Strive to bring your soul into order by this duty, however disordered by guilt, anguish, inordinate cares or fears…A watch must be often wound up. You must wrestle in prayer against your unbelief, doubting, fears, cares, reluctancy of the flesh to that which is good; against all evil lusts and desires, coldness of affection, impatience, trouble of spirit; everything that is contrary to a holy life and the grace and holy desires to be acted for yourselves or others…Stir up yourselves to this duty…
– Walter Marshall, The Gospel Mystery of Sanctification, Chapter 13
I like Marshall’s language of ‘ordering’ the soul by prayer; it’s very much true to my experience. I wake up every morning, more or less, a disordered mess, and find that prayer is the only means by which I can get my mind, and frame of mind, in the right condition to face the day.
For this reason, prayer is highly instructive. It not only grabs ahold of God’s promises; it is a means God uses to teach us to love what is good and hate what is evil. For in it we pray against what is evil within us and seek after good; we repent of sin and seek grace; we turn from self-centeredness and seek to align ourselves with God’s purposes.
Yes, this was very helpful for me as well. It caused me to think on how we often believe prayer to be something we do in request of an action (to take place at a later time) or in praise of some action (which happened at some earlier time.) Marshall, using language like “wrestle” and “stir up” in this quote describes the very act of prayer itself as being involved in an immediate action of change, that is to say, in the very moment of prayer itself. As example: we don’t just pray that God would turn us from self-centeredness, or thank God that he has done so, but in the very act of praying their is certain submitting to participate in turning from self centeredness in the very moment. God uses the act of prayer itself, not just the intention for future action, or past reflection of action.