Quotes concerning Corporate Prayer The Ministry of Intercession, Andrew Murray, p 5. A congregation without a prayer meeting is essentially defective in its organization, and so must be limited in its efficiency. The Prayer Meeting and Its History, J. B. Johnston A church is never more like the New Testament church than when it is praying. A dynamic praying church must be built from the inside out, employing all four levels of prayer: the secret closet, the family altar, small group praying and finally, the congregational setting. Developing your Secret Closet of Prayer, Richard Burr, p 19. As prayer meetings fail in a congregation, so will the ministrations of the pastor become unfruitful, the preaching of the word fail to convert sinners and promote holiness in the professors of religion. The Prayer Meeting and Its History, J. B. Johnston At other times what divine impressions of holiness have you felt in public worship in the congregation when this has been performed with holy skill and fervency and prayer you have received more solid edification than from the whole sermon? How dead have you been to all sinful temptations, and how much devoted to God? Do you not long to be able to pray in this way in your households and in your own room? A Guide to Prayer, Isaac Watts, 174 “If we pray among a select society of Christians, we draw near to God with holy boldness, something like what we use in our duties of secret worship. We have reason to take more freedom among fellow saints and whose hearts have felt many of the same workings as our own.” A Guide to Prayer, Isaac Watts, p 58 Even though we may not take part audibly in the action, yet if we are there in a right spirit - there really to wait upon God, we marvelously help the tone of a meeting. CHM If you want to see how popular the church is, attend Sunday morning worship. If you want to see how popular the pastor is, attend Sunday evening. if you want to see how popular God is, attend the prayer meeting. Armin Gesswein Everything by Prayer, Fred Hartley, page 123 God has appointed prayer as his way of dispensing, and our way of obtaining all promised good. The Prayer Meeting and Its History, J. B. Johnston History confirms the truth that wherever evangelical and vital religion flourish, there lives the earnest gatherings for social prayer. The Prayer Meeting and Its History, J. B. Johnston If one Jacob can prevail over the angel, then what could several Jacobs accomplish? In the prayer meeting, as nowhere else, are Christian graces thus brought together with powerful reactionary and reflective force. The Prayer Meeting and Its History, J. B. Johnston Nothing is more calculated to begat a spirit of prayer than to unite in social prayer with one who has the Spirit himself. Mighty Prevailing Prayer, Wesley Duewel Prayer is the proper work of the heart; yet in this present state, in secret as well as in social prayer, the language of the lips is an excellent aid in this part of worship. A Guide to Prayer, Isaac Wattts, p 68 Prayer meetings were the arteries of the early church. Through them, life-sustaining power was derived. The condition of the church may be very accurately gauged by its prayer meetings. So is the prayer meeting a grace-ometer, and from it we may judge of the amount of divine working among a people. If God be near a church, it must pray. And if He be not there, one of die first tokens of His absence will be a slothfulness in prayer! Charles Haddon Spurgeon Everything by Prayer, Fred Hartley, page 120 The New Testament prayer meeting reveals the master plan of Jesus. The last thing Jesus did on earth was to build that prayer meeting, and it is the only thing He left behind on planet Earth when He ascended to heaven. Everything by Prayer, Fred Hartley, page 13 The power of the Church truly to bless rests on intercession—asking and receiving heavenly gifts to carry to men. Power Through Prayer, E. M. Bounds The prayer meeting answers to this demand of the spiritual brotherhood, with more exclusiveness and direct fitness than any other ordinance of religious worship. The Prayer Meeting and Its History, J. B. Johnston There is a power in conferring and covenanting, on the part of kindred spirits, to come before God, and plead together some special promise. The Prayer Meeting and Its History, J. B. Johnston The prayer meeting is a divine ordinance, founded in man’s social nature. The Prayer Meeting and Its History, J. B. Johnston The prayer meeting is a special means of developing and cultivating Christian graces, and of promoting individual and social edification. The Prayer Meeting and Its History, J. B. Johnston The prayer meeting is the pulse of the church. The Prayer Meeting and Its History, J. B. Johnston The prayer meeting is the rallying point where the power of faith in the church concentrates, and takes hold on the arm that moves the world. The Prayer Meeting and Its History, J. B. Johnston The simple fact is, we are too vague and, as a consequence, too indifferent in our prayers and prayer meetings. We do not seem like people asking for what they want, and waiting for what they ask. This is what destroys our prayer meetings, rendering them pithless, pointless, powerless; turning them into teaching or talking meetings, rather than deep-toned, earnest prayer meetings. CHM The spirit of prayer, and the love and practice of the prayer meeting, will so give organic strength to the church as to make her terrible as an army with banners. The Prayer Meeting and Its History, J. B. Johnston Using Acts 1:4 as his basis, Armin Gesswein often called the central all-church prayer meeting “Christ’s last command; our first responsibility.” Everything by Prayer, Fred Hartley, page 16 We must never get away I from the fact that when Jesus built His Church He built a prayer meeting. Armin Gesswein Everything by Prayer, Fred Hartley What the Church needs today is not more or better machinery, not new organizations or more and novel methods, but men whom the Holy Ghost can use – men of prayer. When Christ ascended into heaven all He left behind was a prayer meeting. The early Church didn’t have a prayer meeting; the early Church was the prayer meeting. In fact, in the early Church every Christian was a prayer-meeting Christian. –Armin Gesswein Everything by Prayer, Fred Hartley, page 12 When you join with others in prayer and you are not the speaker, let your heart be kept intent and watchful to the work, that you may pray so much the better when you are the mouth of others to God. A Guide to Prayer Isaac Watts, p 123. Let us pray then, that when God has prepared our heart for worship, he would also teach our tongue to answer the thoughts and desires of the heart and to express them in words suitable and answering to all our inward spiritual feelings. A fitting variety of expression, and holy oratory prayer, is one of these good and perfect gifts that come from above, from God, the Father of lights and Knowledge. James 1:17 A Guide to Prayer Isaac Watts, p 75 Focusing on the personal prayer life only would be equivalent to trying to fly a plane on one wing. John Franklin Constance Garrett asserts, “our growth in grace and power depends largely upon our individual, personal prayer life. Yet public worship” is “nonetheless important and necessary.” Quoted by John Franklin from Growth in Prayer, Constance Garrett, p 115 On the other hand, George Buttrick answers a rhetorical question. “Can’t a man pray without belonging to a church?” by declaring, “He cannot pray well or fully until he is a member of some fellowship of prayer.” George Buttrick, Prayer, 283 J. Edwin Orr makes no bones where he stands, ‘No great spiritual awakening has begun anywhere in the world apart from united prayer.’ J. Edwin Orr, Prayer, Its Deeper Dimensions p. 21. Every converted sinner is a soul revived to prayer. Every saint restored from backsliding, is a soul returned to the life and power of prayer. Every congregation enjoying an outpouring of the Spirit, is a congregation revived and alive to the prayer meeting. The Prayer Meeting and Its History, J. B. Johnston Do our churches that have a prayer meeting have a weekly prayer meeting or a weakly prayer meeting. What we cannot obtain by solitary prayer we may by social...because where our individual strength fails, there union and concord are effectual. Chrysostom 400 AD Quotes concerning Prayer in General A great part of my time is spent in getting my heart in tune for prayer. Robert Murray McCheyne A prayerless soul is a Christless soul. A poor blanched thing may be produced in a dark cellar; and so may you maintain a poor, blanched miserable existence, if you live absent from your God, and apart from that strength which faith can give you, but you can never attain the healthy verdure of grace. A graceless man will be a prayerless man. The Prayer Meeting and Its History, J. B. Johnston A man’s influence in the world can be gauged not by his eloquence, or his zeal, or his orthodox, or his energy, but by his prayers. The Kneeling Christian A man of prevailing prayer must be filled with the Spirit of God. The Kneeling Christian A child of God ought to expect answers to prayer. A season of silence is the best preparation for speech with God. The Path of Prayer, Samuel Chadwick, page 65 Ah, my brethren, we little know how many of our prayers are an abomination to the Lord. C. H. Spurgeon All good is born in prayer, and all good springs from it. C. H. Spurgeon All you need to do to learn to pray is to pray. Mighty Prevailing Prayer, Wesley Duewel All fruitfulness in service is the outcome of prayer — of the worker’s prayers, or of those who are holding up holy hands on his behalf. All progress in prayer is an answer to prayer—our own or another’s. The Soul of Prayer, by P. T. Forsyth All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye have received them [that is, in heaven], and ye shall have them [on earth] Mark 11: 24 All in God draws me; everything within and around drives me to the throne of grace. The Hidden Life, Adolph Saphir All real growth in the spiritual life- all victory over temptation, all confidence and peace in the presence of difficulties and dangers, all repose of spirit in times of great disappointment or loss, all habitual communion with God-depend upon the practice of secret prayer. The Kneeling Christian All the evil influences which seek to prevent our approach to God do not deserve to be compared with the attractive power of God. The Hidden Life, Adolph Saphir All true prayer is exercised in the sphere of the Holy Spirit, motivated and empowered by Him. Eph 6:18 And all true prayer promotes its own progress and increases our power to pray. The Soul of Prayer, by P. T. Forsyth All of us would be wiser if we would resolve never to put people down, except on our prayer lists. A Call to Spiritual Reformation, D.A. Carson Although God certainly knows all our needs, praying for them changes our attitude from complaint to praise and enables us to participate in God’s personal plan for our lives. Ray Stedman And many shall think they are praying to the Father in my name, whilst deceiving themselves. The Kneeling Christian An ounce of believing prayer is worth a ton of edifying talk. John Cowan An uneducated but disciplined believer may have a greater prayer life than a theologian who thinks and talks a lot about prayer. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions. Eph 6:18 And surely it should be enough to restrain all ‘lightness’ and constrain an unceasing ‘earnestness’ did we apprehend the ‘“greatness of the Being’” before whom we plead. C. H. Spurgeon Andrew Bonar defined fasting as abstaining from anything that hindered prayer. Anything is a blessing which makes us pray. C. H. Spurgeon Apostasy generally begins at the closet door. E M Bounds As impossible as it is for us to take a breath in the morning large enough to last us until noon, so impossible is it to pray in the morning in such a way as to last us until noon. Prayer, O. Hallesby, p 146 As well could you expect a plant to grow without air and water as to expect your heart to grow without prayer and faith. As we lift up our soul in prayer to the living God, we gain the beauty of holiness as surely as a flower becomes beautiful by living in the sunlight. The Kneeling Christian As a painted man is no man, and as a painted fire is no fire, so a cold prayer is no prayer. Thomas Brooks Ask of Me — I will give, says an almighty, all-loving God, and we scarcely heed His words! Ask the Lord of the harvest to send workers into His harvest. Mat 9:38 Asking with shameless persistence, the importunity that will not be denied, returns with the answer in hand. Believing prayer from a wholly-cleansed heart never fails. The Kneeling Christian Both Scripture and experience unite to indicate that there is cumulative power in unified praying. But it is the Holy Spirit of God Who is prayer’s great Helper. The Kneeling Christian But if one neglects his closet, then all evil comes of it. C. H. Spurgeon But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thine inner chamber.. Mt 6:6 Can we pray in earnest if we do not in the act commit ourselves to do our best to bring about the answer? Can we escape some king of hypocrisy? This is especially so with intercession. The Soul of Prayer The Soul of Prayer, P.T. Forsyth Christians pray as they feel; and in prayer they feel themselves in the presence of God, the Hearer of prayer, and the Searcher of hearts. The Prayer Meeting and Its History, J. B. Johnston Cold prayers always freeze before they reach heaven. Thomas Brooks Cold prayers ask for a denial! C. H. Spurgeon Communion is deeper than theology. The Path of Prayer, Samuel Chadwick, page 65 Communion with God is essential before we can have real communion with our fellow-man. The Kneeling Christian Do I really believe that prayer is a power? Do the angels veil their faces before You, and shall I be content to prattle through a form with no soul and no heart? C. H. Spurgeon Do believers or unbelievers ever say of us, “We know your prayers are answered”? The Kneeling Christian Do you imagine that you shall ever go far along in the heavenly pilgrimage if you neglect prayer? Does prayer indeed “move the Hand that moves the world”? Doubtful prayer is no prayer at all. John Calvin Draw nigh to God, so that you may dread the grave as little as your bed. Draw nigh to God, that you may live a happy and useful life. Drawing nigh to God is the most concentrated energy of the soul. Effective prayer is the fruit of a relationship with God, not a technique for acquiring blessings. A Call to Spiritual Refromation, D.A. Carson Either we pray or we faint. Ray Stedman Even pagan savages cry out to someone or something to aid them in times of danger and disaster and distress. How much more should we that know the true God. Every prayerless day is a statement by a helpless individual, “I do not need God today.” The Arena of Prayer, Ben Jennings Every unanswered prayer is a clarion call to search the heart to see what is wrong there; for the promise is unmistakable in its clearness: “If ye shall ask anything in My name, that will I do” John 14:14 Failing to pray reflects idolatry–a trust in substitutes for God. The Arena of Prayer, Ben Jennings For more than Thirty-five years. I have had much intercourse with dying saints and sinners of various ages and conditions. In all that time I have not heard one express regret that he had spent too much time in prayer; I have heard many mourn that they had so seldom visited a throne of grace. Wm. S. Plumer in The Power of Prayer, by Samuel Prime, p 244 For the most part our repetitions are evidence not of the fervency, but of the barrenness of our minds and the slightness of our frame.” A Guide to Prayer, Isaac Watts, p 60 “Be not rash to utter anything before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few. Eccles. 5:2.
Posted on: Tue, 30 Jul 2013 11:56:43 +0000
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