by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
What is the place of prayer in your life? What prominence does it have in our lives? It is a question that I address to all. It is as necessary that it should reach the man who is well versed in the Scripture, and who has a knowledge of its doctrine and its theology, as that it should reach anyone else. What part does prayer play in our lives and how essential is it to us? Do we realize that without it we faint? Our ultimate position as Christians is tested by the character of our prayer life. It is more important than knowledge and understanding. Do not imagine that I am detracting from the importance of knowledge. I spend most of my life trying to show the importance of having a knowledge of truth and an understanding of it. That is vitally important. There is only one thing that is more important, and that is prayer. The ultimate test of my understanding of the Scriptural teaching is the amount of time I spend in prayer. As theology is ultimately the knowledge of God, the more theology I know, the more it should drive me to seek to know God. Not to know about Him, but to know Him. The whole object of salvation is to bring me to a knowledge of God. I may talk learnedly about regeneration, but what is eternal life? It is that they might know Thee, the only true God in Jesus Christ whom God has sent. If all my knowledge does not lead me to prayer there is something wrong somewhere. It is meant to do that. The value of the knowledge is that it gives me such an understanding of the value of prayer, that I devote time to prayer and delight in prayer. If it does not product these results in my life, there is something wrong and spurious about it, or else I am handling it in a wrong manner.
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Recommended Books on Prayer
The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions by The Banner of Truth Trust
Prayer (eBook) by John Bunyan
On Prayer (eBook) by John Calvin
A Call to Prayer (eBook) by J. C. Ryle
The Hidden Life of Prayer (eBook) by David MacIntyre
The Secret Key to Heaven (eBook) by Thomas Brooks
1928 Book of Common Prayer (.pdf)
A Guide To Fervent Prayer (eBook) by A. W. Pink
The Prayer of Jabez (eBook) by C H Spurgeon
Gleanings from Paul: A Study of the Prayers of the Apostle (eBook) by A W Pink
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"A man is what he is on his knees before God, and nothing more." - Robert Murray M'Cheyne
“If we do not abide in prayer, we will abide in temptation. Let this be one aspect of our daily intercession: ‘God, preserve my soul, and keep my heart and all its ways so that I will not be entangled.’ When this is true in our lives, a passing temptation will not overcome us. We will remain free while others lie in bondage.” - John Owen
“Prayer is beyond any question the highest activity of the human soul. Man is at his greatest and highest when upon his knees he comes face to face with God.” - D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
"Always respond to every impulse to pray. The impulse to pray may come when you are reading or when you are battling with a text. I would make an absolute law of this: always obey such an impulse." - D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones