On Prayer

If my own people will humbly pray and stop sinning, then I will forgive them.... I will hear their prayers.... (2 Chron 7:14-15)

A lot of kneeling will keep you in good standing.

Stay joined to me and let my teachings become part of you. Then you can pray for whatever you want, and your prayer will be answered. (John 15:7)

Everything you ask for in prayer will be yours, if you only have faith. (Mark 11:24)

Don't pray for rain if you're going to complain about the mud.

Courage is fear that has said its prayers. (Dorothy Bernard)

Prayer does not change God, but it changes him who prays. (Soren Keirkegaard)

The shortest distance between a problem and its solution is the distance between your knees and the floor.

When praying, don't give God instructions, just report for duty.

It's hard to stumble when you're down on your knees.

God doesn't use an answering machine, he takes each call personally.

The man who kneels to God can stand up to anything.

Prayer has a boomerang effect - it blesses the one prayed for and the one who prays.

An important part of praying is a willingness to be part of the answer.

When life knocks you down to your knees, you are in a perfect position to pray.

Prayer does move mountains, but sometimes God just hands us a shovel.

Too many people pray for emergency rations instead of daily bread.

Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks.

God is not a cosmic bell-boy for whom we can press a button to get things. (Harry Emerson Fosdick, "Prayer")

The fewer words the better prayer. (Martin Luther)

Practical prayer is harder on the soles of your shoes than on the knees of your trousers. (Austin O'Malley)

I believe in prayer. It's the best way we have to draw strength from heaven. (Josephine Baker)

Certain thoughts are prayers. There are moments when, whatever the attitude of the body, the soul is on its knees. (Victor Hugo)

Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul. It is daily admission of one's weakness.... It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart. (Mohandas Gandhi)

An angry man is not fit to pray. (Yiddish Proverb)

Call on God, but row away from the rocks. (Indian Proverb)

We neither laugh alone, nor weep alone, why then should we pray alone? (Anna Letitia Barbauld)

From ghoulies and ghosties and long-leggetie beasties and things that go bump in the night, good Lord, deliver us. (Scottish prayer)

God, give us the grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things which should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other. (Reinhold Niebuhr)

If you don't ask, you don't get. (Mohandas Gandhi)

Prayer is not an old woman's idle amusement. Properly understood and applied, it is the most potent instrument of action. (Mohandas Gandhi)

No man ever prayed heartily without learning something. (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: "O Lord, make my enemies ridiculous." And God granted it. (Voltaire)

As long as there are tests, there will be prayer in schools.

God cannot do anything in your life unless you ask Him to.

Dear Lord - So far today, God, I've done all right. I haven't gossiped, haven't lost my temper, haven't been greedy, grumpy, nasty, selfish, or overindulgent. I'm really glad about that. But in a few minutes, God, I'm going to get out of bed and from then on I'm probably going to need a lot more help. In Jesus' name, AMEN.

If the only prayer you say in your whole life is "thank you," that would suffice. (Meister Eckehart)

Pray to the gods only when you're making some effort on your own behalf, otherwise your prayers are wasted (Aesop)

Confession

Jesus, forgive my sins.

Forgive the sins that I can remember,

And also the sins I have forgotten.

Forgive the wrong actions I have committed,

And the right actions I have omitted.

Forgive the times I have been weak in the face of temptation,

And those when I have been stubborn in the face of correction.

Forgive the times I have been proud of my own achievements,

And those when I have failed to boast of your works.

Forgive the harsh judgements I have made of others,

And the leniency I have shown to myself.

Forgive the lies I have told to others,

And the truths I have avoided.

Forgive me the pain I have caused others,

And the indulgence I have shown to myself.

Jesus have pity on me, and make me whole.