“The primary purpose of prayer is not to make requests. The primary purpose is to praise, to sing, to chant. Because the essence of prayer is a song, and man cannot live without a song.”— Abraham Joshua Heschel, amazon.com
“But the very fact that this world is so challenging is exactly why you sometimes must reach out of its jurisdiction for help, appealing to a higher authority in order to find your comfort.”— Elizabeth Gilbert, amazon.com
“The words were unexpected, but so incisively true. So much of prayer is like that - an encounter with a truth that has sunk to the bottom of the heart, that wants to be found, wants to be spoken, wants to be elevated into the realm of sacredness.”— Sue Monk Kidd, amazon.com
“What's prayer? It's shooting shafts into the dark. What mark they strike, if any, who's to say? It's reaching for a hand you cannot touch. The silence is so fathomless that prayers like plummets vanish into the sea. You beg. You whimper. You load God down with empty praise. You tell him sins that he…”— Frederick Buechner, amazon.com
“Praying and sinning will never live together in the same heart. Prayer will consume sin, or sin will choke prayer.”— J.C. Ryle, amazon.com
“Love people who hate you. Pray for people who have wronged you. It won’t just change their life... it’ll change yours.”— Mandy Hale, amazon.com
“Not being changed by prayer is sort of life standing in the middle of a spring rain without getting wet. It's hard to stand in the center of God's acceptance and love without getting it all over you.”— Steve Brown, amazon.com
“Prayer is like water - something you can't imagine has the strength or power to do any good, and yet give it time and it can change the lay of the land.”— Jodi Picoult, amazon.com
“Prayer is the soul's sincere desire. Your desire is your prayer. It comes out of your deepest needs and it reveals the things you want in life.”— Joseph Murphy, amazon.com
“Prayer, he suspected as he hoisted himself up and turned for the door, was putting one foot in front of the other. Moving all the same.”— Lois McMaster Bujold, amazon.com
“Communicating with God is the most extraordinary experience imaginable, yet at the same time it's the most natural one of all, because God is present in us at all times. Omniscient, omnipotent, personal-and loving us without conditions. We are connected as One through our divine link with God.”— Eben Alexander, amazon.com
“The only difference between a wish and a prayer is that you're at the mercy of the universe for the first, and you've got some help with the second.”— Jodi Picoult, amazon.com
“Where did you get the idea you aren't allowed to petition the universe with prayer? You are part of this universe, Liz. You're a constituent--you have every entitlement to participate in the actions of the universe, and to let your feelings be known. So, put your opinion out there. Make your case. B…”— Elizabeth Gilbert, amazon.com
“The real 'work' of prayer is to become silent and listen to the voice that says good things about me. To gently push aside and silence the many voices that question my goodness and to trust that I will hear the voice of blessing-- that demands real effort.”— Henri J.M. Nouwen, amazon.com
“I think the reason we sometimes have the false sense that God is so far away is because that is where we have put him. We have kept him at a distance, and then when we are in need and call on him in prayer, we wonder where he is. He is exactly where we left him.”— Ravi Zacharias, amazon.com
“Help is a prayer that is always answered. It doesn't matter how you pray--with your head bowed in silence, or crying out in grief, or dancing. Churches are good for prayer, but so are garages and cars and mountains and showers and dance floors.”— Anne Lamott, amazon.com
“For the happy man prayer is only a jumble of words, until the day when sorrow comes to explain to him the sublime language by means of which he speaks to God.”— Alexandre Dumas, amazon.com