Thoughts for the Day

Now during these days Jesus went out to the mountain to pray; and he spent the night in prayer to God. And when day came, he called his disciples and chose twelve of them, whom he also named apostles.

(Church in Wales Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

Now own up, does your prayer life consist of a few minutes in bed before you fall asleep? Or is it a frantic plea for help when an emergency occurs? Or the desire to say morning or night prayers which doesn't consistently happen? No? Then I thank you for covering all our backs when we find it difficult to pray!

Many of us try to pray regularly, but find it difficult. Please don't feel guilty about this, because God accepts what we offer. But when we read the passage above from Luke's Gospel we are reminded that Jesus never carried out any action without taking it to God in prayer. Can we resolve at least to do this, even if we cannot spent all night in prayer?

A few people near me have committed themselves to saying Morning Prayer on line each day and no matter what happens one or two have kept this going. Their prayers of intercession have grown enormously as they cover all the needs of our world, and I am so grateful for their faithfulness. But what we need is many more people to keep praying, particularly the elderly who may feel they have nothing left to offer - you have the time to pray for everyone else - you can be prayer warriors!

Heavenly Father,
give us the desire to pray,
give us the willingness to pray,
give us the time to pray,
give us the need to pray,
and give us forgiveness when we cannot.
Amen.