Magnificent Prayer #295
Magnificent Prayer #295
I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.
John 15:1
Open wide every avenue of your being to receive the blessed influences your Divine Husbandman may bring to bear upon you. Bask in the sunshine of His love. Drink in the waters of His goodness. Keep your face upturned to Him. You need make no efforts to grow. But let your efforts instead be all concentrated on this, that you abide in the Vine.
HANNAH WHITALL SMITH
Pray About It: One of the conditions that Jesus put on prayer was that we abide in Him and His words abide in us.
Today, turn your face toward Him. Be planted in Him. Make no effort to grow. Growing happens naturally, not by effort. This is especially true in the spiritual life. Simply abide and pray with confidence. God will take care of the rest.
The Holy Spirit reveals our needs to us. This is always the first element in prayer: a painful consciousness of failure and necessity. The Spirit of prayer is the spirit of dependence and conscious need.
A. B. SIMPSON
From the book
