J. C. Ryle Prayer Quotations

The 'means of grace' are such as Bible reading, private prayer, and regularly worshiping God in Church, wherein one hears the Word taught and participates in the Lord's Supper.

We must wrestle earnestly in prayer, like men contending with a deadly enemy for life.

Sunday morning, before we go to hear the Word of God preached...let us not rush into God’s presence careless, reckless, and unprepared, as if it mattered not in what way such work was done. Let us carry with us faith, reverence, and prayer. If these three are our companions, we will hear with profit, and return with praise.

When a man’s heart is cold and unconcerned about religion – when his hands are never employed in doing God’s work – when his feet are not familiar with God’s ways – when his tongue is seldom or never used in prayer and praise – when his eyes are blind to the beauty of the kingdom of heaven – when his mind is full of the world, and has no room for spiritual things – when these marks are to be found in a man the word of the Bible is the right word to use about him, and that word is, ‘Dead.’

If anyone feels his sins, let him come at once, straight, direct, not merely to church, or to the sacrament, or to repentance, or to prayer, but to Christ Himself.

Surely if there be any habit which your own hand and eye should help in forming, it is the habit of prayer.

Bibles read without prayer; sermons heard without prayer; marriages contracted without prayer; journeys undertaken without prayer; residences chosen without prayer; friendships formed without prayer; the daily act of prayer itself hurried over, or gone through without heart: these are the kind of downward steps by which many a Christian descends to a condition of spiritual palsy, or reaches the point where God allows them to have a tremendous fall.

Prayer is the mightiest weapon that God has placed in our hands.

Let us seek friends that will stir up our prayers, our Bible reading, our use of time, and our salvation.

What is the reason that some believers are so much brighter and holier than others? I believe the difference, in nineteen cases out of twenty, arises from different habits about private prayer. I believe that those who are not eminently holy pray little, and those who are eminently holy pray much.

No prayers can be heard which do not come from a forgiving heart.

A man's state before God may always be measured by his prayers.

Prayer is the very life-breath of true Christianity.

I should as soon expect a farmer to prosper in business who contented himself with sowing his fields and never looking at them till harvest, as expect a believer to attain much holiness who was not diligent about his Bible reading, his prayers, and the use of his Sundays.

Do you wish to grow in grace and be a holy Christian? Then never forget the value of prayer.

Jesus hears us, and in His own good time will give an answer... He may sometimes keep us long waiting...but He will never send us empty away.

It is not always those who have the most eminent gifts who are the most successful laborers for God. It is generally those who keep up closest communion with Christ and are most constant in prayer.

If we would have good ministers, we must remember our Lord’s example, and pray for them. Their work is heavy. Their responsibility is enormous. Their strength is small. Let us see that we support them, and hold up their hands by our prayers.

Prayer is the surest remedy against the devil and besetting sins.

Without the blessing of the Lord, your best endeavors will do no good. He has the hearts of all men in His hands, and except He touch the hearts of your children by His Spirit, you will weary yourself to no purpose. Water, therefore, the seed you sow on their minds with unceasing prayer.

Happy are they, who in the matter of marriage observe three rules. The first is to marry only in the Lord, and after prayer for God’s approval and blessing. The second is not to expect too much from their partners, and to remember that marriage is, after all, the union of two sinners, and not of two angels. The third rule is to strive first and foremost for one another’s sanctification. The more holy married people are, the happier they are.

If you train your children to anything, train them, at least, to a habit of prayer.

Oh, dear friend, if you love your children, I charge you, do not let the early impression of a habit of prayer slip by. If you train your children to do anything, train them, at least, to have a habit of prayer.

Fear not because your prayer is stammering, your words feeble, and your language poor. Jesus can understand you.

Prayer will consume sin, or sin will choke prayer.

To be prayerless is to be without God, without Christ, without grace, without hope, and without heaven.

Praying and sinning will never live together in the same heart. Prayer will consume sin, or sin will choke prayer.

Backsliding, generally first begins with neglect of private prayer.

Let us resolve by God's grace that, however feeble and poor our prayers may seem to us, we will pray on.

What is the cause of most backslidings? I believe, as a general rule, one of the chief causes is neglect of private prayer.

No time is so well spent in every day as that which we spend upon our knees.

There are few professing Christians, it may be feared, who strive to imitate Christ in the matter of private devotion. There is abundance of hearing, reading, talking, professing, visiting, contributing to the poor and teaching at schools. But is there, together with all this, a due proportion of private prayer? Are believing men and women sufficiently careful to be frequently alone with God?

Prayer needs neither learning, wisdom or book knowledge to begin it. It needs nothing but heart and will.

Faith is to the soul what life is to the body. Prayer is to faith what breath is to the body. How a person can live and not breathe is past my comprehension, and how a person can believe and not pray is past my comprehension too.

Our prayers may be weak, stammering, and poor in our eyes. But if they come from a right heart, God understands them. Such prayers are His delight.