Magnificent Prayer #326
Magnificent Prayer #326
He breathed on them, and saith unto them, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost.”
John 20:22 KJV
The Church is “the body of Christ,” an organism, possessed of His life. Our risen Lord, now a “life-giving Spirit,” “breathed on them and saith unto them, ‘Receive ye the Holy Ghost.’”
This is the basic fact of all Christian living. The Church’s life, corporate as well as individual, in its beginning and in its continuing, is the very breath of the risen, glorified Son of God.
One of the ceaseless activities of the body is its breathing. It is essential to self-preservation. We do it involuntarily. Such is the function of prayer; hence its primal importance. It is the Church’s part, practically, in the sustaining of her life.
But it is a law of the body that the more actively and vigorously it exercises the more deeply and freely it must breathe. Under exertion the body demands a quickened breathing, an ampler supply of air, to meet its necessities.
NORMAN B. HARRISON
Pray About It: How long could you hold your breath and still live? Not long. The life of the body depends on breathing air. So too the life of the church is dependent on the breath of prayer. Many churches are stagnant because they’re holding their breath. How is your church? Is it a praying church? If so, it will also be a healthy, growing church. If not, can you suggest to the pastor, or start yourself, a small group that gathers regularly for prayer?
Give your church some fresh air and it will live.
Prayer is to the spiritual life what the beating of the pulse and the drawing of breath are to the life of the body.
JOHN HENRY NEWMAN
From the book
