s
leaning afresh on Him for the grace to trust and to overcome.

Further we see here the true spirit of prayer. It is the Spirit of Christ
in us. "In the midst of the church will I sing praises unto thee." Christ
still sings these praises in the trusting heart and lifts our prayers into
songs of victory! This is the true spirit of prayer, like Paul and Silas
in the prison at Philippi, turning prayer into praise, night into day, the
night of sorrow into the morning of joy, and when He is in us, the spirit
of faith, He will also become the spirit of praise.

SEPTEMBER 26.

"I will be with Him in trouble" (Ps. xci. 15).

The question often comes, "Why didn't He help me sooner!" It is not His
order. He must first adjust you to the situation and cause you to learn
your lesson from it. His promise is, "I will be with him in trouble; I
will deliver him and honor him." He must be with you in the trouble first
until you grow quiet. Then He will take you out of it. This will not come
till you have stopped being restless and fretful about it and become calm
and trustful. Then He will say, "It is enough."

God uses trouble to teach His children precious lessons. They are intended
to educate us. When their good work is done a glorious recompense will
come to us through them. There is a sweet joy and opportunity in them. He
does not regard them as difficulties but as opportunities. They have come
to give God a greater interest in you, and to show how He can deliver you
from them. We cannot have a mercy worth praising God for without
difficulty. God is as deep, and long, and high, as our little world of
circumstances.

SEPTEMBER 27.

"The glorious liberty of the children of God" (Rom. viii. 21).

Are you above self and self-pleasing in every way? Have you got above
circumstances so that you are not influenced by them? Are you above
sickness and the evil forces around that would drag down your physical
life into the quicksands? These forces are all around, and if yielded to
would quickly swamp us. God does not destroy sickness, or its power to
hurt, but He lifts us above it. Are you above your feelings, moods,
emotions and states? Can you sail immovable as the stars through all sorts
of weather? A harp will give out sweet music or discordant sounds as
different fingers touch the strings. If the devil's hand is on your harp
strings what hideous sounds it will give. Let the fingers of the Lord
sweep it, and i