prayer life -- as posted by Chevy on Multiply
today's devotion found in Deserts in the Stream by L.B. Cowman
Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. Matthew 26:41
Dear
friend, never go out into the danger of the world without praying
first. There is always a temptation to shorten your time in prayer.
After a difficult day of work, when you kneel at night to pray with
tired eyes, do not use your drowsiness as an excuse to resign yourself
to early rest. Then when the morning breaks and you realized you have
overslept, resist the temptation to skip your early devotion or to
hurry through it.
Once
again, you have not taken the time to "watch and pray". Your alertness
has been sacrificed, and I firmly believe there will be irreparable
damage. You have failed to pray, and you will suffer as a result.
Temptations
are waiting to confront you, and you are not prepared to withstand
them. Within your soul you have a sense of guilt, and you seem to be
lingering some distance from God. It certainly is no coincidence that
you tend to fall short of your responsibilities on those days when you
have allowed your weariness to interfere with your prayer life.
When
we give in to laziness, moments of prayer that are missed can never be
redeemed. We may learn from the experience, but we will miss the rich
freshness and strength that would have been imparted during those
moments. Frederick William Robertson
Jesus,
the omnipotent son of God, felt it necessary to rise each morning
before dawn tyo pour out His heart to His Father in prayer. Should we
not feel even more compelled to pray to Him who is the giver of "every
good and perfect gift" (james 1:17) and who has promised to provide
whatever we need?
We
do not know all that Jesus gained from His time in prayer, but we do
know this -- a life without prayer is a powerless life. It may be a
life filled with a great deal of activity and noise, but it will be far
removed from Him who day and night prayed to God.
