Lately I've been convicted about my lack of private prayer. Taking in God's word is no problem for me, but spending time in prayer often is. What bothers me most about my lack of prayer is that it reflects a spirit of self-sufficiency, pride, and lack of dependence on Almighty God for all things.
Yet I praise God for His Holy Spirit, who convicts me of all this and impels me to pray -- who makes me realize that "my flesh and my heart fail; but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever" (Ps. 73:26). So this morning, I bowed myself before my heavenly Father, asked His forgiveness for my negligence in private prayer, and proceeded to enjoy sweet communion with my Lord once again.
Near the start of my prayer time, I reached for The Valley of Vision, a precious collection of anonymous Puritan prayers. I opened to where I had last left off, and as God would have it, I read the following words, which expressed well the sentiment of my own heart. Perhaps it articulates your own pangs of conviction regarding prayerlessness in your life. If so, pray it even now with total sincerity, knowing that God hears the prayers of His children:
O LORD OF GRACE,
I have been hasty and short in private prayer,
O quicken my conscience to feel this folly,
to bewail this ingratitude;
My first sin of the day leads into others,
and it is just that thou shouldst withdraw thy presence
from one who waited carelessly on thee.
Keep me at all times from robbing thee,
and from depriving my soul of thy due worship;
Let me never forget that I have an eternal duty
to love, honor, and obey thee,
that thou art infinitely worthy of such;
that if I fail to glorify thee
I am guilty of infinite evil that merits eternal punishment,
for sin is the violation of an infinite obligation.
O forgive me if I have dishonoured thee,
Melt my heart, heal my backslidings,
and open an intercourse of love.
When the fire of thy compassion warms my inward man,
and the outpourings of thy Spirit fill my soul,
then I feelingly wonder at my own depravity,
and deeply abhor myself;
then thy grace is a powerful incentive to repentance,
and an irresistible motive toward inner holiness.
May I never forget that thou hast my heart in thy hands.
Apply to it the merits of Christ's atoning blood whenever I sin.
Let thy mercies draw me to thyself.
Wean me from all evil, mortify me to the world,
and make me ready for my departure hence
animated by the humiliations of penitential love.
My soul is often a chariot without wheels,
clogged and hindered in sin's miry clay;
Mount it on eagle's wings
and cause it to soar upward to thyself.
Yet I praise God for His Holy Spirit, who convicts me of all this and impels me to pray -- who makes me realize that "my flesh and my heart fail; but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever" (Ps. 73:26). So this morning, I bowed myself before my heavenly Father, asked His forgiveness for my negligence in private prayer, and proceeded to enjoy sweet communion with my Lord once again.
Near the start of my prayer time, I reached for The Valley of Vision, a precious collection of anonymous Puritan prayers. I opened to where I had last left off, and as God would have it, I read the following words, which expressed well the sentiment of my own heart. Perhaps it articulates your own pangs of conviction regarding prayerlessness in your life. If so, pray it even now with total sincerity, knowing that God hears the prayers of His children:
O LORD OF GRACE,
I have been hasty and short in private prayer,
O quicken my conscience to feel this folly,
to bewail this ingratitude;
My first sin of the day leads into others,
and it is just that thou shouldst withdraw thy presence
from one who waited carelessly on thee.
Keep me at all times from robbing thee,
and from depriving my soul of thy due worship;
Let me never forget that I have an eternal duty
to love, honor, and obey thee,
that thou art infinitely worthy of such;
that if I fail to glorify thee
I am guilty of infinite evil that merits eternal punishment,
for sin is the violation of an infinite obligation.
O forgive me if I have dishonoured thee,
Melt my heart, heal my backslidings,
and open an intercourse of love.
When the fire of thy compassion warms my inward man,
and the outpourings of thy Spirit fill my soul,
then I feelingly wonder at my own depravity,
and deeply abhor myself;
then thy grace is a powerful incentive to repentance,
and an irresistible motive toward inner holiness.
May I never forget that thou hast my heart in thy hands.
Apply to it the merits of Christ's atoning blood whenever I sin.
Let thy mercies draw me to thyself.
Wean me from all evil, mortify me to the world,
and make me ready for my departure hence
animated by the humiliations of penitential love.
My soul is often a chariot without wheels,
clogged and hindered in sin's miry clay;
Mount it on eagle's wings
and cause it to soar upward to thyself.