Prayer

Tomorrow we will finish up a seven weeks series on prayer. During this series we have looked at what prayer does: 1)changes you and I 2)changes situations; then we looked at four prayers in Scriptures that give us prospective and examples of prayer: Psalm 51 - 'prayer of repentance', Habakkuk 3:17-19 - 'prayer of trust', Nehemiah 1:5-12 - 'prayer of petition', John 17:9-19 'prayer that imparts purpose'. Tomorrow we will attempt to tackle one of the more difficult aspects of prayer: 'unanswered prayer'.

In all these discussions I have learned at least one thing... out of all the things I do poorly, prayer is the one thing that I wish to work on the most.

To quote Abraham Joshua Heschel:
We do not refuse to pray; we abstain from it. We ring the hollow bell of selfishness rather than absorb the stillness that surrounds the world, hovering over all the restlessness and fear of life - the secret stillness that precedes our birth and succeeds our death. Futile self-indulgence brings us out of tune with the gentle song of nature's waiting, of mankind's striving for salvation. Is not listening to the pulse of wonder worth silence and abstinence from self-asserting? Why do we not set apart an hour of living for devotion to God by surrendering to stillness? Rushing through the ecstasies of ambition, we only awake when plunged into dread or grief. In darkness, then, we grope for solace, for meaning, for prayer.

I leave you with one last word on prayer - it is the benediction I have given for the past few weeks...

May you continually wrestle with Prayer

May you beseech the door of Heaven with shameless boldness.

May your Prayers produce, in you, a countenance of joy, a gracious demeanor, and a peaceful heart

And may the God of hope, fill you with all peace, that you may abound in hope, assured that your prayers are heard by a loving and gracious Father.