“Pray without ceasing” (I. Thess. v. 17).
An important help in the life of prayer is the habit of bringing
everything to God, moment by moment, as it comes to us in life. This may
be established as a habit on the principle on which all habits are formed,
of repeated and constant attention, moment by moment, until that which is
at first an act of will, becomes spontaneous and second nature.
If we will watch our lives we shall find that God meets the things that we
commit to Him in prayer with special blessing, and often allows the best
things that we have not committed to Him to be ineffectual, simply to
remind us of our dependence upon Him for everything. It is very gracious
and mindful of Him thus gently to compel us to remember Him and to hold us
so close to Him that we cannot get away even the length of a single minute
from His all-sustaining arm. “In everything ... let our requests be made
known unto God.”
Let us bring our least petitions,
Like the incense beaten small,
All our cares, complaints, conditions
Jesus loves to bear them all.