“Thus saith the Lord God; I will yet for this be enquired of
by the house of Israel, to do it for them.”
— Ezekiel 36:37

Prayer is the forerunner of mercy. Turn to sacred history, and you will
find that scarcely ever did a great mercy come to this world unheralded
by supplication. You have found this true in your own personal
experience. God has given you many an unsolicited favour, but still
great prayer has always been the prelude of great mercy with you. When
you first found peace through the blood of the cross, you had been
praying much, and earnestly interceding with God that he would remove
your doubts, and deliver you from your distresses. Your assurance was
the result of prayer. When at any time you have had high and rapturous
joys, you have been obliged to look upon them as answers to your
prayers. When you have had great deliverances out of sore troubles, and
mighty helps in great dangers, you have been able to say, “I sought the
Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.” Prayer is
always the preface to blessing. It goes before the blessing as the
blessing’s shadow. When the sunlight of God’s mercies rises upon our
necessities, it casts the shadow of prayer far down upon the plain. Or,
to use another illustration, when God piles up a hill of mercies, he
himself shines behind them, and he casts on our spirits the shadow of
prayer, so that we may rest certain, if we are much in prayer, our
pleadings are the shadows of mercy. Prayer is thus connected with the
blessing to show us the value of it. If we had the blessings without
asking for them, we should think them common things; but prayer makes
our mercies more precious than diamonds. The things we ask for are
precious, but we do not realize their preciousness until we have sought
for them earnestly.

“Prayer makes the darken’d cloud withdraw;
Prayer climbs the ladder Jacob saw;
Gives exercise to faith and love;
Brings every blessing from above.”

On this day...

• Zechariah 8 - 2024
• Zechariah 7 - 2024
• April 10, 2014 - 2014
• Jeremiah 15:21 - 2009
• Romans 8:1 - 2009
• Proverb 19:21 - 2007
• Psalm 42:1 - 2007
• John 14:26 - 2007
• 1 John 4:18 - 2007
• 1Jn 4:7-8 - 2007