Monday, December 29, 2008

Newton's Struggle with Prayer :: Desiring God

Do you struggle to pray regularly? You're not alone. Piper posted the following on his blog today...

imageIf you knew the struggles of the greatest of saints you might be heartened to press on in prayer in 2009.

John Newton (1725-1807)—slave trader, convert to Christ, author of “Amazing Grace,” pastor, fellow struggler—on a morning in April sometime between 1752 and 1756 wrote this:

Prayed over a part of the eighth of Romans in a way of paraphrase with some readiness. I greatly fail in the duty of meditation and am forced to use some artifice with myself to do it at all; thus sometimes I turn them into a prayer form, sometimes I suppose myself in imaginary conversation, sometimes that I am called upon to speak to a point. 

Without something of this sort I am not able to engage myself to attend with any fixedness of thought, and with it, alas! how seldom, I would remember to pray for grace and direction in this matter that my delight may be in the Law of God to meditate therein day and night. (John Newton, 91)

Newton's Struggle with Prayer :: Desiring God

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I agree the hardest strugle we have in our relation in the Lord, is commnicating with Him. But as for me, my best time is If I awake in the night, it seems to work for me.

Anonymous said...

Oh, yes, I share this struggle! The problem with praying in bed, at night, is that I quickly fall asleep, without finishing my prayer. I don't know whether the devil is putting me to sleep, or if God can get past my feeble efforts better, if I'm not awake.