Luke 6:12 And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. There are three classes of minds which are in danger of making too long prayers. 1. One is the loose, unconcentrative, who cumber thoughts with many words, and make vain, i.e., empty, repetitions of the same idea. 2. Another consists of those who, mistaking the nature of importunity, think that the more they say, the more they shall get — not seeing that in so doing they are virtually making their prayers a purchase-price, which they present in payment of what they ask — and forgetting, or not considering, the true character of prayer — that it is only the opening channel in a man's mind, through which God may pour out into that mind His preordained and ready gifts. 3. And the third are they who, with a superstitious feeling, think that God will be angry if their prayers do not go to a certain extent, and so, in their intercourse with God, they stretch their prayers to a degree either inconsistent with their other duties, or incompatible with their own health. They do not know that oftentimes the very best prayer we ever pray, is not to pray, but to cast ourselves simply on the love of God. The general rule is, pray according to the condition of your heart. Do not let the prayer strain the thoughts, but let the thoughts determine and regulate the prayer. Pray as you feel drawn in prayer — or, in other words, as the Spirit of God in you leads and dictates. Nevertheless, the holler a man is, and the nearer heaven — the more, and the more continuously that man will be able to commune with God. (J. Vaughan, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. |
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