Árdís - 01.01.1954, Síða 61

Ársrit Bandalags lúterskra kvenna
59
at Valley Forge for the new-born Republic when its death in the
cradle seemed inevitable. Abraham Lincoln spent three hours in
his bedchamber with God when the forces from the North and
South met at Gettysburg. Woodrow Wilson and his Cabinet had
a prayer meeting in the Capitol at Washington when the war
clouds were gathering in 1917. Martin Luther spent the whole night
in prayer before meeting the Diet of Worms. That gave him the
indomitable courage which enabled him to say in the presence of
enemies: “Here I stand. I cannot do otherwise, so help me God.
Amen.” He was not alone—God was with him and that sufficed.
Every great life and every great movement has been born of prayer.
Let us now proceed to our second question. “What should be
the substance of our prayers?” When I ask that question, I am
thinking of our whole prayer life, not of our prayers individually
considered. The first and the most important element of prayer is
thanksgiving, praise, adoration and worship. These attune our
souls to the Infinite God and prepare us for divine guidance as well
as for our own utterances at the Throne of Heavenly Grace. Thanks-
giving is paramount; but it is probably the most neglected element
of our devotional life. A story tells us about two angels who left
the portals of Heaven and came to earth, to gather up the prayers
of men. The one was the angel of petitions, the other the angel of
thanksgiving. The latter returned with his basket almost empty,
while the basket of the former was more than overflowing. Selfish-
ness is always regrettable; but it is nowhere so dangerous as in our
prayer life. A pastor once told his congregation that they should
never ask God for new blessings until they had given a receipt for
the old ones. We say “Thank you” to our friends for even the slight-
est favours. Should we feel less grateful to our Heavenly Father?
The second element of prayer should be the confesstion of our
sins. It is of vital importance that we confess our sins with our
whole heart and soul. We all have sinned and come short of the
Glory of God. Confession of sins was wholly absent in the prayers
and discourses of our Blessed Lord, because He was absolutely
sinless. He is the ONE and ONLY FAULTLESS character of the
ages. He is the one exception. All of us have need of saying with
the publican of old: “Lord, be merciful unto me, a sinner.”
The third element should be intercession. Oh, how beautiful it
is to bring our near and dear ones, our friends and acquaintances,