Give yourselves to prayer and the ministry of the Word. If you do not pray, God will probably lay you aside from your ministry, as He did me, to teach you to pray.
Interpretation
Prayer and commitment to ministry are essential for a fruitful spiritual life.
In this quote, Robert Murray M'Cheyne emphasizes the importance of prayer and the study of the Word of God in Christian ministry. He warns that neglecting prayer can lead to being sidelined in one's spiritual responsibilities, as he experienced, suggesting that prayer is crucial for sustenance and effectiveness in ministry.
In practice
During a church meeting, to highlight the importance of prayer in our daily lives.
I ought to pray before seeing any one. Often when I sleep long, or meet with others early, it is eleven or twelve o'clock before I begin secret prayer. I feel it is far better to begin with God-to see His face first, to get my soul near Him before it is near another.
Rose early to seek God and found Him whom my soul loveth. Who would not rise early to meet such company?
I ought to spend the best hours of the day in communion with God. It is my noblest and most fruitful employment, and is not to be thrust into any corner.
Live near to God, and so all things will appear to you little In comparison to eternal realities.
If I could hear Christ praying for me in the next room, I would not fear a million enemies.
The greatest need of my people is my own holiness.
The only trouble is that in the spiritual life there are no tricks and no shortcuts. Those who imagine that they can discover spiritual gimmicks and put them to work for themselves usually ignore God's will and his grace.
Faith and prayer are the vitamins of the soul; man cannot live in health without them.
Prayer is the supreme activity of all that is noblest in our personality, and the essential nature of prayer is faith.
The Eucharist is essential for us: it is Christ who wishes to enter our lives and fill us with his grace.
May we have communion with God in the secret of our hearts, and find Him to be to us as a little sanctuary.
Remember, the first road to God is prayer, the second is joy.
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