Mental Prayer for January 11, Christ, Prayer, and Myself

Mental Prayer Meditation Helps

Presence of God

Grace I Ask: To see and understand Christ as the model of prayer for a person my age.

The Idea: I'm going to look into the daily life of this young man of Nazareth. (Not too quickly, because I've got to give my imagination time to work.) Did Christ at 15 or 17 or 19 spend time praying as I am now? Certainly He did. He knew how important prayer was. How often every day He must have talked to the Father and the Holy Spirit. I can't even imagine what great prayer it was. Yet basically it's the same as my prayer: talking to God. And it's not necessarily
long prayers I see in His life, but a spirit of prayer. He never gets very far from His Father. Every morning He offers all His works, joys, and difficul­ties of the day to His Father. Every evening He thanks His Father for all He has given Him during the day.

My Personal Application: This I can do. I'm doing it right now. Of course, I can learn to pray better - not necessarily to pray more or longer, but better. I can get to know Christ and the Father better, and when I do, I'll be able to talk to them better and my prayer will make more of a differ­ence in my life, and in the lives of all those­ - more than I know - whom that prayer affects.

I Speak to Christ: Teach me, Lord, to understand the value of prayer. Help me to learn more about you and the Father and the Holy Spirit so my prayer will be better and my life more like yours because of it.

Thought for Today: Lord, teach me to pray.
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Adapted from Mental Prayer, Challenge to the Lay Apostle
by The Queen's Work,(© 1958)