I am reading the Fall 2012 issue of the Free Grace Broadcaster. It’s topic is Vital Prayer (link opens issue as pdf). In the first article entitled, “The Most Important Subject”, J.C. Ryle (1816-1900) writes the following quote as he discusses how prayer is a sure mark of a true Christian:
But this I do say – that not praying is a clear proof that a man is not yet a true Christian. He cannot really feel his sins. He cannot love God. He cannot feel himself a debtor to Christ. He cannot long after holiness. He cannot desire heaven. He has yet to be born again. He has yet to be made a new creature. He may boast confidently of election, grace, faith, hope, and knowledge, and deceive ignorant people. But you may rest assured, it is all vain talk if he does not pray.
J.C. Ryle was the first Anglican bishop of Liverpool. While hearing Ephesians 2 read in church in 1838, he felt a spiritual awakening and was ordained by Bishop Sumner at Winchester in 1842. For 38 years he was a parish vicar, first at Helmingham and later at Stradbrooke, in Suffolk. He became a leader of the evangelical party in the Church of England and was noted for his doctrinal essays and polemical writings. (~Wikipedia)
