"Cold prayers always freeze before they reach heaven." - Thomas Brooks on the Puritan Hard Drive
"NOT TO PRAY IS A SIN MOST ODIOUS. O! why cease we then to call instantly to his mercy, having his commandment so to do? Above all our iniquities, we work manifest contempt and despising of him, when, by negligence, we delay to call for his gracious support. Whoso does call upon God obeys his will, and finds therein no small consolation, knowing nothing is more acceptable to his Majesty than humble obedience (Jer. 7:23)." - JOHN KNOX on the Puritan Hard Drive
"Prayer is not overcoming God's reluctance, but laying hold of His willingness." - Martin Luther on the Puritan Hard Drive
Once, while crossing the Atlantic on the SS Sardinian in August 1877, his ship ran into thick fog. He explained to the captain that he needed to be in Quebec by the following afternoon, but Captain Joseph E Dutton (later known as "Holy Joe") said that he was slowing the ship down for safety and Müller's appointment would have to be missed. Müller asked to use the chartroom to pray for the lifting of the fog. The captain followed him down, claiming it would be a waste of time. After Müller prayed, the captain started to pray, but Müller stopped him; partly because of the captain's unbelief, but mainly because he believed the prayer had already been answered. When the two men went back to the bridge, they found the fog had lifted. The captain became a Christian shortly afterwards. Müller's faith in God strengthened day by day and he spent hours in daily prayer and Bible reading -- indeed, it was his practice, in later years, to read through the entire Bible four times a year. - Steer, p. 177 and Warne, p. 230, from Pray and Be Alone With God By Paul Washer, George Mueller, Dr. Joel Beeke, Charles Spurgeon, Greg Price, John Calvin, Dr. Steven Dilday, William Guthrie, J.C. Ryle, and Others (Free MP3s, Books, Videos)
John Calvin on Intimate Prayer by Dr. Joel Beeke (Free MP3). This fine message teaches us how to foster intimate communion with God -- and how we can know the sweetness and approachableness of God, as a loving Father, in and through prayer. "Calvin was the theologian of prayer." - Dr. Joel Beeke
"Our prayer must not be self-centered. It must arise not only because we feel our own need as a burden we must lay upon God, but also because we are so bound up in love for our fellow men that we feel their need as acutely as our own. To make intercession for men is the most powerful and practical way in which we can express our love for them." - John Calvin
Reflecting on the Calvinistic doctrines of grace, Muller wrote his diary (1829) the following: "Before this period I had been much opposed to the doctrines of election, particular redemption, and final persevering grace; so much so that, a few days after my arrival at Teignmouth, I called election a devilish doctrine. I did not believe that I had brought myself to the Lord, for that was too manifestly false; but yet I held, that I might have resisted finally. And further, I knew nothing about the choice of God's people, and did not believe that the child of God, when once made so, was safe for ever. In my fleshly mind I had repeatedly said, If once I could prove that I am a child of God for ever, I might go back into the world for a year or two, and then return to the Lord, and at last be saved. But now I was brought to examine these precious truths by the word of God. Being made willing to have no glory of my own in the conversion of sinners, but to consider myself merely as an instrument; and being made willing to receive what the Scriptures said; I went to the Word, reading the New Testament from the beginning, with a particular reference to these truths. To my great astonishment I found that the passages which speak decidedly for election and persevering grace, were about four times as many as those which speak apparently against these truths; and even those few, shortly after, when I had examined and understood them, served to confirm me in the above doctrines." - A Narrative of Some of the Lord's Dealings with George Müller as cited from Theopedia
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