04/12/2024
This morning in our time of devotion let’s remind ourselves that prayer is not just a method of asking God for earthly things, and relief from worldly problems, but much more. Prayer is the beautiful avenue along which we travel to seek spiritual comfort and enlightenment as we ask our Father for divine blessings and desires. Prayer not only rescues us, and provides for us, but it also refreshes us in every way… none more importantly than the peace and refreshment of our souls as they are made new by it.
"God draws very close to the praying soul. To see God, know God, and Live for God - these form the objective of all true prayer. So, to those who pray like this, the Bible becomes a new discovery, and Christ a new Savior by the light and revelation gained through your prayers." – E.M. Bounds
I think of the instances when preparing to read scripture that I have asked for God to reveal Himself through His Word. Then, as I read, I discovered new truths in old scripture I have studied before. When I was younger we occasionally sang a hymn in Church titled "New Every Morning Is the Love" and although every word blesses me, the one verse that brings this hymn (and prayer) to mind says this...
"New mercies, each returning day,
Hover around us while we pray;
New perils past, new sins forgiven,
New thoughts of God, new hopes of heaven."
This is an old poem/hymn that was written by John Keble, a priest, poet, and Oxford professor, in 1822, but if we meditate on its words they will thrill and convict us even today. I have included the lyrics in their entirety below because they are such a blessing, and more than worth our reading, consideration, and perhaps our singing.
New Every Morning is the Love
By John Keble
New every morning is the love
Our wakening and uprising prove,
Through sleep and darkness safely brought,
Restored to life and power and thought.
New mercies, each returning day,
Hover around us while we pray,
New perils past, new sins forgiven,
New thoughts of God, new hopes of heaven.
If, on our daily course, our mind
Be set to hallow all we find,
New treasures still, of countless price,
God will provide for sacrifice.1
Old friends, old scenes, will lovelier be,
As more of heaven in each we see;
Some softening gleam of love and prayer
Shall dawn on every cross and care.
We need not bid, for cloistered cell,
Our neighbor and our words farewell,
Nor strive to find ourselves too high
For sinful man beneath the sky.
The trivial round, the common task,
Will furnish all we ought to ask,
Room to deny ourselves, a road
To bring us daily nearer God.
Seek we no more; content with these,
Let present rapture, comfort, ease,
As heaven shall bid them, come and go;
The secret this of rest below.
Only, O Lord, in Thy dear love,
Fit us for perfect rest above,
And help us, this and every day,
To live more nearly as we pray.
So, Keble tells us, as does the Bible, that God reveals new visions of himself at the bequest of our prayers and often during the very act of praying. The Lord leads us to new truths and revelations in scripture we have read many times before; He speaks to our very souls imparting new thoughts and ways of seeking and serving Him. There is no end to His wonder revealed through our prayers... and hymns.
Let's not limit our prayer life to worldly needs and desires; enlarging instead the perspective of our requests to heavenly rewards and to our greater faith and quest for a fuller life with Christ. Bounds said "God draws very close to the praying soul" but I like to say that the veil between ourselves, heaven, and God grows exceedingly thin during prayer... What better time to whisper our innermost needs, secrets, and desires to God?
This morning during prayer let's ask for God to reveal himself more completely to us. Let's press our face into the sheerness of the veil and ask for blessings of heavenly consequence.
Prayer:
Father, thank you for the sheer veil between heaven and earth that has been woven so tenderly by the hands of prayer. Thank you for your Word, and breath, that pass so easily through it to enter our hearts and nostrils with their refreshing taste and the sweet scent of love and life we find in you. Oh the joy of pressing our faces into this silken garment that subtly clothes the bride, and raises the groom’s desire. Oh the anticipation of answered prayer that binds us, the ones who whisper them to you Father, and you, the giver of all life and every divine gift. Hear our prayers Oh Lord, and lift the veil just long enough to slip your blessed answers through. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who has, and does, and will always, be the answer to our prayers. Magnificent are you to whom our Savior Jesus prays in intercession for us, and amazing is your love that called Him to Calvary where He prayed these faithful words: “Forgive them Father for they know not what they do.” Lift and strengthen our faith in prayer Abba, and cover us in the redeeming blood of your Son Jesus as we kneel humbly before you. Find pleasure in us as we bow down, and prostrate ourselves before you in fervent prayer. Refresh our souls, and call us your own, even when we speak in the soft and low voices of whispered prayer. Give us peace in the night as we continue on, and as our hearts seek rest in you. Praised be your name for hearing our never-ending prayer, and amazing is your mercy and grace that give wings to them, and to your answers that are returned to us.
Make us new every morning Father, and refresh us throughout our lives, and into the prayerful expanse of eternity beyond. Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Great are you who bends low from Heaven to hear the raspy words of the weakest, and most feeble of our prayers. Merciful are you for every new dawn.
Amen!
Rich Forbes