you. the necessity of daily prayer
by J. R. Miller from living victoriously. 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 chapter six, verse six.
In the Christian's devotional life, prayer has an essential
place. The godly men of the Bible were
all men of prayer. Jesus, who showed us in himself
the ideal Christian life, had regular habits of prayer. He
who would live the Christian life well must regularly commune
with God. It is important, however, that
we understand clearly what it is to pray. It is not enough
that at stated times we go over certain forms of prayer. We only
pray when we speak to God what is in our heart as a desire,
a longing, or a burden. Jesus teaches that we are to
pray to God as our Father. We must come to Him, therefore,
as His redeemed children, with the genuineness, the simplicity,
the confidence of children. When we stand at God's throne
of grace and speak the name Father and ask for a child's blessing,
we are sure of instant welcome. Many people think of prayer only
as coming to God with requests. They only tell Him their needs.
They never bow before Him, nor speak to Him, unless there's
something they wish Him to do for them. What would you think
of a friend of yours who never came to you nor talked with you,
except when he wanted to ask some favor of you? True friendship
finds many of its sweetest moments when there is no help to ask,
but when only love's communion fills the happy time. It should
be so in our relation with our Heavenly Father. If we care to
be with Him only when we have a favor to ask of Him, then there's
something lacking in our love. We are not to suppose that when
Jesus spent whole nights in prayer, he was making requests all the
time. He went away from the trying,
struggling, troublesome life of the busy days among the people
to find shelter, rest, and renewal of strength in sweet converse
with his Father. Just so, most of the time we
spend in prayer should be given to communion with God. A minister
relates that one Saturday morning, when he was in his study preparing
his sermon, his little child opened the door and came in,
stealing softly to his side. Somewhat impatiently, the father
turned to her and asked, What do you want, my child? Nothing,
papa, the child replied. I only want to be with you. This
is oft times the only desire of the true Christian when he
comes to pray. He has no requests to make. He
just wants to be with his Father. The most profitable season of
devotion is that in which there is also meditation upon God's
Word. It is related of a godly Christian
who was known to spend much time in his prayer closet, that a
friend once secreted himself in his study to learn something
of his devotional habit. The godly man was busy all evening
at his work. At eleven o'clock he put away
his books and pen and opened his New Testament. For a whole
hour he bent over its pages, reading, comparing, pondering
the sacred words. Sometimes he would linger long
over a sweet verse, and his heart would glow with rapture. When
the clock struck twelve, he closed the book and sought his bed.
He was not once on His knees during all the hour. He offered
no petition in words. He had spent the whole time in
communing with God in His Word, breathing out His love, His adoration,
His longings and desires, and receiving into His heart the
assurances, the encouragements, the promises, the joys of the
Father's love. There could be no better way
of devotion than this. Praying alone, without meditation
on the Word of God, meets only one phase of our need. We talk
to God when we pray, but it is quite as important that God talks
to us. And He will only talk with us
when we open the Scriptures and wait reverently to hear what
He will say to us. What is the help that we are
to receive from prayer? First of all, prayer holds us
close to Christ. We breathe heaven's air when
we commune with Christ. Life in this sinful world is
not easy. It has its struggles, its duties,
its difficulties, and its sorrows, which exhaust our strength. Hence,
we need continually to return to Christ, to have our grace
renewed. We cannot live today on yesterday's
food. Every morning we must pray for
our daily bread. Nor can we be faithful, strong,
happy, and helpful Christians today on yesterday's supply of
grace. We need to pray daily. Thus our
life is kept from running down, and we are held near our Master
all the while. The true Christian life also
grows, and it can only do so by daily communing with God. Our life should never run two
days on just the same level. The days should be ladder rungs,
lifting our heart ever a little higher, nearer to God, into purer
air, into loftier experiences, into holier consecration. Prayer brings God down into our
life. It was when Jesus was praying
that he was transfigured. True prayer always transfigures. One who lives habitually with
Christ becomes like Christ. Our earthly affairs become means
of grace if Christ is with us. Prayer lifts all the experiences
of our life and lays them in the hand of Christ who makes
them all work together for our eternal you