JOHN BUNYAN Prayer is a sincere, sensible, affectionate pouring out of the soul to God, through Christ in the strength and assistance of the Spirit, for such things as God has promised.
Sermon Illustrations
APPROPRIATING WHAT IS THERE A ship in distress off the Canadian coast, with its fresh water supply completely exhausted, sent out an S. O. S. for fresh water. The reply came back immediately: "Let your…
SPIRITUAL FULCRUM There is an "Archimedean" point outside the world which is the little chamber where a true supplicant prays in all sincerity, where he lifts the world off its hinges. Soren Kierkegaard
MARTIN LUTHER ON BREVITY The fewer words the better prayer.
DILIGENCE AND PRAYER: LORD SHAFTESBURY (1801- 1885) On a rainy day in 1885 a funeral procession wound its way to Westminster Abbey. In it were people from all walks of life: representatives of religious societies…
PERSISTING IN PRAYER AND PRESSURE In 1873 a group of women at Hillsboro, Ohio, met and prayed and then read the 146th Psalm. Then they prayed and pleaded with the saloon keepers to give up…
SUCCESSFUL RELATIONSHIP Someone wrote the editor of THE CHRISTIAN HERALD to ask how a couple could be assured a happy, harmonious marriage. The editor answered by telling about two children who had been told to…
TWO DIMENSIONS OF PRAYER If you're a tennis player, you may be familiar with The Inner Game of Tennis by W. Timothy Gallwey. Gallwey points out that when we watch a game of tennis between…
DEEP LISTENING One of my favorite stories about listening comes from the depression years. A young man saw an ad in the newspaper for a telegraph operator. He hurried to the address of the building…
PRAYER AT THE HOUSE OF DYING Dear Lord, the Great Healer -- I kneel before You Since every good and perfect gift Must come from You. I pray, give skill to my hand, Clear vision…
RUSSIAN PROVERB Pray to God, but row for the shore.
EDWIN KEITH Prayer is exhaling the spirit of man and inhaling the spirit of God.
CLOSING PRAYER These are the gifts I ask of thee, Spirit serene -- strength for the daily task; Courage to face the road; Good cheer to help me bear the traveler's load And for the…
EMERGENCY NUMBER As my boss prepared to go on vacation in another state, I kiddingly asked him to leave a telephone number where we could reach him at least once a day. After he left,…
LIFT UP YOUR HEAD When my son was a toddler, washing his hair was always a problem. He would sit in the bathtub while I put shampoo on his hair. Then, when I poured on…
PRAYER AND POWER There is enough of God's power available to answer every prayer ever prayed in His will. Leonard Ravenhill in Why Revival Tarries, p. 156, writes: "One might estimate the weight of the…
POWER OF PRAYER In late May I was admiring my lovely, green, blooming cantaloupe plants. The foliage was hearty and spreading rapidly. Then, in mid-June and throughout July, a drought set in, and the leaves…
CHILDREN'S EVANGELISM A while ago my friends were amazed to hear their five year old daughter, Lindsay, telling her little friend about Jesus. The children were sitting on the front steps of the house, and…
CHILDREN, TEACH US TO PRAY I was sitting in with my wife one Wednesday evening as she was teaching a five-year-old's Bible class. It came time to have some animal crackers and she asked one…
DISPUTING THE POWER OF PRAYER There was a small Kentucky town that had two churches and one whiskey distillery. Members of both churches complained that the distillery gave the community a bad image. On top…
