NOTE: I wish to thank Pastor Sherman Isbell and Mrs. Anna Renkema for helping me improve this poem.
Teach Me to Pray
I fully know
that I must pray,
Not just at times,
but every day.
But the sin
That dwells in me,
Makes praying
A difficult activity.
I enjoy more
Doing other things,
Than kneeling down
Before my King.
I pray out of duty
And with hypocrisy,
Not with delight,
And for God’s glory.
Truly to prayer
I’m naturally allergic,
Left to myself,
My life will be tragic!
O my Lord,
With Thy disciples I say,
“Jesus Christ,
Please teach me to pray
I think prayer has many different forms. The poem is very beautiful. My view of prayer is not a beseeching prayer but a prayer of gratitude and acceptance. I used to pray, spending most of my time talking to God, or asking of God. Now I spend more time in contemplative prayer, listening. In all the time I spent talking there was little time for God to get a word in edgewise. Thank you for your wonderful blog.
Blessings,
Sherry
Sherry,
Thanks so much for your kind words. One of my favorite definitions of prayer is by John Bunyan (1628-88): “[Prayer] is a sincere, sensible, affectionate pouring out of the soul to God through Christ, in the strength and assistance of the holy Spirit, for such things as God hath promised, or, according to the Word, for the good of the Church, with submission, in Faith, to the Will of God.”
Soli Deo Gloria,
Brian G. N.