Come, Let Us Pray

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a quote is worth a thousand paragraphs. To that end I would like to share some quotations on the subject of prayer. Of course the scoffers and doubters might come jeering; but should we expect anything else? For it has been well said that almost the only scoffers at prayer are those who never tried it enough. On that note, here are the quotations. ‘God shapes the world by prayer. Prayers are deathless. They outlive the lives of those who uttered them’. ‘Seven days without prayer makes one weak’. ‘Prayer is not eloquence, but earnestness; nor the definition of helplessness, but the feeling of it; not figures of speech, but earnestness of soul’. ‘God prefers bad verses recited with a pure heart to the finest verses chanted by the wicked’. ‘Man is the only creature which rises by bowing, for he finds elevation in his subjection to his Maker’. ‘There are four ways God answers prayer: No, not yet; No, I love you to much; Yes, I thought you’d never ask; Yes, and here’s more’.

Under no circumstances should one look for empirical proof that prayer works. The impossibility of empirical proof is a spiritual necessity. Anyone knowing that an event had been caused by their prayer would feel like a magician. Their head would turn and their heart would be corrupted. You would only, I think, be deceiving yourself by trying to find special evidence for prayer working in some cases more than others. If it seems to be working, keep doing it. If it does not, keep doing it. I leave you with the words of Charles H. Spurgeon, ‘We cannot all argue, but we can all pray; we cannot all be leaders, but we can all be pleaders; we cannot all be mighty in rhetoric, but we can all be prevalent in prayer.’ Our nation sorely needs it and we can achieve nothing meaningful without it. We need it like the Spurs need Duncan, like BET needs banning from all civilized societies, you know…real bad.