The Soul of Prayer

I finished the book 'The Soul of Prayer' by P T Forsyth last week. You can read it here.

Being totally honest it was a torturous read, only 92 pages but pretty hard to get through. However it was worth wading through the mud to get to the pearls.

Let me show you some:

It is a wrestle on the greatest scale - all manhood taxed as in some great war, or some great negotiation of state. And the effect is exhaustion often. No, the result of true prayer is not always peace. (p87)

..lose the real conflict of will and will, lose the habit of wrestling and the hope of prevailing with God, make it mere walking with God in friendly talk; and, precious as that is, yet you tend to lose the reality of prayer at last. In principle you make it mere conversation instead of the soul's great action. You lose the food of character, the renewal of will. You may have beautiful prayers - but as ineffectual as beauty so often is, and as fleeting. (p92)