How They Prayed

 Philippians 4:6, “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.” 1st Thessalonians 5:17, “Pray without ceasing.”

George Whitefield, the famous English evangelist, said: “O Lord give me souls, or take my soul!”

Henry Martyn, a missionary, cried as he knelt on India's coral strands: “Here let me burn out for God!”

David Brainerd, missionary to the North American Indians 1718-1747, declared: “Lord, to Thee I dedicate myself. Oh, accept of me, and let me be Thine forever. Lord, I desire nothing else; I desire nothing more.” The last words in his diary, written seven days before he died, “Oh, come, Lord Jesus, come quickly. Amen.”

Thomas a Kempis, 1379-1471, said: “Give what Thou wilt and how much Thou wilt, and when Thou wilt. Set me where Thou wilt and deal with me in things as Thou wilt.”

Dwight L. Moody implored: “Use me then, My Saviour, for whatever purpose and in whatever way Thou mayest require. Here is my poor heart, an empty vessel; fill it with Thy grace.”

John McKenzie prayed thus when as a young missionary candidate he knelt on the banks of the Lossie: “O Lord, send me to the darkest spot on earth!”

“Praying Hyde,” a missionary in India, pleaded: “Father, give me these souls, or I die.”

Mrs. Comstock, a missionary in India, uttered this prayer of parting when she sent her children home: “Lord Jesus, I do this for Thee.”