My friend, may I ask you a question? If you want to be a prayerful Christian, should you first consider that you are entering a work which, as Martin Luther wrote, “is harder than any other . . . for this requires a subdued and broken mind and an elevated and victorious spirit?
My friend, life’s a story, welcome to This Passing Day. I’m M. Clifford Brunner.
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Following is a notice that was found in the ruins of a London office building. It was dated 1852. “This firm has reduced the hours of work, and the clerical staff will now only have to be present between the hours of 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. week- days. Each member of the staff will bring four pounds of coal each day during the cold weather. No member of the clerical staff may leave the room without permission from the supervisor. No talking is allowed during business hours. Now that the hours of business have been drastically reduced, the partaking of food is allowed between 11:30 and noon, but work will not on any account cease. Staff will provide their own pens. (We) expect a great rise in output of work to compensate for these near Utopian conditions.” (Bits & Pieces, May 26, 1994, Page 13-15.)
Obviously, these “near Utopian conditions” would never pass muster in today’s world. But, if you had wanted to work on the staff in that 1852 building, you needed to accept the “generous” terms of employment and be content with them. In many ways becoming a prayerful Christian is no different. Prayer is hard work. To be good at prayer requires diligence and practice. To become constant, faithful in prayer requires time, devotion and a good deal of just plain hard work.
Doctor Tom Carter in “They Knew How to Pray” put it this way, “Seeking implies exploration, and that’s not easy. I’m the type of person who has everything organized, and if I misplace something and have to seek it, I easily become impatient. We live in the age of fast food, drive-through banking, and telecommunications, all of which make us hunger for instant gratification, even in our prayer lives. But Jesus told us not only to ask in prayer, but also to seek and knock (Matt. 7:7). (They Knew How to Pray, pg. 95)
If you want to be a prayerful Christian, first consider that you are entering a work which, as Martin Luther wrote, “is harder than any other . . . for this requires a subdued and broken mind and an elevated and victorious spirit.” To be both submitting and overcoming at the same time is the key to good praying. And, there is only one way to get there; be faithful in prayer, willing to put your back into it and give it all you got!
"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own" (Matt 6:34)
We pray. Heavenly Father, sometimes it is so difficult to pray. Our hearts and minds tell us that You will hear our prayers, that You expect and welcome our prayers. Yet, we so often feel tongue-tied and unworthy to present our prayer requests to You. Our tendency is to tell ourselves that it is simply too much work to search for the words and piece together the emotions and longings that are facing us. Forgive us Lord for giving up and not searching for the Spirit that helps us to pray. Remind us daily that prayer is essential in a Christian’s life and that You will always be there in Spirit to help us put our emotions into words. In Jesus name we pray. Amen!
Therefore my friend, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry for itself; each day has enough trouble of its own. (Matt 6:34) This Passing Day. May this passing day honor our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and be a blessing to you and everyone you meet. Find a stranger and say hello. Don't let another day pass without your day blessing someone else.
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<thispassingday@gmail.com> From Beech Springs, God bless you for Jesus sake.