The potency of prayer hath subdued the strength of fire; it had bridled the rage of lions, hushed the anarchy to rest, extinguished wars, appeased the elements, expelled demons, burst the chains of death, expanded the gates of heaven, assuaged diseases, repelled frauds, rescued cities from destruction, stayed the sun in its course, and arrested the progress of the thunderbolt. Prayer is an all-efficient panoply, a treasure undiminished, a mine which is never exhausted, a sky unobscured by clouds, a heaven unruffled by the storm. It is the root, the fountain, the mother of a thousand blessings.

In my message this past weekend, “Prayer for Deliverance” from the life of Hezekiah, I shared a quotation on the power of prayer from John Chrysostom (349-407). I have not been able to track down the original source of this quotation, which appears in multiple books, including E. M. Bounds’ Purpose in Prayer, Leonard Ravenhill’s Why Revival Tarries, and R. Kent Hughes’ James: Faith That Works.