What F. B. Meyer Taught Me About Prayer
June 25, 2010
F. B. Meyer was a famous British Bible teacher in the late 1800s and the early 1900s. During his long and fruitful ministry, he wrote many helpful books on the spiritual life and a number of studies of different Bible characters. I recommend all his works to you.
In one of his books he talks about a method of prayer that helped him appropriate the power of Christ in his own life. As I was thinking yesterday about the prayers that have changed my life, I remembered what Meyer wrote and how much it has helped me at crucial moments, especially in times of trouble.
Meyer said that when he felt himself getting angry or irritable, he asked the Lord for the quality most needed at that moment:
Your patience, Lord Jesus.
Your kindness, Lord Jesus.
Your love, Lord Jesus.
Your courage, Lord Jesus.
Your wisdom, Lord Jesus.
Your joy, Lord Jesus.
Your compassion, Lord Jesus.
“All that you are, Lord Christ, All your shining beauty, all of it, come in this moment and fill me now.”
If we believe that in Jesus Christ dwells all the fullness of God (and we do), and if we believe Christ dwells in our hearts by faith (and we do), then we may believe that in our lives this week the fullness of Christ, the beauty of Christ, the grace of Christ, the mercy of Christ, the holiness of Christ, and the kindness of Christ may fill us and drive out the evil—the lust, greed, impatience, unbelief, critical spirit, and the angry intolerance that holds us back.
These “arrow prayers” go straight from to the heart of God. When we pray like this, God will give us what we need in the moment of great temptation. I have prayed like this many times and always found it very helpful.