Hi, friends, and welcome to today's encouragement from the Our Daily Bread Devotional.

I'm Bill Crowder, and I entitled today's Our Daily Bread Reading, The Essence of Prayer.

When Abraham Lincoln became president in the United States, he was tasked with leading a fractured nation.

Lincoln is viewed as a wise leader and a man of high moral character, but another element of his

makeup, perhaps, was the foundation for everything else. He understood that he was inadequate

for the task at hand. His response to that inadequacy, Lincoln said,

quote,

I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go.

My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for that day, close quote.

When we come to grips with the massive nature of life's challenges and the severe limitations of our own wisdom, knowledge, or strength, we find, like Lincoln, that we're

utterly dependent on Jesus, the one who has no limitations. Peter reminded us of this dependency when he wrote,

cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. God's love for his children, paired with

his absolute power, make him the perfect person to approach with our frailties, and that's

the essence of prayer.

We go to Jesus acknowledging to him and ourselves that we're inadequate and that he's

eternally sufficient.

Lincoln said he felt he had, quote, nowhere else to go, end quote.

But when we begin to comprehend God's great care for us, that's wonderfully good news.

We can go to him.

Today's our daily bread devotional scripture reading is from 1st Peter chapter 5 verses 6 through 11.

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's's mighty hand that he may lift you up in

due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Be alert and of sober mind. Your

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