April 2

Joy in prayer

“I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy” (Phil. 1:3-4).
“And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God” (Acts 16:25).
“Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks” (1 Thess. 5:16-18).

There is no drudgery in true prayer. He to whom communion with God the Father is a task has not advanced far in grace. . . . There cannot be a more sad departure from the true spirit of prayer than to treat it as a punishment. We often feel like weeping over the millions of benighted souls to whom the gladness of prayer is perverted into sadness through sacerdotal despotism. All who through faith in Christ have boldness and access or introduction to God “make requests with joy.”
—Daniel Steele.


Go to your closet as if you were going to meet your dearest friend; cast yourself at His feet, bemoan your coldness, extol His love to you, and let your heart break with a desire to love Him. Get recollection—a dwelling within ourselves—a being abstracted from the creature and turned towards God. For want of such a frame, our times of prayer are frequently dry and useless; imagination prevails, and the heart wanders, whereas we pass easily from recollection to delightful prayer.
—John Fletcher.

He that loveth little, prayeth little; but he that loveth much, prayeth much.
—St. Augustine.

From ev’ry stormy wind that blows,
From ev’ry swelling tide of woes,
There is a calm, a sure retreat;
’Tis found beneath the mercy-seat.

There is a place where Jesus sheds
The oil of gladness on our heads—
A place than all beside more sweet;
It is the bloodstained mercy-seat. . . .

There, there on eagle wing we soar,
And time and sense seem all no more;
And Heaven comes down our souls to greet,
And glory crowns the mercy-seat.
—Hugh Stowell.

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