Mental Prayer for January 25, God-Centered

Mental Prayer Meditation Helps

Presence of God

Grace I Ask: To know and love the true life which Christ teaches me in word and example.

Mental Picture: Christ... sending out His follow­ers... to help men save themselves... outlining a three-step plan... the direct opposite of Satan's:

(1) Teach men to detach themselves from riches: "Blessed are the poor in spirit";
(2) Teach them to stop worrying about what others say and think of them: "Blessed are you when men shall per­secute you and calumniate you and say all manner of evil against you for my name's sake" ;
(3) And so help men to learn to center their lives on God, serving God in their neighbor.

My Personal Application: To forget about worldly possessions, forget about what others say or think of me, and so to climb to the height of perfect selflessness - this is Christ's plan to make me a better Christian in any state of life I choose.

This is hard strategy to live by, but the more I can find the strength to live by it, the more I can confound the devil and make my life more like Christ's. If I can forget about getting things for myself, be ready to put up with being forgotten, even hated or laughed at by the world for Christ's sake, then I will find in myself the strength of character to do some real good for the world.

I Speak to Christ: Dear Christ, you, after spend­ing your whole life for others, ended up without a cent, and died in terrible disgrace. You got no reward on this earth at all. Teach me, whatever work I do in this life, to keep from wasting my effort chasing after these cheap, worldly rewards. I want to be able to live a life like yours - a life completely empty of self-seeking, aimed only at serving God and helping my neighbor for God's sake. Call me to serve in your army, under your banner, the cross.

Thought for Today: "Take up your cross daily and follow me."
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Adapted from Mental Prayer, Challenge to the Lay Apostle
by The Queen's Work,(© 1958)