Pray On

Larry Doyle Crenshaw

MeditationsInLight.Blogspot.com

With text written in 1818 by James Montgomery, and with music arising from the American campground movement, one of our great hymns proclaims that Prayer Is the Soul’s Sincere Desire.  Two lines from the original text assure us that prayer is for both saint and sinner.

Prayer is the Christian’s vital breath,
The Christian’s native air,
His watchword at the gates of death;
He enters Heav’n with prayer.

Prayer is the contrite sinner’s voice,
Returning from his ways,
While angels in their songs rejoice
And cry, “Behold, he prays!”

(http://cyberhymnal.org/htm/p/r/prayeris.htm)

Our communion with God through prayer keeps us connected not only with heaven above, but with things of the Spirit here below. Through prayer we tap into other-worldly power that emanates from Our Father in Heaven.  Hence, we pray to our Father, in the name of His Son, and do so by the power of the Holy Spirit. Thus, in a sense, prayer is always a group process involving ourselves, and one which invokes and requests the attention of Higher Beings whose purpose it is to teach us, bless us, and empower us.

We seem to live in a world that increasingly denies the power of prayer and often seeks to disconnect such activity from governments which, in many cases, were founded upon Godly principles, including prayer.  It is no wonder then that with a lessening of divine petitions, we are increasingly left to our own, often inadequate, devices.

Prayer is not a hard skill to master.  The Master, Himself, showed the way.  Yet prayer does invoke certain internal tasks that taxes our character, at least in basic terms – humility, willing and consistent obedience to divine law, patience, a desire for the welfare of others, repentance, faith, and love of God to name just a few.  Ironically, these very traits which come as we sacrifice our natural selves on God’s altar, are, themselves, enhanced and enlarged by the prayerful process.

While we will not feel perfected in these attributes in the near term, with prayer as our sincere desire and our daily avocation, we, someday, will, having done all within our power to become like our Father, become worthy enough to be called up on high and perfected enough to dwell with Him.

Our meditational verse explores one other aspect of prayer – that of persistence.  Heartfelt, persistent prayer is often required, because of or despite one’s past or current challenges.   Many religious dogmas encourage prayer several times a day.  In one sense of the concept, it is appropriate to consider living our life as a continual prayer unto God.  It is in that sense that we invoke a scene from an ancient American text where we are reminded to persistently…Pray On!

Pray On

And it came to pass that when Jesus had thus prayed unto the Father, he came unto his disciples, and behold, they did still continue, without ceasing, to pray unto him; and they did not multiply many words, for it was given unto them what they should pray, and they were filled with desire...  And Jesus said unto them: Pray on….

Book of Mormon 3 Nephi 19:24-26

And when Jesus had prayed with great power

He came to His disciples who prayed unto Him

They pleaded sincerely, never minding the hour

And the words they voiced were given unto them

Jesus blest them as they prayed with their might

Upon them His glory and countenance did smile

And enveloped by His light, radiant and bright

They basked in His glory for yet a little while

Then, Jesus witnessing their resolve as they prayed

And rejoicing in the change they had undergone

And seeing them in light and glory all arrayed

Said, with love and compassion, “Pray on!”

While our devotions are not like those of that place

When to our knees in humble prayer we are drawn

And we too implore Heaven’s benevolence and grace

The ancient echo still whispers in our hearts, “Pray on!”

Larry Doyle Crenshaw