Be encouraged and have your faith strengthened in your daily walk with Jesus Christ, through these quotes on prevailing intercessory prayer in the Christian faith.
Galatians 4:19 "My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you,"
"Prayer is needed in the home life, in the church life, in the missionary life. The efficiency of earnest prayer is but feebly understood. Were the church faithful in prayer, she would not be found remiss in so many things, for faithfulness in calling upon God will bring rich returns. When the church awakes to the sense of her holy calling, many more fervent and effective prayers will ascend to heaven for the Holy Spirit to point out the work and duty of God’s people regarding the salvation of souls. We have a standing promise that God will draw near to every seeking soul. {Ms59-1898.10} The church needs to be begotten again unto a lively hope “by the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away.” [1 Peter 1:3, 4.] When the church awakes to a sense of what must be done in our world, the members will have travail of soul for those who know not God and who in their spiritual ignorance cannot understand the truth for this time. Self-denial, self-sacrifice is to be woven into all our experience. We are to pray and watch unto prayer, that there may be no inconsistency in our lives. We must not fail to show others that we understand that watching unto prayer means living our prayers before God, that He may answer them. {Ms59-1898.11} The church will not retrograde while the members seek help from the throne of grace, that they may not fail to co-operate in the great work of saving the souls that are on the brink of ruin. The members of a church that is an active, working church will have a realization that they are wearing Christ’s yoke, and drawing with Him." {Ms59-1898.12}
"give Him no rest..." Be encouraged and have your faith strengthened in your daily walk with Jesus Christ, through these quotes on prevailing intercessory prayer in the Christian faith.
Luke 11:1 (KJV) 1 And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples
"A life of prayer costs. It takes time. Hurried prayers and muttered litanies can never produce souls mighty in prayer. To become skilled in art and mechanism, learners give hours regularly every day that they may become proficient. Our Lord rose before daybreak that He might pray, and not infrequently He spent all night in prayer. All praying saints have spent hours every day in prayer. One is afraid to quote examples. In these days there is no time to pray; but without time, and a lot of it, we shall never learn to pray. It ought to be possible to give God one hour out of twenty-four all to Himself. Anyway, let us make a start in the discipline of training in prayer by setting apart a fixed time every day for the exercise of prayer. We must seriously set our hearts to learn how to pray. "To pray with all your heart and strength, with the reason and the will, to believe vividly that God will listen to your voice through Christ, and verily do the thing He pleaseth thereupon -- this is the last, the greatest achievement of the Christian's warfare upon earth." Teach us to pray, O Lord, we beseech thee." Samuel Chadwick
4/1/2016
Acts. 9:11 “And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and enquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth,”
“God speaks of prayer in terms of wonder: "Behold, he prayeth." The language is that of humanity, but it is the only speech man knows, and however inadequate it may be, it stands for corresponding reality in God. Can God wonder? Can there be in Him elements of surprise and amazement? Can it be that there are things that to God are wonderful? That is how God speaks, and to Him there is nothing more gloriously wonderful than prayer. It would seem as if the biggest thing in God's universe is a man who prays. There is only one thing more amazing, and that is, that man, knowing this, should not pray. Behold! In that word there is wonder, rapture, exultation. In the estimate of God prayer is more wonderful than all the wonders of the heavens, more glorious than all the mysteries of the earth, more mighty than all the forces of creation.” Samuel Chadwick, The Path of Prayer
2/10/2014
Acts 9:11 "Behold, he prayeth."
“But this I do say, that not praying is a clear proof that a man is not yet a true Christian. He cannot really feel his sins. He cannot love God. He cannot feel himself a debtor to Christ. He cannot long after holiness. He cannot desire heaven. He has yet to be born again. He has yet to be made a new creature. He may boast confidently of election, grace, faith, hope, and knowledge, and deceive ignorant people. But you may rest assured it is all vain talk if he does not pray…. And I say, furthermore, that of all the evidences of the real work of the Spirit, a habit of hearty private prayer is one of the most satisfactory that can be named. A man may preach from false motives. A man may write books and make fine speeches and seem diligent in good works, and yet be a Judas Iscariot. But a man seldom goes into his closet, and pours out his soul before God in secret, unless he is in earnest. The Lord himself has set his stamp on prayer as the best proof of a true conversion. When he sent Ananias to Saul in Damascus, he gave him no other evidence of his change of heart than this, "Behold, he prayeth" (Acts 9: 11).”—J. C. Ryle
1/30/2014
Mark 5:16 “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven."
"The church may be composed of those who are poor and uneducated; but if they have learned of Christ the science of prayer, the church will have power to move the arm of Omnipotence. The true people of God will have an influence that will tell upon hearts. It is not the wealth or the educated ability which the members of the church may possess that constitutes their efficiency. The members of the church may have been so situated that they may have had every spiritual advantage, they may have been so situated that they have had opportunity to know the truth, to know Jesus Christ their Lord; but notwithstanding their advantages, if they are not humble, praying men and women, there will not be with them the hiding of the power of God. They will not exert that influence that will be far reaching as eternity in its results, and men will not see their good works, and glorify God because of his people’s faithfulness. It is when the Sun of Righteousness shines forth from the people of God that Christ is glorified and his kingdom advanced. It is then that they are chosen vessels of salvation, and are fit for the Master’s use. –Signs of the Times, September 11, 1893. Par. 4
1/20/2014
Lam. 2:11 "My eyes fail with tears, My heart is troubled; My bile is poured on the ground Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, Because the children and the infants Faint in the streets of the city."
"God's servants need constantly to lay hold with one hand of souls ready to perish, while with the hand of faith they lay hold of the throne of God. Souls possessed with evil spirits will present themselves before us. We must cultivate the spirit of earnest prayer, mingled with genuine faith to save them from ruin, and this will confirm our faith." {SpM 89.2}
1/14/2014
2 Thess. 3:1 "Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may run swiftly and be glorified, just as it is with you...."
"The preached Word will be powerless for the conviction and conversion of souls, while a sleepy, lazy, and backslidden church are all that are left to sustain the efforts of the laborers. The efforts of Christ's ambassadors will be successful only when sustained by an earnest, praying, working people." {PH152 6.2}
1/19/2014
Acts 1:14 "These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers."
"A prayer-meeting will always tell the true interest of the church-members in spiritual and eternal things. The prayer-meeting is as the pulse to the body; it denotes the true spiritual condition of the church. A lifeless, backslidden church has no relish for the prayer-meetings." {PH152 7.1}
12/26/2013
James 4:7 "Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you."
“Satan trembles when he sees
The weakest saint upon his knees”
Commenting on this, William Chalmers Burns, the great revivalist who worked in Scotland and China, among other places, stated, “[Satan] is never more disappointed than when his temptations drive men to Christ. He, then, is the means of driving a soul to its fortress, its security. Prayer is strength. No Christian can thrive without being much alone with God. None who are so can do otherwise than thrive. Fight by prayer when you are fainting. As to your companionships, try to be most where you will be nearest to Jesus. Young Christian, be much in your closet, and He cannot forsake you.
6/25/2012
"But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly." Matt. 6:6
"The great fundamental error then, as far as I can see, in the economy of the Christian life, which many, and alas! I for one commit, is that of having too few and too short periods of solemn retirement with our gracious Father and his adorable Son Jesus Christ. It is, we well know, when meditating in secret on his Word, when examining our hearts in his holy and omniscient but fatherly and gracious presence, when pouring out our complaint before him, and seeking to utter the praises of his glorious character and works—it is in these exercises that we come to know, through the teaching of the Spirit, our natural darkness, depravity, and vileness, and that the glorious Sun of Righteousness arises upon our souls with healing in his wings, giving light to us who sit in darkness and in the region and shadow of death. The communion of the saints in Christian converse is indeed important, nay, indispensable to the growth of the new man when it can be obtained, but when is it sweet and soul-reviving but when each brings out into the common store something of the heavenly food which he has been gathering in the closet? Whenever the holy, heavenly light of a Christian deportment is seen in anyone, when we hear him bringing forth from a full heart some of the glorious things of the kingdom, we ought then to learn the lesson that 'he has been with Jesus,' and to go in like manner to Him that we too may obtain this living water to be in us as a well of water springing up unto everlasting life."—William Chalmers Burns
1/4/2012
"If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it." John 14:14
"What is the matter with the Christian Church, that she does not make more of believing and importunate prayer in the Name of Jesus Christ? Do you ever ask what prayer in the Name of Jesus Christ is? The Name is the character and the personality, just as my name represents me. To ask in His Name is not simply to ask for His sake, it is something grander. He has put His Name upon us, and we may ask by virtue of our identity with Him. He is my Lord, and I am His servant. To present requests in His Name is the same thing as presenting letters of introduction in the name of some other person. When you present a letter, I recognize the person who wrote the letter, and it is not irreverent for me to say, that when you pray in Jesus' Name, not you, but He, is the suppliant. I present the request, but He makes the request, for it is my identification with Him that makes Him the mouth-piece of my supplications. Such prayer can only be offered by those who are in intimate fellowship with Jesus Christ. We can only maintain that fellowship by constancy of devotion and love and the culture of holiness. The lost art of praying must become a found art in the Church of Christ, before missions receive their new recognition in the mind of the Church, and their new expression in the activity of the Church."—A. T. Pierson, at a student missionary conference in 1896.
"Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you." Luke 10:19
"I was the pastor of a great church, where I found that there was an irreconcilable feud between certain members, officers of that church. I laboured eighteen months and used every expedient I could think of, and was unable to heal the breach. Then I went to the Lord, and said with tears, 'My God, I cannot serve Thee in this church while this feud continues; I have essayed to heal it, but it has not been healed; lay Thy Hand upon these parties, and remove them from the church, or bring them to a mutual understanding.' From that day, not one of these disputants has been inside the walls of that church. In my despair, 'This poor man cried unto the Lord,' and the Lord heard him. One of the members in question had sickness in the family, which demanded his removal from the town; the other had a rise in his rent and went away; another was found involved in a defalcation (embezzlement), and was forced to leave, and now the church is a perfectly harmonious body. My quickest way was by the roundabout process of the Throne of Grace.”—A. T. Pierson, at a student missionary conference in 1896. (Read A. T. Pierson's entire sermon)
"Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut; 2 I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron: 3 And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the Lord, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel." Isa. 45:1-3
"I am told that in London there is a tall building, at the top of which is a newspaper office which receives its news from Scotland by private wire. There were two young men in charge of the telegraph office: one went about London to collect local news, and on his return one night, found he could not get in, the man up in the fifth story not hearing his knocking. What did he do? He ran to a telegraph office and telegraphed to Edinburgh, ‘Wake up that fellow in the fifth story,' and soon after, down came his companion to open the door. The quickest way to get to the man in the fifth story was by way of Edinburgh. The quickest way to get at the man next door to me, is by way of the Throne of Grace. If I understand this wonderful telegraphic circuit, I can send up my request to Him Who holds all hearts in His hands, and there will be marvellous revelations accomplished in the house next door to me. All barriers are cast aside by the power of Almighty God."—A. T. Pierson, at a student missionary conference in 1896.
11/19/2011
"But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly." Matt. 6:6
“Private prayer is that secret key of heaven which unlocks all the treasures of glory to the soul. The best riches and the sweetest mercies, God usually gives to His people—when they are in their closets upon their knees.”
A husband imparts his mind most freely and fully to his wife when she is alone; and so does Christ to the believing soul. Oh . . . the secret kisses, the secret embraces,
the secret visits,
the secret whispers,
the secret cheerings,
the secret sealings,
the secret discoveries,
which God gives to His people when in secret prayer." Thomas Brooks
6/19/2011
"Ask!" Matthew 7:7
"The fact that our Lord commands us to pray, and that He enforces the command by promises of the clearest and most satisfactory character, is to my mind an all-sufficient proof that God does answer prayer, and that prayer has a place among the forces designed by God for the working out of His purposes. Jesus Christ knows God, and He commands us to pray. This is enough in itself. We, as Christians, as disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, really need no other argument."
4/28/2011
"That ye may stand .... fully assured in all the will of God. Col. iv. 12 (R. V.).
"The will of God" is the crown of life, and when a believer is "fully assured" concerning it,—its clearness, its blessedness, its authority,—then indeed is he making spiritual progress. Towards this end prayer is the appointed means. Prayer develops spiritual faculties and leads to spiritual ripeness. Prayer makes real the presence of God, and in that presence "the will of God" becomes clear and asserts its complete yet blessed authority. The more we pray the riper we become and the more completely "assured" of the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning us.—W.H. Griffith Thomas
When we are on our knees, then light flashes; then the intellect is clarified; then the conscience is aroused; then the spiritual sensibilities are quickened; and we can learn more of our duty and of His will than in hours of argumentation.—Dr. Sheffler
4/22/2011
"Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation; for the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."
"Go to your closet, and there alone plead with God: "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me." Be in earnest, be sincere. Fervent prayer availeth much. Jacoblike, wrestle in prayer. Agonize. Jesus, in the garden, sweat great drops of blood; you must make an effort. Do not leave your closet until you feel strong in God; then watch, and just as long as you watch and pray you can keep these evil besetments under, and the grace of God can and will appear in you.... Do not neglect secret prayer, for it is the soul of religion. With earnest, fervent prayer, plead for purity of soul. Plead as earnestly, as eagerly, as you would for your mortal life, were it at stake. Remain before God until unutterable longings are begotten within you for salvation, and the sweet evidence is obtained of pardoned sin."—E. White
4/17/2011
"For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us. 2 Cor. 1:20
"Cash the promises of God, brethren. They are the cheques of God; cash them. If you are in distress, cash a promise. Promises are the power of God done up into portable packets; every packet, or every promise, contains as much seed as will sow any undertaking on the most barren spot under heaven. Spend freely the wonderful promises of God. Your Father has plenty more. To make sure that we should have His promises, God gave us the Promiser, and so the promise is the Promiser, and I have got the Promiser Himself. He can draw me out a cheque at any moment just as I want it, and supply all my need. Oh there are such promises to the consecrated believer. Plunder Him and you please Him; bind Him with His own promises, and He is more free to bless you. I know, brethren, after long years of experience, that the promises of God are true. Oh, Jesus, Thou and I have often exchanged promises, and Thy promises have always been honoured and true and faithful even to this hour!"—Charles Fox
4/2/2011
"You may work without praying, but you can't pray without working." Hudson Taylor
"He has in His hand all the gold of the world, and we have only to go to headquarters to get all that is wanted." Hudson Taylor
3/27/2011
"Ye are My friends if ye do whatsoever I command you." John 15:14
"Ye are My friends if ye do whatsoever I command you." Each friend stood ready to do that which pleased the other friend, even if it went to the laying down of his life for that friend. Well, can this be true of God, that He does our will? Listen:—"If ye abide in Me. and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." Behold the marvel and the blessing of the prayer life! God's wonderful fact that, for the man or the woman who is abiding in Him, He stands ready to do their will, through prayer. Why should it not be so? When we ask God to do anything according to His will, why should He not do it? God is just as pleased to do that part of His will for which you ask, as any part of His will in the universe. It is for the honor, and glory, and interest of God to do your will, when you are asking according to His will. Out there on those great wheat farms in the western prairies is not the owner ready to do the superintendent's will as well as the superintendent to do the owner's will? If the harvesting machine gets out of order, and the superintendent asks for its repair, it is to the interest of the owner to repair it. If the grain is mildewed and spoiling, and the superintendent asks for hands to harvest it, it is to the interest of the owner to answer his request. So when we live in His will, and are striving to do His will, it is to the interest of God's own kingdom that that will be done, and it pleases God to do it. God is just waiting for us to choose His will. And when we choose to do His will, and ask for anything according to it, He will do it. I tell you, the greatest thought about prayer is not that we are praying to God to do something for us, but that we are praying to God to carry out His will in this world of His. And when we pray that, God stands ready to carry it out. "Ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be done." When we say, "Lord, I will to separate myself from sin; I will to come out from the emptiness and foolishness of the world; I will to walk closer with Thee; I will to know more of Thy power through communion with Thee, through Thy Word, through separation and service;" when we choose these things which are within the will of God, He is ready to do our will, because He is simply doing His own will in us."—James McConkey
2/12/2011
"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God." Phil. 4:6
“No sooner does a child of God approach the mercy-seat than he becomes the client of the great Advocate. At his first utterance of penitence and appeal for pardon, Christ espouses his case, and makes it His own, presenting the supplication before the Father as His own request.” - “Testimonies,” Vol. 6, p. 364.
1/29/2011
"Pray that the Word of God may go swiftly...."
Here a group of quotes that I found recently
“The evangelization of the world in this generation depends first of all upon a revival of prayer.” Rober Speer
“Prayer and missions are as inseparable as faith and works, because it is by prayer that the laborers must be provided. “Pray ye …therefore the Lord of the harvest that He send forth laborers into His harvest.” We think of laborers too often as being just those who have gone out on the fields. Those of us who pray are laborers too, and such laborers are also needed.” Anonymous
“We talk a great deal about ways of doing things. We plan and organize and are willing to work very hard but we do not pray. We are willing to spend the whole afternoon in club meeting, in committee meetings or in social visiting, but cannot take time to pray together. Besides the regular missionary meeting we should have in all of our societies special meetings for prayer.”
“Missions begun in prayer, are sustained in prayer and will spread only as those who love them unite in a fellowship of hearts to advance upon their knees.” Mrs. Montgomery
“Believing, intercessory, fervent, loving, undiscouraged and unselfish prayer will win the whole church to sympathy with the great purpose of the Master.”
1/28/2011
"And many women who followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to Him, were there looking on from afar," Matt:27:55
"I would rather train ten men to pray than a hundred men to preach.” We cannot all preach, but we ought all be able to pray. Let us unite our prayers and continue our prayers until all of the women, who are members of our own churches, shall see and know that God needs them and wants them in the mission work. When our own hearts are burdened for Christian women who are not active in this great cause, as well as for those who are out of Christ, then we will pray more. The inactive Christian woman needs our prayers as well as the woman out of Christ. “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” “Not by might nor by power.” All these texts apply to reaching women as well as to other things." George MacGregor
12/11/2010
"You also say,
‘Oh, what a weariness!’
And you sneer at it,”
Says the LORD of hosts.
“And you bring the stolen, the lame, and the sick;
Thus you bring an offering!
Should I accept this from your hand?”
Says the LORD." Mal. 1:13
"The truth is, that an indulgence of sluggishness of mind is sometimes the secret sin of good men. It is the iniquity which they regard in their hearts, and because of which God will not hear them. Mental ease is a refined and seductive idol, which often beguiles men who have too much Christian principle, or too much delicacy of nature, or too much prudence of self-control, or it may be too much pride of character, to fall into a physical vice. When good men are ensnared in this sleek idolatry, before the decline of old age, or the infirmities of disease render rest a necessity, God often breaks in upon it with the blows of His hard hand. He fights against it ‘with battles of shaking'; and in part with the design of recalling His mistaken friends, into closer communion with Himself. He thwarts their plans of life. He sends troubles to plague them. He knocks out from under them, the props of their comfort. He does this, in part, for the sake of startling their torpid minds, and thus reaching their stagnant hearts, by giving them something to think of, which they feel they must make the subject of living, agonizing prayer."
10/9/2010
"As a hart panteth after the water-brook. Ps. 42:1
"Let a man define to his own mind an object of prayer, and then let him be moved by desires for that object which impel him to pray, because he cannot otherwise satisfy the irrepressible longings of his soul; let him have such desires as shall lead him to search out, and dwell upon, and treasure in his heart, and return to again, and appropriate to himself anew, the encouragements to prayer, till his Bible opens of itself to the right places - and think you that such a man will have occasion to go to his closet, or come from it, with the sickly cry, ‘Why, oh! why is my intercourse with God so irksome to me?’ Such a man must experience, at least, the joy of uttering hopefully emotions which become painful by repression. On the contrary, let a man’s objects of thought at the throne of Grace be vague, and let his desires be languid, and from the nature of the case, his prayers must be both languid and vague. Says Jeremy Taylor: ‘Easiness of desire is a great enemy to the success of a good man’s prayer."
10/09/2010
"God be merciful to me a sinner."
"There are two kinds of prayer—the prayer of form and the prayer of faith. The repetition of set, customary phrases when the heart feels no need of God, is formal prayer. . . . We should be extremely careful in all our prayers to speak the wants of the heart and to say only what we mean. All the flowery words at our command are not equivalent to one holy desire. The most eloquent prayers are but vain repetitions if they do not express the true sentiments of the heart. But the prayer that comes from an earnest heart, when the simple wants of the soul are expressed just as we would ask an earthly friend for a favor, expecting that it would be granted—this is the prayer of faith. The publican who went up to the temple to pray is a good example of a sincere, devoted worshiper. He felt that he was a sinner, and his great need led to an outburst of passionate desire, “God be merciful to me a sinner.'" My Life Today, p. 19
9/30/2010
I felt, even when praying alone, that there are two concerned in the prayer, God and myself .... I do not think that a petition which misses the mind of God will ever be answered (1 John 5:14). Personally, I feel the need of trusting Him to lead me in prayer as well as in other matters. I find it well to preface prayer not only by meditation but by the definite request that I may be directed into the channels of prayer to which the Holy Spirit is beckoning me. I also find it helpful to make a short list, like notes prepared for a sermon, before every season of prayer. The mind needs to be guided as well as the spirit attuned. I can thus get my thoughts in order, and having prepared my prayer can put the notes on the table or chair before me, kneel down and get to business.
9/14/2010
Prayer not only puts us in touch with God, and gives knowledge of Him and His ways, but it imparts to us His power. It is a touch which brings virtue out of Him. It is a hand upon the pole of a celestial battery, and it makes us charged with His secret life, energy, and efficiency. Things which are impossible with man are possible with God, and with a man in whom God is. Prayer is the secret of imparted power from God, and nothing else can take its place. Absolute weakness follows the neglect of secret communion with God — and the weakness is the more deplorable, because it is often unsuspected, especially when it has never yet been known by us what true power is. We see men of prayer quietly achieving results of the most surprising character. They have the calm of God, no hurry, or worry, or flurry; no anxiety or care, no excitement or bustle — they do great things for God, yet they are little in their own eyes; they carry great loads, and yet are not weary nor faint; they face great crises, and yet are not troubled. And those who know not what treasures of wisdom and strength and courage and power are hidden in God’s pavilion, wonder how it is."
8/3/2010
"For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place , with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones." Isa. 57:15
"There are pious persons of very poor attainments in other respects, without learning or human acquirements, in the very lowest stations of life, who asking for the aid of the Holy Spirit, can with the greatest propriety of expression, the deepest reverence, and an uninterrupted fluency of words, pour out their souls to God, and edify their families and their neighbours."—Edward Bickersteth
7/24/2010
“I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs.” Luke 18:
Is it not absurd to suppose that where the human will is so potent, the Divine will is powerless? My human friend can hear my prayer, and give me help in response to my petitions; but God, the Divine Friend, the God in whom I live, move, and have my being, is so bound by nature and the laws of nature, that He can do nothing for me, however great my need, and however distressful my cry. Anything more absurd than that it is impossible to imagine; as it is impossible to imagine anything more opposed to the teachings of our Lord.—Griffith John
7/15/2010
"Then said Martha unto Jesus: ‘Lord I know that …. whatsoever Thou wilt ask of God, God will give it.’ Jesus saith unto her, ‘Thy brother doth rise again.’ Martha saith unto Him, ‘I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.’" John 11:22-24
"Ask as simply and trustfully as a child asks bread. You can do this because “God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your heart, crying, Abba, Father.” This Spirit is in you to give you child-like confidence. In the faith of His praying in you, ask for the power of that Holy Spirit everywhere. Take time and realize, when you are alone with God: Here am I now face to face with God to intercede for His servants. Do not think that you have no influence or that your prayer will not be missed. Your prayer and faith will make a difference. Beware, in your prayer, above everything, of limiting God, not only by unbelief, but by fancying that you know what He can do. Expect unexpected things, ‘above all that we ask or think.’ The same censer brings the prayer of the saints before God and casts fire upon the earth. The prayers that go up to heaven have their share in the history of this earth. …. All the powers of evil seek to hinder us in prayer. Prayer is a conflict with opposing forces. It needs the whole heart and all our strength. May God give us grace to strive in prayer till we prevail."— Andrew Murray
"As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you." John 20:21
"We should never leave our room until we have seen the face of our dear Master, Christ, and have realized that we are being sent forth by Him to do His will, and to finish the work which He has given us to do. He who said to His immediate followers, “As my Father hath sent me, even so I send you,” says as much to each one of us, as the dawn summons us to live another day. We should realize that we are as much sent forth by Him as the angels who “do His commandments, hearkening unto the voice of His word.” There is some plan for each day’s work, which He will unfold to us, if only we will look up to Him to do so; some mission to fulfill; some ministry to perform; some lesson patiently to learn, that we may be able to “reach others also” As to our plans we need not be anxious; because He who sends us forth is responsible to make the plan, according to His infinite wisdom; and to reveal it to us, however dull and stupid our faculties may be. And as to our sufficiency, we are secure of having all needful grace; because He never sends us forth, except He first breathes on us and says, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost” There is always a special endowment for special power." — F. B. Meyer
7/14/2010
"I know that You always hear Me...." John 11:42
"Because He could declare, "I do always the things that please him," He could also say, "I know that thou hearest me always." Never the slightest interruption of fellowship, or hindrance to communion, or disobedience to the Father, and hence always uninterrupted access to the Father in prayer with perfect confidence in His answer.
"I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me..." John 8:28
"Let us not forget also that with Him, as with us, prayer is the voice of conscious dependence. Here is the true key to the enigma of the Kenosis—the self-emptying (referred to in Phil. ii.). It was part of our Lord's voluntary humiliation, in taking the form of a servant, that He consented to be under orders, and wait on the Father for knowledge of His will in every word and act of His human life. Hence He always claimed that the works He did and the words He spake were the very works and words wrought and spoken by the Father in and through Him. We shall never do any true work for God, in God's time and way, unless we feel so absolutely dependent on God as to venture nothing without guidance. And prayer, constant prayer, will be the voice of such dependence."—A.T. Pierson, Jesus the Ideal Evangelist
7/10/2010
"The power to prevail in prayer depends primarily upon the Revelation of the Father, the Mediation of the Son, and the Inspiration of the Spirit. The Father must be revealed to the praying soul, otherwise there is no desire and yearning to pray. But the confronting of God's holiness would make prayer impossible but for the mediation of the Son; and even then we need the inspiration of the Spirit, for we know not what we should pray for as we ought."—G. Campbell Morgan.
"The Church is the Body of Christ, and the Spirit is the Spirit of Christ. He fills the Body, directs its movements, controls its members, inspires its wisdom, supplies it's strength. He guides into truth, sanctifies its agents, and empowers for witnessing. The Spirit has never abdicated His authority nor relegated His power. Neither Pope nor Parliament, neither Conference nor Council is supreme in the Church of Christ. The Church that is man-managed instead of God-governed is doomed to failure. A ministry that is College-trained but not Spirit-filled works no miracles. The Church that multiplies committees and neglects prayer may be fussy, noisy, enterprising, but it labors in vain and spends its strength for nought. It is possible to excel in mechanics and fail in dynamic. There is a superabundance of machinery; what is wanting is power. To run an organization needs no God. Man can supply the energy, enterprise, and enthusiasm for things human. The real work of a Church depends upon the power of the Spirit. The Presence of the Spirit is vital and central to the work of the Church. Nothing else avails. Apart from Him, wisdom becomes folly, and strength weakness. The Church is called to be a "spiritual house" and a holy priesthood. Only spiritual people can be its "living stones," and only the Spirit-filled its priests.
The Church always fails at the point of self-confidence. When the Church is run on the same lines as a circus, there may be crowds, but there is no Shekinah. That is why prayer is the test of faith and the secret of power. The Spirit of God travails in the prayer-life of the soul. Miracles are the direct work of His power, and without miracles the Church cannot live. The carnal can argue, but it is the Spirit of God that convicts. Education can civilize, but it is being born of the Spirit that saves. The energy of the flesh can run bazaars, organize amusements, and raise millions; but it is the presence of the Holy Spirit that makes a Temple of the Living God. The root-trouble of the present distress is that the Church has more faith in the world and in the flesh than in the Holy Ghost, and things will get no better till we get back to His realized presence and power. The breath of the four winds would turn death into life and dry bones into mighty armies, but it only comes by PRAYER!" Samuel Chadwick
7/7/2010
"The Spirit helps us...." Rom. 8:26
"It may seem a very simple thing to kneel down and talk thirty minutes or more with the Lord; but those of us who love to pray and are trying to live a life of prayer find out after awhile that it requires strength from the Holy Spirit to pray effectively. To pray Scripturally, and in the Spirit, requires a divine touch upon our wills to give us patient perseverance, and another touch upon our attentiveness to concentrate our perceptions on God and spiritual things, and another touch on our imagination to form spiritual images or ideas of heavenly things, or of states of experience, and another touch upon our affections that we may pray with a proper feeling and intense desire after God's glory. Without divine strength to pray with, our prayers will wither just like flowers without water. So at the beginning of a season of prayer we should ask our heavenly Father to impart to us by the Holy Spirit special strength all through our faculties, that we may pray acceptable and effectively.—Living Words."—Calloused Knees, George Kulp
6/21/2010
"Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." Heb. 4:16
Prayer is both a duty and a privilege. We must have help which God alone can give, and that help will not come unasked. If we are too self-righteous to feel our need of help from God, we shall not have his help when we need it most. If we are too independent and self-sufficient to throw ourselves daily by earnest prayer upon the merits of a crucified and risen Saviour, we shall be left subject to Satan's temptations.
The grace of Christ we cannot do without. We must have help from above if we resist the manifold temptations of Satan, and escape his devices. Amid the prevailing darkness, we must have light from God to reveal the traps and gins of error, or we shall be ensnared. We should improve the opportunity for prayer, both in secret and around the family altar. Many need to learn how to pray as well as how to sing. When we in humility tell the Lord our wants, the Spirit itself makes intercession for us; as our sense of need causes us to lay bare our souls before the all-searching eye of Omnipotence, our earnest, fervent prayers enter within the veil, our faith claims the promises of God, and help comes to us in answer to prayer." Review and Herald, July 24, 1883
6/11/2010
"Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed." Mark 1:35
“By the grace of God and the strength of His Holy Spirit I desire to lay down the rule not to speak to man until I have spoken with God; not to do anything with my hand till I have been upon my knees; not to read letters or papers until I have read something of the Holy Scriptures. I hope to also pray and meditate upon the name of the Lord at the ‘cool of the day.’”
5/29/2010
"Pray without ceasing." 1 Thess. 5:17
"Tomorrow I plan to work, work, from early until late. In fact I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer” Martin Luther
5/16/2010
“Now, observe, God has placed his people here in a world of strangers to him. He has placed them in various relations, and he has admonished them to remember that they are his children, and that they are also his representatives in this world. God says to them, I have placed you in these relations, that you may honour me; I love you as my own children; I have given my Son to redeem you, and thus I have proved my personal regard for you. I am always desirous that you should walk worthy of the high vocation wherewith ye are called. Remember, you are my representatives in the midst of a rebellious world; therefore, “let your light so shine before men, that others, seeing your good works, may glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Now, this is a correct view to take of this subject. It is God’s own interest in us that leads him to tell us to ask largely of him. The fact is, that his intrinsic regard for us as our Father, as his redeemed children, is very great; yes, indeed, in every point of view, he has the deepest interest in us. Now, that we may not dishonour him, he tells us that he will give us grace to meet all our responsibilities, and discharge our duties. “Open your mouths wide,” he says, “and I will fill them.” I will “supply all your needs,” all your wants; I am glad to do it; I shall delight to do it; I am interested in doing it; now, never you forget this. Ask largely enough, ask confidently enough, and ask perseveringly enough, to meet all your wants.” Charles Finney
4/24/2010
"Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Matt. 11:28
"While you take counsel with your doubts and fears, or try to solve everything that you cannot see clearly before you have faith, your perplexities will only increase and deepen. If you come to God, feeling helpless and dependent, as you really are, and in humble, trusting prayer make your wants known to Him whose knowledge is infinite, who sees everything in creation, and who governs everything by his will and word, he can and will attend to your cry, and will let light shine into your heart and all around you; for through sincere prayer your soul is brought into connection with the mind of the Infinite. You may have no remarkable evidence at the time that the face of your Redeemer is bending over you in compassion and love; but this is even so. You may not feel his visible touch, but his hand is upon you in love and pitying tenderness. . . . " Gospel Workers, p. 204
4/17/2010
"Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints." Eph. 6:18
"A powerless Christian ought to be considered as great a misnomer as a powerless thunderbolt. If the talent of prayer should be cultivated as assiduously as the talent of business is cultivated, the result would be that numberless people who never can be forceful in speech, nor bounteous in beneficence, nor energetic in evangelism, would become as effective forces for the world's help as any men and women who have ever lived."—James McClure
4/10/2010
"Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them."-Matt. xi. 24
"All the history of the church shows that when God answers prayer, he gives his people the very thing for which their prayers are offered. God confers other blessings, on both saints and sinners, which they do not pray for at all. He sends his rain both upon the just and the unjust. But when he answers prayer, it is by doing what they ask him to do. To be sure, he often more than answers prayer. He grants them not only what they ask, but often connects other blessings with it."
4/3/2010
"If you ask anything in My name, I will do it...." John 14:14
"Abiding in Christ, we can fully avail ourselves of the name of Christ. Asking in the name of another means that that other authorized me and sent me to ask, and wants to be considered as asking himself: he wants the favour done to him. Believers often try to think of the name of Jesus and His merits, and to argue themselves into the faith that they will be heard, while they painfully feel how little they have of the faith of His name. They are not living wholly in Jesus' name; it is only when they begin to pray that they want to take up that name and use it. This cannot be. The promise "Whatsoever ye ask in my name," may not be severed from the command, "Whatsoever ye do, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus." If the name of Christ is to be wholly at my disposal, so that I may have the full command of it for all I will, it must be because I first put myself wholly at His disposal, so that He has free and full command of me. It is the abiding in Christ that gives the right and power to use His name with confidence."
4/1/2010
"Blessed be the Lord, because He heard my supplications." Ps. 28:6
“Prayer can do anything that God can do. It is a tremendous statement to make, but it is a statement borne out by history and experience. If we are abiding in Christ—and if we abide in Him we are living in obedience to His holy will—and approach God in His name, then there lie open before us the infinite resources of the Divine treasurehouse. The man who truly prays gets from God many things denied to the prayerless man. The aim of all real praying is to get the thing prayed for, as the child’s cry for bread has for its end the getting of bread. This view removes prayer clean out of the sphere of religious performances. Prayer is not acting a part or going through religious motions. Prayer is neither official nor formal nor ceremonial, but direct, hearty, intense. Prayer is not religious work which must be gone through, and avails because well done. Prayer is the helpless and needy child crying to the compassion of the Father’s heart and the bounty and power of a Father’s hand. The answer is as sure to come as the Father’s heart can be touched and the Father’s hand moved. The object of asking is to receive. The aim of seeking is to find. The purpose of knocking is to arouse attention and get in, and this is Christ’s iterated and re-iterated assertion that the prayer without doubt will be answered, its end without doubt secured. Not by some round-about way, but by getting the very thing asked for. The value of prayer does not lie in the number of prayers, or the length of prayers, but its value is found in the great truth that we are privileged by our relations to God to unburden our desires and make our requests known to God, and He will relieve by granting our petitions. The child asks because the parent is in the habit of granting the child’s requests. As the children of God we need something and we need it badly, and we go to God for it. Neither the Bible nor the child of God knows anything of that half-infidel declaration, that we are to answer our own prayers. God answers prayer. The true Christian does not pray to stir himself up, but his prayer is the stirring up of himself to take hold of God. The heart of faith knows nothing of that specious skepticism which stays the steps of prayer and chills its ardour by whispering that prayer does not affect God.” E. M. Bounds Purpose in Prayer
3/31/2010
"Wait on the Lord and He shall save thee." Prov. 20:22
"Wherever God has given faith, it is given, among other reasons, for the very purpose of being tried. Yea, however weak our faith may be, God will try it; only with this restriction, that as, in every way, He leads on gently, gradually, patiently, so also with reference to the trial of our faith. At first our faith will be tried very little in comparison with what it may be afterwards; for God never lays more upon us than He is willing to enable us to bear. Now when the trial of faith comes, we are naturally inclined to distrust God, and to trust rather in ourselves, or in our friends, or in circumstances. We will rather work a deliverance of our own somehow or other, than simply look to God and wait for His help. But if we do not patiently wait for God's help, if we work a deliverance of our own, then at the next trial of our faith it will be thus again, we shall be again inclined to deliver ourselves; and thus with every fresh instance of that kind, our faith will decrease; whilst, on the contrary, were we to stand still in order to see the salvation of God, to see His hand stretched out on our behalf, trusting in Him alone, then our faith would be increased, and with every fresh case in which the hand of God is stretched out on our behalf in the hour of the trial of our faith, our faith would be increased yet more. Would the believer, therefore, have his faith strengthened, he must especially, give time to God, who tries his faith in order to prove him, and then to provide the moment it is good for him." George Müller, Narratives
3/23/2010
"If you ask anything in My name, I will do it." John 14:14
"Every promise in the word of God furnishes us with subject matter for prayer, presenting the pledged word of Jehovah as our assurance. Whatever spiritual blessing we need, it is our privilege to claim through Jesus. We may tell the Lord, with the simplicity of a child, exactly what we need. We may state to Him our temporal matters, asking Him for bread and raiment as well as for the bread of life and the robe of Christ's righteousness. Your heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things, and you are invited to ask Him concerning them. It is through the name of Jesus that every favor is received. God will honor that name, and will supply your necessities from the riches of His liberality." Mount of Blessings, p. 133
3/9/2010
"Verily I say unto you, if ye shall ask anything of the Father, He will give it you in My Name. Hitherto ye have asked nothing in My Name; ask, and ye shall receive. In that day ye shall ask in My name." John 14: 24,26.
"When the Lord Jesus went to heaven, He left His work, the management of His kingdom on earth, in the hands of His servants. He could not do otherwise than also give them His Name to draw all the supplies they needed for the due conduct of His business. And they have the spiritual power to avail themselves of the Name of Jesus just to the extent to which they yield themselves to live only for the interests and the work of the Master." —Andrew Murray, With Christ in the School of Prayer, p. 134.
"Let the Name of Jesus only have undivided supremacy in my heart and life, my faith will grow to the assurance that what I ask in that Name cannot be refused. The name and the power of asking to go together; when the Name of Jesus has become the power that rules my life, its power in prayer with God will be seen too."—Ibid., p. 136
3/6/2010
"Be ambitious to be quiet and to do your own business, and to work with your hands, even as we charged you; that ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and may have need of nothing.” Thess. 4:11,12
"Does the prayer, “Give us this day our daily bread,” mean that we are to do nothing to secure our bread, lest we show no faith in God, and simply wait in idleness for God to repeat the miracle of sending it by a raven? or, does it mean that with thankful hearts to God for the ability he has given us to work, that we go forth diligently fulfilling our task in the use of all appropriate means to secure that which his loving bounty has made possible for us in the fruitful seasons of the earth, and return with devout recognition that He is the Creator, Upholder and Giver of all, bringing our sheaves with us. When seed-time and harvest fail and death is on the land, when corn fails in Egypt and there is no bread, when we have obeyed him and sought to toil with our hands and no man has given unto us, then we will expect his interposition and will have faith that he who has fed us by use of means, will supply us without means, and that He alone is the living God."—Daniel Whittle, from his introduction to Wonders of Prayer
3/5/2010
"When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men." Ephesians 4:8
“All the tenor of helplessness and failure... is only meant to make way for the prayer-life of Christ in us, and in fellowship with Him in it which will 'make all things new' - no longer a weary wrestling to get access and answers, but catching His thought and swiftly asking alongside in His Name - His the upper tone, ours the undertone so to fill in the harmony. Praying down rather than praying up - that is the summing up... that the velocity and power of anything that comes down, gains in a ratio of high proportion with the height from which it drops: Even from an aeroplane, a pencil falling will take on the force of a bullet. What might not our prayer power be if it comes down from the throne of the Priest."—Lilias Trotter (Missionary to Algeria)
3/4/2010
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened." Matt. 7:7
"If more children were born of praying mothers, brought up in direct contact with "the house of prayer," and reared under prayer environments, more children would hear the voice of God's spirit speaking to them, and would more quickly respond to those divine calls to a religious life. Would we have praying men in our churches? We must have praying mothers to give them birth, praying homes to color their lives, and praying surroundings to impress their minds and to lay the foundations for praying lives."—E. M. Bounds
2/25/2010
"Brethren, Pray for us!" 2 Thess. 3:1
"It has pleased God to make prayer the abounding and rejoicing river through which most of our choice mercies flow to us. It is the golden key which unlocks the well-stored granaries of our heavenly Joseph. As many mercies are conveyed from Heaven in the ship of prayer, so there are many choice and special favors which can only be brought to us by the fleets of united prayer. Many are the good things which God will give to His lonely Elijahs and Daniels, but if two of you agree as touching anything that you shall ask, there is no limit to God’s bountiful answers."
2/14/2010
"Ask...." Ps. 8:2
"For the praying saints of the past, their faith in prayer was not a passing attitude that changed with the wind or with their own feelings and circumstances, they were confident that God always heard and answered, that His ear was always open to the cry of His children, and that the power to do what was asked of Him was equal to His willingness…. Everything was possible to the men and women who knew how to pray, and it is still possible today. Prayer, indeed, opened a limitless storehouse, and God’s hand withheld nothing. Prayer introduced those who practiced it into a world of privilege, and brought the strength and wealth of heaven down to the aid of finite man. What rich and wonderful power they had who learned the secret of victorious approach to God! With Moses it saved a nation; with Ezra it saved a church."
2/12/2010
"Ask of Me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession...." PS. 2:7-9
"The very life and prosperity of God's cause—even its very existence—depend on prayer. And the advance and triumph of his cause depend on one thing: that we ask of Him.... The strongest one in Christ's kingdom is he who can knock the best, and the secret of sucess in Christ's kingdom is the ability to pray."
2/8/2010
"What do you want me to do for you?" Matt. 20:32
"Prayer brings to us blessings which we need, and which only God can give, and which prayer can alone convey to us. In their broadest fullness, the possibilities of prayer are to be found in the very nature of prayer. This service of prayer is not a mere rite, a ceremony through which we go, a sort of performance. Prayer is going to God for something needed and desired. Prayer is simply asking God to do for us what he has promised us he will do if we ask him. The answer is a part of prayer, and is God's part of it. God's doing the thing asked for is as much a part of the prayer as the asking of the thing is prayer. Asking is man's part. Giving is God's part. The praying belongs to us. The answer belongs to God."—Gerhard Tersteegen
1/13/2010
Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask anything in My name, I will do it.” John 14:13,14
"The path of sincerity and integrity is not a path free from obstruction; but in every difficulty we are to see a call to prayer. There is no one living who has any power that he has not received from God, and the source whence it comes is open to the weakest human being. “Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name,” said Jesus, “that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask anything in My name, I will do it.”
12/17/2009
"I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day." 2 Tim. 1:12
"It is by an act of simple, prayerful faith we transfer our cares and anxieties, our sorrows and needs, to the Lord. Jesus invites you come and lean upon Him, and to lean with all your might upon that arm that balances the universe, and upon that bosom that bled for you upon the soldier's spear! But you doubtingly ask, 'Is the Lord able to do this thing for me'? And thus, while you are debating a matter about which there is not the shadow of a shade of doubt, the burden is crushing your gentle spirit to the dust. And all the while Jesus stands at your side and lovingly says, 'Cast your burden upon Me and I will sustain you. I am God Almighty. I bore the load of your sin and condemnation up the steep of Calvary, and the same power of omnipotence, and the same strength of love that bore it all for you then, is prepared to bear your need and sorrow now. Roll it all upon Me! Child of My love! Lean hard! Let Me feel the pressure of your care. I know your burden, child! I shaped it? I poised it in My own hand and made no proportion of its weight to your unaided strength. For even as I laid it on, I said I shall be near, and while she leans on Me, this burden shall be Mine, not hers. So shall I keep My child within the encircling arms of My own love. Here lay it down! Do not fear to impose it on a shoulder which upholds the government of worlds! Yet closer come! You are not near enough! I would embrace your burden, so I might feel My child reposing on My breast. You love Me! I know it. Doubt not, then. But, loving me, lean hard!" Octavius Winslow
12/13/2009
"Therefore I will look unto the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me." Micah 7:7
"None can believe how powerful prayer is, and what it is able to effect, but those who have learned it by experience. It is a great matter when in extreme need to take hold on prayer. I know whenever I have prayed earnestly that I have been amply heard, and have obtained more than I prayed for. God indeed sometimes delayed, but at last He came." – Martin Luther
12/12/2009
"And so it was, when they had crossed over, that Elijah said to Elisha, 'Ask! What may I do for you, before I am taken away from you?' Elisha said, 'Please let a double portion of your spirit be upon me." Kings 2:9
"The lesson of the last century—and the lesson of Pentecost and the lesson of all similar seasons of blessing—is that the incoming of God’s life is conditioned by prayer. The preliminary is prayer. The law is prayer; and it is not arbitrary, but in the very nature of things necessary…When, therefore, God’s people “give” themselves to prayer, compelled by the heart’s longings after God and after the salvation of men, genuine revival is near…." William Crosby
11/26/2009
"In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night: and God said, 'Ask what I shall give thee.'" Mark 10:38
"How often have we prayed something like, "O Lord, be with cousin Billy now in a special way"? Have we stopped to consider what it is we're requesting? Imagine that you are a parent who is preparing to leave your children with a babysitter. Would you dream of saying, "O Betsy, I ask you now that you would be with my children in a special way?" No way. You would say, "Betsy, the kids need to be in bed by 9 pm. They can have one snack before their baths, and please make sure they finish their homework. You can reach us at this number if there's any problem. Any questions before we go?" We are very specific with our requests and instructions for our babysitters. We want them to know specifics. It should be no different with prayer." --David Jeremiah
11/11/2009
"For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." Matt. 18:20
"The prayer-meeting is an institution which ought to be very precious to us, and to be cherished by us as a Church, for to it we owe everything. When our comparatively little chapel was all but empty, was it not a well-known fact that the prayer-meeting was always full? And when the Church increased, and the place was scarcely large enough, it was the prayer meeting that did it all. When we then met at Exeter Hall, we were a praying people, indeed; and when we entered into an even larger arena, the Surrey Music-hall, what cries and tears went up to heaven for our success! And so it has been ever since. It is in the spirit of prayer that our strength lies; and if we lose this, the hair will be cut off from Samson’s head, and God’s Holy Church will become weak as water and though we, as Samson did, go and try to shake ourselves as at other times, we shall hear the cry, “The Philistines are upon you,” and our eyes will be put out, and our glory will depart, unless we continue mightily and earnestly in prayer.”
10/28/2009
"Will You not revive us again, That Your people may rejoice in You?" Ps. 85:6
"One thing is certain: the Evangelical Revival originated in prayer; and another thing is certain: the mighty force by which it was borne along came through prayer. I now ask—Is the time not ripe for a renewal of the covenant of prayer, with wider inclusions? Do not all things point in the direction, and proclaim the duty—the spiritual condition of the Churches, and the needs of a world providentially prepared and open in all its regions to the Gospel? Is not the call to prayer the loudest of God’s calls today? Oh, what things would happen were there union among God’s people everywhere in prayer at the end of this century, and at the beginning of the next! What a power of God would come upon and into the Churches! And how the mighty evils that abound, and that baffle and defy us now, would be conquered and cast out, and the evangelization of the nations of the earth, in a little while, become an accomplished fact!"
9/28/2009
"28 Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
The everlasting God, the LORD,
The Creator of the ends of the earth,
Neither faints nor is weary.
His understanding is unsearchable.
29 He gives power to the weak,
And to those who have no might He increases strength." Isa. 42:28,29
"True prayer is an approach of the soul by the Spirit of God to the throne of God. It is not the utterance of words, it is not alone the feeling of desires, but it is the advance of the desires to God, the spiritual approach of our nature toward the Lord our God. True prayer is neither a mere mental exercise nor a vocal performance. It is far deeper than that—it is spiritual transaction with the Creator of heaven and earth." Charles Spurgeon
9/25/2009
"Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." Hebrews 4:16
"Prayer does not bring God down to us, but brings us up to him. It makes us realize more and more our great needs, and hence our obligation to God and our dependence upon him. It leads us to feel our own nothingness and the weakness of our judgment. God has made earnest prayer the condition of the bestowal of his richest blessings. Prayer brings us nearer and nearer to Jesus. However fully we may have given ourselves to God at conversion, it is of no avail unless we renew our consecration in each separate duty as it presents itself." Signs of the Times, August 7, 1884
9/18/2009
"The great importance of perseverance in the exercise of prayer and inward retirement may be sufficiently learnt,” he declares, “next to the experience of it, merely from the tempter's artifices and endeavors to allure us from it and make us negligent of it. He knows that by this delightful exercise alone his gloomy empire in the soul will necessarily be destroyed, through the imperceptible influx of the light, love, and life of Jesus; and that all the flowers and fruits of the fairest gifts of grace and virtue fade of themselves, if he can only break them off from this their root.” Gerhard Tersteegen, quoted by Govan, Gerhard Tersteegen, p. 49
9/12/2009
"Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Matt 11: 28
"Do not entertain the thought that because you have made mistakes, because your life has been darkened by errors, your Heavenly Father does not love you and will not hear you when you pray. He says, "Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out." "The Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy." His heart of love is touched by our sorrows, and even by our utterance of them. Take to Him everything that perplexes the mind. Nothing is too great for Him to bear; for He holds up worlds, He rules over the affairs of the universe. Nothing that in any way concerns our peace is too small for Him to notice. There is no chapter in our experience too dark for Him to read; there is no perplexity too difficult for Him to unravel. None have fallen so low, none are so vile, that they can not find deliverance in Christ. The demoniacs of Gadara, in the place of prayer could utter only the words of Satan; but yet the heart's unspoken appeal was heard. No cry from a soul in need is unheeded." Signs of the Times June 18, 1902
8/22/2009
"You do not have because you do not ask." James 4:2
"If there is anything I know, anything that I am quite assured of beyond all question, it is that praying breath is never spent in vain. If no other man here can say it, I dare to say it and I know that I can prove it. My own conversion is the result of prayer—long, affectionate, earnest, importunate. Parents prayed for me! God heard their cries and here I am to preach the Gospel. Since then I have adventured upon some things that were far beyond my capacity, as I thought. But I have never failed, because I have cast myself upon the Lord. You know as a Church that I have not scrupled to indulge large ideas of what we might do for God. And we have accomplished all that we purposed. I have sought God’s aid and assistance and help in all my manifold undertakings! And though I cannot tell here the story of my private life in God’s work, yet if it were written it would be a standing proof that there is a God that answers prayer!"
8/20/2009
"'They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you. For I am with you,' says the Lord, 'to deliver you." Jer. 1:19
"Each time your spirit goes under and faints in the testing and trials which come to you, you lose mastery over the powers of darkness, i.e. you get below them instead of abiding above them in God. Every time you take the earth standpoint--think as men think, talk as men talk, look as men look--you take a place below the powers of darkness. The mastery of them depends upon your spirit abiding in the place above them, and the place above them means knowing God's outlook, God's view, God's thought, God's plan, God's ways, by abiding with Christ in God...." James Fraser from Behind the Ranges by Mrs. Howard Taylor
8/5/2009
"For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need." Heb. 4:15,16
"Under the old Persian Empire a few of the nobility were permitted at any time to come in unto the king, and this was thought to be the highest privilege possessed by mortals. You and I, the people of God, have a permit, a passport to come before the throne of heaven at any time we will, and we are encouraged to come there with great boldness; but still let us not forget that it is no mean thing to be a courtier in the courts of heaven and earth, to worship him who made us and sustains us. Truly, when we attempt to pray, we may hear the voice saying out of the excellent glory: "Bow the knee." From all the spirits that behold the face of our Father who is in heaven, even now, I hear a voice which saith, "Oh, come let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; for he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand. O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness; fear before him all the earth." Charles Spurgeon, Throne of Grace (sermon delivered November 19, 1871)
8/4/2009
"When you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them." Mark 11:24
"God respecteth not the arithmetic of our prayers, how many they are; nor the rhetoric of our prayers, how neat they are; nor the geometry of our prayers, how long they are; nor the music of our prayers, how melodious they are; nor the logic of our prayers, how methodical they are; but the divinity of our prayers, how heart-sprung they are. Not gifts, but graces prevail in prayer.” John Trapp
Spurgeon quoted it this way:
"Remember, the Lord will not hear you because of the arithmetic of your prayers, counting their numbers. He will not hear you because of the rhetoric of your prayers, caring for the eloquent language in which they are conveyed. He will not listen because of the geometry of your prayers, computing them by their length or breadth. He will not regard you because of the music of your prayers, caring for sweet voices or for harmony. Neither will He look at you because of the logic of your prayers, because they are well arranged and excellently divided. But He will hear you, and He will measure the amount of blessings He will give you, according to the divinity of your prayers. If you can plead the person of Christ, and if the Holy Ghost inspires you with zeal and earnestness, the blessings that you shall ask shall surely come to you." Charles Spurgeon
7/8/2009
"Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you." 1 Peter 5:7
“We are to cast all of our care upon Him; and we have the reason: “For He careth for you.” Blessed position. How may I know whether I have cast my burden upon God? One says, by prayer! Well, right or wrong, just as you understand it. Right, if it is believing prayer, if you exercise faith in the power and willingness of God to carry the burden for you. But simply praying will not do. We know we have rolled our burden upon God, if after praying, the heart is easy, the heart is light. If this is not the case, then we are still carrying the burden ourselves instead of casting it on God, and have need to go again to Him, and in believing prayer exercise faith with regard to the power and willingness of God to carry the burden for us.” George Müller, Jehovah Magnified, p. 159
6/27/2009
"I the Lord will do it...." Isa. 27:3
"Get a promise, and spread it before the Lord, and say, “O Lord, thou hast said it; do it.” God loves to be believed in. He loves you to think he means what he says. He is a practical God himself. His word has power in it, and he does not like us to treat his promises as some of us do, as if they were waste paper, as if they were things to be read for the encouragement of our enthusiasm, but not to be used as matters of real practical truth. Oh! plead them with God: fill your mouths with reasonings, and come before him." Charles Spurgeon
6/22/2009
"The fields are white for harvest...." John 4:35
"There are many souls yearning unutterably for light, for assurance and strength beyond what they have been able to grasp. They need to be sought out and labored for patiently, perseveringly. Beseech the Lord in fervent prayer for help. Present Jesus because you know Him as your personal Saviour. Let His melting love, His rich grace, flow forth from human lips.... Take the Word, and with tender, yearning love for souls, show them the precious righteousness of Christ, to whom you and they must come to be saved."--Manuscript 27, 1895.
6/15/2009
"If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him." Matt. 7:11
“We have a wise loving heavenly Father, who hears the prayers of His children. But He does not always give them what they desire. He withholds that which He sees would not be for their good. But He bestows on them all that they need. He gives them that which is necessary for their growth in grace….The Lord hears our petitions; He understands our situation, and He will supply the very thing we need. He will strengthen our faith and increase our spirituality.” The Upward Look p. 369
6/12/2009
" But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.” Matt. 16:23
"What it showed me was the deliverance from the power of the devil was won through definite resistance on the ground of the cross. I am an engineer and believe in things working. I'd found that much of the spiritual teaching one hears does not seem to work. At any rate my apprehension of other aspects of truth had broken down. The passive side of leaving everything to the Lord Jesus as my life, while blessedly true, was not all that was needed just then. Definite resistance on the ground of the cross was what brought me light. I felt like a man perishing of thirst, for him some clear, cold, water had began to flow; for I found it worked. People will tell you, perhaps after a helpful meeting, that such and such truth alone is the secret of victory. No--we need different truth at different times. "Look to the Lord!" Some will say "Resist the devil" is also Scripture (James 4: 7), and I found it worked! The cloud of depression dispersed. I found that I could have victory in the spiritual realm whenever I wanted it. The Lord Himself vocally resisted the devil: "Get thee behind me, Satan!" In humble dependence I do the same, talking to Satan, using the promises of Scriptures as weapons. And they worked! Right then, the terrible oppression began to pass away. I had to learn gradually how to use the new-found weapon of resistance. I had so much to learn. It seemed as if God was saying, "You are crying to me to do a big work to do the Lisu; I'm wanting to do a big work in you yourself." James Fraser, Behind the Ranges(Fraser was a missionary with Hudson Taylor in China. This biography is wonderful and worth reading!)
6/4/2009
"God is Spirit; and they that worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth." John 4:24
"We must have a deep, earnest sense of our needs. We must feel our weakness and our dependence upon God, and come to Him with contrition of soul and brokenness of heart. Our petitions must be offered in perfect submission; every desire must be brought into harmony with the will of God, and His will must be done in us. We must not pray in a doubting, half-hearted manner, but with full assurance of faith. When we come to Him in this manner, Jesus will listen to our prayers, and will answer them; but if we regard iniquity in our hearts, if we cherish any darling sin, we may be assured that no blessing will be given in response to our prayers.” The Bible Echo, September 24, 1894.
5/22/2009
"I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me." Prov. 8:17
"The men who have done the most for God in this world have been early on their knees. He who fritters away the early morning, its opportunity and freshness. In other pursuits than seeking God will make poor headway seeking Him the rest of the day. If God is not first in our thoughts and efforts in the morning, He will be in the last place the remainder of the day." E. M. Bounds.
5/4/2009
“Prayer is a necessity; for it is the life of the soul. Family prayer, public prayer, have their place; but it is secret communion with God that sustains the soul life." Education, p. 258
4/28/2009
“There are plenty of preachers who will preach and deliver great and eloquent addresses on the need of revival and the spread of the kingdom of God, but not many there are who will do that without which all preaching and organizing are worse than vain--pray. It is out of date, almost a lost art, and the greatest benefactor this age could have is the man who will bring the preachers and the Church back to prayer.” E. M. Bounds
4/10/2009
"If we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us...." 1 John 5:14,15
"Those prayers only will be answered which are in harmony with the revealed will of God: 'If we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us; and if we know that He hear us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him.' Unless the Word of God is abiding in us, how can we be sure that our petitions are in harmony with His will?" Hudson Taylor
4/1/2009
"God's true preachers have been distinguished by one great feature: they were men of prayer. Differing often in many things, they have always had a common center. They may have started from different points, and traveled by different roads, but they converged to one point: they were one in prayer. God to them was the center of attraction, and prayer was the path that led to God. These men prayed not occasionally, not a little at regular or at odd times; but they so prayed that their prayers entered into and shaped their characters; they so prayed as to affect their own lives and the lives of others; they so prayed as to make the history of the Church and influence the current of the times. They spent much time in prayer, not because they marked the shadow on the dial or the hands on the clock, but because it was to them so momentous and engaging a business that they could scarcely give over. --E. M. Bounds
3/7/2009
“Call unto me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.”
Jeremiah 33:3
“The promise of (Jeremiah) ought to prove useful for the comforting of those who are intercessors for others. You who are calling upon God, to save your children, to bless your neighbors, to remember your husband or your wife in mercy, take comfort from this, ‘I will show you great and mighty things, which you know not.’ You cannot guess how greatly God will bless you. Only go and stand at His door. You cannot tell what is in reserve for you.... In prayer for others, God may give you such mercies that you shall be astounded by them since you expected so little.” Charles Spurgeon
3/6/2009
“But the salvation of the righteous is from the Lord; He is their strength in the time of trouble, and the Lord shall help them and deliver them...and save them because they trust in Him.” Ps. 37:13
“Happy is the one who accepts (God’s) help; and transfers the feeling of dependence from the earthly to the heavenly Friend.... When one is willing to be taken up by Him, there need be no further anxiety or care; for directly a human spirit yields itself to its Almighty Lover, that moment He takes it, and assumes all responsibility, and makes Himself answerable for all its needs. There is but one condition: ‘Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.’ Would that all the children of God might know what it is to hand over, moment by moment, as they occur, all worries, anxieties, and cares, to the compassionate Lord, sure that He takes them straight from their hands! We need never feel, then, as if all depended on our tired brain or failing strength; because the Lord Himself would supply all our need, according to His riches in glory.” F. B. Meyer, Israel p. 38
3/3/2009
"The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ." 2 Cor. 10:4,5
It is in the field of prayer that life’s critical battles are lost or won. We must conquer all our circumstances there. We must first of all bring them there. We must survey them there. We must master them there. In prayer we bring our spiritual enemies into the Presence of God and we fight them there. Have you tried that? Or have you been satisfied to meet and fight your foes in the open spaces of the world? J. H. Jowett
3/2/2009
“God was pleased to grant me divine sweetness in prayer; especially in the duty of intercession. I think, I never felt so much kindness and love to those who, I have reason to think, are my enemies,—though at that time I found such a disposition to think the best of all, that I scarce knew how to think that any such thing as enmity and hatred lodged in any soul; it seemed as if all the world must needs be friends. I never prayed wth more freedom and delight for myself, or dearest friend, than I did now for my enemies.” David Brainerd
2/25/2009
Eph. 4:32 "Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another even as God in Christ forgave you."
"Oh, it is a sweet disposition, heartily to forgive all injuries done to us; to wish our greatest enemies as well as we do our own souls." David Brainerd
2/24/2009
"We may pray a lot, but I feel that we have to take this matter of the prayer ministry even more seriously, to regard it as our supreme ministry. The order is EVERYTHING BY PRAYER; not everything and then prayer, but everything by prayer. Prayer comes first. Everything comes by prayer. Prayer is the basis of everything, and nothing else must be attempted or touched except on the ground of prayer…. Oh, the Lord cut clean across that thing which makes us so casual, and which makes corporate prayer times so optional, and bring into our hearts, with a strong, deep, set conviction, the witness that prayer is universal business, and that we are called to it!" Austin Sparks
2/21/2009
"We should not present our petitions to God to prove whether He will fulfill His word, but because He will fulfill it; not to prove that He loves us, but because He loves us." Christ Triumphant, p. 218
1/7/2009
Psalm 2:8 "Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession."
Isaiah 45:11 "Thus says the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker: 'Ask Me of things to come concerning My sons, and concerning the work of My hands, you command Me.'"
John 15:7 "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples."
John 16: 23 "In that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you."
“Upon the faithful performance of this most important duty (intercession), by Christians, DEPENDS the fulfillment of many of God’s gracious promises. It is a stunning and almost overwhelming fact, that God conditions the bestowment of blessings on others, even their eternal salvation, to a great extent, on the intercessions of Christians.” Eli Wigle, Prevailing Prayer, p. 321
“To understand the amazing compass of the promises we should search them out, and study them, with all the interest and avidity of a legate searching the will of a rich benefactor; that we may plead them with unfailing confidence, and eager expectation, of their fulfillment.” Eli Wigle, Prevailing Prayer, pp. 322, 323
12/29/2008
"Cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved." Psalm 55:22
"I desire that all the children of God, who may read these details, may thereby be lead to increased and more simple confidence in God for everything which they may need under any circumstances, and that these many answers to prayer may encourage them to pray, particularly as it regards the conversion of their friends and relatives, their own progress in grace and knowledge, the state of the saints who they may know personally, the state of the church of God at large, and the success of the preaching of the Gospel. Especially I affectionately warn them against being led away by the device of Satan, to think that these things are peculiar to me, and cannot be enjoyed by all the children of God; for though, as has been stated before, every believer is not called upon to establish Orphan-Houses, Charity Schools, etc., and trust in the Lord for means, yet all believers are called upon, in the simple confidence of faith, to cast all their burdens upon Him, to trust in Him for everything, and not only to make every thing a subject of prayer, but to expect answers to their petitions which they have asked according to His will, and in the name of the Lord Jesus. George Müller
12/2/2008
"Cast your burden on the Lord and He will sustain you." Ps. 55:22
I bring my sins to thee,
The sins I cannot count,
That I may cleansed be
In thy once opened fount.
I bring them, Saviour, all to thee;
The burden is too great for me.
My heart to thee I bring,
The heart I cannot read;
A faithless, wandering thing,
An evil heart indeed.
I bring it, Saviour, now to thee
That fixed and faithful it may be.
To thee I bring my care,
The care I cannot flee;
Thou wilt not only share,
But bear it all for me.
O loving Saviour, now to thee
I bring the load that wearies me.
I bring my grief to thee,
The grief I cannot tell;
No words shall needed be,
Thou knowest all so well.
I bring the sorrow laid on me,
O suffering Saviour, now to thee.
My joys to thee I bring,
The joys thy love has given,
That each may be a wing
To lift me nearer Heaven.
I bring them, Saviour, all to thee;
For thou hast purchased all for me.
My life I bring to thee,
I would not be my own;
O Saviour, let me be
Thine ever, thine alone.
My heart, my life, my all I bring
To thee, my Saviour and my King.
11/21/2008
"Pray without ceasing." 1 Thess. 5:17
“The men that will change the colleges and seminaries here represented are the men that will spend the most time alone with God… It takes time for the ï¬res to burn. It takes time for God to draw near and for us to know that He is there. It takes time to assimilate His truth. You ask me, How much time? I do not know. I know it means time enough to forget time.”
10/12/2008
"Why are you cast down, O my soul? and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God." Ps. 42:11
Gladness may not be thanksgiving. It certainly is not all of thanksgiving. One may have a heart bubbling with joy, without a note of thanksgiving. The task of happiness is one to which we should all firmly set ourselves. To be miserable in this glorious world, is most unfit. We should cultivate joyousness. But our present lesson is a larger and deeper one. Thanksgiving implies thought of God. One may be glad all the day—and never think of God. Thanksgiving looks up with every breath, and sees God as Father from whom all blessings come. Thanksgiving is praise. The heart is full of gratitude. Every moment has something in it to inspire love. The lilies made Jesus think of his Father, for it was he who clothed them in beauty. The providence of our lives, if we think rightly of it, is simply God caring for us. Our circumstances may sometimes be hard, our experiences painful, and we may see nothing in them to make us glad. But faith teaches us that God is always good and always kind, whatever the present events may be. We may be thankful, therefore, even when we cannot be glad. Our hearts may be grateful, knowing that good will come to us even out of pain and loss. This is the secret of true thanksgiving. It thinks always of God and praises him for everything. The song never dies out in the heart, however little there may be in the circumstances of life to make us glad. J. R. Miller
9/16/2008
“Many people would be greatly surprised if God did answer their prayers.”
"You must expect to obtain the things for which you ask. You need not look for an answer to prayer, if you pray without any expectation of obtaining it.... If you pray without an expectation of receiving the blessings, you just make God a liar.” Charles Finney, Lectures on Revival.
“Unbelief sees something in God’s hand, and says, ‘I cannot get it.’ Faith sees it, and says, ‘I will have it.’ D L Moody, Prevailing Prayer, p. 61
9/10/2008
"As activity increases and men become successful in doing any work for God, there is danger of trusting to human plans and methods. There is a tendency to pray less, and to have less faith. Like the disciples, we are in danger of losing sight of our dependence on God, and seeking to make a savior of our activity. We need to look constantly to Jesus, realizing that it is His power which does the work. While we are to labor earnestly for the salvation of the lost, we must also take time for meditation, for prayer, and for the study of the word of God. Only the work accomplished with much prayer, and sanctified by the merit of Christ, will in the end prove to have been efficient for good." Desire of Ages, p. 362
8/24/2008
"Without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him" (Hebrews 11:6).
"There are many in the Christian world who claim that all that is necessary to salvation is to have faith; works are nothing, faith is the only essential. But God's Word tells us that faith without works is dead, being alone. Many refuse to obey God's commandments, yet they make a great deal of faith. But faith must have a foundation. God's promises are all made upon conditions. If we do His will, if we walk in truth, then we may ask what we will, and it shall be done unto us. While we earnestly endeavor to be obedient, God will hear our petitions; but He will not bless us in disobedience. If we choose to disobey His commandments, we may cry, "Faith, faith, only have faith," and the response will come back from the sure Word of God, 'Faith without works is dead' (James 2:20). Such faith will only be as sounding brass and as a tinkling cymbal."—Faith and Works 47
7/28/2008
Tugging at God's Heart
The prayer our Father loves most, is, the intercessory prayer,
Such strongly tugs at His heart, such He always loves to hear.
It shows concern for others, concern that should always be,
At the forefront of our mind, but more so, when on bended knee.
Christ prayed for others too, and did so, even as He died,
Yes, while hanging on the cross, “Forgive them, Father,” He cried.
Even when Christ was dying, He prayed for His enemies,
An act of intercession, that He knew, His Father would please.
Thus, when we pray for others, we emulate our Saviour,
We participate in, what’s truly, Christ-like behaviour.
Yes, we show the same concern, that our Lord Himself displayed,
When He journeyed on this earth, and for others, earnestly prayed.
And that’s our mission also — to be praying earnestly,
Yes, unceasingly, increasingly, and expectantly.
That is, on behalf of others; which will deeply touch God’s heart,
And ensure, that in His plans, we will play a special part.
Oh, yes, what a privilege, and what a blessing also,
That we can commune with God, we, sinners from top to toe.
That we can speak directly, with the Father, who reigns above,
Whose Son’s still interceding, and pleading, because of His love.
Oh, yes, what a privilege, and what a blessing also,
That we can pray for others, and via such, love also show.
Yes, that we too, can intercede, that we too, can also plead,
With the Father up on high, whose response is guaranteed.
Yes, the prayer our Father loves most, is, the intercessory prayer,
Such prayer He loves to answer, such will always reach His ear.
Yes, what a privilege to carry, everything to God in prayer,
But never more so, than when with Him, other’s needs we share.
By Lance Landall
"No name, however precious and powerful, can protect and give efficiency to prayer which is unaccompanied by the doing of God’s will. Neither can the doing, without the praying, protect from Divine disapproval. If the will of God does not master the life, the praying will be nothing but sickly sentiment. If prayer do not inspire, sanctify and direct our work, then self-will enters, to ruin both work and worker. How great and manifold are the misconceptions of the true elements and functionings of prayer! There are many who earnestly desire to obtain an answer to their prayers but who go unrewarded and unblest. They fix their minds on some promise of God and then endeavour by dint of dogged perseverance, to summon faith sufficient to lay hold upon, and claim it. This fixing of the mind on some great promise may avail in strengthening faith, but, to this holding on to the promise must be added the persistent and importunate prayer that expects, and waits till faith grows exceedingly. And who is there that is able and competent to do such praying save the man who readily, cheerfully and continually, obeys God?" E. M. Bounds
6/9/2008
"If you have an earnest desire to pray well, you must learn how to obey well. If you have a desire to learn to pray, then you must have an earnest desire to learn how to do God's will. If you desire to pray to God, you must first have a consuming desire to obey him. If you would have free access to God in prayer, then every obstacle in the nature of sin or disobedience must be removed. God delights in the prayers of obedient children. Requests coming from the lips of those who delight to do his will reach his ears with great rapidity, and incline him to answer them with promptitude and abundance." E. M. Bounds
4/26/2008
"The prayer that ascends from a broken and contrite heart, though it should come from the lips of the lowliest saint, is never disregarded. It is as sweet music in the ears of our heavenly Father; for he waits to bestow upon us the fullness of his blessing. It is not in our power to estimate the supplies that are provided by the Lord to meet our demands. What power might attend the church did we but call frequently and in faith for the abundant treasure of the store-house of God. We have only begun to taste of the richness of the divine promises. It is our privilege to drink largely of the fountain of boundless love. What a wonder it is that we pray so little! God is ready and willing to hear the sincere prayer of the humblest of his children, and yet there is much manifest reluctance on our part to make known our wants to God. What can the angels of God think of poor, helpless, human beings, who are subject to temptation, when God’s heart of infinite love yearns toward them, and he is ready to give them more than they can ask or think, and yet they pray so little, and have so little faith? The angels love to bow before God, they love to be near him. They regard intercourse with God as their highest joy, and yet the children of earth, who need so much help that God only can give, seem satisfied to walk without the light of his Spirit, the companionship of his presence." Signs of the Times, December 23, 1889
4/24/2008
“All hell is vanquished when the believer bows his knees in importunate supplication. Beloved brethren, let us pray. We cannot all argue, but we can all pray; we cannot all be leaders, but we can all be pleaders; we cannot all be mighty in rhetoric, but we can all be prevalent in prayer. I would sooner see you eloquent with God than with men. Prayer links us with the Eternal, the Omnipotent, the Infinite, and hence it is our chief resort. . . Be sure that you are with God, and then you may be sure that God is with you.”—Charles Spurgeon
3/15/2008
"Prayer pulls the rope below and the great bell rings above in the ears of God. Some scarcely stir the bell, for they pray so languidly. Others give but an occasional pluck at the rope. But he who wins with heaven is the the man who grasps the rope boldly and pulls continuously, with all his might." Charles Spurgeon
"That which God abundantly makes the subject of his promises, God's people should abundantly make the subject of their prayers." Jonathan Edwards
"What then, is the nature of petitionary prayer? It is, in essence, rebellion-rebellion against the world in all its falleness, the absolute and undying refusal to accept as normal what is pervasively abnormal." David Wells
"The thermometer of a church is its prayer meeting." Vance Havner
"When I say 'hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come,' I should be adding in my mind the words 'in and through me,' and so giving myself to God afresh to be, so far as I can be, the means of answering my own prayer. And when I say, 'thy will be done,' I should mean this as a prayer that I, along with the rest of God's people, may learn to be obedient." J. I. Packer
"Whether we like it or not, asking is the rule of the kingdom." Charles Spurgeon
3/10/2008
"God will be to us everything we will let Him be. Our languid, half-hearted prayers will not bring us returns from heaven. Oh, we need to press our petitions! Ask in faith, wait in faith, receive in faith, rejoice in hope, for everyone that seeketh findeth. Be in earnest in the matter. Seek God with all the heart. People put soul and earnestness into everything they undertake in temporal things, until their efforts are crowned with success. With intense earnestness learn the trade of seeking the rich blessings that God has promised, and with persevering, determined effort you shall have His light and His truth and His rich grace. In sincerity, in soul hunger, cry after God. Wrestle with the heavenly agencies until you have the victory. Put your whole being into the Lord’s hands, soul, body, and spirit, and resolve to be His loving, consecrated agency, moved by His will, controlled by His mind, infused by His Spirit." Prayer, p. 114
1/17/2008
Speaking of Charles Finney: "The theme on which he most constantly dwelt was the baptism of the Holy Ghost. In season and out of season he was always urging believers to be filled with the Spirit, as the only preparation that would fit them for saving souls, that without it they were powerless, that with it nothing was too hard for God to do through them. This was the main track with him, he did not go off on side issues, believing if we had this all other things would follow.' "Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you." "When He is come he will guide you in to all truth." He taught also the necessity of frequent anointings and deep heart searching as a preparation, hence his prayer, "Lord give us an overhauling." He attributed his success in the soul saving largely to the fact that he had always been favored with helpers who knew how to pray. There were those in Oberlin who stayed at home when he preached and "held on" for him as they termed it. Discussing on wrestling Jacob he once said. "If Jacob had had a prayer book what under heaven would he have done with it?" He declared he would rather have a person of no education to help him in his work if he knew how to prevail in prayer, than a highly educated person who did not. Prevailing prayer that takes hold on God not only asks but receives the witness that the answer will come. This was the watchword in the early days of Oberlin.
1/7/2008
"Cast your burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain you." Psalm 55:22
It is by an act of simple, prayerful faith we transfer our cares and anxieties, our sorrows and needs, to the Lord. Jesus invites you come and lean upon Him, and to lean with all your might upon that arm that balances the universe, and upon that bosom that bled for you upon the soldier's spear! But you doubtingly ask, "Is the Lord able to do this thing for me ?" And thus, while you are debating a matter about which there is not the shadow of a shade of doubt, the burden is crushing your gentle spirit to the dust. And all the while Jesus stands at your side and lovingly says, "Cast your burden upon Me and I will sustain you. I am God Almighty. I bore the load of your sin and condemnation up the steep of Calvary, and the same power of omnipotence, and the same strength of love that bore it all for you then, is prepared to bear your need and sorrow now. Roll it all upon Me! Child of My love! Lean hard! Let Me feel the pressure of your care. I know your burden, child! I shaped it—I poised it in My own hand and made no proportion of its weight to your unaided strength. For even as I laid it on, I said I shall be near, and while she leans on Me, this burden shall be Mine, not hers. So shall I keep My child within the encircling arms of My own love. Here lay it down! Do not fear to impose it on a shoulder which upholds the government of worlds! Yet closer come! You are not near enough! I would embrace your burden, so I might feel My child reposing on My breast. You love Me! I know it. Doubt not, then. But, loving me, lean hard!" Octavius Winslow
1/6/2007
If you would not be taken in any of Satan's snares, then be much in prayer. Prayer is a shelter to the soul, a sacrifice to God, and a scourge to the devil. Prayer is the gate of heaven, a key to let us into paradise. There is nothing that renders Satan's plots fruitless like prayer! Thomas Brooks Precious Remedies
1/1/2008
There are thousands of prayers daily offered that God does not answer. There are faithless prayers. “He that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” There are selfish prayers, proceeding from a heart that is cherishing idols. “If any man regard iniquity in his heart, the Lord will not hear him.” There are petulant, fretful prayers, murmuring because of the burdens and cares of life, instead of humbly seeking grace to lighten them. Those who offer such petitions are not abiding in Christ. They have not submitted their will to the will of God. They do not comply with the condition of the promise, and it is not fulfilled to them. They that are abiding in Jesus have the assurance that God will hear them, because they love to do his will. They offer no formal, wordy prayer, but come to God in earnest, humble confidence, as a child to a tender father, and pour out the story of their grief and fears and sins, and in the name of Jesus present their wants; they depart from his presence rejoicing in the assurance of pardoning love and sustaining grace. Review and Herald, September 11, 1883
12/31/2007
The best and sweetest flowers of Paradise God gives to his people when they are upon their knees. Prayer is the gate of heaven, a key to let us in to Paradise—Thomas Brooks
Prayer is nothing but the breathing that out before the Lord, that was first breathed into us by the Spirit of the Lord—Thomas Brooks
God’s hearing of our prayers doth not depend upon sanctification, but upon Christ’s intercession; not upon what we are in ourselves, but what’ we are in the Lord Jesus; both our persons and our prayers are acceptable in the beloved [Eph 1.6]—Thomas Brooks
11/1/2007
“Our plans are not always God's plans. . . . In His loving care and interest for us, often He who understands us better than we understand ourselves refuses to permit us selfishly to seek the gratification of our own ambition. . . . Many things He ask us to yield to Him, but in doing this we are but giving up that which hinders us in the heavenward way. . . . In the future life the mysteries that here have annoyed and disappointed us will be made plain. We shall see that our seemingly unanswered prayers and disappointed hopes have been among our greatest blessings. Conflict in Courage, p. 228
10/31/2007
Every promise in the word of God furnishes us with subject matter for prayer, presenting the pledged word of Jehovah as our assurance. Whatever spiritual blessing we need, it is our privilege to claim through Jesus. We may tell the Lord, with the simplicity of a child, exactly what we need. We may state to Him our temporal matters, asking Him for bread and raiment as well as for the bread of life and the robe of Christ's righteousness. Your heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things, and you are invited to ask Him concerning them. It is through the name of Jesus that every favor is received. God will honor that name, and will supply your necessities from the riches of His liberality. Mount of Blessings, p. 133
10/15/2007
"The nobleman wanted to see the fulfillment of his prayer before he should believe; but he had to accept the word of Jesus that his request was heard and the blessing granted. This lesson we also have to learn. Not because we see or feel that God hears us are we to believe. We are to trust in His promises. When we come to Him in faith, every petition enters the heart of God. When we have asked for His blessing, we should believe that we receive it, and thank Him that we have received it. Then we are to go about our duties, assured that the blessing will be realized when we need it most. When we have learned to do this, we shall know that our prayers are answered. God will do for us “exceeding abundantly,” “according to the riches of His glory,” and “the working of His mighty power.” Eph. 3:20, 16; 1:19." E. White, Desire of Ages, p. 200
10/7/2007
WHILE many private prayers, in the nature of things, must be short; while public prayers, as a rule, ought to be short and condensed; while there is ample room for and value put on ejaculatory prayer—yet in our private communions with God, time is a feature essential to its value. Much time spent with God is the secret of all successful praying. Prayer which is felt as a mighty force is the immediate product of much time spent with God. Our short prayers owe their point and efficiency to the long ones that have preceded them. The short prevailing prayer cannot be prayed by one who has not prevailed with God in a mightier struggle of long continuance. Jacob’s victory of faith could not have been gained without that all-night wrestling. God’s acquaintance is not made by pop calls. God does not bestow his gifts on the casual or hasty comers and goers. Much time with God alone is the secret of knowing him and of influence with him. He yields to the persistency of a faith that knows him. He bestows his richest gifts upon those who declare their desire for and appreciation of those gifts by the constancy as well as earnestness of their importunity." E. M. Bounds, Prevailing Prayer
10/6/2007
"Save me!" Matthew 14:30
“God will be to us everything we will let Him be. Our languid, half-hearted prayers will not bring us returns from heaven. Oh, we need to press our petitions! Ask in faith, wait in faith, receive in faith, rejoice in hope, for everyone that seeketh findeth. Be in earnest in the matter. Seek God with all the heart. People put soul and earnestness into everything they undertake in temporal things, until their efforts are drowned with success. With intense earnestness learn the trade of seeking the rich blessings that God has promised, and with persevering, determined effort you shall have His light and His truth and His rich grace.
In sincerity, in soul hunger, cry after God. Wrestle with the heavenly agencies until you have the victory. Put your whole being into the Lord’s hands, soul, body, and spirit, and resolve to be His loving, consecrated agency, moved by His will, controlled by His mind, infused by His Spirit.
Tell Jesus your wants in the sincerity of your soul. You are not required to hold a long controversy with, or preach a sermon to, God, but with a heart of sorrow for your sins, say, “Save me, Lord, or I perish.” There is hope for such souls. They will seek, they will ask, they will knock, and they will find. When Jesus has taken away the burden of sin that is crushing the soul, you will experience the blessedness of the peace of Christ.” Our High Calling, p. 131
10/3/2007
“My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.” Psalms 73:26
Prayer comes to its own; enters into its lawful heritage of mighty power only with men who have reached the end of themselves and are clinging to God. Power in prayer did not come to Jacob while he strove in his own strength, but when he clung in his own helplessness. “What poor humans are we, that God must needs let us be driven into the stress of necessity and helplessness because in no other way can he constrain us to betake ourselves to prayer to Him! Yet it is even so. Do we pray when the wind is a-beam, the skies fair, and our ship running free before the breeze? Nay, but when the mast is overboard, the rudder gone, and the ship in the trough-then we pray. Do we pray when our loved ones are in prosperity, health, and strength? Nay, but when the sober-faced physician shakes his head, and says he has done all he can, and death’s shadow settles down over the chamber of a precious one-then we pray. Strength is self-reliant and thinks it needs no God. But weakness is driven to God-reliance and there learns the secrets of the prayer life. Helplessness begets dependence- dependence leads to prayer; and prayer brings power. Out of our own insufficiency into God’s sufficiency, by the pathway of prayer, is the secret of power. Wherefore self-strength may be worse than weakness. For the weak man learns to cling and pray. But the strong one stays self-centered and misses God.”
9/26/2007
God is so near, and the arrows of prayer so swift in their course, and our Father so waitingly intent for every cry of prayer that starts on its upward way, that it does not take long to go in. In an instant of doubt: at the first pang of distress: with the first mis-step of a mistaken course: in the first second of a fierce temptation, we may go in. Amid the rush of traffic, the fever of a hurried day, the pressure of a strained and suffering one you may go in, if for but a second or two of precious approach. You may lift your heart in it all and whisper-”God help me; deliver me: give me strength: guide me: suffer not my foot to slip.” And He will hear you. And you will learn the sweet lesson of how quickly and how easily we may go in, in this so sorely needful life of prayer. James McConkey Going in to God and Out to Men
9/18/2007
"And it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, that when He ceased, one of His disciples said to Him, 'Lord, teach us to pray.’" LUKE 11:1
'Lord, teach us to pray.' Yes, to pray. This is what we need to be taught. Though in its beginnings prayer is so simple that the feeblest child can pray, yet it is at the same time the highest and holiest work to which man can rise. It is fellowship with the Unseen and Most Holy One. The powers of the eternal world have been placed at its disposal. It is the very essence of true religion, the channel of all blessings, the secret of power and life. Not only for ourselves, but for others, for the Church, for the world, it is to prayer that God has given the right to take hold of Him and His strength. It is on prayer that the promises wait for their fulfillment, the kingdom for its coming, the glory of God for its full revelation. And for this blessed work, how slothful and unfit we are. It is only the Spirit of God can enable us to do it aright. How speedily we are deceived into a resting in the form, while the power is wanting. Our early training, the teaching of the Church, the influence of habit, the stirring of the emotions--how easily these lead to prayer which has no spiritual power, and avails but little. True prayer, that takes hold of God's strength, that availeth much, to which the gates of heaven are really opened wide--who would not cry, Oh for some one to teach me thus to pray? Andrew Murray
8/5/2007
“The Lord is disappointed when His people place a low estimate upon themselves. He desires His chosen heritage to value themselves according to the price He has placed upon them…He has a use for them, and He is well pleased when they make the very highest demands upon Him, that they may glorify His name. They may expect large things if they have faith in His promises.”
7/29/2007
There are two kinds of prayer,—the prayer of form and the prayer of faith. The repetition of set, customary phrases when the heart feels no need of God, is formal prayer. “When ye pray,” says Christ, “use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do; for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.” We should be extremely careful in all our prayers to speak the wants of the heart, and to say only what we mean. All the flowery words at our command are not equivalent to one holy desire. The most eloquent prayers are but vain repetitions, if they do not express the true sentiments of the heart. But the prayer that comes from an earnest heart, when the simple wants of the soul are expressed just as we would ask an earthly friend for a favor, expecting that it would be granted—this is the prayer of faith. The publican who went up to the temple to pray is a good example of a sincere, devoted worshiper. He felt that he was a sinner, and his great need led to an outburst of passionate desire, “God be merciful to me a sinner.” Signs of the Times, August 14, 1884
7/18/2007
“Open your mouth wide and I will fill it." Ps 81:10
“HOW vast are the possibilities of prayer! How wide is its reach! What great things are accomplished by this divinely appointed means of grace! It lays its hand on Almighty God and moves Him to do what He would not otherwise do if prayer was not offered. It brings things to pass which would never otherwise occur. The story of prayer is the story of great achievements. Prayer is a wonderful power placed by Almighty God in the hands of His saints, which may be used to accomplish great purposes and to achieve unusual results…The only limits to prayer are the promises of God and His ability to fulfill those promises. "E. M. Bounds, Possibilities of Prayer
6/15/2007
Helplessness ... is the decisive factor not only in our prayer life, but in our whole relationship to God. As long as we are conscious of our helplessness we will not be overtaken by any difficulty, disturbed by any distress or frightened by any hindrance. We will expect nothing of ourselves and therefore bring all our difficulties and hindrances to God in prayer. And this means to open the door unto Him and to give God the opportunity to help us in our helplessness by means of the miraculous powers which are at His disposal." O. Hallesby, Prayer, p. 17, 20, 26
5/24/2007
“Until we find a work of God stirring among ministers, we cannot find it among the people. Pour out your prayers for your ministers. Many, perhaps, deserve bad ministers, because perhaps you do not pray for them.” George Whitefield, The Duty of Gospel Ministers
5/22/2007
"The child who only wants to know the love of the father when he has something to ask, will be disappointed. But he who lets God be Father always and in everything, who would fain live his whole life in the Father’s presence and love, who allows God in all the greatness of His love to be a Father to him, oh! he will experience most gloriously that a life in God’s infinite Fatherliness and continual answers to prayer are inseparable.”
5/9/2007
I have frequently seen that many [of the children of the Lord] do not exercise that faith which it is their privilege and duty to exercise, often waiting for that feeling which faith alone can bring. Feeling is not faith; the two are distinct. Faith is ours to exercise, but joyful feeling and the blessing are God's to give. The grace of God comes to the soul through the channel of living faith, and that faith it is in our power to exercise. True faith lays hold of and claims the promised blessing before it is realized and felt. We must send up our petitions in faith within the second veil and let our faith take hold of the promised blessing and claim it as ours. We are then to believe that we receive the blessing, because our faith has hold of it, and according to the Word it is ours. "What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." Mark 11:24. Here is faith, naked faith, to believe that we receive the blessing, even before we realize it. When the promised blessing is realized and enjoyed, faith is swallowed up. But many suppose they have much faith when sharing largely of the Holy Spirit and that they cannot have faith unless they feel the power of the Spirit. Such confound faith with the blessing that comes through faith. The very time to exercise faith is when we feel destitute of the Spirit. When thick clouds of darkness seem to hover over the mind, then is the time to let living faith pierce the darkness and scatter the clouds. True faith rests on the promises contained in the Word of God, and those only who obey that Word can claim its glorious promises. "If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." John 15:7. "Whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight." 1 John 3:22.... If the enemy can lead the desponding to take their eyes off from Jesus, and look to themselves, and dwell upon their own unworthiness, instead of dwelling upon the worthiness of Jesus, His love, His merits, and His great mercy, he will get away their shield of faith and gain his object; they will be exposed to his fiery temptations. The weak should therefore look to Jesus, and believe in Him; they then exercise faith." Early Writings, p. 72
5/5/2007
"O what a deep heavenly mystery this is of persevering prayer. The God who has promised, who longs, whose fixed purpose it is to give the blessing, holds it back. It is to Him a matter of such deep importance that His friends on earth should know and fully trust their rich Friend in heaven, that He trains them, in the school of answer delayed, to find out how their perseverance really does prevail, and what the mighty power is they can wield in heaven, if they do but set themselves to it. There is a faith that sees the promise, and embraces it, and yet does not receive it (Heb. xi. 13, 39). It is when the answer to prayer does not come, and the promise we are most firmly trusting appears to be of none effect, that the trial of faith, more precious than of gold, takes place. It is in this trial that the faith that has embraced the promise is purified and strengthened and prepared in personal, holy fellowship with the living God, to see the glory of God. It takes and holds the promise until it has received the fulfillment of what it had claimed in a living truth in the unseen but living God."
4/24/2007
"The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid." Psalm 27:1
"The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms; and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, 'Destroy them.'" Deut. 33:27
The Spirit furnishes the strength that sustains striving, wrestling souls in every emergency, amidst the hatred of the world, and the realization of their own failures and mistakes. In sorrow and affliction, when the outlook seems dark and the future perplexing, and we feel helpless and alone,--these are the times when, in answer to the prayer of faith, the Holy Spirit brings comfort to the heart. Acts of the Apostles, p. 51
4/23/2007
“I believe there is one thing for which God is very angry with our land, and for which His Holy Spirit is so little among us, viz., the neglect of united prayer, the appointed means of bringing down the Holy Spirit. I say it, because I believe it, that the Scotch with all their morality so-called, and their outward decency, respectability, and love of preaching, are not a praying people. Sirs, is not this the truth? The neglect of prayer proves to my mind, that there is a large amount of practical infidelity. If the people believed that there was a real, existing, personal God, they would ask Him for what they wanted, and they would get what they asked. But they do not ask, because they do not believe or expect to receive. Why do I say this? Because I want to get Christians to remember that though preaching is one of the great means appointed by God for the conversion of sinners, yet, unless God give the increase, Paul may plant and Apollos may water in vain; and God says He will be inquired of. O ministers, excuse me,—you gave me this chance of speaking—urge upon your people to come to the prayer-meeting. O Christians, go more to the prayer-meeting than you do. And when you go to the prayer-meeting, try and realize more that there is use in prayer.” Brownlow North
4/21/2007
“Oh, my children, love your Heavenly Father, tell Him in faith and prayer all your needs, and He will supply your wants so far as it shall be for your good and His glory.” Mueller, Theodore, John G. Paton, p. 18.
4/20/2007
"It is not your prayer which moves God to save you. On the contrary, your prayer is a result of the fact that Jesus has knocked at your heart's door and told you that He desires to gain access to your needs. You think that everything is closed to you because you cannot pray. My friend, your helplessness is the very essence of prayer.... Helplessness ... is the decisive factor not only in our prayer life, but in our whole relationship to God. As long as we are conscious of our helplessness we will not be overtaken by any difficulty, disturbed by any distress or frightened by any hindrance. We will expect nothing of ourselves and therefore bring all our difficulties and hindrances to God in prayer. And this means to open the door unto Him and to give God the opportunity to help us in our helplessness by means of the miraculous powers which are at His disposal." O. Hallesby, Prayer, p. 17, 20, 26
4/14/2007
“Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.” Matthew 5:23,24
“It is vain for us to pray while conscious that we have injured another. Let us first make amends to the injured one before we dare approach God at either the private or the public altar. I am confident that revival would break out in most churches if this were done.” Jonathan Goforth, By My Spirit, 16
4/13/2007
The path of sincerity and integrity is not a path free from obstruction, but in every difficulty we are to see a call to prayer. There is no one living who has any power that he has not received from God, and the source whence it comes is open to the weakest human being. "Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name," said Jesus, "that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask anything in My name, I will do."
"In My name," Christ bade His disciples pray. In Christ's name His followers are to stand before God. Through the value of the sacrifice made for them, they are of value in the Lord's sight. Because of the imputed righteousness of Christ they are accounted precious. For Christ's sake the Lord pardons those that fear Him. He does not see in them the vileness of the sinner. He recognizes in them the likeness of His Son, in whom they believe.
The Lord is disappointed when His people place a low estimate upon themselves. He desires His chosen heritage to value themselves according to the price He has placed upon them. God wanted them, else He would not have sent His Son on such an expensive errand to redeem them. He has a use for them, and He is well pleased when they make the very highest demands upon Him, that they may glorify His name. They may expect large things if they have faith in His promises.
But to pray in Christ's name means much. It means that we are to accept His character, manifest His spirit, and work His works. The Saviour's promise is given on condition. "If ye love Me," He says, "keep My commandments." He saves men, not in sin, but from sin; and those who love Him will show their love by obedience.
All true obedience comes from the heart. It was heart work with Christ. And if we consent, He will so identify Himself with our thoughts and aims, so blend our hearts and minds into conformity to His will, that when obeying Him we shall be but carrying out our own impulses. The will, refined and sanctified, will find its highest delight in doing His service. When we know God as it is our privilege to know Him, our life will be a life of continual obedience. Through an appreciation of the character of Christ, through communion with God, sin will become hateful to us." Desire of Ages, 668
4/3/2007
"Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly: gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children: . . . let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet. Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare Thy people, O Lord, and give not Thine heritage to reproach." Joel 2:15-17.
"Could the curtain be rolled back, could you discern the purposes of God and the judgments that are about to fall upon a doomed world, could you see your own attitude, you would fear and tremble for your own souls and for the souls of your fellow men. Earnest prayers of heart-rending anguish would go up to heaven. You would weep between the porch and the altar, confessing your spiritual blindness and backsliding." Testimonies, Vol. 8, 408
4/2/2007
“It costs much to obtain this power. It costs self-surrender and humiliation and the yielding up of our most precious things to God. It costs the perseverance of long waiting and the faith of strong trust. But when we are really in that power, we shall find this difference: that, whereas before it was hard for us to do the easiest thing, now it is easy for us to do the hardest…. As we become deeply instructed in this matter, we shall learn to pray less about the details of duty and more about the fullness of power.” A J Gordon
3/31/2007
When the Lord sees His people restricting their imaginary wants and practicing self-denial, not in a mournful, regretful spirit, as Lot's wife left Sodom, but joyfully, for Christ's sake, and because it is the right thing to do, the work will go forward with power. Let nothing, however dear, however loved, absorb your mind and affections, diverting you from the study of God's word or from earnest prayer. Watch unto prayer. Live your own requests. Co-operate with God by working in harmony with Him. Expel from the soul-temple everything that assumes the form of an idol. Now is God's time, and His time is your time. Fight the good fight of faith, refusing to think or to talk unbelief. The world is to hear the last warning message. Testimonies Vol. 8, 331
3/28/2007
We must have a promise in our hand. This is the true method of dealing with God. Search the Bible for some holy word which exactly fits your case. It will not be hard to find one, since it abounds with personal incidents, culled from every conceivable variety of life. Then, when it has been discovered, and perhaps borne in on you by the divine Spirit, take it with you into the presence of God, or place your finger upon it as you pass into the presence-chamber with hushed and reverent step. The promises are our inventory of possession, and our need should make us look up for and claim the blessing intended to meet it. F B Meyer, Secret of Guidance,
"Fact, Faith, Feeling"
3/27/2007
Whenever you cannot understand a text, open your Bible, bend your knee, and pray over that text; and if it does not split into atoms and open itself, try again. If prayer does not explain it, it is one of the things God did not intend for you to know, and you may be content to be ignorant of it. Prayer is the key that opens the cabinets of mystery! Prayer and faith are sacred picklocks that can open secrets, and obtain great treasures! There is no college for holy education like that of the blessed Spirit, for He is an ever-present tutor, to whom we have only to bend the knee, and He is at our side, the great expositor of truth! Charles Spurgeon
3/25/2007
"Pray without ceasing." 1 Thess. 5:17
“Let us seek to be delivered from trifling prayers and contentment with trifling answers.” Andrew Bonar, Heavenly Springs
3/21/2007
"I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; they shall never hold their peace day or night. You who make mention of the Lord, do not keep silent, and give Him no rest till He establishes and till He makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth." Isa. 62:6
“True prayer is indeed bold. It draws near to God, and wrestles with Him, and gives Him no rest, until an approving smile testifies that the appeal is granted. God neither can, nor will, release Himself from the intensity of prayerful efforts. He cannot, because the truth is set up in heaven, that prayer shall prosper. He will not, because prayer is the moving of His Spirit in the heart, and the speaking of His Spirit on the lips. To deny prayer would be to deny Himself. To be silent to it would be to be silent unto Himself.” (Isa 64:7; 27:5; 62:7) Henry Law