"They who are hasty in
their devotions and think a little will do, are strangers both to the nature
of devotion and the nature of man; they do not know that they are to learn
to pray, and that prayer is to be learnt as they learn other things, by
frequency, constancy, and perseverance." William Law
"Prayer is not changing God's mind
but finding God's mind." Anonymous
"God does not hear us because we
pray earnestly—He hears us solely on the basis of redemption. God is never
impressed by our earnestness. Prayer is not simply getting things from
God—that is only the most elementary kind of prayer. Prayer is coming into
perfect fellowship and oneness with God." Oswald Chambers
"Mark the grand characteristic of
true prayer—"In the Holy Ghost." The seed of acceptable devotion must come
from heaven's storehouse. Only the prayer which comes from God can go to
God. We must shoot the Lord's arrows back to Him. That desire which He
writes upon our heart will move His heart and bring down a blessing, but
the desires of the flesh have no power with Him." Charles Spurgeon
"When you labor at prayer, from
God's perspective there are always results. What an astonishment it will
be to see, once the veil is finally lifted, all the souls that have been
reaped by you, simply because you have been in the habit of taking your
orders from Jesus Christ." Oswald Chambers
"Call
to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things
you do not know." (Jer. 33:3 NIV)
"You cannot perish praying; no one has ever done so. If
you could perish praying, you would be a new wonder in the universe. A
praying soul in hell is an utter impossibility. A man calling on God and
rejected by God—the supposition is not to be endured!
'Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.'"
Charles Spurgeon
"What if God does not demand prayer
as much as gives prayer? What if God wants prayer in order to satisfy us?
What if prayer is a means of God nourishing, restoring, healing, converting
us? Suppose prayer is primarily allowing ourselves to be loved, addressed
and claimed by God. What if praying means opening ourselves to the gift
of God's own self and presence? What if our part in prayer is primarily
letting God be giver? Suppose prayer is not a duty but the opportunity
to experience healing and transforming love?" Martin Smith
"When a man is born from above,
the life of the Son of God is born in him, and he can either starve that
life or nourish it. Prayer is the way the life of God is nourished. Our
ordinary views of prayer are not found in the New Testament. We look upon
prayer as a means of getting things for ourselves; the Bible's idea of
prayer is that we may get to know God Himself." Oswald Chambers
"Understanding that God wants to
impart spiritual strength and refreshment encourages me to feel that I
don't have to come with a full agenda when I meet God. He has invited me—and
so I respond by choosing to answer his request for fellowship. How good
it is to view prayer as an opportunity to receive from the Lord and as
a time to 'yield a sweet savour unto God'." Cynthia Heald
"How often have you come to God
with your requests and gone away thinking, 'I've really received what I
wanted this time!' And yet you go away with nothing, while all the time
God has stood with His hands outstretched not only to take you but also
for you to take Him. Just think of the invincible, unconquerable, and untiring
patience of Jesus, who lovingly says, 'Come to Me . . . .'. Oswald Chambers
"The prayer which moves the arm
of God is still a bruised and battered prayer, and only moves that arm
because the sinless One, the great Mediator, has stepped in to take away
the sin of our supplication." Charles Spurgeon
"People describe intercession
by saying, 'It is putting yourself in someone else's place.' That is not
true! Intercession is putting yourself in God's place; it is having His
mind and His perspective." Oswald Chambers
"Let
us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we
may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need." Heb.
4:16
"The throne of God is a throne set
up on purpose for the dispensation of grace and from which every utterance
is an utterance of grace. The scepter that is stretched out from it is
the silver scepter of grace. The decrees proclaimed from it are purposes
of grace. The gifts that are scattered down its golden steps are gifts
of grace, and He who sits upon the throne is grace Himself. That it is
the throne of grace that we approach when we pray is a mighty source of
encouragement to all of us who are praying men and women."
"Praying in the Holy Ghost is praying
in fervency. Cold prayers ask the Lord not to hear them. Those who do not
plead with fervency, plead not at all. As well speak of lukewarm fire as
of lukewarm prayer—it is essential that it be red hot. It is praying perseveringly.
The true suppliant gathers force as he proceeds, and grows more fervent
when God delays to answer. The longer the gate is closed, the more vehemently
does he use the knocker, and the longer the angel lingers the more resolved
is he that he will never let him go without the blessing. Beautiful in
God's sight is tearful, agonizing, unconquerable importunity. It means
praying humbly, for the Holy Spirit never puffs us up with pride. It is
His office to convince of sin, and so to bow us down in contrition and
brokenness of spirit. We shall never sing Gloria in Excelsis except we
pray to God de profundis: out of the depths must we cry, or we shall never
behold glory in the highest. It is loving prayer. Prayer should be perfumed
with love, saturated with love—love to our fellow saints, and love to Christ.
Moreover, it must be a prayer full of faith. A man prevails only as he
believes. The Holy Spirit is the author of faith, and strengthens it, so
that we pray believing God's promise. O that this blessed combination of
excellent graces, priceless and sweet as the spices of the merchant, might
be fragrant within us because the Holy Ghost is in our hearts! Most blessed
Comforter, exert Thy mighty power within us, helping our infirmities in
prayer." Charles Spurgeon
"To pray is to let Jesus come into
our hearts. This teaches us, in the first place, that it is not our prayer
which moves the Lord Jesus. It is Jesus who moves us to pray. He knocks.
Thereby He makes known His desire to come in to us. Our prayers are always
a result of Jesus' knocking at our hearts' door." O. Hallesby
"True prayer is an inventory of
wants, a catalogue of necessities, a revelation of hidden poverty. While
it is an application to divine wealth, it is a confession of human emptiness."
Charles Spurgeon
"The Holy Spirit Himself prays prayers
in us which we cannot utter ourselves. When we are born again of God and
are indwelt by the Spirit of God, He expresses for us the unutterable.
He, the Holy Spirit in you, 'makes intercession for the saints according
to the will of God' (Rom. 8:27). And God searches our hearts, not to know
what our conscious prayers are, but to find out what the prayer of the
Holy Spirit is. He will be responsible for the unconscious part which we
don't know, but we must pay careful attention to and guard the conscious
part for which we are responsible." Oswald Chambers
"I
have prayed for thee." Luke
22:32
"He pleads for us . . . 'I have
prayed for you: I have done it already; I have gone to court and entered
a counter plea even before an accusation is made.' O Jesus, what a comfort
it is that thou hast pleaded our cause against our unseen enemies; countermined
their mines, and unmasked their ambushes. Here is a matter for joy, gratitude,
hope, and confidence." Charles Spurgeon
"This is a certain truth that nothing
ever did or can have the least desire or tendency to ascend to heaven,
but that which came down from heaven; and therefore nothing in the heart
can pray, aspire, and long after God, but the Spirit of God moving and
stirring in it." William Law
"Prayer is not a way of making use
of God; prayer is a way of offering ourselves to God in order that He should
be able to make use of us. It may be that one of our great faults in prayer
is that we talk too much and listen too little. When prayer is at its highest
we wait in silence for God's voice to us; we linger in His presence for
His peace and His power to flow over us and around us; we lean back in
His everlasting arms and feel the serenity of perfect security in Him."
William Barclay
"What a sweet satisfaction it is
to know that the Lord Jesus, in His office as our great Intercessor, is
prevalently pleading for His people! O anxious gazer, look not so much
at
the battle below, but lift thine
eyes yonder where the Saviour lives and pleads, for while He intercedes,
the cause of God is safe. Let us fight as if it all depended upon
us, but let us look up and know that all depends upon Him." Charles
Spurgeon
"The childish idea that prayer is
a handle by which we can take hold of God and obtain whatever we desire,
leads to easy disillusionment with both what we had thought to be God and
what we had thought to be prayer." Robert L. Short
"God reveals in John 17 that His
purpose is not just to answer our prayers, but that through prayer we might
come to discern His mind." Oswald Chambers
"Help,
Lord." Psalm 12:1
"It makes a great difference in
our feelings towards others if their needs and their joys are on our lips
in prayer; as also it makes a vast difference in their feelings towards
us if they know that we are in the habit of praying for them. There is
no chasm in society that cannot be firmly and permanently bridged by intercession;
there is no feud or dislike that cannot be healed by the same exercise
of love." Charles H. Brent
"Lord, take not thy Holy Spirit
from us! Withdraw not from us Thine indwelling grace! Hast Thou not said,
'I the Lord do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it,
I will keep it night and day'? Lord, keep us everywhere. Keep us when in
the valley, that we murmur not against Thy humbl- ing hand; keep us when
on the mountain, that we wax not giddy through being lifted up; keep us
in youth, when our passions are strong; keep us in old age, when becoming
conceited of our wisdom, we may therefore prove greater fools than the
young and giddy; keep us when we come to die, lest, at the very last, we
should deny Thee! Keep us living, keep us dying, keep us labouring,
keep us suffering, keep us fighting, keep us resting, keep us everywhere,
for everywhere we need Thee, O our God!" Charles Spurgeon
"Prayer is not conquering God's
reluctance, but taking hold of God's willingness." Phillips Brooks
"If you are swept off your feet,
it is time to get on your knees." Frederick Beck
"If you lack knowledge, go to school.
If you lack wisdom, get on your knees!" Vance Havner
"If the veil of the world's machinery
were lifted off, how much we would find is done in answer to the prayers
of God's children." Robert Murray M'Cheyne
"Prayer is a mighty instrument,
not for getting man's will done in Heaven, but for getting God's will done
in earth." Robert Law
"When
I cry unto Thee, then shall mine enemies turn back: this I know; for God
is for me." Psalm 56:9
"Prayer must and shall be heard,
and never, even in the secrets of eternity, has the Lord said unto any
living soul, 'Seek ye Me in vain.'" Charles Spurgeon
"If we would talk less and pray
more about things, we should be better enabled to bear them." John Owen
"Prayer is the movement of trust,
of gratitude, of adoration, or of sorrow, that places us before God, seeing
both Him and ourselves in the light of His infinite truth, and moves us
to ask Him for the mercy, the spiritual strength, the material help, that
we all need. The man whose prayer is so pure that he never asks God for
anything does not know who God is, and does not know who he is himself:
for he does not know his own need of God. All true prayer somehow confesses
our absolute dependence on the Lord of life and death. It is, therefore,
a deep and vital contact with Him whom we know not only as Lord but as
Father. It is when we pray truly that we really are. Our being is brought
to a high perfection by this." Thomas Merton
"Prayer is ruin's remedy, doubt's
destroyer, the cure of all cares, the antidote to all anxieties, the grand
panacea for all pains, and the golden key that can open the gate of mercy!"
Charles Spurgeon
"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." John Owen
"Prayer is not a way of making use
of God; prayer is a way of offering ourselves to God in order that He should
be able to make use of us. It may be that one of our great faults in prayer
is that we talk too much and listen too little. When prayer is at its highest
we wait in silence for God's voice to us; we linger in His presence for
His peace and His power to flow over us and around us; we lean back in
His everlasting arms and feel the serenity of perfect security in Him."
William Barclay
"True, whole prayer is nothing but
love." St. Augustine
"Make me what Thou wouldst have
me be. I bargain for nothing. I make no terms. I seek for no previous information
whither Thou art taking me. I will be what Thou wilt make me, and all that
Thou wilt make me. I say not, I will follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest,
for I am weak, but I give myself to Thee, to lead me anywhither." John
Henry Newman
"Teach me. O God, to use all the
circumstances of my life today that they may bring forth in me the fruits
of holiness rather than the fruits of sin.
"Prayer is ruin's remedy,
doubt's destroyer, the cure of all cares, the antidote to all anxieties,
the grand panacea for all pains, and the golden key that can open the gate
of mercy!" Charles Spurgeon
"Prayer is the lifting of an eye,
the falling of a tear, the outdarting of an arm as if it would snatch a
blessing from on high. You do not need long sentences, intricate expressions,
elaborate and innumerable phrases; a look may be a battle half won. You
may pray now or in the crowded street or in the busiest scene—you can always
have a word with God—you can always wing a whisper to the skies. Pray without
ceasing. Live in the spirit of prayer. Let your life be one grand desire,
Godward and heavenward. Then use as many words or as few as you please.
Your heart is itself a prayer, and your look a holy expectation." Joseph
Parker
"Prayer need not be upbeat and optimistic.
The true believer does not always rise from his knees full of encouragement
and fresh hope. There are times when one may remain down in the dumps and
yet still have prayed well. For what God wants from us is not the
observance of a religious protocol, but just that we be real with Him.
What He wants is our heart." Mike Mason from The Gospel of Job
"Fishing is a good metaphor for
prayer. The unpredictablity of the element, its tempestuousness at times,
its windless calm at others. And its depth, its vastness—the feeling that
we're just skimming surfaces—that the mystery and marvel folds down into
unfathomable and often unreachable dark- ness. The thrill when something—anything—takes
the line, and the disappointment and often the mess when its not what you
had hoped for. And always waiting.
"Prayer and waiting are intrinsically
linked, joined at the hip. Prayer makes no sense apart from waiting. Prayer
is about being made in the likeness of Christ. Conformed, reformed, transformed.
If prayer was only about getting things—getting even, getting rich, getting
well, getting justice—then we would call it something else. We have lots
of names to describe the quest and method for getting those things: magic,
medicine, capitalism, lobbying.
"But prayer is not about bartering
and bargaining with God, haggling for the best deal; a pound of piety for
remission of sickness. Prayer, at its heart, is about becoming like the
crucified and risen Christ. And that is a work like wind carving stone.
It is slow, painful, toiling work, rarely swift or easy. It is riddled
with wrenching setbacks, and its break- throughs are more serendipitous
than calculated. There are disciplines for prayer, to be sure, but no mechanisms.
Gimmicks and panaceas—like glittery gimcrack lures for fishermen—are widely
available and equally useless. There is simply no substitute for becoming
like Christ other than being with Christ, and especially with Him in solitude
and suffering and sorrow. And so prayer, like fishing, is about waiting.
Prayer
is the poetry of waiting. It is the language of those who know
that what is now is not what should be and not what will be, if we wait."
Mark Buchanan, from Your God is Too Safe
