PRAYER-GOD’S
RESPONSE
God looks not
at the elegancy of your prayers, to see how neat they are; nor yet at the
geometry of your prayers, to see how long they are; nor yet at the arithmetic
of your prayers, to see how many they are; nor yet at the music of your
prayers, nor yet at the sweetness of your voice, nor yet at the logic of your
prayers; but at the sincerity of your prayers, how hearty they are. There is no prayer acknowledged, approved,
accepted, recorded, or rewarded by God, but that wherein the heart is sincerely
and wholly.
A Puritan Golden Treasury,
compiled by I.D.E. Thomas, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 2000, p. 212.
From a
biblical point of view, prayer is related to everything that we are and
everything that God is. God does not
respond to our prayers. God responds to
us: to our whole life. What we say to
Him cannot be separated from what we think, feel, will and do. Prayer is communication from whole persons to
the Wholeness which is the living God.
Prayer is misunderstood until we see it this way.
Bingham Hunter
The God Who Hears, IVP, 1986, p. 13.
Beware in
your prayers, above everything else, 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.” Each time, before you Intercede, be quiet first, and
worship God in His glory. Think of what He can do, and how He delights to hear
the prayers of His redeemed people. Think of your place and privilege in
Christ, and expect great things!
Andrew Murray
God
will either give you what you ask, or something far
better.
Robert Murray McCheyne
God never
denied that soul anything that went as far as heaven to ask it.
John Trapp
A Puritan Golden Treasury,
compiled by I.D.E. Thomas, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 2000, p. 211.
One way to
get comfort is to plead the promise of God in prayer, show Him His handwriting;
God is tender of His Word.
Thomas Manton
A Puritan Golden Treasury,
compiled by I.D.E. Thomas, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 2000, p. 216.
Prayer
delights God’s ear; it melts His heart; and opens His hand. God cannot deny a
praying soul.
Thomas
Watson
Four
things let us ever keep in mind: God hears prayer, God heeds prayer, God
answers prayer, and God delivers by prayer.
E.M. Bounds
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
We may expect
answers to prayer, and should not be easy without them any more than we should
be if we had written a letter to a friend upon important business, and had
received no reply.
C.H. Spurgeon
Exposition of Psalm 27.
In all states
of dilemma or of difficulty, prayer is an available source. The ship of prayer
may sail through all temptations, doubts and fears, straight up to the throne
of God; and though she may be outward bound with only griefs, and groans, and
sighs, she shall return freighted with a wealth of blessings!
C.H.
Spurgeon
The
prevailing idea seems to be, that I come to God and ask Him for something that
I want, and that I expect Him to give me that which I have asked. But
this is a most dishonouring and degading
conception. The popular belief reduces God to a servant, our servant:
doing our bidding, performing our pleasure, granting our desires. No,
prayer is a coming to God, telling Him my need, committing my way unto the
Lord, and leaving Him to deal with it as seemeth Him
best.
A.W. Pink