A Life of Prayer

"This life devoted to God must be accompanied by the deep confidence that our prayer is effective. In His prayer-lessons our Blessed Lord insisted upon nothing so much as faith in God as a Father who most certainly does what we ask. "Ask and ye shall receive"'; to count confidently on an answer is with Him the beginning and the end of His teaching (compare to Matt 7:8 and John 16:24). In proportion as this assurance masters us, and it becomes a settled thing that our prayers do tell and that God does what we ask, we dare not neglect the use of this wonderful power. The soul turns wholly to God, and our life becomes prayer. We see that the Lord needs and takes time, because we and all around us are the creatures of time, under the law of growth. Knowing that not one single prayer of faith can possibly be lost, that there is sometimes a need for the storing up and accumulating of prayer, but recognizing that persevering prayer is irresistible, prayer becomes the quiet, persistent living of our life of desire and faith in the presence of our God."

Andrew Murray, Believers School of Prayer

(art credit: Prayer, by Awakening Youth at Prayer House Art)