J. R. Miller Quotes on Friendship with Jesus, Prayer and Sorrow
J. R. Miller was a Presbyterian pastor in Philadelphia who wrote dozens of short devotional books between 1880 and his death in 1912. He had a gift for putting a whole chapter into one gentle, memorable sentence, which is why his lines still turn up in sermons, sympathy cards and church newsletters.
Many Miller quotes online come without a source. Every quotation below is copied exactly from his books in TheWay Library, with the book and chapter it comes from, so you can read each one in its setting. For his life story, see who was J. R. Miller. For a guide to all twenty-eight books, see J. R. Miller books.
On friendship with Jesus
This was Miller's great theme. He wanted readers to know Christ as a living Friend, near and personal.
The central fact in every true Christian life is a personal friendship with Jesus.
Personal Friendships of Jesus, The Humanheartedness of Jesus
Our hope does not rest in our love for Jesus, but in his love for us.
Personal Friendships of Jesus, Jesus and the Beloved Disciple
The richest, the sweetest, and the only perennial and never failing, fountain of good in this world, is the personal, experimental knowledge of Christ.
Silent Times, Personal Friendship with Christ
All blessings are richer, all gladness is sweeter, all love is purer, because we have Christ.
Silent Times, Having Christ in Us
Christ within makes an inner joy that all the darkness of earth’s trials cannot quench.
Silent Times, Having Christ in Us
In a letter to a woman recovering from illness, he put it in one line:
Let me say to you, my child, that religion is simply friendship with Jesus Christ.
Intimate Letters on Personal Problems, In Green Pastures
He also drew lessons for our own friendships from the way Jesus chose His:
If Jesus needed thus to pray before choosing his friends, how much more should we seek God’s counsel before taking a new friendship into our life!
Personal Friendships of Jesus, Jesus Choosing His Friends
Even at the best, human friendships only begin in this life; in heaven they will reach their best and holiest possibilities.
Personal Friendships of Jesus, Jesus’ Friendships After He Arose
On quiet time and prayer
Miller believed the busy Christian needs time alone with God most of all, and that our work for others flows out of it.
The truest religious life is one whose devotion gives food and strength for service.
Silent Times, Silent Times
We must receive from God before we can give to others, for we have nothing of our own with which to feed men’s hunger or quench their thirst.
Silent Times, Silent Times
A thousand friends may encircle you and pray for your soul, but until you lift up your own heart in prayer no communication is established between you and God.
Making the Most of Life, The Only One
Our best, truest prayers are not for earthly things, but for spiritual blessings.
Making the Most of Life, The Possibilities of Prayer
We must want what we ask in prayer, or we shall never get it.
Silent Times, Living Up to Our Best Intentions
The prayer which pleads “Father, give,” must cry also “Father, forgive.”
The Golden Gate of Prayer, “Forgive Us Our Debts”
On God's will
He came back often to trusting God when He says no or not yet.
The best thing possible for us in this world is always what God wills for us.
Silent Times, Thy Will, Not Mine
All our prayers must be based upon “Thy will, not mine, be done.”
The Building of Character, The Cost of Praying
God’s will is the real pillar of cloud and fire to lead us through this world’s uncharted wilderness.
The Golden Gate of Prayer, “As in Heaven”
On character and daily faithfulness
For Miller, holiness is built in ordinary days, one small choice at a time.
No violent, overstrained exertions are necessary to a noble life, no superhuman efforts and achievements, — nothing but every-day duty faithfully done.
Silent Times, Living Up to Our Best Intentions
We grow always in the direction of our habits and efforts.
Silent Times, Habits in Religious Life
We must build on the rock; that is, we must have, as the basis of our character, great, eternal principles.
The Building of Character, The Building of Character
All that is beautiful and worthy in life must be won in struggle.
The Building of Character, Living Victoriously
The true science of living is never to commit the same sin a second time.
Silent Times, Dealing with Our Sins
Temptation is not sin, but sin begins when an evil thought or feeling is admitted, entertained, cherished.
The Master's Blesseds, The Beatitude of Purity
On influence and kindness
He was sure that a Christian's life touches others all the time, often without knowing it.
Without being conscious of it, we are always impressing others by this strange power that goes out from us.
Making the Most of Life, The Shadows We Cast
You are the only witness Christ has in your house, the only one through whom to reveal his love, his grace, his holiness.
Making the Most of Life, The Only One
We may not help God paint his clouds and sunsets, but we can put tints of immortal beauty upon human souls.
The Building of Character, Fellow-Workers with God
Love is not doing others no harm; it is doing them all the good that it is in our power to do.
Things to Live For, Passing by on the Other Side
We begin to live only when we begin to love, and we begin to love only when self dies and we live to bless others.
The Building of Character, Give Ye Them to Eat
Our best friends are not those who make life easy for us; our best friends are those who put courage, energy, and resolution into our hearts.
The Building of Character, The Responsibility of Greatness
Few things are more important in a home than its conversation, yet there are few things to which less deliberate thought is given.
Silent Times, The Home Conversation
On sorrow and trouble
Miller wrote much for the sick and the grieving. He never made light of pain, but he wouldn't let it have the last word.
When we cannot change our conditions, we must conquer them through the help of Christ.
The Hidden Life, The Outer and Inner Life
Affliction is not a mark of the divine disfavor, but a token of the divine love.
The Master's Blesseds, The Beatitude for the Mourner
We should never know God’s marvellous comfort if we never had sorrow.
The Master's Blesseds, The Beatitude for the Mourner
In every burden that God lays upon us, there is a blessing for us, if only we will take it.
Making the Most of Life, The Blessing of a Burden
Love never reaches its sweetest and best till it has suffered.
Things to Live For, Blessings of Bereavement
It is never best to try to explain sorrows.
Intimate Letters on Personal Problems, On the Loss of a Friend
A feeling of discouragement creeping into our heart should be met, therefore, as a temptation.
Things to Live For, Dangers of Discouragement
On hope and heaven
He ended many chapters looking ahead, to a God who always has something better in store.
We never reach the best in divine blessings: there is always something better yet to come.
Silent Times, God's Reserve of Goodness
When we get home, we shall see that we owe many of the best things in our life to the ministry of suffering.
The Hidden Life, The Blessing of a Thorn
In Christ we never really lose our friends who pass away from us in the vanishing of death.
Things to Live For, How They Stay with Us
Read them in context
Each of these lines sits in a short chapter you can read in ten minutes. A good place to begin is Silent Times, which holds more of these quotations than any other book here, followed by Personal Friendships of Jesus. All twenty-eight books are on the J. R. Miller author page.