nce: that is sometimes
found to consist with a harbouring of sin, and unbelief as to
deliverance. But the true sense of the hatefulness of sin, the hatred
of it, will be proved by the intensity of desire for deliverance, and
the struggle to know to the very utmost what God can do in saving from
it--a holy jealousy, in nothing to sin against God.

If we are to deal effectually with the lack of prayer we must look at it
from this point of view and ask, Restraining prayer, is it sin? And if
it be, how is it to be dealt with, to be discovered, and confessed, and
cast out by man, and cleansed away by God? Jesus is a Saviour from sin.
It is only as we know sin truly that we can truly know the power that
saves from sin. The life that can pray effectually is the life of the
cleansed branch--the life that knows deliverance from the power of self.
To see that our prayer-sins are indeed sins, is the first step to a true
and Divine deliverance from them.

In the story of Achan we have one of the strongest proofs in Scripture
that it is sin that robs God's people of His blessing, and that God will
not tolerate it; and at the same time the clearest indication of the
principles under which God deals with it, and removes it. Let us see in
the light of the story if we can learn how to look at the sin of
prayerlessness, and at the sinfulness that lies at the root of it. The
words I have quoted above, "Neither will I be with you any more, except
ye put away the accursed thing from among you," take us into the very
heart of the story, and suggest a series of the most precious lessons
around the truth they express, that the presence of sin makes the
presence of God impossible.

1. _The presence of God is the great privilege of God's people, and
their only power against the enemy._--God had promised to Moses, _I will
bring you in_ unto the land. Moses proved that he understood this when
God, after the sin of the golden calf, spoke of withdrawing His presence
and sending an angel. He refused to accept anything less than God's
presence. "For whereby shall it be known that I and Thy people have
found grace in Thy sight? Is it not that _Thou goest with us_?" It was
this gave Caleb and Joshua their confidence: The Lord is with us. It was
this gave Israel their victory over Jericho: the presence of God. This
is throughout Scripture the great central promise: I am with thee. This
marks off the whole-hearted believer from the worldling and worldly