Jesus taught his disciples to pray. He directed them to present their daily needs before God. As we realise our dependence upon God for both temporal and spiritual blessings, we may offer up fervent and effectual prayer. Our great need is in itself an argument that pleads most eloquently in our behalf. Your wants, your joys, your sorrows, your cares, your fears, you may present before God. You cannot weary Him, you cannot burden his heart. Nothing is too great for Him to bear; for He upholds the worlds and rules the universe. Nothing is too small for his notice; for He marks the sparrow's fall, and numbers the hairs of your head. He is not indifferent to the wants of his people. The Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy. He is touched by our sorrows, and even the utterance of them moves his great heart of infinite love. There is no chapter in our experience too dark for Him to read, no perplexity too complicated for Him to unravel. Our Heavenly Father is not unobserving; He sees our tears, He marks our sighs, He notes our joys and sorrows. “He healeth the broken heart, and bindeth up their wounds.”Messenger January 4, 1893, par. 1

The relation between God and each soul is distinct. His care to you is as minute as though there were no other soul to claim his attention. The psalmist says, “Thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. There is not a word in my tongue, but lo, O Lord, Thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.” “Thou tellest my wanderings; put Thou my tears in thy bottle; are they not in thy book?” In the words of the psalmist is expressed the intimacy and tenderness with which God cares for his creatures. “For we have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”Messenger January 4, 1893, par. 2

We should realise that we have a friend at court, one who can plead the cause of our soul, one who will be our helper in every emergency. We should be able to sing,Messenger January 4, 1893, par. 3

“What a Friend we have in Jesus,
All our sins and griefs to bear;
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer.”Messenger January 4, 1893, par. 4

Jesus says, “When ye pray, believe that ye receive the things ye ask for, and ye shall have them.” You are to come to the Father, emptying the soul of every sin and defilement, that you may prove the promises of the Lord. You cannot indulge your own temper, and have your own way, and still expect to have the advantages of the children of God; you must struggle with hereditary tendencies, and yield not to temptation. “He that cometh to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” As a child comes to its parent, so you are to come to Jesus, telling Him just what you want, presenting before Him your need of his presence and grace. The Lord has promised to give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him; and as an illustration of our need, and his willingness to give, He presents before us a hungry child asking his earthly parent for bread. The question is asked, “What man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?” He appeals to the tender natural affection of a parent for his child, and then says, “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him.”Messenger January 4, 1893, par. 5

Mrs. E. G. White

December 15, 1892

January 18, 1893