Magnificent Prayer #167
Magnificent Prayer #167
Ho! Everyone who thirsts,
Come to the waters;
And you who have no money,
Come, buy and eat.
Isaiah 55:1 NKJV
I had the most ardent longings after God that ever I felt in my life. At noon in my secret time of prayer I could do nothing but tell my Lord, in a sweet calm, that He knew I longed for nothing but Himself, nothing but holiness; that He had given me these desires and He only could give me the thing desired. I never seemed to be so unhinged from myself and to be so wholly devoted to God. My heart was swallowed up in God most of the day.
DAVID BRAINERD
Pray About It: These words were penned as the June 15 entry in Brainerd’s journal. Shortly after this, Brainerd went to be with the Lord at age twenty-nine, his work on earth finished. Or so his contemporaries thought. But like so many others, Brainerd’s life still speaks nearly three centuries after his death through the words of the diary he left.
His testimony is like that of many others who have made prayer a priority: his heart was swallowed up in God all day. Entries such as the one above were common in Brainerd’s book. And his ministry would continue on after his death as William Carey, the father of modern missions, was so moved by it that he left all and went to India, as did missionary Henry Martyn. Robert Murray McCheyne was also highly influenced by Brainerd’s life. The result was that the consecration of this young man was as instrumental in the missionary revival of the nineteenth century as any other single force.
All because David Brainerd prayed. His powerful words give us a peek at what awaits those who pray.
I often heard David Brainerd pray and his manner of addressing himself to God, and expressing himself before his Heavenly Father in prayer is, so far as I may judge, rarely equaled.
JONATHAN EDWARDS
From the book
