Learning to Pray

by Susan Sampson

Prone to wander, Lord I feel it!  Prone to leave the God I love!  Come, Lord Jesus, fountain of every blessing, and tune my heart to sing your grace.  I am a debtor to your grace.  I was dead in my trespasses and sins in which I once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air…living in the passions of my flesh and carrying out the desires of my body and my mind.  I was a child of wrath.  But you, Lord, being rich in mercy and because of your great love have made me alive with Christ!  (Eph. 2:1-4)

I was separated from Christ…having no hope and without God.  But you have brought me near! (Eph. 2:12-13)  May your goodness, like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to you.  Thank you, Jesus, my Good Shepherd, for seeking me when I was separated from you and running my hell bound race.  Thank you for delivering me from the domain of darkness and transferring me to the kingdom of your beloved Son, in whom I have redemption and the forgiveness of sins. (Col. 1:13-14)  This is exactly why I can pray and must be praying.

My heart needs a tune up, Lord.  I desperately need your grace.  I need you, the master mechanic, the Great Physician, to change my heart.  Thank you for your promise in Deuteronomy 30:6 in which you promise to do this very thing: “And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.”

O Father, how I thank you for this study on prayer, In the Garden.  How I thank you for teaching me how to pray.  Please give us all the grace we need to surrender our hearts to you.  Please draw us near.  Keep us close.  Hide us under the shelter of your wings.  Lord, my spirit is willing, but my flesh is weak.  Help us all put our flesh to death.  Help us to walk in the Spirit, not giving into the passions of our flesh in which we used to walk.  The old has gone and the new has come!  Help us to fix our eyes on Jesus, the mount of God’s redeeming love.

“Here’s my heart, O take and seal it; seal it for thy courts above.”
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4 replies
    • Thistlebend says:

      Dear Jo-
      Thank you for taking the time to comment. Praying for you as you seek Him. May the Lord bless your time in prayer with Him!

      The Thistlebend Team

  2. Jim says:

    As long as I can remember, even when I had no real thoughts of God, I remember thinking how thankful I was for my family and how happy I was for having all of them in my life and believed there was someone, somewhere to thank. Now as an adult, I believe the one we need to thank is Jesus!!!

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