prayer thots - March 15-21

• March 21

Intercession is not an escape from reality. Our communication with God must be rooted in the truth–the eternal truth of His holy standards and the awful truth about American society as God sees it. The intercessor experiences the broken heart of God through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. The intercessor also identifies with the sin of the people, because the intercessor has personally contributed to God’s grief.

-John Dawson (Healing America’s Wounds, 1994)

• March 20

Getting to prayer is half the battle. Staying there is the other half. Either we fall asleep, or our mind wanders, or we get disenchanted. We don't see ready answer to our petitions, so we give up. But like any other wise investment, prayer requires the discipline of delayed gratification. The fact that Jesus knew all about the temptation to quit is evident by how He urged His disiples to "always pray and not give up....Will not God bring about justice for His chosen ones, who cry out to Him day and night?" (Luke 18:1,7)

-- Randall D. Roth ("Introduction"-Prayer Powerpoints, 1995)

• March 19

But I can’t be the only one who lies
awake nights like this.
Like lines of magnetic force
caressing the world I imagine prayers
emanating from the faithful,
wrapping the world up like string
wound around the core of a baseball [...]

Faster than the internet they go
not at the speed of light
but at the speed of love

-- Donna Farley ("The Geography of Prayer," 1999)

• March 18

When prayer seems to be unanswered, beware of trying to fix the blame on someone else. That is always a snare of Satan. You will find there is a reason which is a deep instruction to you, not to anyone else....We are not here to prove God answers prayer; we are here to be living monuments of God's grace.

-- Oswald Chambers (My Utmost For His Highest, 1961)

• March 17
  
  

God's Power to guide me
God's Might to uphold me,
God's Wisdom to teach me,
God's Eye to watch over me,
God's Ear to hear me,
God's Word to give me speech,
God's Hand to guide me,
God's Way to lie before me,
God's Shield to shelter me,
God's Host to secure me,
Against the snares of demons,
Against seductions of vices,
Against the lusts of nature,
Against everyone who meditates injury to me,
Whether far or near,
Whether few or with many...

-- St. Patrick

• March 16

Many of us have discovered that true prayer begins where we can begin to say with Jesus, 'Not my will but Thine be done.' That should not mean mere resignation to fate, it should mean cooperation with the will of God.

-- Sam Shoemaker (Extraordinary Living for Ordinary Men, 1965)

• March 15

We are besieged by words in our society. Billboards blaze them into our minds as we go by. Headlines scream from the newspapers. Regular prayer builds into our lives those experiences of silence and concentration when the still, small voice of our Saviour can cut through life's howl and speak His words of peace and joy.

-- David Hubbard (The Problem With Prayer Is, 1972)

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Visit Rebecca Writes and The Upward Call for more on prayer.