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PRAYEr quotes
As well might we expect vegetation to spring from the earth without the sunshine and the dew, as the Christian to unfold his grace and advance in his course without patient, persevering, ardent prayer.
Blessed be God, I not only begin praying when I kneel down, but I do not leave off praying when I rise up.
It is as natural and reasonable for a dependent creature to apply to its Creator for what it needs, as for a child to solicit the aid of a parent who is believed to have the disposition and ability to bestow what it needs.
Prayer is the wing wherewith the soul flies to heaven, and meditation the eye wherewith we see God.
If one draw near to God with praise and prayer even half a cubit foot, God will go twenty leagues to meet him.
Any heart turned Godward, feels more joy in one short hour of prayer, than e'er was raised by all the feasts on earth since its foundation.
A good man's prayers will from the deepest dungeon climb heaven's height, and bring a blessing down.
The greater thy business is, by so much the more thou hast need to pray for God's good-speed and blessing upon it, seeing it is certain nothing can prosper without his blessing. The time spent in prayer never hinders, but furthers and prospers a man's journey and business: therefore, though thy haste be never so much, or thy business never so great, yet go not about it, nor out of thy doors, till thou hast prayed.
Prayer, as the first, second, and third element of the Christian life, should open, prolong, and conclude each day. The first act of the soul in early morning should be a draught at the heavenly fountain. It will sweeten the taste for the day. A few moments with God at that calm and tranquil season, are of more value than much fine gold. And if you tarry long so sweetly at the throne, you will come out of the closet as the high priest of Israel came from the awful ministry at the altar of incense, suffused all over with the heavenly fragrance of that communion.
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 his 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.
Prayer is a virtue that prevaileth against all temptations.
A prayer in its simplest definition is merely a wish turned Godward.
The best and sweetest flowers of paradise God gives to his people when they are on their knees.—Prayer is the gate of heaven—the key to let us into paradise.
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.
God looks not at the oratory of your prayers, how elegant they may be; nor at the geometry of your prayers, how long they may be; nor at the arithmetic of your prayers, how many they may be; not at logic of your prayers, how methodical they may be; but the sincerity of them he looks at.
God hears no more than the heart speaks; and if the heart be dumb, God will certainly be deaf.
The greatest prayer is patience.
Faith builds in the dungeon and the lazarhouse its sublimest shrines; and up, through roofs of stone, that shut out the eye of heaven, ascends the ladder where the angels glide to and fro—prayer.
Prayer is a sincere, sensible, affectionate pouring out of the soul to God, through Christ, in the strength and assistance of the Spirit, for such things as God has promised.
He who runs from God in the morning will scarcely find Him the rest of the day.
In prayer it is better to have a heart without words, than words without a heart.
They never sought in vain, that sought the Lord aright.
The only instance of praying to saints, mentioned in the Bible, is that of the rich man in torment calling upon Abraham; and let it be remembered, that it was practised only by a lost soul and without success.
The Christian will find his parentheses for prayer even in the busiest hours of life.
God denies a Christian nothing but with a design to give him something better.
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.
Let our prayers, like the ancient sacrifices, ascend morning and evening. Let our days begin and end with God.
The best answer to all objections urged against prayer is the fact that man cannot help praying; for we may be sure that that which is so spontaneous and ineradicable in human nature has its fitting objects and methods in the arrangements of a boundless Providence.
To pray as God would have us, with all the heart and strength and reason and will, and to believe that God will listen to our voice through Christ, and verily do the thing he pleaseth thereon, this is the last, the greatest achievement of the Christian's warfare on earth.
He prayeth best who loveth best.
We should pray with as much earnestness as those who expect everything from God; and should act with as much energy as those who expect everything from themselves.
All the duties of religion are eminently solemn and venerable in the eyes of children. But none will so strongly prove the sincerity of the parent; none so powerfully awaken the reverence of the child; none so happily recommend the instruction he receives, as family devotions, particularly those in which petitions for the children occupy a distinguished place.
Prayer is as much the instinct of my nature as a Christian, as it is a duty enjoined by the command of God. It is my language of worship, as a man; of dependence, as a creature; of submission, as a subject; of confession, as a sinner; of thankfulness, as the recipient of mercies; of supplication, as a needy being.
The end of our prayers is often gained by an answer very different from what we expect. "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" was the question of Paul; and a large part of the answer was, "I will show him how great things he must suffer."
"Never think that God's delays are God's denials."—True prayer always receives what it asks, or something better.
God is infinitely great in himself; we should recognize it in humble adoration: always good; we should acknowledge it by grateful thanksgiving: we have constant need of his blessings; it becomes us to ask them at his hand.
Is not prayer a study of truth, a sally of the soul into the unfound infinite?—No man ever prayed heartily without learning something.
Trouble and perplexity drive me to prayer, and prayer drives away perplexity and trouble.
Leave not off praying to God: for either praying will make thee leave off sinning; or continuing in sin will make thee desist from praying.
God dwells far off from us, but prayer brings him down to our earth, and links his power with our efforts.
Sometimes, perhaps, thou hearest another pray with much freedom and fluency, whilst thou canst hardly get out a few broken words. Hence thou art ready to accuse thyself and admire him, as if the gilding of the key made it open the door the better.
Never was faithful prayer lost.—Some prayers have a longer voyage than others, but then they return with their richer lading at last, so that the praying soul is a gainer by waiting for an answer.
Good prayers never come creeping home. I am sure I shall receive either what I ask, or what I should ask.
It is good for us to keep some account of our prayers, that we may not unsay them in our practice.
To him who hearkens to the gods, the gods give ear.
Every good and holy desire, though it lack the form, hath in itself the substance and force of a prayer with God, who regardeth the very moanings, groans, and sighings of the heart.
Our prayer and God's mercy are like two buckets in a well; while the one ascends, the other descends.
Certain thoughts are prayers. There are moments when, whatever be the attitude of the body, the soul is on its knees.
I have lived to thank God that all my prayers have not been answered.
Prayer without watching is hypocrisy; and watching without prayer is presumption.
I never was deeply interested in any subject, I never prayed sincerely for any thing, but it came. At some time, no matter at how distant a day, somehow, in some shape—probably the last I should devise—it came.
True prayer never comes weeping home: I am sure that I shall get either what I ask, or what I ought to have asked.
I have been driven many times to 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 the day.
'Tis heaven alone that is given away; it is only God may be had for the asking.
The fewer words the better prayer.
The prayer that begins with trustfulness, and passes on into waiting, will always end in thankfulness, triumph, and praise.
The Lord's Prayer is not, as some fancy, the easiest, the most natural of all devout utterances. It may be committed to memory quickly, but it is slowly learned by heart.
Trouble and perplexity drive me to prayer, and prayer drives away perplexity and trouble.
So weak is man, so ignorant and blind, that did not God sometimes withhold in mercy what we ask, we should be ruined at our own request.
Prayer is not eloquence, but earnestness; not the definition of helplessness, but the feeling of it; not figures of speech, but earnestness of soul.
Prayer and provender hinder no man's journey.
Every prayer that is really such—that is, which flows from the inward necessity of the soul—God answers.
Human life is a constant want, and ought to be a constant prayer.
He who prays as he ought will endeavor to live as he prays.
The Lord's Prayer, for a succession of solemn thoughts, for fixing the attention upon a few great points, for suitableness to every condition, for sufficiency for conciseness without obscurity, for the weight and real importance of its petition, is without an equal or a rival.
Prayer is the preface to the book of Christian living; the text of the new life sermon; the girding on of the armor for battle; the pilgrim's preparation for his journey. It must be supplemented by action or it amounts to nothing.
Remember, whatever warrant you have for praying, you have the same warrant to believe your prayers will be answered.
Practise in life whatever you pray for, and God will give it to you more abundantly.
Heaven is never deaf but when man's heart is dumb.
I believe I should have been swept away by the flood of French infidelity, if it had not been for one thing, the remembrance of the time when my sainted mother used to make me kneel by her side, taking my little hands in hers, and caused me to repeat the Lord's Prayer.
The deepest wishes of the heart find expression in secret prayer.
To a certain extent, God gives to the prayerful control of Himself, and becomes their willing agent; and when the time comes when all mysteries are solved, and the record of all lives is truthfully revealed, it will probably be seen that not those who astonished the world with their own powers, but those who quietly, through prayer, used God's power, were the ones who made the world move forward.
What men usually ask for when they pray to God is, that two and two may not make four.
I have been benefited by praying for others; for by making an errand to God for them I have gotten something for myself.
Each time thou wishest to decide upon performing some enterprise, raise the eyes to heaven, pray God to bless thy project; if thou canst make that prayer, accomplish thy work.
The first petition that we are to make to Almighty God is for a good conscience, the next for health of mind, and then of body.
We, ignorant of ourselves, beg often our own harms, which the wise powers deny us for our good; so we find profit by losing of our prayers.
Our prayers should be for blessings in general, for God knows best what is good for us.
Premeditation of thought and brevity of expression are the great ingredients of that reverence that is required to a pious and acceptable prayer.
Let not him who prays, suffer his tongue to outstrip his heart; nor presume to carry a message to the throne of grace, while that stays behind.
I know no blessing so small as to be reasonably expected without prayer, nor any so great but may be attained by it.
We need not perplex ourselves as to the precise mode in which prayer is answered.—It is enough for us to know and feel that it is the most natural, the most powerful, and the most elevated expression of our thoughts and wishes in all great emergencies.
I desire no other evidence of the truth of Christianity, than the Lord's prayer.
Prayer among men is supposed a means to change the person to whom we pray; but prayer to God doth not change him, but fits us to receive the things prayed for.
"Prayer," says St. Jerome, "is a groan." Ah! our groans are prayers as well. The very cry of distress is an involuntary appeal to that invisible Power whose aid the soul invokes.
The Lord's Prayer is short and mysterious, and, like the treasures of the Spirit, full of wisdom and latent senses: it is not improper to draw forth those excellencies which are intended and signified by every petition, that by so excellent an authority we may know what it is lawful to beg of God.
When we pray for any virtue, we should cultivate the virtue as well as pray for it; the form of your prayer should be the rule of your life; every petition to God is a precept to man. Look not, therefore, upon your prayers as a method of good and salvation only, but as a perpetual monition of duty. By what we require of God we see what he requires of us.
No man can hinder our private addresses to God; every man can build a chapel in his breast, himself the priest, his heart the sacrifice, and the earth he treads on, the altar.
The body of our prayer is the sum of our duty; and as we must ask of God whatsoever we need, so we must watch and labor for all that we ask.
Whatsoever we beg of God, let us also work for it.
More things are wrought by prayer than the world dreams of. What are men better than sheep or goats, that nourish a blind life within the brain, if, knowing God, they lift no hands of prayer both for themselves and those who call them friends!
Open thy heart to God, if he be there, the outspread world will be thy book of prayer.
Prayer is not overcoming God's reluctance; it is laying hold of His highest willingness.
The Ediles among the Romans had their doors always standing open, that all who had petitions might have free access to them.—The door of heaven is always open for the prayers of God's people.
Holy, humble, penitent, believing, earnest, persevering prayer is never lost; it always prevails to the accomplishment of the thing sought, or that with which the suppliant will be better satisfied in the end, according to the superior wisdom of his heavenly father, in which he trusts.
The Lord's Prayer contains the sum total of religion and morals.
The simple heart that freely asks in love, obtains.
Pray to God, at the beginning of all thy works, that so thou mayest bring them all to a good ending.
Prayer ardent opens heaven, lets down a stream of glory on the consecrated hour of man, in audience with the Deity; who worships the great God, that instant joins the first in heaven, and sets his foot on hell.
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