To His Praise!

They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy goodness.

This chapter is written more than seven years later than the foregoing, in further testimony and praise.

Returning to Canada at the time of World War I, we came face to face with a serious financial crisis. Only two ways seemed open to us. On was to lay our affairs frankly before the Board, showing that our salary was quite insufficient, with war conditions and prices, to meet our requirements. The other course was to to just go forward, get a suitable home and whatever we required, and trust our Father to supply what was needed above our income. We decided on the latter course.

My dear daughter felt indignant that we should have a salary insufficient for our needs; but we assured her that to trust God for what was lacking was not begging. The day came when this child and myself took possession of our new home. As we entered the dining room we found a large mail from China on the table.

One letter was forwarded from the lady in Australia whose gifts, in the past, seemed always to have met some felt need. Her letter enclosed fifty pounds, with the expressed wish that thirty pounds should be used for work in China, but twenty pounds was to be used to meet some personal need. I handed the letter to my daughter, saying: "Shall we not believe that God will undertake for us? It seems to me as if our Father were beside us saying, 'My child, take this hundred dollars as an earnest of what I am going to do for you.'"

Tears stood in her eyes as my daughter gave the letter back, saying: "Mother, we don't trust God half enough!"

Were I to attempt to write the history of the months that followed, a long chapter would be required; but my testimony along this line is surely sufficient.

It was on this same furlough that I came to have an enlarged vision of my heavenly Father's willingness to undertake in what some might term the minor details of everyday life. Missionaries, especially we missionary women, know only too well how we are criticized in the matter of dress, when in the homeland and when traveling. I have had, through the years, not only many amusing but trying experiences in this connection, and I resolved to make the question of dress a definite matter of prayer. And I rejoice to testify that the result of this decision became a constant source of wonder and praise. Yes, I found the Lord could guide me even in trimming my hat to His glory! That is, so that I could stand up before an audience and not bring discredit to my Master. Praise His name!

There is nothing too great for His power,
And nothing too small for His love!

At the time of World War I a son had gone to England with the first Canadian contingent. When this news reached us in China, I began to pray definitely that the Lord would use my son's gifts in the best way for his country's good, but would keep him back from the trenches and from actual warfare. My boy did not know of this prayer.

Some weeks after reaching England he was looking forward to leaving for the trenches in France, when orders came that he was needed in the Orderly Room, and his unit left without him. Months later a call came for volunteers, to fill the great gaps made at the time of the first use of gas. My boy resigned his position and joined the company of volunteers to be sent to France. Just before they were to leave he was again sent for from Headquarters, and told he was to go to the Canadian Base in France as adjutant. His duties in this capacity kept him at the Forwarding Base. A year later he again planned to resign in order to get to the trenches. He had begun making arrangements for this step, when he fell from his horse, which caused him to be invalided home to Canada, where he was kept till the close of the war.

It would be difficult to persuade his mother that all this happened by chance; for one day, when in great distress, expecting any day a cable to say he had left for the trenches, I received a clear assurance from the Lord that He had the boy in His keeping.

After our return to China, when in great trouble, I prayed the Lord to grant me a clear sign of His favor by giving me a certain petition, which affected a child in the homeland. The request was a complicated one, including several definite details. A little more than a month later, a letter reached me from the one for whom I had asked the Lord's favor. She wrote joyously, telling that she had received just what I had asked for, and in every detail as I had prayed.

When my husband resigned the regular field work of Changte, Honan, it became necessary for us to find a home elsewhere. The only suitable place, meeting all our requirements, was on the hills at Kikungshan, South Honan. On going there to get a site for our home, though we looked for more than a week, we could find no place. As we started down the hill, one morning soon after midnight, I was feeling our failure very keenly, for we had given up our old home.

When my husband saw how bad I felt, as he told me later, he began to cry earnestly to the Lord to give us a site. And before we reached the station the assurance had come that we would get a place. A friend on the train, traveling third class, saw us getting on the second class, and came in for a few words before getting off the train. When he heard we had failed to get a site, he said:

"I know of a beautiful site which our mission is reserving for a future missionary. I'll ask them to give it to you."

A few days later the treasurer of this mission wrote us that they had unanimously and gladly voted to give us this site.

I am now writing these closing words in our God-given home, built on this beautiful site, one of the loveliest spots to be found in China. So from this quiet mountain retreat, a monument of what God can give in answer to prayer, this little book of prayer testimonies is sent forth.

As the past has been reviewed, and God's wonderful faithfulness recalled, there has come a great sense of regret that I have not trusted God more, and asked more of Him, both for my family and the Chinese. Yes, it is truly wonderful! But the wonder is not that God can answer prayer, but that He does, when we so imperfectly meet the conditions clearly laid down in His Word.

In recent years I have often tested myself by these conditions, when weeks, and perhaps months passed without some answer to prayer, and there has come a conscious spiritual sagging. As the discerning soul can plainly see, all the conditions mentioned in the list below may be included in the one word Abide.

CONDITIONS OF PREVAILING PRAYER

1. Contrite humility before god and forsaking of sin -- II Chronicles 7:14. ["If My people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from Heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land" (2Chronicles 7:14).]

2. Seeking God with the whole heart -- Jeremiah 29:12, 13. ["12 Then shall ye call upon Me, and ye shall go and pray unto Me, and I will hearken unto you. 13 And ye shall seek Me, and find Me, when ye shall search for Me with all your heart" (Jeremiah 29:12, 13).

3. Faith in God -- Mark 11:23, 24. ["23 For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. 24 Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them" (Mark 11:23, 24).]

4. Obedience -- I John 3:22. ["And whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight" (1John 3:22).]

5. Dependence on the Holy Spirit -- Romans 8:26. ["Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit Itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered" (Romans 8:26).]

6. Importunity -- Mark 7:24-30; Luke 11:5-10. ["24 And from thence He arose, and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and entered into an house, and would have no man know it: but He could not be hid.

25 For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of Him, and came and fell at His feet:

26 The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation; and she besought Him that He would cast forth the devil out of her daughter.

27 But Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it unto the dogs.

28 And she answered and said unto Him, Yes, LORD: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs.

29 And He said unto her, For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter.

30 And when she was come to her house, she found the devil gone out, and her daughter laid upon the bed" (Mark 7:24-30).

(Luke 11:5-10).

"5 And He said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves;

6 For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him?

7 And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee.

8 I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.

9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

10 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened"

7. Must ask in accordance with God's will -- I John 5:14. ["And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask any thing according to His will, He heareth us" (1John 5:14).]

8. In Christ's name -- John 14:13, 14, and many other passages. ["13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If ye shall ask any thing in My name, I will do it" (John 14:13, 14).]

9. Must be willing to make amends for wrongs to others -- Matthew 5:23, 24. ["23 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;

24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift" (Matthew 5:23, 24).]

CAUSES OF FAILURE IN PRAYER

1. Sin in the heart and life -- Psalm 66:18; Isaiah 59:1, 2. ["If I regard iniquity in my heart, the LORD will not hear me" (Psalm 66:18).

"1 Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither His ear heavy, that it cannot hear:

2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear" (Isaiah 59:1, 2).]

2. Persistent refusal to obey God -- Proverbs 1:24-28; Zechariah 7:11, 13. ["24 Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out My hand, and no man regarded;

25 But ye have set at nought all My counsel, and would none of My reproof:

26 I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;

27 When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.

28 Then shall they call upon Me, but I will not answer; they shall seek Me early, but they shall not find Me" (Proverbs 1:24-28).

"11 But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear.

13 Therefore it is come to pass, that as he cried, and they would not hear; so they cried, and I would not hear, saith the LORD of Hosts" (Zechariah 7:11, 13).]

3. Formalism and hypocrisy -- Isaiah 1:2-15. ["2 Hear, O Heavens, and give ear, O Earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against Me.

3 The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not know, My people doth not consider.

4 Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.

5 Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.

6 From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.

7 Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.

8 And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.

9 Except the LORD of Hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.

10 Hear the Word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the Law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.

11 To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto Me? saith the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.

12 When ye come to appear before Me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread My courts?

13 Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto Me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.

14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts My soul hateth: they are a trouble unto Me; I am weary to bear them.

15 And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide Mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood" (Isaiah 1:2-15).]

4. Unwillingness to forgive others -- Mark 11:25, 26. ["25 And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in Heaven may forgive you your trespasses.

26 But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in Heaven forgive your trespasses" (Mark 11:25, 26).]

5. Wrong motives -- James 4:2, 3. ["2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.

3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts" (James 4:2, 3).]

6. Despising God's law -- Amos 2:4. "Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have despised the Law of the LORD, and have not kept His Commandments, and their lies caused them to err, after the which their fathers have walked" (Amos 2:4).]

7. Lack of love and mercy -- Proverbs 21:13. ["Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard" (Proverbs 21:13).]