For hundreds of years men have used a contrivance called a diving-bell for working under water.  Practically it enables a man to live out of his native element.  For a man to live in water for any length of time is impossible.  Expert divers do so for a few minutes at a time, but must rise constantly to get a fresh supply of air.  But their work is dangerous, and very trying on the body.  By means of the diving-bell a man may live and work for hours under the water; that is to say, in an element that of itself, unchecked, would quickly take his life.

The diving-bell is a sort of huge inverted cup, let down into the water by its own weight, opening downward, so that the man in the bell faces the water directly with nothing between himself and it.  Death by drowning is always within arm’s length, yet he remains safe.  The simple principle on which the thing is constructed is that water and air can’t occupy the same space at the same time.  The bell, being full of air, holds the water out.

But there needs to be a continual supply of fresh air sent down by means of a tube connected with the upper air.  Death by drowning and death by suffocation, both threaten constantly, and each is held off, one by the air, and the other by the continual supply of fresh air.  The man’s ability to work and his very life depend upon the uninterrupted connection with the fresh air above.

The Christian man in this world is living out of his native breathing element.  He needs to have his own atmosphere with him, or else he will die.  And he needs to have a fresh supply continually from above, or his life will be at very low ebb.

Missionaries in foreign-mission lands speak much of the peculiar, deadening, moral atmosphere there.  There is a strange sense of depression in it.  They always plan to have their children brought home at an early age that they may be brought up through the tender, impressionable years in a land where Christian standards of life are recognized.

There is no language strong enough to put this truth, that we must, each of us, whether here or there, carry our own atmosphere with us, and have continual uninterrupted connection with the upper air.  And that “must” cannot be too strongly underscored.

Blessed Holy Spirit, breath of God, and breath of my life, help me to let Thee have full sweep within me, that so my life may be kept sweet and full; and so Jesus can get freely and fully out of me to the great hungry crowd.

Prayer

  The Greatest Doing Is Praying. 
  At the Other End. 
  A Weekly Journey Round the World. 
  Prayer a Habit. 
  A Praying Bent Of Mind. 
  The Man Is The Prayer. 
  Unseen Changes Going On.

Prayer

The Greatest Doing Is Praying.

The greatest of all things we can do is to pray.