Starving Prayer Col. 1:3

Starving Prayer

"We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you"

(Col. 1:3).

I am as certain as I am standing here, that the secret of much mischief to our own souls, and to the souls of others, lies in the way that we stint, and starve, and scamp our prayers, by hurrying over them.

Prayer worth calling prayer:

Prayer that God will call true prayer and will treat as true prayer, takes far more time, by the clock, than one man in a thousand thinks. After all that the Holy Ghost has done to make true prayer independent of times, and of places, and of all kinds of instruments and assistances,--as long as we remain in this unspiritual and undevotional world, we shall not succeed, to be called success, in prayer, without time, and times, and places, and other assistances in prayer.

Take good care that you are not spiritual overmuch in the matter of prayer. Take good care lest you take your salvation far too softly, and far too cheaply.

If you find your life of prayer to be always so short, and so easy, and so spiritual, as to be without cost and strain and sweat to you, you may depend upon it, you are not yet begun to pray.

As sure as you sit there, and I stand here, it is just in this matter of time in prayer that so many of us are making shipwreck of our own souls, and of the souls of others.

Alexander Whyte

How could I have missed this post? It's speaks volumes.

As it says in Col 1v3, '...praying always...'

Rushing prayer? Plead guilty.

Not enough time in prayer? Guilty again.

It always feels like when you have ended your prayer time, that you haven't prayed enough.

We can't pray too much. Too little, but not too much.

We need God so much.

Thanks for the post.

It is always for me to be quality, not quantity.

Could it not be that quantity is a quality?

We are to pray always for it is in prayer that we come to know the desires of His heart. If our prayer becomes method of any sort, we become a slave to the method, and miss that which He would have us do by the mere fact that we have our eyes on the method and not on Him.

What is it to us how He has chosen to perform that which He would have us to do?

Will God hear you any different if you are praying for 15 or 30 minutes than praying for two hours?

Brother, maybe that is the issue ... we are doing all the talking.

As sure as you sit there, and I stand here, it is just in this matter of time in prayer that so many of us are making shipwreck of our own souls, and of the souls of others.

It's true and I am guilty. Too often it is for this very reason;

[i]If you find your life of prayer to be always so short, and so easy, and so spiritual, as to be without cost and strain and sweat to you, you may depend upon it, you are not yet begun to pray.[/i]

"Without cost and strain and sweat". Sometimes that price is more than I wish to pay ... so I opt out early. This must change once again, this drifting in and out of it, some weeks go on well for a season and then ... some other distraction, compulsion ... book, article takes up this time. The difference is notable as he suggests and yet knowing that ...

Alexander Whyte is on a completely different level when we are talking about prayer. Would recommend no only anything, but everything that he has to say on the matter.

Thanks for bringing this up.

This Idea of Praying without ceasing gives insight to how great and infinite God truly is.

If the universe is still expanding an God is the One that spoke it into existence, He is still in control of all that is be created in the expansion.

At over 186,000 miles per/sec, which is the speed of Light. What did God say? "Let there be light", and there was light. That Light is still expanding at the speed of light. Where is it going? Beyond our comprehension. He created the earth, man, animals, water, etc. and He is still in control of every molecule, atom, quark, etc. If not nothing would exist.

You say what does this have to do with prayer? He is in control of all that I am, and even has the hairs on my head numbered, and knows when a sparrow falls. I am in Him by the Christ that is born again in me. That makes me always in the mind of God. His thoughts are of me continuously, for He holds all that I am together by His own power. Paul said, "pray without ceasing", how is this possible? The same way Gods thoughts are on each of us continuously, without ceasing and He controls all that He has created and is creating at this moment.

Jesus said, "He and His Father were One", did He need to be alone with His Father in prayer even though He was One with Him, Yes, scripture is plain. Also God said, "He whose mind is kept on me, I will keep him in perfect peace". The peace of God and our understanding of peace are two different things, "great drops of blood in the garden", "yet not my will but yours be done".

So we can be in Oneness without ceasing with God and our minds must come to know this or we have no concept of how to pray without ceasing. There are special times when God wants to be alone with me, and the same goes for us all, and there are times I want to be alone with Him, just like Jesus Christ who said, "He and His Father were One. By the Christ in us so are we One with Him and the Father and the Holy Spirit.

24-7-365 and all eternity, in Oneness with the God of the Universe. That is prayer without ceasing, He knows our needs before we even ask, the answer is already on the way. The special sweet times God wants to be alone with just me, WoW, This I don't understand and have to work hard to believe, but it is true, for I know I want to be alone in worship too, with, for and in Him, which is sweet to Him. Look at David's prayers, God wants us after His own heart also. That is when the tears flow when we feel that fellowship of prayer and worship which is the true desire of our heart, which is Christ and with a Father who love us so much, "For God so loved the world", sealed by the Holy Spirit into this relationship, One with God. Amen

What a Father, In Christ: Phillip

24-7-365 and all eternity, in Oneness with the God of the Universe.

From everlasting to everlasting.

I have not read anything from Alexander Whyte, I haven't heard of him. I will look into that.

Nor had I up until a couple of months back. Here is something that pastorfrin also brought forth that will get you going brother;

[url=https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=20793&forum=34]LORD, TEACH US To Pray By ALEXANDER WHYTE[/url]

My son, give me thy heart. Proverbs 23.26.
Be still and know that I am God. Psalms 46:10

Everyone here knows when God does not hear us and when our heart cry comes out of a wicked heart of unbelief. (Ex14: 15)

[u]Tell me the truth[/u], if in prayer God got a hold of your heart, if you really got a hold of Him, would you walk away after a few minutes? A few hours? What are we thinking like? Is prayer like a letter you write off and drop in some mail box, trusting that almost 100% of the time it will get there? What view of God is that?

Why is it so easy to scratch our heads about a Christian who has little interest in Bible study (to know what God has said), and then to pass this over when it comes to prayer?

"It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing." (Jno. 6:63.) How is it that we know there is an anointing in preaching and do not know that in prayer?

Let there be silence in every pulpit in the land, let every member pray and wait on You, Your presence. And those that don’t pray and wait, let them go home.

We who do not pray as we ought, as history clearly teaches, as testimony confirms, as Your Word teaches, [u]we are at fault[/u]. Your call to prayer was clear. Long ago. But we answer half heartedly, or we answer intermittently when some bible verse stirs us up, or some message preached or read, or when some report of history is noted, or some current news of greater out-rage comes to us. We do not persevere. Some other duty in the world calls us. Some good thing. Or worse. Our flesh calls us out of our closets. How many times have the heavens been stretched over us, weighted down like a great, spread-out sheet, bowed-down, strained to the point of bursting with the weight of rivers of living water from on high, and we did not pierce through with our cry. Have you seen that? We are at fault. If we cannot get through to You, get through to us. Pierce the heavens and come down.

Even the walking dead know and sing about it: “Sinner-man, you should have been a-praying.”

From Christian Fellowship Publishers Daily Devotional: “July 11th - The Lord My Portion by Watchman Nee Oh, God wants them to see that the Holy Spirit alone can wield the Sword of the Spirit (which is the word and truth of God)”. This is as true in prayer as it is in preaching. We are at fault.

Sorry. This touched me deeply last week and I know my sin in this. And today I see this thread. So…there it is. (Hello Pastorfrin)

Tell me the truth, if in prayer God got a hold of your heart, if you really got a hold of Him, would you walk away after a few minutes? A few hours? What are we thinking like?

2 Tim. 3:1-4
This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. [2] For men shall be lovers of their own selves,....[3]....[4]..... lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;

:-(