ith its press of duties, whether religious or not, hindering
prayer, can be overcome, and that God gives you your heart's desire,
grace to pray both in measure and in spirit, just as the Father would
have His child do. "Believe that you have received."

5. "What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye have
received, and _ye shall have them_."--The receiving from God in faith,
the believing acceptance of the answer with the perfect, praising
assurance that it has been given, is not necessarily the experience or
subjective possession of the gift we have asked for. At times there may
be a considerable, or even a long, interval. In other cases the
believing supplicant may at once enter upon the actual enjoyment of what
he has received. It is specially in the former case that we have need of
faith and patience: faith to rejoice in the assurance of the answer
bestowed and received, and to begin and act upon that answer though
nothing be felt; patience to wait if there be for the present no
sensible proof of its presence. We can count upon it: _Ye shall have_,
in actual enjoyment.

If we apply this to the prayer for the power of faithful intercession,
the grace to pray earnestly and perseveringly for souls around us, let
us learn to hold fast the Divine assurance that, as surely as we believe
we receive, and that faith therefore, apart from all failing, may
rejoice in the certainty of an answered prayer. The more we praise God
for it, the sooner will the experience come. We may begin at once to
pray for others, in the confidence that grace will be given us to pray
more perseveringly and more believingly than we have done before. If we
do not find any special enlargement or power in prayer, this must not
hinder or discourage us. We have accepted, apart from feeling, a
spiritual Divine gift by faith; in that faith we are to pray, nothing
doubting. The Holy Spirit may for a little time be hiding Himself within
us; we may count upon Him, even though it be with groanings which cannot
find expression, to pray in us; in due time we shall become conscious of
His presence and power. As sure as there is desire and prayer and faith,
and faith's acceptance of the gift, there will be, too, the
manifestation and experience of the blessing we sought.

Beloved brother! do you truly desire that God should enable you so to
pray that your life may be free from continual self-condemnation, and
that the power of His Spirit may com