The Soul of Prayer

by P.T. Forsyth

THIS SCHMUL PUBLISHING CO. EDITION IS NOT A SCANNED FACSIMILE OF A USED BOOK. It has been carefully typeset and proofread for accuracy and for easier reading by today's readers. Consequently there are no odd characters or missing text. Well known author and evangelist Leonard Ravenhill made his greatest contribution to the Christian community by an emphasis on revival. He stressed the importance of prayer, supplication and repentance as God's way to spiritual renewal and evangelism. He was convinced that Spirit anointed preaching and revival are only possible through intercessory and prevailing prayer. This book was important to his ministerial success. He said, "In all my ministry this book was always near and available." Believing its message to be vitally important today, he personally loaned a copy to H.E. Schmul of Schmul Publishing Company so that its message could continue. Topics include: The Inwardness of Prayer The Naturalness of Prayer The Moral Reactions of Prayer The Timeliness of Prayer The Ceaselessness of Prayer The Vicariousness of Prayer The Insistency of Prayer

Genres: Prayer, Christian, Theology, Spirituality, Christian Living, Christianity, Faith

95 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1916

About the author

Peter Taylor Forsyth, Scottish theologian.

From The Soul of Prayer book description:
P. T. Forsyth is sometimes described as an English pre-cursor to Karl Barth. He was born in 1848 to a Scottish family of humble origins and later in life attended Aberdeen University, where he graduated with first-class honours in classical literature in 1869. In 1876 he was ordained and called to minister in Shipley, Yorkshire. In his early ministry in the Congregational Church, Forsyth fought orthodoxy and sought for the right to rethink Christian theology and pursue liberal thought. In 1878, however, Forsyth experienced a conversion from, in his own words, "being a Christian to being a believer, from a lover of love to an object of grace." A profound awareness of pastoral responsibility was awakened which radically altered the the course of his ministry. His conversion thrust him from the leadership of liberalism to a recovery of the theology of grace. Quickly, he became one of the better-known figures in British Nonconformity. In 1894, he received a call to Emmanuel College in Cambridge, where he preached his famous sermon, "Holy Father" in 1896. In 1901, he accepted a position as principal of Hackney Theological College, London where he remained until he died in 1921. Over his lifetime Forsyth published 25 books and more than 260 articles. He is often credited with recovering for his generation the reality and true dimensions of the grace of God.(

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first four chapters were hit or miss with some wonderful insights in the middle of a relatively dry set of chapters. The last 3 chapters were truly excellent however. Forsyth provides excellent insight into the nature of public prayer, practical tips for prayer, boldness in prayer, and what it means to pray without ceasing. Even though it wasn't consistent throughout, the depth of some of his insights were so good they make this whole book well worth reading. I fully intend to come back to the latter three chapters at some point in the future.

"Go into your chamber, shut the door, and cultivate the habit of praying audibly. Write prayers and burn them. Formulate your soul. Pay no attention to literary form, only to spiritual reality. Read a passage of Scripture and then sit down and turn it into prayer, written or spoken. Learn to be particular, specific, and detailed in your prayer so long as you are not trivial. General prayers, literary prayers, and stately phrases are, for private prayer, traps and sops to the soul. To formulate your soul is one valuable means to escape formalizing it. This is the best, the wholesome, kind of self-examination. Speaking with God discovers us safely to ourselves. We 'find' ourselves, come to ourselves, in the Spirit. Face your special weaknesses and sins before God. Force yourself to say to God exactly where you are wrong. When anything goes wrong, do not ask to have it set right, without asking in prayer what is was in you that made it go wrong. It is somewhat fruitless to ask for a general grace to help specific flaws, sins, trials, and griefs. Let prayer be concrete, actual, a direct product of life's real experiences. Pray as your actual self, not as some fancied saint. Let it be closely relevant to your real situation. Pray without ceasing in this sense. Pray without a break between your prayer and your life. Pray so that there is a real continuity between your prayer and your whole actual life. But I will bear round upon this point again immediately."

[Mattie Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some chapters were better than others, but the whole book makes you think, sigh and long to find God in prayer… “A chief object of all prayer is to bring us to God… we find that the complete answer to prayer is the Answerer, and the hungry soul comes to itself in the fullness of Christ.”
“May He prepare us for the sorrows of the valley by a glorious peace, and for the action of life by a fellowship gracious, warm, and noble ( as even earthly friendships may be). So may we face all the harsh realisms of Time in the reality, power, and kindness of the Eternal, whose Mercy is as His Majesty for ever.”

[Rocky Henriques · Rating 2 out of 5]

I struggled with this one

An author I respect wrote that this book is his favorite on prayer, so I immediately purchased it. Yes, was written about a hundred years ago, and yes, people wrote and spoke differently then. But this one was painful to finish. I can think of many books on prayer which are much better than this one. Forsyth was probably a well respected and godly man, but this one left me cold and sorry I purchased it. Look for The Kneeling Christian or Pray Big if you really want to learn about prayer.

[Brian Fautch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really makes you think

Hard to read now as old English can be, but so worth the time and effort to make it understandable, and effective to grow a great prayer life with God Almighty

[Connor Longaphie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I did not expect to love this as much as I did. Blown away

[Annette Hill]

Theology/Spirituality. I have a much older edition that the Eugene Peterson one here. I do love this book.

[David Barnett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dense.

[Terence · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are some good quotes and points but overall I can't recommend.

So read the quotes I highlighted but skip the book.

[Floyd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Never read a book like this on the essence of prayer! I gained new thoughts which helped me understand what prayer is more from God's perspective. Prayer is built into the image of God in us.

[Jenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not a long book but very deep! I will be reading it again before too long.

[Jasonlylescampbell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Martin Luther King, Jr said this in 1967:

As I have walked among the desperate, rejected, and angry young men, I have told them that Molotov cocktails and rifles would not solve their problems. I have tried to offer them my deepest compassion while maintaining my conviction that social change comes most meaningfully through nonviolent action. But they ask -- and rightly so -- what about Vietnam? They ask if our own nation wasn't using massive doses of violence to solve its problems, to bring about the changes it wanted. Their questions hit home, and I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today -- my own government. For the sake of those boys, for the sake of this government, for the sake of the hundreds of thousands trembling under our violence, I cannot be silent.

Here is PT Forsyth who wrote his book during WWI with my own gloss/feelings:

"We are driven by events to believe that a great moral blindness has befallen [America]...; that its God, ceasing to be Christian, has become [nationalistic]; that it has lost the sense of the great imponderables; that the idolatry of State has barrack-bound the conscience of the Church and stilled the witness of the kingdom of God which beards kings and even beheads them. We are forced to think that the cause of righteousness has passed from its hands and with the passing from them of humanity, with the submersion of the idea of God's kingdom in nationality or the cult of race, with the worship of force, mammon, fright, and ruthlessness, with the growth of national cynicism in moral things, and with the culture of a withering, self-searing hate which is the nemesis of mortal sin, and which even God cannot use as He can use anger, but must surely judge. This people has sinned against its own soul, and abjured the kingdom of God."

[Jeanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

As the title suggests, this study cuts deep into what prayer is. Because it is so deep, it is overwhelming. Overwhelming in the sense that prayer is wrestling with a holy God and maybe we have it made it to familiar. Are we busy with our knowing our answers to our petitions in prayer, that we forget the gift of prayer itself. In prayer do we see our need for the act itself than the answers we seek.

Prayer should prepare our hearts for the work of Christ and sacrifice.

Is our prayer hypocritical. Do we pray for the poor only to live for ourselves?

What is encouraging is looking at prayer in the true sense of what is really is - communion with God. In some sense it can be painful only because we see ourselves for what we really are and we are undone by a holy God.

The only thing I can be critical of this study, is more of Jesus. How Jesus prays for me when I am undone by a holy God.

[D. Kaiser · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here is a book on prayer that will force the reader to think. It will also deeply challenge us to adjust our attitudes and actions regarding prayer. For example:

...prayer passes upwards into praise. When seeking mercy returns upon itself as thanksgiving. “Great blessings which we won with prayer are worn with thankfulness.” Praise is the converted consecration of the egoism that may have moved our prayer. Prayer may spring from self-love and be so far natural, but praise is supernatural. It is of pure grace. Praise is a sign that the prayer was more than natural at heart. If the Spirit move conspicuously to praise, it shows that He also moved latently the prayer.

Forsyth is my favorite author and I highly recommend his books on any subject.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book resists fast reading. Not only does P.T. Forsyth have many brilliant things to say in regards to prayer and the nature of God (nearly every page in my copy is marked up), but there are paragraphs that go on for a whole page. There were things here and there that I disagreed with, but there were many more that I simply didn't understand. This book is going to require a re-reading for sure. Had to bump it down to four stars due to the difficulty and some of the areas in which I disagreed with him.

Having said that, I highly recommend this book. Forsyth has many mind-blowing statements and a truly beautiful understanding of the nature of prayer. Modern Christians have much to learn about prayer from the classic writers.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second time in a couple of years that I've read this book. The first chapters are quite difficult, even on second reading, and perhaps too theological to be of much use to most people wanting to understand prayer. However, the book improves considerably in the second half, and while Forsyth's language isn't always easy to grasp (he has some peculiar ways of phrasing things) the intent of the words is clear, and even if people read only this half of the book they would learn a good deal of the need for muscular prayer, prayer that doesn't just submit, prayer that wrestles. Certainly a book to come back to again and again, to reflect on.

[Jeff Beard · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book that challenges your perspective about prayer and communion with God. I have highlighted and marked notes and continue to go back and re-read the author's insights. This is not a token book about prayer. The title fits the content. Highly recommend it if you want to learn this subject.

[Jon Watson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though I do not always agree with Forsyth, I am continually moved and convicted in these pages. And I agree with Carl Trueman—Forsyth has a way with words and is eminently quotable.

[M.J. Hancock · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here is a deeply philosophical book on prayer. Forsyth's meditations on the nature of prayer aided my prayer life.