The Bible Speaks to You March 20, 1965 Issue

[The above is substantially the text of the program released for broadcast the week of March 12—18 in the radio series, "The Bible Speaks to You." heard internationally over more than 900 stations. 'This is one of the weekly programs prepared and produced by the Christian Science Committee on Publication, 107 Falmouth Street. Boston, Massachusetts 02115.]

RADIO PROGRAM No. 154 - A Vital Element of Prayer

INTERVIEWER: Many people, as James A. Pike points out in his book "The Next Day." think of prayer as asking God for things in an emergency, more or less as a last resort lie says. "At their wit's end they say. 'I guess all we can do is pray.'" (© 1957, by James A. Pike. Doubleday & Company, Inc.. Garden City, N. Y.)

All of this seems to imply a doubt whether prayer is really effective.

SPEAKER: I think if one looks to God as the last resort, this indicates that there is something very important lacking in his concept of prayer. God should be our first, not our last, resort. Putting God last indicates a lack of a vital element in prayer, the element of expectancy. Christ Jesus often indicated the importance of expectancy. He said in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 7:7). "Ask and it shall be given you: seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." And then later he said (Matt. 21:22). "All things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive." It is evident from his works that he expected his prayers to be answered; and they were. For instance, he thanked God before he raised Lazarus from the dead and before he fed the multitude.