Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Teach me to pray

Elisabeth Elliot says it all...again...

Source: A Lamp For My Feet

Because I am "of the earth, earthy," I find that my prayers for the people I love are mostly bound by very earthy concerns--Lord, help P. to find a good wife, show G. which college to attend, provide money for W.'s house and E.'s car, help T. with his book, give X. a better job. It is meet and proper to pray for such things, but not to pray only for such things. There are prayers of far more lasting import which we must also learn to pray. We can find words for those in the prayer of Jesus for the people He loved:

that they may be one;
that they may find his joy completed in themselves;
that they may be kept from evil;
that they may be made holy by the truth;
that they may live in Christ;
that they may grow complete into one;
that they may be with him;
that the love which God has for Christ may be in their hearts.
If we learn to pray that kind of prayer, it will perhaps amend the "lesser" prayers.

Lord, teach me to pray. Open my eyes to see beyond the earthly to the heavenly. Let my primary concerns be heavenly ones, that your kingdom may come on earth, your will be done in me and in those I love. Teach me to pray with Jesus, for his sake. Amen.

This encouraged me this morning...hope it encourages you!

2 comments:

  1. I find this so interesting since we had a guest speaker at church Sunday who spoke on prayer, how we should pray. It was a good message that really blessed and encouraged me... as well as this entry.

    I hope y'all are doing well.

    I have finals next week so my weekend is going to be slam full of studying!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Amanda,
    I'll be praying for you! Let me know how it goes.
    Love ya!
    Cheri

    ReplyDelete

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