John R. Rice Quotes of the Week

 Notice Philippians 4:6, 7 again. "Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." That is the way it ought to be. Take it to God and have peace. ― John R. Rice [Why Pray?, pg. 18]

Notice "in every thing." Pray for what? For everything you want- "let your requests be made known unto God." Someone says, "Brother Rice, you are not supposed to pray for what you want, only for what you need." You are mistaken. Pray for whatever you want. "Be careful for nothing; but IN EVERY THING by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God." ― John R. Rice [Why Pray?, pg. 18]

In John 15:7, "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." Ask anything you want? That is what the Lord says.

"But you might not always be in the will of God." I ought to pray and want the will of God. And if I am wrong, He will show me. When I come to pray, I'm not trying to twist God's arm to get something He wouldn't want to give. Rather, I'm coming to say, "Lord, this is what I want and I'm going to talk about it and if that isn't right, You show me, and fix my wanter, so I will want what You want me to pray for." But a Christian ought to ask for everything he wants from God. ― John R. Rice [Why Pray?, pg. 19]

Suppose it turns out that you are not in the will of God? Well, if you wait on God's doorstep, He will show you about that.

Paul said, "Lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh. . .I besought the Lord thrice that it might depart from me." He said, "There is a stake in my flesh. It's from the Devil and it tempts me and bothers me. Lord, take it away."

The Lord seemed to say, "Well, Paul, what do you want?"

"I want to be a good preacher. I want to represent God. I want souls saved. I want revival."

"Well, Paul, it is better if you have a great big God and a little Paul. My strength is made perfect in weakness. Paul, you run better when you are scared anyway. I won't take away the thorn, but I will give you grace every day to bear it."

So Paul said, "All right Lord, just hand that prayer back and I'll change it. Instead of asking You to remove it, most gladly will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in. . .necessities. . .in distresses [in the things I need] . . .for when I am weak, then am I strong."

― John R. Rice [Why Pray?, pg. 19-20]

You can pray and if God has something better, He can show you and you can change your prayer to fit the will of God. Go to God's doorstep and plead with Him and He will guide you in your prayer. ― John R. Rice [Why Pray?, pg. 20]

"Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."

You can have peace and joy and be happy all the time if you pray through about things and thank God for them, and let the peace of God keep you like a garrison of soldiers, protected from trouble all the time. ― John R. Rice [Why Pray?, pg. 20]

In Acts 1:8 we read, "Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you." Here the Lord is saying that the way to have that power is to tarry. They did. Acts 1:14 tells us, "These all [the apostles are named] continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren." They waited upon the Lord, and God, in lovingkindness came to bless them. He came to give power, and they had three thousand souls in a day. You needn't tell me God has changed. He is the same, yesterday, today, and forever. You needn't tell me God has some cheaper way to have mighty power. He hasn't. It is the same plan-to wait on God, to seek His face, to turn from your wicked way. Importunity and supplication, seek His face, wait upon the Lord-that is the way to have the power of God, blessed Holy Spirit power, the fullness of the Spirit for witnessing. ― John R. Rice [Why Pray?, pg. 24]