"MEN OUGHT ALWAYS TO PRAY AND NOT TO FAINT." So says our Lord. Prayer is always necessary for it is always profitable. But we often restrain prayer , and this is sinful. It dishonours God and hurts ourselves. In prayer we do homage to the perfections of God. We exercise faith in His omnipresence. We express our dependence on Him for our supplies. We show the sincerity of our profession. We acknowledge our poverty and deficiencies. We unburden the mind of our daily trials. We give vent to our feelings of joy and sorrow, of gratitude and grief. We confess our sins, acknowledge our backslidings, and obtain pardon and restoring grace. We give utterance to our desires, and spread our case before the Lord. Prayer is the medium of communication between God and our souls; to Him we communicate our thoughts, feelings, fears, and desires; to us He communicates light, strength, comfort, and grace. Prayer is a vital and blessed duty; it is a high privilege. Many things conspire to cause us to neglect it. But in prayer we should be constant, fervent, believing, hoping, steadfast. God loves it, Satan hates it, and every true Christian values it. It is always necessary and profitable to us, and acceptable to God.

For Meditation:
We perish if we cease from prayer,
Lord, grant us power to pray!
And when to meet Thee we prepare,
O meet us by the way!