"Real communion with the Lord, in His appointed means of grace, is likewise an important branch of His blessedness.
To read the Scriptures, not as an attorney may read a will, merely to know the sense, but as the heir reads it, as a description and proof of his interest: to hear the gospel as the voice of our Beloved, so as to have little leisure either for admiring the abilities, or censuring the defects of the preacher; and in prayer, to feel a liberty of pouring out our hearts before the Lord, to behold some glances of His goodness passing before us, and to breath forth before Him the tempers of a child, the spirit of adoption; and thus, by beholding His glory, to be conformed more and more to His image., and to renew our strength, by drawing water out of the wells of salvation; herein is blessedness.”

I like this little piece by John Newton, and especially the reference to reading the scriptures, not as an attorney, but an heir. Mmmm, that pulls up a warm image to me. I also like the phrase he uses in prayer, “to behold some glances of His goodness passing before us”. There are many times in prayer when the prayer closet is cold and I feel alone, and to have but a glance from the Lord warms my spirit and refreshes.

Painting from the Internet