Effectual prayer requires the Holy Spirit
Title page of Gems of Thought for Every Day in the Year
Today's Devotional
Prayer is not a work of nature, but a gift of grace; not attained by human skill and art, but taught and inspired by the Holy Ghost. At the bar of man, the orator’s tongue may smooth over a cause so as to carry it, but words, alas! make no music in God’s ear; they avail no more with him when his Holy Spirit is not in them, than Esau’s prayers and tears did with Isaac for the blessing.
About the author and the source
An anonymous compiler prepared Gems of Thought from the writings of “an eminent divine of the 17th century.” The “eminent divine” is identifiable as William Gurnall (1616–1679), author of The Christian in Complete Armour (1655).
[William Gurnall]. Gems of Thought for Every Day in the Year. Liverpool: Clement Evans, 1865.