About prayer. ( Romans 8 v 26 )

Raymond Brown writes the following on prayer,'' It is better to seek for qualities  rather than things. We long for material things but God has gifts money cannot buy. We yearn for improved health but, though God can heal, greater reliance on Him would be better for us by far. Without our weakness,how could we be sure of our strength? We wish for a different job but in our present work there may be people alongside us only we can reach. We desire repeated success but occasional failure might prove a better teacher. Most ambitions need the refining fire. The ecclesiastical authorities in eighteenth - century England were bewildered when the  saintly  John Fletcher of Madeley, Wesley's successor, refused the bishopric of Rochester. Thinking he had sets his sights on even greater preferment , they asked him whether there was anything more he wanted. Within  seconds his priorities clear; ' I want more grace', he said '.