Need help with a John Wesley quote ( "God will do nothing but in answer to prayer")

Self

[Between the Lines]

I have a small group lesson on prayer I would like to give based on the John Wesley quote "God will do nothing, but in answer to prayer."

I need some help finding the John Wesley sermon that this quote comes from. Or if anyone knows some resource that would validate whether or not that this quote is Biblically sound.

I had never heard this before I came across this lesson nor have I ever heard of this concept. I find the idea intreaguing, but am hesitant to present a lesson where I am not familiar with the background.

Any and all help would be appreciated. Thanks.

[backhoe]

This help?

http://tinyurl.com/y7elt8

[aruanan]

Try looking at Wesley Center Online. And this is a good quote, too:

Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.

[Between the Lines]

I tried google search but it is mostly just a bunch of Baptists quoting Wesley.

[alpha-8-25-02]

Ro 8:26 ¶ Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
Ro 8:27 Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

[backhoe]

...a bunch of Baptists quoting Wesley...

Agh! Perish the thought...

[Between the Lines]

Actually I am a Baptist and all I have been able to find up until now were Baptists quoting Wesley without comment or scriptural reference.

A quote by itself isn't much, but it seems to be all we Baptist's have on this.

[Between the Lines]

Thanks, I was able to find the quote in context:

"God hardly gives his Spirit even to those whom he has established in grace, if they do not pray for it on all occasions, not only once, but many times.

"God does nothing but in answer to prayer; and even they who have been converted to God without praying for it themselves, (which is exceeding rare,) were not without the prayers of others. Every new victory which a soul gains is the effect of a new prayer.

"On every occasion of uneasiness, we should retire to prayer, that we may give place to the grace and light of God and then form our resolutions, without being in any pain about what success they may have.

In the greatest temptations, a single look to Christ, and the barely pronouncing his name, suffices to overcome the wicked one, so it be done with confidence and calmness of spirit.

God's command to "pray without ceasing' is founded on the necessity we have of his grace to preserve the life of God in the soul, which can no more subsist one moment without it, than the body can without air.

Whether we think of; or speak to, God, whether we act or suffer for him, all is prayer, when we have no other object than his love, and the desire of pleasing him.

"All that a Christian does, even in eating and sleeping, is prayer, when it is done in simplicity, according to the order of God, without either adding to or diminishing from it by his own choice.

"Prayer continues in the desire of the heart, though the understanding be employed on outward things.

"In souls filled with love, the desire to please God is a continual prayer.

"As the furious hate which the devil bears us is termed the roaring of a lion, so our vehement love may be termed crying after God.

"God only requires of his adult children, that their hearts be truly purified, and that they offer him continually the wishes and vows that naturally spring from perfect love. For these desires, being the genuine fruits of love, are the most perfect prayers that can spring from it.

A Plain Account of Christian Perfection

Thanks for the link, it was very helpful.

[backhoe]

I've heard and seen that quote, or something close to it- all my life, but without any attribution besides being from Wesley.

[My2Cents]

Looks like you found the Wesley quote, but for what it's worth, here's an entry I made in my journal about a year ago:

God will not do anything in the world unless someone prays it into being (even something that is according to His will).

Examples:

-- Daniel having to pray for the release of the Hebrews from Babylon, even after the allotted time of their captivity had passed. (Dan. 9:2-3)

-- God encouraging the watchmen to not stop beseeching Him until "Jerusalem becomes a praise and blessing to the world." )Isa. 62:6-7)

-- God looking to and fro for a faithful person to stand in the gap, so God would not destroy the land. (Eze. 22:30)

-- Jesus commenting on how he couldn't do certain miracles in a region because of people's unbelief. (Which suggests that the reason we don't see miracles today is that the church lacks the faith required to bring the miracles into effect.) (Matt. 13:58)

-- God's admonition in 2 Chron. 7:12 that "if my people...humble themselves and pray..." God would heal their land. The land's healing was conditional upon God's people humbling themselves and praying.

Even though God binds His action and makde them conditional upon the faith and prayers of His people, God is still sovereign. He is sovereign in that He calls people to such ministries of intercession, and then sovereignly dispenses or supplies the faith necessary to respond to tha tcall, and thereby bring His gracious will into being, often through miraculous means.

[Between the Lines]

Thanks! This is great! I had found the verse in Daniel, but had not come up with any others. Great notes!

[Between the Lines]

Thank all of you for your help.