God looks not at the elegancy of your prayers, to see how neat they are; nor yet at the geometry of your prayers, to see how long they are; nor yet at the arithmetic of your prayers, to see how many they are; nor yet at the music of your prayers, nor yet at the sweetness of your voice, nor yet at the logic of your prayers; but at the sincerity of your prayers, how hearty they are. There is no prayer acknowledged, approved, accepted, recorded, or rewarded by God, but that wherein the heart is sincerely and wholly.
— Thomas Brooks (1608–1680), Puritanischer Prediger
Topics: Prayer & Silence, Humility & Pride
Occasions: For Reflection
Thomas Brooks
Thomas Brooks war ein englischer puritanischer Prediger und nonkonformistischer Geistlicher, der im 17. Jahrhundert in London wirkte und 1662 im Zuge der Uniformitätsakte sein Pfarramt verlor. Bekannt ist er für seine bildhaften seelsorgerlichen Schriften über geistliche Anfechtung, Heilsgewissheit und Trost im Leiden, wobei er in seiner Gemeindepraxis eine strikte Sakramentsdisziplin durchsetzte. Für heutige Bibelleser bietet sein Werk ein exemplarisches Zeugnis puritanischer Seelsorge und praktischer Theologie zur Bewältigung innerer Krisen.
All quotes by Thomas Brooks (84)
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
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