Quotes About Prayer

For our sins, He suffered beneath the burden of that unanswered prayer."1 Here

God is big enough to receive us with all our mixture. We do not have to be bright, or pure, or filled with faith, or anything. That is what grace means, and not only are we saved by grace, we live by it as well. And we pray by it.

It is important when we have a need to go to God in prayer. I know, whenever I have prayed earnestly, that I have been heard and have obtained more than I prayed for. God sometimes delays, but He always comes." —Martin Luther, "What a Great Gift We Have in Prayer"9

Our prayer is to be like a reflex action to God's prior initiative upon the heart.

As Foster writes, "If our spiritual vitality seems low, if Bible study produces only dusty words, if prayer seems hollow and empty, then perhaps a prescription of lavish and joyful giving is just what we need."5

Our own spiritual formation will be strengthened if, in our busy, crowded, and noisy lives, we find regular times and places for quiet, for prayer, for listening to God. Time alone with God gives us renewed energy to live fully engaged with the world again. Do

We are silent after hearing the Word because the Word is still speaking and dwelling within us. We are silent at the beginning of the day because God should have the first word, and we are silent before going to sleep because the last word also belongs to God." —Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together 6

Of all spiritual disciplines prayer is the most central because it ushers us into perpetual communion with the Father.

If we think we will have joy only by praying and singing psalms, we will be disillusioned. But if we fill our lives with simple good things and constantly thank God for them, we will be joyful, that is, full of joy. And what about our problems? When we determine to dwell on the good and excellent things in life, we will be so full of those things that they will tend to swallow our problems.

the true test of spirituality [is] in the freedom to live among people compassionately....Prayer frees us to be controlled by God.

God punishes us mildly by ignoring our prayers and severely by answering them.

And you're going to do that all by yourself?" "If I pray real hard, I'm sure I can get the baby Jesus to watch over me." "You just blew up a church," says Candy. "Okay. The Devil then." "That's more like it.

Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.'" Matthew

After all, if Queen Esther prayed, when she was going to speak in the king's presence for the temporal salvation of her people, that God might put suitable words into her mouth, how much more should you pray to receive such a favor, when you are toiling in word and teaching for the people's eternal salvation?

Men lose their birthrights for a mess of pottage only if they stop using the gifts given them by God for their betterment. By prayer. That is the first and greatest gift. Use the gift of prayer. Ask for strength of mind, and a clear vision. Then sense. Use your sense. … Think long and well. By prayer and good thought you will conquer all enemies.

Prayer is only another name for good, clean, direct thinking. When you pray, think well what you are saying, and make your thoughts into things that are solid. In that manner, your prayer will have strength, and that strength shall become part of you, mind, body, and spirit.

Knights Hospitaller of Saint John. (Nursing monks devoted to the care of Christian pilgrims, who pray to gentle Jesus seven times a day and kill without compunction).

Dear Lord, The Ripper walks the earth.

I don't think there's a shortage of material in the world. Or in my head. I just pray for continued good health, because I've got other stories to tell.

God can pick sense out of a confused prayer.

Never fear to go to God, since we have such a Mediator with him, who is not only our friend but our brother and husband

Sometimes a Christian has such confused thoughts that he can say nothing but, as a child, cries, `O Father', not able to express what he needs, like Moses at the Red Sea. These stirrings of spirit touch the heart of God and melt him into compassion towards us, when they come from the Spirit of adoption, and from a striving to be better.

Oh, but is it possible', thinks the misgiving heart, `that so holy a God should accept such a prayer?' Yes, he will accept that which is his own, and pardon that which is ours.

You're trying not to tell him you love him, and you're trying to choke down the feeling, and you're trembling, but he reaches over and he touches you, like a prayer for which no words exist, and you feel your heart taking root in your body, like you've discovered something you don't even have a name for.