REFLECTIONS

P rayer Is So Simple
It is like quietly opening a door
And slipping into the very presence of God,
BEYOND OUR ASKING

There in the stillness More than hearts can imagine

To listen to His voice, or minds comprehend,
Perhaps to petition God’s bountiful gifts
Or only to listen,
are ours without end.
It matters not;
Just to be there
In His presence We ask for a cupful
Is prayer! when the vast sea is ours.
We pick a small rosebud
◆ from a garden of flowers.
If we had more prayers we would have fewer cares. We reach for a sunbeam,
but the sun still abides;
◆
We draw one short breath
Prayer digs the channel from the reservoir of God’s boundless but there’s air on all sides.
resources to the tiny pools of our lives.

◆ Whatever we ask for

The one concern of the Devil is to keep the saints from prayer. He falls short of God’s giving;
fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work, prayerless For His greatness exceeds
religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom, but trembles every facet of living.
when we pray. And always God’s ready
and eager and willing
◆
To pour out His mercy,
Prayer is something you can be doing all the time, no matter what completely fulfilling
else you’re doing. It’s like thinking on your feet. All of man’s needs
◆ for peace, joy, and rest;
For God gives His children
As long as you’re calling, you can expect God to answer; as long as
you’re empty, you can be filled. whatever is best.

◆ Just give Him a chance

I don’t remember the days when to open His treasures,
sermons were timed by an hour glass on the And He’ll fill your life
pulpit, but I do recall thinking, as a small with unfathomable pleasures
boy, that what we called the “long prayer” —easures that never
seemed to go on for hours! grow worn out and faded,
The late Dr. W.E. Sangster, the well-
And leave us depleted,
known Methodist preacher, used to speak
disillusioned and jaded.
of what he called “minute prayers”—brief
prayers “shot out,” as he put it, at any For God has a storehouse
moment of the day, in a way that can keep just filled to the brim,
us in constant touch with the sense of God’s With all that man needs,
presence. There could be a lot of prayer in a if we’ll only ask Him.
few words, he suggested. —Helen Steiner Rice
 REFLECTIONS

Famous men comment on prayer Your hands,

Your eyes which guide us.
I can take my telescope and look millions and mil- —Ulrich Schaffer
lions of miles into space; but I can lay my telescope
aside, go into my room and shut the door, get down on MORE THOUGHTS ON PRAYER
my knees in earnest prayer, and I see more of Heaven By David Brandt Berg
and get closer to God than I can when assisted by all
the telescopes and material agencies on Earth. Desperate prayer that is full of faith is the most
—Sir Isaac Newton powerful weapon that we have, and can radically alter
any situation or heart.
◆
Speak to Him, thou, for He hears, ◆
And Spirit with spirit can meet— Prayer and meditation and getting alone with the
Closer is He than breathing, Lord and quiet and really dealing directly with the
And nearer than hands and feet. Lord is very necessary, because it’s kind of hard for
—Lord Alfred Tennyson Him to get through to you when your mind is filled
with the events of the day.
◆
Let the Divine Mind flow through your own mind, ◆
and you will be happier. I have found the greatest pow- It’s not how long you pray or how much you pray,
er in the world is the power of prayer. There is no shad- it’s how much you believe.
ow of doubt of that. I speak from my own experience.
—Cecil B. DeMille ◆
Prayer is powerful! When we pray, things will hap-
◆ pen and things will be different! God will answer prayer!
Your Peace
Lord, I notice how close You come to me. ◆
You step up to me Demand and expect an answer! He has promised
with Your peace, it! I know He’ll not fail, He cannot deny Himself! He
You show me is bound by His Word. Remind Him of it, cling to His
what is really important. promises, memorize and quote them continually and
never doubt for a moment that God is going to an-
I relax swer—and He will! He has to! He wants to! Trust Him
and forget all the unimportant details and thank Him for the answer, even if you don’t see
which always loom too large in my life it immediately. For behold, the trying of your faith is
in Your absence. much more precious than gold!

The experience of this hour ◆

in the midst of all that is so transitory Maybe sometimes the Lord just lets us have a prob-
is precious beyond words. lem so that He can give us the answer! He likes to have
us pray and find out we can’t always solve all our prob-
You are close to me, lems and that we need His help! After all, if we could
in my feelings, figure it all out and solve all our problems, we wouldn’t
in my mind, need Him! So the Lord lets us have a little problem now
in my spirit. and then to show us we need Him and we have to pray.
You are everywhere with Your gentleness. He likes to give us answers to remind us that we’re
You are hesitant dependent on Him and we need Him. He likes us to ap-
because You respect our freedom preciate His help and to love Him for it—like a father!
and won’t force Yourself on us.
◆
You are more than words, Thank You Lord, for answering prayer! You like to
more than any possible expression: hear us pray! You like to hear and see us manifest our love
Your closeness, and faith and dependency on Thee, and then You answer.

R11
Reflections © 1992 The Family
David Brandt Berg (1919–1994) was founder of The Family.
Visit our Web site at www.thefamily.org.

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R300 GP—March 2004 Topics: death, Heaven, loved ones waiting on the other side, faith