20 quotes on prayer

"Our prayers may be awkward. Our attempts may be feeble. But since the power of prayer is in the one who hears it and not in the one who says it, our prayers do make a difference." - Max Lucado

“To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.” – Martin Luther

"True prayer is a way of life, not just for use in cases of emergency. Make it a habit, and when the need arises you will be in practice." - Billy Graham

“A day without prayer is a day without blessing, and a life without prayer is a life without power.” – Edwin Harvey

“True prayer is neither a mere mental exercise nor a vocal performance. It is far deeper than that – it is a spiritual transaction with the Creator of Heaven and Earth.” – Charles Spurgeon

“I pray, not wish because I have God, not a genie.”

"She (my mother) became a warrior far superior to any epic hero. She became a giant on her knees. With a sword in one hand she battled the enemies of death and disease, and with her other hand stretched toward heaven she kept beseeching God’s help and His mercy." - Bishop T.D. Jakes 

The value of persistent prayer is not that He will hear us but that we will finally hear Him. — William McGill.

“Prayer makes a godly man, and puts within him the mind of Christ, the mind of humility, of self-surrender, of service, of pity, and of prayer. If we really pray, we will become more like God, or else we will quit praying.” – E.M. Bounds

"Prayer lays hold of God's plan and becomes the link between his will and its accomplishment on earth. Amazing things happen, and we are given the privilege of being the channels of the Holy Spirit's prayer." - Elisabeth Elliot

“It is possible to move men, through God, by prayer alone.” – Hudson Taylor

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

“To desire revival… and at the same time to neglect (personal) prayer and devotion is to wish one way and walk another.” – A.W. Tozer

“Pray hardest when it’s hardest to pray.”

"If your day is hemmed in with prayer, it is less likely to come unraveled." - Cynthia Lewis

“I saw more clearly than ever, that the first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day was, to have my soul happy in the Lord.” – George Mueller

"We are to pray in times of adversity, lest we become faithless and unbelieving. We are to pray in times of prosperity, lest we become boastful and proud. We are to pray in times of danger, lest we become fearful and doubting. We are to pray in times of security, lest we become self-sufficient." - Billy Graham

“Prayer is the open admission that without Christ we can do nothing. And prayer is the turning away from ourselves to God in the confidence that He will provide the help we need. Prayer humbles us as needy and exalts God as wealthy.” John Piper

“No one has failed who keeps trying and keeps praying.”

“God does nothing but by prayer, and everything with it.” – John Wesley

Stories of Answered Prayer

In a few days our church will begin 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting. Like most churches we believe there is power in submitting to God through prayer. In my life prayer can be hard because I love doing. Prayer seems counterintuitive. Prayer is the refusal to do, move, go and achieve. It’s the quiet surrender of our most valued resource: time.

Augustine said it well: Pray as though everything depended on God; work as though everything depended on you. -

I’d like to encourage you with 3 stories of answered prayer in my own personal life. I’ll keep to brief, but these were huge answers to big problems in my life.

God I am broke, but I trust You

I was 23 years old. My wife and I were newlyweds struggling to make ends meet. I had 3 jobs. Two were blue collar hourly wage jobs and one was my job at the church plant we were helping. My focus and passion was church ministry. However, I had bills to pay. Many nights I would work at one job until 3am, only to head to the next job at 5am. It wasn’t sustainable. I began praying about quitting one of my jobs. I knew that ministry was my calling. Between the other 2 jobs there was a huge difference in pay. The night job (7pm-3am) paid $14/hr but the early morning job (5am-10am) only paid $10/hr. I prayed and prayed and determined to trust God. My goal wasn’t to just quit and be lazy. I’d be committing more time to the new church I was working at. I gave my notice at the night job. I felt sure i was making a huge financial mistake. A few days later I was called into the terminal manager’s office at my morning job. He explained corporate had decided to give everyone in my department a 40% raise. I knew in that moment I could trust God. My pay at the morning job was now the same as the evening job. What’s more I became eligible for some of the best benefits on the planet regardless of how many hours I worked. God is so good. I kept that job for 15 years. I only recently left to spend more time with our son (more on that later).

God we have no options. It’s Your problem now

I was 30 years old. We were in the early stages of planning and launching Restore Church. This was before our public launch, before we had a staff, before we had a building. Restore was an idea at best. At this point Casie and I had gathered a launch team to start the church. A few dozen friends and family had committed to help us start a church from scratch. It’s basically a wild idea now that I’m typing it. Anyway the launch team was forming. We were gathering weekly to pray, plan and prepare for this new church. It was fall and our cookouts were getting chilly. We had run out of room in my home so we met at a few local spots in town. Then we lost those spots. Some closed, others were closed to us. I had a team that needed to meet, but nowhere to meet. I remember walking in my yard and having a nervous break down. I prayed and told God “If You want a church here it’s Your problem to solve. I can’t solve this.” A few hours later a local pastor I’d never met reached out to me on Twitter. He explained he felt moved to offer me the use of his building until we launched the church. As we stared at each other across our coffees I explained our situation. He said “God wants this church to start. He’s got a solution. That’s why I’m here.” The rest is history. We met at Forward Church pre-launch, launched in the Sports Hall and grew, then bought our facility in 2017. Every. Single. Step. Required dependence upon God. He always came through.

Some people don’t get their miracle baby

I was 34 years old. At this point many of our church people knew that Casie and I desired to have children, but the path had been hard. We had seen God move and there were miracle babies in our church on Port Centre Pkwy, but not in our home on Tyler Crescent.

Through the years we’d tried everything. First it was drugs and treatments. Then surgery. Finally we were attempting multiple rounds of IVF. If you don’t know what IVF is it’s a very expensive option of last resort for couples who can’t conceive. I cried the first time it failed. I was numb by the 2nd round of IVF. When the 3rd round failed our doctors told us it was time to accept that we could never have children. I wish I prayed, but at that point I was too angry to talk to God. I just mourned and moved on. My wife and our friends kept praying.

One day Kevin told me he’d been praying. I was tired of hearing people feel sorry for us. I explained that we weren’t the only couple without kids. I even mentioned a couple that to this day can conceive. I said “I’m ok. People just need to accept that not everyone gets their miracle baby.” Poor Kevin. How can you respond to that. He wasn’t alone though. My wife, our parents and many others kept praying.

In 2020 when the world came to a screeching halt my wife went to her doctor for an exam. They noticed some abnormalities and ask if she would take a pregnancy test. Casie laughed and shared why we couldn’t have kids. The doctor acknowledged, but said it would just help them rule out bigger tests if they could have her take a pregnancy test. They made her take 2. They said it was because the first didn't read. The real reason was they didn’t want her to get excited for a false positive. The nurse showed her both positive tests and said bloodwork confirmed the good news. Seven months later our son was born happy and healthy. He is a miracle that we can’t explain. Our fertility doctors can’t explain it either. God is good.

What’s your story? Do you have answered prayer you’d be willing to share? Let us know in the comments.

Have a prayer request? Let us know here

3 simple steps to establish your devotional life

Do you ever ask yourself How do I start reading my Bible, or How do I start praying to God?

What makes getting into a routine so difficult? We have busy schedules that consist of work, family, and activities that we enjoy. So, where can we fit in extra time for other things? That's easy,  most of us have at least 15-30 minutes every day that we can allot to spending our time with these other things.

Yet, getting into a routine can be so difficult because it asks not how much time we give in a particular day, but how often will we seek to spend time each day and the next on devoting our time to whatever thing we are giving our time to. With as difficult as starting a routine can seem to be, starting a routine is also equally simple. 

Choose a time

What time works best for you? As I said earlier, most of us can find a 15-30 minute window in our busy lives to spend time with our Creator. One of the most crucial aspects of starting a routine is gradually building your endurance up from an easy starting point. A lot of times we can get burnt out of our devotions simply because we try to do everything all at once. Pick a time of day and start small.

I tend to have a tendency to be more awake at night and I prefer to end my day in a way that I can thank God for the things He has done that day. I've also met plenty of people who love to start their day in God's presence so that their day and their decisions throughout their day reflect their time spent with God early in the morning. And there are also others who prefer to spend their time with God in the middle of the day or during their break at work. All of these are good, but remember to choose a time that works best for you.

Choose a place where you are comfortable

Do you have a view that sticks out in your head? How about a comfortable spot you love to sit? Learning to enjoy your routine is vastly important to continuing a healthy routine. Finding that place where you can sit and focus on God is important to enjoying the routine of having your devotion with God. If you don't have a place in mind, look for one.

Read/Pray/Meditate

There isn't a real set order in how you should do these three things, but it is good to do these three things in some order. 

Read. Reading our Bible is the way that we can see what God has spoken to those in the past and how he speaks to us today. Don't just read to read, read so that you can remember what you've read. No matter if you have read 5 verses or 5 chapters. If you are having trouble finding a book to start in you can look back at one of our recent posts about where to start reading your Bible: http://www.restoreportsmouth.com/blog/?offset=1474568064263

Pray. Praying is our way to speak with God. He wants for us to have a relationship with Him and to have an ongoing conversation with Him in our Bible reading and prayer. Praying for our needs is good as well, but remember to also pray for others.

Meditate. I'm not talking about sitting on the floor Indian-style and humming chants or doing yoga. I mean that after you read and pray to reflect on the things that you've learned. Reflect on the Word of God and reflect on what He is doing in your life.

-T.I. (the intern)