Barclay: offering ourselves in prayer

Friday, August 4, 2017
    Feast of John Vianney, Curè d’Ars, 1859
Meditation:
    And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
    —Matthew 6:7-8 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Prayer is not a way of making use of God; prayer is a way of offering ourselves to God in order that He should be able to make use of us. It may be that one of our great faults in prayer is that we talk too much and listen too little. When prayer is at its highest we wait in silence for God’s voice to us; we linger in His presence for His peace and His power to flow over us and around us; we lean back in His everlasting arms and feel the serenity of perfect security in Him.
    ... William Barclay (1907-1978), The Plain Man’s Book of Prayers, London: Collins, 1959, p. 21 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 6:7-8, 1 Kings 19:11-13; Isa. 53:7; Hab. 2:20; John 20:19; Rom. 12:1
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You are with me in prayer. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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