders God in answering as this:  we
   pray for our own pleasure or glory.  Prayer to have power and prevail must
   ask for the glory of God; and he can only do this as he is living for God’s
   glory.

   In George Muller we have one of the most remarkable instances on record of
   God’s Holy Spirit leading a man deliberately and systematically, at the
   outset of a course of prayer, to make the glorifying of God his first and
   only object.  Let us ponder well what he says, and learn the lesson God
   would teach us through him:—

   ‘I had constantly cases brought before me, which proved that one of the
   especial things which the children of God needed in our day, was to have
   their faith strengthened.

   ‘I longed, therefore, to have something to point my brethren to, as a
   visible proof that our God and Father is the same faithful God as ever He
   was; as willing as ever to PROVE Himself to be the LIVING GOD in our day as
   formerly, to all who put their trust in Him.

   ‘My spirit longed to be instrumental in strengthening their faith, by giving
   them not only instances from the word of God, of His willingness and ability
   to help all who rely upon Him, but to show them by proofs that He is the
   same in our day.  I knew that the word of God ought to be enough, and it was
   by grace enough for me; but still I considered I ought to lend a helping
   hand to my brethren.

   ‘I therefore judged myself bound to be the servant of the Church of Christ,
   in the particular point in which I had obtained mercy; namely, in being able
   to take God at His word and rely upon it.  The first object of the work was,
   and is still:  that God might be magnified by the fact that the orphans
   under my care are provided with all they need, only by prayer and faith,
   without any one being asked; thereby it may be seen that God is FAITHFUL
   STILL, AND HEARS PRAYER STILL.

   ‘I have again these last days prayed much about the Orphan House, and have
   frequently examined my heart; that if it were at all my desire to establish
   it for the sake of gratifying myself, I might find it out.  For as I desire
   only the Lord’s glory, I shall be glad to be instructed by the
   instrumentality of my brother, if the matter be not of Him.

   ‘When I began the Orphan work in 1835, my chief object was the glory of God,
   by giving a practical demonstration as to what could be accomplished simply
   through the instrumentality of prayer and faith, in order thus to benefit
   the Church at large, and to lead a careless world to see the reality of the
   things of God, by showing them in this work, that the living God is still,
   as 4000 years ago, the living God.  This my aim has been abundantly
   honoured.  Multitudes of sinners have been thus converted, multitudes of the
   children of God in all parts of the world have been benefited by this work,
   even as I had anticipated.  But the larger the work as grown, the greater
   has been the blessing, bestowed in the very way in which I looked for
   blessing:  for the attention of hundreds of thousands has been drawn to the
   work; and many tens of thousands have come to see it.  All this leads me to
   desire further and further to labour on in this way, in order to bring yet
   greater glory to the Name of the Lord.  That He may be looked at, magnified,
   admired, trusted in, relied on at all times, is my aim in this service; and
   so particularly in this intended enlargement.  That it may be seen how much
   one poor man, simply by trusting in God, can bring about by prayer; and that
   thus other children of God may be led to carry on the work of God in
   dependence upon Him; and that children of God may be led increasingly to
   trust in Him in their individual positions and circumstances, therefore I am
   led to this further enlargement.’

   PRAYER AND TRUST IN GOD.

   There are other points on which I would be glad to point out what is to be
   found in Mr. Muller’s narrative, but one more must suffice.  It is the
   lesson of firm and unwavering trust in God’s promise as the secret of
   persevering prayer.  If once we have, in submission to the teaching of the
   Spirit in the word, taken hold of God’s promise, and believed that the
   Father has heard us, we must not allow ourselves by any delay or
   unfavourable appearances be shaken in our faith.

   ‘The full answer to my daily prayers was far from being realized; yet there
   was abundant encouragement granted by the Lord, to continue in prayer.  But
   suppose, even, that far less had come in than was received, still, after
   having come to the conclusion, upon scriptural grounds, after much prayer
   and self-examination, I ought to have gone on without wavering, in the
   exercise of faith and patience concerning this object; and thus all the
   children of God, when once satisfied that anything which they bring before
   God in prayer, is according to His will, ought to continue in believing,
   expecting, persevering prayer until the blessing is granted.  Thus am I
   myself now waiting upon God for certain blessings, for which I have daily
   besought Him for ten years and six months without one day’s intermission.
   Still the full  answer is not yet given concerning the conversion of certain
   individuals, though in the meantime I have received many thousands of
   answers to prayer.  I have also prayed daily without intermission for the
   conversion of other individuals about ten years, for others six or seven
   years, for others from three or two years; and still the answer is not yet
   granted concerning those persons, while in the meantime many thousands of my
   prayers have been answered, and also souls converted, for whom I had been
   praying.  I lay particular stress on this for the benefit of those who may
   suppose that I need only to ask of God, and receive at once; or that I might
   pray concerning anything, and the answer would surely come.  One can only
   expect to obtain answers to prayers which are according to the mind of God;
   and even then, patience and faith may be exercised for many years, even as
   mine are exercised, in the matter to which I have referred; and yet am I
   daily continuing in prayer, and expecting the answer, and so surely
   expecting the answer, that I have often thanked God that He will surely give
   it, though now for nineteen years faith and patience have thus been
   exercised.  Be encouraged, dear Christians, with fresh earnestness to give
   yourselves to prayer, if you can only be sure that you ask things which are
   for the glory of God.

[Soldier4Christ]

   ‘But the most remarkable point is this, that  £6, 6s. 6d. from Scotland
   supplied me, as far as can be known now, with all the means necessary for
   fitting up and promoting the New Orphan Houses.  Six years and eight months
   I have been day by day, and generally several times daily, asking the Lord
   to give me the needed means for this enlargement of the Orphan work, which,
   according to calculations made in the spring of 1861, appeared to be about
   fifty thousand pounds:  the total of this amount I had now received.  I
   praise and magnify the Lord for putting this enlargement of the work into my
   heart, and for giving me courage and faith for it; and above all, for
   sustaining my faith day by day without wavering.  When the last portion of
   the money was received, I was no more assured concerning the whole, that I
   was at the time I had not received one single donation towards this large
   sum.  I was at the beginning, after once having ascertained His mind,
   through most patient and heart-searching waiting upon God, as fully assured
   that He would bring it about, as if the two houses, with their hundreds of
   orphans occupying them, had been already before me.  I make a few remarks
   here for the sake of young believers in connection with this subject:  1.
   Be slow to take new steps in the Lord’s service, or in your business, or in
   your families:  weigh everything well; weigh all in the light of the Holy
   Scriptures and in the fear of God.  2.  Seek to have no will of your own, in
   order to ascertain the mind of God, regarding any steps you propose taking,
   so that you can honestly say you are willing to do the will of God, if He
   will only please to instruct you.  3.  But when you have found out what the
   will of God is, seek for His help, and seek it earnestly, perseveringly,
   patiently, believingly, expectantly; and you will surely in His own time and
   way obtain it.

   ‘To suppose that we have difficulty about money only would be a mistake:
   there occur hundreds of other wants and of other difficulties.  It is a rare
   thing that a day occurs without some difficulty or some want; but often
   there are many difficulties and many wants to be met and overcome the same
   day.  All these are met by prayer and faith, our universal remedy; and we
   have never been confounded.  Patient, persevering, believing prayer, offered
   up to God, in the Name of the Lord Jesus, has always, sooner or later,
   brought the blessing.  I do not despair, by God’s grace, of obtaining any
   blessing, provided I can be sure it would be for any real good, and for the
   glory of God.