I have always found that Brother Lawrence encourages us not to be discouraged by our sins. Instead he encourages us to pray for the mercy and the grace of our loving God, for God never fails when offering us His grace. Approach the Lord each day in complete confidence that He will provide us with sufficient grace at every moment of our day. We don’t pray, in other words, that the Lord might give us what we need, for the Lord will always give us what we need in each decision and action of our day. So all the more reason to begin our day in prayer asking the Lord for His grace so that we may serve Him confidently at every moment. God never fails is BL’s message, and this is something he “distinctly perceived” of God at every turn. Only when he wandered from a sense of God’s Presence did BL forget about God’s help.
Paul speaks in 2 Corinthians about “a thorn that was given to me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me…and three times I appealed to the Lord about this, that it would leave me, but the Lord said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness’” 2 Corinthians 12:7-9. Every day, then, we can know of God’s sufficient grace, His grace that provides for our every need. Indeed, the grace of our loving God is God giving us what we need, not what we deserve. So we can lean on the grace of God every moment. But daily prayer and meditation on His Presence is essential for our daily life, as is the sufficient grace of God. Our awareness of God’s Presence throughout the day comes out of our prayer and meditation. We all have “thorns in our side” that remind us of our weakness and of our utter need to lean on the Lord and His grace. Prayer cannot be just a good idea, then, but the first and most essential part of our day, for in our prayer time with the Lord we are “awakened” to His Presence, and our hearts are turned towards the Divine love of God throughout our day. “Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with thanksgiving” Paul reminds us in Colossians 4:2, and “17 pray without ceasing, 18 giving thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” 1 Thessalonians 5:17-18.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner.
From the Bible:
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God” Philippians 4:6.
“The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth” Psalm 145:18.
“Praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication” Ephesians 6:18.
“Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise” James 5:13.
“Pray without ceasing” 1 Thessalonians 5:17.
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened” Matthew 7:7-8.
"When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed” John 17:1-26.
“And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart” Luke 18:1.
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