Pray inwardly, even if you do not enjoy it.
It does good, though you feel nothing.
Yes, even though you think you are doing nothing.
Prayer is not overcoming God's reluctance.
It is laying hold of His willingness.
This is our Lord's will, ... that our prayer and our trust be, alike, large.
For if we do not trust as much as we pray,
we fail in full worship to our Lord in our prayer;
and also we hinder and hurt ourselves.
The reason is that we do not know truly
that our Lord is the ground from which our prayer springeth;
nor do we know that it is given us by his grace and his love.
If we knew this, it would make us trust
to have of our Lord's gifts all that we desire.
For I am sure that no man asketh mercy and grace with sincerity,
without mercy and grace being given to him first.
It does good, though you feel nothing.
Yes, even though you think you are doing nothing.
Prayer is not overcoming God's reluctance.
It is laying hold of His willingness.
This is our Lord's will, ... that our prayer and our trust be, alike, large.
For if we do not trust as much as we pray,
we fail in full worship to our Lord in our prayer;
and also we hinder and hurt ourselves.
The reason is that we do not know truly
that our Lord is the ground from which our prayer springeth;
nor do we know that it is given us by his grace and his love.
If we knew this, it would make us trust
to have of our Lord's gifts all that we desire.
For I am sure that no man asketh mercy and grace with sincerity,
without mercy and grace being given to him first.
~Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love
Dear Lord, I beg for the grace to truly know that my prayer is given to me by Your grace and Your love. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment