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Minister’s letter:
Prayer is the soul's sincere desire,
unuttered or expressed,
the motion of a hidden fire
that trembles in the breast.
Prayer is the burden of a sigh,
the falling of a tear,
the upward glancing of an eye,
when none but God is near.
Prayer is the simplest form of speech
that infant lips can try;
prayer the sublimest strains that reach
the Majesty on high.
Prayer is the contrite sinners' voice,
returning from their way,
while angels in their songs rejoice
and cry, "Behold, they pray!"
Prayer is the Christians' vital breath,
the Christians' native air;
their watchword at the gates of death;
they enter heaven with prayer.
O Thou, by whom we come to God,
the Life, the Truth, the Way:
the path of prayer thyself hast trod;
Lord, teach us how to pray!
James Montgomery
Dear friends
The words of this beautiful traditional hymn can express more eloquently what I want to say about prayer than any words I may choose. Prayer is about an inner longing for a relationship with God, for assurance that he relates to us and is concerned about our lives. It can be spoken or unspoken – sometimes we pray formally and consciously, sometimes we pray subconsciously in our thoughts and feelings- we just sense our need and the presence of God within us and instinctively and intuitively respond.
Sometimes we use lofty language, sometimes we just cry out to our heavenly Father- our Dad-our Abba; sometimes we call upon the name of Jesus, our Lord, our Saviour, our Redeemer, our Brother, our Friend; sometimes we pray asking for the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit to fill us and equip us and lead us closer to Jesus and to our Father.
Its not how we pray which matters, its why. And why do we pray? Well it’s our vital breath- it’s like Oxygen- it’s “the Christians vital breath, our “native air”. The word for the breath of life is the same word as for the Holy Spirit. I feel stifled, stale and tight when I haven’t come to God in prayer . I feel “on the back foot” as if I haven’t had a shower or had any breakfast.
Can you identify with that?
Sometimes arrow prayers are all we make time for- we are immersed in our busy lives and we just surface and take short breaths of God’s life giving air and then we dive back into worldly stuff. We all need more than that- we need times of refreshing- times when we have space and opportunity to rest in the presence of our living, loving heavenly Father. Time to reflect on the beauty and glory of the Risen Lord Jesus; time to breathe in the fresh air of the Holy Spirit.
This Summer I pray that in your rest and recreation, both home and away, you will have a really good holiday- a holy space of rest in the father’s love, make space for holy moments- moments when heaven invades your earthly life, moments when the Son of God breaks through and warms your heart with his love; space to sit and experience streams of living water flowing into your soul and breath fresh air! Why not remember that and pray each time you open a window!
Praying for God’s blessing for you all
Ann
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