PRAYER REFLECTION

(January winter's day at Ava)

 

 

PRAYER REFLECTION:

 

We do not always need another person's words when we pray.  But there can be times when a prayer by someone else expresses our concerns and desires better than we could do ourselves and becomes a source of inspiration and strength.   Or,  we may 'grow into' a prayer which has tremendously high ideals, such as the one by John Wesley:  'Lord God, I am no longer my own, but yours.'   Even though we have not ourselves arrived at such dizzy heights of self-giving, the very act of using a prayer like this helps us to come closer to its aspirations.

 

There can also be a sense of freedom in using a set prayer, because the words are given, and we simply let go into their flow and meaning.  This is especially helpful in times of stress or doubt.   The familiar words of a well-known prayer,  or the challenges of a modern one, bring us back to our roots in God and remind us that we belong to the great body of Christ's people.   A written prayer links us not only with its author, but also with all the other people who have used it, so that, in a sense, we are never alone when we pray.

 

We usually think of prayer as an offering that we make to God  -- and so it is.   But it is much more.   Prayer is God's gift to us, a banquet of good things to feed our inner life as we respond to the invitation to his feast of peace, forgiveness, challenge and love.

(by Angela Ashwin in  THE BOOK OF A THOUSAND PRAYERS, p. 11,  published by Zondervan)