June 10Lord, teach us to pray — Luke 11:1.
In brief, our prayers, to be acceptable to God, must express confident faith, loving esteem and reverence, full sympathy with the Divine Plan and submission to the Divine will, childlike dependence upon God, acknowledgment of sins and shortcomings and desire for forgiveness, with humble craving for the Divine guidance and protection. These may not always all be expressed in words, but such must at least be the attitude of the soul. "Prayer is the soul's sincere desire, uttered or unexpressed"—Z '95, 213 (R 1864). We need the Lord's instructions in order properly to pray. We would not know for what to ask, why to ask, nor how to ask without His instructions. How necessary then, that we come to Him, with humble petitions that He teach us how to pray. Well for us that we prove as apt pupils as He is an apt Teacher of prayer. He will manifest to us its nature, elements, incentives, objects, conditions, cultivation, repression, expression and results—P '26, 76. Parallel passages: Psa. 5:1-3; 42:8; 109:4; 116:2; Dan. 6:10; Matt. 6:5-15; Luke 2:37; 18:1-13; Acts 6:4; 10:2, 9; Rom. 1:9; 12:12; Eph. 1:15, 16; Col. 1:9; 1 Thes. 3:10; 5:17; 1 Tim. 5:5; 2 Tim. 1:3. Hymns: 323, 324, 35, 239, 1, 273, 56. Poems of Dawn, 116: Communion With Our Father. Tower Reading: Z '16, 18 (R 5832). Questions: Have I learned this week better to pray? What helped or hindered? What were the results? |
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COMMUNION WITH OUR FATHER
OFT when alone in prayer I kneel
Before my Father's throne;
I cannot tell Him all I feel,
Nor make my wishes known.
With heart subdued, and head bowed low,
I lean upon His breast,
And while the tears unbidden flow,
My love for Him confess.
I have no boon to ask of Him,
Save that His will be done,
To make me holy, pure within—
An image of His Son.
But as He smiles and draws me near—
His Spirit from above
Floods all my soul with peace so dear,
And fills my heart with love.
Though from my gaze He hides His face,
My soul, from self apart,
Hath found its happy resting place
Close to His loving heart.
OFT when alone in prayer I kneel
Before my Father's throne;
I cannot tell Him all I feel,
Nor make my wishes known.
With heart subdued, and head bowed low,
I lean upon His breast,
And while the tears unbidden flow,
My love for Him confess.
I have no boon to ask of Him,
Save that His will be done,
To make me holy, pure within—
An image of His Son.
But as He smiles and draws me near—
His Spirit from above
Floods all my soul with peace so dear,
And fills my heart with love.
Though from my gaze He hides His face,
My soul, from self apart,
Hath found its happy resting place
Close to His loving heart.
