Quotes by Theologians - Page 7

How those holy men of old could storm the battlements above! When there was no way to look but up they lifted up their eyes to God who made the hills with unshakable confidence.
Herbert Lockyer
We may as well not pray at all as offer our prayers in a lifeless manner.
William S. Plumer
I seldom made an errand to God for another but I got something for myself.
Samuel Rutherford
We should say to God as we mingle with our dear ones each day "God give them each Thy blessing. They need it because they live with me and I am very selfish and unwilling to sacrifice very much for them although I do love them."
O. Hallesby
See to it night and day that you pray for your children. Then you will leave them a great legacy of answers to prayer which will follow them all the days of their life. Then you may calmly and with a good conscience depart from them even though you may not leave them a great deal of material wealth.
O. Hallesby
If the only prayer you say in your whole life is "Thank you " that would suffice.
Meister Eckhart
It is not only blessed to give thanks it is also of vital importance to our prayer life in general. If we have noted the Lord's answers to our prayers and thanked Him for what we have received of Him then it becomes easier for us and we get more courage to pray for more.
O. Hallesby
Pray for whatsoever you will. In the name of Jesus you have permission not only to stand in the presence of God but also to pray for everything you need.
O. Hallesby
We should not be afraid when praying to God to give expression to a definite desire even though we are in doubt at the time we are praying whether it is really the right thing to pray for or not.
O. Hallesby
Helplessness becomes prayer the moment that you go to Jesus and speak candidly and confidently with him about your needs. This is to believe.
O. Hallesby
Prayer in the sense of petition asking for things is a small part of it confession and penitence are its threshold adoration its sanctuary the presence and vision and enjoyment of God its bread and wine.
C.S. Lewis
God never denied that soul anything that went as far as heaven to ask it.
John Trapp
If your prayer is selfish the answer will be something that will rebuke your selfishness. You may not recognize it as having come at all but it is sure to be there.
William Temple
There come times when I have nothing more to tell God. If I were to continue to pray in words I would have to repeat what I have already said. At such times it is wonderful to say to God "May I be in Thy presence Lord? I have nothing more to say to Thee but I do love to be in Thy presence."
O. Hallesby
Most Christians expect little from God ask little and therefore receive little and are content with little.
A. W. Pink
The fewer the words the better the prayer.
Martin Luther
It is the will of our heavenly Father that we should come to Him freely and confidently and make known our desires to Him just as we would have our children come freely and of their own accord and speak to us about the things they would like to have.
O. Hallesby
My praying friend continue to make known your desires to God in all things. ... Let Him decide whether you are to receive what you ask for or not.
O. Hallesby
Prayer is something deeper than words. It is present in the soul before it has been formulated in words. And it abides in the soul after the last words of prayer have passed over our lips.
O. Hallesby
Our groanings which cannot be uttered rise to Him and tell Him better than words how dependent we are upon Him.
O. Hallesby
When prayer is a struggle do not worry about the prayers that you cannot pray. You yourself are a prayer to God at that moment. All that is within you cries out to Him. And He hears all the pleas that your suffering soul and body are making to Him with groanings which cannot be uttered.
O. Hallesby
God can pick sense out of a confused prayer.
Richard Sibbes
Prayer requires more of the heart than of the tongue.
Adam Clarke
Prayer is a fine delicate instrument. To use it right is a great art a holy art. There is perhaps no greater art than the art of prayer. Yet the least gifted the uneducated and the poor can cultivate the holy art of prayer.
O. Hallesby
He who prays as he ought will endeavor to live as he prays.
John Owen
It is good for us to keep some account of our prayers that we may not unsay them in our practice.
Matthew Henry
When our will wholeheartedly enters into the prayer of Christ then we pray correctly.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
The Lord's Prayer may be committed to memory quickly but it is slowly learnt by heart.
Frederick Denison Maurice
Many pray with their lips for that for which their hearts have no desire.
Jonathan Edwards
God may turn his ears from prattling prayers or preaching prayers but never from penitent believing prayers.
William S. Plumer
We must lay before him what is in us not what ought to be in us.
C.S. Lewis
When you enter your secret chamber take plenty of time before you begin to speak. Let quietude wield its influence upon you. Let the fact that you are alone assert itself. Give your soul time to get released from the many outward things. Give God time to play the prelude to prayer for the benefit of your distracted soul.
O. Hallesby
Prayer to the patriarchs and prophets was more than the recital of well-known and well-worn phrases-it was the outpouring of the heart.
Herbert Lockyer
Trouble and perplexity drive me to prayer and prayer drives away perplexity and trouble.
Philipp Melanchthon
To pray is to open the door unto Jesus and admit Him into your distress. Your helplessness is the very thing which opens wide the door unto Him and gives Him access to all your needs.
O. Hallesby
My helpless friend your helplessness is the most powerful plea which rises up to the tender father-heart of God. You think that everything is closed to you because you cannot pray. My friend your helplessness is the very essence of prayer.
O. Hallesby
Listen my friend! Your helplessness is your best prayer. It calls from your heart to the heart of God with greater effect than all your uttered pleas. He hears it from the very moment that you are seized with helplessness and He becomes actively engaged at once in hearing and answering the prayer of your helplessness.
O. Hallesby
Helplessness is unquestionably the first and the surest indication of a praying heart. ... Prayer and helplessness are inseparable. Only he who is helpless can truly pray.
O. Hallesby
The more helpless you are the better you are fitted to pray and the more answers to prayer you will experience.
O. Hallesby
Temptations which accompany the working day will be conquered on the basis of the morning breakthrough to God. Decisions demanded by work become easier and simpler where they are made not in the fear of men but only in the sight of God. He wants to give us today the power which we need for our work.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Time spent in prayer is never wasted.
Francois de Fenelon
When it becomes clear to us that prayer is a part of our daily program of work it will also become clear to us that we must arrange our daily program in such a way that there is time also for this work just as we set aside time for other necessary things such as eating and dressing.
O. Hallesby
I have to hurry all day to get time to pray.
Martin Luther
The entire day receives order and discipline when it acquires unity. This unity must be sought and found in morning prayer. The morning prayer determines the day.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
We read of preaching the Word out of season but we do not read of praying out of season for that is never out of season.
Matthew Henry
As impossible as it is for us to take a breath in the morning large enough to last us until noon so impossible is it to pray in the morning in such a way as to last us until noon. Let your prayers ascend to Him constantly audibly or silently as circumstances throughout the day permit.
O. Hallesby
Teach us to pray often that we may pray oftener.
Jeremy Taylor
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
Begin to realize more and more that prayer is the most important thing you do. You can use your time to no better advantage than to pray whenever you have an opportunity to do so either alone or with others while at work while at rest or while walking down the street. Anywhere!
O. Hallesby
Prayer time must be kept up as duly as meal-time.
Matthew Henry
When we go to our meeting with God we should go like a patient to his doctor first to be thoroughly examined and afterwards to be treated for our ailment. Then something will happen when you pray.
O. Hallesby
Prayer can assume very different forms from quiet blessed contemplation of God in which eye meets eye in restful meditation to deep sighs or sudden exclamations of wonder joy gratitude or adoration.
O. Hallesby
To pray is nothing more involved than to open the door giving Jesus access to our needs and permitting Him to exercise His own power in dealing with them.
O. Hallesby
When you cannot pray as you would pray as you can.
Edward M. Goulburn
I care not what black spiritual crisis we may come through or what delightful spiritual Canaan we may enter no blessing of the Christian life becomes continually possessed unless we are men and women of regular daily unhurried secret lingerings in prayer.
J. Sidlow Baxter
The main lesson about prayer is just this: Do it! Do it! Do it! You want to be taught to pray? My answer is: pray.
John Laidlaw
The less I pray the harder it gets the more I pray the better it goes.
Martin Luther
All the prayers in the Scripture you will find to be reasoning with God not a multitude of words heaped together.
Stephen Charnock
Religion is no more possible without prayer than poetry without language or music without atmosphere.
James Martineau
Even if no command to pray had existed our very weakness would have suggested it.
Francois de Fenelon