and He will hear your voice if you are as much in earnest as he was!
Why should not God hear the voice of William, or Robert, Sarah or Edith?
He is no respecter of persons. Is it not written over the door of mercy,
"Knock, and it shall be opened?" Aye, and the knocker is so low a
child's hand may reach it. St. James tells us that Elijah was "a man of
like passions." He was a human being like you and me, but he had faith
in God. Why should we not believe in God as much as the prophet did? Is
He not God yet? Have any of these sceptics removed Him from His throne?
If He is still there, let us come with boldness as Elijah did.

This was not the first time God had heard the voice of His servant, and
answered his prayer, and there is no reason why we should not have
repeated and continuous replies in answer to our requests. Had Elijah
the same wealth of promise we have? JESUS CHRIST has spoken since those
times, and has said things which ought to fill us with hopefulness
whenever we pray. What wonderful words of cheer He said in those last
few days of His life, such as "Ask and ye shall receive, that your joy
may be full." Look up the references to that verse, and you will feel
you must kneel down and ask for something.

But is there not suggested by that word "Ask," the secret of so much
failure? Do we ask? How often, in what is called prayer, there is
little or no supplication? We are to make our requests known. Listen to
Elijah: "Lord, let this child's soul come into him again." Why should we
not pray in the same direct style? Our prayers would not weary others by
their length, if, before we knelt down, we thought

WHAT IS NEEDED, AND NEEDED NOW.

What a scene when the child began to breathe again! and when the anxious
mother was summoned to receive her boy from the dead. "Now," said she,
"I know thou art a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in thy mouth
is truth." When the church fights its battles on its knees, it prevails.
Only let us, who say we believe in God, put our faith into petition, and
obtain answers, then Infidelity will hide its head. Mr. Finney tells
that when he first began to attend a place of worship, it was as an
honest inquirer after truth. The members of the church noticed his
coming to the prayer meetings with regularity, and presently it occurred
to them that the young man might be anxious about his soul. Accordingly
they asked him if he would like them to pray for him.