Quotes About Prayer

Pray often rather than very long at a time. It is hard to be very long in prayer and not slacken in our affections. Those watches which are made to go longer than ordinary at one winding do commonly lose towards the end.

True faith is prayerful. Prayer, it is the child of faith; and as the child bears his father's name upon him, so doth prayer the name of faith.

Prayer, it is the very natural breath of faith.

Prayer is nothing but the promise reversed, or God's word formed into an argument, and retorted by faith upon God again. Know,

By 'praying always,' saith he, he exhorts us to pray in prosperity as well as adversity; and not then to intermit the practice of this duty because not driven to it by such outward pres sing necessities.

The hypocrite in prayer juggles, he asks what he would not thank God to give him.

Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens,' Lam. 3:41. That is, saith Bernard, oremus et laboremus—let us pray and use the endeavour. The hypocrite's tongue wags, but the sincere soul's feet walk, and his hands work.

Prayer to the saints is as the great artillery to an army—of great use to defend them, and of as great force to do execution upon their enemies; it therefore needs the stronger guard to be set about it, lest it be taken from them, or turned against them by the enemy.

Sometimes thou hearest one pray with a moving expression, while thou canst hardly get out a few broken words in duty, and thou art ready to accuse thyself and to admire him, as if the gilt of the key made it open the door the better.

The Christian's armour will rust except it be furbished and scoured with the oil of prayer.

I do not say that to pray in secret amounts to an infallible character of sincerity—for hypocrisy may creep into our closet when the door is shut closest, as the frogs did into Pharaoh's bed-chamber.

To say we love one, and not pray for him, is a solecism.

He is the best student in divinity that studies most upon his knees[26]

Study may make one a great scholar in the Scriptures, but prayer makes a wise Christian, as it obtains sanctified knowledge, without which it is no perfect gift, but —a gift and no gift.

That prayer is a necessary duty to be performed by the Christian, and used with all other means in his spiritual warfare.

It hath been the constant practice of the saints in all their dangers and straits, whether from enemies within or without, from sin, devils, or men, to betake themselves tot he throne of grace, and draw a line of prayer about them; accounting this the only safe posture to stand in for their defence.

God hath ap pointed prayer as a help to our diligence, not as a cloak for our sloth.

Let God know from thy mouth whither thou art going, and what thy fears are. Never doth the soul march in so goodly order, as when it puts itself under the conduct of God.

Dost thou not betray some of this spiritual pride working in thee? O, if thou couldst pray without wandering, walk without limping, believe without wavering, then thou couldst rejoice and walk cheerfully.

Dost thou not betray some of this spiritual pride working in thee? O, if thou couldst pray without wandering, walk without limping, believe without wavering, then thou couldst rejoice and walk cheerfully. It seems, soul, thou stayest to bring the ground of thy comfort with thee, and not to receive it purely from Christ. O how much better were it if thou wouldst say

Words in prayer are but as powder; the promise is the bullet that doth the execution, faith the grace that chargeth the soul with it, and fervency that gives fire, and dischargeth it into God's bosom with such a force that the Almighty cannot deny it entrance, because indeed he will not.

Gerson recognized what has become obvious to us: that scholastic theology, in its efforts to be scientific, unwittingly severed the intimate link between theology and spirituality, between theologians' public thinking about what the Church believes and believers' personal encounters with God in prayer and worship.

God, save me and I will serve You as long as I live!

The sovereign cure for worry is prayer.