Infirmities In Prayer

As the fir tree
Lifts itself heavenward,
With a different need,
Than the palm tree;
So does each believer,
Lift a distinct humanity
To the common Father;
And for each, He has
A unique response:
For within every lamb,
He has placed,
The secret of
The new name:
A blossom;
And a perfection;
Foreseen by  God,
From the beginning;
Because He made it so.


Tonight, my friends, I WANT to consider  the weaknesses and frailties that sometimes seem to beset us when we commune with our Heavenly Father in prayer. We all suffer from the infirmities of the flesh; which, in their course, often lead to infirmities of the spirit; and these, always seem to show - up first in our prayer life. Who among us  has not had the weight of this world fall on us, and sometimes, crush our spirits and dampen our prayers? It is then, my friends, especially then, that we must seek His grace and mercy all the more diligently.

The prayers
Of the righteous,
Come before Him,
As holy incense:
Wafting in coils
Of fragrant sacrifice,
Up to the heavenlies;
Rising on the thermals
Of an unutterable love,
Afire in the soul
Of the redeemed;
Tended, and stirred,
To an impassioned blaze,
By the Spirit of God;
And fed commonly,
Morning and evening,
By fresh coals
From the altar
Of Golgatha.

The coals, can be wetted down, however, by our own frailties; any number of which can lead to a weakness of appetite for prayer. We may realize this weakness if we contrast it with the strength of the appeal revealed in our other activities -------- perhaps, when we turn to pray there is no effective driving taste in our fellowship. And the taste for a thing is always a mighty dynamic.  Yet when we are laid low, we can be oppressed by a spirit indifference, and rather than rush to His arms, we loiter in the hallway.

A loss of appetite, will soon lead to a weakness of faith.  Real faith is a fountain of boundless energy  -------  when we pray to the Lord, His possibilities should thrill our souls? Yet when our souls have been crushed, we are not uplifted by the assurances of Almighty God.

Even when we do go to the divine treasury we frequently ask for the smallest things. We do not honor our great God by the greatness or the expansiveness of our quests. “We ask amiss  -------  we ask Him for things that matter least. We neglect the things that are all-important. We emphasize the temporal rather than the eternal. We choose the earthly instead of the heavenly. We emphasize goods more than goodness, and we are more concerned with bodily health than with spiritual robustness. And all the time the big things are waiting, above all that we can ask or think.

Often, when we are stressed or grieving, there is little range of concerns and sympathies in our intercessions  -------  we do not struggle with God for the great needs outside our personal circle;  powerful saints -- prayer warriors -- have a range that touches joys and sorrows to the uttermost parts of the earth -- while our prayers lack a depth and range if we pray only for that which concerns us, or our small circle.

Frequently when I pray I am face to face with problems for which I can see no solution. I cannot see all round the thing, and I “know not what to pray for as I ought  -------  here, The Spirit also helpeth our infirmities, and most assuredly He helps us in the midst of all our shortcomings, our weaknesses, and our frailties. Wherever the soul stumbles in its frailties, the Holy Spirit, if we permit Him, will bring the needful help.

He strengthens the very prayers we make. He knows what weak things we are, even at the best. Perhaps my body is itself a hindrance. I have a hard day’s work, and I am tired out, and I have scarcely the physical or mental vigour to fix my thoughts upon the Highest. My evening prayer is very weak, and has little promise of effectiveness. But surely just here the Holy Spirit will help my infirmities by adding strength to my petitions; and as He is no respecter of persons, what He does for one lamb, He will most assuredly do for all.

More than this, my friends, I believe the Holy Spirit corrects our prayers. We may pray in our shortsightedness. But the Holy Spirit, who knows the mind of God, puts aside our own petition and intercedes for what will bring us the gift of God’s wonderful grace.

And thus are we saved from the peril of our own limitations, and better things are given to us than we desired. Our Lord watches our interests rather than our words, and the gracious answer that comes to us is inspired by His understanding of all things, yea, even of the deep things of God.

God's presence,
Is a radiating Fire -
- A Divine Energy -
That all believers
Are meant to absorb;
As the desert sands,
Soak up the rain
Of a spring thunderstorm:
This silent, prayerful,
Soaking of the soul,
Invites the love
Of our Heavenly Father,
To seep ever so deeply,
Into the inner core
Of our being;
To bring His healing;
And our renewal.

Amen.