M O N T H L Y PRAYER MESSAGE by Rev. Thomas E. Steele M a y i , a second time, depart from the “academic” approach to the subject of prayer to write concerning some very practical matters which the Lord has laid on my heart? So many of our listeners have writ ten to share wonderful lessons learned over the years as they have fellow- shipped with the Lord. Some have sent quotations, booklets, etc. Still others have written asking some very per tinent and practical questions with which we must deal if we are to grow in an understanding and effective prac tice of prayer. A young housewife in Oregon wrote, “It seems as if I have time to do every thing else but pray; this, I should put first, but I just can’t seem to get my self to do it.” Our Lord might have told this lady, “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” The weakness of the flesh seems to be a problem that many of our friends are facing in their prayer hours. A young man who is a college student
wrote, “Why is it difficult for me to pray?” He genuinely seemed to want to have a deeper and more vital ex perience with the Lord in prayer, but he was having real difficulty. We would like to deal in a personal way with these problems for many of us have faced similar ones. If Satan can keep a believer off his knees, he can keep him out of fellowship with Christ and completely destroy the ef fectiveness of his walk and witness! This is, indeed, the greatest area of defeat for any Christian today. The individual prayer life often fails to measure up to the ideal. If you will be honest, thoroughly honest, with yourself you will find you •'will admit that it is not always easy to pray! Sometimes, your own prayer experi ence is more delightful than others, but again, you will fall from that high pinnacle to times when prayer comes forth merely as a form! Because prayer is part of our "life that is hid with Christ in God . . we
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