Pray On

Matthew 7:7-11

Sovereign Father, Precious Son, Holy Spirit,

I know that I ask of You repeatedly.  But You never seem to tire or diminish in Your attention.  You invite me to continue praying.  Thank You.

The ancient Jewish Rabbis loved to pray.  They expressed beautiful sentiment toward prayer.
• “God is as near to His creatures as the ear to the mouth.”
• “Human beings can hardly hear two people talking at once, but God, if all the world calls to Him at the one time, hears their cry.”
• “A man is annoyed by being worried by the requests of his friends, but with God, all the time a man puts his needs and requests before Him, God loves him all the more.”

Thank You for Your constant love and attention to my prayers.  I tend to repeat myself like a child tugging on her mommy’s sleeve.  Thank You for never tiring of my questions, requests, demands, and complaints.  You never refuse to listen.  You never ridicule the simplicity of my request. Sometimes, I look back on prayers I have prayed to You, and I am embarrassed at the foolishness of my request.  You never mock me.  You receive me, and You say, “Pray on.”  Thank You.

Barclay reminds me that “God will always answer our prayers; but He will answer them in His way, and His way will be the way of perfect wisdom and of perfect love.  Often if He answered our prayers as we at the moment desire, it would be the worst thing possible for us, for in our ignorance we often ask for gifts which would be our ruin” (William Barclay in The Gospel of Matthew, vol. 1, p. 276). Thank You for NOT answering my prayers prayed foolishly, without understanding and adequate foresight.  Thank You for answering my prayers in Your way!

Teach me the simple beauty of surrender in prayer.  The most beautiful and sincere prayers are not those which try to control or manipulate You to perform my will, but they are the prayers that surrender in faith to Your will.  Teach me a depth of surrender and faith that trusts You, even when the path is obscurred.

Thank You for encouraging me: “Pray on!”  So I pray on, I seek on asking and knocking in perpetual faith.  I must be able to bring everything in my life into Your Presence through prayer.  Cleanse me of hidden faults that would hinder effective praying polluting my prayers with selfishness.  I embrace Your answer, which always comes.

Test me.  Know me.  See clean through me.  Hear my prayer, Oh God.  I hear Your encouragement, “Pray on.”

In the Name of my ever-living, ever-hearing Lord,
Amen.