January 7

Continuing instant in prayer.—Romans 12:12.

ARE my prayers the sincere and earnest utterances of the desires of my heart? Or are they listless, cold, formal, forced from me by conscience, the result, only, of habit, or extorted, perhaps, by alarm and fear? Do I deeply feel the need of what I ask; and do I ask with unwavering faith in God's promises? The more frequently I pray, the nearer do I find myself to God—the more consecrated in heart and life to him?

Prayer is the preface to the book of Christian living; the text of the life sermon; the girding on of the armor for battle; the pilgrim's preparation for his journey. It must be supplemented by action, or it amounts to nothing.—PHELPS.

Prayer is the appeal of want to Him who only can relieve it; it is the voice of sin to Him who alone can pardon it. It is the urgency of poverty; the prostration of humility; the fervency of penitence; the confidence of trust. It is not eloquence, but earnestness; not the definition of helplessness, but the feeling of it; not figures of speech, but compunction of the soul. It is the "Lord save us" of the drowning Peter; the cry of faith to the ear of mercy; the communion of the child with the loving father.—HANNAH MORE.

For once I sought a time and place, For solitude and prayer; But now, where'er I find thy face, I find a closet there!