c2p-cmd/Good-Quotes-Authors huggingface dataset:
O infinite goodness of my God! It is thus that I seem to see both myself and Thee. O Joy of the angels, how I long, when I think of this, to be wholly consumed in love for Thee! How true it is that Thou dost bear with those who cannot bear Thee to be with them! Oh, how good a Friend art Thou, my Lord! How Thou dost comfort us and suffer us and wait until our nature becomes more like Thine and meanwhile dost bear with it as it is! Thou dost remember the times when we love Thee, my Lord, and, when for a moment we repent, Thou dost forget how we offended Thee. I have seen this clearly in my own life, and I cannot conceive, my Creator, why the whole world does not strive to draw near to Thee in this intimate friendship. Those of us who are wicked, and whose nature is not like Thine, ought to draw near to Thee so that Thou mayest make them good. They should allow Thee to be with them for at least two hours each day, even though they may not be with Thee, but are perplexed, as I was, with a thousand worldly cares and thoughts. In exchange for the effort which it costs them to desire to be in such good company (for Thou knowest, Lord, that at first this is as much as they can do and sometimes they can do no more at all) Thou dost prevent the devils from assaulting them so that each day they are able to do them less harm, and Thou givest them strength to conquer. Yea, Life of all lives, Thou slayest none of those that put their trust in Thee and desire Thee for their Friend; rather dost Thou sustain their bodily life with greater health and give strength to their souls.
— Teresa of Ávila, The Life of Saint Teresa of Ávila by Herself
... I told him I was so happy that I had nothing else to pray for. 'Why,'says I, I've got prayers to sell. 
— Sandra Dallas
If it's worth doing, it's worth doing poorly. (friend who is a priest said regarding prayer)
— Sybil MacBeth, Praying in Color: Drawing a New Path to God
You may be confident that if something is necessary for the carrying out of His will in your life, God is ready to give it…If they [desires] are not mere whims to bring only momentary satisfaction or glory to us but are rather true desires to accomplish more good and live more fully to His glory, then it will be in accordance with His will. Only a careful searching of your heart can allow you to know the motivation that prompts your prayer.
— John R. Bisagno
Make us love and obey you so that the works of our hands may always display what your hands have done, until we gaze upon the beauty of your face.
— The Catholic Church, Liturgy of the Hours
Memory fill the night. Please help make my pain and memories light. In your arms I find comfort. Guide me in my days. Help me Lord, this night
— Brent M. Jones
Memory fills my nightHelp make my pain and memories lightIn your arms I find comfortGuide me in my daysHold me in Thy armsHelp me Lord, this night
— Brent M. Jones
To dream is to desire.
— Lailah Gifty Akita
In the life of Moses, in Hebrew folklore, there is a remarkable passage. Moses finds a shepherd in the desert. He spends the day with the shepherd and helps him milk his ewes, and at the end of the day he sees that the shepherd puts the best milk he has in a wooden bowl, which he places on a flat stone some distance away. So Moses asks him what it is for, and the shepherd replies 'This is God's milk.' Moses is puzzled and asks him what he means. The shepherd says 'I always take the best milk I possess, and I bring it as on offering to God.' Moses, who is far more sophisticated than the shepherd with his naive faith, asks, 'And does God drink it?' 'Yes,' replies the shepherd, 'He does.' Then Moses feels compelled to enlighten the poor shepherd and he explains that God, being pure spirit, does not drink milk. Yet the shepherd is sure that He does, and so they have a short argument, which ends with Moses telling the shepherd to hide behind the bushes to find out whether in fact God does come to drink the milk. Moses then goes out to pray in the desert. The shepherd hides, the night comes, and in the moonlight the shepherd sees a little fox that comes trotting from the desert, looks right, looks left and heads straight towards the milk, which he laps up, and disappears into the desert again. The next morning Moses finds the shepherd quite depressed and downcast. 'What's the matter?' he asks. The shepherd says 'You were right, God is pure spirit, and He doesn't want my milk.' Moses is surprised. He says 'You should be happy. You know more about God than you did before.' 'Yes, I do' says the shepherd, 'but the only thing I could do to express my love for Him has been taken away from me.' Moses sees the point. He retires into the desert and prays hard. In the night in a vision, God speaks to him and says 'Moses, you were wrong. It is true that I am pure spirit. Nevertheless I always accepted with gratitude the milk which the shepherd offered me, as the expression of his love, but since, being pure spirit, I do not need the milk, I shared it with this little fox, who is very fond of milk.
— Anthony Bloom, Beginning to Pray
He supposes in this way he's learned to pray not as one might to the gods but as one does by simply pausing every now and then to think of others.
— Vaddey Ratner, Music of the Ghosts
Prayer is powerful, but prayer combined with action creates miracles.
— Eileen Anglin
You don't have to close your eyes or even look up to find an answer you just have to want an answer to come, and then ask.
— Brent M. Jones
Obedience is love, fulfilling every command, love expressing itself. Obedience, therefore, is not a hard demand made upon us, any more than is the service a husband renders his wife, or a wife renders her husband. Love delights to obey, and please whom it loves. There are no hardships in love. There may be exactions, but no irk. There are no impossible tasks for love.With what simplicity and in what a matter-of-fact way does the apostle John say: 'And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things which are pleasing in his sight.
— E.M. Bounds, Necessity of Prayer
In moments when fever, agony, and pain make it hard to pray, the suggestion of prayer that comes from merely holding the rosary - or better still, from caressing the Crucifix at the end of it - is tremendous!
— Fulton J. Sheen
We remain free, however, to listen to God's communication or not to listen, and free to respond or not to respond to what we hear. When we speak of contemplative prayer, we are speaking at the same time of awareness of this communication by God and of a willingness to listen and respond. Conscious relationship begins when I choose to listen to or to look at what the other is doing. After I have made this choice, I then freely decide whether to respond or not. Thus, by contemplative prayer we mean the conscious willingness and desire to look at and listen to God as God wishes to be for me and to respond. I may accept or reject God's initiative. in either case I have responded. When this process occurs, the person has the 'foodstuff' for beginning spiritual direction." (p. 34
— William A. Barry
A Christian who understands the power of prayer, and lives a just life has power because of prayer and righteousness.
— Ernest Agyemang Yeboah
Both of these attitudes -- unrelenting listlessness and dogged good cheer -- have to yield to the realities of prayer and life if the relationship with God is to grow and spiritual direction be helpful. Pointing repeatedly to discordant notes that sound in prayer will usually be the most valuable assistance directors can give. But sometimes people's defenses will be so entrenched that only a forthright confrontation will capture their attention. Such a confrontation would have to be focused clearly on the main issue: Are they willing to notice what is happening in prayer and in life, or are they screening out material that conflicts with a mood they feel they must maintain?" (Ch.5, p. 75)
— William A. Barry, The Practice of Spiritual Direction
The greater are our affections the deeper are our afflictions, and the more we love the more we have to weep.
— J.C. Ryle, A Call to Prayer
Once I am aware of what has been on my mind and have established ways to respond in faith with a particular prayer, sacred word, or silence before God, my anxious thoughts lose a great deal of their power.
— Ed Cyzewski, Flee, Be Silent, Pray: An Anxious Evangelical Finds Peace with God through Contemplative Prayer
Do not pray for easy lives; pray to be stronger men! Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers; pray for powers equal to your tasks! Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle. But you shall be a miracle. Every day you shall wonder at yourself, at the richness of life which has come in you by the grace of God.
— Phillips Brooks
Battles are won in the Prayer Room!
— Joe Joe Dawson
Therefore we should pray for each other the way Jesus prays for us in John 17:17-- "Sanctify them in the truth; thy Word is truth.
— John Piper
Prayer isn't an excuse to sin.
— Tessa Bailey, Too Hard to Forget
O God, thank you for the miracle of new beginning life. Bless the mothers, and let them know that you are ever with them throughout their pregnancies, labors, and deliveries. Bless those eagerly awaiting their opportunities to love and nurture. Especially bless baby, N. Keep these, your tiniest souls, safe in their mothers' wombs, and under your heart until they are old enough, big enough, strong enough, mature enough, and healthy enough to be born into this world to be shining examples of your love and grace. It is in the name of your dear child, Jesus Christ our Lord, that we pray. Amen.
— Mrs. Camille S. Senter
He was an indecent man, I told myself - prayerfully - and then I prayed for him to become decent.
— Kelsey Brickl, Paint
I thank Thee that many of my prayers have been refused... I have longed for Egypt and have been given a wilderness.
— Anonymous Puritan Prayer
Satan will always find you something to do when you ought to be occupied about that [regular, prayerful Bible study], if it is only arranging a window blind.
— Hudson Taylor
God aims to exalt himself by working for those who wait for him. Prayer is the essential activity of waiting for God: acknowledging our helplessness and his power, calling upon him for help, seeking his counsel.
— John Piper, Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist
God is not looking for people to work for him, so much as he is looking for people ho will let him work for them. The gospel is not a Help Wanted ad. Neither is the call to to Christian service. On the contrary, the gospel commands us to give up and hang out a Help Wanted sign (this is the basic meaning of prayer). Then the gospel promises that God will work for us if we do. He will not surrender the glory of being the Giver.
— John Piper
An ordinary method will never produce extraordinary expectation of a prayer life.
— Samuel T. Padmore, Invading the Kingdom of Darkness: Rescuing Families and Nations
Successful prayer life only dies after its habit dies.
— Samuel T. Padmore, Invading the Kingdom of Darkness: Rescuing Families and Nations
How long, O God, will we go on with a mock Christianity that takes the tribalism of our world for granted?How long, O God, will we be satisfied with the way things are?How long, O God, will we try to "make some difference in the world" while leaving the basic patterns of the world unaffected?How long, O God will we take consolation in numbers, buildings, and structures, when millions of your children are dying?How long, O Sovereign Lord, will we remain blind to the lessons of history?
— Emmanuel Katongole, Mirror to the Church: Resurrecting Faith After Genocide in Rwanda
Here is one great name - Jehovah-jireh. You will find it in the story of Abraham going up into that mountain to sacrifice his only son Isaac. He was on the point of striking his son when suddenly God stopped him and said, 'Do not strike him, I have another offering.' And Abraham found a ram in the thicket. The Lord had provided the offering and the sacrifice, so he gave that name, 'The Lord Will Provide'. And so, whenever you go into the presence of God, whatever your need may be, whatever form the need may be taking, remind yourself that you are praying to Jehovah-jireh, the Lord who has promised to provide. He will be with you for He says, 'I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee' (Josh 1:5).
— D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
A life of prayer is a praise of being.
— Lailah Gifty Akita
Prayer doesn’t begin with our needs, but with his bounty.
— David Mathis, Habits of Grace: Enjoying Jesus through the Spiritual Disciplines
It shouldn’t surprise us…to find that prayer is not finally about getting things from God, but getting God.
— David Mathis, Habits of Grace: Enjoying Jesus through the Spiritual Disciplines
He is holy, and so we worship (adoration). He is merciful, and so we repent (confession). He is gracious, and so we express appreciation (thanksgiving). He is loving and caring, and so we petition him for ourselves, our family, our friends, and our world (supplication).
— David Mathis, Habits of Grace: Enjoying Jesus through the Spiritual Disciplines
This is the heart of prayer—not getting things from God, but getting God.
— David Mathis, Habits of Grace: Enjoying Jesus through the Spiritual Disciplines
…Prayer to God is not only the place for divulging our heart, but also developing our desires.
— David Mathis, Habits of Grace: Enjoying Jesus through the Spiritual Disciplines
The great purpose of prayer is not getting things from God but getting God.
— David Mathis, Habits of Grace: Enjoying Jesus through the Spiritual Disciplines
Let thy pilgrimage be a prayer.
— Lailah Gifty Akita
Prayer in the sense of petition, asking for things, is a small part of it; confession and penitence are its threshold, adoration its sanctuary, the presence and vision and enjoyment of God its bread and wine.
— C.S. Lewis
Heavenly Father,' Kevin says, 'we thank you for this beautiful day. For these beautiful children. For this food we're about to eat. Bless it to our bodies. Let it strengthen us to do your will and be your light in the world. Amen.
— Christy Wilson Beam, Miracles from Heaven: A Little Girl, Her Journey to Heaven, and Her Amazing Story of Healing
Constant prayer interrupts our ego trips and disrupts our toxic trajectories.
— Jen Hatmaker, 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess
The fact that you're a good listener doesn't mean pray to be mute.Speak to your situations.
— Faithful Akpaloo
Prayer illuminate the path.
— Lailah Gifty Akita
Devotees of these two spiritual paths of experience—oneness and goodness—have been at odds for centuries. Proponents of the oneness path have insisted that the goal of spirituality is to reconnect with everlasting eternity. They yearn to taste the quintessence of their being, to transcend time and space, to be unified with the one. In the other camp, advocates of the goodness path have traditionally seen stark choices in the world. They believe we should choose love, compassion, beauty, truth, and altruism over hatred, fear, anger, judgment, and other opposites of goodness. To them, there are constructive forces in the world that are being challenged by destructive ones. Their goal has been to stand their ground and choose to be good above all else. Even with those apparent differences, both paths have found homes within each of the world’s religions. As noted earlier, Hinduism offers the oneness path of Yoga, Judaism offers Kabbalah, Islam offers Sufism, Christianity offers Mysticism, and so on. Whatever the arrangement, the two paths have historically found ways to co-exist.
— Gudjon Bergmann, Experifaith: At the Heart of Every Religion; An Experiential Approach to Individual Spirituality and Improved Interfaith Relations
When we find ourselves praying for something that we want, perhaps more than anything we've ever wanted before, can we honestly pray, 'Lord, do what will bring you the most glory"?
— Paul Tautges, Pray about Everything: Cultivating God-Dependency
The prayer of a progressive man is like a work over compared to his unstable counterpart.
— ANIKOR Daniel
What if you spent some alone time every morning? Call it prayer. Call it planning. Call it centering. I call it a powerful way to begin the day.
— Steve Goodier
Faithful prayer!
— Lailah Gifty Akita
Instead of hating someone, pray for that person. Don't forget to pray for yourself as well, that you may learn how to let go and forgive.
— Germany Kent
The most powerful thought is a prayerful thought. When I'm praying for you, I am praying for my own peace of mind. I can only have for myself what I am willing to wish for you.
— Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph: The Spiritual Journey from Suffering to Enlightenment
If you wait, you can have what you want,
— Lailah Gifty Akita
The Church is not merely a hospital or a halfway house to check in and out for weekend visits.
— DeBorrah K. Ogans, A HOUSE of PRAYER
Let us give thanks for our shadowsfor they are there in the first placebecause of the presence of light.
— Kamand Kojouri
Our [theological] study informs our prayers, and our prayers enliven our study. We cannot choose between prayer and study; faithful theology requires prayerful study.
— Kelly Kapic
Prayer is not an exercise, it is the life of the saint. Beware of anything that stops the offering up of prayer.
— Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest
If every day you were to walk past the same individual and ignore him, never smiling or saying hello or returning any kind gesture he extended toward you, would you expect that same individual to readily respond if suddenly you were to implore his helping hand? Then don’t ignore God. Say ‘hello’ now and then.
— Richelle E. Goodrich, Slaying Dragons
She got up from the bed, knelt beside the bed, and put her forehead down on the covers. She was not practiced at prayer anymore. The only word that came to mind was "please".
— Nancy Horan, Loving Frank
Dear God, I don’t ask that my life be perfect but that you allow the myriad of emotions in my life to end each day with calmness. May I sleep peacefully to do your work again by morning light. I ask for these things in Jesus’s name, amen.
— Ron Baratono
Life is but a prayer.
— Lailah Gifty Akita
And then I did the best thing I knew to do with the strange concoction of sadness and hope brewing inside me. I prayed. I prayed for the people whose initials were on those slivers. Not just for those people, but for the cave people before them and the robot people after them. For real orphans. For all the people who have lost shoes in the road. For kids whose parents play war. For Toodie Bleu Skies and Toodi Bleu Nordenhauer, for M. B. McClean and Douglas Nordenhauer. And all the people who need to find the magic in Make Believe. That, I figured, just about covered the whole world.
— Amber McRee Turner, Sway
Praise begins a prayer.
— Lailah Gifty Akita
Whatever comes into your heart and mind when you think about God is the most important thing about you.
— A.W. Tozer
I want to drown in my tears,And my tears are my prayers.
— Luffina Lourduraj
Your prayers for others and the universe make a difference!
— Susan Barbara Apollon, Affirmations for Healing Mind, Body & Spirit
The Archbishop cradled his right hand in his left. He hung his head in concentration. The goal was meditation, but I've never been quite sure where meditation ends and prayer begins, or where prayer ends and meditation begins. I have heard it said that prayer is when we speak to God, and meditation is when God answers.
— Douglas Abrams, The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World
Hero,” said Machaon to his sister who was still muttering to her gods. “Please stop. Surely the gods would have heard you by now … let’s try not to annoy them.
— Sulari Gentill, Chasing Odysseus
May your glory shine so bright that the world sees God's light in all you do!
— Temitayo Olami
Masturbation and meditation both promote physical and mental wellbeing.
— Abhijit Naskar, Either Civilized or Phobic: A Treatise on Homosexuality
It had been a long fifteen years. So much had changed in both their lives. Both hearts somehow sadly hardened. “Let us just make it through,” Claire whispered her desperate plea. It was her only prayer, one she said over and over again. An almost cynical laugh erupted out of her as she turned one last time to say goodbye to her father’s tombstone. That was her prayer? That was all she could come up with to say to God? Then so be it.
— Laura Aranda, Pushing Back the Darkness
Pray for others because others are selflessly praying for you as well.
— Gift Gugu Mona
Constant prayer is the bridge that leads to life
— Karen  Gibbs
Pray as if you are fully aware that the intricate timing and rotation of every celestial entity in the universe—including the coming and going of innumerable, precious life forms—does not rest in your tiny, mortal hands.
— Richelle E. Goodrich, Slaying Dragons
Masturbating is no more sinful than praying or meditating.
— Abhijit Naskar, Either Civilized or Phobic: A Treatise on Homosexuality
Like a prayer, that was how her name sounded on his lips. She took his face in her hands, finding his eyes blazing, his breathing as ragged as her own
— Sarah J. Maas, Empire of Storms
Begin your day, upon awakening, with prayers of gratitude, requests and affirmations that they are being answered—always ending with more gratitude.
— Susan Barbara Apollon, Affirmations for Healing Mind, Body & Spirit
Prayers can be whatever you wish them to be. They can be short or long requests, expressions of gratitude and affirmations that your requests are being honored.
— Susan Barbara Apollon, Affirmations for Healing Mind, Body & Spirit
One of the highest emotions is that of Gratitude… Wherever you are, offer the expression of your awareness of your blessings and how grateful you are for them.
— Susan Barbara Apollon, Affirmations for Healing Mind, Body & Spirit
Prayer is energy. Try to come from a higher, lighter vibration of gratitude and expectation, in place of worry and fear.
— Susan Barbara Apollon, Affirmations for Healing Mind, Body & Spirit
Healing is about making the choice to focus your thoughts on what feels energetically better at the level of your heart.
— Susan Barbara Apollon, Affirmations for Healing Mind, Body & Spirit
Your heart, mind and body—and all your sixty trillion cells—work as a team. When you carefully choose your thoughts and mental images, and focus on what feels comfortable and good for your heart, you shift to a higher level of vibration, which, in turn, bolsters your immune system.
— Susan Barbara Apollon, Affirmations for Healing Mind, Body & Spirit
Affirmations are powerful and wonderful thoughts that serve you, your body, your immune system, your mind, and your spirit.
— Susan Barbara Apollon, Affirmations for Healing Mind, Body & Spirit
Begin your day with gratitude and end your day with gratitude. A heart filled with loving expressions of thanks is a beautiful offering to the universe.
— Susan Barbara Apollon, Affirmations for Healing Mind, Body & Spirit
Life is a panic, without a prayer.
— Lailah Gifty Akita
Prayer begets peace.
— Lailah Gifty Akita
Was there no one to help? He instinctively bowed his head and prayed. A warm feeling engulfed his battered body. “I’m not alone, I will never be alone. God is with me
— Mark A. Cooper, The Edelweiss Express
He prayed fundamentally as a gesture of love for what had gone and would go and could be loved in no other way. When he prayed he touched his parents, who could not otherwise be touched, and he touched a feeling that we are all children who lose our parents, all of us, every man and woman and boy and girl, and we too will all be lost by those who come after us and love us, and this loss unites humanity, unites every human being, the temporary nature of our being-ness, and our shared sorrow, the heartache we each carry and yet too often refuse to acknowledge in one another, and out of this Saeed felt it might be possible, in the face of death, to believe in humanity's potential for building a better world.
— Mohsin Hamid, Exit West
It has been said that when we pray, we speak to God; when we read, He speaks to us. Keeping this in mind, look for more in good books than entertainment. You will find in these books much that applies to you, and even in good novels, you will find many points that can help you become a finer person and a better Christian.
— William A. Carroll, Catholic Girl's Manual and Sunday Missal
Unavoidably, the life of contemplation is an everyday life, a life of fidelity in small matters, small services rendered in the spirit of warmth and love which lightens every burden. The sun’s brightness can from time to time (and perhaps often) be hidden in mist and cloud, but that is no reason for laying aside one’s daily work. Contemplation is work, and it goes on working even when the person praying derives no apparent satisfaction from it. Contemplation is a conversation in which I am at pains not to be boring, not to say and think the same thing every day; I use my imagination and creativity to offer God at least something of myself.
— Hans Urs von Balthasar, Prayer
Almighty God unto whom all hearts be open, all desires known, and from whom no Secrets are hid: clense the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of thy holy spirit, that we may perfectly love thee, and worthily magnifie thy holy Name through Christ our Lord. Amen.
— Church of England, The 1662 Book of Common Prayer
It is impossible to contemplate the word without the serious intention of doing justice to it in practical behavior. It demands love for God and our neighbor, and does so with such immediacy and unmistakable urgency that it is pointless even to pause before this demand unless we are willing to respond.
— Hans Urs von Balthasar
Prayer is much like sending up a flare. You see it Bright and up there and you know why its there. Your just waiting for signs it was heard
— Chuck Bridges
Come to the Lord with boldness and talk to Him in prayer
— Sunday Adelaja
The notion that the fulfilment of prayer has been determined from eternity, that it was originally included in the plan of creation, is the empty, absurd fiction of a mechanical mode of thought, which is in absolute contradiction with the nature of religion. Whether God decides on the fulfilment of my prayer now, on the immediate occasion of my offering it, or whether he did decide on it long ago, is the same thing.
— Ludwig Feuerbach, The Essence of Christianity
Prayer is the superabundance of the heart. It is brim-full and running over with love and praise, as once it was with Mary, when the Word took root in her body. So too, our heart breaks out into a Magnificat. Now the Word has achieved its 'glorious course' (2 Thess. 3:1): it has gone out from God and been sown in the good soil of the heart. Having now been chewed over and assimilated, it is regenerated in the heart, to the praise of God. It has taken root in us and is now bearing its fruit: we in our turn utter the Word and send it back to God. We have become Word; we are prayer.
— André Louf, Teach Us to Pray
Praise is pushing back my daily worries and impending tasks to acknowledge my always present, never changing God.
— Kathi Lambrides Westlund, Prayer Pathway: Journeying in a Life of Prayer
Those thoughts come to me in the night, those thought and thoughts of becoming sick or helpless, of the nursing home, of lingering death. I gnaw again the old bones of the fear of what is to come, and grieve with a sisterly grief over Grandmam and Mrs. Feltner and the other old women who have gone before. Finally, as a gift, as a mercy, I remember to pray, 'Thy will be done,' and then again I am free and can go to sleep.
— Wendell Berry, Hannah Coulter
I’d like to share with you a parable: the parable of Bob the Angel.A girl was walking down a darkly lit city street late at night. A man jumped out from the shadows and attacked her, suddenly she was suffocating and disoriented as hands clasped around her neck and the force of his attack started to push her down. She tried to yell as she struggled to pull his arms from her neck while she crumpled backwards to the ground, “God . . . help me!” The next thing she remembers—just as the fear consumed her, and right as she disappeared into the misery and despair of helplessness—was a loud crash and an explosion of glass which rained down upon her and her attacker. The assailant’s lifeless body was suspended above her, held from collapsing on her by an unknown force, and then pulled away from hovering over her and dropped onto the pavement beside her. She opened her eyes in the faint shadowy light, to see black matted hair and a long, black beard framing the eyes of a man. The smell of alcohol on his breath would have knocked her out if the adrenaline was not still trilling through her veins. There he stood, God’s angel, off-kilter and drunk, with a broken whiskey bottle in his hand. “You probably shouldn’t be walking through here this late at night,” was all he said as he turned away.“Wait! What’s your name?” she asked, still stunned half sitting up on the ground.All she heard as he walked away was his trailing voice calling, “Bob’s as good as any. . . .” An angel is a messenger, and sometimes we only want letters sent in white envelopes with beautiful gold print, when sometimes a simple “no” on the back of a gum wrapper is what we are offered. Every postcard from heaven does not come with a picture of the sunset there, nor should it. If it is an answer we want, an answer we will get. As far as pretty postcards, there are many others willing to send us that. If not harps and gold-tipped wings, what then is the mark of an angel? An answer which pierces your soul, and which inspires a question that invites you to look outside of yourself and up to God. God is very objective; He wants to make us think, to engage the faculties we have been given, and to learn from the messengers he sends us. He wants us in the ark before the flood; he could come himself—or send a Noah—but most of the time he sends Bob. Bob is in you, Bob is in me, Bob is in the emotionalized, sarcastic, mocking, patronizing, proud or foolish person which points out meaningful things to us in the worst possible moments, or in the worst possible way.
— Michael Brent Jones, Dinner Party: Part 2
How do I pray? Not in any organized form, really; I go to temples sometimes with my family, but they leave me cold. I think of prayer as something intensely personal, a way of reaching my hands out towards my maker. I recite some mantras my parents taught me as a child; there is something reassuring about those ancient words, hallowed by use and repetition over thousands of years.
— Shashi Tharoor, Riot
Human beings, to me, are rather like electrical appliances that need to be charged regularly, and prayer is a way of plugging into that charge.
— Shashi Tharoor, Riot
Sometimes, God drives us to Prayer and Scripture not for answers to the struggles, but for anchors in the storms.
— Todd Stocker, Refined: Turning Pain Into Purpose
I pray where I am, sitting by the window, looking out through the curtain at the empty garden. I don't even close my eyes. Out there or inside my head, it's an equal darkness. Or light.My God. Who Art in the Kingdom of Heaven, which is within.I wish you would tell me Your Name, the real one I mean. But You will do as well as anything.I wish I knew what You were up to. But whatever it is, help me to get through it, please. Though maybe it's not our doing: I don't believe for an instant that what's going on out there is what You meant.I have enough daily bread, so I won't waste time on that. It isn't the main problem. The problem is getting it down without choking on it.Now we come to forgiveness. Don't worry about forgiving me right now. There are more important things. For instance: keep the others safe, if they are safe. Don't let them suffer too much. If they have to die, let it be fast. You might even provide a Heaven for them. We need You for that. Hell we can make for ourselves.I suppose I should say I forgive whoever did this, and whatever they're doing now. I'll try, but it isn't easy.Temptation comes next. At the Center, temptation was anything much more than eating and sleeping. Knowing was a temptation. What you don't know won't tempt you, Aunt Lydia used to say.Maybe I don't really want to know what's going on. Maybe I'd rather not know. Maybe I couldn't bear to know. The Fall was a fall from innocence to knowledge.I think about the chandelier too much, though it's gone now. But you could use a hook, in the closet. I've considered the possibilities. All you'd have to do, after attaching yourself, would be to lean your weight forward and not fight.Deliver us from evil.Then there's Kingdom, power, and glory. It takes a lot to believe in those right now. But I'll try it anyway. In Hope, as they say on the gravestones.You must feel pretty ripped off. I guess it's not the first time.If I were You I'd be fed up. I'd really be sick of it. I guess that's the difference between us.I feel very unreal talking to You like this. I fee as if I'm talking to a wall. I wish You'd answer. I feel so alone.All alone by the telephone. Except that I can't use the telephone. And if I could, who could I call?Oh God. It's no joke. Oh God oh God. How can I keep on living.
— Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale
Best gifts: love, prayer, books!
— Lailah Gifty Akita
I learned not to pray about my strategies, but to make prayer the strategy.
— Greg Pruett, Extreme Prayer: The Impossible Prayers God Promises to Answer
Don’t pray for the sake of prayer, pray only because you want to be God
— Sunday Adelaja
Prayer connects us with God and together we are unstoppable
— Sunday Adelaja
Like some of the rest of us, she never reflected how balefully her evil mood might operate; and that all things work for good in the end, will not cover those by whom come the offenses. Another night's rest, it is true, sent the evil mood to sleep again for a time, but did not exorcise it; for there are demons that go not out without prayer, and a bad temper is one of them--a demon as contemptible, mean-spirited, and unjust, as any in the peerage of hell--much petted, nevertheless, and excused, by us poor lunatics who are possessed by him.
— George MacDonald, Mary Marston
The purpose of prayer is that we get ahold of God, not of the answer.
— Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest
The church is a house of prayer for all nations
— Sunday Adelaja
The prayer from the heart is a great power.
— Ehsan Sehgal
Prayer is not supposed to be magical.
— Sunday Adelaja
Prayer is supposed to be interaction with God.
— Sunday Adelaja
Prayer is supposed to be a fellowship.
— Sunday Adelaja
Prayer is pouring your heart to the one you love.
— Sunday Adelaja
Our body is like a cage & heart is the bird in it " during Paryer the bird(heart) must not be wandering here & there.
— Maryum Ahsam
Prayer keeps the heart pure.
— Lailah Gifty Akita
Lord, set me a path by the side of the road.I pray this be a part of your plan,Then heap on the burden & pile on the load, And I'll trek it the best that I can.Please bless me with patience, Touch strength to my backThen cut me loose and I'll goJust like the burro toting his pack,The oxen ploughing his rowAnd once on this journey, a witness for YouToward thy way the Truth and the LightShine forth my countenance steady and trueFor the pathway to goodness and rightAnd lest I should falter And lest I should failLet all who know that I triedFor I am a bunglar, feeble & frailWhen You, dear Lord, I've deniedSo blessed be the day Your judgement comes dueAnd blessed by thy mercies bestowedAnd blessed be this journey, all praises to YouFor this path by the side of the road
— Nimblewill Nomad
Lord set me a path by the side of the road,Pray this be a part of your plan.Then heap on the burden and pile on the load'n I'll trek it the best that I can.Please bless me with patience; touch strength to my back;Then cut me loose and I'll go.Just like the burro totin' his pack,The oxen plowin' his row.And once on this journey, a witness for youTo'rd truth, thy way…and the light.Shine bright my countenance steady and true,O'er the pathway to goodness and right.And lest I should falter and lest I should fail,Let all who know that I tried.For I am a blunderer, feeble and frail,When you, dear Lord, I've denied.So blessed be the day your judgement comes due,And blessed be the mercy you showed.Oh blessed be this journey-all praises to youO'er this path by the side of the road.
— Nimblewill Nomad
Prayer makes all things possible.
— Lailah Gifty Akita
For I prophecy that men will learn the use of their knees.For every thing that can be done in that posture (upon the knees) is better so done than otherwise.For I prophecy that they will understand the blessing and virtue of the rain.For rain is exceedingly good for the human body.
— Christopher Smart, Jubilate Agno
Wait for your want with a persistent prayer.
— Lailah Gifty Akita
Just as in earthly life lovers long for the moment when they are able to breath forth their love for each other, to let their souls blend in a soft whisper, so the mystic longs for the moment when in prayer he can, as it were, creep into God
— Søren Kierkegaard
We struggle in life because our inner monologue prays....my will be done.
— Allen Dominique
Get up to pray in the dark when all are asleep and see how your path is lit and your life begins to shine.
— Mufti Ismail Menk
Sometimes, it's important to turn off the noise from the outside world. Sometimes, it's critical to stop the banter even within oneself. Intentional solitude and quiet can make us strong for tomorrow.
— David Paul Kirkpatrick
You don't know how many people have been strengthened because you asked God to encourage them
—  how many people have been healed because you prayed for their bodies
Prayer is picking a fight with the Enemy. It's spiritual warfare. Intercession transports us from the sidelines to the front lines without going anywhere. And that is where the battle is won or lost. Prayer is the difference between us fighting for God and God fighting for us. But we can't just hit our knees. We also have to take a step, take a stand. And when we do, we never know what God will do next.
— Mark Batterson, All In: You Are One Decision Away From a Totally Different Life
Prayer is a noble act.
— Lailah Gifty Akita
O Lord gives me a humble heart.
— Lailah Gifty Akita
Please, Lord gives power to obey your commandment
— Lailah Gifty Akita
O Lord gives us grace to obey your great Laws.
— Lailah Gifty Akita
With persistent prayer, the desired wish shall be fulfilled.
— Lailah Gifty Akita
With prayer of thanks, I wait in patient for God to act.
— Lailah Gifty Akita
To those who have been accustomed to the difficulties and dangers of a sea-faring life, there are no lines which speak more forcibly to the imagination, or prove the beauty and power of the Greek poet, than those in the noble prayer of Ajax:"Lord of earth and air,O king! O father! hear my humble prayer.Dispel this cloud, that light of heaven restore;Give me to see - and Ajax asks no more,If Greece must perish - we Thy will obey;But let us perish in the face of day!
— Frederick Marryat, The Pirate
If I am indeed my own god, I’d better start praying to myself to get myself out of myself.
— Craig D. Lounsbrough
As long as he retains externally the habits of a Christian he can still be made to think of himself as one who has adopted a few new friends and amusements but whose spiritual state is much the same as it was six weeks ago. And while he thinks that, [he will not repent] of a definite, fully recognized, sin, ... only [vaguely and uneasily] feeling that he hasn't been doing very well lately... If such a feeling is allowed to live... it increases reluctance to think about [God]. All humans at nearly all times have some such reluctance; but when thinking of Him involves facing and intensifying a whole vague cloud of half-conscious guilt, this reluctance is increased tenfold. They hate every idea that suggests Him, just as men in financial embarrassment hate the very sight of a bankbook. In this state... {man] will increasingly dislike his religious duties. He will think about them as little as he feels he decently can beforehand, and forget them as soon as possible when they are over. He will want his prayers to be unreal, for he will dread nothing so much as effective contact with [his Heavenly Father]... Uneasiness and his reluctance to face it cut him off more and more from all real happiness...
— C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters
I did pray. I kept on Praying. But prayer did nothing to alleviate their suffering.
— Shūsaku Endō, Silence
Truly there is a Living God, and He is the hearer and answerer of prayer.
— Hudson Taylor, A Retrospect
Complete salvation is being able to be so intimate with God that He’s your very best friend.
— Andrew Wommack, A Better Way to Pray
Some people think life is all about suffering, and suffering means living life. So many people live their lives accepting suffering as a way of life and they end up living their lives in perpetual self-inflicted pain without seeing a need to awake to take steps to their latent joy! If you are not feeling happy, wake up! There is a reason to be happy and there is a reason for action. There is something solemn, noble and distinctive that can make you happy! Awake! It is never the wish of God that His creation lives in indentured servitude! Pray!
— Ernest Agyemang Yeboah, Religion, Philosophy and life
I pressed and I prayed. It was only right that pressing went with prayer. That and being sorry. Every wrinkle was a patch of sorry to be smoothed and flattened.
— Rita Williams-Garcia, Gone Crazy in Alabama
Prayer is primarily for loving and worshiping God. If you would seek first His kingdom and just fellowship with Him, you’d find your needs already provided.
— Andrew Wommack, A Better Way to Pray
Lord, help us to choose humility over pride. Help us to choose love over our reputation. Help us to choose patience over making a point, and your Word over our feelings. Lord, help us to choose perseverance over the easy way out.
— Andrena Sawyer
Your Prayer Life is a Reflection of your Relationship with God
— Horace Williams Jr., Unleash the Power of Prayer in Your Life: A Power that Transforms Lives
Edilio lay on the steps of town hall feeling as weak as a kitten. He had barely heard Caine’s big speech. He couldn’t have cared less. There was nothing he could do, not with delirium spinning his head.He coughed hard, too hard. It wracked his body each time he did it so that he dreaded the next cough. His stomach was clenched in knots. Every muscle in his body ached.He was vaguely aware that he was saying something in between c
— Michael  Grant, Plague
Please forgive me for the way I've treated her, Rachel prayed. Please help me repair the damage I've done. Help her to forgive me too. Oh merciful Father, help me not to be so full of myself that there is no room for anyone else. And worse, no room for you.
— Julie Klassen, The Innkeeper of Ivy Hill
Praying God’s solutions from the Word releases life, but praying negatively and focusing on your problems only energizes and strengthens them.
— Andrew Wommack, A Better Way to Pray
Hunter’s entire body writhed and squirmed.The side of his head was partly gone. A creature, like some monstrous melding of insect and eel, protruded from Hunter’s shoulder and as they stood there rooted in horror it took a vicious bite of Hunter’s flesh.Taylor was suddenly gone.Dekka’s face was grim, her eyes wet.“I tried . . . ,” Hunter said. He held up his hands, mimicked pressing them against his head. “It didn’t work.”“I can do it,” Sam said softly.“I’m scared,” Hunter said.“I know.”“It’s ’cause I killed Harry. God has to punish me. I tried to be good but I’m bad.”“No, Hunter,” Sam said gently. “You paid your dues. You fed the kids. You’re a good guy.”“I’m a good hunter.”“The best.”“I don’t know what’s happening. What’s happening, Sam?”“It’s just the FAYZ, Hunter,” Sam said.“Can the angels find me here so I can go to heaven?”Sam didn’t answer. It was Dekka who spoke. “Do you still remember any prayers, Hunter?”The insectlike creature was almost completely emerged from Hunter’s shoulder. Legs were becoming visible. It had wings folded against its body. It looked like a gigantic ant, or wasp, but silver and brass and covered with a sheen of slime.It was emerging like a chicken breaking out of an egg. Being born. And as the creature was born, it fed on Hunter’s numbed body.Jerky movements beneath Hunter’s shirt testified to more of the larvae emerging.“Do you remember ‘now I lay me down to sleep’?” Dekka asked.“Now I lay me down to sleep,” Hunter said. “I pray the Lord my soul to keep.”Sam raised his hands, palms out.“If I should die—”Twin beams of light hit Hunter’s chest and face. His shirt caught fire. Flesh melted. He was dead before he could feel anything.Sam played the light up and down Hunter’s body. The smell was sickening. Jack wanted to look away, but how could he?Sudden darkness as Sam terminated the light.Sam lowered his hands to his side.They stood there in the darkness. Jack breathed through his mouth, trying not to smell the burned flesh.Then they heard a sound. Many sounds.Sam raised his hands and pale light glowed.Hunter was all but gone.The things that had been inside him were still there.
— Michael  Grant, Plague
At the bar on the Favoritenstrasse, Julius the policeman talked to us about dignity, evolution, the great Darwin and the great Nietzsche. I translated so that my good friend Ulises could understand what he was saying, although I didn’t understand any of it. The prayer of the bones, said Julius. The yearning for health. The virtue of danger. The tenacity of the forgotten. Bravo, said my good friend Ulises. Bravo, said everyone else. The limits of memory. The wisdom of plants. The eye of parasites. The agility of the earth. The merit of the soldier. The cunning of the giant. The hole of the will. Magnificent, said my good friend Ulises in German. Extraordinary.
— Roberto Bolaño, The Savage Detectives
My mother knew when to listen and when to pray and when to help. I wonder hoy many people knew the compassion Mary Finlayson held for them and how hard, in the privacy of her God Box, she prayed for them and their struggles.
— Mary Lou Quinlan, The God Box
All that stuff about Father Earth, it's just stories to explain what's wrong with the world. Like those weird cults that crop up from time to time. I heard of one that asks an old man in the sky to keep them alive every time they go to sleep. People need to believe there's more to the world than there is.
— N.K. Jemisin, The Obelisk Gate
Pray when you're alone. Pray when you're with a lot of people. Pray when you're in small groups. Pray on your way in; pray on your way out. Pray in your closet, in your car, at your desk. Pray morning prayers, pray mealtime prayers, pray in between mealtimes. Pray fervently, expectantly, and unself-consciously. Pray when you're burdened, worried, sick, or brokenhearted. Pray when you're soaring, setting records, or dancing on a mountaintop. Pray when you're up, and pray when you're down. Pray when you're healthy, when you're sick, when you feel like it, and when you don't. (Especially when you don't.)
— Bill Hybels, Just Walk Across the Room: Simple Steps Pointing People to Faith
we know little of the things for which we pray
— Geoffrey Chaucer, Canterbury Tales
Essentially prayer and meditation are one and the same thing.
— Abhijit Naskar, Love, God & Neurons: Memoir of a Scientist Who Found Himself by Getting Lost
Prayer should not be so much about petitioning God as it should be about promoting our own spiritual growth.
— Andrew Wommack, A Better Way to Pray
Jesus had to reveal what prayer was not, before He taught what it is.
— Andrew Wommack, A Better Way to Pray
You must learn to relate to God in the midst of your daily responsibilities and weekly routines because they occupy the majority of your life.
— Andrew Wommack, A Better Way to Pray
Don’t limit your relationship with God. Walk and talk with Him all day, every day!
— Andrew Wommack, A Better Way to Pray
GOD will never disregard or turn away sincere prayers from those who diligently seek Him and humbly call upon His Name.
— Errol Anthony Smythe
Those who recite prayers do not pray from their heart but are heard to say the words of the prayers that someone wrote down some time ago.
— Errol Anthony Smythe
It was a prayer that he had never said before, because it was a prayer without words or pleas.
— Paulo Coelho