Word
Gems
What is a
man but the sum of his thoughts?
Prayer
- Dr. Bob Pierce, notes found in his Bible after his death, quoted by Franklin
Graham:
- When we truly pray, we did not move God to ourselves, but ourselves to God. A small boat
nears shore, and a man throws a rope and anchor toward a sandy beach. He, then, when the
anchor has bitten into the sand, pulls on the rope and draws the boat up an the beach. The
shore did not move out to the boat--the boat is drawn up onto the beach. God answers all
prayer! He does not answer our selfish, materialistic begging. He does not move into our
sinful situation. He moves us out of our sinful situation into Himself. God sometimes
moves slowly. Sometimes we don't lack faith but patience. Wait patiently for Him, and He
will give you your heart's desire.
1. If the request is not right, He will answer, "No."
2. If the time is not right, He will answer, "Slow."
3. When you are not right, He will say, "Grow."
4. When the time and you are right, God will say, "Go."
That's when miracles happen.
- H.G. Wells: "At times, in the silence of the night and in
rare, lonely moments, I experience a sort of communion of myself with Something Great that
is not myself."
- Dr. Leslie Weatherhead, The Christian Agnostic:
"I hold that it is better really to pray once a week than maintain a daily farce, and
better for the layman, as he passes some point on his way to work, even momentarily, to
commit the day to God, and, as he goes to sleep, to run his hand over the day that is past
and seek pardon for anything wrong, than to give up prayer altogether. The eyes would soon
grow dim if they had no correspondence with light... What I want to do is to strain my
desires as through a sieve, the sieve being what he sees is best or wise or possible.
(Many of my early desires were inherently impossible.) This is what I mean by the phrase, 'Through
Jesus Christ our Lord'; not that a lofty, remote God will not listen unless I persuade
Christ to carry my wishes to a higher court, but that I want to cleanse my own
desires by passing them through the mesh of the Master's mind..."
- Dr. Leslie Weatherhead, The Christian Agnostic:
"I often think of the prayers offered daily and weekly by millions of loyal subjects
for the Queen -- 'grant her in health and wealth long to live' -- but members of the Royal
Family do not live any longer than anyone else or enjoy better health. If I have a
toothache I do not pray, or ask for prayer. I go to the dentist. Is it logical to
pray just because I do not know who can make me well? Sometimes I overhear the angels
saying to one another, 'If only they would spend on medical research what they spend on
trying to land on the moon, they could prevent cancer as they have prevented plague, and
then they would no more pray about a sick body than they pray about a decayed tooth'... God
is not going to make of prayer an easy magic, just because we have not used our human
resources of money and men in wiser ways."
- A Knight's Prayer, Chester Cathedral: "My Lord, I am ready
on the threshold of this new day to go forth armed with Thy power, seeking adventure on
the high road, to right wrong, to overcome evil, to suffer wounds and endure pain if need
be, but in all things to serve Thee bravely, faithfully, joyfully, that at the end of the
day's labour, kneeling for Thy blessing, Thou mayest find no blot upon my shield.
Amen."
- Abigail Adams, July 4, 1784: On the eighth anniversary of the
signing of the Declaration of Independence, while enduring great hardship and peril
crossing the Atlantic to meet her ambassador husband in France, Abigail Adams recorded
these words: "Whilst the Nations of Europe are enveloped in Luxery and dissipation;
and a universal venality prevails throughout Britain, may the new
empire, Gracious Heaven, become the Guardian and protector of Religion and Liberty, of
universal Benevolence and Phylanthropy. May those virtues which are banished from
the land of our Nativity, find a safe Assylum with the inhabitants of the new world."
- Major Dick Winters, June 6, 1944, D-Day -
the evening of that first incredible day of the liberation of Europe: as
depecited in the HBO movie series, Band of Brothers, and based on his own
writings: "That night I took time to thank God for seeing me through the Day of Days;
and I prayed that I would make it through 'D+1' -- and if somehow I managed to get home
again I promised God and myself that I would find a quiet piece of
land someplace and spend the rest of my life in peace."
|