This is a question asked by many earnest people. This is the natural state of one in whom spiritual life has not yet been fully awakened. Prayer, like belief, is not an act that can easily be made clear to the unenlightened. If you go to God as a child to its father, when you are in trouble, and ask him in simple faith to help you for Jesus' sake, you will be better able to understand why others believe in prayer and find it one of the principal mainstays of their lives. Seek the side of some aged Christian and put the question as to his belief in prayer, and you will immediately receive the answer that a large part of his life rests upon daily communion with God, and that very many of his petitions, presented in the name of Jesus, have been answered. There are tens of thousands of good Christian people throughout this land who can testify to the efficacy of prayer. Very many of these believers make it a rule to honor God by acknowledging before the world the answers to their prayers. We would advise any one who doubts and who sincerely wishes to be helped, to drop all argument and apply the test to his own case, and then give God the glory before the brethren. We would not, however, advise any one to pray for mere material blessings, or worldly honors, or wealth or luxuries, but to pray in the right spirit and to study that he does not pray amiss. Every petition should be presented in Jesus' name.
