because they are wanting in some of the necessary qualities of a good prayer, namely, attention, sincerity, humility, confidence, perseverance, and earnestness. Our confidence in God should be boundless. He is our most generous Benefactor, our most loving Father. He has already conferred numberless benefits on us without any merit or prayer of ours. Every moment of our life is marked by His renewed favors toward us. He loves us with a love greater than that of a loving mother for her own darling child, for He says: "Can a woman forget her infant, so as not to have pity on the son of her womb? And if she should forget, yet will not I forget thee" (Is. xlix. 15). God has solemnly promised to grant us whatsoever graces we ask; and, being almighty, He is able to grant us all, and even far more than we can ask. He is so willing to bestow His favors on us that He complains of our not asking Him for them: "Hitherto," He says, "you have not asked anything in My name; ask, and you shall receive, that your joy may be full" (John xvi. 24). God even commands us to ask Him for His favors: Ask, and you shall receive."
As a pledge of His love for us, God has gone so far as to give us His own beloved Son. "He that spared not even His own
