Prayer Viewpoints

PRAYER VIEWPOINTS Updated 2/8/06

I've started gathering encouraging and inspirational comments regarding prayer. Some I have found in my daily devotionals and others I get from other sources. They are all to help you in your prayer life. I hope that nobody takes issue with any copyright infringements as I'm sure those who wrote these things intended to edify the Body of Christ with them and that is why you find them here.

Give It to God

Many things I have tried to grasp, and have lost. That which I have placed in God's hands I still have.

Martin Luther

The Power of Prayer

Our prayers may be awkward. Our attempts may be feeble. But since the power of prayer is in the One who hears it and not in the one who says it, our prayers do make a difference.

Max Lucado

Mind How You Pray

Mind how you pray. Make real business of it. Let it never be a dead formality. Plead the promise in a truthful, business-like way. Ask for what you want, because the Lord has promised it. Believe that you have the blessing, and go forth to your work in full assurance of it. Go from your knees singing, because the promise is fulfilled: thus will your prayer be answered. The strength [not length] of your prayer...wins...God; and the strength of prayer lies in your faith in the promise which you pleaded before the Lord.

C. H. Spurgeon

Delight Yourself in God

Your petitions should always be conditioned by 'Thy will be done.' 'Delight thyself also in the Lord and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart' (Psalm 37:4). But the delighting of oneself in Him precedes the fulfillment of our desires. Delighting ourselves in Him will direct our desires, so God can answer our petitions. Remember that you can pray any time, anywhere. Washing dishes, digging ditches, working in the office, in the shop, on the athletic field, even in prison—you can pray and know God hears!

Rev. Billy Graham

The Essence of Prayer

The essence of prayer does not consist in asking God for something but in opening our hearts to God, in speaking with Him, and living with Him in perpetual communion. Prayer is continual abandonment to God. Prayer does not mean asking God for all kinds of things we want; it is rather the desire for God Himself, the only Giver of Life. Prayer is not asking, but union with God. Prayer is not a painful effort to gain from God help in the varying needs of our lives. Prayer is the desire to possess God Himself, the Source of all life. The true spirit of prayer does not consist in asking for blessings, but in receiving Him who is the giver of all blessings, and in living a life of fellowship with Him...

Sadhu Sundar Singh (1889-1929), Hindu Sikh who converted to Christ

LOOKING FOR ANSWERS

Our too general neglect of looking for answers to what we ask, shows how little we are in earnest in our petitions. A husbandman is not content without the harvest; a marksman will observe whether the ball hits the target; a physician watches the effect of the medicine which he gives; and shall the Christian be careless about the effect of his labor?

Every prayer of the Christian, made in faith, according to the will of God, for which God has promised, offered up in the name of Jesus Christ, and under the influence of the Spirit, whether for temporal or for spiritual blessings, is, or will be, fully answered.

God always answers the general design and intention of His people's prayers, in doing that which, all things considered, is most for His own glory and their spiritual and eternal welfare. As we never find that Jesus Christ rejected a single supplicant who came to Him for mercy, so we believe that no prayer made in His name will be in vain.

The answer to prayer may be approaching, though we discern not its coming. The seed that lies under ground in winter is taking root in order to a spring and harvest, though it appears not above ground, but seems dead and lost.

Bickersteth *

DELAYED ANSWERS

Delayed answers to prayer are not only trials of faith, but they give us opportunities of honoring God by our steadfast confidence in Him under apparent repulses.

C. H. Spurgeon

ASCERTAINING GOD'S WILL

When we are in doubt or difficulty, when many voices urge this course or the other, when prudence utters one advice and faith another, then let us be still, hushing each intruder, calming ourselves in the sacred hush of God's presence; let us study His Word in the attitude of devout attention; let us lift up our nature into the pure light of His face, eager only to know what God the Lord shall determine- -and ere long a very distinct impression will be made, the unmistakable forthtelling of His secret counsel.

It is not wise in the earlier stages of Christian life to depend on this alone, but to wait for the corroboration of circumstances. But those who have had many dealings with God know well the value of secret fellowship with Him, to ascertain His will.

Are you in difficulty about your way? Go to God with your question; get direction from the light of His smile or the cloud of His refusal.

If you will only get alone, where the lights and shadows of earth cannot interfere, where human opinions fail to reach - - and if you will dare to wit there silent and expectant, though all around you insist on immediate decision or action - - the will of God will be made clear; and you will have a new conception of God, a deeper insight into His nature and heart of love, which shall be for yourself alone - - a rapturous experience, to abide your precious perquisite forever, the rich gueron of those long waiting hours.

David *

COMMAND GOD'S HAND

"Concerning the work of my hands command ye me."
Isaiah 45:11

Our Lord spoke in this tone when He said, "Father, I will." Joshua used it when, in the supreme moment of triumph, he lifted up his spear toward the setting sun and cried, "Sun, stand thou still!"

Elijah used it when he shut the heavens for three years and six months, and again opened them.

Luther used it when, kneeling by the dying Melanchthon, he forbade death to take his prey.

It is a marvelous relationship into which God bids us enter. We are familiar with words like those which follow in this paragraph: "I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded." But that God should invite us to command Him, this is a change in relationship which is altogether startling!

How often during His earthly life did Jesus put men into a position to command Him! When entering Jericho, He stood still, and said to the blind beggars: "What will ye that I shall do unto you?" It was as though He said, "I am yours to command."

Can we ever forget how He yielded to the Syrophenician woman the key to His resources and told her to help herself even as she would?

What mortal mind can realize the full significance of the position to which our God lovingly raises His little children? "Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do."

F. B. Meyer

BELIEVING IS A CONDITION OF RECEIVING

Is it any wonder that, when we stagger at any promise of God through unbelief, we do not receive it? Not that faith merits an answer, or in any way earns it, or works it out; but God has made believing a condition of receiving, and the Giver has a sovereign right to choose His own terms of gift.

Rev. Samuel Hart

THE ANSWER IS GOD

Unbelief says, "How can such and such things be?" It is full of "hows;" but faith has one great answer to the ten thousand "hows," and that answer is - - GOD!

C. H. M. *

ACCOMPLISHING MUCH WITH SO LITTLE

No praying man or woman accomplishes so much with so little expenditure of time as when he or she is praying.

If there should arise, it has been said - - and the words are surely true to the thought of our Lord Jesus Christ in all His teaching on prayer - - if there should arise ONE UTTERLY BELIEVING MAN, the history of the world might be changed.

Will YOU not be that one in the providence and guidance of God our Father?

A. E. McAdam *

PRAYING WITH FAITH

Prayer without faith degenerates into objectless routine, or soulless hypocrisy. Prayer with faith brings Omnipotence to back our petitions. Better not pray unless and until your whole being responds to the efficacy of your supplication. When the true prayer is breathed, earth and heaven, the past and the future, say Amen. And Christ prayed such prayers.

P. C. M. *

UNLIMITED REACH OF PRAYER

Nothing lies beyond the reach of prayer except that which lies outside the will of God.

Unknown

A DOOR OPENED IN HEAVEN

"A door opened in heaven."
Revelation 4:1

You must remember that John was in the Isle of Patmos, a lone, rocky, inhospitable prison, for the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus. And yet to him, under such circumstances, separate from all the loved ones of Ephesus; debarred from the worship of the Church; condemned to the companionship of uncongenial fellow-captives, were vouchsafed these visions. For him, also a door was opened.

We are reminded of Jacob, exiled from his father's house, who laid himself down in a desert place to sleep, and in his dreams beheld a ladder which united Heaven with earth, and at the top stood God.

Not to these only, but to many more, doors have been opened into Heaven, when, so far as the world was concerned, it seemed as though their circumstances were altogether unlikely for such revelations.

To prisoners and captives; to constant sufferers, bound by iron chains of pain to sick couches, to lonely pilgrims and wanderers; to women detained from the Lord's house by the demands of home, how often has the door been opened to Heaven.

But there are conditions. You must know what it is to be in the Spirit; you must be pure in heart and obedient in faith; you must be willing to count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ; then when God is all in all to us, when we live, move and have our being in His favor, to us also will the door be opened.

Daily Devotional Commentary *

WHEN GOD SAYS, "NO!"

VERSE: What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
Romans 8:31-32

THOUGHT: We know God paid a high price to redeem and forgive us in Jesus. If he has gone to such great lengths to purchase our pardon, what will he refuse us that is good, right and holy? So if God answers our prayers "No!" then it is for our good and the eternal well being of those for whom we've prayed. His intent is to bless, not wound. His desire is to redeem and bless. His commitment is to work things out for our ultimate good (cf. Rom. 8:28) as he is transforming us to be more like his beloved Son (Rom. 8:29).

PRAYER: Dear Father, I confess that I am sometimes impatient and disappointed when my prayers do not seem to get the response I desire. Please calm and quiet my doubting heart. Please remind my spirit of your rich grace. Bring your comfort and assurance through the ministry of your Holy Spirit to my human spirit. I do believe that you want to bring me your blessing and grace, so while I may not always understand the bad things that happen in my life, I do trust that you are at work to make them all work for my good and your glory. In Jesus' name. men.

Today's Verse from Heartlight - - http://www.heartlight.org

TEACH US TO PRAY

Lord, teach us to pray. . . And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.
Luke 11:1-2

When they said, "Teach us to pray," the Master lifted His eyes and swept the far horizon of God. He gathered up the ultimate dream of the Eternal, and, rounding the sum of everything God intends to do in the life of man, He packed it all into these three terse pregnant phrases and said, "When you pray, pray after this manner."

What a contrast between this and much praying we have heard. When we follow the devices of our own hearts, how runs it? "O Lord bless me, then My family, My church, My city, My country," and away on the far fringe as we close up, there is a prayer for the extension of His Kingdom throughout the wide parish of the world.

The Master begins where we leave off. The world first, my personal needs second, is the order of this prayer. Only after my prayer has crossed every continent and every far-flung island of the sea, after it has taken in the last man in the last backward race, after it has covered the entire wish and purpose of God for the world, only then am I taught to ask for a piece of bread for myself.

When Jesus gave His all, Himself for us and to us in the holy extravagance of the Cross, is it too much if He asks us to do the same thing? No man or woman amounts to anything in the kingdom, no soul ever touches even the edge of the zone of power, until this lesson is learned that Christ's business is the supreme concern of life and that all personal considerations, however dear or important, are tributary thereto.

Dr. Francis

GREAT POWER IN PRAYER

No doubt by praying we learn to pray, and the more we pray the oftener we can pray, and the better we can pray. He who prays in fits and starts is never likely to attain to that effectual, fervent prayer which availeth much.

Great power in prayer is within our reach, but we must go to work to obtain it. Let us never imagine that Abraham could have interceded so successfully for Sodom if he had not been all his lifetime in the practice of communion with God.

Jacob's all-night at Peniel was not the first occasion upon which he had met his God. We may even look upon our Lord's most choice and wonderful prayer with his disciples before His Passion as the flower and fruit of His many nights of devotion, and of His often rising up a great while before day to pray.

If a man dreams that he can become mighty in prayer just as he pleases, he labors under a great mistake. The prayer of Elias which shut up heaven and afterwards opened its floodgates, was one of long series of mighty prevailings with God. Oh, that Christian men would remember this! Perseverance in prayer is necessary to prevalence in prayer.

Those great intercessors, who are not so often mentioned as they ought to be in connection with confessors and martyrs, were nevertheless the grandest benefactors of the church; but it was only by abiding at the mercy-seat that they attained to be such channels of mercy to men. We must pray to pray, and continue in prayer that our prayers may continue.

C. H. Spurgeon

ALONE WITH GOD

It need not be said that to carry out conviction into action is a costly sacrifice. It may make necessary renunciations and separations which leave one to feel a strange sense both of deprivation and loneliness. But he who will fly, as an eagle does, into the higher levels where cloudless day abides, and live in the sunshine of God, must be content to live a comparatively lonely life.

No bird is so solitary as the eagle. Eagles never fly in flocks; one, or at most two, ever being seen at once. But the life that is lived unto God, however it forfeits human companionships, knows Divine fellowship.

God seeks eagle-men. No man ever comes into a realization of the best things of God, who does not, upon the Godward side of his life, learn to walk alone with God. We find Abraham alone in Horeb upon the heights, but Lot dwelling in Sodom. Moses, skilled in all the wisdom of Egypt must go forty years into the desert alone with God. Paul, who was filled with Greek learning and had also sat at the feet of Gamaliel, must go into Arabia and learn the desert life with God. Let God isolate us. I do not mean the isolation of a monastery. In this isolating experience He develops an independence of faith and life so that the soul needs no longer the constant help, prayer, faith, or attention of his neighbor. Such assistance and inspiration from the other members are necessary and have their place in the Christian's development, but there comes a time when they act as a direct hindrance to the individual's faith and welfare. God knows how to change the circumstances in order to give us an isolating experience. We yield to God and He takes us through something, and when it is over, those about us, who are no less loved than before, are no longer depended upon. We realize our souls have learned to beat the upper air.

We must dare to be alone. Jacob must be left alone if the Angel of God is to whisper in his ear the mystic name of Shiloh; Daniel must be left alone if he is to see celestial visions; John must be banished to Patmos if he is deeply to take and firmly to keep "the print of heaven."

He trod the wine-press alone. Are we prepared for a "splendid isolation" rather than fail Him?

Mrs. Charles E Cowman *

MARK THE SPOT

" ...Take you ... twelve stones.... That this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean ye by these stones? Then ye shall answer them, That the waters of Jordan were cut off ... and these stones shall be for a memorial unto the children of Israel for ever."
Joshua 4:3, 6, 7

You will never get anywhere with God unless you take definite steps.

God was very definite in His dealings with Abraham. He brought him to a definite place, and Abraham marked the spot.

Jacob marked the spot where he met God.

When the children of Israel crossed over Jordan they marked the spot on the shore with twelve stones, and also placed twelve stones in the river-bed which were later covered with water - - a hidden place.

God wants us, as Christians, to take definite steps, and to mark these steps. There are places in your heart over which the Jordan's waters roll - - hidden places which no one sees, or of which no one knows the meaning; but He knows. When you have committed them unto Him that He might have His way, saying, "Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts; and see if there be any wicked way in me," He knows and answers prayer.

Is this a crisis hour in your life? If it is, settle it now. We must never go back on our transactions with God.

"It remains to be seen what God can do with a man irrevocably given to Him. It is because we are but partially His that His work in us and for us is incomplete."

If you have given yourself to God, you have just to reckon that He takes what you give. A time comes when you have to cease praying and believe. Some Christians say, "O, Lord, come and fill me." They keep on praying, and He says, "Believe I have come; reckon that I am come; if you reckon, I will come."

A friend said, "If God tells me to reckon, He pledges Himself to make the reckoning good." As we go on reckoning, we will go on realizing. No man makes a mistake who does what this Lord bids him do.

Rev. Thos. Cook

Reckon some special time when you fully surrendered your life to the Lord. Build a pile of stones there to mark the spot, and then build another on the life side - - the resurrection side! Do this today! Build a heap of stones to mark the time, and never fight the old battle again. We should not be dying and rising, and dying and rising again; we should build our memorial of stones once for all, and then ever date from that time!

Mrs. Charles E Cowman *

PRODUCE YOUR CAUSE

"Produce your cause, saith the LORD; bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob."
Isaiah 41:21

Over in Canada there lived an Irish saint called "Holy Ann." She lived to be one hundred years old. When she was a young girl, she was working in a family for very small wages under a very cruel master and mistress. They made her carry water for a mile up a steep hill. At one time there had been a well dug there; it had gone dry, but it stood there year after year. One night she was very tired, and she fell on her knees and cried to God; and while on her knees she read these words: "I will open . . . fountains in the midst of valleys; I will make the dry land springs of water." "Produce your cause, saith the Lord; bring forth your strong reasons." These words struck Holy Ann, and she produced her cause before the Lord. She told Him how badly they needed the water and how hard it was for her to carry the water up the steep hill; then she lay down and fell asleep. She had pleaded her cause and brought forth her strong reasons. The next morning early she was seen to take a bucket and start for the well. Someone asked her where she was going, and she replied, "I am going to draw water from the well." "Why, it is dry," was the answer. But that did not stop Holy Ann. She knew whom she had believed, and on she went; and, lo and behold, there in the well was eighty-three feet of pure, cold water, and she told me that the well never did run dry! That is the way the Lord can fulfill His promises. "Produce your cause, bring forth your strong reasons," and see Him work in your behalf.

How little we use this method of holy argument in prayer; and yet there are many examples of it in Scripture: Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Elijah, Daniel - - all used arguments in prayer, and claimed the divine interposition on the ground of the pleas which they presented.

Mrs. Charles E Cowman *

The Bank of Faith

"Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth."
Isaiah 41:21

Prayer takes the people to the Bank of Faith, and obtains the golden blessing. Mind how you pray! Pray! Make real business of it! Never let it be a dead formality! People pray a long time, but do not get what they are supposed to ask for, because they do not plead the promise in a truthful business-like way. If you were to go into a bank and stand an hour talking to the clerk, and then come out again without your cash, what would be the good of it?

C. H. Spurgeon

GOD HEARS PRAYER

If radio's slim finger can pluck a melody
From night, and toss it over a continent or sea;
If the petaled white notes of a violin
Are blown across a mountain or a city's din;
If songs, like crimson roses, are culled from thin blue air - -
Why should mortals wonder if God hears prayer?

Ethel Romig Fuller

RICH IN FAITH

"And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear."
Isaiah 65:24

In on of his great Gospel campaigns in Chicago, Moody asked his helpers to join him in prayer for $6,000 and to ask that it might be sent at once. They prayed long and earnestly, and before they rose from their knees a telegram was brought in. It was in some such words as these:
Your friends at Northfield had a feeling that you need money for your work in Chicago. We have taken up a collection and there are $6,000 in the baskets.
"...God had prepared the people: for the thing was done suddenly." (2Chron 29:36)

In connection with the work of the West London Mission, the Rev. Hugh Price Hughes and his colleagues once found themselves in pressing need of ₤1,000, and to get quiet they met at midnight to pray for it. After some time of pleading, one of the number bust into praise, being assured that the prayer had been heard and would be answered. Mr. Hughes did not share this absolute confidence. He believed with trembling. When the day came for announcing the sum received, it was found that ₤990 had come in within a very short time and in very extraordinary ways - - but there was the deficiency of ₤10. When Mr. Hughes went home he found a letter which he now remembered had been there in the morning, but through pressure he had left it unopened. In contained a cheque for ₤10!

"I'll trust Thy grace - - 'tis infinite; And knows no bound, nor end."

After Dan Crawford had passed to his eternal rest, it was written of him: "He lived (and his work was supported) by strong faith in the unlimited riches of God, and in the power of prayer. He felt, too, that those riches and that power were available for all Africa, though he knew that not all had the same faith." He had a strong sense of the unity of God's work.

A certain missionary in Africa, held up in some work for God, wrote to Dan Crawford asking for ₤100, and excused himself by saying, "You are rich." When he saw that the same weekly mail that had brought the request had brought also contributions amounting to about the sum mentioned, Dan Crawford sent the whole week's income to his correspondent with this reply: "Rich? Yes, I am rich - - rich in faith for you all." "And God is able to give you an overflowing measure of all good gifts, that all your wants of every kind may be supplied at all times, and you may give of your abundance to every good work."

He might have doled His blossoms out quite grudgingly,
God might have used His sunset gold so sparingly,
He might have put but one wee star in all the sky - -
But since He gave so lavishly, why should not I?
- -A. C. H.

Mrs. Charles E Cowman *

FOOD FOR THE SOUL

It has pleased the Lord to teach me a truth, the benefit of which I have not lost for more than fourteen years. The point is this: I saw more clearly than ever that the first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day was to have my soul happy in the Lord. The first thing to be concerned about was not how much I might serve the Lord; but how I might get my soul in a happy state, and how my inner man might be nourished.
For I might seek to set the truth before the unconverted, I might seek to benefit believers, I might seek to relieve the distressed, I might in other ways seek to behave myself as it becomes a child of God in this world; and yet, not being happy in the Lord, and not being strengthened in my inner man day by day, all this might not be attended to in the right spirit.

Before this time my practice had been, at least for ten years previously, as an habitual thing to give myself to prayer after having dressed myself in the morning. Now I saw that the most important thing I had to do was to give myself to the reading of the Word of God, and to meditate on it, that thus my heart might be comforted, encouraged, warmed, reproved, instructed; and that thus, by means of the Word of God, whilst meditating on it, my heart might be brought into experimental communion with the Lord.

I began therefore to meditate on the New Testament from the beginning, early in the morning. The first thing I did, after having asked in a few words the Lord's blessing upon His precious Word, was to begin to meditate on the Word of God, searching as it were every verse to get a blessing out of it, not for the sake of the public ministry of the Word, not for the sake of preaching upon what I had meditated upon, but for obtaining food for my own soul.

The result I have found to be almost invariably this, that after a few minutes my soul has been led to confession, or to thanksgiving, or to intercession, or to supplication; so that, though I did not as it were give myself to prayer, but to meditation, yet it turned almost immediately more or less into prayer. When thus I have been for a while making confession or intercession or supplication, or have given thanks, I go on to the next words or verse, turning all as I go on into prayer for myself or others as the Word may lead to it, but still continually keeping before me that food for my own soul is the object of my meditation.

Formerly I often spent a quarter of an hour, or half an hour, or even an hour on my knees, before being conscious of having derived comfort, encouragement, humbling of soul, etc., and often, after having suffered much from wandering of mind for the first ten minutes, or a quarter of an hour, or even half an hour, I only then began really to pray.

I scarcely ever suffer being brought into experimental fellowship with God, I speak to my Father and to my Friend (vile though I am and unworthy) about the things that He has brought before me in His precious Word. It often now astonishes me that I did not sooner see this point.

George Műller

MEN OUGHT ALWAYS TO PRAY

"...men ought always to pray, and not to faint"
Luke 18:1

That little "ought" is emphatic. It implies obligation as high as heaven. Jesus said, "Men ought always to pray," and added, "and not to faint. "I confess I do not always feel like praying - - when, judging by my feelings, there is no one listening to my prayer. And then these words have stirred me to pray:
I ought to pray - -
I ought always to pray - -
I should not grow faint in praying. Praying is a form of work. The farmer ploughs his field often when he does not feel like it, but he confidently expects a crop for his labors. Now, if prayer is a form of work, and our labor is not in vain in the Lord, should we not pray regardless of feelings? Once when I knelt for morning prayers I felt a sort of deadness in my soul, and just then the "accuser of the brethren" became busy reminding me of things that had long since been under the Blood. I cried to God for help, and the blessed Comforter reminded me that my Great High Priest was pleading my case; that I must come boldly to the throne of grace. I did, and the enemy was routed! What a blessed time of communion I had with my Lord! Had I fainted instead of fighting I could not have received wages because I had not labored fervently in prayer; I could not have reaped because I had not sown.

Commissioner Brengle

IN THE SHADOW OF THE ALMIGHTY

It was my practice to rise at midnight for worship. God came to me at that precise time and awoke me from sleep that I might enjoy HIM. He seemed to pervade my being. My soul became more and more attracted to Himself like the waters of a river which pass into the ocean and after a time become one with it. O, unutterable happiness! Who could have thought that one should ever find happiness equal to this!
Hours passed like moments, when I could do nothing else but pray. It was a prayer of rejoicing. of possession, when the taste of GOD was so great, so pure, so unblended that it drew and absorbed the soul into a profound state of confiding and affectionate rest in God, without intellectual effort for I had no sight but of Jesus only.

Madame Guyon

PRAY BIG

You cannot think of prayer so large that God, in answering it, will not wish that you had made it larger. Pray not for crutches, but for wings!

Phillips Brooks

THE LORD'S PRAYER WITH RESPONSES

Think about this. Is it describing you?
(The prayer is in blue type and GOD's response is in red type.)

Our Father Who Art In Heaven
YES?
Don't interrupt me. I'm praying.
BUT -- YOU CALLED ME!
Called You? No, I didn't call You. I'm praying... our Father who art in heaven
THERE -- YOU DID IT AGAIN
Did what?
CALLED ME. YOU SAID, "OUR FATHER WHO ART IN HEAVEN". WELL HERE I AM. WHAT'S ON YOUR MIND?
But I didn't mean anything by it. I was, You know, just saying my prayers for the day. I always say the Lord's Prayer. It makes me feel good, kind of like fulfilling a duty.
WELL, ALL RIGHT. GO ON.
Okay, Hallowed be Thy name...
HOLD IT RIGHT THERE. WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT?
By what?
BY "HALLOWED BE THY NAME"?
It means, it means ... good grief, I don't know what it means. How in the world should I know? It's just a part of the prayer. By the way, what does it mean?
IT MEANS HONORED, HOLY, WONDERFUL.
Hey, that makes sense. I never thought about what 'hallowed' meant before. Thanks.
Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.
DO YOU REALLY MEAN THAT?
Sure, why not?
WHAT ARE YOU DOING ABOUT IT?
Doing? Why, nothing, I guess. I just think it would be kind of neat if You got control of everything down here like You have up there. We're kinda in a mess down here You know.
YES, I KNOW; BUT, HAVE I GOT CONTROL OF YOU?
Well, I go to church.
THAT ISN'T WHAT I ASKED YOU. WHAT ABOUT YOUR BAD TEMPER? YOU'VE REALLY GOT A PROBLEM THERE, YOU KNOW. AND THEN THERE'S THE WAY YOU SPEND YOUR MONEY --ALL ON YOURSELF. AND WHAT ABOUT THE KIND OF BOOKS YOU READ?
Now hold on just a minute! Stop picking on me! I'm just as good as some of the rest of those people at church!
EXCUSE ME. I THOUGHT YOU WERE PRAYING FOR MY WILL TO BE DONE. IF THAT IS TO HAPPEN, IT WILL HAVE TO START WITH THE ONES WHO ARE PRAYING FOR IT. LIKE YOU -- FOR EXAMPLE.
Oh, all right. I guess I do have some hang-ups. Now that You mention it, I could probably name some others.
SO COULD I.
I haven't thought about it very much until now, but I really would like to cut out some of those things. I would like to, You know, be really free.
GOOD. NOW WE'RE GETTING SOMEWHERE. WE'LL WORK TOGETHER -- YOU AND ME. I'M PROUD OF YOU.
Look, Lord, if You don't mind, I need to finish up here. This is taking a lot longer than it usually does. Give us this day, our daily bread.
YOU NEED TO CUT OUT THE BREAD. YOU'RE OVERWEIGHT AS IT IS.
Hey, wait a minute! What is this? Here I was doing my religious duty, and all of a sudden You break in and remind me of all my hang-ups.
PRAYING IS A DANGEROUS THING. YOU JUST MIGHT GET WHAT YOU ASK FOR. REMEMBER, YOU CALLED ME -- AND HERE I AM. IT'S TOO LATE TO STOP NOW. KEEP PRAYING.
...pause...
WELL, GO ON.
I'm scared to.
SCARED? OF WHAT?
I know what You'll say.
TRY ME.
Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.
WHAT ABOUT CAROL?
See? I knew it! I knew You would bring her up! Why, Lord, she's told lies about me, spread stories. She never paid back the money she owes me. I've sworn to get even with her!
BUT -- YOUR PRAYER -- WHAT ABOUT YOUR PRAYER?
I didn't -- mean it.
WELL, AT LEAST YOU'RE HONEST. BUT, IT'S QUITE A LOAD CARRYING AROUND ALL THAT BITTERNESS AND RESENTMENT ISN'T IT?
Yes, but I'll feel better as soon as I get even with her. Boy, have I got some plans for her. She'll wish she had never been born.
NO, YOU WON'T FEEL ANY BETTER. YOU'LL FEEL WORSE. REVENGE ISN'T SWEET. YOU KNOW HOW UNHAPPY YOU ARE -- WELL, I CAN CHANGE THAT.
You can? How?
FORGIVE CAROL. THEN, I'LL FORGIVE YOU; AND THE HATE AND SIN WILL BE CAROL'S PROBLEM -- NOT YOURS. YOU WILL HAVE SETTLED THE PROBLEM AS FAR AS YOU ARE CONCERNED.
Oh, You know, You're right. You always are. And more than I want revenge, I want to be right with You..., (sigh). All right...all right...I forgive her.
THERE NOW! WONDERFUL! HOW DO YOU FEEL?
Hmmmm. Well, not bad. Not bad at all! In fact, I feel pretty great! You know, I don't think I'll go to bed uptight tonight. I haven't been getting much rest, You know.
YEAH, I KNOW. BUT, YOU'RE NOT THROUGH WITH YOUR PRAYER ARE YOU? GO ON.
Oh, all right. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
GOOD! GOOD! I'LL DO THAT. JUST DON'T PUT YOURSELF IN A PLACE WHERE YOU CAN BE TEMPTED.
What do you mean by that?
YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN.
Yeah. I know.
OKAY. GO AHEAD. FINISH YOUR PRAYER.
For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.
DO YOU KNOW WHAT WOULD BRING ME GLORY -- WHAT WOULD REALLY MAKE ME HAPPY?
No, but I'd like to know. I want to please You now. I've really made a mess of things. I want to truly follow You. I can see now how great that would be. So, tell me ... how do I make You happy?
YOU JUST DID

Unknown Author (submitted by Al from Riverside, CA)

FERVENT PRAYER

He who prays fervently knows not whether he prays or not, for he is not thinking of the prayer which he makes, but of God, to whom he makes it.

St. Francis of Sales

* Taken from Streams in the Desert & Springs in the Valley by Mrs. Charles E. Cowman. I requested permission from the Publisher and they cannot give it. I've tried to locate the previous publisher and cannot. So, I'm going to make the assumption that things that God taught others about Himself and His Kingdom are for the use of the Body. After all, how can we copyright what God has given us to share?

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