Ole Kristian Hallesby (1879–1961) was an influential, conservative, Norwegian Lutheran theologian, author and educator. Ole Kristian Hallesby was born in Aremark, in Østfold, Norway. Hallesby grew up as the sixth of eight siblings on a family farm with a father also served as an assistant pastor. His family was from the Lutheran piety of the Haugean heritage. He graduated with a degree in theology in 1903 and was awarded his doctorate in 1909.
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Our prayer life will become restful when it really dawns upon us that we have done all we are supposed to do when we have spoken to Him about it. From the moment we have left it with Him, it is His responsibility.
—Ole Hallesby
Topics: Prayer
By prayer we couple the powers of heaven to our helplessness, the powers which can capture strongholds and make the impossible possible.
—Ole Hallesby
Topics: Prayer
As impossible as it is for us to take a breath in the morning large enough to last us until noon, so impossible is it to pray in the morning in such a way as to last us until noon. Let your prayers ascend to Him constantly, audibly or silently, as circumstances throughout the day permit.
—Ole Hallesby
Topics: Prayer
See to it, night and day, that you pray for your children. Then you will leave them a great legacy of answers to prayer, which will follow them all the days of their life. Then you may calmly and with a good conscience depart from them, even though you may not leave them a great deal of material wealth.
—Ole Hallesby
Topics: Prayer
If God does not give you something you ask for, wait on Him. He will speak with you tenderly and sympathetically about the matter until you yourself understand that He cannot grant your prayer.
—Ole Hallesby
Topics: Prayer
It is God’s will not only to hear our prayer, but to give us the best and the richest answer which He, the almighty and omniscient God, can devise. He will send us the answer when it will benefit us and His cause the most.
—Ole Hallesby
Topics: Prayer
Prayer is something deeper than words. It is present in the soul before it has been formulated in words. And it abides in the soul after the last words of prayer have passed over our lips.
—Ole Hallesby
Topics: Prayer
When it becomes clear to us that prayer is a part of our daily program of work, it will also become clear to us that we must arrange our daily program in such a way that there is time also for this work, just as we set aside time for other necessary things, such as eating and dressing.
—Ole Hallesby
Topics: Prayer
Prayer brings a good spirit in our homes. For God hears prayer. Heaven itself would come down to our homes. And even though we who constitute the home all have our imperfections and our failings, our home would, through God’s answer to prayer, become a little paradise.
—Ole Hallesby
Topics: Prayer
My helpless friend, your helplessness is the most powerful plea which rises up to the tender father-heart of God. You think that everything is closed to you because you cannot pray. My friend, your helplessness is the very essence of prayer.
—Ole Hallesby
Topics: Prayer
We should say to God as we mingle with our dear ones each day, “God, give them each Thy blessing. They need it, because they live with me, and I am very selfish and unwilling to sacrifice very much for them, although I do love them”.
—Ole Hallesby
Topics: Prayer
My praying friend, continue to make known your desires to God in all things .. . Let Him decide whether you are to receive what you ask for or not.
—Ole Hallesby
Topics: Prayer
Be sure to remember that nothing in your daily life is so insignificant and so inconsequential that the Lord will not help you by answering your prayer.
—Ole Hallesby
Topics: Prayer
As white snow flakes fall quietly and thickly on a winter day, answers to prayer will settle down upon you at every step you take, even to your dying day. The story of your life will be the story of prayer and answers to prayer.
—Ole Hallesby
Topics: Prayer
We should not be afraid, when praying to God, to give expression to a definite desire, even though we are in doubt at the time we are praying whether it is really the right thing to pray for or not.
—Ole Hallesby
Topics: Prayer
When we go to our meeting with God, we should go like a patient to his doctor, first to be thoroughly examined and afterwards to be treated for our ailment. Then something will happen when you pray.
—Ole Hallesby
Topics: Prayer
It is the will of our heavenly Father that we should come to Him freely and confidently and make known our desires to Him, just as we would have our children come freely and of their own accord and speak to us about the things they would like to have.
—Ole Hallesby
Topics: Prayer
If we pray for anything according to the will of God, we already have what we pray for the moment we ask it. We do not know exactly when it will arrive; but we have learned to know God through the Spirit of God, and have learned to leave this in His hands, and to live just as happily whether the answer arrives immediately or later.
—Ole Hallesby
Topics: Prayer
The shower of answers to your prayers will continue to your dying hour. Nor will it cease then. When you pass out from beneath the shower, your dear ones will step into it. Every prayer and every sigh which you have uttered for them and their future welfare will, in God’s time, descend upon them as a gentle rain of answers to prayer.
—Ole Hallesby
Topics: Prayer
Listen, my friend! Your helplessness is your best prayer. It calls from your heart to the heart of God with greater effect than all your uttered pleas. He hears it from the very moment that you are seized with helplessness, and He becomes actively engaged at once in hearing and answering the prayer of your helplessness.
—Ole Hallesby
Topics: Prayer
God alone fully understands what each one of us needs; we make mistakes continually and pray for things which would be harmful to us if we received them. Afterwards we see our mistakes and realize that God is good and wise in not giving us these things, even though we plead ever so earnestly for them.
—Ole Hallesby
Topics: Prayer, Blessings
Helplessness becomes prayer the moment that you go to Jesus and speak candidly and confidently with him about your needs. This is to believe.
—Ole Hallesby
Topics: Prayer
A humble and contrite heart knows that it cain merit nothing before God, and that all that j necessary is to be reconciled to one’s helplessness and let our holy and almighty God care for us, just as an infant surrenders himself to his mother’s care.
—Ole Hallesby
Topics: Prayer
It is only when we pray for something according to the will of God that we have the promise of being heard and answered.
—Ole Hallesby
Topics: Prayer
Do not forget that prayer is ordained for the purpose of glorifying the name of God. Therefore, whether you pray for big things or for little things, say to God, “If it will glorify Thy name, then grant my prayer and help me”.
—Ole Hallesby
Topics: Prayer
When you enter your secret chamber, take plenty of time before you begin to speak. Let quietude wield its influence upon you. Let the fact that you are alone assert itself. Give your soul time to get released from the many outward things. Give God time to play the prelude to prayer for the benefit of your distracted soul.
—Ole Hallesby
Topics: Prayer
When prayer is a struggle, do not worry about the prayers that you cannot pray. You yourself are a prayer to God at that moment. All that is within you cries out to Him. And He hears all the pleas that your suffering soul and body are making to Him with groanings which cannot be uttered.
—Ole Hallesby
Topics: Prayer
There come times when I have nothing more to tell God. If I were to continue to pray in words, I would have to repeat what I have already said. At such times it is wonderful to say to God, “May I be in Thy presence, Lord? I have nothing more to say to Thee, but I do love to be in Thy presence”.
—Ole Hallesby
Topics: Prayer
The more helpless you are, the better you are fitted to pray, and the more answers to prayer you will experience.
—Ole Hallesby
Topics: Prayer
It is necessary for us to withdraw at regular intervals and enable our souls to attain that quietude and inward composure which are essential if we would hear the voice of God.
—Ole Hallesby
Topics: Prayer, Meditation
Jesus is moved to happiness every time He sees that you appreciate what He has done for you. Grip His pierced hand and say to Him, “I thank Thee, Savior, because Thou hast died for me”. Thank Him likewise for all the other blessings He has showered upon you from day to day. It brings joy to Jesus.
—Ole Hallesby
Topics: Prayer, Gratitude
Helplessness is unquestionably the first and the surest indication of a praying heart. .. Prayer and helplessness are inseparable. Only he who is helpless can truly pray.
—Ole Hallesby
Topics: Prayer
Nothing is so blessed as quiet, unbroken communication with our Lord. The sense of the Lord’s nearness, which then fills our souls, is greater than any other peace, joy, inner satisfaction, or security which we have known.
—Ole Hallesby
Our groanings, which cannot be uttered, rise to Him and tell Him better than words how dependent we are upon Him.
—Ole Hallesby
Topics: Prayer
Prayer is a condition of mind, an attitude of heart, which God recognizes as prayer whether it manifests itself in quiet thinking, in sighing or in audible words.
—Ole Hallesby
Topics: Prayer
The quiet hour of prayer is one of the most favorable opportunities He has in which to speak to us seriously. In quietude and solitude before the face of God our souls can hear better than at any other time.
—Ole Hallesby
Topics: Meditation, Prayer
It is not only blessed to give thanks; it is also of vital importance to our prayer life in general. If we have noted the Lord’s answers to our prayers and thanked Him for what we have received of Him, then it becomes easier for us, and we get more courage, to pray for more.
—Ole Hallesby
Topics: Gratitude, Prayer
Prayer can assume very different forms, from quiet, blessed contemplation of God, in which eye meets eye in restful meditation, to deep sighs or sudden exclamations of wonder, joy, gratitude or adoration.
—Ole Hallesby
Topics: Prayer
When we succeed in truly thanking God, we feel good at heart. The reason is that we have been created to give glory to God, now and forevermore. And every time we do so, we feel that we are in harmony with His plans and purposes for our lives. Then we are truly in our element. That is why it is so blessed.
—Ole Hallesby
Topics: Gratitude, Prayer
Begin to realize more and more that prayer is the most important thing you do. You can use your time to no better advantage than to pray whenever you have an opportunity to do so, either alone or with others; while at work, while at rest, or while walking down the street. Anywhere.
—Ole Hallesby
Topics: Prayer
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