Let thy merciful ears, O Lord, be open to the prayers of thy humble ſervants; and, that they may obtain their petitions make them to aſk ſuch things as ſhall pleaſe thee, through Jeſus Chriſt our Lord. Amen.
Keynote: Right Praying
Prayer is a very great power, and it is but very little understood. God does not give us things because we ask for them, and withhold them because we do not ask for them. The divine life forever flows forth as from an unfailing spring, and we live and move and have our being within it as fish swim in the waters of the ocean. It is not God's giving which fails, but our receiving.
What do we seek in prayer? The gratification of our desires? We ask our Divine Father for that which we want, just as unthinkingly as children ask for a penny. But we have been given minds with which to think and will with which to act; we are no longer children and must put away childish things when we approach our Divine Father with petitions.
If the child, grown to manhood, goes to the father and asks for pounds instead of pennies to spend on idle pleasures, will he get them? No. But if he asks for the means to an honourable career, will not his father strain every effort to give it to him?
So it is when we approach God with our prayers. Do we ask things worthy of spiritual adults? Do we ask to be relieved from suffering, to be spared the fulfilment of our fears, to be saved from the consequences of our errors? If so, we ask amiss. We are children asking for pennies. But do we ask for courage and understanding, love and patience, and God's light to illumine our darkness, God's love to comfort our sorrow? Then we ask as souls grown to spiritual manhood, and we shall not be denied.
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