Often the work of the Lord itself may be a temptation to keep us from that communion with Him which is so essential to the benefit of our own souls.
Interpretation
Work can distract us from spiritual communion with God, which is essential for our well-being.
In this quote, George Muller emphasizes the importance of maintaining a close and personal relationship with God, suggesting that even the act of doing good works can become a distraction. He warns that when we focus too much on our efforts and duties in service, we may neglect our need for intimate communion with God, which is vital for the nourishment of our souls.
In practice
This quote can be shared during a spiritual retreat to encourage participants to focus on their relationship with God.
A child rightly trained may be a world-wide blessing, with an influence reaching onward to eternal years. But a neglected or misdirected directed child may live to blight and blast mankind, and leave influences of evil which shall roll on in increasing volume till they plunge into the gulf of eternal perdition.
The longer I live, the more I am enabled to realize that I have but one life to live on Earth, and that this one life is but a brief life, for sowing, in comparison with eternity, for reaping.
The less we read the Word of God, the less we desire to read it, and the less we pray, the less we desire to pray.
The Lord never lays more on us, in the way of chastisement, than our state of heart makes needful; so that whilst He smites with the one hand, He supports with the other.
I desire many things concerning myself; but I desire nothing so much, as to have a heart filled with love to the Lord. I long for a warm personal attachment to Him.
The vigor of our spiritual life will be in exact proportion to the place held by the Bible in our life and thoughts.
To converse with You, O King of glory, no third person is needed, You are always ready in the Sacrament of the Altar to give audience to all. All who desire You always find You there, and converse with You face to face
Prayer enlarges the heart until it is capable of containing God's gift of Himself.
God is at the tip of our scalpels, our screwdrivers, our computer terminals, our dust rags, our vacuum cleaners, our pencils and pens. He is with us in our wheelchairs, or on our hospital beds, when all we can do is sit or lie flat. When we envision Him and His purpose in what we do, then we begin to grow aware of His presence in the middle of it. We are able to engage in our inward conversation with Him as we work, naturally, without strain. He becomes our partner, our collaborator.
When prayer fades out, power fades out. We are as spiritual as we are prayerful; no more, no less.
the real "work" of prayer is to become silent and listen to the voice that says good things about me. To gently push aside and silence the many voices that question my goodness and to trust that I will hear the voice of blessing-- that demands real effort.
If we really want to achieve true prayer, we must turn our backs upon everything temporal, everything external, everything that is not divine.
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