JUNE The Twenty-ninth

_EFFECTUAL PRAYERS_

"_The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much._"

--JAMES v. 13-20.

Or, as Weymouth translates it, "The heartfelt supplication of a righteous man exerts a mighty influence." Prayer may be empty words, with no more power than those empty sh.e.l.ls which have been foisted upon the Turks in their war with the Balkan States. Firing empty sh.e.l.ls! That is what many professed prayers really are; they have nothing in them, and they accomplish nothing. They are just forged upon the lips, and they drop to the earth as soon as they are spoken. Effectual prayers are born in the heart; they are stocked with heart-treasure, with faith, and hope, and desire, and holy urgency, and they go forth with power to shake the world.

What are my prayers like? _If I were G.o.d, could I listen to them?_ Are they mere pretences at prayer, full of nothing but sound? Is there any reasonable ground for a.s.suming that they can accomplish anything? Or are my prayers weighted with sincere desire? Do they comprehend my brother's good as well as my own? Are they spoken in faith? Do they go forth in great expectancy? Then do they surely "exert a mighty influence," and they become fellow-labourers with all G.o.d's ministries of grace. The greatest thing I can do is greatly to pray.

JUNE The Thirtieth

_G.o.d MY STRENGTH AND SONG_

"_The Lord is my strength and my song._"

--PSALM cxviii. 14-21.

Yes, first of all "my strength" and then "my song"! For what song can there be where there is languor and fainting? What brave music can be born in an organ which is short of breath? There must first be strength if we would have fine harmonies. And so the good Lord comes to the songless, and with holy power He brings the gift of "saving health."

"And my song"! For when life is healthy it instinctively breaks into song.

The happy, contented soul goes about the ways of life humming its satisfactions to itself, and is now and again heard by the pa.s.ser-by. The Lord fills the life with instinctive music. When life is holy it becomes musical with His praise.

So here I see the appointed order in Christian service. It is futile to try to make people joyful unless we do it by seeking first to make them strong. First the good, and then the truly happy! First the holy, and then the musical. First G.o.d, and then the breath of His Holy Spirit, and then "the new song."

JULY The First

_THE LIFE OR THE LIGHT OF MEN_

"_In Him was life._"

--JOHN i. 1-18.

Not merely a pool of life, but the well-spring. All rivers of enriching vitality have their source in Him. Nowhere is there a crystal stream which was not born at the Fountain. Let us make our claim for the Lord all-comprehensive and inclusive. Whatever energizes body, mind, or soul, has its origin in our Sovereign King. "All our springs are in Thee." "Thou of life the Fountain art."

"_And the life was the light of men._" And what did He not light up? His amazing rays streamed down the darkest ways of men, and illumined the vast, sombre chambers of human circ.u.mstance. He lit up sin and showed its true colour! He lit up sorrow, and transfigured it! He lit up duty, and gave it a new face. He lit up common work, and glorified it. He lit up death, and we could see through it! But, above all, He lit up G.o.d, and "the people that sat in darkness saw a great light."

"_And the darkness apprehended it not._" The darkness could not lay hold of it and quench it! It was not overwhelmed and eclipsed by the murkiest fog of prejudice, or by the dingiest antagonism of sinful pride. "The light showeth in the darkness," inviolable and invincible!

JULY The Second

_LIGHT AND LIGHTNING_

"_And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him._"

--ISAIAH xi. 1-10.

And the spirit is one of light! All the doors and windows are open. His correspondences are perfect and unbroken. He is of "quick understanding,"

keen-scented to discern the essences of things, alert to perceive the reality behind the semblance, to "see things as they are." All the great primary senses are awake, and He has knowledge of every "secret place."

"_He shall smite ... with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips shall He slay._" The spirit of light follows a crusade of holiness.

The light becomes lightning! The "breathing," which cools the fever-stricken, can also become a hot breath, which wastes and destroys every plant of evil desire. It is an awful thing, and yet a gracious thing, that "our G.o.d is a consuming fire." It was foretold of our Lord that He should baptize "with fire."

And this crusade of holiness is in the ministry of peace. He will burn away all that defileth, in order that He may create a profound and permanent fellowship. When His work is done, there will be a mingling of apparent opposites, and antagonisms will melt into a gracious union. "The sucking child will play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den."

JULY The Third

_MY ELDER BROTHER_

HEBREWS ii. 9-18.

And doth my Lord call me one of His brethren? Let me leisurely think upon it, until my very soul moves amid my affairs in n.o.ble and hallowed dignity. If I steadily remember "who I am," it will a.s.suredly transfigure "what I am." I lose the sense of my high kinship, and then I am quite content to be "sent into the fields to feed swine."

And my elder Brother came to "destroy the works of the devil." That is the entire ministry of destruction. Nothing beautiful does He destroy, nothing winsome: only the insidious presences which are the foes of these things.

He will destroy only the pestiferous microbes which ravage the vital peace of the soul. Our Lord is the enemy of the deadly, and therefore of "him that had the power of death--that is, the devil!"

And in this holy ministry of destruction He can defend my soul as "one who knows," Himself "having been tempted." He knows the subtlety of the devil, and where the soul is most perilously exposed, and He is therefore "able to succour them that are tempted."

JULY The Fourth

_EMPTYING ONESELF_

"_He emptied Himself._"

--PHILIPPIANS ii. 1-11.

In Mr. Silvester Horne's garden a very suggestive scene was one day to be witnessed. A cricketer of world-wide renown was playing a game with Mr.

Horne's little four-year-old son! And the fierce bowler "emptied himself,"

and served such gentle, dainty little b.a.l.l.s that the tiny man at the wickets was not in the least degree afraid! And the Lord of glory "emptied Himself," fashioning Himself to our "low estate," and in His unspeakably gentle approaches we find our peace.