Hastings: behind it all

Thursday, July 21, 2016
Meditation:
    If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.
    —Matthew 21:22 (NIV)
Quotation:
    True prayer is something more than desire. It is no mere subjective instinct—no blind outreach. If it met no response, no answer, it would soon be weeded out of the race... Prayer has stood the test of experience. In fact the very desire to pray is in itself prophetic of a Heavenly Friend. So this native need of the soul rose out of the divine origin of the soul, and it has steadily verified itself as a safe guide to reality.
    In the first instance it is not asking for anything, it is not petition; all it seeks is God Himself. When it makes a request, there is always a preface: Let me find Thee, let me know Thee, then I will ask of Thee.
    ... James Hastings (1852-1922), The Christian Doctrine of Prayer, Edinbugh: T. & T. Clark, 1915, p. 30-31 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 21:22; 7:7; Mark 11:24; John 14:13-14; 15:7; Heb. 4:15-16; Jas. 1:5-6; 1 John 3:21-22; 5:14-15
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I seek to know You in prayer. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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