PRAYER QUOTES IV
quotations about prayer
Prayer is hard for us because its very existence shouts that God is the only source that can make us what we ought to be. Prayer forces us to admit our own spiritual impotence. God insists through His Word that until we come to Him, we will never know either prayer or power in our lives.
DAVID JEREMIAH
"4 Questions Answered on the Importance of Prayer"
Prayer is a practical strategy, the gaining of temporal advantage in the capital markets of Sin and Remission.
DON DELILLO
Underworld
The final life, the fruition of all other lives, to which the powers of the soul have tended, and whose merits open the Sacred Portals to perfected man, is the life of Prayer.
HONORÉ DE BALZAC
Seraphita
The more we receive in silent prayer, the more we can give in our active life. We need silence to be able to touch souls.
MOTHER TERESA
A Gift for God
All is not done when we have spoken to God by prayer; our petitions are to be pursued with real endeavours.
BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE
Moral and Religious Aphorisms
I used to think that I needed to get all my motives straightened out before I could pray, really pray. I would be in some prayer group, for example, and I would examine what I had just prayed and think to myself, "How utterly foolish and self-centered; I can't pray this way!" And so I would determine never to pray again until my motives were pure. You understand, I did not want to be a hypocrite. I knew that God is holy and righteous. I knew that prayer is no magic incantation. I knew that I must not use God for my own ends. But the practical effect of all this internal soul-searching was to completely paralyze my ability to pray.
RICHARD J. FOSTER
Prayer: Finding the Heart's True Home
If prayer is, as we might all agree, always a form of communication with God, then we are in some sense always praying because God is always already present to us.... It is, in a sense, a form of hubris to think that we can simply turn on or turn off the prayer channel, as if we had the ability to select when God is able to receive our missives. In truth, not only what we say or think, but how we act, what we prioritize, how we love, how we care for one another, and so on all combine to communicate something to the God who is at all times nearer to us than we are to ourselves.
DANIEL P. HORAN
"Be a Living Prayer", Franciscan Spirit, July 6, 2017
Nor can we expect to be heard of God in our prayers, that turn the deaf ear to the petitions of the distressed among our fellow creatures.
WILLIAM PENN
Some Fruits of Solitude
He pray'd by quantity,
And with his repetitions, long and loud,
All knees were weary.
ROBERT POLLOK
The Course of Time
I cast on Him my every care
My doubt, my shivers an' fears
I have the courage to be anywhere
An' wait on me hour of prayer
GRAMPS MORGAN
"Power of Prayer"
Prayer is the assertion of the two personalities, the personality of God and that of the suppliant. It is the affirmation of the existence of a link uniting the two individualities.
SABINE BARING-GOULD
The Origin and Development of Religious Belief: Christianity
If you surrender yourself, and do not rush, but meditate on the Word of God, you will find prayer forming in your heart. It is a prayer inspired by the Holy Spirit, a prayer that God will be pleased to hear.
JOHN R. RICE
Hindrances to Prayer
I noticed that all the prayers I used to offer to God, and all the prayers I now offer to Joe Pesci, are being answered at about the same 50% rate. Half the time I get what I want, half the time I don't. Same as God, 50-50. Same as the four-leaf clover and the horseshoe, the wishing well and the rabbit's foot, same as the Mojo Man, same as the Voodoo Lady who tells you your fortune by squeezing the goat's testicles, it's all the same: 50-50. So just pick your superstition, sit back, make a wish, and enjoy yourself.
GEORGE CARLIN
You Are All Diseased
Men and women of integrity, character, and purpose have ever recognized a power higher than themselves and have sought through prayer to be guided by that power. Such has it ever been. So shall it ever be.
THOMAS S. MONSON
"The Prayer of Faith", April 1978
The wish to pray is a prayer in itself. God can ask no more than that of us.
GEORGES BERNANOS
The Diary of a Country Priest
I hear men talk as though prayer were of no avail unless we believe beforehand with assurance that we were going to receive all for which we asked. It is not true. We are not heard for our much asking, nor for much our believing, but for God's great mercy's sake.
LYMAN ABBOTT
Laicus: Or, The Experiences of a Layman in a Country Parish
Prayer is the most important part of the thankfulness God requires of us.
LOUIS BERKHOF
Manual of Christian Doctrine
Prayer is essentially a partnership of the redeemed child of God working hand in hand with God toward the realization of His redemptive purposes on earth.
JACK W. HAYFORD
Prayer Is Invading the Impossible
You pray in your distress and in your need; would that you might pray also in the fullness of your joy and in your days of abundance.
KAHLIL GIBRAN
The Prophet
Good men's prayers are carried by the angelic mail; but many men's prayers evidently go by the demoniac route. They are never so bad as after they have prayed.
HENRY WARD BEECHER
Proverbs from Plymouth Pulpit