Thus says the Lord: "Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls.
But they said, 'We will not walk in it.'" --Jeremiah 6:16

 

29 January, 2008   comments: (0) Classic Devotion   Self-Denial in Prayer    Quoting Walter Chantry . . . It is striking that the greatest men of prayer in history have been some of the busiest men in the world. Think of Moses forging a nation from more than two million slaves. Or look at Daniel occupied with affairs of the state of Babylon. Think of Luther -- professor, bible translator, pastor, prolific writer -- who prayed three hours each day. But the chief example of them all is our Lord Jesus Christ who reserved early morning or late night hours for prayer. If anyone was entitled to relax, or seek refreshment, it was our holy Master. But he used his own time to pray. It is not that we are too busy to pray but that the flesh is still too insistant on satisfaction. Days of fasting and prayer will be set aside from only one part of the calendar -- yours! Days of relaxation and recreation must be shortened. Holidays must be diminish. Self must be intentionally denied that you might come to your knees. How is it that ministers are too busy to be found in God's courts, but somehow the holidays are fitted in? Self must be denied as to energy for prayer. There is something desperately arduous about protracted prayer. Even when it is full of delight and blessed nearness to our beloved Lord, it leaves a man drained of strength. David Brainerd jotted notes about prayer in his diary, such as 'extremely weak and overcome'. Martin Luther said 'It is a tremendously hard thing to pray aright.' King Asa must have expended much energy simply to the task of giving wholehearted attention to the throne of grace. He was facing his fist day ever on a battlefield. Who can blame him for distracting for fears and imaginings? Should he conserve his strength for the combat? But the kind of prayer recorded is made by virtue going out of the petitioner. As Moses prayed at the battle with Amalek in Rephidim, his hands grew tremendously long before the battle was won. When Jacob wrestled with God, he limped away from Peniel. If you have never felt your soul poured out before the Lord with consequent exhaustion, it is doubtful whether you have advanced far in the school of prayer. Recalling strenuous effort in the secret place, a pastor's flesh begins to make many a falsely pious suggestion when the hour of prayer approaches; fascinate the mind with another chapter of theology; rush off to visit a weak Christian; look through periodicals -- to keep abreast of the times, of course -- visit a loved bookshop! Anything is easier than an earnest conference with the living God. It will sap energy from self to lay hold upon the Lord until he visit your corner of the vineyard with grace and power. Beyond the circumstances, stern self-denial is demanded as prayer is exercised. If a cross is felt at the doorway to the secret place of prayer, it is even more keenly experienced before the throne of grace. Many hours of wrestling in secret are times of combat with self. Even on our knees, even in the presence of the all-glorious King, self asserts itself frightfully. From:  Shadow Of The Cross, Studies in Self Denial   Posted by: Jim B.   Link: http://www.oldtruth.com/blog.cfm/id.2.pid.832   Be the first to post a comment about this article        Home  |   About  |  Videos   |  Calvinism