Reuben Archer (R. A.) Torrey (1856 – 1928) was an American pastor, evangelist, educator, and writer. Having preached throughout the world and written more than 40 books, Torrey did much to promote personal evangelism. He was a man of great prayer, loved to study the Bible, and believed that winning souls to Christ was his greatest joy in life.
Below are some of his inspiring quotes. You will note that many of them are on the importance of prayer.1 It is my hope as you read these quotes that your prayer life will become an important part of your life. I know they have challenged me to spend even more time in prayer.
“The reason why many fail in battle is because they wait until the hour of battle. The reason why others succeed is because they have gained their victory on their knees long before the battle came. Anticipate your battles; fight them on your knees before temptation comes, and you will always have victory.”
“The chief purpose of prayer is that God may be glorified in the answer.”
“When the devil sees a man or woman who really believes in prayer, who knows how to pray, and who really does pray, and, above all, when he sees a whole church on its face before God in prayer, he trembles as much as he ever did, for he knows that his day in that church or community is at an end.”
“The truly wise man is he who believes the Bible against the opinions of any man. If the Bible says one thing, and any body of men says another, the wise man will decide, ‘This book is the Word of him who cannot lie.’”
“We are too busy to pray, and so we are too busy to have power. We have a great deal of activity, but we accomplish little; many services but few conversions; much machinery but few results.”
“If loving God with all our heart and soul and might is the greatest commandment, then it follows that not loving Him that way is the greatest sin.”
“Oh, men and women, pray through; pray through! Do not just begin to pray and pray a little while and throw up your hands and quit; but pray and pray and pray until God bends the heavens and comes down.”
“I would rather win souls than be the greatest king or emperor on earth; I would rather win souls than be the greatest general that ever commanded an army; I would rather win souls than be the greatest poet, or novelist, or literary man who ever walked the earth. My one ambition in life is to win as many as possible.”
“Prayer that is born of meditation upon the Word of God is the prayer that soars upward most easily to God’s listening ears.”
“Pray for great things, expect great things, work for great things, but above all pray.”
“All that God is, and all that God has, are at the disposal of prayer. Prayer can do anything that God can do, and as God can do anything, prayer is omnipotent.”
“Those persons who know the deep peace of God, the unfathomable peace that passeth all understanding, are always men and women of much prayer.”
“If we then let the words of Christ abide in us, they will stir us up in prayer.”
“Worship is adoring contemplation of God.”
“The life of entire surrender is a joyous life all along the way.”
“The failure to return thanks for definite blessings received is a manifestation of ingratitude that grieves Jesus Christ.”
“Prayer can do anything that God can do.”
“I prayed fifteen years for the conversion of my oldest brother. When he seemed to be getting further and further away from any hope of conversion, I prayed on.”
“For eighteen centuries every engine of destruction that human science, philosophy, wit, reasoning or brutality could bring to bear against a book has been brought to bear against that book to stamp it out of the world, but it has a mightier hold on the world today than ever before. If that were man’s book it would have been annihilated and forgotten hundreds of years ago.”
1 All of these quotes are from the website below:
TOP 25 QUOTES BY R. A. TORREY (of 70) | A-Z Quotes (azquotes.com)