R.A. Torrey Quotes & Sayings

Before one can correctly understand the work of the Holy Spirit, he must first of all know the Spirit himself. A frequent source of error and fanaticism about the work of the Holy Spirit is the attempt to study and understand His work without, first of all, coming to know Him as a person. — R.A. Torrey

If the Holy Spirit is a person, and a Divine Person, and we do not know Him as such, then we are robbing a Divine Being of the worship and the faith and the love and the surrender to Himself which are His due. — R.A. Torrey

All that God is, and all that God has, is at the disposal of prayer. Prayer can do anything that God can do, and as God can do everything, prayer is omnipotent. — R.A. Torrey

Prayer is the key that unlocks all the storehouses of God's ... grace and power. — R.A. Torrey

The best book in the
world to put into the hands of one who desires to know about Jesus and
to be saved is the gospel of John. — R.A. Torrey

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. — R.A. Torrey

We must always bear in mind that the primary purpose of our work, is not to get persons to join the church or to give up their bad habits or to do anything else than this, to accept Jesus Christ, as their Saviour. — R.A. Torrey

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. — R.A. Torrey

If you in any way abate the doctrine of hell, it will abate your zeal. — R.A. Torrey

The Devil is perfectly willing that the church should multiply its organizations and its deftly contrived machinery for the conquest of the world for Christ, if it will only give up praying ... The Devil is not afraid of machinery; he is only afraid of God. And machinery without prayer is machinery without God. — R.A. Torrey

I. All the distinctive characteristics of personality are ascribed to the Holy Spirit in the Bible. — R.A. Torrey

"Gospel preachers nowadays preach the gospel of the Crucifixion, the Apostles preached the gospel of the Resurrection as well. The Crucifixion loses its meaning without the Resurrection. Without the Resurrection the death of Christ was only the heroic death of a noble martyr; with the Resurrection it is the atoning death the Son of God. It shows that death to be of sufficient value to cover our sins, for it was the sacrifice of the Son of God." — R.A. Torrey

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. — R.A. Torrey

Every Christian who does not study, really study, the Bible every day is a fool. — R.A. Torrey

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. — R.A. Torrey

The Spirit, when He prays through us, or helps us to meet the mighty "ougthness" of right praying, trims our praying down to the will of God ... — R.A. Torrey

If we then let the words of Christ abide in us, they will stir us up in prayer. — R.A. Torrey

Every true revival ... has had its earthly origin in prayer. — R.A. Torrey

Those persons who know the deep peace of God, the unfathomable peace that passeth all understanding, are always men and women of much prayer. — R.A. Torrey

To have as one's ever-present friend, and to be conscious that one has as his ever-present friend, the Holy Spirit and to surrender one's life in all it's departments entirely to His control - this is true Christian living. — R.A. Torrey

God has not changed; and His ear is just as quick to hear the voice of real prayer, and His hand is just as long and strong to save; as it ever was. — R.A. Torrey

Those who truly believe on Jesus Christ are saved from all fear. — R.A. Torrey

The truly wise man is he who always believes the Bible against the opinions of any man. — R.A. Torrey

I am ready to meet God face to face tonight and look into those eyes of infinite holiness, for all my sins are covered by the atoning blood. — R.A. Torrey

Many who read their Bibles make the great mistake of confining all their reading to certain portions of the Bible which they enjoy. In this way they get no knowledge of the Bible as a whole. They miss altogether many of the most important phases of Bible truth. — R.A. Torrey

Out of a very intimate acquaintance with D. L. Moody, I wish to testify that he was a far greater pray-er than he was preacher. Time and time again, he was confronted by obstacles that seemed insurmountable, but he always knew the way to overcome all difficulties. He knew the way to bring to pass anything that needed to be brought to pass. He knew and believed in the deepest depths of his soul that nothing was too hard for the Lord, and that prayer could do anything that God could do. — R.A. Torrey

If we think of the Holy Spirit only as an impersonal power or influence, then our thought will constantly be, how can I get hold of and use the Holy Spirit; but if we think of Him in the biblical way as a divine Person, infinitely wise, infinitely holy, infinitely tender, then our thought will constantly be, 'How can the Holy Spirit get hold of and use me?' — R.A. Torrey

The one who expects God to do as he asks Him must on his part do whatever God bids him. — R.A. Torrey

We are not saved by denying self, or taking up our cross, or doing anything else, we are saved by simply believing in Jesus. — R.A. Torrey

I would rather go to heaven alone than go to hell in company. — R.A. Torrey

There are two ways of reaching the people. One way is to invite them to come to you, the other way is to go to them. — R.A. Torrey

Faith gets the most; love works the most; but humility keeps the most. — R.A. Torrey

God's Word is pure and sure, in spite of the devil, in spite of your fear, in spite of everything. — R.A. Torrey

is the work of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the living God , to give us to know a God who lives and acts and speaks to-day, a God who is ready to come as near to us as He came to Abraham, to Moses or to Isaiah, or to the Apostles or to Jesus Himself. — R.A. Torrey

Wealth, honors, pleasures, is not so eagerly to be desired as the forgiveness of our sins. — R.A. Torrey

To win men to acceptance of Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord is the only reason Christians are left in this world. — R.A. Torrey

The life of entire surrender is a joyous life all along the way. — R.A. Torrey

We sometimes fear to bring our troubles to God, because they must seem small to Him who sitteth on the circle of the earth. But if they are large enough to vex and endanger our welfare, they are large enough to touch His heart of love. For love does not measure by a merchant's scales, not with a surveyor's chain. It hath a delicacy ... unknown in any handling of material substance. — R.A. Torrey

The man or woman at home who prays often has as much to do with the effectiveness of the missionary on the field, and consequently with the results of his or her labors, as the missionary. — R.A. Torrey

We feel the breath of the wind upon our cheeks, we see the dust and the leaves blowing before the wind, we see the vessels at sea driven swiftly towards their ports; but the wind itself remains invisible. Just so with the Spirit; we feel His breath upon our souls, we see the mighty things He does, but Himself we do not see. He is invisible, but He is real and perceptible. — R.A. Torrey

It is that the Spirit is the outbreathing of God, His inmost life going forth in a personal form to quicken. When we receive the Holy Spirit, we receive the inmost life of God Himself to dwell in a personal way in us. When we really grasp this thought, it is overwhelming in its solemnity. Just stop and think what it means to have the inmost life of that infinite and eternal Being whom we call God, dwelling in a personal way in you. How solemn and how awful and yet unspeakably glorious life becomes when we realize this. — R.A. Torrey

Tell me your doctrine of the Fall and I will tell you the state of your theology. — R.A. Torrey

Any church may have a mighty man of God for its pastor, if it is willing to pay the price, and that price is not a big salary, but great praying. — R.A. Torrey

Pray for great things, expect great things, work for great things, but above all pray. — R.A. Torrey

Prayer that is born of meditation upon the Word of God is the prayer that soars upward most easily to God's listening ears. — R.A. Torrey

Worship is adoring contemplation of God. — R.A. Torrey

The failure to return thanks for definite blessings received is a manifestation of ingratitude that grieves Jesus Christ. — R.A. Torrey

If I am to have faith when I pray, I must find some promise in the Word of God to rest my faith on — R.A. Torrey

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 ... — R.A. Torrey

There are at least four distinct lines of proof in the Bible that the Holy Spirit is a person. — R.A. Torrey

One of the commonest causes of failure in Christian life is found in the attempt to follow some good man whom we greatly admire. No man and no woman, no matter how good, can be safely followed. If we follow any man or woman, we are bound to go astray. There has been but one absolutely perfect Man on this earth-the Man Christ Jesus. If we try to follow any other man we are surer to imitate his faults than his excellencies. Look to Jesus and Jesus only as your Guide. — R.A. Torrey

If you make a great deal of Christ, He will make a great deal of you; but if you make but a little of Christ, Christ will make but a little of you. — R.A. Torrey

We must know the power of the Blood if we are to know the power of God. Our knowing experimentally the power of the Word, the power of the Holy Spirit, and the power of prayer is dependent upon our knowing the power of the Blood of Christ. — R.A. Torrey

Just as one gets the firstfruits of spiritual salvation in the life that now is, so we get the firstfruits of our physical salvation in the life that now is. — R.A. Torrey

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". — R.A. Torrey

If we are to have real faith, we must study the Word of God and discover what is promised. Then, we must simply believe the promises of God. Trying to believe something that you want to believe is not faith. Believing what God says in His Word is faith. — R.A. Torrey

It is true that He does sometimes require of us things that to others seem hard. But when the will is once surrendered, the revolutionized life plans become just the plans that are most pleasant, and the things that to others seem hard, are just the things that are easiest and most delightful. Do not let Satan deceive you into being afraid of God's plans for your life. — R.A. Torrey

If you and I are to be used in our sphere as D.L. Moody was used in his, we must put all that we have and all that we are in the hands of God, for Him to use as He will. — R.A. Torrey

Triumphant prayer is almost impossible where there is neglect of the study of the Word of God. — R.A. Torrey

The one who is truly born again will love the Word of God. — R.A. Torrey

It is of the highest importance from the standpoint of experience that we know the Holy Spirit as a person. — R.A. Torrey

The chief purpose of prayer is that God may be glorified in the answer. — R.A. Torrey

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. — R.A. Torrey

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. — R.A. Torrey

What are the distinctive characteristics, or marks, of personality? Knowledge, feeling or emotion, and will. Any entity that thinks and feels and wills is a person. — R.A. Torrey

Every type of destruction that human philosophy, human science, human reason, human art, human cunning, human force, and human brutality could bring to bear against this Book, and yet the Bible stands absolutely unshaken today. At times almost all the wise and great of the earth have been pitted against the Bible, and only an obscure few for it. Yet it has stood. — R.A. Torrey

Ninety-nine Christians in every hundred are merely playing at Bible study; and therefore ninety-nine Christians in every hundred are mere weaklings, when they might be giants, both in their Christian life and in their service. — R.A. Torrey

Prayer will promote our personal holiness as nothing else, except the study of the Word of God. — R.A. Torrey

Do not study commentaries, lesson helps or other books about the Bible: study the Bible itself. Do not study about the Bible, study the Bible. The Bible is the Word of God, and only the Bible is the Word of God. — R.A. Torrey

If we would pray aright, the first thing we should do is to see to it that we really get an audience with God, that we really get into His very presence. Before a word of petition is offered, we should have the definite consciousness that we are talking to God, and should believe that He is listening and is going to grant the thing that we ask of Him. — R.A. Torrey

There must be, in any complete revelation of God's mind and will and character and being, things hard for the beginner to understand; and the wisest and best of us are but beginners. — R.A. Torrey

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. — R.A. Torrey

When the perceptive child of God stops to weigh the meaning of these words, then notes the connection in which they are found, he or she is driven to say, I must pray, pray, pray. I must put all my energy and heart into prayer. Whatever else I do, I must pray. — R.A. Torrey