Good afternoon! I'm excited to share with you how my heart has been challenged over the past few days as I finished reading J.C. Ryle's "A Call to Prayer."
First off, I did finish this short book! And it was excellent. Throughout the second half of the book, Ryle really gets down to the short end of prayer - it's all about communing with God and growing in our relationship with Him. If we are not praying, we are not really living as He wants us to. I was personally challenged to "present all requests to God." Ryle posed to his readers that we can be a little apathetic in asking God to strategically place us. I couldn't have read this at a better time. Currently, my fiance and I are looking for home, and we had not been praying about this as much as we really should be. Reading this changed us. Ryle asks followers of Jesus to be asking Him where we will best serve Him and to seek out that wisdom. We need to be presenting to God our questions of where we should live, what we should be doing as for vocation, and how we can be used. God wants to use us for His will, but He longs for us to be acting in response to His calling on our lives! He knows best where He wants us and we have to listen to Him! Otherwise, we can miss out on something great for His glory and God has to work longer with us to fulfill something that could have easily been done before. I was very challenged to be asking God for wisdom in all the situations and circumstances I'm in.
Ryle finishes his discourses on our prayer life, continuing to pose the question: DO YOU PRAY? This is still not a simple question to answer, but he ends his book with a discourse to all people on the importance of prayer.
He first address those who do not pray or know God at all. He challenges them to begin to do so and to want to know God. The only way we can receive the salvation God so freely gives to us is by asking Him in prayer. How can we trust without coming to God and asking for His forgiveness? We cannot. The first writing is a call to come to the Lord and trust Him as Savior.
His second address is to those who are saved but don't pray. He exposes the lies and deceptions Satan has used to separate the beloved from God by moving them to not pray. He shows the ineffectiveness we have in our physical lives because we do not take care of our spiritual lives. There is a rich amount of wisdom in the lesson that Ryle teaches to unprayerful believers.
Lastly, Ryle encourages and strengthens the body. He urges those who pray to continue to do so and let the peace and joy of Jesus Christ continue to fill them. He blesses them to not give up but press on after the heart of God. He shows us how prayer is our lifeline and we cannot go without it. We need prayer to draw us to the Father and to heal our broken hearts.
This was a wonderful little book that shows God's heart for us to be in constant communion with Him. We cannot neglect our prayer lives, but must be adamant in seeking after the one who loves us so ferociously. And He loves us immensely! Our return of love comes through our prayers, petitions, and praises to Him! To Him be the Glory forever!
Jesus, you are the restorer and healer. You have given us so much and you fill our hearts with love! Thank you for using my brother, J.C. Ryle, to speak truth to all believers to be seeking you out. We are called to be in communion with you, and we so often neglect it. I'm sorry Father for the way I've turned from you when I knew what I needed most was you. And thank you for not condemning me, but waiting patiently on me. Forgive my trespass against you Lord and fill me with your Holy Spirit. Apart from you there is no God. Apart from you, I can do nothing of worth or of value. Show me Lord how I may glorify you in my life. Lord, I want you. I want your ways and I want to shine your light so abundantly. Be near to us Lord, shine forth your great glory, and lead us to your mighty heart! I weep much Lord, because I am loved much. And that weeping is to your glory and praise! I love you Jesus! Amen.
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