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1. There are some plants whose leaves and flowers fold themselves when the Sun goes down, and unfold again when softly touched on the morrow by the Sun’s light. In this way do they absorb the warmth and life of the Sun, so necessary for their growth and existence. Just so in prayer our hearts are open to the Sun of Righteousness, and we are safe from the dangers and difficulties of darkness and grow into the fullness of the stature of Christ.
2. By prayer we cannot change God’s plans, as some people seem to think. But the man who prays is himself changed. The capacities of the soul, which are imperfect in this imperfect life, are daily reaching towards perfection.
A bird sits brooding over her eggs. At first, in the eggs, there is only a kind of liquid without form or shape. But as the mother continues to sit on them, the unformed matter in the eggs becomes changed into the form of the mother. The change is not in the mother but in the eggs. So, when we pray, God is not changed but we are changed into His glorious image and likeness.
3. Vapour rises from the earth generated by the Sun’s heat. Defying, as it were, the law of gravity, it goes up into the air and then comes down as rain and makes the earth fruitful. Our real prayers likewise, kindled by the fire of the Holy Ghost, rise up to God, overcoming sin and evil, and come back to the earth filled with His blessings.
4. Ctenophores or sea gooseberries are so extremely delicate that the splash of a wave would tear them into shreds. Whenever there is even a hint of an approaching storm, they sink deep into the sea, beyond the reach of the storm and away from the waves. Just so, when the man of prayer anticipates Satan’s attacks and the storm of sin and suffering in the world, at once he dives down into the ocean of God’s love where there is eternal peace and calm.
5. A philosopher went to see a mystic. They were sitting together in silence for some time. Then said the mystic to the philosopher as he was about to go away, “I feel all you think.” And the philosopher said, “I cannot even think all that you feel.” It is clear that earthly wisdom is unable to feel and understand Reality. Only those who commune with God in prayer can really know Reality.
6. The wonderful peace which the man of prayer feels while praying is not the result of his own imagination or thought, but is the outcome of the presence of God in the soul. The vapour rising from a pond cannot become large clouds and come down as rain. It is only from the mighty ocean that such large clouds, filled with the rain that quenches the thirsty earth and makes it fertile, can take their rise. It is not from our subconscious minds but from the illimitable ocean of God’s love, with which we are in contact in prayer, that the peace comes.
7. The Sun burns perpetual noon. The change of day and night and the movement of the seasons are not due to the Sun but to the rotation of the earth. Just so the Sun of Righteousness is “the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever” (Heb. xiii. 8). If we are exalted with joy or sunk in gloom, it is owing to our position towards Him. When we open our hearts to Him in meditation and prayer, the rays of the Sun of Righteousness will heal the wounds of our sins and give us perfect health (Mal. iv. 2).
8. The laws of nature are the appointed means by which God works in man and other creatures for their progress and benefit. Miracles are not against the laws of nature. There are higher laws of nature which we do not ordinarily know. Miracles are in accordance with those higher laws. In prayer we come to know gradually these higher laws.
The highest miracle is the filling of our souls with peace and joy. We may think that such peace is impossible in a world of sin and suffering. But the impossible becomes possible. Apples do not grow in hot countries nor mangoes in snowy lands. If they did, we might speak of such occurrence as a miracle. Tropical plants do, however, grow in cold countries if the conditions are prepared for them.
9. If all men had the receptive spirit and the ready ear and could hear the voice of God speaking to them, it would not be necessary for Evangelists and Prophets to go about proclaiming the will of God. But all men are not so receptive. Hence the necessity for preachers of the Word. But sometimes more good can be done by praying than by preaching. A man praying intently in a cave can help men considerably by his prayer. Influences issue from him and spread all round effectively, though silently, just as wireless messages are communicated by invisible means, and just as the words we speak are conveyed by mysterious vibrations to others.
10. Sometimes green and fruitful trees are found standing on dry land, where there is not much rain. On careful examination, it has been found that these trees are fresh and green, bearing fruit, because their hidden roots touch hidden streams of water running through the earth. We may be surprised when we see men of prayer, full of peace, radiant with joy and leading fruitful lives amidst the misery and sin of this world. It is because by prayer the hidden roots of their faith reach down to the Source of Living Water and draw from it energy and life and bring forth fruits unto life eternal (Psalm i. 2, 3).
11. The tips of the roots of trees are so sensitive that, almost as if by instinct, they turn away from spots where there is no nourishment and spread themselves in places where they can gather sap and life. Men of prayer have also this power of discernment. By unerring intuition, they turn away from fraud and illusion and find the Reality on which all life depends.
12. Men who do not hold converse with God in prayer are not worthy to be called men. They are like trained animals who can do certain things in certain ways at certain times. Sometimes they are even worse than animals, because they do not realise their nothingness in themselves, their relation to God and their duties to God and man. But men of prayer attain the right to become sons of God and are moulded by Him after His own image and likeness.