Oswald Chambers: Prayer - A Holy OccupationSample

A great many people do not pray because they do not feel any sense of need. The sign that the Holy Spirit is in us is that we realize, not that we are full, but that we are empty. There is a sense of absolute need. We come across people who try us, circumstances that are difficult, conditions that are perplexing, and all these things awaken a dumb sense of need, which is a sign that the Holy Spirit is there.

If we are ever free from the sense of need, it is not because the Holy Spirit has satisfied us, but because we have been satisfied with as much as we have. “A man’s reach should exceed his grasp.” A sense of need is one of the greatest benedictions because it keeps our life rightly related to Jesus Christ.

Reflection Questions: How great is my sense of need? What does it tell me about my spirituality?

Quotations taken from If You Will Ask, © Discovery House Publishers