Luke 5:16-17 And he withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed.… My brethren, do we pray? There is many a minister — pardon me for saying so — who spends more time in public prayer than in private prayer, and not a few spend more time in preaching than in praying. Is this as it ought to be? A faithful pastor went once to see a young man who was a member of his Church, and he said to him, "I have come to ask you if you are on good terms with your Father?" meaning his heavenly Father. The young man seemed very much taken aback, and said to him, "Who told you about me and my father? We have not been on speaking terms for years." "Oh," said the minister, "I mean your heavenly Father; but this is very sad." "Oh, it is sad, and it grieves me in my heart," said the young man. "Oh," said the minister, "I have often spent an evening in your house, and I never noticed there was any estrangement between you and your father." "Ah, no," says the young man, "we have an arrangement, when we come together in company to act as if nothing had happened; but when we are alone there is no intercourse between us." (C. Lockhart.) Parallel Verses KJV: And he withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed. |
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