15 Helps for Powerful Living

Let Us Run the Race

The writer of Hebrews penned those words we know so well:

Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us – 12:1

Today is my day, and your day, to run the race of faith. This verse reminds us we are not alone in our faith struggles. It reminds me of high school and college athletics. One thing our coaches did to train us for success was observation. Before we could compete, we had to watch those who already knew how. Seems a basic concept, but it was important for athletics and it’s even more important for our faith journey.

Of all our difficulties and questions, we should move this question to the top of our lists:

How did those who have run before us succeed in the race?

Necessity for Success

From the quotes below, I think it will be easy to see the necessity of prayer. Some of the quotes are encouraging, and many are challenging. But each will help you run the race and equip you for powerful living!

Soli Deo Gloria! 

1. You can do more than pray after you have prayed; but you can never do more than pray until you have prayed. A. J. Gordon
2. God does nothing except in response to believing prayer. John Wesley
3. Prayer strikes the winning blow; service is simply picking up the pieces. S.D. Gordon
4. The greatest thing anyone can do for God or man is pray. S.D. Gordon
5. The most important thing a born again Christian can do is to pray. Chuck Smith
6. Men may spurn our appeals, reject our message, oppose our arguments, despise our persons, but they are helpless against our prayers. Sidlow Baxter
7. God shapes the world by prayer. The more prayer there is in the world the better the world will be, the mightier the forces of against evil … E.M. Bounds
8. Satan does not care how many people read about prayer if only he can keep them from praying. Paul E. Billheimer
9. Prayer will make a man cease from sin, or sin will entice a man to cease from prayer. John Bunyon
10. Don’t pray when you feel like it. Have an appointment with the Lord and keep it. A man is powerful on his knees. Corrie ten Boom
11. Talking to men for God is a great thing, but talking to God for men is greater still. E.M. Bounds
12. The men who have done the most for God in this world have been early on their knees. He who fritters away the early morning, its opportunity and freshness, in other pursuits than seeking God will make poor headway seeking Him the rest of the day. If God is not first in our thoughts and efforts in the morning, He will be in the last place the remainder of the day. E.M. Bounds
13. There is not in the world a kind of life more sweet and delightful than that of a continual conversation with God. Brother Lawrence
14. The prayer power has never been tried to its full capacity. If we want to see mighty wonders of divine power and grace wrought in the place of weakness, failure and disappointment, let us answer God’s standing challenge, “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not!” – J. Hudson Taylor 
15. No learning can make up for the failure to pray. No earnestness, no diligence, no study, no gifts will supply its lack. E.M. Bounds

I couldn’t leave these prayer quotes out!

In case there was any doubt about the essential element of prayer…

1. He who has learned to pray has learned the greatest secret of a holy and happy life. William Law
2. The little estimate we put on prayer is evidence from the little time we give to it. E.M. Bounds
3. Satan trembles when he sees the weakest Christian on his knees. William Cowper
4. Prayer is not overcoming God’s reluctance, but laying hold of His willingness. Martin Luther