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The Problem with Prayer
I sometimes sit quietly and recall moments in intense prayer when God was so close I was enveloped in His mist of love. Even though the first of those is now thirty-five years into the past, the instructions transmitted through the Holy Spirit are as fresh as though they were happening NOW. In this state my mind seems subdued to the point I can really stay focused on my prayer until I reach a place where my petition is less sincere, or possibly, I am making a wrong request. This is where I lose the connection again and must stop and evaluate where I've made a wrong step.
I am offering this piece because I've just discovered Leslie Weatherhead's "A Private House of Prayer" and what he proposes is right on target for enriching our communications with The Father. Click on the link with his name below and it will take you to an extended excerpt on effective prayer:
"I have always found prayer difficult. So often it seems like a fruitless game of hide and seek in which we seek and God hides. I know God is very patient with me. Without that patience I should be lost. But frankly I have to be patient with him. With no other friend would I go on seeking with such scant, conscious response. Yet I cannot leave prayer alone for long. My need drives me to him. And I have a feeling that he has his own reasons for hiding himself, and that finally all my seeking will prove infinitely worth while. And I am not sure what I mean by "finding." Some days my very seeking seems a kind of "finding." And of course, if "finding" meant the end of "seeking," it were better to go on seeking. I suppose no one ever finds all there is to find or can rest satisfied as if he had arrived at a journey's end. I long for more satisfaction, but I cannot cease from questing. Jesus sometimes found prayer difficult. Some of his most agonized prayers were not answered. But he did not give up his praying. I frankly have little to show for all my prayers, but I cannot give up, for "my soul longeth for God," and know that outside God there is nothing at all but death."
Jane Mullikin
After securing an opportunity to be with God in prayer, we turn to The Father eagerly, then after the first few phrases our mind begins to play tricks by dredging up every possible unimportant, unrelated thought conceivable. Some quieting can be generated by a silent scream demanding the wandering mind go away, but it may be only temporary in nature. Even though we feel cheated of our opportunity to truly communicate through the spirit, we are left alone in our discouragement unless we find ways to return to close union with God.
--Leslie D. Weatherhead
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