“At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you: for the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God.”
John 16:26-27

How terribly do they dishonor God who tell us that angels, apostles, the mother of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, or other eminent saints, are necessary as go-betweens in order that we may receive of the Father! Even our Lord Himself tells us that our Father gives out of the love of His own heart. It is not necessary to have someone as a special ‘pleader’ on our behalf. “The Father Himself loveth you.” How blessed, how happy it is to realize this, and so go to Him with implicit confidence, assured that He delights to do for us everything that is consistent with His holy purpose and therefore, which will be for our good.

If you had been living when Christ was on earth,
And had met the Saviour kind,
What would you have asked Him to do for you,
Supposing you were stone blind?

The child considered, and then replied,
“I’d expect that, without doubt,
I’d have asked for a dog, with a collar and chain,
To lead me about.”

And how often thus, in our faithless prayers,
We acknowledge with shamed surprise,
We have only asked for a dog and chain,
When we might have had - opened eyes!

- M. Colley

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