He had told Ahab
there would be rain; he knew it was coming; and yet he prayed till the
seven times were fulfilled. And it is of this Elijah and this prayer we
are taught, "Pray for one another. Elijah was a man of like passions
with ourselves. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth
much." Will there not be some who feel constrained to cry out, "Where is
the Lord God of Elijah?"--this God who draws forth such effectual
prayer, and hears it so wonderfully. His name be praised: He is still
the same. Let His people but believe that He still waits to be inquired
of! Faith in a prayer-hearing God will make a prayer-loving Christian.

We remember the marks of the true intercessor as the parable taught us
them. A sense of the need of souls; a Christlike love in the heart; a
consciousness of personal impotence; faith in the power of prayer;
courage to persevere in spite of refusal; and the assurance of an
abundant reward;--these are the dispositions that constitute a Christian
an intercessor, and call forth the power of prevailing prayer. These are
the dispositions that constitute the beauty and the health of the
Christian life, that fit a man for being a blessing in the world, that
make him a true Christian worker, who does indeed get from God the bread
of heaven to dispense to the hungry. These are the dispositions that
call forth the highest, the heroic virtues of the life of faith. There
is nothing to which the nobility of natural character owes so much as
the spirit of enterprise and daring which in travel or war, in politics
or science, battles with difficulties and conquers. No labour or expense
is grudged for the sake of victory. And shall we who are Christians not
be able to face the difficulties that we meet in prayer? It is as we
"labour" and "strive" in prayer that the renewed will asserts its royal
right to claim in the name of Christ what it will, and wields its
God-given power to influence the destinies of men. Shall men of the
world sacrifice ease and pleasure in their pursuits, and shall we be
such cowards and sluggards as not to fight our way through to the place
where we can find liberty for the captive and salvation for the
perishing? Let each servant of Christ learn to know his calling. His
King ever lives to pray. The Spirit of the King ever lives in us to
pray. It is from heaven the blessings, which the world needs, must be
called down in persevering, importunate, believing prayer. It is