Pray

I have put some thoughts on these quotes on the bottom.

"The greatest thing anyone can do for God or man is pray." S.D. Gordon

"One should never initiate anything that he cannot saturate with prayer."  

"If I fail to spend two hours in prayer each morning, the devil gets the victory through the day. I have so much business I cannot get on without spending three hours daily in prayer.  Martin Luther

"The most important thing a born again Christian can do is to pray." Chuck Smith

"Men may spurn our appeals, reject our message, oppose our arguments, despise our persons, but they are helpless against our prayers." Sidlow Baxter

"Satan does not care how many people read about prayer if only he can keep them from praying. Paul E. Billheimer

"0h brother, pray; in spite of Satan, pray; spend hours in prayer; rather neglect friends than not pray; rather fast, and lose breakfast, dinner, tea, and supper - and sleep too - than not pray. And we must not talk about prayer, we must pray in right earnest. The Lord is near. He comes softly while the virgins slumber." Andrew A. Bonar

"Don’t pray when you feel like it. Have an appointment with the Lord and keep it. A man is powerful on his knees." Corrie ten Boom

"Talking to men for God is a great thing, but talking to God for men is greater still." E.M. Bounds

 "The men who have done the most for God in this world have been early on their knees. He who fritters away the early morning, its opportunity and freshness, in other pursuits than seeking God will make poor headway seeking Him the rest of the day. If God is not first in our thoughts and efforts in the morning, He will be in the last place the remainder of the day." E.M. Bounds

"No learning can make up for the failure to pray. No earnestness, no diligence, no study, no gifts will supply its lack." E.M. Bounds

"If the church wants a better pastor, it only needs to pray for the one it has."

"You may as soon find a living man that does not breath, as a living Christian that does not pray."  Matthew Henry

"There is not in the world a kind of life more sweet and delightful than that of a continual conversation with God." Brother Lawrence

“I would rather teach one man to pray than ten men to preach.”  Charles Spurgeon

"We have to pray with our eyes on God, not on the difficulties." Oswald Chambers

“Time spent alone with God is not wasted.  It changes us; it changes our surroundings; and every Christian who would live the life that counts, and who would have power for service must take time to pray.”  M.E. Andross

Make time to pray.  “The great freight and passenger trains are never too busy to stop for fuel. No matter how congested the yards may be, no matter how crowded the schedules are, no matter how many things demand the attention of the trainmen, those trains always stop for fuel.”  M.E. Andross

"Prayer does not fit us for the greater work; prayer is the greater work."  Oswald Chambers.

"It is not enough to begin to pray, nor to pray aright; nor is it enough to continue for a time to pray; but we must patiently, believingly, continue in  prayer until we obtain an answer;  George Müller

“Yes, worship of the loving God is man’s whole reason for existence.” A.W. Tozer

"Prayer is weakness leaning on omnipotence."  W. S. Bowd

"Since the days of Pentecost, has the whole church ever put aside every other work and waited upon Him for ten days, that the Spirit’s power might be manifested? We give too much attention to method and machinery and resources, and too little to the source of power."  Hudson Taylor

“Depend upon it, if you are bent on prayer, the devil will not leave you alone. He will molest you, tantalize you, block you, and will surely find some hindrances, big or little or both. And we sometimes fail because we are ignorant of his devices…I do not think he minds our praying about things if we leave it at that. What he minds, and opposes steadily, is the prayer that prays on until it is prayed through, assured of the answer.”  Mary Warburton Booth 

"It is in the field of prayer that life's critical battles are lost or won. We must conquer all our circumstances there. We must first of all bring them there. We must survey them there. We must master them there. In prayer we bring our spiritual enemies into the Presence of God and we fight them there. Have you tried that? Or have you been satisfied to meet and fight your foes in the open spaces of the world?"  J. H. Jowett

These quotes have really sunk in for me, as well as some advice I have gotten from friends, some conversations I have had recently, and things God has been telling me. I have, in the past, set aside a maximum of about half an hour per day for prayer. Most days was about 15 minutes. In that time, I primarily went through a list of names of people I regularly pray for. To be honest, it generally felt pretty distant and oftentimes I never really connected with God at all. I am determined to do my part to change that. I will never be the man of God I am called to be if I am not daily setting aside time to enter God's presence. So, I am now getting up an hour earlier than normal in addition to the Bible reading and prayer that I do in the evening. I look forward to seeing what God does!

What about you? The fact that you have read all these quotes means nothing. If you make plans to pray it means nothing. If you do it once or twice, that is a good. But regular prayer breaks down strongholds. There is no such thing as a "gift of prayer." Every Christian is called to pray. How else do we plan to communicate with the Christ we profess to follow? Let us pray.