In prayer we tell our Lord and Saviour of our great love for Him. In
prayer we never cease to praise Him for dying on the cross and taking
our punishment for our sins. In prayer we, so to speak, just lift our
hearts and minds up into that heavenly realm and we touch heaven. A
thrill of heavenly love flows from God down into the very depths of our
inner being. Power, strength and grace is given, and with a deep inner
joy we go forth and face the world. Others might wonder how we can have
the courage to face the hard things, but it's because of grace gained
through prayer. Prayer should never be neglected or we will feel our
peace slipping away.

Prayer can be a groan, a sigh, a dropping of a tear, a smile, an inner
praise going up to God, laughter in the spirit, or an inward or audible
"praise the Lord!" Prayer is the sincere desire of the heart or an
attitude of the heart. Surely we can "pray without ceasing," as we keep
a heart full of love for our Lord and a feeling of utter dependence upon
Him. In living in this way, our peace will be abounding.

Another foe we must watch is self. Often it has been said that we must
die out to self, but it goes deeper than just saying it. Self longs to
live, but it must be crucified. We must remember that "ye are not your
own, for ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body,
and in your spirit, which are God's." I Cor. 6:19,20. If we belong to
God then we do not belong to ourselves. We must be aware of the fact
that self will make many concessions to live. Self sometimes will allow
its owner to do many sacrificial deeds if it can live. It will even bear
hard things, but it must go. Self must be crucified. We must die to good
deeds, and to bad deeds, successes, failures, exaltations, humiliation,
friends and foes. Oh, it must not be us but Jesus that will be lifted up
in our lives! The Apostle Paul said, "I am crucified with Christ: