please pray

[usha rani]

Praying in Jesus Name. Amen.

 

[Chrysostom]

You offer prayer with good intention, but consider: do you present these silent requests while your life itself cries out against you? It is a great weapon indeed, this prayer, but a weapon is of no use to one who sleeps. If at the morning dawn we meditate on these things, we go forth to our business with much security; but if we wake not, the help of others profits us nothing. You ask for the prayers of the church, yet do you place yourself in a situation to need no such help? Do not say, “What need have I of another’s prayer?” For though you become as Paul, you still need prayer. The arrogance of thinking you have no need reveals the very reason you need it most.

There is war in the marketplace, a storm and a tempest in daily affairs. We require favorable winds, and prayer both night and early is that wind. But do not think that only the utterance of words suffices. If you pray and yet live as you please, you mock God. We need both: our own part as well as God’s part. After giving credit for obedience, Paul still prays; to show that if we are to be saved, we need both earnest effort and grace from above. And note the wisdom of the saints: they prayed not for display, but often in secret, as you now ask silently. Yet secrecy is no virtue if the heart is far from Him. Fasting and prayer may be concealed, but the fruit must be seen in a transformed life.

That demon spoke truth about the apostles, yet they silenced it. Why? Because a right confession from an unrighteous vessel brings no honor. So your silent requests: examine whether they spring from a soul humbled and watchful. The Lord opened Lydia’s heart as she gathered by the riverside for prayer, and she immediately bore fruit with hospitality. If He has judged you faithful, as you hope, then constrain yourself to good works, not merely to whispered petitions.

Do you trust that God hears? Christ gave thanks before Lazarus arose, saying, “Father, I thank Thee that Thou hast heard Me.” He needed no prayer, yet He prayed that we might believe the Father sent Him. How much more do you, who are dust, need to pray not only with the lips but with the whole life! Present those silent requests, but let them rise from an altar where the fire of virtue never goes out. Add to them a watchful soul, almsgiving without ostentation, and a sober mind. Then, going forth, you will laugh at every enemy, having God propitious.

 

[Dwoiran]

Praying in Jesus Name. Amen.