We sometimes limit prayer to words we mouth to God through our lips. “The prayers of upright Christians are without ceasing,” Martin Luther tells us, “though they pray not always with their mouth, yet their hearts do pray continually; for the sigh of a true Christian is prayer.”
O instruct us how to pray!
Pour out the supplicating grace,
And stir us up to seek Thy face.
We cannot think a gracious thought,
We cannot feel a good desire,
Till Thou, Who calledst a world from nought,
The power into our hearts inspire.
The promised Intercessor give,
And let us now Thyself receive.
—Charles Wesley.
“The great battles,” says Samuel L. Brengle, “the battles that decide our destiny and the destiny of generations yet unborn, are not fought on public platforms, but in the lonely hours of the night and in moments of agony.”
Ministers who are orthodox, devoted, and busy, need to lay aside many “things” and rekindle the holy glow within their own souls. Do not be so busy running a program that you have no time to wait upon Christ.
—Oliver G. Wilson.
The above quotations are taken from Kneeling We Triumph Volume One, compiled by Edwin and Lillian Harvey and published by Harvey Christian Publishers. This book and its companion, Kneeling We Triumph Volume Two, are available in their Online Christian Bookstore.
“The world is enough to busy us, not to fill us,” says Thomas Watson. If this is true, then why are we Christians often so busy and so empty? Why do we prefer the hubbub of activity to silence? Or to put it more forcibly: why are we so fearful of silence? Are we afraid of God’s voice which we can sometimes only hear when other voices are hushed? Or are we unwilling to confront our own thoughts which take control when we are quiet? Or do we wish to drown out our accusing conscience which takes advantage of the quiet? Whatever the reasons, over-busyness often prevents us communing with the Almighty, and is therefore an enemy to the healing power that silent meditation and prayer inevitably works in our hectic lives.
Be still sometimes—so still that God may speak,
And make His voice heard in thy waiting heart.
Sometimes the hush of His calm presence seek;
From all the world’s confusion come apart,
And silence even praise, and breathe no prayer,
But only wait for Him to meet thee there.
Be still sometimes! Be still enough to hear
The faintest whisper of His voice, and feel
The touch of His dear hand, when He draws near,
Himself unto thy spirit to reveal.
God will His deepest truths to thee make known,
Only when thou art silent and alone.
—Edith Hickman Divall.
The above quotations are taken from Kneeling We Triumph Volume One, compiled by Edwin and Lillian Harvey and published by Harvey Christian Publishers. This book and its companion, Kneeling We Triumph Volume Two, are available in their Online Christian Bookstore.
At Harvey Christian Publishers’ Online Bookstore you will find some inspiring, in-depth books on prayer. The first of these to be published was Kneeling We Triumph Volumes One and Two. These are compilations—60 short and to the point readings in each volume, which may be treated as daily devotionals. They have been used in seminars and by church prayer-groups and are challenging as well as inspirational.
In a reading in Kneeling We Triumph Volume One entitled “Man’s strange reluctance to commune,” the authors, Edwin and Lillian Harvey include a quotation from F. J. Huegel, a chaplain in World War I. He later served as a missionary in Mexico City.
“Prayer is not our message; it is the method of God for the message.” This is the opening statement of the first reading in Kneeling We Triumph Vol. 1. in which many of God’s saints are quoted on the subject of prayer. Edwin and Lillian Harvey, who compiled this book and its companion Kneeling We Triumph Vol. 2, quote from a variety of sources which span centuries and denominations.
The above quotations are taken from Kneeling We Triumph Vol. 1. This book is published by Harvey Christian Publishers and is available in their online Christian Bookstore.
“Prayer is releasing the energies of God. For prayer is asking God to do what we cannot do,” says George Trumbull. This statement is quoted in Kneeling We Triumph Volume One, compiled by Edwin and Lillian Harvey. This book and its companion, Kneeling We Triumph Volume Two, contain many quotes from God’s saints who served Him in various denominations but who were all convinced “that prayer does “release the energies of God.” George Trumbull was a Congregational pastor who was also professor at various colleges such as Yale, Andover, and Harvard.
The book by Edwin and Lillian Harvey, entitled How They Prayed Volume 3, quotes from the diaries, letters, and sermons of pastors and missionaries who have come to acknowledge the part prayer must play in revivals, widespread and local. “To arouse one man or woman to the tremendous power of prayer for others,” says A. J. Gordon, “is worth more than the combined activity of a score of average Christians. What David Brainerd did, others may do. God is no respecter of persons.”
“How sweet is prayer to my soul at this time,” Henry Martyn notes in his diary. “I seem as if I could never be tired, not only of spiritual joys, but of spiritual employments, since these are now the same.
“I felt as if I could never be tired with prayer. . . At night read the third and fourth chapters of the Acts; and lost much time and spirituality by indulging ideas of schemes about the Gospel, which had more of romance and pride in them than of wisdom and humiliation.”
If prayer matters then it ought not to be counted continually second in our scene of life. . . . All the time the devil is fighting our half-hour’s prayer, he never tires of fighting it. Sometimes there is a dullness which is a cloud of hell, sometimes a fiery assault.
“We know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him.” We pray from the ground of that certainty; not towards certainty, but from it. Is that why we have the words, ‘In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving’? We give thanks before we see. Then the thought came, “What is it that we have in this sense already received? Surely just this: that the glory of the Lord will be manifested (for is not this what we desired of Him?), and that the very best will be done from His eternal point of view, for the work committed to us.” Amy Carmichael
Not in the tumult of the rending storm,
Not in the earthquake or devouring flame,
But in the hush that could all fear transform,
The still, small whisper to the Prophet came.
O Soul, keep silence on the mount of God,
Though cares and needs throb round thee like a sea;
From supplications and desires unshod,
Be still, and hear what God shall say to thee.
O rest, in utter quietude of soul,
Abandon words, leave prayer and praise awhile,
Let thy whole being, hushed in His control,
Learn the full meaning of His voice and smile.
―Mary Rowles Jarvis.
These quotations have been taken from How They Prayed Volume Three which is published by Harvey Christian Publishers and is available in their Online Christian Bookstore.
Can God call children or rather does God call children? What he can do is infinite; what he does do brings the question down to practicalities. The book Father Calling presents stories of children who received intimations of God’s plan for their lives at a young age. Take Charles Spurgeon for example, or Lord Shaftsbury, or Hudson Taylor, to mention a few. Sometimes the call was direct but more often it came as a result of life experience as in the case of William Quarrier who founded the Quarrier Homes in Scotland. Growing up in the slums of Glasgow, William knew what it was to feel hungry and sometimes homeless. And so he determined to give his life to help other children like himself find a place of comfort and safety from the cruelty of a fallen world.
The book by Edwin and Lillian Harvey, entitled How They Prayed Volume 3, stresses the role of prayer in revivals, widespread and local, and the emphasis many pastors and missionaries placed on private and public prayer. The following quotations from missionaries to Africa and India encourage us to give communion with God top priority in our service for Christ:
“The danger of our day is devotion to duty to the neglect of personal communion. We will do far more and far better if we carefully guard against hindering our times of communion with Him.
“As well try to draw water out of a dry well as to try to carry on Christian service without drawing present life from the Living Vine.
“The secret of failure everywhere is the neglect of private communion with God. India lives too public a life to have a deep Christianity. And Indian Christians will have to alter many of their customs before they get deeper.”
And again: “It is better to do a little well and prayerfully than to fulfill a whole world of engagements with undue haste and rush.”
–Walker of Tinevelly. (Used by permission)
“I have been more than usually drawn out in earnest prayer of late―for the expedition―for my family―the fear lest ___’s misrepresentation may injure the cause of Christ―the hope that I may be permitted to open this dark land to the blessed Gospel. I have cast all before my God. Good Lord, have mercy upon me. Leave me not, nor forsake me. He has guided well in time past. I commit my way to Him for the future. All I have received has come from Him. Will He be pleased in mercy to use me for His glory? I have prayed for this, and Jesus Himself said, ‘Ask, and ye shall receive,’ and a host of statements to the same effect.
–David. Livingstone
“What will it cost?” the people asked
As they planned the fall campaign;
While in past exploits they calmly basked,
Looking only for outside gain.
“Three hundred at least for evangelists;
Twenty for heat and light.
And remember the music enthusiasts.”
What a price for such a small fight.
“What will it cost?” List to Spirit’s pleas:
Praying, fasting, and tears.
Each member humbled on bended knees,
Confessing the faults of years.
“The rough made smooth, the crooked straight;
Recourse to repentance’s fruit.
The Breath of God on all who wait;
Healing for blind, deaf, and mute.”
If revival comes we will have to pay
In heavenly currency.
Not a part or e’en half, but ALL we must lay
At His feet! Is it YOUR plea?
―Floyd Banker. Used by permission as published in the Wesleyan Methodist.
These quotations have been taken from How They Prayed Volume Three which is published by Harvey Christian Publishers and is available in their Online Christian Bookstore.
The book by Edwin and Lillian Harvey, entitled How They Prayed Volume 3, stresses the role of prayer in revivals, widespread and local, and the emphasis many pastors and missionaries placed on private and public prayer. The following quotations from missionaries to Africa and India encourage us to give communion with God top priority in our service for Christ:
“The danger of our day is devotion to duty to the neglect of personal communion. We will do far more and far better if we carefully guard against hindering our times of communion with Him.
“As well try to draw water out of a dry well as to try to carry on Christian service without drawing present life from the Living Vine.
“Christian, beware! Declension is always a slow leak, never a blowout. Flatness in spiritual living and serving is the result of a gradual slipping away from God in prayer and Bible Study, a neglecting of the means of grace.”
“‘He wondered that there was no intercessor.’
“‘He marveled because of their unbelief.’
“Two things that cause God to wonder now will be our greatest marvel by and by: 1. That we did not pray more. 2. That we did not trust more. He marvels now―we shall marvel when we see Him. The most marvelous thing of today is the unbelief of the Christians.”
–Rowland Bingham
“The secret of failure everywhere is the neglect of private communion with God. India lives too public a life to have a deep Christianity. And Indian Christians will have to alter many of their customs before they get deeper.”
And again: “It is better to do a little well and prayerfully than to fulfill a whole world of engagements with undue haste and rush.”
–Walker of Tinevelly. (Used by permission)
“I have been more than usually drawn out in earnest prayer of late―for the expedition―for my family―the fear lest ___’s misrepresentation may injure the cause of Christ―the hope that I may be permitted to open this dark land to the blessed Gospel. I have cast all before my God. Good Lord, have mercy upon me. Leave me not, nor forsake me. He has guided well in time past. I commit my way to Him for the future. All I have received has come from Him. Will He be pleased in mercy to use me for His glory? I have prayed for this, and Jesus Himself said, ‘Ask, and ye shall receive,’ and a host of statements to the same effect.
–David. Livingstone
“What will it cost?” the people asked
As they planned the fall campaign;
While in past exploits they calmly basked,
Looking only for outside gain.
“Three hundred at least for evangelists;
Twenty for heat and light.
And remember the music enthusiasts.”
What a price for such a small fight.
“What will it cost?” List to Spirit’s pleas:
Praying, fasting, and tears.
Each member humbled on bended knees,
Confessing the faults of years.
“The rough made smooth, the crooked straight;
Recourse to repentance’s fruit.
The Breath of God on all who wait;
Healing for blind, deaf, and mute.”
If revival comes we will have to pay
In heavenly currency.
Not a part or e’en half, but ALL we must lay
At His feet! Is it YOUR plea?
―Floyd Banker. Used by permission as published in the Wesleyan Methodist.
These quotations have been taken from How They Prayed Volume Three which is published by Harvey Christian Publishers and is available in their Online Christian Bookstore.
“‘If two of you shall symphonize on earth as touching anything that they shall ask it shall be done for them of my father which is in Heaven.’ The word, symphonize, is a musical term,” wrote A. T. Pierson, “referring to the harmony of notes in a chord, which is possible only when each accords with the whole instrument. One note, out of tune, will turn accord into discord. So the power of joint supplication depends not on the numbers gathered, but on the measure of real agreement of each with the mind and will of God. One out of accord with Him hinders perfect harmony with the rest; hence the smallest number that can agree is specified, because there is more power when two pray, provided they truly agree, than when a larger number apparently unite but such agreement is lacking. Numbers are of no importance, but perfect harmony is.”
The above quotation has been taken from How They Prayed Volume Three, written and compiled by Edwin and Lillian Harvey as are the following words of Lilias Trotter, taken from her book, The Master of the Impossible:
“The promise that has been alive these days is Matthew 18:18, ‘Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.’ It is framed in on either side by the condition of unity of spirit. And this ‘binding’ and ‘loosing’ seems to be the true sphere of prayer. The two parables of intercession help mark this out as a battlefield of prayer―the friend on the midnight errand loosing the powers of life; the widow in her importunity binding the power of death.”
“The history of missions,” said Dr. S. M. Zwemer, “is the history of answered prayer. . . it is the key to the whole missionary problem. All human means are secondary. The work of missions from start to finish is a miracle of God’s grace. So stupendous is the task, so great the obstacles and opposition that ‘if we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing.’ We must invoke and rely upon supernatural power.”
All quotations are taken from How They Prayed Volume 3 which is published by Harvey Christian Publishers and is available in their Online Christian Bookstore.
The book by Edwin and Lillian Harvey, entitled How They Prayed Volume 3, reveals the part prayer prayed in revivals, widespread and local, and the emphasis those men used of God in these revivals placed on private and public prayer. The following missionaries to the Orient exhort us out of their rich experience of prevailing prayer, to give communion with God top priority:
“Secret prayer is commonly considered a duty which must be performed every morning and evening, in order to keep a conscience void of offense. But do not, my dear brother, entertain an opinion as defective. Consider secret prayer as one of the three great works of thy life. Arrange thy affairs, if possible, so that thou canst leisurely devote two or three hours every day, not merely to devotional exercises, but to the very act of secret prayer and communion with God. Endeavor several times a day, to withdraw from business and company, and lift up thy soul to God in private retirement.”
–Adoniram Judson
“‘Wait on thy God CONTINUALLY,’ and the beginning of departure is found in only waiting upon God OCCASIONALLY.” A. N. Groves
“Our question to every reader is, What place does prayer have in your life? Has it the first place or a secondary place? We all believe in prayer but is it fundamental work? Or supplemental?
“We may think that our work is so urgent that we cannot give time to prayer; but this worker says, and many would confirm her statement, that the work has not suffered in any way; one is able to do more work, when prayer has its rightful place in our lives; the work runs more smoothly, difficulties vanish away, when we take everything to the Lord in prayer.
“Shall this be a message for you, dear fellow-worker? Let us revise our estimate of the values of spiritual forces. Shall we make prayer our chief work?”– John Hyde (often known as “Praying Hyde).
The Lord is my pace setter
I shall not rush.
He makes me stop,
And rest for quiet intervals.
He provides me with images of stillness
Which restore my serenity.
He leads me in ways of efficiency
Through calmness of mind.
And His guidance is peace.
Even though I have a great many things
To accomplish each day,
I will not fret,
For His presence is here,
His timelessness,
His all-importance,
Will keep me in balance.
He prepares refreshment and renewal
In the midst of my activity.
My cup of joyous energy overflows.
Surely harmony and effectiveness
Shall be the fruits of my hours,
For I shall walk in the pace of my Lord,
And dwell in His house for ever.–Toki Miyashiro (With apologies to the Psalmist, David)
These quotations have been taken from How They Prayed Volume Three which is published by Harvey Christian Publishers and is available in their Online Christian Bookstore.
