Please Pray the Cry of a Troubled Heart

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"PLEASE PRAY--

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"Then my wife attended the ladies' prayer group, a n d studied most carefully the first lesson. She returned home, shockedshocked at our own shortsightedness! But she came home with hope. She sat down, as I mentioned last week, and wrote a letter t o Bill, Jr. She took five hours, as some of you heard me state, in writing that letter. S h e decided not t o mail it until she had assured herself t h a t it conformed t o these seven laws of communication. "The following Tuesday she shared the letter with h e r prayer group before mailing it. That was just a week ago today. The ladies found only one mistake in it. She h a d criticized a trifle. She deleted the critical remarks, a n d mailed the letter with a prayer and a Bible promise.

Jesus. I have discovered that every one of these laws is a law of Jesus Christ. He taught them. He lived them. He placed them in the Good Book so that we, too, would follow Him. He said, 'Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men' (Matthew 4:19). Whatever He made was good. So that means we can be good fishermen. He told His disciples, who had fished all night and caught nothing, t o put down their net on the other side of the ship, and immediately they were successful. Fellows, I am going t o put my net on the other side-on the side of conformity to these seven laws of Christ.

Bill, Jr. 's Reply

"Since Jack unconsciously obeyed the laws of Choice and Humility in not nagging Clarine, and not belittling her, I am going t o outdo him. She is twenty-one years old. She is going t o find herself with a different fatherso different, in fact, that it will probably shock her. But I am going t o communicate t o her in such a way that she would prefer t o be with me than with Jack. This, I know, will be a difficult task, for there is much positive emotion now between her and Jack. And there is much negative emotion between both them and me. But I have the Holy Spirit on my side now, because my cause is just. 'For with God nothing shall be impossible' (Luke 1:37). 6 I am now going t o pinpoint in one, two, three style what I have vowed t o do. I want your counsel, fellows. But generally speaking, I have my format worked out. There may be some minor changes, after you share your judgment with me. "No. 1 . I am going t o take Clarine t o one side, all alone, and apologize. This is in obedience t o the law of Humility. The Bible says, 'He that humbleth himself shall be exalted' (Luke 1 4 : l l ) . So I am going t o trust Clarine t o forgive me,

"Believe it or not, fellows, Bill made a long distance call home almost immediately after receiving that l e t t e r . He was almost like another boy. I don't mean t h a t h e has vowed t o take up religion again, or t o return to t h e Lord. What I am saying is, his attitude toward his m o t h e r has completely changed. And Mabel and I feel that if o n e letter conforming t o these laws can, through the p o w e r of the Holy Spirit, change Bill, Jr. that much, what will a few more weeks accomplish in affecting a change of heart toward the Lord!" The men were silent for what seemed a long m i n u t e . The silence of the room was so intense you could a l m o s t hear their wrist watches tick. Then Leslie spoke again.

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FOR M Y E N G A G E D D A U G H T E R "

My New Format He chuckled, and added, with a sort of shy e x p r e s s i o n , "Fellows, do you want t o know about my new format?" "Yes, d o tell us!" "I have a Captain for my ship now," he began. '-It is

Human Ease

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