Prayer is the Soul's Sincere Desire

This is a name of a hymn written by a Moravian James Montgomery. James was a poet writer and again like "What a friend in Jesus" was later put to Music. In this classic hymn, there is about 7 or 8 verses in that describes what prayer means. I like the following verse which tells us that prayer is very much a neccessary part of the Christian:

"Prayer is the Christian's vital breath,
The Christians native air,
His watchword at the gates of death;
He enters heaven with prayer."

Prayer is the Soul's Sincere Desire, James Montgomery (1771-1854)

Pray without Ceasing

The Hymn "What a friend in Jesus" was originally written by Joseph Scriven as poem which was entitled "Pray without ceasing". It wasnt until he was on his deathbed that his carer discovered the the poem and was later put to music by Charles Converse (1832-1918) . Joseph knew trials and tradegy as he was nearly married twice but the twice the bride died a day or so before the wedding. This hymns is a real encouragement for us to bring all to such a faithful friend:

What a Friend We have in Jesus
All our Sins and griefs to bear!
What a privelege to carry
Everything to God in prayer
O what peace we often forfeit,
O what needless pain we bear
All because we do carry
Everything to God in prayer!

Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be disocuraged:
Take it to the Lord in prayer!
Can we find a friend so faithful,
Who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus Knows our every weakness
-Take it to the Lord in Prayer!


Are we weak and heavy laden,
cumbered with a load of care?
Precious saviour still our refuge!
Take it to the Lord in prayer!
Do thy friends despise forsake thee?
Take it to the Lord in prayer!
In His arms he' ll take and shield thee
Thou wilt find a solace
there!

Joseph Scriven (1819-86)

Remember Your Encouragements!

Came accross this post from Brian Ingraham, leader of RE:HOPE in Glasgow about need to remember our encouragments when we go through down times. To view it click here

Vision by Prayer: Remember to Pray on The Dot When You See The Spot!

Vision by Prayer: Remember to pray on the dot when you see the spot!

Remember to pray on the dot when you see the spot!

mmm... What is all this about, I hear you say! We have different ways of remembering things like tie a knot in a hankerchief. Yesterday's sermon at church was on prayer & action. We were given a gimmick to remind us to pray! We were all given sticky spots to stick somewhere that we would see and then it would remind us to pray for folks from our prayer list. You can stick it on your watch or your thumb. So hence the title of this post - Remember to pray on the dot when you see the spot!

Take My Life and Let it Be!

This is the title of the Hymn written by a lady by the name of Frances Harvergal. Looked up the background of this hymn the other day. The hymn writer is offering all that she was unto the Lord whom she loved. She had been through trials, tribulation and pain. Even long after she had written the hymn, she still prayed through each line in this hymn seeking to make it a reality in her life. I want to bring your attention to verse 4:

Take my silver & my gold,
not a mite, I would I withold;
take my intellect and use
every power as thou shalt choose.

As Frances wrote & indeed Prayed "Take my silver & my gold" she was I'm sure seeking God to see how she could take action. She did take action. She took her 50 fine pieces of Jewellry and gave them to the Womens Missionary Society.

Lets give all that we are unto God but be prepared to take action.

Listening & Speaking

I came accross this quote from Mother Theresa and for me speaks profoundly about prayer...

"The beginning of Prayer is silence...God speaking to the silence of the heart.
And then we start talking from the fulness of the heart. And God listens.

The beginning of prayer is scripture...we listen to God speaking again
from the fullness of our heart. And God listens.

That is really prayer.
Both sides listening and both sides speaking."

________________

To view another recent post on God speaking through the silence click here