PRAYER-EFFECTIVENESS
To an
effectual prayer there must concur the intention of
the mind and the affections of the heart; else it is not praying but parroting.
A Puritan Golden Treasury,
compiled by I.D.E. Thomas, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 2000, p. 215.
If we are to
cultivate habits of private prayer and devotion that will weather the storms
and remain constant in crisis, our objective must be something larger and
greater than our personal preoccupations and longing for self-fulfillment.
Alistair Begg
Made For His Pleasure, Moody Press, 1996, p. 49.
For the
development of a meaningful prayer life falters not so much because of a lack
of zeal as because of a lack of strategy. The simple acronym “ACTS” may prove
to be as helpful as any. “A” stands for adoration, “C” for confession, “T” for
thanksgiving, and “S” for supplication.
Alistair Begg
Made For His Pleasure, Moody Press, 1996, p. 55.
Prayer is the product of [our] passion for people...
Unaffected fervency in prayer is not whipped-up emotionalism but the overflow
of [our] love for brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus. That means that if we
are to improve our praying, we must strengthen our loving. As we grow in
disciplined, self-sacrificing love, so we will grow in intercessory prayer.
Superficially fervent prayers devoid of such love are finally phony, hollow, shallow.
D.A.
Carson
A Call to Spiritual Reformation, Baker, 1992,
p. 85.
Prayer
requires effort. When we pray for people, we focus our thoughts on them; we take
their burdens upon ourselves; we intercede before God for them; we sacrifice our
time for them; we commit ourselves to their wellbeing. We demonstrate true care
and compassion.
Alexander Strauch
Leading With Love, Lewis and Roth, 2006, p. 11, Used by
Permission.
Have
you noticed how much praying for revival has been going on of late – and how
little revival has resulted? I believe the problem is that we have been trying
to substitute praying for obeying, and it simply will not work. To pray for
revival while ignoring the plain precept laid down in
Scripture is to waste a lot of words and get nothing for our trouble. Prayer
will become effective when we stop using it as a substitute for obedience.
A.W. Tozer
When
we become too glib in prayer we are most surely talking to ourselves.
A.W. Tozer
O God, make
us desperate, and grant us faith and boldness to approach Your throne and make
our petitions known, knowing that in doing we link arms with Omnipotence and
become instruments of Your eternal purposes being fulfilled on this earth.
Nancy Leigh DeMoss
A Place of Quiet Rest, Moody, 2000, p. 246.
One day
George Mueller began praying for five of his friends. After many months, one of
them came to the Lord. Ten years later, two others were converted. It took 25
years before the fourth man was saved. Mueller persevered in prayer until his
death for the fifth friend, and throughout those 52 years he never gave up
hoping that he would accept Christ! His faith was rewarded, for soon after
Mueller’s funeral the last one was saved.
Author Unknown
Our Daily Bread, January 13.
Are not our
prayers so often ineffective and powerless – and sometimes even prayerless – because we rush unthinkingly and unpreparedly into God’s presence, without realizing the
majesty and glory of the God Whom we are approaching, and without reflecting
upon the exceeding great riches of His glory in Christ Jesus, which we hope to
draw upon?
Author
Unknown
The Kneeling Christian, circa 1930, ch. 5.
Prayer is
measured, not by time, but by intensity.
Author
Unknown
The Kneeling Christian, circa 1930, ch. 7.
The posture
in which we pray is immaterial. God will listen whether we kneel, or stand, or
sit, or walk, or work.
Author Unknown
The Kneeling Christian, circa 1930, ch.
7.
There
is no way that Christians, in a private capacity, can do so much to promote the
work of God and advance the kingdom of Christ as by prayer.
Jonathan Edwards
Could it be
that many of our problems with prayer and much of our weakness in prayer come
from the fact that we are not all on active duty, and yet we still try to use the
transmitter? We have taken a wartime walkie-talkie and tried to turn it into a
civilian intercom to call the servants for another cushion in the den… We see
repeatedly in Scripture (Mt. 9:38; Lk. 21:34-36; Rom. 15:30-31; Eph. 6:12,
17-19; Col. 4:3; 2 Thes. 3:1) that prayer is a walkie-talkie for warfare, not a
domestic intercom for increasing our conveniences.
John Piper
Desiring God, 1996, p. 152, Used by
Permission, www.desiringGod.org.
Did any of
you, parents, ever hear your child wake from sleep with some panic fear and
shriek the mother’s name through the darkness? Was not that a more powerful
appeal than all words? And, depend upon it, that the soul which cries aloud on
God, “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,” though it have “no language but a cry,” will never call in vain.
Alexander MacLaren
Our
prayers are heard, not because we are in earnest, not because we suffer, but
because Jesus suffered.
Oswald Chambers
A season of
silence is the best preparation for speech with God.
Samuel
Chadwick
The Path of
Prayer, p. 65.
Only the
prayer which comes from our heart can get to God’s heart.
C.H. Spurgeon
20.65.
When thou prayest before others, observe on what thou bestowest thy chief care and zeal, whether in the externals
or internals of prayer, that which is exposed to the eye and ear of men, or
that which should be prepared for the eye and ear of God; the devout posture of
thy body, or the inward devotion of thy soul; the pomp of thy words or the
power of thy faith; the agitation of thy bodily spirits in the vehemency of thy voice, or the fervency of thy spirit in
heartbreaking affections. These inward workings of the soul in prayer, are the very soul of prayer.
William Gurnall
A Puritan Golden Treasury,
compiled by I.D.E. Thomas, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 2000, p. 214.
Pray often
rather than very long at a time. It is hard to be very long in prayer, and not
slacken in our affections.
William Gurnall
A Puritan Golden Treasury,
compiled by I.D.E. Thomas, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 2000, p. 215.
When thou prayest, rather let thy heart be without words, than thy
words without a heart.
John Bunyan
A Puritan Golden Treasury,
compiled by I.D.E. Thomas, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 2000, p. 215.
A saint is to
put forth his faith in prayer, and afterwards follow his prayer with faith.
Vavasor
Powell
A Puritan Golden Treasury,
compiled by I.D.E. Thomas, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 2000, p. 220.
Doubtful
prayer is no prayer at all.
John
Calvin
Faith
in a prayer-hearing God will make a prayer-loving Christian.
Andrew Murray
Do not pry
for easy lives; pray to be stronger men.
Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers; pray for powers equal to
your tasks. Then the doing of your work shall be not miracle, but you shall be
a miracle. Every day you shall wonder at yourself, at the riches of life which
has come to you by the grace of God.
Phillips Brooks
You shall
find this to be God’s usual course; not to give His children the taste of His
delights till they begin to perspire in seeking after them.
Richard Baxter
God hears no
more than the heart speaks; and if the heart be dumb, God will certainly be
deaf.
Thomas Brooks
Both our Lord
and His bondslave Paul made clear that true prayer is
not dreamy reverie. “All vital praying makes a drain on a man’s vitality. True
intercession is a sacrifice, a bleeding sacrifice,” wrote J.H. Jowett. Jesus
performed miracles without a sign of outward strain, but “He offered up prayers
and petitions with loud cries and tears” (Hebrews 5:7).
Oswald Sanders
Spiritual Leadership, Moody Publishers, 1967, p. 87.
If you have
never felt your soul poured out before the Lord with a consequent exhaustion,
it is doubtful whether you have advanced far in the school of prayer.
Walter J. Chantry
The Shadow of the Cross – Studies in Self-Denial, 1981, p. 73-74, by permission Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA.
When we are in
prosperity our prayers come from our lips; and therefore the Lord is forced to
cast us down, that our prayers may come from our hearts, and that our senses
may be wakened from the security in which they are lying.
Archibald
Symson
A Sacred Septenarie,1638.
Learn that
urgency in prayer does not so much consist in vehement pleading, as in vehement
believing. He that believes most the love and power of Jesus will obtain the
most in prayer.
Robert Murray McCheyne
Comfort in Sorrow, Christian Focus, 2002, p. 19,
Used by Permission.
Prove the faithfulness of God by carrying your every want
to Him. Only maintain an upright heart. But if you live in sin and if you
willfully and habitually do things which you know are contrary to the will of
God, then you cannot expect Him to hear you (Ps. 66:18-19).
George
Muller
The Autobiography of George Muller, 1984, p.
131. All quotations taken from books published by Whitaker House are used with
permission of the publisher. Whitaker House books are available at Christian
bookstores everywhere.
When you
begin to pray, use such expressions of the attributes of God as will make you
sensible of His greatness and power.
William
Law
Those who
know God the best are the richest and most powerful in prayer. Little
acquaintance with God, and strangeness and coldness to Him, make prayer a rare
and feeble thing.
E.M. Bounds
The best
prayer does not seek God’s gifts but the experience of His person.
Author Unknown
It is atheism
to pray and not wait on hope.
Richard Sibbes
Principles of
Prayer:
1.
We
must be in fellowship with God: Reconciled to God through faith in our Lord
Jesus Christ.
2.
We
must be obedient to God: By putting away sin, by maintaining right
relationships with others, and by striving to abide in Christ.
3.
We
must depend upon the Lord Jesus Christ and His work on our behalf: We pray in
His name.
4.
We
must exercise faith: Believing prayer has the assurance that we may receive
beyond all our asking.
5.
We
must be ready for action, for faith and works go together: Having prayed, we
must be the instruments on occasions by means of which God answers our prayers.
6.
We
must honestly desire God’s will to be done and His name to be glorified.
7.
We
must pray with sincerity: God has no time for hypocrites who make a lot of show
without reality in their hearts, but He promises to be near those who call upon
Him in truth.
Derek Prime
Adapted from Practical Prayer.
Nine
Characteristics of Biblical Prayer:
1.
An
Understanding of Your Own Insignificance and Sinfulness.
2.
The
Knowledge that Jesus is Your Only Access to the Father.
3.
Adoration
for God because of His Character and Attributes.
4.
Joyful
Praise for God's Work in Creation and Redemption.
5.
Thankfulness
for God's Kindness in Giving Every Good Thing.
6.
A
Sense of Your Need of Strength to Fight against Specific Sins.
7.
Humble
Trust as You Ask the Father to Meet Every Need.
8.
A
Selfless Burden to Pray for Others.
9.
A
Thirst for Increasing Spiritual Wisdom and Understanding.
Daryl Wingerd
Nine Characteristics of Biblical Prayer, Christian
Communicators Worldwide, www.CCWtoday.org. Used by Permission.