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(1 Thessalonians 5:17 NRSV) pray without ceasing
(Matthew 7:7-8 NRSV) "Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find;
knock, and the door will be opened for you. {8} For everyone who asks receives,
and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be
opened.
He who fails to pray does not cheat God. He cheats himself.
George Failing
Prayer is not monologue, but dialogue. Not just speaking, but listening. Not
just asking, but accepting. Not just giving orders, but accepting orders. Not
changing God's will to ours, but discovering His perfect will.
Grace Adolphsen Brame
Be yourself. Be natural before God. Do not pretend to emotions you do not feel.
Tell him whatever is on your heart and mind with whatever words are most natural
to you. You do not have to speak to him in "religious" language about
"spiritual" matters only
Speak as naturally and as easily as you would to a
friend, since God is just that.
This natural expression of yourself at the
outset is the guarantee that you can go on to a creative, free, and mature
relationship with God.
John B. Coburn
"I took this verse in the Bible, 'In all thy ways acknowledge him and He will
direct thy paths.' I found that it worked! This led me to explore more to
discover the Infinite, and now every morning at four o'clock, I tune in to the
Great Creator . . . Without god to draw aside the curtain, I would be helpless .
. . No books ever go into my laboratory. The thing that I am to do and the way
of doing it come to me . . . My prayers are more an attitude than anything else.
I ask the Great Creator . . . daily and often momently to give me wisdom,
understanding, and bodily strength to do His Will; hence I am asking and
receiving all the time."
George Washington Carver
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So far today, I've done all right.
I haven't gossiped, and I haven't lost my temper.
I haven't been grumpy, nasty or selfish.
But in a few minutes, God, I'm going to get out of bed
and that is when I'm going to need a lot of help.
Amen.
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He prayed for strength that he might achieve;
He was made weak that he might obey.
He prayed for health that he might do greater things;
He was given infirmity that he might do better things.
He prayed for riches that he might be happy;
He was given poverty that he might be wise.
He prayed for power that he might have the praise of men;
He was given weakness that he might feel the need of God.
He prayed for all things that he might enjoy life;
He was given life that he might enjoy all things.
He received nothing that he asked forbut all that he hoped for.
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* I asked God to take away my pride, and God said, "NO." He said it was not for
Him to take away, but for me to give it up.
* I asked God to make my handicapped child whole, and God said, "NO." He said
the child's spirit is whole, the body is only temporary.
* I asked God to grant me patience and God said, "NO." He said that patience is
a by product of tribulation. It isn't granted it's earned.
* I asked God to give me happiness and God said, "NO." He said He gives
blessings, happiness is up to me.
* I asked God to spare me pain, and God said, "NO." He said suffering draws you
apart from worldly cares and brings you closer to Me.
* I asked God to make my spirit grow, and God said, "NO." He said I must grow on
my own, But He will prune me to make me fruitful.
* I asked God if He loved me, and God said, "YES." He gave me his only Son who
died for me, and I will be in Heaven someday because I believe.
* I asked God to help me love others as much as He loves me, and God said, "AH,
FINALLY, YOU HAVE THE IDEA."
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Day by day, dear Lord,
Of thee three things I pray:
To see thee more clearly,
Love thee more dearly,
Follow thee more nearly,
Day by day.
Richard of Chichester (11981253)
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Dear Lord, never let me be afraid to pray for the impossible.
Dorothy Shellenberger
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Lord,
make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Saint Francis of Assisi (C. 11811226)
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God, grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time,
enjoying one moment at a time,
accepting hardship as a pathway to peace;
taking, as Jesus did,
this sinful world as it is,
not as I would have it;
trusting that You will make all things right
if I surrender to your will;
so that I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with You forever in the next.
AMEN
Reinhold Niebuhr
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My soul is too small to accommodate you. Enlarge it.
Saint Augustine of Hippo (354430)
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When we are wrong,
Make us willing to change.
And when we are right,
Make us easy to live with.
Peter Marshall (19021949)
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