Be much alone with God, and take time to get thoroughly acquainted. Converse over everything with Him. Unburden yourself wholly -every thought, feeling, wish, plan, doubt- to Him...He wants not merely to be on good terms with you, but to be intimate.
Interpretation
The quote encourages deep personal reflection and intimate communication with God.
Horatius Bonar emphasizes the importance of spending time alone with God to foster a profound relationship. He suggests that it's not enough to maintain a superficial connection; we should openly share our innermost thoughts and feelings with God, as He desires a close, intimate relationship with us.
In practice
When giving a speech on faith, you might share this quote to emphasize the importance of personal prayer.
The gospel is the proclamation of free love; the revelation of the boundless charity of God. Nothing less than this will suit our world; nothing else is so likely to touch the heart, to go down to the lowest depths of depraved humanity, as the assurance that the sinner has been loved -- loved by God, loved with a righteous love, loved with a free love that makes no bargain as to merit, or fitness, or goodness.
Upon a life I did not live, upon a death I did not die; another's life, another's death, I stake my whole eternity.
Thy way, not mine, O Lord, however dark it be; lead me by thine own hand; choose out the path for me.
A prayer less soul is a Christ less soul.
Faith is to the soul what life is to the body. Prayer is to faith what breath is to the body. How a person can live and not breathe is past my comprehension, and how a person can believe and not pray is past my comprehension too.
Lord Jesus, cause me to know in my daily experience the glory and sweetness of Thy name, and then teach me how to use it in my prayer, so that I may be a prince prevailing with God.
And with the grace of Baptism and of Eucharistic Communion I can become an instrument of God's mercy, of that beautiful mercy of God.
Too often we treat prayer as the preparation for the work of the church. Do you not see? Prayer IS the work of the church.
For Ragamuffins, God's name is Mercy. We see our darkness as a prized possession because it drives us into the heart of God. Without mercy our darkness would plunge us into despair - for some, self-destruction. Time alone with God reveals the unfathomable depths of the poverty of the spirit. We are so poor that even our poverty is not our own: It belongs to the mysterium tremendum of a loving God.
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