The opposite of planning is the rut. If you don’t plan a vacation you will probably stay home and watch TV. The natural, unplanned flow of spiritual life sinks to the lowest ebb of vitality. There is a race to be run and a fight to be fought. If you want renewal in your life of prayer you must plan to see it.
~John Piper
God has designed not only that prayer come to be, but that prayer sometimes be a necessary means for accomplishing the end He has ordained. In other words, God purposely designed how things would work so that some of what He accomplishes can only be accomplished as people pray.
~Bruce Ware
The magnificence of God is the source and measure of the magnificence of prayer. Think magnificently of God.
~Alexander Whyte
Prayer is the process of crouching down and making ourselves small before God. This downsizing is not an option; it is the only way to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. To grow in the Spirit is to become little in relation to more and more areas of life–marriage, family, church, work–until eventually it is possible to be little and childlike even in the presence of Satan and all his demons. For it is God, not you or I, who is bigger than evil.
~Mike Mason
An attitude of acceptance says that we trust God, that He loves us, and knows what is best for us. Acceptance does not mean that we do not pray for physical healing, or for the conception and birth of a little one to our marriage. We should indeed pray for those things, but we should pray in a trusting way. We should realize that, though God can do all things, for infinitely wise and loving reasons, He may not do that which we pray He will do. How do we know how long to pray? As long as we can pray trustingly, with an attitude of acceptance of His will, we should pray as long as the desire remains.
~Jerry Bridges
