Can a Christian so live that day by day he will have his prayers answered? Yes, he may.
I do not mean that prayer is some way to twist God's arm and get that which He would not give. I mean that a Christian may learn day by day to live so in the way of God that he wants what God wants and so God teaches him how to pray (Ps. 34:15, 16). - John R. Rice [Success-prone Christians, pg. 61]
Will a Christian ever have trouble? Oh, yes. "Many are the afflictions of the righteous." I do not say that a Christian will never have physical ills. He will. I do not say that a Christian will never have persecution. He will. I do not say that a Christian will never find himself falling short of what he ought to be and do and with a sad heart face his failure. Yes, "Many are the afflictions of the righteous," but he can have deliverance and victory in every such case! Yes, "The Lord delivereth him out of them all" (Ps. 34). - John R. Rice [Success-prone Christians, pg. 62-63]
Are you willing to be dependent on God as the sheep is on the shepherd? Can you pray and mean it, "Give us day by day our daily bread," or as the Lord's prayer states it in another way, "Give us this day our daily bread," and rely on that? I do not mean that a Christian ought not work, ought not be thrifty, ought not save. I do not mean that a Christian ought not provide for his own. Oh, but how sweet to come to a dependence on God so that there is no worry, no fret about tomorrow, but trusting Him to provide! - John R. Rice [Success-prone Christians, pg. 67]
Once we had an evangelist with us in the Galilean Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas. My brother, Evangelist Joe Rice, now in Heaven, went one day to take Brother Zeoli to an appointment, and he asked, "How are you today?"
The evangelist answered, "Oh, I am just loaded down!"
Joe, thinking he referred to burdens and troubles, said, "Do you want to tell me about your burdens?"
The evangelist answered in triumph, "He daily loadeth me with benefits" (Ps. 68:19)!
Oh, I have more blessings than I can count. I have more comforts than I can remember to thank God for. - John R. Rice [Success-prone Christians, pg. 68]
When I am away from home in meetings and need to rise early to catch a plane, I set an alarm or have the hotel operator call me at a certain time to wake me; yet I have found again and again that an hour ahead of time I am wide awake and want to get up. I feel that God is simply inviting me to spend an extra hour with Him in the Bible and in sweet fellowship. Oh, "He restoreth my soul." - John R. Rice [Success-prone Christians, pg. 71]
Years ago in Dallas, Texas, a little, half-grown skinny kitten, covered with fleas, whined at the back door. Elizabeth, perhaps ten or eleven at the time, said, "O Mamma, may I feed the poor little thing? He is so skinny and hungry!"
I said to Mrs. Rice, "Remember, if you feed that cat, you have a cat to keep. He will adopt you and stay here."
But Mrs. Rice thought, "Oh, just one time, at least, Libby can feed the poor little kitten."
So Libby said, "Daddy, how shall I feed him?"
I told her, "Warm a little milk and put it in a saucer, and put it down before the little kitten." The little thing left his motor running while he was lapping up the milk happily. And that kitten decided he had found a home.
He would never stay out of the kitchen. If Mrs. Rice hurried, preparing meals for a big family, she would step on the kitten or bump against him with her foot, and she would complain. But I said, "Remember, you adopted that cat. When you took him in and fed him, he decided this was to be his home."
Well, when I came to the Lord Jesus, I was worse than that poor, flea-bitten kitten. I was lost and spiritually starving, but Jesus took me in and blessed me and answered my prayers and gave me a lovely family, a home, work, friends, and a blessed ministry. God has me on His hands! He has adopted me in the family. And now I can be sure that "goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life." - John R. Rice [Success-prone Christians, pg. 80-81]
An old woman, a schoolteacher grown senile, an intelligent woman, went to her pastor, Dr. Ironside, with a problem. I knew both her and Dr. Ironside. She told Dr. Ironside, "Dr. Ironside, there are two people who follow me everywhere I go! When I get on a streetcar, they are there. They sit behind me. When I walk down the street, they follow me."
Dr. Ironside said, "Well, what do they look like?"
"Oh," she said, "I can't see them. They are invisible, but I know they are with me all the time."
Dr. Ironside, in loving sympathy and with sweet spiritual understanding said to her, "Oh, I know who those people are. They are the two friends of David who follow you. The Bible tells about them."
"Who are they then? she said.
Dr. Ironside answered, "They are goodness and mercy. David said, 'Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.' David's friends," he said, "are your friends, too, and they follow you always."
She went away happy. We should be happy, too. Ah, "I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever"! - John R. Rice [Success-prone Christians, pg. 81]
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