Oswald Chambers’  “My Utmost for His Highest” is my all-time best devotional book. I have read through it several times since I received my first copy many years ago. Lately I have been keeping it in my bathroom so I can browse through it in random moments. This morning I intentionally picked up the small book  to see what inspiration I could siphon from it before flinging myself head first into my busy day. Today’s reading on prayer  focused me while simultaneously calming my spirit and energizing my thinking.

The reading was entitled “Think as Jesus Taught” and  had as its accompanying Scripture verse I Thessalonians 5:17, “Pray without ceasing.”   The reading was obviously territory that I had covered and gained insight from before, judging from the underlined passages throughout.  I must have needed to be reminded yet again of the imperative necessity of praying continuously, because the words in the first paragraph just stopped me especially those I has previously marked.

“We think rightly or wrongly about prayer according to the conception we have in our minds of prayer. If we think of prayer as the breath in our lungs and the blood from our hearts, we think rightly. The blood flows ceaselessly, and breathing continues ceaselessly; we are not conscious of it, but it is always going on. We are not always conscious of  Jesus keeping us in perfect joint with God, but if we are obeying Him, He always is. Prayer is not an exercise, it is life.“

You can read today’s devotion in its entirety here.  (A more up-to-date version of the same reading can be found here.) Chambers,  a  Scottish minister and teacher, died in 1917  at age 43 and largely unknown. His wife compiled his teachings on the faith life and abandonment to God into this book of daily devotions, which continues to touch the lives of millions of people.  ”My Utmost” is said to be one of the most popular devotional books ever published.

Today, with several things competing for my attention and with conflicting feelings about some of them,  the reminder “to keep the childlike habit of ejaculatory prayer in your heart to God at all the time”  has already made a difference in my outlook. I’m breathing a little steadier now.

What is you most favorite book of devotions?

Related posts:

1. Real life tragedies call for much prayer
2. Half-way toward prayer goal
3. Making prayer primary as never before
4. I will not live an unlived life
5. Believing in the power of prayer