Private prayer is so far from being a hindrance to a man's business, that it is the way of ways to bring down a blessing from heaven upon it.
If any prayer be a duty, then secret prayer must be superlatively so, for it prepares and fits the soul for all other supplication.
A house without family worship has neither foundation nor covering.
Wise is that Christian parent who begins every morning with the word of God and fervent prayer.
Let family worship be short, savory, simple, plain, tender, heavenly.
Ask in simplicity. True need forgets to be formal. Its utterances fly from the heart as sparks from a blacksmith's anvil. Set phrases, long sentences, polysyllabic words, find little favor with the soul that is athirst for God and His grace. How brief are the sentences of the immortal and immutable prayer, which Christ taught His disciples! Not a long word is there. Temptation is the longest, and the majority of the words are of one syllable. Do you essay to lead others in prayer? Utter no word that any that hear you cannot understand. Express their need as well as your own. Do not go to the mercy-seat on stilts.
Lord, teach us to pray.
