I have been reading a spiritual classic book titled "The Seeking Heart", a translation of Francois de Fenelon's letters of spiritual guidance. He was a priest who lived in the seventeenth century. His spiritual letters represent some of the best Christian correspondence dealing with the matter of a deeper walk with Christ. I have been reading a short letter on 'real prayer'.

Real prayer is nothing more than loving God. Prayer is not made great by a lot of words, for God knows your inmost feelings before you say them. True prayer comes from the spirit. You pray only for what you really desire. If you do not see what you are desiring from the depths of your heart, your prayer is deceitful. You could pass whole days 'praying', but if you do not pray from your deepest, inmost desires, you are not praying.You pray without ceasing when there is true love in your heart, and when there is a desire born of God there. Love, hidden in the depths of the spirit, prays constantly even when your mind needs to attend to something else. Love asks God to give you what you need and to regard your sincerity above your human weakness.

God's love within you removes even the slightest faults and purifies you like a consuming fire. The Spirit within you asks for all things according to the will of God. Even when you are busy with outward things there is still a constantly burning fire within you. This fire, which cannot be put out, encourages a secret prayer which is like a lamp always burning before the throne of God. "I sleep but my heart is awake".

This short word from Fenelon gives me lots to unpack regarding how to 'pray unceasingly' as the apostle Paul encouraged. I know how fragmented my life and prayer seem to be. I have a regular time to 'pray' but the moment I am at my duties, I am distracted from the presence of my Lord. Well, I guess prayer involves lifelong 'learning'. Indeed, it is the desire for God that will keep me seeking to "dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life" (Psalm 27: 4).