First of all, I must decide why I am to teach the subject of prayer. In view of the fact that the matter of the aim is to be considered fully in the succeeding chapter, suppose we agree that our purpose in this lesson shall be to establish prayer as a habit of life.
Step number one, then, is the selection of an aim—a focus for the thought of the lesson.
Step number two is the collection of random thoughts. As I begin to ponder the subject of prayer and its influence on life, all sorts of ideas crowd into my mind. Perhaps I read some one's discussion of prayer—perhaps I talk to a friend relative to it—perhaps I just ran the subject over in my mind. The thoughts that come to me may be vague and wholly disconnected. My immediate concern is content—order will come later. And so I jot down, either in my mind or on paper, such ideas as these:
- "Prayer is the soul's sincere desire."
- The Song "Sweet hour of prayer."
- What is the use of prayer?
- Are prayers answered?
- How often should I pray?
- Does the Lord hear and answer our prayers, or do we answer them ourselves?
- What kinds of prayers are there?
- How may I know how to pray?
- Should prayers always be answered affirmatively?
- What are the characteristics of a good prayer?
- What prayers have impressed me most?
And so I go on. My task in step two is to scout about intellectually in search of available, suitable material. Many of my jottings may duplicate others already set down; others may not be appropriate for my need; still others may be wholly irrelevant. But I am seeking a wealth of material that I may make my recitation as rich as possible.
Now, step three becomes a process of correlation and elimination—a process of hitting upon my main headings—setting up the milestones to mark my course of development. And I so sift the material in my mind and sort it out under appropriate captions. After a good bit of intellectual rummaging about, I find that my random thoughts on prayer fall rather naturally into four main divisions, each capable of expression in a question:
- I. What is prayer?
- II. Why should I pray?
- III. How should I pray?
- IV. When should I pray?
But now that I have these major headings, I still face the problems of enriching them and elaborating them so that they will have body enough to stand. In other words, I build up my sub-headings. Under the first question, for instance, I group these thoughts:
- I. What Is Prayer?
- 1. It is communion with God.
- 2. It is the key to God's storehouse.
- 3. It is the key to God's heart.
- 4. It is "The soul's sincere desire."
- 5. It is the great anchor of faith.
Under question two, I group: