April
29, 2003
WHEN
YOU PRAY
"When
you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love
to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the
streets,.. But you, when you pray, go into your room, and
when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in
the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will
reward you openly." (Matthew 6:5, 6, NKJV).
"In
the name of Jesus we may come into God's presence with the
confidence of a child. No man is needed to act as a mediator.
Through Jesus we may open our hearts to God as to one who
knows and loves us.
"In
the secret place of prayer, where no eye but God's can see,
no ear but His can hear, we may pour out our most hidden desires
and longings to the Father of infinite pity, and in the hush
and silence of the soul that voice which never fails to answer
the cry of human need will speak to our hearts.
"
'The Lord is very compassionate and merciful' (James 5:11).
He waits with unwearied love to hear the confessions of the
wayward and to accept their penitence. He watches for some
return of gratitude from us, as the mother watches for the
smile of recognition from her beloved child. He would have
us understand how earnestly and tenderly His heart yearns
over us. He invites us to take our trials to His sympathy,
our sorrows to His love, our wounds to His healing, our weakness
to His strength, our emptiness to His fullness. Never has
one been disappointed who came to Him. 'They looked to Him
and were radiant, and their faces were not ashamed' (Psalm
34:5).
Those
who seek God in secret telling the Lord their needs and pleading
for help, will not plead in vain. 'Your
Father who sees in secret will reward you openly' (Matthew
5:6). As we make Christ our daily companion we shall feel
that the powers of an unseen world are all around us; and
by looking unto Jesus we shall become assimilated to His image.
By beholding we become changed. The character is softened,
refined, and ennobled for the heavenly kingdom. The sure result
of our intercourse and fellowship with our Lord will be to
increase piety, purity, and fervor. There will be a growing
intelligence in prayer. We are receiving a divine education,
and this is illustrated in a life of diligence and zeal...
Outward troubles cannot reach the life that is lived by faith
in the Son of God."--Thoughts From The Mount Of Blessing,
pp., 83-86.
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