Quotes
Quotes about Prayer
Feast of Luke the Evangelist Study universal holiness of life. Your whole usefulness depends on this, for your sermons last but an hour or two: your life preaches all week. If Satan can only make a covetous minister a lover of praise, of pleasure, of good eating, he has ruined your ministry. Give yourself to prayer, and get your texts, your thoughts, your words, from God.
Feast of Cyril & Methodius, Missionaries to the Slavs, 869 & 885 Commemoration of Valentine, Martyr at Rome, c.269 God generally gives spiritual blessings and deliverances as He does temporal ones; that is, by the mediation of an active and vigorous industry. The fruits of the earth are the gift of God, and we pray for them as such; but yet we plant, and we sow, and we plough, for all that; and the hands which are sometimes lift up in prayer must at other times be put to the plough, or the husbandman must expect no crop. Everything must be effected in the way proper to its nature, with the concurrent influence of the divine grace, not to supersede the means, but to prosper and make them effectual.
The religious desire and effort of the soul to relate itself and all its interest to God and his will, is prayer in the deepest sense. This is essential prayer: uttered or unexpressed, it is equally prayer. It is the soul's desire after God going forth in a manifestation, ... the soul striving after God. This is a prayer that may exist without ceasing, consisting, as it does, not in doing or saying this or that, but in temper and attitude of the spirit.
Commemoration of Denys, Bishop of Paris, & his Companions, Martyrs, 258 Commemoration of Robert Grosseteste, Bishop of Lincoln, Philosopher, Scientist, 1253 It is of the greatest importance for the soul to go to prayer with confidence, and such a pure and disinterested love as seeks nothing from the Father but the ability to please Him and to do His will; for a child who only proportions his diligence to his hope of reward renders himself unworthy of all reward. Go, then, to prayer, not that ye may enjoy spiritual delights, but that ye may be full or empty, just as it pleaseth God. This will preserve you in an evenness of spirit, either in desertion or in consolation, and will prevent your being surprised at dryness, or the apparent repulses of Him who is altogether Love. Constant prayer is to keep the heart always right towards God.
Feast of Teresa of Avila, Mystic, Teacher, 1582 It was no exceptional thing for Jesus to withdraw Himself "into the wilderness to pray." He was never for one moment of any day out of touch with God. He was speaking and listening to the Father all day long; and yet He, who was in such constant touch with God, felt the need, as well as the joy, of more prolonged and more quiet communion with Him... Most of the reasons that drive us to pray for strength and forgiveness could never have driven Him; and yet He needed prayer.
True prayer is something more than desire. It is no mere subjective instinct, ... no blind outreach. If it met no response, no answer, it would soon be weeded out of the race. Prayer has stood the test of experience. In fact, the very desire to pray is in itself prophetic of a heavenly Friend. So this native need of the soul rose out of the divine origin of the soul, and it has steadily verified itself as a safe guide to reality. In the first instance it is not asking for anything, it is not petition; all it seeks is God Himself: Let me find Thee, let me know Thee, then I will ask of Thee.
Feast of Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, c.326 If we with earnest effort could succeed To make our life one long, connected prayer, As lives of some, perhaps, have been and are; If, never leaving Thee, we have no need Our wandering spirits back again to lead Into Thy presence, but continued there Like angels standing on the highest stair Of the Sapphire Throne: this were to pray indeed!
God of pity and love, return to this earth. Go not so far away, leaving us to evil. Darkness is loose upon the world, the Devil Walks in the land, and there is nothing worth. Death like a dog runs howling from his lair; His bite has made men mad, they follow after All howling too, and their demoniac laughter Drowns like a sea our solitary prayer. Return, 0 Lord, return. Come with the day, Come with the light, that men may see once more Across this earth's uncomfortable floor The kindly paths, the old and loving way. Let us not die of evil in the night. Let there be God again. Let there be light.
I cannot answer all the curious questions of the brain concerning prayer and law, not half of them, indeed, and I will not attempt to; but I will cast my anchor here in this revealing fact, that He, the Holiest of the Holy and the Wisest of the Wise, He prays. Therefore I am assured that this anchorage of Divine example will hold the vessel in the tossings of the wildest sea of doubt, and I shall be as safe as He was, if the vessel itself is engulfed in the waves of suffering and sorrow. His act is an argument. His prayer is an inspiration. His achievements are the everlasting and all-sufficient vindication of prayer.
Whenever God erects a house of prayer The devil always builds a chapel there; And 'twill be found, upon examination, The latter has the largest congregation.
If weak in prayer we are weak everywhere.
In prayer it is better to have a heart without words than words without a heart.
Intercessory prayer might be defined as loving our neighbour on our knees.
Prayer does not cause faith to work, faith causes prayer to work.
Prayer is the key to Heaven, but faith unlocks the door.
Where there are love and generosity, there is joy. Where there are sincerity and sacrifice, there is friendship. Where there are harmony and simplicity, there is beauty. Where there are prayer and forgiveness, there is peace. Where there are moderation and patience, there is wisdom. Where there are conflicts and crises, there is opportunity. Where there are wonder and adventure, there is growth. Where there are adoration and confession, there is worship. Where there are compassion and concern, there is God. Where there are faith and hope, there is spring.
The purpose of all prayer is to find God's will and to make that will our prayer.
2000 B.C. - Here, eat this root.1000 A.D. - That root is heathen. Here, say this prayer.1850 A.D. - That prayer is superstition. Here, drink this potion.1940 A.D. - That potion is snake oil. Here, swallow this pill.1985 A.D. - That pill is ineffective. Here, take this antibiotic. 2000 A.D. - That antibiotic is artificial. Here, eat this root.
A daddy was listening to his child say his prayer "Dear Harold," ........ At this, dad interrupted and said, "Wait a minute, "How come you called God, Harold? The little boy looked up and said, "That's what they call Him in church. You know the prayer we say, "Our Father, who art in Heaven, Harold be Thy name.".
Courage is fear that has said its prayers.
He who died at Azan sends This to comfort all this friends: Faithful friends! It lies I know Pale and white and cold as snow; And ye say, "Abdallah's dead!" Weeping at the feet and head. I can see your falling tears, I can hear your sighs and prayers; Yet I smile and whisper this: I am not the thing you kiss. Cease your tears and let it lie; It was mine--it is not I.
I charge thee, Satan, housed within this man, To yield possession to my holy prayers, And to thy state of darkness hie thee straight. I conjure thee by all the saints in heaven.
Let me say amen betimes lest the devil cross my prayer, for here he comes in the likeness of a Jew.
But in come canine Paradise Your wraith, I know, rebukes the moon, And quarters every plain and hill, Seeking its master. . . . As for me This prayer at least the gods fulfill That when I pass the flood and see Old Charon by Stygian coast Take toll of all the shades who land, Your little, faithful barking ghost May leap to lick my phantom hand.
I destroy my enemy when I make him my friend. Abraham Lincoln There is no little enemy. â¢Benjamin Franklin The friend of my enemy is my enemy. â¢Anonymous With friends like this, who needs enemies? â¢Henny Youngman It is impossible for one person to know another so well that he can dispense with belief. â¢Friedrich Durrenmatt The quarrels of friends are the opportunities of foes. â¢Aesop The reason grandparents and grandchildren get along so well is that they have a common enemy. â¢Sam Levenson It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend. â¢William Blake He hasn't an enemy in the world - but all his friends hate him. â¢Eddie Cantor You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you. â¢Eric Hoffer I do not regret one professional enemy I have made. Any actor who doesn't dare to make an enemy should get out of the business. â¢Bette Davis It is hard to fight an enemy who has outposts in your head. â¢Sally Kempton We learn our virtues from our friends who love us; our faults from the enemy who hates us. We cannot easily discover our real character from a friend. He is a mirror, on which the warmth of our breath impedes the clearness of the reflection. â¢Ricther Mankind's worst enemy is fear of work. â¢Anonymous Enemies promises were made to be broken. â¢Aesop The worst tyrants are those which establish themselves in our own breasts. â¢William Ellery Channing You shall judge a man by his foes as well as by his friends. â¢Joseph Conrad Love your enemies just in case your friends turn out to be a bunch of bastards. â¢R A Dickson I have met the enemy, and it is the eyes of other people. â¢Benjamin Franklin A wise man learns more from his enemies than a fool from his friends. â¢Baltasar Gracian I have no trouble with my enemies. I can take care of my enemies all right. But my damn friends. They're the ones that keep me walking the floor nights! â¢Warren Gamaliel Harding Man's chief enemy is his own unruly nature and the dark forces put up within him. â¢Ernest Jones Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names. â¢John F. Kennedy Only enemies speak the truth. Friends and lovers lie endlessly, caught in the web of duty. â¢Stephen King Our enemies come nearer the truth in the opinions they form of us than we do in our opinion of ourselves. â¢Francois De La Rochefoucauld There is no stronger bond of friendship than a mutual enemy. â¢Frankfort Moore He who lives by fighting with an enemy has an interest in the preservation of the enemy's life. â¢Friedrich Nietzsche Bear patiently with a rival. â¢Ovid Talk well of your friends and of your enemies say nothing. â¢Proverb Was it a friend or foe that spread these lies? Nay, who but infants question in such wise, 'twas one of my most intimate enemies. â¢Dante Gabriel Rossetti Remember, to them it is us who are the enemy. â¢N. F. Simpson Convince an enemy, convince him that he's wrong. To win a bloodless battle, the victory is long. A simple act of faith, reason over might. To blow up his children would only prove him right. â¢Gordon Sumner One enemy can do more hurt than ten friends can do good. â¢Jonathan Swift In my life, I have prayed but one prayer: oh Lord, make my enemies ridiculous. And God granted it.
