Top Ten Quotes: Prayer
At first glance, you might think you’re reading a blog post about personal quotes from personal prayers. Nah. I’ll save you all of my “bless all the missionaries” and “traveling mercies” and “hedges of protection” and just jump straight to another guy’s quotes.
When Tim Keller writes stuff, you read it. And then you get convicted over it. And then you attempt to apply it. That’s true of all of his books, but especially Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God.
Here are my top ten favorite quotes from the book:
- Paul says believers in this world see things only “in part,” just as the reflections in ancient mirrors were filled with distortions (1 Cor 13:12). Prayer, however, gradually clears our vision.
- …while the biblical God is not Same-as-Me, his is also not utterly, inaccessibly Far-from-Me.
- …our prayers should arise out of immersion in the Scripture. We should “plunge ourselves into the sea” of God’s language, the Bible.
- Because in Jesus God became human, he is not only the God on the other side of the chasm, he is the bridge over the gap.
- God will not give us anything contrary to his will, and that will always include what is best for us in the long run (Rom 8:28). We can, therefore, pray confidently because he won’t give us everything we want.
- …in the presence of God everyone must duck his head and come into the joy of forgiveness only through the low door of humility. (Martin Luther)
- Prayer brings perspective, shows the big picture, gets you out of the weeds, reorients you to where you really are.
- …if the beauty and glory of Christ do not capture our imaginations, dominate our waking thought, and fill our hearts with longing and desire – then something else will.
- …praise is the alpha prayer – the one kind of prayer that properly motivates, energizes, and shapes the others.
- To lose our grip on the costliness of forgiveness will result in a superficial, perfunctory confession that does not lead to any real change of heart. There will be no life change. To lose our grip on the freeness of forgiveness, however, will lead to continued guilt, shame, and self-loathing. There will be no relief. Only when we see both the freeness and the cost of forgiveness will we get relief from the guilt as well as liberation from the power of sin in our lives.
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