A Praying Life
10 quotes to inspire a more prayerful life
Paul Miller’s bestselling book, A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World, is one of the best books on prayer. To quote Paul Tripp’s dust cover recommendation, “It is a book on prayer that actually makes you want to pray!”
Consider these quotes from the book and then, if you like what you read, purchase the book for yourself and bring renewed excitement and wonder to your own prayer life.
10 Quotes from A Praying Life
“Prayer is bringing your helplessness to Jesus.”
“Instead of fighting anxiety, we can use it as a springboard to bending our hearts to God. Instead of trying to suppress anxiety, manage it, or smother it with pleasure, we can turn our anxiety toward God. When we do that, we’ll discover that we’ve slipped into continuous praying.”
“If you are not praying, then you are quietly confident that time, money, and talent are all you need in life. You’ll always be a little too tired, a little too busy to pray. But if, like Jesus, you realize you can’t do life on your own, then no matter how busy, no matter how tired you are, you will find the time.”
“Prayer is asking God to incarnate, to get dirty in your life. Yes, the eternal God scrubs floors. For sure we know he washes feet. So take Jesus at his word. Ask him. Tell him what you want. Get dirty. Write out your prayer requests; don't mindlessly drift through life on the American narcotic of busyness. If you try to seize the day, the day will eventually break you. Seize the corner of his garment and don't let go until he blesses you. He will reshape the day.”
“Learning to pray doesn’t offer us a less busy life; it offers us a less busy heart. In the midst of outer busyness we can develop an inner quiet.”
“Sometimes when we say "God is silent," what's really going on is that he hasn't told the story the way we wanted it told. He will be silent when we want him to fill in the blanks of the story we are creating. But with his own stories, the ones we live in, he is seldom silent.”
“Majesty and humility are such an odd fit. This is one reason we struggle with prayer. We just don’t think God could are concerned with the puny details of our lives. We either believe he’s too big or that we’re not that important. No wonder Jesus told us to be like little children!”
“Trying to dissect how prayer works is like using a magnifying glass to try to figure out why a woman is beautiful. If you turn God into an object, he has a way of disappearing.”
“Instead of fighting anxiety, we can use it as a springboard to bending our hearts to God. Instead of trying to suppress anxiety, manage it, or smother it with pleasure, we can turn our anxiety toward God. When we do that, we’ll discover that we’ve slipped into continuous praying.”
“The criteria for coming to Jesus is weariness. Come overwhelmed with life. Come with your wandering mind. Come messy.”
Ready for more? A Praying Life will equip you to understand prayer and, unlike so many other books on prayer, actually make you want to pray!
Related Resources
Sermon: Prayer in Dark Places
As we finish the book of Ruth, we see that God Himself has been the invisible hand behind everything that has happened. Interestingly in this story, what God has worked through are the simple prayers of ordinary people.
Article: Learning to Pray
In one sense, prayer should be as natural as breathing for a child of God. However, at the same time, we do grow in our ability to pray. So how do we learn to pray? Consider these three ways to help you become more focused and intentional in prayer.
Article: Bible Reading Plans
Breath prayers are exactly what they sound like: prayers that can be said in a single breath. This is an ancient discipline that has been practiced by Christians throughout history in order to remind us of God’s beauty, authority and presence in our lives.