So it is in our relation to God. We cannot fall on our knees and cry with any meaning: "O God, O Father, O Judge, O Savior," if our whole lives are not lived in the context of the meaning of these exclamations. Then our words become empty and cannot rise above our lips, and we are overcome by the despair and futility of our prayers. Prayer may not be recovered by going to a school of prayer to learn various techniques and kinds of prayer, but by rekindling our devotion to the people and the world for whom Christ died. Then, by practicing our acts of devotion in the context of such a life of devotion, we may rediscover the meaning of prayer. Our acts of devotion cannot be quickened by the intensification of our prayer activity alone. Many people who are frantically trying to whip up their prayer life would do better to get up off their knees and go out and do something about their loveless, purposeless, and undevoted lives. The devotion of the so-called "children of darkness" to the pursuit of their scientific or industrial purposes may be more impressive than the vain babblings of the so-called "children of God" about their souls. The trivial concerns of some religious people stand in uncomplimentary contrast to the heroism of the researcher's devotion to his project and to the scientist's devotion to his experiment. Perhaps the purposes of God are more served by them than by us, although by them His purposes may not be served consciously. How can the life of devotion and the acts of devotion be brought together? When employer and labor leader meet to work out the problems of fair employment, they may do so either as a necessary part of their business, which of course it is, or as a way of expressing their devotion to God. God's love is concerned with justice between employer and employee, and the employer and the labor leader participate in the work of God in the world by their devotion to these problems. This is both their way of being responsible businessmen and citizens, and their way of loving God and assuming responsibility for Him. To whatever degree they recognize this as being true, they will find satisfaction and meaning in the offering of their effort as an act of reverence to God, together with a private prayer for His guidance that each may be open not only to what God is trying to do through him, but open also to what He is trying to do through the other. In our acts of devotion, therefore, we pray for a life of devotion in which we may be the instruments of God's purposes in the incarnations of His Spirit. We pray also for others, for our children, for our pupils, for our associates, whether they be employees, peers or superiors, that they too may be incarnations of God's Spirit and instruments for the accomplishment of His purpose.