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The Power of Prayer

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“The only prayer God does not hear is the prayer that we don’t pray.” - Nicaraguan refugee pastor

"When a Christian shuns fellowship with other Christians, the devil smiles. When he stops studying the Bible, the devil laughs. When he stops praying, the devil shouts for joy." --Corrie Ten Boom

"God does not delay to hear our prayers because He has no mind to give; but that, by enlarging our desires, He may give us the more largely." --Anselm of Canterbury

"I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had absolutely no other place to go." -- Abraham Lincoln

"When you pray, rather let your heart be without words than your words without heart." --John Bunyan

"Prayer is not overcoming God's reluctance, but laying hold of His willingness."--Martin Luther

"Pray often, for prayer is a shield to the soul, a sacrifice to God, and a scourge for Satan" -- John Bunyan

"Action without prayer is arrogance, prayer without action is hypocrisy." -- Jose Zayas

"Mastering the art of prayer, like any other art, will take time, and the amount of time we allocate to it will be the true measure of the conception of its importance." - J. Oswald Sanders

"Prayer does not fit us for the greater work; prayer is the greater work." - Oswald Chambers

"Prayer is surrender--surrender to the will of God and cooperation with that will. If I throw out a boathook from the boat and catch hold of the shore and pull, do I pull the shore to me, or do I pull myself to the shore? Prayer is not pulling God to my will, but the aligning of my will to the will of God." - E. Stanley Jones, missionary to India

"No one is a firmer believer in the power of prayer than the devil; not that he practices it, but he suffers from it." - Guy H. King

"What wings are to a bird, and sails to a ship, is prayer to the soul." - Corrie ten Boom

"Pray for great things, expect great things, work for great things, but above all, pray." - R.A.Torrey

"Those upon whose shoulder rested the initial responsibility of Christianizing the world came to Jesus with on supreme request. They did not say, 'Lord, teach us to preach';

'Lord, teach us to do miracles'; or 'Lord, teach us to be wise'...but they said, 'Lord, teach us to pray.'" - Billy Graham

"I found that when some Russians believers were in great tribulation and persecution heard that we were willing to pray for them, they never said, 'Pray that God will stop this persecution.' They said, 'Pray that God will give us the strength to suffer for Him.'" - Corrie ten Boom

"A watch was running slow. The watchmaker asked when the owner wound it, and when told 'at night,' replied, "Wind it in the morning. Give it the fresh spring at the hardest part of the day, when you are moving about.' Give your soul the fresh spring of the Morning Watch before you go out and face the hard part of the day, the daily tasks and problems.'" - E. Stanley Jones, missionary to India

"You yourself can influence more people for God by prayer than in any other way. It is not the only thing you must, but the greatest thing you can do."--Wesley Deuwel

"Every step in the progress of missions is directly traceable to prayer. It has been the preparation of every new triumph and the secret of all success." - Dr. A.T. Pierson

"The Church has many organizers, but few agonizers; many who pay, but few who pray; many resters, but few wrestlers; many who are enterprising, but few who are interceding. Two prerequisites of dynamic Christian living are vision and passion, and both of these are generated in the prayer closet" - Leonard Ravenhill

"O Gracious and Holy Father,
Give us wisdom to perceive Thee,
Diligence to seek Thee,
Patience to wait for Thee,
Eyes to behold Thee,
A heart to meditate on Thee.
and a life to proclaim Thee;
through the power of the Spirit
of Jesus Christ our Lord." - Attributed to St. Benedict, c480-c547

"More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of." - Lord Alfred Tennyson

"When the Lord calls us to do a task we must resist looking to our resources for the ability to carry it out, but rather look to God's resources." - Rick Joyner

"It is not wasted time to wait upon God." - Hudson Taylor

"All God's giants have been weak men and women, who did great things for God because they believed that God would be with them." - Hudson Taylor

"Do not be afraid of silence in your prayer time. It may be that you are meant to listen, not to speak." - Amy Carmichael

"A 'prayer warrior' is a person who is convinced that God is omnipotent - that God has the power to do anything, to change anyone, and to intervene in any circumstance." - Bill Hybels

 "Every work of God can be traced to some kneeling form" - D.L. Moody

"It has often been said that prayer is the greatest force in the universe. This is no exaggeration. It will bear constant repetition. In this atomic age when forces are being released that stagger the thought and imagination of man, it is well to remember that prayer transcends all other forces." - F. J. Huegel, Author and Missionary

"Prayer is the slender thread that moves the hand of God."

"It is God's will that His church grow, that His lost children be found." - Dr. Donald Mc Gavran, mission's strategist.

"Men may spurn our appeals, reject our message, oppose our arguments, despise our persons, but they are helpless against our prayers." - J.Sidlow Baxter

"The one concern of the Devil is to keep Christians from praying. He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work, prayerless religion... he laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom but trembles when we pray." -- Samuel Chadwick

"O God, we are full of need, but we have learned that You give power to the faint and to those that have no right. Change our weakness into Your strength; our ignorance into

Your wisdom; our changefulness into Your everlasting constancy." --F.B.Meyer

"God shapes the world by prayer. The more praying there is in the world, the better the world will be, the mightier the forces against evil." - E. M. Bounds

"My prayers, O Lord, flow from what I am not. Your answers, make me what I am." --George MacDonald

"You can do more than pray after you have prayed, but you cannot do more than pray until you have prayed." -- A. J. Gordon

"In the spiritual life, what we are is always before what we do." -- J.I. Packer (via Don Little)

"We never test the resources of God until we attempt the impossible." --F.B. Myer (1847-1929)

"In prayer; expect setbacks, but refuse retreat." -- Richard Eastman

"To get nations back on their feet, we must first get down on our knees." -- Billy Graham

"The first thing that makes a prayer acceptable to God is the brokenness and humility of the one who prays: 'If my people who are called by my name humble themselves and pray...I will hear from heaven'.. In other words, what makes a heart upright and what makes prayers pleasing to God is a felt awareness of our tremendous need for mercy" -- John Piper

"Beware in your prayer, above everything, of limiting God, not only by unbelief, but by fancying that you know what He can do." --Andrew Murray

"O God, forgive the poverty and the pettiness of our prayers. Listen not to our words but to the yearnings of our hearts. Hear beneath our petitions the crying of our need." - Peter Marshall , Former Chaplain of the United States Senate

"God does nothing but by prayer, and everything with it. - John Wesley

"Prayer releases the power of God to accomplish the will of God in situations and in the lives of people. Prayer is the channel through which God's will is brought to earth. He has a veritable flood of mercies dammed up because there is no prayer to open the floodgates." -- Jennifer Kennedy Dean,

"When the Church shuts herself up to the power of the inner chamber, and the soldiers of the Lord have received on their knees 'power from on high,' then the powers of darkness shall be shaken and souls will be delivered"- Andrew Murray

"We must turn to God in complete confidence in the hour of battle, abide strongly in the presence of His divine Majesty, worship Him humbly, and set before Him our woes and our weaknesses. And thus we shall find in Him all virtues though we may lack them all." -- Brother Lawrence

"Only in quiet waters does God cast his anchor. God only draws near to a soul that enters quietness, a soul whose thoughts and feelings have been stilled - Basilea Schlink."

"Prayer is our highest privilege, our gravest responsibility, and the greatest power that God has put into our hands. --John G. Blackburn

"Do not have your concert first, and then tune your instrument afterwards. Begin the day with the Word of God and prayer, and get first of all into harmony with Him." - J. Hudson Taylor

"Do you find it as amazing as I do that Almighty God has chosen to condition the release of His intervening power on the prayers of His people? It's not that God can't intervene to release His provisions without prayer; it's that He won't." - O. Hallesby

"If sinners be dammed, at least let them leap to Hell over our bodies. If they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees. Let no one go there unwarned and unprayed for." - C.H. Spurgeon (1834-1892)

"When we rely upon organization, we get what organization can do; when we rely upon education, we get what education can do; when we rely upon eloquence, we get what eloquence can do. But when we rely upon prayer, we get what God can do." -- Dr. A. C. Dixon, 19th century preacher and former pastor of Moody Church, Chicago and Metropolitan Tabernacle, London

"When in secret prayer the soul is often out of tune: I feel it is far better to begin with God -- to see His face first, to get my soul near Him before it is near another." --Robert Murray McCheyne

"Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?" - Corrie ten Boom

"To strive in prayer means to struggle through those hindrances which would restrain or even prevent us entirely from continuing in persevering prayer. It means to be so watchful at all times that we can notice when we become slothful in prayer and that we go to the Spirit of prayer to have this remedied. In this struggle [of perseverance], too, the decisive factor is the Spirit of prayer." - O. Hallesby

"[The prayer of faith] is a prayer willing to believe and prevail for God's answer in a situation that is utterly impossible. Regardless of the difficulty of the situation, you require no external confirmation but believe God in spite of appearance. Your eyes are on God, not on the situation." --Wesley L. Duewel

"Some who are really seeking to feed the flock, and to save souls, are led to exhaust their energies upon external duties and labours, overlooking the absolute necessity of enriching, ripening, filling, elevating their own souls by prayer and fasting. On this account there is much time wasted and labour thrown away." -- Horatius Bonar (1808-1889) Quoted by Len Carter

"The purpose of prayer is not to get man's will done in heaven, but to get God's will done on earth." --Phillips Brooks

"If the worth of our prayer life depended upon the maintenance of a constant high level of feeling or understanding, we would be in a dangerous place. Though these often seem to fail us, the reigning will remains. Even when the heart is cold and our mind is dim, prayer is still possible to us. 'Our wills are ours, to make them Thine.' The determined fixing of our will upon God, and pressing toward Him steadily and without deflection; this is the very center and the art of prayer. The most theological of thoughts soon becomes inadequate; the most spiritual of emotions is only a fair-weather breeze. Let the ship take advantage of it by all means, but not rely on it. She must be prepared to beat to windward if she would reach her goal." --Evelyn Underhill

"Whenever God determines to do a great work, He first sets His people to pray."--C.H. Spurgeon

"Neglect of prayer is willful limitation of success" - Robert Speer

"When prayers and strong pleas for revival are made to God both day and night, when the children of God find they can no longer tolerate the absence of revival blessing, when extraordinary seeking of an extraordinary outpouring becomes extraordinarily earnest, and when the burden of prayer for revival becomes almost unbearable, then let praying hearts take courage; for the Spirit of God, who is the Spirit of revival, has brought His people to this place for His purpose. - Richard Owen Roberts

"Every step in the progress of missions is directly traceable to prayer. It has been the preparation of every new triumph and the secret of all success." (Dr. A.T. Pierson)

"You can do more than pray after you have prayed, but you cannot do more than pray until you have prayed." Unknown (quoted by Robert Fitts, Sr.)

"I believe in the power of prayer. It's been said: 'I would rather stand against the cannons of the wicked than against the prayers of the righteous.' The prayers of a friend are one of life's most gracious gifts." (George W. Bush at the 2001 National Prayer Breakfast) Joel news Oct.17/01

"We need to pray like we are at war. The church is at war. We have to believe and act on what Paul said: 'We do not wage war according to human standards; for the weapons of our warfare are not merely human, but they have divine power to destroy strongholds' (2 Cor. 10.3-4). That's what missionary work is all about, and, if we are to win, every Christian must join the fight." -- Jim Reapsome "World Pulse"

"Prayer is our means of involving the omnipotent God of the universe in our personal battle with Satan." - Evelyn Christenson

"Prayer is striking the winning blow at the concealed enemy. Service is gathering up the results of that blow among the people." - S.D. Gordon

"If we do not change direction, we are liable to end up where we are headed." - Sir John Whitmore

"We spend more time praying for the saved who are sick, than for the unsaved who are lost... more time trying to keep the saints out of heaven, than the lost out of hell." - Adrian Rodgers

"As you know, it is very difficult to make an appointment with the governor of your state or province. It is almost impossible for the average person to get an appointment with the President of their country. You would not likely get past the secretary, if you got that far. But how different with the Creator of the whole universe - you don't even have to go through a secretary, or make an appointment. He is waiting to talk with us anytime day or night and is eager to do so!" - Bill Bright (at "Amsterdam 2000")

"Units of prayer combined like drops of water can make an ocean that defies resistance." --E.M. Bounds

"We've treated prayer as if it were an intercom from the rec room to the kitchen rather than the lifeline from the battle-line to the supply base" - (unknown)

"God shapes the world by prayer. The more praying there is in the world, the better the world will be, the mightier the forces against evil." - E. M. Bounds

"When I work, I work. But when I pray, God works."  -- J. Hudson Taylor (1832 - 1905)

"Rich is the person who has a praying friend." --Janice Hughes

"Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin, and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergymen or laymen; such alone will shake the gates of Hell and set up the Kingdom of Heaven on earth." - John Wesley

"The life of discipleship progresses by alternating steps of prayer and costly obedience." - Dietrich Bonhoeffer (paraphrase)