Thought for February 17, 2024

•  1621: Myles Standish elected the first commander of the Plymouth Colony
• 1776: First volume of "The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire" is published
• 1791: John Wesley becomes ill---dies March 2
• 1801: House of Representatives breaks Electoral College tie and elects Thomas Jefferson
• 1876: Sardines first canned
• 1897: Organization of Mothers forms [PTA]
• 1904: Puccini's "Madame Butterfly" premiers
• 1933: First edition of "Newsweek"
• 1936: First comic superhero--The Phantom
• 1967: Beatles release "Penny Lane" and "Strawberry Fields"
• 2008: Furious that his wife has become a Christian, a man bribes members of the Home Guard in Sri Lanka to assassinate her pastor, Neil Edirisinghe
• 2014: Jimmy Fallon premiers on The Tonight Show
• Born: Montgomery Ward, Red Barber, Margaret Truman, Hal Holbrook, Buddy Ryan, Jim Brown, Gene Pitney, Rene Russo, Michael Jordan, Denise Richards, Paris Hilton, Ed Sheeran, 
• Died: Rev. James Renwick [hanged in Scotland for being a Presbyterian, 1688], Christopher Sholes [invented QWERTY keyboard], Geronimo, Mindy McCready, Mickey Wright [golf]

On this day in 1912, John "Praying" Hyde was born. When his brother [a missionary in Montana) died, John felt he needed to replace his brother on the mission field. He went to India and lived in a tent. He had trouble mastering the language and the mission board wanted to send him home; however, the locals intervened--" He may not speak our language with his lips, but he speaks the language of our hearts." He asked the Lord to allow him to reach one soul each day for a year---he won 400 to Christ. The next year, he prayed to win 2 people each day--he did. In his 19th year in India as a missionary he prayed for the Lord to allow him to reach 4 people every day--he did. He suffered with severe headaches and would often lie under a tree to rest and seek relief--people would stop to see what was wrong and he would witness to them---he thought God allowed the headaches as a means to reach people with the gospel. 

Thought: 

Yesterday's thought sent me to "The Valley of Vision" and a prayer found there. This is a collection of Puritan prayers that are really a blessing to me and a challenge for my faith.

There is a prayer called "In Prayer" that has some profound truths about prayer. Yesterday we thought about God's invitation to call on Me. Here are a few of the gems from this Puritan prayer:

• In prayer, I see myself as nothing
• In prayer, I find my heart going after Thee with intensity and long for vehement thirst to live to Thee.
• In prayer, all things here below vanish, and nothing seems important but holiness of heart and the salvation of others. 
• In prayer, all my worldly cares, fears, anxieties disappear.
• In prayer, my soul inwardly exults with lively thoughts at what Thou art doing for Thy church.
• In prayer, I am lifted above the frowns and flatteries of life.
• In prayer, I can place all my concerns in Thy hands.
• In prayer, I can intercede for my friends, ministers, sinners, the church, Thy kingdom to come with greatest freedom and ardent hopes. 
• Help me to be all prayer and never cease praying. 

Think about what happens in prayer. Then think about that last bullet--Help me to be all prayer. If I am all prayer--I am humble; I thirst for the Living Water; holiness is my priority; I do not fear or become anxious; I praise Him for what He is doing in and through and for His church; the approval or disapproval of man becomes unimportant; I can intercede for others; I can glimpse His coming kingdom. 

Why pray? In prayer, I become like Him.

Blessings

Larry