Mental Prayer Meditation Helps
Presence of God
Grace I Ask: To know my deepest self.
The Idea: When the devil tricks me into sinning, he wins a battle. But he wants more than that: he wants to win the war. He wants to get me to serve wholeheartedly under his banner, so that I can join him some day in hell and bring many souls there with me. Can he ever succeed in winning over a follower of Christ? He can, and sometimes does. He does it by aiming his attacks at the deepest hidden desires of the human heart.
My Personal Application: To protect myself I have to know the deepest underlying desires of my heart, the real reasons that make me act, the things I look for in all I do. So I must examine myself honestly, searchingly, deeply (there is no one to fool but myself):
What do I really want most in all of life? Really - not just in my imaginary, heroic picture of myself, but as I really am, day by day, act by act?
What motives actually make me try my hardest and do my best? Praise? Love? Reward? Self-satisfaction?
What do I like and admire most in others? Of all the people I've ever heard of, whom do I think the most successful, admirable? Whom would I most like to be like? Why?
When I'm just daydreaming, what do I imagine myself as being, as doing? What would I like other people to say about me?
I Speak to God: Dear God, help me to see below the surface of my own thoughts and acts. The devil will use the hidden forces in me to destroy me if he can. Give me ligbt, give me strengtb, to escape his many traps.
Thought for Today: "A man's enemies are those of his own household."
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Adapted from Mental Prayer, Challenge to the Lay Apostle
by The Queen's Work,(© 1958)
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