PRAYER QUOTES III
quotations about prayer
More tears are shed over answered prayers than unanswered ones.
TRUMAN CAPOTE
Answered Prayers
What seem our worst prayers may really be, in God's eyes, our best. Those, I mean, which are least supported by devotional feeling. For these may come from a deeper level than feeling. God sometimes seems to speak to us most intimately when he catches us, as it were, off our guard.
C. S. LEWIS
Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer
Never, my child, forget to pray,
Whate'er the business of the day.
If happy dreams have bless'd thy sleep,
If startling fears have made thee weep,
With holy thoughts begin the day;
And ne'er, my child, forget to pray.
THOMAS HAYNES BAYLY
Never, My Child, Forget to Pray
Prayer is the act by which man, detaching himself from the embarrassments of sense and nature, ascends to the true level of his destiny.
HENRY PARRY LIDDON
Sermons Preached Before the University of Oxford
Who shall say that prayer has no grounds of reason because science cannot find any avenue for it? Who shall forbid this instinct that cleaves every cloud strait up to God, because visibly he does not reach down his hand?
E. H. CHAPIN
Living Words
Our problem is that we assume prayer is something to master the way we master algebra or auto mechanics. That puts us in the "on-top" position, where we are competent and in control. But when praying, we come "underneath," where we calmly and deliberately surrender control.
RICHARD J. FOSTER
Prayer: Finding the Heart's True Home
The word of God is the only rule by which he regulates his devotions, both as to the time, the place, the matter, the manner. By this he is taught, that as no time is unfit, so no place is improper for this honorable duty. Though there are stated times of public and private devotion, which he cheerfully observes; and though it is the joy of his soul to join with his fellow-worshippers in places that are appointed for the assembling of the church; yet he can never think that prayers which are made in canonical hours or consecrated places, are of greater efficacy on that account. The labors of the day he begins with prayer, he mixes with prayer, he finishes with prayer.--He is more anxious to get a praying heart, than to find a place; for he remembers how Jeremiah could pray in the dungeon, Daniel in the den of lions, Jonah in the belly of the fish, Hezekiah upon his bed, Nehemiah in the king's presence, Peter on the house top, Paul on the shore, and Christ in the garden.--He considers that Christ is an omnipresent temple; and therefore lifts up holy hands in every place.
WILLIAM MCEWAN
"On Prayer", Select Essays Doctrinal & Practical on a Variety of the Most Important and Interesting Subjects in Divinity
Amen meaneth assuredly, namely, that I am sure that petitions of this kind are accepted by my Heavenly Father, and heard by him, because he hath commanded us, that we should pray after this manner, and hath promised that he will hear us. Amen, Amen: that is, truly, certainly, so be it.
MARTIN LUTHER
Luther's Catechism
Prayer is a lifting up of a pure mind unto God, in the which we ask somewhat of him according to his will.
THOMAS BECON
The Catechism of Thomas Becon
Prayer is a golden river at whose brink some die of thirst while others kneel and drink.
CROFT M. PENTZ
The Complete Book of Zingers
Practical prayer is harder on the soles of your shoes than on the knees of your trousers.
AUSTIN O'MALLEY
Keystones of Thought
Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.
BIBLE
Mark 1:35
If you manage to keep aside the assumed importance that you have for yourself, then you are in prayer, you don't have to say anything.
SADHGURU
"Prayer Is Not A Long-Distance Call", Isha, September 5, 2012
It is not possible to engage in the direct apostolate without being a soul of prayer. We must be aware of oneness with Christ, as he was aware of oneness with his Father. Our activity is truly apostolic only insofar as we permit him to work in us and through us with his power, with his desire, with his love.
MOTHER TERESA
A Gift for God
When God placed man on the earth, prayer became the lifeline between mankind and God. Thus, in Adam's generation, men began "to call upon the name of the Lord." Through all generations since that time, prayer has filled a very important human need. Each of us has problems that we cannot solve and weaknesses that we cannot conquer without reaching out through prayer to a higher source of strength.
JAMES E. FAUST
"The Lifeline of Prayer", April 2002
Prayer is our business, our only business. Prayer is our holy occupation. Plain and simple.
OSWALD CHAMBERS
Prayer: A Holy Occupation
One of the reasons I love prayer is that it is an antidote to guilt and blame. If we are unhappy with the way we have acted or been treated, instead of stewing in self-recrimination on the one hand, or harboring ill will toward someone else on the other, prayer gives us a way out of the circle of guilt and blame. We bring our painful feelings into the open and say, "I have done wrong," or "I have been wronged." And then we ask for a vaster view--one that contains within it all the forgiveness we need in order to move forward.
ELIZABETH LESSER
Broken Open: How Difficult Times Can Help Us Grow
Prayer is called pouring out the heart before God. Is the heart full of sins? pour them out in penitent confessions; full of sorrows? pour them out in humble complaints; full of desires? pour them out in earnest petitions; full of joys? pour them out in rapturous praises.
JOHN THORNTON
Maxims and Directions for Youth
We use prayer as a last resort; but Jesus wants it to be our first line of defense. We pray when there's nothing else we can do; Jesus wants us to pray before we do anything at all.
OSWALD CHAMBERS
Prayer: A Holy Occupation
I talk to God but the sky is empty.
SYLVIA PLATH
The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath