Thoughts for Life: #7 Trained in Prayer

Samuel Chadwick: Prayer touches infinite extremes. It is so simple that a little child can pray, and it is so profound that none but a child-heart can pray.

Montgomery's hymn has immortalized its profound simplicity: (Google image, Child praying)

Prayer is the soul's sincere desire,

Uttered or unexpressed,

The motion of a hidden fire

That trembles in the breast.

. . . . .

Prayer is the simplest form of speech

That infant lips can try;

Prayer the sublimest strains that reach

The Majesty on High.

That is gloriously true. A cry brings God. A cry is mightier than the polished phrase. The Pharisee prayed within himself. His prayers revolved on ruts of vanity in his own mind and heart.

The publican cried and was heard. It is not of emergency exits of the soul that we are thinking but the sustained habit and experience of the man of prayer. Such prayer comes by training, and there is no discipline so exacting.

Coleridge says of such praying that it is the very highest energy of which the human heart is capable, and it calls for the total concentration of all the faculties.

The great mass of worldly men and learned men he pronounced incapable of prayer. To pray as God would have us pray is the greatest achievement of earth. Such a life of prayer costs.

It takes time. Hurried prayers and muttered litanies can never produce souls mighty in prayer. Learners give hours regularly every day that they may become proficient in art and mechanism.

Our Lord rose before daybreak that He might pray, and not infrequently He spent all night in prayer. All praying saints have spent hours every day in prayer. One is afraid to quote examples.

In these days there is no time to pray; but without time, and a lot of it, we shall never learn to pray. It ought to be possible to give God one hour out of twenty-four all to Himself. Anyway, let us make a start in the discipline of training in prayer by setting apart a fixed time every day for the exercise of prayer.

We must seriously set our hearts to learn how to pray.

"Believe me, to pray with all your heart and strength, with the reason and the will, to believe vividly that God will listen to your voice through Christ, and verily do the thing He pleaseth thereupon—this is the last, the greatest achievement of the Christian's warfare upon earth."

Teach us to pray, O Lord, we beseech Thee.

The praying Spirit breathe,

The watching power impart,

From all entanglements beneath,

Call off my anxious heart.

My feeble mind sustain,

By worldly thoughts oppressed,

Appear, and bid me turn again

To my eternal rest.

When you feel the strain of discipline remember these words:

. . . Thou oft most present, Lord,

In weak, distracted prayers;

A sinner out of heart with self,

Most often finds Thee there.

For prayer that humbles sets the soul

From all delusions free,

And teaches it how utterly

Dear Lord, it hangs on Thee.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

THE PATH OF PRAYER
By Samuel Chadwick

Used by the permission of

www.cliffcollege.ac.uk
(Emphasis by Jean)

Let's pray-

Father, thank You that prayer can be so simple that a little child can pray, and yet so profound that none but a child-like heart can actually pray effectively.
Help us understand that true prayer is the very highest energy of which the human heart is capable of, and that it calls for our total concentration of our faculties.
This achievement is what You would have us participate in, though costly. It is Your will that we learn to pray more proficiently through the habit of our regular, everyday praying.
Help us make a start in the discipline of training in prayer by setting apart a fixed time every day for the this exercise, for we must seriously set our hearts to learn how to pray.
We ask this in Jesus' name, and to Your glory. Amen

Today's Bible verses-

Psalm 9:10 (NIV) "Those who know your name

will trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken
those who seek you."

Psalm 46:1-3 "God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble. (v. 2) Therefore
we will not fear, though the earth give way and
the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
(v. 3) though its waters roar and foam and the
mountains quake with their surging."

Eph. 5:8-11,15, 16 (NKJV) "For you were once
darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk
as children of light. (v. 9) (for the fruit of the
Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth.)
(v. 11) And have no fellowship with the unfruitful
works of darkness, but rather expose them."
(v. 15) See then that you walk circumspectly, not
as fools but as wise, (v. 16) redeeming the time,
because the days are evil."

Today's quote-

~ Samuel Chadwick- "The work of God is not by might of man or by the power of men, but by His Spirit. It is by Him the truth convicts and converts, sanctifies and saves. The philosophies of men fail but the Word of God in the demonstration of the Spirit prevails. Our wants are many and our faults innumerable, but they are all comprehended in our lack of the Holy Ghost. We want nothing but the fire."

[Taken from Herald of His Coming newspaper, Vol 78, No 1 (925), p. 2. Used by permission.] Taken from his article: Holy Ghost Fire

~ J.R. Hudberg's 'Insight'- "There are many prayers recorded in the Bible, but the book of Psalms is dedicated to followers of God actively talking to God. The psalms are full of the raw emotions of God's people. Sorrow, joy, confusion, anger, desperation, praise, and lament can be read from beginning to end.

We often turn to them when we need encouragement to share our deepest and trues feelings with God. The psalms not only teach us about God, but perhaps primarily we see how the people of ancient Israel, both individually and corporately, approached Him."

Today's guest post-

A New Toaster

Beth Tavalin-

“The toaster is dead,” I told my three small children as I put plates of untoasted bread in front of them.

My heart broke as I saw their disappointed faces staring at their bread. Toast was a food group at our house.

“Can’t we just buy another one?” my son asked.

“We don’t have the money for a new toaster. But let’s ask the Lord for one, and let’s see what He does.” And we did . . .

Today's question-

How can we be refreshed in our spirits?

Eph. 5:18 tells us to be filled with the Spirit, and to get rid of the stuff that's getting in the way which hinders spiritual growth. We are to:

1. Speak to ourselves hymns and spiritual songs

(Singing drives truth deeper, bonds into heart and mind)

2. Giving thanks in worship with gratitude for God's kindnesses

3. Submitting to one another in good fellowship

(Staying connected to the body of Christ; as we need

each other!)

4. By reading Psalms out loud and singing unto the Lord

In hard times, we tend to keep from the fellowship with others and our on-going encounters.
Our refreshing comes from the relationship we have with the Lord Jesus. We can be in a storm of some kind, and still have peace. We are encouraged to be filled with the His Spirit.
We're not to take our spiritual condition lightly. If our desire is to be guided by the Holy Spirit, we need to remind ourselves of His goodness! It's not the natural state of a man, but must be learned by keeping faithful fellowship with other believers and hearing God's Word from faithful pastors and teachers.

Today's sermon spotlight-

JULY 7, 2013

The Power of Prayer

Speaker: Rick Sinclair . Series: Lord, Teach Us To Pray

Upcoming posts-

#8 Praying in Secret
31st- Thursday's post by Samuel Chadwick

My Rainbow in the Cloud
Feb. 2nd- Saturday's post by Oswald Chambers

#9 The Secret Place
5th- Tuesday's post by Samuel Chadwick

#10 The Silent Spaces of the Soul
7th- Thursday's post by Samuel Chadwick