The earth has grown old with its burden of care, But at Christmas it always is young.
Phillips BrooksRead
A prayer in its simplest definition is merely a wish turned Godward.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Prayer is essentially a heartfelt wish directed towards God.
In this quote, Phillips Brooks simplifies the concept of prayer to its core essence, asserting that at its heart, prayer is about expressing one's deepest desires in a spiritual context. This perspective encourages people to understand prayer not as a formal ritual, but as a genuine communication of hopes and needs directed toward a higher power, thus bridging personal aspirations with divine will.
Themes
PrayerWishGodSpiritualityCommunication
In practice
Example use cases
Including this quote in a sermon to highlight the essence of prayer.
More from Phillips Brooks
All quotes βWe never become truly spiritual by sitting down and wishing to become so. You must undertake something so great that you cannot accomplish it unaided.
Phillips BrooksRead
The truest help we can render an afflicted man is not to take his burden from him, but to call out his best energy, that he may be able to bear the burden.
Phillips BrooksRead
To believe in the God over us and around us and not in the God within us - that would be a powerless and fruitless faith.
Phillips BrooksRead
To say, 'well done' to any bit of good work is to take hold of the powers which have made the effort and strengthen them beyond our knowledge.
Phillips BrooksRead
Think of life as a voyage. The truest liver of the truest life is like a voyager who, as he sails, is not indifferent to all the beauty of the sea around him.
Phillips BrooksRead
Similar quotes
To live a spiritual life we must first find the courage to enter into the desert of our loneliness and to change it by gentle and persistent efforts into a garden of solitude. The movement from loneliness to solitude, however, is the beginning of any spiritual life because it it is the movement from the restless senses to the restful spirit,l from the outward-reaching cravings to the inward-reaching search, from the fearful clinging to the fearless play.
Henri NouwenRead
For Ragamuffins, God's name is Mercy. We see our darkness as a prized possession because it drives us into the heart of God. Without mercy our darkness would plunge us into despair - for some, self-destruction. Time alone with God reveals the unfathomable depths of the poverty of the spirit. We are so poor that even our poverty is not our own: It belongs to the mysterium tremendum of a loving God.
Brennan ManningRead
O my God, what must a soul be like when it is in this state! It longs to be all one tongue with which to praise the Lord. It utters a thousand pious follies, in a continuous endeavor to please Him who thus possesses it.
Teresa Of AvilaRead
In our prayers, we talk to God, in our Bible study, God talks to us, and we had better let God do most of the talking.
Dwight L. MoodyRead
Remember God is not surprised by your inabilities, your imperfections, or your faults. He has always known everything about you that you are just now finding out, and he chose you on purpose for himself.
Joyce MeyerRead
If you think you can walk in holiness without keeping up perpetual fellowship with Christ, you have made a great mistake. If you would be holy, you must live close to Jesus.
Charles SpurgeonRead