This weekend’s pearl of wisdom comes from a discourse on prayer by the seventeenth century English puritan, John Bunyan, who is most famous for his book Pilgrim’s Progress.
“O! the starting-holes that the heart hath in the time of prayer; none knows how many bye-ways the heart hath, and back-lanes, to slip away from the presence of God. How much pride also, if enabled with expressions. How much hypocrisy, if before others. And how little conscience is there made of prayer between God and the soul in secret, unless the Spirit of supplication be there to help? When the Spirit gets into the heart, then there is prayer indeed, and not till then.”
Bunyan reminds us that we are reliant on the Holy Spirit for our prayer life. This is an important perspective which we easily forget and therefore we often struggle to enjoy a vibrant experience of communion with God. The Holy Spirit will help you to pray, amongst other things, by shedding light on what is most needful and what is most important.
Ask God to help you to pray.
Read Romans 8:26-27.
