prayingby Rex Rouis

C. S. Lewis – “For most of us the prayer in Gethsemane is the only model. Removing mountains can wait.”

Charles Spurgeon – “Prayer moves the arm that moves the world.”

Archibald Symson – It is better to be in deep dangers praying, than on high mountains of vanity playing.”

Me – “Prayer is the verbal release of faith – a specific faith for a specific purpose, all based on a specific promise from God.”

Matilda Andross – “Prayer is more powerful than habits, heredity, and natural tendencies. It can overcome all these. It is more powerful than the forces that hold the planets in place. Prayer, though it comes from the heart of an unlearned child of God, can suspend the laws of the universe, if such be God’s will, just as the sun stood still when Joshua prayed. There is no other power on earth that the enemy of souls hates and fears as he does prayer. We are told that ‘Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon his knees.’ ”  [Matilda Andross “The Life That Wins” p. 38]

Maltbie D. Babcock – “Our prayers must mean something to us if they are to mean anything to God”

J. Sidlow Baxter – “I care not what black spiritual crisis we may come through or what delightful spiritual Canaan we may enter, no blessing of the Christian life becomes continually possessed unless we are men and women of regular, daily, unhurried secret lingerings in prayer.”

Henry Ward Beecher – “Prayer covers the whole of a man’s life. There is no thought, feeling, yearning or desire, however low, trifling, or vulgar we may deem it, which, if it affects our real interest or happiness, we may not lay before God and be sure of sympathy. His nature is such that our often coming does not tire him. The whole burden of the whole life of every man may be rolled on to God and not weary him, though it has wearied the man.”

Corrie Ten Boon – “A man is powerful on his knees.”  [Corrie ten Boom (1892-1983)]

E.M. Bounds – “God has of his own motion placed himself under the law of prayer, and has obligated himself to answer the prayers of men. He has ordained prayer as a means whereby he will do things through men as they pray, which he would not otherwise do. If prayer puts God to work on earth, then, by the same token, prayerlessness rules God out of the world’s affairs, and prevents him from working. The driving power, the conquering force in God’s cause is God himself. ‘Call on me and I will answer thee and who thee great and mighty things which though knowest not,’ is God’s challenge to prayer. Prayer puts God in full force into God’s work.”  [E.M. Bounds “The Weapon of Prayer” Chap. 2]

“What the church needs today is not more or better machinery, not new organizations, or more novel methods; but men whom the Holy Spirit can use– men of prayer, men mighty in prayer.”

“. . . every preacher who does not make prayer a mighty factor in his own life and ministry is weak as a factor in God’s work and is powerless to project God’s cause in this world.”

Phillips Brooks – “Prayer is not conquering God’s reluctance, but taking hold of God’s willingness.”

“Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men. Do not pray for tasks commensurate with your strength. Pray for strength commensurate with your tasks.”

Thomas B. Brooks – “Prayer crowns God with the honor and glory due to His name, and God crowns prayer with assurance and comfort. The most praying souls are the most assured souls.”
John Bunyan – “In prayer, it is better to have heart without words, than words without heart.
Prayer will make a man cease from sin, or sin entice a man to cease from prayer. The spirit of prayer is more precious than treasures of gold and silver. Pray often, for prayer is a shield to the soul, a sacrifice to God, and a scourge for Satan.”

“The best prayers often have more groans than words.” [John Bunyan (1628-1688)]

“You can do more than pray after you’ve prayed, but you cannot do more than pray until you have prayed.”

“Prayer will make a man cease from sin, or sin will entice a man to cease from prayer.”

George W. Bush – “Throughout our history, Americans of faith have always turned to prayer — for wisdom, prayer for resolve, prayers for compassion and strength, prayers for commitment to justice and for a spirit of forgiveness.

Since America’s founding, prayer has reassured us that the hand of God is guiding the affairs of this nation. We have never asserted a special claim on His favor, yet we’ve always believed in God’s presence in our lives. This has always been true. But it has never been more true since September the 11th. Prayer has comforted people in grief. Prayer has served as a unifying factor in our nation. Prayer gives us strength for the journey ahead.

I work the rope lines a lot, and people say, ‘Mr. President, I pray for you and your family.’ I turn to them, I look them in the eye, and say, that’s the greatest gift you can give. That’s the greatest gift you can give. I mean it with all sincerity.

And so I want to thank you for your prayers. I want to thank you for what you do for our nation. I want to thank you for your good works. I want to thank you for helping change America one heart, one soul, one conscience at a time.”  [President George W. Bush – excerpts from the President’s remarks at the National Hispanic Prayer Breakfast, May 16, 2002]

George Buttrick – “Prayer is not a substitute for work, thinking, watching, suffering, or giving; prayer is a support for all other efforts.”

John Calvin – “To know God as the sovereign disposer of all good, inviting us to present our requests, and yet not to approach or ask of him, were so far from availing us, that it were just as if one told of a treasure were to allow it to remain buried in the ground.”  [Institutes of the Christian Religion – “Of Prayer” by John Calvin]

Richard Cecil – “God’s way of answering the Christian’s prayer for more patience, experience, hope and love often is to put him into the furnace of affliction.”

Oswald Chambers – “Prayer is not an exercise. It is the life of the saint.”  [Oswald Chambers (1874-1917)]

“Prayer does not equip us for the greater work, Prayer is the greater work.”

Adam Clarke – “Prayer requires more of the heart than the tongue.”  [Adam Clarke (1762-1832)]

Jim Cymbala – “The devil is not terribly frightened of our human efforts and credentials. But he knows his kingdom will be damaged when we begin to lift up our hearts to God.”  [Jim Cymbala, in Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire]

Jonathan Edwards – “I have often said it would be a thing very desirable, and very likely to be followed with a great blessing, if there could be some contrivance, that there should be an agreement of all God’s people in America… to keep a Day of Fasting and Prayer to God; wherein, we should all unite on the same day… It seems to me, it would mightily encourage and animate God’s saints, in humbly and earnestly seeking God, for such blessings which concerns them all; and that it would be much for the rejoicing of all, to think, that at the same time such multitudes of God’s dear children, far and near, were sending up their cries to the same common Father for the same motives.”  [Jonathan Edwards – 1742]

“I would exhort those who have entertained an hope of their being true converts, and yet since their supposed conversion have left off the duty of secret prayer, and do ordinarily allow themselves in the omission of it, to throw away their hope. If you have left off calling upon God, it is time for you to leave off hoping and flattering yourselves with an imagination that you are the children of God. Probably it will be a very difficult thing for you to do this. It is hard for a man to let go an hope of heaven, on which he hath once allowed himself to lay hold, and which he hath retained for a considerable time. True conversion is a rare thing; but that men are brought off from a false hope of conversion, after they are once settled and established in it, and have continued in it for some time, is much more rare.”  [Hypocrites Deficient in the Duty of Prayer – Jonathan Edwards – 1742]

“If you live in the neglect of secret prayer, you show your good will to neglect all the worship of God. He that prays only when he prays with others, would not pray at all, were it not that the eyes of others are upon him. He that will not pray where none but God seeth him, manifestly doth not pray at all out of respect to God, or regard to his all-seeing eye, and therefore doth in effect cast off all prayer. And he that casts off prayer, in effect casts off all the worship of God, of which prayer is the principal duty.”  [Hypocrites Deficient in the Duty of Prayer – Jonathan Edwards – 1742]

George Failing – “He who fails to pray does not cheat God. He cheats himself.”

William Federer – (Re: General Stonewall Jackson, recounted to Chaplain William W. Bennett) ” I saw something today which affected me more than anything I ever saw or read on religion. While the battle was raging and the bullets were flying, Jackson rode by, calm as if he were at home, but his head was raised toward heaven, and his lips were moving evidently in prayer”   [America’s God and Country, William J. Federer, p.27.]

Charles G. Finney – “Many persons, being told that God answers prayer for Christ’s sake, overlook the condition of obedience. They have so loose an idea of prayer, and of our relations to God in it, and of his relations to us and to his moral government, that they think they may be disobedient and yet prevail through Christ. How little do they understand the whole subject! Surely they must have quite neglected to study their Bible to learn the truth about prayer. They might very easily have found it there declared, “He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be an abomination.” “The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord.” “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.” All this surely teaches us that if there be the least sin in my heart, the Lord will not hear my prayer. Nothing short of entire obedience for the time being is the condition of acceptance with God. There must be a sincere and honest heart — else how can you look up with humble confidence and say, My Father; else how can you use the name of Jesus, as your prevailing Mediator; and else, how can God smile upon you before all the eyes of angels and of pure saints above!”  [An Approving Heart-Confidence In Prayer from “The Way Of Salvation” Chapter XXII – Charles G. Finney 1792-1875]

“Persons never need hesitate, because of their past sins, to approach God with the fullest confidence. If they now repent, and are conscious of fully and honestly returning to God with all their heart, they have no reason to fear being repulsed from the footstool of mercy.”  [An Approving Heart-Confidence In Prayer from “The Way Of Salvation” Chapter XXII – Charles G. Finney 1792-1875]

“It is only those that live and walk with God whose prayers are of any avail to themselves, to the church, or to the world. Only those whose conscience does not condemn them, and who live in a state of conscious acceptance with God. They can pray. According to our text, they receive whatever they ask, because they keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing in his sight.”  [An Approving Heart-Confidence In Prayer from “The Way Of Salvation” Chapter XXII – Charles G. Finney 1792-1875]

“When I speak of moving God, I do not mean that God’s mind is changed by prayer, or that His disposition or character is changed. But prayer produces such a change in us as renders it consistent for God to do as it would not be consistent for Him to do otherwise.”  [An excerpt from: “Revival Lectures” Lecture 4 by C. G. Finney (1792-1875)]

Richard J. Foster – “Countless people pray far more than they know. Often they have such a “stained-glass” image of prayer that they fail to recognize what they are experiencing as prayer and so condemn themselves for not praying.”

A.J. Gordon – “You can do more than pray, after you have prayed, but you can never do more than pray until you have prayed.”

Charles Gore – “Many people have a very strangely childish notion, that ‘praying in the name of Christ’ means simply the addition of the words ‘through Jesus Christ our Lord’ at the end of their prayers. But depend upon it, they do not by adding these words, or any words, bring it about that their prayers should be in the name of Christ. To pray in the name of Christ means to pray in such a way as represents Christ. The representative always must speak in the spirit and meaning of those for whom he speaks. If Christ is our representative, that must be because He speaks our wishes, or what we ought to make our wishes; and if we are to pray in the name of Christ, that means that we are, however far off, expressing His wishes and intentions.”

Billy Graham – “Prayer is spiritual communication between man and God, a two-way relationship in which man should not only talk to God but also listen to Him. Prayer to God is like a child’s conversation with his father. It is natural for a child to ask his father for the things he needs.”

“Remember that you can pray any time, anywhere. Washing dishes, digging ditches, working in the office, in the shop, on the athletic field, even in prison — you can pray and know God hears!”

“Avail yourself of the greatest privilege this side of heaven. Jesus Christ died to make this communion and communication with the Father possible.”

William Gurnall – “Furnish thyself with arguments from the promises to enforce thy pravers, and make them prevalent with God. The promises are the ground of faith, and faith, when strengthened, will make thee fervent, and such fervency ever speeds and returns with victory out of the field of prayer…. The mightier any is in the Word, the more mighty he will be in prayer.”

Jack Hayford – “In every storm there is a ‘Peace! Be still’ Christ will speak where prayer’s call invites Him. (1 Timothy 2:1-3)”

Alexander Henderson – “Israel prevailed with God in wrestling with Him, and therefore it is that he prevails with men also. If so be that we will wrestle with God for a blessing, and prevail with Him, then we need not to fear but we shall wrestle the enemies out of it also.”

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones – “There are ideas in our hearts, there are wishes, there are aspirations, there are groanings, there are sighings that the world knows nothing about; but God knows them. So words are not always necessary. When we cannot express our feelings except in wordless groanings, God knows exactly what is happening.”

Thomas Kinkade – “The power of prayer is like turning on a light as it illuminates God’s purpose for our lives. There is no greater connection to knowing His will other than the word.”

Brother Lawrence – “Prayer is nothing else than a sense of God’s presence”

Martin Luther – “Prayer is not overcoming God’s reluctance, but laying hold of His willingness.”

Thomas Lye – “I had rather stand against the cannons of the wicked than against the prayers of the righteous.”

J. Vernon McGee – “According to my humble judgment, the greatest need of the present-day church is prayer. Prayer should be the vital breath of the church, but right now it is gasping for air. One of the great Bible teachers of the past said that the church goes forward on its knees. Maybe one of the reasons the church is not going forward today is because it’s not in a position to go forward — we are not on our knees in prayer.

We seek out panaceas to resolve the conflicts of the world and to heal our own personal and private wounds. Many are consulting the psychiatrist, the doctor, the minister, and anyone else who will listen. But we do not seem to recognize that the great need in our own personal lives is prayer. Prayer is the greatest neglected resource that we have; it’s a power that we simply are not using today.

The disciples went to our Lord and said, ‘Lord, teach us to pray’ (Luke 11:1). They did not ask Him how to pray; they weren’t looking for lessons on technique or an outline for ritualistic prayer. They had obviously heard our Lord pray, and they wanted to learn how to pray on the same high level as He did. This is a request many of us today need to make: ‘Lord, teach us to pray.'”  [taken from “On Prayer” – Praying and Living in the Father’s Will”]

F.B. Meyer – “Fall on your knees and grow there. There is no burden of the spirit but is lighter by kneeling under it. Prayer means not always talking to Him, but waiting before Him till the dust settles and the stream runs clear.”

“The greatest tragedy of life is not unanswered prayer, but unoffered prayer.”

D.L. Moody – “I believe in definite prayer. Abraham prayed for Sodom. Moses interceded for the children of Israel. How often our prayers go all around the world, without real definite asking for anything! And often, when we do ask, we don’t expect anything. Many people would be surprised if God did answer their prayers.”  [How to Have a Good Prayer Meeting from Golden Counsels by Dwight L. Moody, 1899.]

“The greatest need of the church today is more of the presence and power of the Spirit of God. O that Christians were roused to greater earnestness and importunity in prayer! I believe that the greatest revival the church has ever seen would result. God help us, each one, to be faithful in doing our share.”  [How to Have a Good Prayer Meeting from Golden Counsels by Dwight L. Moody, 1899.]

G. Campbell Morgan – “The prayer life does not consist of perpetual repetition of petitions. The prayer life consists of life that is always upward and onward and Godward”

George Mueller – “I myself have for twenty-nine years been waiting for an answer to prayer concerning a certain spiritual blessing. Day by day have I been enabled to continue in prayer for this blessing. At home and abroad, in this country and in foreign lands, in health and in sickness, however much occupied, I have been enabled, day by day, by God’s help, to bring this matter before Him; and still I have not the full answer yet. Nevertheless, I look for it. I expect it confidently. The very fact that day after day, and year after year, for twenty-nine years, the Lord has enabled me to continue, patiently, believingly, to wait on Him for the blessing, still further encourages me to wait on; and so fully am I assured that God hears me about this matter, that I have often been enabled to praise Him beforehand for the full answer, which I shall ultimately receive to my prayers on this subject. Thus, you see, dear reader, that while I have hundreds, yes, thousands of answers, year by year, I have also, like yourself and other believers, the trial of faith concerning certain matters.”  [The Wise Sayings Of George Mueller]

“How truly precious it is that every one who rests alone upon the Lord Jesus for salvation, has in the living God a father, to whom he may fully unbosom himself concerning the most minute affairs of his life, and concerning everything that lies upon his heart! Dear reader, do you know the living God? Is He, in Jesus, your Father? Be assured that Christianity is something more than forms and creeds and ceremonies: there is life, and power, and reality, in our holy faith. If you never yet have known this, then come and taste for yourself. I beseech you affectionately to meditate and pray over the following verses: John iii.16; Rom. x.9,10; acts x.43; 1 John v.1.”  [The Wise Sayings Of George Mueller]

“Go for yourself, with all your temporal and spiritual wants, to the Lord. Bring also the necessities of your friends and relatives to the Lord. Only make the trial, and you will perceive how able and willing He is to help you. Should you, however, not at once obtain answers to your prayers, be not discouraged; but continue patiently, believingly, perseveringly to wait upon God: and as assuredly as that which you ask would be for your real good, and therefore for the honors of the Lord; and as assuredly as you ask it solely on the ground of the worthiness of our Lord Jesus, so assuredly you will at last obtain the blessing. I myself have had to wait upon God concerning certain matters for years, before I obtained answers to my prayers; but at last they came. At this very time, I have still to renew my requests daily before God, respecting a certain blessing for which I have besought Him for eleven years and a half, and which I have as yet obtained only in part, but concerning which I have no doubt that the full blessing will be granted in the end…

The great point is, that we ask only for that which it would be for the glory of God to give to us; for that, and that alone, can be for our real good. But it is not enough that the thing for which we ask God be for His honor and glory, but we must secondly ask it in the name of the Lord Jesus, viz., expect it only on the ground of His merits and worthiness. Thirdly, we should believe that God is able and willing to give us what we ask Him for. Fourthly, we should continue in prayer till the blessing is granted; without fixing to God a time when, or the circumstances under which, He should give the answer. Patience should be in exercise, in connection with our prayer. Fifthly, we should, at the same time, look out for and expect an answer till it comes. If we pray in this way, we shall not only have answers, thousands of answers to our prayers; but our own souls will be greatly refreshed and invigorated in connection with these answers. ”  [The Wise Sayings Of George Mueller]

George Mueller “urged definite praying and importunate praying, and remarked that Satan will not mind how we labour in prayer for a few days, weeks, or even months, if he can at last discourage us so that we cease praying, as though it were of no use.”  [from George Mueller of Bristol —New Window, chapter 21: “The Church Life and Growth”]

Anne Murchison – “I have read many books on prayer, studied prayer and attended seminars on prayer. I have prayed tens of thousands of hours privately, and met weekly with beloved friends over years and years to pray. I have attended church prayer meetings, prayed at church railings, at community prayer meetings and while watching or listening to tragedies on the nightly news. I have prayed with thousands of people in large groups and hundreds of individual friends and strangers in intimate settings and casual conversations; face-to-face, over the telephone, in restaurants, in malls, in parking lots, in prisons, in foreign countries, on planes and through letters and e-mail. I have prayed walking, standing, sitting, rocking babies, kneeling and lying on my face. I have journaled prayer, spoken prayer, conversed in prayer, sung prayer, shouted prayer, whispered prayer, groaned prayer and wept prayer. In all of this prayer over so many years I have learned one thing. One single thing . . . and this is that the power of prayer is not in the words I pray, the place I pray, the way I pray, how loud I pray or how long I pray, but in the One to Whom I pray.”

Andrew Murray – “May God open our eyes to see what the holy ministry of intercession is, to which, as His royal priesthood, we have been set apart. May He give us a large and strong heart to believe what mighty influence our prayers can exert. And may all fear as to our being able to fulfill our vocation vanish as we see Jesus, living ever to pray, living in us to pray, and standing surety for our prayer life.”

“Of all the mysteries of the prayer world the need of persevering prayer is one of the greatest. That the Lord, who is so loving and longing to bless, should have to be asked, time after time, sometimes year after year, before the answer comes, we cannot easily understand. It is also one of the greatest practical difficulties in the exercise of believing prayer. When, after persevering pleading, our prayer remains unanswered, it is often easiest for our lazy flesh, and it has all the appearance of pious submission, to think that we must now cease praying, because God may have His secret reason for withholding His answer to our request.It is by faith alone that the difficulty is overcome.”  [The Power of Persevering Prayer – Andrew Murray 1828-1917]

“We have become so accustomed to limit the wonderful love and the large promises of our God, that we cannot read the simplest and clearest statements of our Lord without the qualifying clauses by which we guard and expound them. If there is one thing I think the Church needs to learn, it is that God means prayer to have an answer, and that it hath not entered into the heart of man to conceive what God will do for His child who gives himself to believe that his prayer will be heard. God hears prayer; this is a truth universally admitted, but of which very few understand the meaning, or experience the power.”  [With Christ In the School of Prayer – Andrew Murray 1828-1917]

“Time spent in prayer will yield more that that given to work. Prayer alone gives work its worth and its success. Prayer opens the way for God Himself to do His work in us and through us. Let our chief work as god’s messengers be intercession; in it we secure the presence and power of God to go with us.”

“We may be sure that, as we delight in what God delights in, such prayer is inspired by God and will have its answer, And our prayer becomes unceasingly, “Thy desires, O my Father are mine, Thy holy will of love is my will too.”

John Owen – “If we would talk less and pray more about them, things would be be better than they are in the world; at least, we should be better enabled to bear them.”

Harold C. Phillips – “We are all weak, finite, simple human beings, standing in the need of prayer. None need it so much as those who think they are strong, those who know it not, but are deluded by self-sufficiency.”

Arthur W. Pink – “Prayer is not appointed for the furnishing of God with the knowledge of what we need, but it is designed as a confession to Him of our sense of the need. In this, as in everything, God’s thoughts are not as ours. God requires that His gifts should be sought for. He designs to be honored by our asking, just as He is to be thanked by us after He has bestowed His blessing.”

“…prayer is not intended to change God’s purpose, nor is it to move Him to form fresh purposes. God has decreed that certain events shall come to pass through the means He has appointed for their accomplishment.”

“[Prayer] is the way and means God has appointed for the communication of the blessings of His goodness to His people.”

“The prevailing idea seems to be, that I come to God and ask Him for something that I want, and that I expect Him to give me that which I have asked. But this is a most dishonoring and degrading conception. The popular belief reduces God to a servant, our servant: doing our bidding, performing our pleasure, granting our desires. No, prayer is a coming to God, telling Him my need, committing my way unto the Lord, and leaving Him to deal with it as seemeth Him best.”

“Real prayer is communion with God, so that there will be common thoughts between His mind and ours. What is needed is for Him to fill our hearts with His thoughts, and then His desires will become our desires flowing back to Him.”

“Prayer is not so much an act as it is an attitude-an attitude of dependency, dependency upon God.”

Leonard Ravenhill – “To stand before men on behalf of God is one thing. To stand before God on behalf of men is something entirely different.”

Samuel Rutherford – “I have benefited by my praying for others; for by making an errand to God for them, I have gotten something for myself.”

Chuck Smith – “Prayer is the most important activity a born-again Christian can perform. It should head your list of priorities, for certainly the world around us desperately needs prayer. Prayer will open the door for God to do a glorious work in these last days. Prayer will stem the tide of evil.”  [“Effective Prayer Life”, by Chuck Smith., pg 1]

Francis J. Spellman – “Pray as if everything depended on God, and work as if everything depended upon man.”

Charles Haddon Spurgeon – “Intercessory prayer is exceedingly prevalent. What wonders it has wrought! The Word of God teems with its marvelous deeds. Believer, thou hast a mighty engine in thy hand, use it well, use it constantly, use it with faith, and thou shalt surely be a benefactor to thy brethren.”  [Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892)]

“He who lives without prayer, he who lives with little prayer, he who seldom reads the Word, and he who seldom looks up to heaven for a fresh influence from on high — he will be the man whose heart will become dry and barren.”

“So the preacher of the gospel asks your prayers: and it is a part of the duties arising out of the relationship between Christian men that those who are taught should pray for those who teach God’s Word.”

“Prayer should be the key of the day and the lock of the night.”  [from “The Treasury of David” by Spurgeon]

“We cannot all argue, but we can all pray; we cannot all be leaders but we can all be pleaders; we cannot all be mighty in rhetoric, but we can all be prevalent in prayer. I would sooner see you eloquent with God than with men.”

Lord Alfred Tennyson – “More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of.”

John R.W. Stott – “Prayer is not a convenient device for imposing our will upon God, or bending his will to ours, but the prescribed way of subordinating our will to his.”

Mother Teresa – “More tears are shed over answered prayers than unanswered ones.”
“Prayer enlarges the heart until it is capable of containing God’s gift of himself.”

R.A. Torrey – “When the perceptive child of God stops to weigh the meaning of these words, then notes the connection in which they are found, he or she is driven to say, ‘I must pray, pray, pray. I must put all my energy and heart into prayer. Whatever else I do, I must pray.'”

“Prayer will promote our personal holiness as nothing else, except the study of the Word of God.”

“When the devil sees a man or woman who really believes in prayer, who knows how to pray, and who really does pray, and, above all, when he sees a whole church on its face before God in prayer, “he trembles” as much as he ever did, for he knows that his day in that church or community is at an end.”

“In the 6th chapter of Ephesians in the 18th verse we read words which put the tremendous importance of prayer with startling and overwhelming force: “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.” When we stop to weigh the meaning of these words, then note the connection in which they are found, the intelligent child of God is driven to say, “I must pray, pray, pray. I must put all my energy and all my heart into prayer. Whatever else I do, I must pray.”  [How To Pray by R. A. Torrey (1856-1928)]

When we become too glib in prayer we are most surely talking to ourselves.”
Richard C. Trench – “Prayer is not overcoming God’s reluctance; it is laying hold of His highest willingness!”  [… Richard C. Trench [1807-1886], An English Clergy.]

Unknown – “Do not make prayer a monologue — make it a conversation.”

“Humility is the way for us to open communication with the merciful God of heaven. It is far better to pray in a private “room,” be unseen by man, and have the approval of God than to give a public display of prayer and have a heart full of pride.”

“The secret of failure is that we see men rather than God. Romanism trembled when Martin Luther saw God. The ‘great awakening’ sprang into being when Jonathan Edwards saw God. The world became the parish of one man when John Wesley saw God. Multitudes were saved when Whitfield saw God. Thousands of orphans were fed when George Muller saw God. And He is ‘the same yesterday, today, and forever.”

“Let us never forget that the greatest thing we can do for God or for man is to pray. For we can accomplish far more by our prayers than by our work. Prayer is omnipotent; it can do anything that God can do! When we pray God works. All fruitfulness in service is the outcome of prayer — of the worker’s prayers, or of those who are holding up holy hands on his behalf. We all know how to pray, but perhaps many of us need to cry as the disciples did of old, ‘Lord, teach us to pray.’ ”

“Some of us at once recall to mind George Muller’s wonderful prayer-life. On one occasion, when crossing from Quebec to Liverpool, he had prayed very definitely that a chair he had written to New York for should arrive in time to catch the steamer, and he was quite confident that God had granted his petition. About half an hour before the tender was timed to take the passengers to the ship, the agents informed him that no chair had arrived, and that it could not possibly come in time for the steamer. Now, Mrs. Muller suffered much from sea-sickness, and it was absolutely essential that she should have the chair. Yet nothing would induce Mr. Muller to buy another one from a shop near by. “We have made special prayer that our Heavenly Father would be pleased to provide it for us, and we will trust Him to do so,” was his reply; and he went on board absolutely sure that his trust was not misplaced, and would not miscarry. Just before the tender left, a van drove up, and on the top of the load it carried was Mr. Muller’s chair. It was hurried on board and placed into the hands of the very man who had urged George Muller to buy another one! When he handed it to Mr. Muller, the latter expressed no surprise, but quietly removed his hat and thanked his Heavenly Father. To this man of God such an answer to prayer was not wonderful, but natural. And do you not think that God allowed the chair to be held back till the very last minute as a lesson to Mr. Muller’s friends-and to us? We should never have heard of that incident but for that delay.

“. . . prayer is a posture. By that, I mean that it’s a way of approaching God – and it’s a way of approaching your life. A “prayer full” posture does not mean one literally spends days, weeks, months and years on your knees locked in conscious conversation with God. Rather, life is spent growing ever more aware of the source of deepest gladness and trust – in constant communication through that awareness. Be a person of prayer – in a posture of awareness of and gratitude to God.”  [from Gospel.com]

Allen E Vartlett – “Seven days without prayer makes one weak.”

Kenneth L. Wilson – “To pray ‘in Jesus’ name’ means to pray in his spirit, in his compassion, in his love, in his outrage, in his concern. In other words, it means to pray a prayer that Jesus himself might pray.”

John Wesley – “”Every new victory which a soul gains is the effect of a new prayer… In the greatest temptations, a single look to Christ, and the barely pronouncing his name, suffices to overcome the wicked one, so it be done with confidence and calmness of spirit. God’s command to ‘pray without ceasing’ is founded on the necessity we have of his grace to preserve the life of God in the soul, which can no more subsist one moment without it, than the body can without air. Whether we think of; or speak to, God, whether we act or suffer for him, all is prayer, when we have no other object than his love, and the desire of pleasing him. All that a Christian does, even in eating and sleeping, is prayer, when it is done in simplicity, according to the order of God, without either adding to or diminishing from it by his own choice. Prayer continues in the desire of the heart, though the understanding be employed on outward things. In souls filled with love, the desire to please God is a continual prayer.”  [from “A Plain Account of Christian Perfection by John Wesley (1703-1791)]

“God only requires of his adult children, that their hearts be truly purified, and that they offer him continually the wishes and vows that naturally spring from perfect love. For these desires, being the genuine fruits of love, are the most perfect prayers that can spring from it.”   [from “A Plain Account of Christian Perfection by John Wesley (1703-1791)]

“I have so much to do that I spend several hours in prayer before I am able to do it.”

“If doing a good act in public will excite others to do more good, then … ‘Let your Light shine to all …’ Miss no opportunity to do good”

“It seems God is limited by our prayer life – that He can do nothing for humanity unless someone asks Him.”

“God does nothing but in answer to prayer; and even they who have been converted to God without praying for it themselves, (which is exceeding rare,) were not without the prayers of others. Every new victory which a soul gains is the effect of a new prayer.”

“Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergymen or laymen; such alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of heaven on earth. God does nothing but in answer to prayer.”

A. A. Wilson – “God may pass by our elaborate programs and outstanding talents, but He will never pass by the prostrate form of an intercessor.”

AW Tozer – “When I am praying the most eloquently, I am getting the least accomplished in my prayer life. But when I stop getting eloquent and give God less theology and shut up and just gaze upward and wait for God to speak to my heart He speaks with such power that I have to grab a pencil and a notebook and take notes on what God is saying to my heart.” AW Tozer – Success and the Christian, 46-47

Zig Zigler – “The story is told of a little guy valiantly but futilely trying to move a heavy log to clear a pathway to his favorite hideout. His dad stood nearby and finally asked him why he wasn’t using all his strength. The little guy assured his dad he was straining with all his might. His dad quietly told him he was not using all his strength, because he hadn’t asked him (his dad) to help.”

More…

Ambrose Bierce – Pray, v.: To ask that the laws of the universe be annulled in behalf of a single petitioner confessedly unworthy.

Abraham Lincoln – I remember my mother’s prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life.

Sam Levenson – We should not permit prayer to be taken out of the schools; that’s the only way most of us got through.

Chiang Kai-shek – Prayer is more than meditation. In meditation the source of strength is one’s self. When one prays he goes to a source of strength greater than his own.

Mother Teresa – I do not pray for success, I ask for faithfulness.

Philip Melanchthen – Trouble and perplexity drive me to prayer and prayer drives away perplexity and trouble.

Billy Graham – The only time my prayers are never answered is on the golf course.

Jeremiah A. Denton, Jr.– A man does a lot of praying in an enemy prison. Prayer, even more than sheer thought, is the firmest anchor.

Martin Luther – The fewer the words, the better the prayer.

Charles Baudelaire – The man who says his evening prayer is a captain posting his sentinels. He can sleep.

Guy H. King – No one is a firmer believer in the power of prayer than the devil; not that he practices it, but he suffers from it.

Corrie Ten Boom – Any concern too small to be turned into a prayer is too small to be made into a burden.John

John Wesley – God does nothing except in answer to prayer.

E.M. Bounds – Only God can move mountains, but faith and prayer move God.

Francis de Sales (Roman Catholic Devotional Writer) – Every Christian needs a half-hour of prayer each day, except when he is busy, then he needs an hour.

Charles Spurgeon – Whether we like it or not, asking is the rule of the kingdom.

Samuel Chadwick (Puritan preacher) – Hurry is the death of Prayer.

E.M. Bounds – if the devil can get the church to withdraw from prayer by believing reasonable excuses, the church is under his dominion.

Comments

  1. sir iam kakkerla pramod from india sir iam suffering with severe evil spirits problem and severe demonic powers problem in head sir since 2 years iam suffering sir my parents taken me to many doctors and astrolagers sir they spend 3 lacs on me sir but there is no use sir with my problem my father got heart surgery sir my wife leaved me sir with all this problems i did a sucide attempt sir one person saw me and saved me sir and said few words about jesus and said this webadderess sir now iam in iccu sir dctors did all tests and said in my body total nerves are completly week and they are in disorder they said sir they given powerful injections to activate nerves sir but there is no improvement sir they said 50 50 chances to live sir if my father knows this his heart will stop sir i will catch your legs sir plz pray for me sir and save me sir may be it is my frist and last reqest sir

  2. The hope of our world today is prayer. Let’s keep encouraging each other to pray no matter what. Thanks for this huge inspiration

  3. thanks…gone here reading… enlightening and inspiring prayer quotes …praise GOD!

  4. Thank you for allowing us to open our eyes to the very simple way but taking to the most highest place in all creation PRAYER

  5. Great people of God prayer is the key, therefore let’s go back to the altar of prayer where the people old made difference in their christian journey God almighity will surely see us through in Jesus name.

  6. Glory to the Most High God who gave these great REVELATIONS on prayer that are helping millions of believers in Christ Jesus.!!

  7. God bless ur work respected child of God, I am an evangelist outdoor manually & indoor, I have net Ministry but my brother is a sectry in small Church where only pastor & his family is sufficient so now he wants to start his own Church in a village bcz anti-Christ dont allow to build new Church in city. He is praying for resources & I request u to pray for his efforts, if u wana sow a seed in his field then send just as seed very few help absolutely not more. My other bro is politician but unbeliever, he can collect money from rich unbelievers but my this brother wants little help much prayers from only pastors or believers­­ Holy Bible 2 King 12 : 4,5 Amen. As for as my concern Lord is on the way to appear in clouds so there is no need to build more Churches but evangelize the 2nd Coming. But in many villages of Punjab (India) Word of God is still thwarted. He wana buy a piece of land in village Pehar Kalan to build a Church there. First u pray then ask Holy Spirit if its needful then u may help him . His details , Shiv Sharan A/C No. 2494101052652, IFSC code CNRB 0002494. mob No. 0091-9780201227, Rajpura, District Patiala, state Punjab (India) KL Angora an evangelist, Nicosia, Cyprus. ( Note- If wrongly this msg reach to person who is not servant of God or believer pl dont send any help at all bcz many people use word pastor & Jesus but their field is different also FB has many confusive languages. Even believers must send just seed not crops so that many can sow for rain of blessing upon their fields. Again I request first ask Holy Spirit then sow seed bcz Holy Spirit will water ur seed. Help of the last person when house of the Lord is built will be put in First Offering then account will be closed. ) Amen.

    1. Author

      There are two, but that is not enough. I have added several more. Thank you

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