'In the Beatitudes Jesus voiced the words which directly bear upon the innate desires of a renewed soul, and the promise that they will be granted: "Blessed are they that do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled."
This, then, is the basis of prayer which compels an answer -- that strong inward desire has entered into the spiritual appetite, and clamours to be satisfied. Alas for us! It is altogether too true and frequent, that our prayers operate in the arid region of a mere wish, or in the leafless area of a memorized prayer. Sometimes, indeed, our prayers are merely stereotyped expressions of set phrases, and conventional proportions, the freshness and life of which have departed long years ago.'
Quoted from- 'THE NECESSITY OF PRAYER By E.M. BOUNDS' (Excerpt 21)
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HUNGER and THRIST. We all know what it means to hunger and thirst, don't we? It's not something you ignore, it's something you desire to be sated. You want your hunger to be filled, you want your thirst to quenched, you don't desire to keep hungering and thirsting you seek to take care of that. When we hunger and thirst after CHRIST'S righteousness, we are seeking for that to filled. And this hunger and thirst is something we must CONSTANTLY FEEL and FILL! Christ will fill our need with HIS righteousness, but we have to truly desire it, it has to be a HUNGER in us, it has to be a THIRST in us!
Do our prayers 'operate in the arid region of a mere wish'? Are we simply wishing for things without any REAL desire, real thirst and hunger? You know what I mean, we wish for various things, and then we desire things. You've wished for things, most of us have wished upon blowing out birthday candles, but do we truly wish with a fervent desire? I can wish for a nice day outside, but unless I have something truly important planned for outside, I seldom wish for a nice day with a fervent desire. So, I ask again, do our prayers 'operate in the arid region of a mere wish'? Are we wishing without any real conviction?
Or do our prayers operate 'in the leafless area of memorized prayer'? When we are growing up our parents will often teach us to pray by using memorized prayers, you know what I'm talking about- 'Now I lay me down to sleep…' and 'God is good, God is great…' Then as we get a little older we learn the Lord's Prayer- 'Our Father which art in heaven…' And even more prayers we can learn by heart and find ourselves using as we communicate with our Lord and Savior. But we need hunger and thirst, we need DESIRE in our prayer.
Please LORD, fill us with the desire we need to hunger and thirst after You, after Your righteousness! We would be filled by YOU! Please LORD, by YOUR GRACE! YOUR LOVE, YOUR MERCY! ALWAYS!
This, then, is the basis of prayer which compels an answer -- that strong inward desire has entered into the spiritual appetite, and clamours to be satisfied. Alas for us! It is altogether too true and frequent, that our prayers operate in the arid region of a mere wish, or in the leafless area of a memorized prayer. Sometimes, indeed, our prayers are merely stereotyped expressions of set phrases, and conventional proportions, the freshness and life of which have departed long years ago.'
Quoted from- 'THE NECESSITY OF PRAYER By E.M. BOUNDS' (Excerpt 21)
*******
HUNGER and THRIST. We all know what it means to hunger and thirst, don't we? It's not something you ignore, it's something you desire to be sated. You want your hunger to be filled, you want your thirst to quenched, you don't desire to keep hungering and thirsting you seek to take care of that. When we hunger and thirst after CHRIST'S righteousness, we are seeking for that to filled. And this hunger and thirst is something we must CONSTANTLY FEEL and FILL! Christ will fill our need with HIS righteousness, but we have to truly desire it, it has to be a HUNGER in us, it has to be a THIRST in us!
Do our prayers 'operate in the arid region of a mere wish'? Are we simply wishing for things without any REAL desire, real thirst and hunger? You know what I mean, we wish for various things, and then we desire things. You've wished for things, most of us have wished upon blowing out birthday candles, but do we truly wish with a fervent desire? I can wish for a nice day outside, but unless I have something truly important planned for outside, I seldom wish for a nice day with a fervent desire. So, I ask again, do our prayers 'operate in the arid region of a mere wish'? Are we wishing without any real conviction?
Or do our prayers operate 'in the leafless area of memorized prayer'? When we are growing up our parents will often teach us to pray by using memorized prayers, you know what I'm talking about- 'Now I lay me down to sleep…' and 'God is good, God is great…' Then as we get a little older we learn the Lord's Prayer- 'Our Father which art in heaven…' And even more prayers we can learn by heart and find ourselves using as we communicate with our Lord and Savior. But we need hunger and thirst, we need DESIRE in our prayer.
Please LORD, fill us with the desire we need to hunger and thirst after You, after Your righteousness! We would be filled by YOU! Please LORD, by YOUR GRACE! YOUR LOVE, YOUR MERCY! ALWAYS!
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