The Lincoln Times

The situation in the world today calls for a great change. A change in the thinking of men is needed. A change of heart is imperiously needed. A change in the will of man is obligatory. This change can be brought about only through direct dealing with God through earnest, effectual and believing prayer. There are two schools of psychology today. There is the psychologist who does not believe that human nature can be changed. That it must remain the same and that it is bad at that. The other psychologist maintains that human nature can be changed and for the better. Why say that human nature cannot be changed? Is God dead? Is his hand impotent? Does he exert no power in life? Has he abdicated his throne at a time when he is most needed? Is he a failure?

Man has boundless possibilities. Cannot God work upon these boundless possibilities in man and carry man's life to a higher level? We all believe that God shapes our lives in multitudinous ways. When men say that human nature cannot be improved they narrow their conception of God and renounce their faith in the boundless possibilities of human life.

Into all the varied experiences of life into its saddest and into its most forlorn we must take the expectant point of view which is born of faith. We must cherish an unquestioning faith in man's improvability accomplished through the instrumentality of prayer. Prayer improves the soul life. It establishes the consciousness of personal relationship with God and makes him not just an intellectual concept but a person with sensibility, affection, sympathy, and ardent devotion. In other words through prayer God becomes intensely personal and vividly real. God is the God of all time, past, present and future: the God of all worlds, and the God of all men. Since He has made us in his own image He will find ways of improving us. He will change us for the better. This is what the world situation demands now.