Lord, teach us to pray!” was the request of one of the disciples who had watched Jesus pray. So powerful were his prayers, the consistency with which he prayed and the fact that he was known to pray all night that those closest to him desired to know his secret.
The times in which we live call for all of us to pray without ceasing as the Apostle Paul so forcefully admonished the Christians of Thessalonica.
(1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)
Early in my seminary days, I was introduced to a book of prayers by John Baillie entitled, “A Diary of Private Prayer”. I want to share just a portion of an evening prayer that might help all of us to take stock of our lives in these emotional filled days when we need to give careful attention to who we follow, what we say, and how we process, share and endorse information that we receive through the media.
O Father in heaven…..I acknowledge before Thee the faults and failures of the day that is now past……..
My failure to be true even to my own accepted standards:
My self-deception in face of temptation:
My choosing of the worse when I know the better:
O Lord, forgive.
My failure to apply to myself the standards of conduct I demand of others:
My blindness to the suffering of others and my slowness to be taught by my own:
My complacence towards wrongs that do not touch my own case and my over- sensitiveness to those that do:
My slowness to see the good in my fellows and to see the evil in myself:
My hardness of heart towards my neighbors’ faults and my readiness to make allowance for my own:
O Lord, forgive…….Amen
In His love,
Charles
