Written by: John Sernaque
Dear Reader,
Books / Pr - Prayer (2002) / Chapter 1—God Invites Us To Pray Chapter 1—God Invites Us To Pray
Prayer Brings Freshness to Spiritual Life—Our life is to be bound up with the life of Christ; we are to draw constantly from Him, partaking of Him, the living Bread that came down from heaven, drawing from a fountain ever fresh, ever giving forth its abundant treasures. If we keep the Lord ever before us, allowing our hearts to go out in thanksgiving and praise to Him, we shall have a continual freshness in our religious life. Our prayers will take the form of a conversation with God as we would talk with a friend. He will speak His mysteries to us personally. Often there will come to us a sweet joyful sense of the presence of Jesus. Often our hearts will burn within us as He draws nigh to commune with us as He did with Enoch. When this is in truth the experience of the Christian, there is seen in his life a simplicity, a humility, meekness, and lowliness of heart, that show to all with whom he associates that he has been with Jesus and learned of Him.—(Christ’s Object Lessons, 129, 130.) {Pr 12.2}
Jesus invites us to pray and to come unto Him, those who are weary and heavy- laden and He will give us rest. With every day that God graces us with His breath of life, we are to draw living water from the fountain of life. Through constant prayer, we are able to renew our spiritual life and our walk with Jesus as Enoch did. We have a friend that is always there for us to speak with and to learn of Him. To be in His presence brings a newness of life filled with joy, knowing that we have been with Jesus.
Our Heavenly Father,
We thank You and praise You for giving us this day and every day You give us. We thank You Lord for Your grace that we may have another day with You. To be in Your presence and speak to You as a friend. Though some days bring us sorrow, trials and tribulations, yet many days have brought us great victories. Victories that were only possible because we kept our eyes fixed on You, the Captain of our salvation. Therefore, we pray that as we head into this new day that we may all start with a clean heart. No malice towards our brethren, no envy, no hate. Let all our brethren be under one accord, as we know that You will not pour out Your Holy Spirit on any of us if we are not under one accord. Let us sing a new song, I will sing a new song. Lord, how long must I sing this song? How long must we sing this song? You have given us the spirit of prophecy to know that we must get ready every day and put on the whole armor of God. Therefore, we pray Father that you will help us prepare for Your Great Day to come. We pray for the wisdom to prepare our minds, the desire to study Your word, a desire to thirst and hunger after righteousness. Help us reflect Your light unto this dark world. Place us where You need us to be. No matter where we are, let us all be found wide-awake, let no one be found sleeping. Let us be found faithful, let no one be found wanting. We know that if anyone is in need, You will provide. If anyone needs healing, spiritually, mentally, or physically, we pray for Your healing hand to make us whole. We surrender our whole being into Your hands. Let not our will, but let Thy will be done. We thank You for being with us, for watching over us and protecting us and keeping us safe. Keep us in your Right Hand of power and let no one pluck us out of Your hand. Let nothing come between us, and what You have joined together, let not man put asunder. Save us and forgive us of all our sins, the known and the unknown. We love You Father, we love You Jesus, and we love You Holy Spirit. All this we ask and pray, in the name of Christ Jesus. Amen.
