Press On

We know the importance of prayer, but we also need a continual reminder that prayer is the work to which the Church must devote itself.  Thomas Watson said, “The angel fetched Peter out of prison, but it was prayer that fetched the angel.”  The church prayed and God answered.

In his book, How Can I Cultivate Private Prayer, Joel Beeke said, “Even if your prayers seem lifeless, do not stop praying. For the moment, dullness may seem hard to overcome but refusing to pray at all is the fruit of presumption, self-sufficiency, and slothfulness. When the outward form of prayer is gone, all is gone. It is easy to pray when you feel like a sailboat gliding forward in a favoring wind. But you should also pray when you must like an icebreaker smash your way through an arctic sea one foot at a time. No matter what, make prayer your personal spiritual priority.”

I find that I must continually ask God to give me a thirst for prayer, a hunger for His presence, and that I must keep on doing it even when my flesh is weak, and my desire is gone.  When I press on, when I make it my priority, it isn’t long before I find joy in His presence and satisfaction and prayer isn’t so much of a work as it is a joy.