Prayer is a waste of time, right?

Prayer is far more
powerful than you think. Consider the following passages by William Law from
His book "a serious call to a devout and holy life",



"If masters, for instance, were thus to
remember their servants in their prayers, beseeching God to bless them, and
suiting their petitions to the particular wants and necessities of their
servants; letting no day pass without a full performance of this part of
devotion, the benefit would be as great to themselves, as to their
servants."



"No way so likely as this, to inspire
them with a true sense of that power which they have in their hands, to make
them delight in doing good, and becoming exemplary in all the parts of a wise
and good master."



"The presenting their servants so often
before God, as equally related to God, and entitled to the same expectations of
Heaven as themselves, would naturally incline them to treat them not only with
such humanity as became fellow-creatures, but with such tenderness, care, and
generosity, as became fellow-heirs of the same glory. This devotion would make
masters inclined to everything that was good towards their servants; be
watchful of their behaviour, and as ready to require of them an exact
observance of the duties of Christianity, as of the duties of their service."



"This would teach them to consider their
servants as God's servants, to desire their perfection, to do nothing before
them that might corrupt their minds, to impose no business upon them that
should lessen their sense of religion, or hinder them from their full share of
devotion, both public and private. This praying for them would make
them as glad to see their servants eminent in piety as themselves, and contrive
that they should have all the opportunities and encouragements, both to know
and perform all the duties of the Christian life."



"Now if gentlemen think it too low an
employment for their state and dignity, to exercise such a devotion as this for
their servants, let them consider how far they are from the Spirit of Christ,
who made Himself not only an Intercessor, but a Sacrifice for the whole race of
sinful mankind."



"if parents should thus make themselves
advocates and intercessors with God for their children, constantly applying to
Heaven in behalf of them, nothing would be more likely not only to bless their
children, but also to form and dispose their own minds to the performance of
everything that was excellent and praiseworthy.



"If parents, therefore, considering
themselves in this light, should be daily calling upon God in a solemn, deliberate
manner, altering and extending their intercessions, as the state and growth of
their children required, such devotion would have a mighty influence upon the
rest of their lives; it would make them very circumspect in the government of
themselves; prudent and careful of everything they said or did, lest their
example should hinder that which they so constantly desired in their
prayers."



"If a father were daily making particular
prayers to God, that He would please to inspire his children with true piety,
great humility, and strict temperance, what could be more likely to make the
father himself become exemplary in these virtues? How naturally would he grow
ashamed of wanting such virtues, as he thought necessary for his children! So
that his prayers for their piety would be a certain means of exalting his own
to its greatest height."



"If a father thus considered himself as
an intercessor with God for his children, to bless them with his prayers, what
more likely means to make him aspire after every degree of holiness, that he
might thereby be fitter to obtain blessings from Heaven for them? How would
such thoughts make him avoid everything that was sinful and
displeasing to God, lest when he prayed for his children, God should reject his
prayers! How tenderly, how religiously would such a father converse with his
children, whom he considered as his little spiritual flock, whose virtues he
was to form by his example, encourage by his authority, nourish by his counsel,
and prosper by his prayers to God for them."