D. M. McIntyre
“The Hidden Life of Prayer”
When my son, Paul, was about three, he kept trying to tell me something. I was distracted by the newspaper, and he knew I wasn’t listening. He climbed onto the arm of my chair, took my chin in his small hand, and turned my head toward his face so he could know that I was listening to what he was trying to tell me. That gesture remains in my mind for more than 40 years. Have you ever raised the question my son asked his father? “Father, are you listening to your child? Please hear me.”
We all need reassurance that God hears us when we call. However, that reassurance requires complete trust in the Father who tells us He will hear us. We don’t have to draw His attention to us because He has promised to ever listen as Jesus reminded us about the sparrow. God always listens to His child and He will faithfully answer our prayers, perhaps not with the answer we expect or as soon as we might want, but the answer is on the way.
There is much help in a small volume that I have mentioned before, The Hidden Life of Prayer by D. M. McIntyre. McIntyre was a Scottish pastor who was known as a man whose prayer life was extraordinary.
He shares so much, but I mention only one part—“The Hidden Riches of the Secret Place.” He quotes from The Return of Prayers by Jeremy Taylor, “Prayer is the peace of our spirits, the stillness of our thoughts, the evenness of our recollection, the seat of our meditation, the rest of our cares, and the calm of our tempest.”
He tells of the French Protestant, Seguier, condemned to death. When mockingly asked by one of the guards how he felt, Seguier replied, “My soul is as a garden, full of shelter and fountains.” Oh what peace we often forfeit….
What a wonderful read this is. You can get your copy at http://www.cbd.com
Melvin Merritt
August 2006 - The Journey
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