Quotes about Prayer

Seeming delays in God are no tokens of his displeasure; he may hide his face from his dearest saints. He loves to keep his people praying, and to find them ever knocking at the gate of heaven.

But one morning as I was again at prayer, and trembling under the fear of this, That no word of God could help me, that piece of a sentence darted in upon me, My grace is sufficient. 

Therefore I did still pray to God, that He would come in with this scripture more fully on my heart; to wit, that He would help me to apply the whole sentence, for as yet I could not: that He gave, that I gathered; but farther I could not go, for as yet it only helped me to hope there might be mercy for me; My grace is sufficient: And though it came no farther, it answered my former question, to wit, That there was hope;

Sometimes also he would cast in such wicked thoughts as these; that I must pray to him, or for him: I have thought sometimes of that, Fall down; or, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.  Matt. iii. 9.

He told them, Worse and worse: he also set to talking to them again; but they began to be hardened. They also thought to drive away his distemper by harsh and surly carriages to him: sometimes they would deride, sometimes they would chide, and sometimes they would quite neglect him. Wherefore he began to retire himself to his chamber, to pray for and pity them, and also to condole his own misery; he would also walk solitarily in the fields, sometimes reading, and sometimes praying:

I feel like one little fellow who knelt at the side of his bed, closed his eyes, and prayed, "God bless Mom. God bless Dad. God bless Grandma." He said it the same way every time. But one night he added, "And please take care of yourself, God. 'Cause if anything happens to you, we're all sunk!

The unfortunate truth is that many of us, instead of offering total forgiveness, pray something like this Irish Prayer: May those who love us, love us; And those who don't love us May God turn their hearts; And if He doesn't turn their hearts, May He turn their ankles, So we'll know them by their limping.

[The Prayer of Mary] My Faithful Lord and Master, I boldly request that You speak to these dear servants of Yours. Ask big things of them. Make them uncomfortable. Stretch them in ways that they have no idea You can. And give them the will, the heart, and the faith to say a wholehearted yes to You whenever You ask. May their obedience change not only them, but the world. Amen.

I greet you in the name of the Living God, the woman in pink says.

God tolerates even our stammering, and pardons our ignorance whenever something inadvertently escapes us - as, indeed, without this mercy there would be no freedom to pray.

It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the Offended power, to confess our national sins, and pray for clemency and forgiveness.

Sincere friendship towards God, in all who believe him to be properly an intelligent, willing being, does most apparently, directly, and strongly incline to prayer; and it no less disposes the heart strongly to desire to have our infinitely glorious.