16 Be joyful always; 17 pray continually; 18 give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
35 Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.
13 Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. 14 Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. 17 Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. 18 Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.
2 Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. 3 And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. 4 Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should.
14 They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.
42 They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
1 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 2 He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. 3 And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’ 4 For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don't fear God or care about men, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won't eventually wear me out with her coming!”’ 6 And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
12 Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured.
12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.
“And we do well to remember that this gracious God, who has condescended to place His almighty power at the command of believing prayer looks not lightly on the blood guiltiness of those who neglect to avail themselves of it for the benefit of the perishing....” Hudson Taylor
“Prayer is not an indifferent or a small thing. It is not a sweet little privilege. It is a great prerogative, far-reaching in its effects.” E.M. Bounds
“I believe the excellence of prayer often consists in its brevity.” Charles H. Spurgeon
“We need more Christians for whom prayer is the first resort, not the last.” John Blanchard
“We are never more like Christ than in prayers of intercession.” Austin Phelps
“The chief purpose of prayer is that God may be glorified in the answer.” R. A. Torrey
“The work of praying is prerequisite to all other work in the Kingdom of God. It is by prayer that we couple the powers of heaven to our helplessness ... and make the impossible possible.” O. Hallesby
“If you want that splendid power in prayer — you must remain in loving, living, lasting, conscious, practical, abiding union with the Lord Jesus Christ.” C. H. Spurgeon
“When my eye is filled with my own management of things, I am not prepared to see God acting for me; and, in that case, prayer is not the utterance of my need, but the mere superstitious performance of something which I think ought to be done, or it may be, asking God to sanctify my plans. This will never do. It is not asking God to sanctify and bless my means, but it is asking Him to do it all Himself. We have to get over the idea that prayer is giving God advice on how to accomplish our plan.” CH Macintosh, 1879
“Life is war. That’s not all it is. But it is always that. Our weakness in prayer is owing largely to our neglect of this truth. Prayer is primarily a wartime walkie-talkie for the mission of the church as it advances against the powers of darkness and unbelief. It is not surprising that prayer malfunctions when we try to make it a domestic intercom to call upstairs for more comforts in the den. God has given prayer as a wartime walkie-talkie so that we can call headquarters for everything we need as the kingdom of Christ advances in the world. Prayer gives us the significance of frontline forces and gives God the glory of a limitless Provider. The one who gives the power gets the glory. Thus, prayer safeguards the supremacy of God in missions while linking us with endless grace for every need.” John Piper
“God is at work in response to our prayers, whether we see something happening or not. If we are truly praying, ‘Thy will be done,’ forces are at work beyond our comprehension--and often, beyond our vision. But they are working just the same.” David Jeremiah
“God shapes the world by prayer.” E. M. Bounds
“The Word of God represents all the possibilities of God as at the disposal of true prayer.” A. T. Pierson
“If there is one thing I think the Church needs to learn, it is that God means prayer to have an answer, and that it hath not entered into the heart of man to conceive what God will do for His child who gives himself to believe that his prayer will be heard.” Andrew Murray
“‘When I get to China,’ I thought to myself, ‘I shall have no claim on anyone for anything. My only claim will be on God. How important to learn, before leaving England, to move man, through God, by prayer alone.’” Hudson Taylor
“If we are consistent men and women who take God at His word, who believe that prayer changes things, who will pray without ceasing, who will not lose heart at our praying, who day after day will pray no matter what seems to be happening around us, who keep trusting God, then there will come a time when God will say, ‘I can answer that believer's prayer because that's a person who can handle the answer.’” David Jeremiah