When prayer fades out, power fades out. We are as spiritual as we are prayerful; no more, no less.
E. Stanley JonesRead
Prayer is surrender--surr ender to the will of God and cooperation with that will. If I throw out a boathook from the boat and catch hold of the shore and pull, do I pull the shore to me, or do I pull myself to the shore? Prayer is not pulling God to my will, but the aligning of my will to the will of God.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Prayer involves aligning oneself with God's will rather than trying to change His plans.
In this quote, E. Stanley Jones emphasizes that prayer is not about manipulating God to fulfill our desires but rather about surrendering and aligning our own will to God's divine intentions. The analogy of pulling yourself to the shore illustrates that true prayer is a humbling act that allows one to move toward a greater purpose rather than expecting God to move to fulfill personal wishes.
Themes
PrayerSurrenderWillAlignmentSpirituality
In practice
Example use cases
In a church sermon about the importance of trust in a higher power.
More from E. Stanley Jones
All quotes βThe purpose of religion is not so much to get us into heaven, or to keep us out of hell, but to put a little bit of heaven into us, and take the hell out of us. This has always been the greatest responsibility of religion.
E. Stanley JonesRead
A Johns Hopkins doctor says that 'we do not know why it is that the worriers die sooner than the non-worriers, but that is a fact.' But I, who am simple of mind, think I know we are inwardly constructed, in nerve and tissue and brain cell and soul, for faith and not for fear. God made us that way. Therefore, the need of faith is not something imposed on us dogmatically, but it is written in us intrinsically. We cannot live without it. To live by worry is to live against Reality.
E. Stanley JonesRead
Worry and anxiety are sand in the machinery of life; faith is the oil.
E. Stanley JonesRead
An individual gospel without a social gospel is a soul without a body and a social gospel without an individual gospel is a body without a soul. One is a ghost, the other a corpse.
E. Stanley JonesRead
To implant fear in the minds of children is a crime. If parents try to rule the child by fear, then fear rules the child.
E. Stanley JonesRead
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if you cannot but weep when your soul summons you to prayer, she should spur you again and yet again, though weeping, until you shall come laughing
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Only when we can accept God as he is can we give up the desire for spiritual experiences that we can feel.
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