December 16

Twenty-second Monday after Trinity

Men ought always to pray, and not to faint. S. Luke 18:1.

PRAYER is an important and a necessary duty, sanctioned and enforced by our Lord's own example, by that of His Apostles, and by the practice of holy men in all ages. Let, then, each ask himself, Do I engage in this great duty in any manner suited to its vast importance? Am I instant in prayer? The choicest blessings for time and eternity, if you will pray for them, are promised you; nothing, if you will not. You must, you will, be left by an offended God to yourselves; and to be left to yourselves is to be left to certain ruin; it is to be left to blindness, yea, to utter misery. "Ephraim is joined unto idols, let him alone." Let us rest assured that the blessings which our heavenly Father has to bestow are not such cheap and common things as to be forced on those who despise them. He has made our asking in great measure a condition of His giving. If we wish to receive, we must ask; if we desire to find, we must seek. When on earth our blessed Lord seldom worked a cure unsought. He would have the sufferers either ask themselves or by others ask. Prayer is a deep necessity of our spiritual life. In order to lead a prayerful life you will have to give up very much that is pleasing to the natural man and to practise self-denial; but look you to a happy life, to a peaceful death, then to a crown of glory and a seat on the Saviour's throne.

The man is highly blessed Who makes it his delight To do his Master's bidding, And serve Him day and night; Who asks Him for His blessing When he begins the day, His sins with grief confessing When he has gone astray.