Centering Prayer Quotes

Learn to listen to subtle cues from your spirit instead of the barrage coming from your brain. ~ David Brazzeal

Another way to think about Centering Prayer is training the mind to become free from distractions so it can "rest in God. ~ Amos Smith

This mystical stream [contemplative prayer] is the Western bridge to Far Eastern spirituality. ~ Tilden Edwards

Centering prayer involves consenting to God's presence and action within - beyond thoughts, images, and perceptions - in order to form a contemplative relationship with God. ~ David Frenette

Centering prayer is a training in letting go. ~ Thomas Keating

One of the values of centering prayer is that you are not thinking about God during the time of centering prayer so you are giving God a chance to manifest. In centering prayer there are moments of peace that give the psyche a chance to realize that God may not be so bad after all. God has a chance to be himself for a change. ~ Thomas Keating

Other forms of relating to God that have unique value in connecting us to Him include contemplative prayer and centering prayer. ~ Larry Crabb

In centering prayer, the sacred word is not the object of the attention but rather the expression of the intention of the will. ~ Thomas Keating

RESIST no thought; RETAIN no thought; REACT to no thought; RETURN to the sacred word. ~ Cynthia Bourgeault

For my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations. ~ Anonymous

I did not become a Christian to live the 50s and 60s all over a second time. Muslims have more rights and freedom of religion than I do as a Christian. Tell a Muslim he can't pray at school or at the airport or downtown when prayer time is called for, and see what happens. Tell a Muslim cleric serving as a chaplain in our brilliant military that he has to marry a same-sex couple, and see what happens. ~ Ken Hutcherson

Our holy duty is to pray. The answer belongs to God. ~ Lailah Gifty Akita

I do not pray for a lighter load, but for a stronger back. ~ Phillips Brooks

Prayer ought to be short and pure, unless it be prolonged by the inspiration of Divine grace. ~ Benedict Of Nursia

We must also consider the nature of prayer. It is curious that Christians are pushing so strenuously for prayer which they don't believe to he prayer. Christians pray to the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ-not to Allah, Krishna, or God-as-you-conceive-him/her-tobe. If we were successful in establishing Christian prayer in the
schools, we would be violating the religious liberties of those who are not Christians. If we establish prayer that is not Christian, what have we gained? Why fight to get prayer in the schools when you believe the prayers, once instituted, won't get past the ceiling? Do we really want our children led in a daily vain repetition? ~ Douglas Wilson

What shall we do with ... the Jews? ... I advise that all their prayer books and Talmudic writings ... are to be taken from them. ~ Martin Luther

If we want to live perfectly happy lives...we must drive out selfish character tendencies such as pride, ego, vanity, jealousy, lusts, envy and worry. When we learn to live selflessly, putting others before ourselves, committing to what is noble, right and good; treating others with love and compassion...that's when true happiness is experienced. A genuine focus on selflessness cures all and creates an environment for true growth. It's the secret to every great relationship. We gain...when we give up self. Sacrificing one's selfish characteristics through diligent thought, meditation, prayer and action gives life to true love and abounding joy.~Jason Versey ~ Jason Versey

may I be I is the only prayer ~ E. E. Cummings

A government regulating itself by what is wise and just for the many, uninfluenced by the local and selfish views of the few who direct their affairs, has not been seen, perhaps, on earth. Or if it existed for a moment at the birth of ours, it would not be easy to fix the term of its continuance. Still, I believe it does exist here in a greater degree than anywhere else; and for its growth and continuance ... I offer sincere prayers. ~ Thomas Jefferson

The song which thrills to heaven, and seeks to emulate seraphic strains, hath human discords in it. The prayer which moves the arm of God is still a bruised and battered prayer ~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon

The truths that I know best I have learned on my knees. I never know a thing well, till it is burned into my heart by prayer. ~ John Bunyan

We are so utterly ordinary, so commonplace, while we profess to know a Power the Twentieth Century does not reckon with. But we are "harmless," and therefore unharmed. We are spiritual pacifists, non-militants, conscientious objectors in this battle-to-the-death with principalities and powers in high places. Meekness must be had for contact with men, but brass, outspoken boldness is required to take part in the comradeship of the Cross. We are "sideliners"
coaching and criticizing the real wrestlers while content to sit by and leave the enemies of God unchallenged. The world cannot hate us, we are too much like its own. Oh that God would make us dangerous! ~ Jim Elliot

The sooner I learn to forget myself in the desire that He may be glorified, the richer will be the blessing that prayer will bring to myself. No one ever loses by what he sacrifices to the Father. ~ Andrew Murray

Allow yourself to be possessed by God by receiving Jesus, and you will never be possessed by anything else. ~ Stormie O'martian

I want to tell you a growing conviction with me, and that is that as we obey the leadings of the Spirit of God, we enable God to answer the prayers of other people. I mean that our lives, my life, is the answer to someone's prayer, prayed perhaps centuries ago.
It is more and more impossible to me to have programmes and plans because God alone has the plan, and our plans are only apt to hinder Him, and make it necessary for Him to break them up. I have the unspeakable knowledge that my life is the answer to prayers, and that God is blessing me and making me a blessing entirely of His sovereign grace and nothing to do with my merits, saving as I am bold enough to trust His leading and not the dictates of my own wisdom and common sense. ~ Oswald Chambers

Let us pray for ourselves, that we may not lose the word "concern" out of our Christian vocabulary. Let us pray for our nation. Let us pray for those who have never known Jesus Christ and redeeming love, for moral forces everywhere, for our national leaders. Let prayer be our passion. Let prayer be our practice. ~ Robert E.Lee

Being a messenger of love is all about caring for every person in your orbit unconditionally and ceaselessly. The harder the other person makes it for you, the more love you need to send their way. ~ Pooja Ruprell

If prayer is to leave the public schools, let the ridicule of prayer leave also. ~ Boyd K. Packer

The most dangerous thing I've ever encountered was a run-in with Boko Haram around 2007 in a small town in Nigeria. I got caught along with the photographer I was working with, the same one I worked with on the Afghanistan book, Seamus Murphy. We were caught in an attack by a mob after Friday prayers. And the level of violence was so extreme. It was more violent than any other mob violence I have ever seen. ~ Eliza Griswold

The greatest encouragement is conveyed in prayer. ~ David Jeremiah

Sometimes a fog will settle over a vessel's deck and yet leave the topmast clear. Then a sailor goes up aloft and gets a lookout which the helmsman on deck cannot get. So prayer sends the soul aloft; lifts it above the clouds in which our selfishness and egotism befog us, and gives us a chance to see which way to steer. ~ Charles Spurgeon

Habits Your habits are how you renew your daily commitment as a leader to serve rather than to be served. As a leader committed to serve despite all the pressures, trials, and temptations He faced, how did Jesus replenish His energy and servant perspective? His habits! Through a life pattern of solitude and prayer, knowledge of the will of God expressed in His Holy Word, and the community He shared with a small group of intimate companions, Jesus was constantly refreshed and renewed. ~ Kenneth H. Blanchard

Regardless of its purpose, the humpback-whale song is the most complex piece of nonhuman composition on earth. Whether it's art, prayer, or booty call, the humpback song is an amazing thing to experience firsthand, and I suspect that even once the science of it is put to bed, it will remain, as long as they sing, magic. ~ Christopher Moore

Though critics may bow to art, and I am its own true lover,
It is not art, but heart, which wins the wide world over.

Though smooth be the heartless prayer, no ear in Heaven will mind it,
And the finest phrase falls dead if there is no feeling behind it.

Though perfect the player's touch, little, if any, he sways us,
Unless we feel his heart throb through the music he plays us.

Though the poet may spend his life in skilfully rounding a measure,
Unless he writes from a full, warm heart he gives us little pleasure.

So it is not the speech which tells, but the impulse which goes with the saying;
And it is not the words of the prayer, but the yearning back of the praying.

It is not the artist's skill which into our soul comes stealing
With a joy that is almost pain, but it is the player's feeling.

And it is not the poet's song, though sweeter than sweet bells chiming,
Which thrills us through and through, but the heart which beats under the rhyming.

And therefore I say again, though I am art's own true lover,
That it is not art, but heart, which wins the wide world over. ~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox

My eyes had been closed for a few minutes when he said it: "I love you," he muttered, so quiet, like a prayer whispered into my neck.
"Hmm?" I was nearly asleep myself, edges blurring; I was one hundred percent sure I'd misheard.
"I love you." He said it again, clearer this time, right into my ear, breath tickling. I felt like a hydrogen bomb. I tried to be very still, but I knew he could feel my entire body tensing, a runner ready to begin a race --
Get set--
Go.
I opened my mouth, shut it again.
Oh God.
I did love him, is the awfulness of it. I'd loved Sawyer since the seventh grade, when Allie and I began keeping a list of the places we spotted him. I loved his quick, blistered musician hands and the honest soul he kept hidden safe under all his bravado, and I loved how I was still, every day, learning him. I loved his silly, secret goofy side and the way he had of making me feel like I was a tall tree, just from the way he looked at my face. I loved Sawyer LeGrande so much that sometimes I couldn't sit still for the fullness of it, but when I opened up my mouth to tell him so, nothing came out.
I could do anything for him, I realized suddenly. I could give him anything. But not that. If I said that to him, I knew I could never get it back.
"Go to sleep," I whispered, and he didn't say it again. ~ Katie Cotugno

The bells themselves are the best of preachers, Their brazen lips are learned teachers, From their pulpits of stone, in the upper air, Sounding aloft, without crack or flaw, Shriller than trumpets under the Law, Now a sermon and now a prayer. ~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

If you are rushed for time, sow time and you will reap time. Go to church and spend a quiet hour in prayer. You will have more time than ever and your work will get done. Sow time with the poor. Sit and listen to them, give them your time lavishly. You will reap time a hundredfold. ~ Dorothy Day

The monks had murdered Danes and Ragnar had punished them, though these days the story is always told that the monks were innocently at prayer and died as spotless martyrs. In truth they were malevolent killers of women and children, but what chance does truth have when priests tell tales? ~ Bernard Cornwell

Every wish Is like a prayer
with God. ~ Elizabeth Barrett Browning

The prayer that is faithless is fruitless. ~ Thomas Watson

Prayer continues to provide power
spiritual power. Prayer continues to provide peace
spiritual peace. ~ Thomas S. Monson

When we depend upon organizations, we get what organizations can do; when we depend upon education, we get what education can do; when we depend upon man, we get what man can do; but when we depend upon prayer, we get what God can do. A. C. Dixon ~ John Piper

I've heard it said that prayer is the act of talking to God, while meditation is the act of listening. ~ Elizabeth Gilbert

A prayerless soul is a Christless soul. Prayer is the lisping of the believing infant, the shout of the fighting believer, the requiem of the dying saint falling asleep in Jesus. It is the breath, the watchword, the comfort, the strength, the honour of a Christian. If thou be a child of God, thou wilt seek thy Father's face, and live in thy Father's love. Pray that this year thou mayst be holy, humble, zealous, and patient; have closer communion with Christ, ~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon

The evidence for Christian truth is not exhaustive, but it is sufficient. Too often, Christianity has not been tried and found wanting - it has been found demanding, and not tried. ~ John Baillie

Pray for good.
Pray for happy.
And always pray for Mom. ~ Richelle E. Goodrich

We've assembled a group of people, your team, people who love you and pray for you. Take a look around the circle. These people represent thousands of words spent in prayer before the throne of God, begging for your safe return to the fold, begging for your peace, your faith, your heart. ~ Nicole O'Dell

Prayer is spiritual exercise and every act of prayer stretches the soul. ~ James Dillet Freeman

The greatest thing anyone can do for God and man is pray. It is not the only thing; but it is the chief thing. The great people of the earth today are the people who pray. I do not mean those who talk about prayer; not those who can explain about prayer; but I mean those people who take time and pray ~ S.D. Gordon

A Prayer
Refuse to fall down
If you cannot refuse to fall down,
refuse to stay down.
If you cannot refuse to stay down,
lift your heart toward heaven,
and like a hungry beggar,
ask that it be filled.
You may be pushed down.
You may be kept from rising.
But no one can keep you from lifting your heart
toward heaven
only you.
It is in the middle of misery
that so much becomes clear.
The one who says nothing good
came of this,
is not yet listening.
~ Clarissa Pinkola Estes

God did not reveal every final detail for a reason. He rarely does. If He did, then we would be justified in simply waiting for the Antichrist to come and get us. We would be entirely justified in digging holes in the ground as secret hideouts to store our survival food. But instead, God desires us to actually wrestle with Him in prayer, not only for our own souls and those of our families, but also for the very nations that we live in and call home. ~ Joel Richardson

If you are not open to the unprecedented, you will repeat history. If you are open to the unprecedented, you will change history. The difference is prayer. ~ Mark Batterson

Take every opportunity to remind someone,
'I love you'
Today.
For whether in thought, intention, disposition, prayer, word, action or deed, no act so nobly imitates the Divine Reality - bestowing upon the human spirit the dignity, hope, courage and strength we all need to realize our full potential in the journey of life - as a sincere, authentic, heartfelt expression of love. ~ Mac MacKenzie

Sincere prayer implies that when we ask for any virtue or blessing, we should work for the blessing and cultivate the virtue. ~ David O. McKay

Phil Needle supposed what he meant was that he wanted to be God, just long enough to find his daughter. It was not a prayer but a promotion. This was why nobody liked God: they wanted his job. ~ Daniel Handler

He who avoids prayer is avoiding everything that is good. ~ John Of The Cross