Lesson 98: A Life of Prayer, part 2
We see that the Lord needs and takes time, because we and all around us are the creatures of time, under the law of growth; but knowing that not one single prayer of faith can possibly be lost, that there is sometimes a need for the storing up and accumulating of prayer; then persevering prayer is irresistible. Prayer becomes the quiet, persistent living of our life of desire and faith in the presence of our God. Oh do not let us any longer by our reasonings limit and weaken such free and sure promises of the living God, robbing them of their power, and ourselves of the wonderful confidence they are meant to inspire. Not in God, not in His secret will, and not in the limitations of His promises - but in us, in ourselves is the hindrance; we are not what we should be to obtain the promise. Let us open our whole heart to God’s words of promise in all their simplicity and truth: they will search us and humble us; and they will lift us up and make us glad and strong. And to the faith that knows it gets what it asks, prayer is not a work or a burden, but a joy and a triumph. It becomes a necessity and a second nature.
This union of strong desire and firm confidence is nothing but the life of the Holy Spirit within us. The Holy Spirit dwells in us, hides Himself in the depths of our being, and stirs the desire after the Unseen and the Divine, after God Himself. Now in groanings that cannot be uttered, then in clear and conscious assurance; now in special distinct petitions for the deeper revelation of Christ to ourselves, then in pleadings for a soul, a work, the Church or the world, it is always and alone the Holy Spirit who draws out the heart to thirst for God, to long for His being made known and glorified. Where the child of God really lives and walks in the Spirit; where he is not content to remain carnal, but seeks to be spiritual, in everything a fit organ for the Divine Spirit to reveal the life of Christ and Christ Himself; there the never-ceasing intercession-life of the Blessed Son cannot but reveal and repeat itself in our experience. Because it is the Spirit of Christ who prays in us, our prayer must be heard; because it is we who pray in the Spirit, there is need of time, and patience, and continual renewing of the prayer, until every obstacle be conquered, and the harmony between God’s Spirit and ours is perfect.
Prayer: Blessed Savior, with my whole heart I praise You that You came from heaven to share with me in my needs and cries, that I might share with You in Your all-prevailing intercession. And I thank You that You have taken me into the school of prayer, to teach the blessedness and the power of a life that is all prayer. And most of all, that You have taken me up into the fellowship of Your life of intercession, that through me too, Your blessings may be shared with those around me.