Counsel Regarding Prayer

The Lord desires His servants to improve in their manner of praying. He inquires, Where is the vivifying influence of your prayers? He does not accept the tame, lifeless, lengthy prayers which are so destitute of His Spirit. He calls for a reformation, else He will remove the candlestick out of its place. He desires the candle to burn brightly, sending forth light to all parts of the world. When the church turns fully to the Lord, lifeless, spiritless prayers will no more be heard.1NL 132.2

I urge my ministering brethren to improve in their manner of praying. This can and must be done. I must say to them, The shorter you make your spiritless prayers, the better will it be for the congregation. It is generally the case that the less of heaven's vitality there is in a prayer, the more lengthy it is. Do not spend a long time in prayer before a congregation unless you know that God is inditing the prayer. Let the prayers made in public be short and full of earnestness. The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much; but the prayer uttered in a low, monotonous tone and spiritless manner is not accepted by God. The voice of prayer should rise to God from hearts burdened by a sense of need. Let there be a revival of the Holy Spirit, that your prayers may be filled with the power of heaven.1NL 132.3

Learn to seek the Lord most earnestly for power to reach sinners. Heed the message God has sent to His church of today. [Read Revelation 3:15-18.]1NL 132.4

The Lord calls for those in His service to make all the improvement He has made it possible for them to make. The truth in our possession is of infinite importance. How essential, then, that it should lose none of its power in passing from us to those who are in darkness. It should not be bereft of its luster by our inefficiency. Our expression of God's wondrous loving-kindness, frame our words as we may, will be tame enough as it falls from our lips. But when, with sanctified lips, we offer praise for God's love, hearts are reached. Let us pray that the wondrous message of Christ's love may reach hearts. Let us watch for the Lord more earnestly than they that watch for the morning. Let us hope in Him and walk in His ways. He is well pleased when His servants work with implicit faith in Him, asking Him to supply all their needs.1NL 132.5