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Quiet Talks on Prayer
by
S. D. Gordon
Copyright, 1904, by Fleming H. Revell Company
Contents
I. The Meaning and Mission of Prayer 1. Prayer the Greatest Outlet of Power 2. Prayer the Deciding Factor in a Spirit Conflict 3. The Earth, the Battle-Field in Prayer 4. Does Prayer Influence God?
II. Hindrances to Prayer 1. Why the Results Fail 2. Why the Results are Delayed 3. The Great Outside Hindrance
III. How to Pray 1. The "How" of Relationship 2. The "How" of Method 3. The Listening Side of Prayer 4. Something about God's Will in Connection with Prayer 5. May We Pray with Assurance for the Conversion of Our Loved Ones
IV. Jesus' Habits of Prayer 1. A Pen Sketch 2. Dissolving Views 3. Deepening Shadows 4. Under the Olive Trees 5. A Composite Picture
I. The Meaning And Mission Of Prayer
1. Prayer the Greatest Outlet of Power. 2. Prayer the Deciding Factor in a Spirit Conflict. 3. The Earth, the Battle-Field in Prayer. 4. Does Prayer Influence God?
Prayer the Greatest Outlet of Power
Five Outlets of Power.
A great sorrow has come into the heart of God. Let it be told only in hushed voice--one of His worlds is _a prodigal_! Hush your voice yet more--_ours_ is that prodigal world. Let your voice soften down still more--_we_ have _consented_ to the prodigal part of the story. But, in softest tones yet, He has won some of us back with His strong tender love. And now let the voice ring out with great gladness--we won ones may be the pathway back to God for the others. That is His earnest desire. That should be our dominant ambition. For that purpose He has endowed us with peculiar power.
There is one inlet of power in the life--anybody's life--any kind of power: just one inlet--the Holy Spirit. He is power. He is in every one who opens his door to God. He eagerly enters every open door. He comes in by our invitation and consent. His presence within is the vital thing.
But with many of us while He is in, He is not in control: in as guest; not as host. That is to say He is hindered in His natural movements; tied up, so that He cannot do what He would. And so we are not conscious or only partially conscious of His presence. And others are still less so. But to yield to His mastery, to cultivate His friendship, to give Him full swing--that will result in what is called power. One inlet of power--the Holy Spirit in control.
There are five outlets of power: five avenues through which this One within shows Himself, and reveals His power.
Table of contents (by pages)
- 1: Quiet Talks on Prayer by S. D. Gordon
- 2: Money comes the nearest to omnipotence of anything we handle
- 3: In its simplest analysis prayer all prayer has
- 4: Prayer puts us into direct dynamic touch with a world
- 5: And turns this set of switches
- 6: Children are not allowed at the electrical switchboard
- 7: The common drudgery ceases to be common
- 8: The scene of the conflict is the earth
- 9: Jesus is the personification of purity and righteousness
- 10: Prayer is really projecting my spirit
- 11: This world is God's prodigal son
- 12: Intercession is the climax of prayer
- 13: Intercession is the climax of prayer
- 14: The disobedience broke with God
- 15: And who gave its control over to Satan
- 16: There are wills warped and weakened
- 17: Our willingness checkmates Satan's opposition
- 18: And clothing and the extras too
- 19: Nothing escapes the love vigilance of our God
- 20: It gives the sweep of God's will in its broadest outlines
- 21: The Relation of Prayer to Satan
- 22: There are three sorts of hindrances to prayer
- 23: I don't want my boy to be a prodigal
- 24: It is this selfishness gives Satan a footing
- 25: That is to say practically an unpayable amount
- 26: An unforgiving spirit what searchlights these words are
- 27: He was peculiarly a man of prayer
- 28: Though He had been disobeyed and dishonoured
- 29: The mountain peaks have been lost in the foothills
- 30: His farm was not far from Shiloh
- 31: They assayed to go into Bithynia
- 32: A sharp point prodding into his flesh
- 33: The grove of gnarled knotty old olive trees
- 34: Into the woods my Master went Clean forspent
- 35: In revolting from the caricature is easy
- 36: And precept teaching of the New
- 37: And supplication intensity again
- 38: This is what Daniel hears Daniel
- 39: There are three persons in the parable
- 40: That represented by the adversary
- 41: It is this that routs Satan's demons
- 42: The how of relationship in prayer
- 43: Both whatsoever and whosoever are here
- 44: And that your fruit should abide
- 45: It will mean without doubt a Gethsemane
- 46: The Threefold Cord of Jesus' Life
- 47: Moody was in his own church in Chicago
- 48: Moody talked again a few minutes
- 49: Moody a man of rare leadership
- 50: Shall we not see to it that intercession has first place
- 51: Or be done poorly with the fag ends of strength
- 52: He understands praying perfectly
- 53: And imparts to us anew His desires
- 54: And repeating the prayer with the thanks
- 55: They have seemed peculiarly sensitive to Him
- 56: Such an ear course as that made a skilled famous intercessor
- 57: We learn how to pray by reading prayerfully
- 58: We all do some textual study in a more or less small way
- 59: Now do not try to understand Leviticus the first time
- 60: I awaked refreshed for the Lord sustaineth me
- 61: What is the keyword of the book
- 62: Because woman is finer than man
- 63: This is the lover relationship in its perfection stage
- 64: There is willingness and eagerness too
- 65: What the Spirit within me is praying
- 66: Kinship is a relation peculiar to man
- 67: And leaves him free to choose aright
- 68: Philosophically there must be a hell
- 69: Believingly praying up to the time of the quick end
- 70: Read up and lectured on skeptical subjects
- 71: Will you abide the consequences
- 72: We find the picture of the praying Jesus like an etching
- 73: The interruption by a demon possessed man
- 74: The more time must there be for unhurried prayer
- 75: He yearned for a closer fellowship with them
- 76: Matthew and Mark also tell of the transfiguration scene
- 77: He wakeneth morning by morning
- 78: He goes to the sleeping disciples
- 79: The hillsides overlooking the Galilean lake
- 80: How much prayer meant to Jesus