Prevailing Prayer
I have never known a person to sweat blood; but I have known a person to pray till the blood started from his nose. And I have known persons to pray till they were all wet with perspiration, in the coldest weather in winter. I have known persons to pray for hours, till their strength was all exhausted with the agony of their minds. Such prayers prevailed with God.
Charles Finley
Lack of prayer
The true man of God is heartsick, grieved at the worldliness of Christians…grieved at the toleration of sin in Christians, grieved at the prayerlessness in Christians. He is disturbed that the corporate prayer of Christians no longer pulls down the strongholds of the enemy.
Leonard Ravenhill
The Lost Standard
Prayer is the link that connects us to God. It is the bridge that spans every gulf and bears us over every abyss of danger or of need.
Do we know the power of our supernatural weapon? Holy Spirit empowered prayer.
Do we dare to use it with the authority of faith that commands as well as asks? May God baptize us with the Holy Spirit and audacity and divine confidence. He does not want great men and women, but He is wanting men and women who will dare to prove the greatness of their God
There is a lost standard in the church today. The church has lost possession of its secret—the awareness that it is only by living in the power of the Holy Spirit that the gospel can be preached in power. Because of this there is a lot of preaching and working with few spiritual results. There is little prayer that brings down the power of God.
A.B. Simpson
Provoking Thoughts on Prayer
A Praying Church
“I knew a minister who had a revival fourteen winters in a row. I did not know how to account for it, till I saw one of his members get up in a prayer meeting and make a confession. “Brethren’, said he, ‘I have been long in the habit of praying every Saturday night until after midnight, for the descent of the Holy Spirit upon us. And now, brethren,’ and he began to weep, ‘I confess that I have neglected it for two or three weeks.’ The secret was out. That minister had a praying church.”
Charles G. Finney
Winning Spiritual Battles
You and I are just about as effective as a crew of workers attempting to tear down a building with loud mouths, sticks, and stones when we try to break down our strongholds with carnal weapons like pure determination, secular psychology, and denial. God has handed up two sticks of dynamite with which to demolish our strongholds: His Word and prayer. What makes prayer so powerful? Prayer keeps us in constant communion with God, which is the goal of our entire believing lives. Without a doubt, prayerless lives are powerless lives, and prayerful lives are powerful lives; but, believe it or not, the ultimate goal of God has for us in not power but personal intimacy with Him. We will never win any spiritual battles without prayer.
Beth Moore, Praying God’s Word
Revival
“When God has something very great to accomplish for His church, it is His will that there should proceed it, the extraordinary prayers of His people; as is manifest by Ezek. 36, 37, together with the context. And it is revealed that when God is about to accomplish great things for His church, He will begin by remarkably pouring out the spirit of grace and supplication (Zach. 12:10). I should think the people of God in this land would be in the way of their duty to do three ties as much fasting and prayer as they do.”
Jonathan Edwards from his thoughts on revival