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TOPIC: Gordon, Samuel Dickey - Prayer Changes Things (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: 02. Regrets In Heaven
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Regrets In Heaven
If there be any regrets in heaven — heaven is not supposed to have any regrets, we think of heaven as having all the regrets turned out and kept out,
— and yet, if there could creep in regrets, I think there would be at least two, as we look back to the earth-life from the hills of God. One regret would be this: that we did not do more quiet praying, more claiming. I do not mean more simple repetition of religious language on our knees, but more insistent claiming, that the power of the Lord Jesus Christ shall apply here, and there, over the earth. That will be one regret, if there be regrets: that we did not ask enough, and did not ask big enough. We will say to ourselves, "What beggarly askers we were down on the earth!"
The second regret, I think, if there be regrets, will be this: that we did not trust enough, that we did not trust God enough. We did not step out, when we could not see where to put the foot down, when He said, "Step out." And if we might rule our lives here by what we shall think of them when we get yonder, then, I believe, we shall surely wear down the doorsills into our prayer-rooms.
I suggest that we make a very careful examination of the doorsills going into our prayer-rooms. Some folks' doorsills into their prayer-rooms are very nicely rounded, as the carpenter made the sill. And that is a very good sill for the carpenter to make, but not a good doorsill for a good Christian to retain. The only decent doorsill into the prayer-room of the Christian man is one that has been flattened down, very very flat, worn through. I suggest that we make a rather careful examination of that door-sill, and if it is too big, just proceed to wear it down quietly, faithfully, day-by-day; and if we wear it down we will find a great wearing up in the lives of men, wherever our prayers may be turned in and out.
I have thought of a word or two from the Master's lips about prayer. It is very striking that, as the opposition to our Lord Jesus increased, the intensity of His teaching about prayer increased. As it became more plain to Him that He was to suffer death, as the opposition to Himself by the Jerusalem leaders grew more acute and pronounced than before, He taught more about prayer to His inner circle, and He said the keenest and the most intense things about its power.