How to obtain a spirit of prayer ? (continued)

With a telescope that brings objects together, look at hell and listen to the moans ; then turn your instrument to the heavens, and see the saints in their white robes, harps in their hands ! Listen to them sing the song of redeeming love, and ask yourself : "Would it be possible for me to be a conqueror to God, and to carry a sinner to this glory by my prayers ?" Do this, and if you are not a perverse man, far from God, you will soon obtain the spirit of prayer as much as your body can bear.

Join vigilance to prayer. You must be on the lookout to see if God gives you the blessing you ask him. Many people pray without ever wondering if God answers them.

Be careful not to grieve the Spirit of God. Confess and give up your sins. God will never guide you as one of His intimates, and will not admit you into His secrets, unless you confess and give up your sins. Do not spend your life always confessing and never giving up, but confess and give up too.

Repair all the wrongs you may have had. You can not first receive the spirit of prayer, and then repentance. This is not how you will win. Christians, proud and inflexible, who justify themselves, will never compel God to abide with them.

Have the aim of obeying perfectly the written law ; in other words, have no communion with sin.

Have the goal of living entirely above the world. "Be perfect as your Father who is in heaven is perfect" (Matthew 5:48). If you happen to sin, let it be your daily affliction. The man who does not propose this goal intends to live in sin. Such a man should not expect the blessing of God, since he is not sincere in the desire to keep all His commandments.

Jeremy Sourdril