PRAISE
He who merits praise he never receives is better off than he who receives praise he never merits.
Praise is boasting about what you enjoy.
—C. S. Lewis
We protest against unjust criticism, but we accept unearned applause.
—Jose Narosky
The hardest thing for a speaker to remember is not to nod his head in agreement when the toastmaster praises him.
—“Doc” Blakely
He who seeks only for applause from without has all his happiness in another’s keeping.
—Goldsmith
PRAYER
Years ago an old lady had no money to buy food. She prayed, “Dear Lord, please send me a side of bacon and a sack of corn meal.” Over and over again she prayed the same prayer aloud. One of the town’s unscrupulous citizens decided to play a trick on her. He dropped a side of bacon and a sack of corn meal down her chimney. It landed in front of her as she knelt in prayer.
Jumping to her feet, she exclaimed, “Oh, Lord! You’ve answered my prayer!” Then she went all over town telling everyone the good news.
This was too much for the scoundrel who dropped the food down her chimney. He ridiculed her publicly and told her that God didn’t answer her prayer; he did. The old lady replied, “Well, the Devil may have brought it, but it was the Lord who sent it!”
—Paper Pulpit
In the spring of 1994, The Dallas Morning News surveyed 1,011 adults in far north Texas counties about their religious beliefs and practices. Eighty-seven percent of the respondents said they believe prayer gets results, with slightly more women (93%) than men (80%) believing in prayer.
I often question why we spend so much time in our church prayer meetings praying for sick Christians who, if they die—and they will eventually—will go to be with Jesus, but we spend almost no time praying for the sinners who, when they die, will go to a Christless eternity.
—Evelyn Christenson
During the Spanish-American War, Clara Barton was overseeing the work of the Red Cross in Cuba. One day Colonel Theodore Roosevelt came to her, wanting to buy food for his sick and wounded Rough Riders. But she refused to sell him any.
Roosevelt was perplexed. His men needed the help and he was prepared to pay out of his own funds. When he asked someone why he could not buy the supplies, he was told, “Colonel, just ask for it!” A smile broke over Roosevelt’s face. Now he understood—the provisions were not for sale. All he had to do was simply ask and they would be given freely.
A little girl was fishing with her dad. She waited awhile. Then after getting no nibbles, she said, “I quit.” Her dad asked, “Why?” She answered, “I can’t seem to get waited on.”
Now I lay me down to sleep
I pray the Lord nobody wakes me up.
If I should die before I wake
I wouldn’t be surprised.
—Betty Rollin
I asked for health that I might do greater things;
I was given infirmity that I might do better things.
I asked God for strength that I might achieve;
I was made weak that I might learn to obey.
I asked for riches that I might be happy;
I was given poverty that I might be wise.
I asked for power and the praise of men;
I was given weakness to sense my need of God.
I asked for all things that I might enjoy life;
I was given life that I might enjoy all things.
I got nothing I asked for but everything I hoped for;
In spite of myself, my prayers were answered—
I am among all men most richly blest.
Walk softly, speak tenderly, and pray fervently.
—T. J. Bach
Mary, Queen of Scots, said she feared the prayers of John Knox more than the efforts of ten thousand soldiers.
I have so much to do today that I must set apart more time than usual to pray.
—Martin Luther
In Africa each Christian native in a certain tribe had a secret separate place where he prayed. A path which led to his place of prayer off in a distance in the jungle was cleared by each native for his own use. Whenever he was neglecting his prayer life, all that was needed to bring his attention to this fact was the simple statement, “I see there’s grass on your prayer trail.”
Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon his knees.
—William Cowper
A little boy was always asking God for things when he prayed. He said, “God, gimme this; gimme that.” But when he was through, his mother said, “Son, don’t ask God for so many things; just report for duty.”
Begin the day with God, kneel down to Him in prayer.
Lift up your heart to see His abode and seek His love to share.
Open the Book of God and read a portion there,
That it may hallow all your thoughts and sweeten all your care.
Go through the day with God, e’en though you may not see,
Where’er you are, at home, abroad, He is still near to thee.
Converse in mind with God, your spirit heavenward raise;
Acknowledge every good bestowed and offer grateful praise.
Conclude your day with God, your sins to Him confess;
Trust in the Lord’s atoning blood and plead His righteousness.
Lie down at night with God, who gives His servants sleep;
And when you tread the vale of death, He’ll safely guard and keep.
It was the custom of John Fletcher of Madeley, England, never to meet a Christian without saying, “Friend, do I meet you praying?” This unusual salutation reminded the person that his life should be an unbroken expression of prayer and fellowship with God.
—Our Daily Bread
Dring the lunch hour, the president of a large factory wanted to talk to his company’s manager about an urgent matter, but the manager’s secretary said, “He cannot be disturbed for he is in conference—as he is everyday at this time.” “But,” said the impatient official, “tell him the president wants to see him.” She firmly replied, “I have strict orders, sir, not to disturb him while he is in conference.” Angrily the man brushed the secretary aside and opened the door to the manager’s private office. After one quick look he backed out, gently closed the door, and said, “I’m sorry! Is this a daily occurrence?” “Yes, everyday he spends fifteen minutes in such a conference.” The president had found the manager on his knees before his open Bible.
An ancient legend tells of a monarch who hired some people to make tapestries and garments for him. Among the workers was a young child who was selected because he was especially skilled at weaving. The king gave the silk and the patterns to the employees with the strict instructions to seek his aid immediately if any difficulties arose.
The boy, left to work by himself, made quiet and steady progress while the others were distressed by their many failures. One day they gathered around the youngster and inquired, “Why are you so happy and successful while we are always having trouble? Either our silk becomes tangled or our weaving varies from the pattern.” “Don’t you remember the words of the king when he told us to send for him whenever it was necessary?” asked the lad. “We finally did ask for his assistance,” replied the others, “but by then things were so snarled that now it will take days to unravel our mistakes.” “Didn’t you notice how often I called for him?” he inquired. “Yes, but he’s very busy, and we thought you were wrong in disturbing him so frequently.” “Well,” replied the little weaver, “I just took him at his word, and he was always happy to help me!”
I used to ask God to help me. Then I asked if I might help Him. I ended up asking Him to do His work through me.
—J. Hudson Taylor
Two men in a boat were caught in a sudden squall. While the one earnestly prayed for a deliverance, the other frantically rowed to reach safety. Soon the latter touched bottom with one of the oars. With a sigh of relief he turned to his comrade and said, “You can quit praying now, we’re almost to land.”
A fisherman who was out of fellowship with the Lord was at sea with his godless companions when a storm came up and threatened to sink their ship. His friends begged him to pray; but he demurred, saying, “It’s been a long time since I’ve done that or even entered a church.” At their insistence, however, he finally cried out, “O Lord, I haven’t asked anything of You for fifteen years, and if You help us now and bring us safely to land, I promise I won’t bother you again for another fifteen!”
—Prairie Overcomer
In the town of Port Hope, Canada, there stands a monument, not for the leading citizen who just died, but for a poor, unselfish working man who gave most of his life and energy to help those who could not repay him.
Joseph Scriven was born in Dublin in 1820. In his youth, he had the prospect of a great citizen with high ideals and great aspirations. He was engaged to a beautiful young woman who had promised to share his dreams, but on the eve of their wedding her body was pulled from a pond into which she had accidentally fallen and drowned.
Young Scriven never overcame the shock. Although a college graduate and ready to embark on a brilliant career, he began to wander to try to forget his sorrow. His wanderings took him to Canada where he spent the last forty-one of his sixty-six years. He became a very devout Christian. His beliefs led him to do servile labor for poor widows and sick people. He often served for no wages.
It was not known that Mr. Scriven had any poetic gifts until a short time before his death. A friend, who was sitting with him in an illness, discovered a poem he had written to his mother in a time of sorrow, not intending that anyone should see it. His poem was later set to music and has become a much-loved gospel song. It is said to be the first song that many missionaries teach their converts. In polls taken to determine the popularity of hymns and gospel songs, his poem set to music is always near the top. What was his poem?
What a friend we have in Jesus,
All our sins and griefs to bear.
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer.
Oh, what peace we often forfeit,
Oh what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry,
Everything to God in prayer.
—The Cross and the Crown
A boy quoted the Westminster Confession Shorter Catechism, “Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to annoy Him forever.”
To talk with God
No breath is lost
Talk on!
To walk with God
No strength is lost
Walk on!
To wait on God
No time is lost
Wait on!
It is not lost time to wait on God.
—J. Hudson Taylor
Sin will keep prayer away, or else prayer will keep sin away.
A man once asked a lifeguard, “How can you hear a person drowning when all these people are making this noise on the beach—talking, yelling, whistling, etc.?”
The lifeguard said, “I’ve been at this job for twenty years and I haven’t let one person go on in distress. My ears are turned toward those in distress.”
Too often our prayers are never geared toward asking for something definite. When a boy asks his father for something, he doesn’t beat around the bush about it, but he comes right out and asks for it. We need to be like that in our praying. Ask for something definite.
When you pray, pray as though everything depended on God. When you work, work as though everything depended on you.
A steward came to the presiding elder and asked for a preacher. “How big a man do you want?” asked the elder. “I do not care much about his size,” said the steward. “But I want him to be tall enough to reach heaven when he is on his knees.”
A little boy in New York walked in a large bank past the policeman, the teller, the vice-president, and went right up to the president and spoke to him, while others stood outside, looking at a sign, “No Admittance.” The boy could speak to the president because he was his father.
An atheist owned a brewery. A local church prayed earnestly that God would somehow do away with the brewery. One day the brewery was struck by lightning and was destroyed. The atheist sued the church. But the church said they took no responsibility for the act. The judge said, “This is the strangest case I’ve ever seen. An atheist believes in answered prayer, and a church takes no responsibility for prayer.”
In prayer, it is better to have a heart without words than words without heart.
—John Bunyan
There is no greater threat to our devotion to Christ than our service for Christ.
—Oswald Chambers
A clergyman, walking on the public highway, observed a poor man breaking stones, and kneeling so that he could do it more effectually. Passing him and saluting him, he remarked, “Ah, John, I wish I could break the stony hearts of my hearers as easily as you are breaking those stones.”
“Perhaps, Pastor,” he said, “You do not work on your knees.”
A little girl said to her mother, “Mommy, I’m not going to say ‘Amen’ to my prayers anymore. I’m going to say ‘RSVP.’ ”
Whenever the Nenney family was able to get all the members of the family together at the same time for a breakfast they took turns saying, “grace.” Finally it came to Dale’s turn. Outside was gloomy and overcast, without a prospect of sunshine anywhere. Yet when he prayed, Dale said, “Thank you dear God, for my family, for this good food, and thank you God for this beautiful morning. Amen.” Dale’s mother, thinking that perhaps he was getting a little bit perfunctory in his prayers, pointed out the window at the fog and gloom and said, “Dale, what on earth are you doing, thanking God for a beautiful morning on a day like this?” Dale thoughtfully replied, “Mother, never judge a day by its weather!”
—Melvin E. Wheatley Jr.
These forty years have not seen the sun rise in China without my father kneeling in prayer.
—Howard Taylor, son of J. Hudson Taylor
Secret, fervent, believing prayer lies at the root of all personal godliness.
—William Carey
Prayer is a radical conversation of all our mental processes because in prayer we move away from ourselves, our worries, preoccupations, and self-gratification—and direct all that we recognize as ours to God in the simple trust that through his love all will be made new.
When man works, man works. When man prays, God works.
—Pat Johnson
If a small child receives a check, the check is perfectly valid, but the child does not know how to write his name. His parents show him how to endorse the check with his “X,” and then one of them signs his own name. Without the parent’s signature, it is doubtful that the check would be cashed. This illustrates crudely what we mean by offering prayer in the name of Jesus. We have signed our names, so to speak, to some promise in the Bible. The Lord Jesus comes along and signs His Name, too, and that opens the treasures of heaven to us.
A girl prayed, “Lord, I am not going to pray for myself today; I’m going to pray for others.” But at the end of her prayer she added, “And give my mother a handsome son-in-law.”
Sam Walter Fause wrote a little poem about prayer illustrating the importance of fervency in a rather comical way. Some men were arguing about the right positions to pray and so he put these thoughts in this bit of poetry.
“The proper way for men to pray,” said Deacon Lemuel Keys, “and the only proper attitude is down upon his knees.” “No, I should say the way to pray,” said Reverend Dr. Wise, “is standing upright with outstretched arms and rapt and upturned eyes.” “Oh, no, no, no,” said Elmer Slow, “such posture is too proud. A man should pray with eyes fast closed and head contritely bowed.” “It seems to me his hand should be austerely clasped in front, with both thumbs pointing toward the ground,” said Reverend Dr. Blunt. “Last year I fell in Hitchkin’s well headfirst,” said Cyrus Brown, “both my heels were sticking up and my head was pointing down. And I made a prayer right then and there, the best prayer I ever said. The prayingest prayer I ever prayed was a standing on my head.”
A Christian widow in Scotland had difficulty providing food and clothing for her children, but she trusted the Lord and lovingly taught them to put their confidence in Him.
One day her purse was empty and the pantry was depleted. Only a handful of flour remained in the big barrel. The mother reached down into the container to scrape up the last bit of flour to make some bread for her hungry little ones. As she bent over the barrel, her faith began to waver and she could hold back the tears no longer. Her little son Robbie heard her sobs and began tugging at her dress until she lifted her head and looked into his questioning eyes. In his Scottish dialect he asked, “Mither, what are ye weepin’ aboot? Dinna God hear ye scrapin’ the bottom o’ the barrel?”
A Roman emperor was parading through the streets of the imperial city in a victory celebration. Tall legionnaires lined the route to keep back the cheering masses. At one place along the way was a platform on which the royal family was sitting. As the emperor approached, his youngest son, who was just a little boy, jumped down, burrowed through the crowd, and tried to run out to meet him. “You can’t do that,” said one of the guards as he scooped up the lad. “Don’t you know who’s in that chariot? That’s the emperor!” Quickly the youngster replied, “He may be your emperor, but he’s my father!”
Albert Thorwaldsen, famous Danish sculptor, sculpted his Kristus, a statue of Christ, which now stands in the Copenhagen Cathedral.
When he finished molding the plastic clay for the statue, he went home, leaving the clay to dry and harden. But during the night, a dense mist rolled in from the sea. When the sculptor returned to his studio the following morning, he thought the masterpiece had been ruined. The majestic head of Kristus, which had been gazing heavenward, now faced downward. The hands of the clay figure, which had been held aloft as though to bless, were now stretched forward in an inviting way.
Gazing on the altered statue, Thorwaldsen suddenly realized that this was the way the figure ought to be. “If you want to see the face of Kristus,” the sculptor exclaimed, “you must get down on your knees.”
An elderly gentleman passed his granddaughter’s room one night and overheard her repeating the alphabet in an oddly reverent way. “What on earth are you up to?” he asked.
“I’m saying my prayers,” explained the little girl. “But I can’t think of exactly the right words tonight, so I’m just saying all the letters. God will put them together for me, because He knows what I’m thinking.”
When we pray, the Lord expects us to have a hoe in hand.
A minister was talking to a woman on an airplane flight. The flight got very bumpy. The woman said, “You’re a minister. Can’t you do something about this storm?”
He said, “Yes, I’m a minister. But I’m in sales, not in management.”
A little boy who had been begging his father for favors all day came once more into his daddy’s office. “What do you want this time?” asked the weary parent. “I don’t want anything,” was the astonishing reply, “I just want to be with you.”
—The Vance Havner Quote Book
Samuel Zwemer wrote forty-seven books (twelve of which were in joint authorship) and several tracts. One tract entitled “Do You Pray?” was written in Cairo and became so well known there that people began to use this as a title and he would be pointed out on the street with the words, “There goes, ‘Do You Pray?’ ”
—J. Christy Wilson
Forgive us for thinking that prayer is a waste of time and help us to see that without prayer our work is a waste of time.
—Peter Marshall
A coach said to the team chaplain, “Lead us in a few words of silent prayer.”
Dear Lord,
Help me to live this day quietly, easily;
To lean upon Thy great strength trustfully, restfully;
To wait for the unfolding of Thy will patiently, serenely;
To meet others peacefully, joyously;
To face tomorrow confidently, courageously.
I can take my telescope and look millions of miles into space but I can go away to my room and in prayer get nearer to God in heaven than I can when assisted by all the telescopes of earth.
—Sir Isaac Newton
A woman said to G. Campbell Morgan, “Oh, I could never take my little problems to God. I wouldn’t want to bother him with those. I take only the big problems to God.”
He answered, “Are any problems big to God?”
Prayer is our highest privilege, our gravest responsibility, and greatest power God has put into our hands.
—The Kneeling Christian
A Pastor’s Wish for God’s People
May a dying Savior’s love inspire you (2 Cor. 5:14).
May a risen Savior’s power preserve you (Phil. 3:19).
May an ascended Savior’s blessing enrich you (Eph. 4:8).
May a constant Savior’s ministry aid you (Heb. 7:24–25).
May a living Savior’s word sanctify you (Eph. 5:25–26).
May a seated Savior’s acceptance rest you (Heb. 10:10–14).
May a faithful Savior’s grace empower you (2 Cor. 12:13).
May a present Savior’s presence cheer you (Isa. 41:10).
May a holy Savior’s indwelling mold you (Gal. 2:20).
May a joyful Savior’s joy strengthen you (John 15:11).
May a powerful Savior’s Spirit use you (Acts 1:8).
May a loving Savior’s yoke couple you (Matt. 11:29).
May a perfect Savior’s example allure you (John 13:15).
May a coming Savior’s return attract you (Rev. 22:12).
May Christ Himself be all in all to you (Col. 3:11).
Prayer and helplessness are inseparable. Only the one who is helpless can truly pray. Your helplessness is your best prayer. It calls from your heart to the heart of God with greater effect than all your uttered pleas.
—O. Hallesby
Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be a stronger person. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers, but pray for powers equal to your tasks.
—Phillips Brooks
Let inward prayer be your last act before you fall asleep and the first act when you awake. And in time you will find as did Brother Lawrence, that “those who have the gift of the Holy Spirit go forward even in sleep.”
—Thomas Kelly
A couple of girls were walking to school one morning when it suddenly dawned on them that unless they really hurried they were going to be late. One of them suggested that they stop and pray that they wouldn’t be tardy. “No,” the other replied, “let’s pray while we run as fast as we can.”
A youngster was asked by his pastor, “Son, do you pray every day?” “Not every day,” was his response, “some days I don’t want anything.”
Bill Moyers, who was an ordained Baptist minister during the time he was President Lyndon Johnson’s press secretary, was saying grace at a White House dinner one evening. Johnson was seated at the other end of the table and was having trouble hearing. “Speak up,” he said, “I can’t hear you.”
“I wasn’t talking to you,” replied Moyers.
If I wished to humble anyone, I would ask him about his prayer life.
The agnostic H. G. Wells became angry when he prayed and didn’t get what he wanted. While taking an accounting exam for which he was not prepared, he desperately pleaded with the Lord to “balance his books.” When the figures didn’t add up properly, he said, “All right, Mr. God, You won’t ever catch me praying again!” And he never did.
Men generally pray in public in inverse proportion to their private prayers. If they pray a great deal in private, they are apt to be rather short in public prayer. If they pray very little in private, they are in danger of being more lengthy.
—D. L. Moody
A wealthy lady was traveling on a train with her little boy and a pet dog. A nurse was in charge of the child, and the rich woman sat in front of them holding her dog and reading a book. Soon the youngster was whining and complaining because he wanted something. “Nurse,” said the woman, “how many times have I told you to let Billy have whatever he wants.” The nurse replied, “Yes, ma’am.” A few minutes later Billy was crying loudly and the mother impatiently said, “Didn’t I tell you to let Billy have whatever he wants?” The nurse replied, “Yes, ma’am, you did, and there was a big ugly wasp playing on the window. Billy wanted it, so he got it!”
Prayer is not overcoming God’s reluctance but cooperating with His willingness.
—Richard C. Trench
Wally Howard asked people in a retirement home, “What do you find the most difficult thing to do here?” He was surprised with the answer, “To find time to read the Bible and pray.”
Pray, always pray; the Holy Spirit pleads
Within thee all thy daily, hourly needs.
Pray, always pray; beneath sin’s heaviest load
Prayer sees the blood from Jesus’ side that flowed.
Pray, always pray; though weary, faint, and alone,
Prayer nestles by the Father’s sheltering throne.
Pray, always pray; amid the world’s turmoil,
Prayer keeps the heart at rest, and nerves for toil.
Pray, always pray; if joys thy pathway throng,
Prayer strikes the harp, and sings the angel’s song.
Pray, always pray; if loved ones pass the veil,
Prayer drinks with them of springs that cannot fail.
All earthly things with earth shall fade away;
Prayer grasps eternity; pray, always pray.
—E. H. Bickersteth
A young boy, ready for bed, interrupted a family gathering in the living room. “I’m going to say my prayers now. Anybody want anything?”
Anna Marx, daughter of Karl Marx, said, “I was told by my father not to believe in God. But somewhere I ran across a prayer. I don’t know its source [Then she quoted the Lord’s Prayer.] If there is a God like that, I could believe in Him.”
Praise is our being occupied with our blessings, prayer is being occupied with our need, and worship is our being occupied with the Lord Himself, the Blesser.
A Baptist preacher prayed this brief invocation at the Texas legislature on January 11, 1989: “Our Father, please read our lips. We need help. Amen.”
If we grow wiser and more learned in our intercourse with wise and learned persons, how much more will we gain in our inner life by communing with God in prayer.
—Ulrich Zwingli
The secret of being a saint is being a saint in secret.
When Hudson Taylor was asked if he ever prayed without any consciousness of joy, he replied, “Often. Sometimes I pray on with my heart feeling like wood; often, too, the most wonderful answers have come when prayer has been a real effort of faith without any joy whatever.”
Abraham Lincoln, during the Civil War, once said, “I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for the day.”
There’s no weapon half so mighty,
As the intercessors bear;
Not a greater field of service
Than the ministry of prayer.
Daniel chose rather to spend the night in a lion’s den than go through the day without prayer.
A boy wanted a baby brother. His dad told him the way to get things is to pray for them. So the boy prayed for a baby brother. But after a couple of weeks no baby came, so he quit praying. Nine months later his father said his mother would give birth to a baby. Later, the father showed the boy twin boys. “Aren’t you glad you prayed as you did?” The boy answered, “Yes, but aren’t you glad I stopped when I did?”
God’s promises show his heart; your prayers show yours.
Let prayer be the key of the morning and the bolt of the evening.
—Matthew Henry
Prayer will make a man cease from sin, or sin will entice a man to cease from prayer.
Prayer is a shield to the soul, a sacrifice to God, and a scourge for Satan.
Oh, I wish that God had not given me what I prayed for! It was not so good as I thought.
—Johanna Spyri in Heidi
A child of God can see more on his knees than can a philosopher on his tiptoes.
Speech is that which distinguishes men from animals, but prayer distinguishes the children of God from the children of this world. Speech we use to communicate our thoughts to each other, but prayer is the speech used by the believer to commune with God.
A lot of kneeling keeps us in good standing.
A sweating woodchopper who wasn‘t doing too well was urged to stop and sharpen his ax. He snorted, “It’s tough enough now getting this job done without taking time to grind an ax.” Take time for prayer!
To be miserable—
Look within.
To be distracted—
Look around.
To be happy—
Look up.
James Gilmour, pioneer missionary to Mongolia, was a man of prayer. He had the habit in his writing of never using a blotter. He made it a rule when he got to the bottom of any page to wait until the ink dried and spend the time in prayer. That kind of habit drives prayer right into all the chinks and corners of our lives like the mortar that holds the building stones together.
A Moment in the Morning
A moment in the morning ere the cares of the day begin,
Ere the heart’s wide door is open for the world to enter in;
Oh then alone with Jesus, in silence of the morn,
In heavenly sweet communion let your happy day be born;
In the quietude that blesses with a prelude of repose,
Let your soul be soothed and softened as the dew revives the rose.
A Scottish Presbyterian pastor prayed long prayers in lofty language that only heaven could understand. A woman in the chair tugged on his frocked tail and said, “Just call Him Father and ask Him for something.”
Isaac Bashevis Singer, the storyteller whose tales of Polish ghettos and immigrant Jews in America have charmed readers for three generations, once explained his attitude toward prayer.
“Whenever I’m in trouble, I pray. And since I’m always in trouble, there is not a day when I don’t pray. The belief that man can do what he wants, without God, is as far from me as the North Pole.”
Sign in a post office: “Don’t lift with your back; lift with your knees.”
Do you wonder how your brother
Has a life that’s ever been
One of victory and triumph?
Why, he’s been alone with Him.
Does your life blaze out in brightness
Or is it growing dim?
You can fill your lamp most surely,
If you’ll get alone with Him.
It is not how much you’re doing
It is not your zeal and vim
That wins the souls for Jesus;
It’s time spent alone with Him.
It is not the arithmetic of our prayers, how many they are; nor the rhetoric of our prayers, how eloquent they are; nor the geometry of our prayers, how long they be; nor the music of our prayers, how sweet our voice may be; nor the logic of our prayers, how argumentative they may be; nor the method of our prayers, how orderly they may be—which God cares for. Fervency of spirit is that which availeth much.
—William Low
God knows our needs before we ask. Then, what is prayer for? Not to inform Him, nor to move Him, unwilling to have mercy, as if like some proud prince He required a certain amount of recognition of His greatness as the price of His favors. Prayer fits our own hearts by conscious need, true desire and dependence to receive the gifts which He is ever willing to give, but which we are not always fit to receive. As St. Augustine has it, the empty vessel is by prayer carried to the full fountain.
—Alexander Maclaren
When J. Hudson Taylor went to China, he made the voyage on a sailing ship. As it neared the channel between the southern Malay Peninsula and the island of Sumatra, the missionary heard an urgent knock on his stateroom door. He opened it and there stood the captain of the ship.
“Mr. Taylor,” he said, “we have no wind. We are drifting toward an island where the people are heathen, and I fear they are cannibals.”
“What can I do?” asked Taylor.
“I understand that you believe in God. I want you to pray for wind.”
“All right, Captain, I will, but you must set the sail.”
“Why, that’s ridiculous! There’s not even the slightest breeze. Besides, the sailors will think I’m crazy.”
Nevertheless, the captain finally agreed. Forty-five minutes later he returned and found the missionary still on his knees. “You can stop praying now,” said the captain. “We’ve got more wind than we know what to do with!”
In the Near East camels are taught to kneel by a certain word being spoken to them when a heavy load is placed on their backs so that they are forced to bend down because of the heavy weight. This is done a number of times so that eventually they kneel when just the word is spoken though there be no load on them.
Sometimes Christians have to learn in the same manner to kneel. It takes some heavy loads to force us to our knees.
In the unpublished writings of Miss Ruth Paxton was found a list of her “Prayer Check” by which she tested her own prayer life. (1) Has my prayer life been powerless because of some besetting sin? (2) Has it been hindered by haste, irregularity, insufficient preparation? (3) Have I had such power with God that I have had real power with people? (4) Has my prayer life been limited to my own life or am I an intercessor after God’s own heart? (5) Has my prayer life been starved, or have I, through meditation on the Word, let the Lord teach me to pray? (6) Has my prayer life been joyless—more of a duty than a privilege? (7) Has my prayer life been sacrificial—has it cost me anything in time and energy?
Last night my little boy confessed to me
Some childish wrong;
And kneeling at my knee
He prayed with tears;
“Dear God, make me a man,
Like Daddy—wise and strong;
I know you can.”
Then while he slept
I knelt beside his bed,
Confessed my sins,
And prayed with low-bowed head;
“O God, make me a child,
Like my child here—
Pure, guileless,
Trusting Thee with faith sincere.”
Old Mrs. Cobley used to visit Leicester Infirmary with flowers. One day a young doctor met her coming out of a ward, and in a frolicsome mood, asked, “Well, Mrs. Cobley, I suppose you have been telling these people that God hears prayer?” “Yes, sir,” she answered. “My Father always hears His people when they cry.” “I am very glad to hear it,” he replied, “for I am very hard up this morning. Do you think that if I asked your Father for a five-pound note, He would give it to me?” That was a bit of a poser; for “yes” or “no” would have been equally wrong; but at last she said, “Suppose you were introduced to the Prince of Wales today, sir, do you think that the first day you know him, you could ask him for a five-pound note?” “No, I suppose I would need to wait until I got to know him better.” “Yes,” finished the old lady in triumph, “and you will need to know my Father better before you can ask Him for five-pound notes.”
—Guy H. King
Who is there so full that he wants nothing? Let none cease his praying but he who needs nothing and let none cease his praising who hath anything. Is not the mercy we want worth asking? Is not the mercy we have worth acknowledging? No Christian has so little from him but there is ground for praise nor has so much but there is need of prayer.
—Venning
Lord, what a change, within us one short hour
Spent in Thy presence, will avail to make!
What heavy burdens from our bosoms take!
What parched grounds refresh as with a shower!
We kneel, and all around us seems to lower;
We rise, and all the distant and the near
Stands forth in sunny outline, brave and clear!
We kneel, how weak!
We rise, how full of power!
Why therefore should we do ourselves this wrong,
Or others—that we are not always strong,
That we are overborne with care,
That we should ever weak or heartless be,
Anxious or troubled, when with us is prayer,
And joy and strength and courage are with Thee?
Be Lord,
within me to strengthen me,
without me to guard me,
over me to shelter me,
beneath me to establish me,
before me to guide me,
after me to forward me,
round me to secure me.
—Lancelot Andrews
A boy was overheard saying his nightly prayers: “Please God, make Boulder the capital of Colorado.” When he had said “Amen,” his mother asked, “Why did you ask that?” “Because,” he explained, “that’s what I put down on my exam paper today.”
Much that perplexes us in our Christian experience is but the answer to our own prayers.
We pray for patience and God sends us tribulation, for tribulation works patience (Rom. 5:3–5).
We pray for submission and God sends suffering, for we learn obedience by the things we suffer (Heb. 5:8).
We pray for unselfishness and God gives us opportunities to sacrifice ourselves by thinking of the needs of others (Phil. 2:4).
We pray for victory and the things of the world swoop down on us in a storm of temptation, for this is the victory that overcomes the world (1 John 5:4).
We pray for strength and humility and some messenger of Satan torments us until we cry for its removal (2 Cor. 12:7).
We pray for love and God sends suffering and puts us with unlovely people and lets them say things that fray the nerves, for love suffers long and is kind (1 Cor. 13:4–8).
A happy Christian met an Irish peddler and exclaimed, “It’s a grand thing to be saved!”
“Aye,” said the peddler, “It is, but I know something better than that.”
“Better than being saved?” asked the other. “What can you in your position possibly know that is better than that?”
“The companionship of the Man who saved me,” was the unexpected reply.
Trouble and perplexity drive me to prayer, and prayer drives away perplexity and trouble.
—Philipp Melancthon
Satan may build a wall about us, but he can’t put a roof over us to keep us from praying to God.
—J. Hudson Taylor
Without time for prayer, nothing can be accomplished.
—W. Graham Scroggie
A man in Ireland who came in contact with a Bible colporteur, at first repulsed him. Finally he persuaded him to take a Bible and later said, “I read a wee bit out of the New Testament every day, and I pray to God every night and every morning.” When asked if it helped him to read God’s Word and to pray he answered, “Indeed it does. When I go to do anything wrong, I just say to myself, ‘Pat, you’ll be talking to God tonight!’ That keeps me from doing it.”
Someone spoke this searching word at Edinburgh in 1910: “We have lost the eternal youthfulness of Christianity and have aged into calculating manhood. We seldom pray for the extraordinary, the limitless, the glorious. We seldom pray with any confidence, for any good to the realization of which we cannot imagine away. And yet, we suppose ourselves to believe in an Infinite Father.”
The spectacle of a nation praying is more awe-inspiring than the explosion of an atomic bomb. The force of prayer is greater than any possible combination of man-made or man-controlled powers, because prayer is man’s greatest means of tapping the infinite resources of God. Invoking by prayer the mercy and might of God is our most efficacious means of guaranteeing peace and security for the harassed and helpless people of the earth.
—J. Edgar Hoover
A military cadet who had just been saved by Christ was in his room pouring out thanksgiving for pardoned sin. A heavy knock sounded on the door and before the cadet could get to his feet, a colonel entered.
“What,” he said, “do you pray? I gave that up long ago. I have all I want so there’s nothing to ask God for.”
“Well, sir,” replied the cadet, “you must have a lot to thank Him for!”
A test of faith is whether you are surprised when your prayers are answered.
Begin the day with God,
Kneel down to Him in prayer,
Lift up thine heart to His abode,
And seek His love to share.
Open the book of God,
And read a portion there,
That may hallow all thy thoughts,
And sweeten all they care.
Go through the day with God;
Whate’er thy work may be;
Whate’er thou art, at home, abroad,
He still is near to thee.
Converse in thy mind with God;
Thy spirit heavenward raise,
Acknowledge every good bestowed,
And offer grateful praise.
Conclude the day with God;
Thy sins to Him confess,
Trust in the Lord’s atoning blood,
And plead His righteousness.