But when you pray, go into a room by yourself, shut the door, and pray to your Father. Matt. 6:6, N. E. B.

Meditation is a lost art. There is tense thinking, a lot of daydreaming, and a good bit of deep feeling; but meditation is sadly neglected. It is easier to be always doing something than to meditate upon God and His Word. It is possible to spend most of our time in religious activities for the church without any private life with God. We come to be satisfied with that. We need regular times for quiet deliberation upon high themes.

Meditation should be part of our morning devotion. It may mean getting up fifteen minutes earlier. It will make all the difference to our day and our living. Meditation is thinking seriously about God, some truth, some fact of our Lord's life, some promise of God to us-thinking about these things in the presence of God. We are to think God's thoughts after Him.

Let us ask ourselves upon what ground we believe that God is love, that He never stops loving us. The kind of faith that makes us want to live like Him, free from fear and ignorance, is that which comes from assurance received while in the presence of God.

Personal experience with the reality of Christ and the power of God must be revived. We need to re-experience a relationship with God. Here men often speak of feeling. But the experience with Christ never stops with feeling. The whole mind and person are involved.

The church has gone through all manner of pious calisthenics before the altar, wept many tears, called for rallies and meetings that aimed at getting the Spirit, fought for phrases, and erected banners with holy symbols in order to impress people. But it is increasingly important to persuade ourselves that to experience the indwelling Christ, to walk with God, can come only by daily excursion into a private audience with God.

However fervently we sing together and play music together, we are not doing the one thing that transforms and empowers us, increases the radiance of our witness, and sanctifies our friendships. One of the great discoveries is to know that God does truly fulfill His promise to meet with us in secret, and there to dwell within our hearts and minds.