“Now
in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and
departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed.” Mark 1:35.
The men who have most
fully illustrated Christ in their character, and have most powerfully affected
the world for him, have been men who spent so much time with God as to make it
a notable feature of their lives.
Charles Simeon
devoted the hours from four till eight in the morning to God. Mr. Wesley spent
two hours daily in prayer. He began at four in the morning. Of him, one who
knew him well wrote: "He thought prayer to be more his business than
anything else, and I have seen him come out of his closet with a serenity of
face next to shining."
John Fletcher stained
the walls of his room by the breath of his prayers. Sometimes he would pray all
night; always, frequently, and with great earnestness. His whole life was a
life of prayer. "I would not rise from my seat," he said,
"without lifting my heart to God." His greeting to a friend was
always: "Do I meet you praying?"
Luther said: "If
I
fail to spend two hours in prayer each morning, the devil gets the victory
through the day. I have so much business I cannot get on without spending three
hours daily in prayer." He had a motto: "He that has prayed well has
studied well."
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