Friday, March 10, 2000
Every true prayer has its background and its foreground. The foreground of prayer is the intense, immediate desire for a certain blessing which seems to be absolutely necessary for the soul to have; the background of prayer is the quiet, earnest desire that the will of God, whatever it may be, should be done. What a picture is the perfect prayer of Jesus in Gethsemane! In front burns the strong desire to escape death and to live; but, behind there stands, calm and strong, the craving of the whole life for the doing of the will of God... Leave out the foreground—let there be no expression of the wish of Him who prays—and there is left a pure submission which is almost fatalism. Leave out the background—let there be no acceptance of the will of God—and the prayer is only an expression of self-will, a petulant claiming of the uncorrected choice of Him who prays. Only when the two, foreground and background, are there together,—the special desire resting on the universal submission, the universal submission opening into the special desire,—only then is the picture perfect and the prayer complete!
... Phillips Brooks (1835-1893), The Light of the World, and Other Sermons, New York: E. P. Dutton, 1904, p. 120-121 
(see the book; see also Matt. 26:39,42; 20:22; John 6:38; 10:17-18; 12:27; 18:11; Rom. 15:1-3; more at Blessing, Choices, Jesus, Prayer, Self, Soul, Submission, Will of God)
Compilation Copyright, 1996-2024, by Robert McAnally Adams,
Curator, Christian Quotation of the Day,
with Robert Douglas, principal contributor
Logo image Copyright 1996 by Shay Barsabe, of “Simple GIFs”, by kind permission.
Send comments to curator@cqod.com.
Last updated:
03/14/17
Fun stuff
 Tweet this
CQOD is now available to include on your personal home page, blog, or church web site—perfect for a sidebar.
To display CQOD on your web site, updating daily, copy the line below and paste directly into the position that CQOD should appear:
<script type="text/javascript" src="https://cqod.com/js/"></script>
To display this particular quotation on your web site, copy the line below and paste directly into the position that CQOD should appear:
<script type="text/javascript" src="https://cqod.com/js/index-03-10-00.js"></script>
For more information, see CQOD Web Home
|
Welcome to the CQOD home page. This page changes daily, publishing a different
quotation each day, so return here often. Many people use this page as their browser home page. Bookmark this page by pressing cntl-d.
means text and bibliography have been verified.
CQOD makes numerous features and links available. Here are some important links to help you get around:
Previous day’s CQOD (Owen)
Following day’s CQOD (François de Sales)
This month’s CQODs
CQOD for today
CQOD on the go!
Use our double opt-in listserve to receive CQOD by email
CQOD daily index
All monthly archives
What’s New on CQOD
Author index
Title index
Poetry index
Scripture index
Subject index
Search CQOD (or see below)
CQOD Blog
 CQOD RSS
 Facebook CQOD Fan Page
Follow CQOD on Twitter
 Follow CQOD on Instagram
About CQOD
CQOD on the Web
CQOD FAQ
CQOD Liturgical Calendar
Mere Christianity: a conversation
Simple Songs for Psalms
Quotations Bible Study
Essays Archive
Bookworms
Spotlights
Publications:
Jonah: a miracle play
Ruth: a play
Also visit these organizations:
Arab Vision
Crescendo
Oratorium
More devotionals
Search CQOD:
|
