A sermon steeped in prayer on the study floor, like Gideon’s fleece saturated with dew, will not lose its moisture between that and the pulpit. The first step towards doing anything in the pulpit as a thorough workman must be to kiss the feet of the Crucified, as a worshipper, in the study.

— Thomas Armitage (1819–1896), Pastor und Kirchenhistoriker

More on this topic

When we pray, the circumstances often remain the same, but we become different.
Oswald Chambers

Prayer does not change God, but the one who prays.
Søren Kierkegaard

Courage is fear that has said its prayers.
Corrie ten Boom

To pray is to draw breath from God.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer

You can do more than pray after you have prayed, but you can never do more than pray before you have prayed!
Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Prayer does not equip us for greater works – prayer is the greater work.
Oswald Chambers

God has his ear at your heart.
Augustine of Hippo

Prayers are tools not for doing or getting, but for being and becoming.
Eugene Peterson