Monday, December 31, 2012

Words Said Without Heart - JC Ryle

Words said without heart are as utterly useless to our souls as the drumbeating of the poor heathen before their idols. Where there is no heart, there may be lip-work and tongue-work, but there is nothing that God listens to; there is no prayer. Saul, I have no doubt, said many a long prayer before the Lord met him on the way to Damascus. But it was not till his heart was broken that the Lord said, "He prayeth."

 

Taken from the book A Call to Prayer by JC Ryle 1816-1900

Page 8

Friday, December 28, 2012

Weak Christians Are Like Glasses - Richard Sibbes

Weak Christians are like glasses which are hurt with the least violent usage, but if gently handled will continue a long time. This honor of gentle use we are to give to the weaker vessels (1 Pet 3:7), by which we shall both preserve them and likewise make them useful to the church and ourselves.

 

Taken from the book The Bruised Reed by Richard Sibbes 1630

Page 24

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Faith Is Taking God at His Word - DL Moody

Faith is taking God at His word. Those who want some sign are always getting into trouble. We want to come to this: God says it – let us believe it.

 

Taken from the book The Way to God by DL Moody 1837-1899

Page 59

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Faith Justifies and Gives Peace - William Bridge

As faith justifies and gives peace at the first, so the renewing of this act of faith renews our peace. And what is my justifying faith, but in time of temptation to rest myself and condition upon Christ alone.

Taken from the book A Lifting Up For The Downcast by William Bridge 1649
Page 42

Friday, December 21, 2012

The Way to Be Saved - Charles Spurgeon

The way to be saved is simply to trust in what the Son of man did when He became man, and suffered punishment for all those who trust Him. For all His people, Christ was a Substitute. His people are those who trust Him. If you trust Him, he was punished for your sins; and you cannot be punished for them, for God cannot punish sin twice, first in Christ, and then in you. If you trust Jesus, who now liveth at the right hand of God, you are this moment pardoned, and you shall forever be saved.

 

Taken from the book The Soul Winner By Charles Spurgeon 1834-1892

Page 195

Thursday, December 20, 2012

He Is Now Helping Us - John Owen

It is our duty to grow and thrive in holiness. Now what God requires of us, we are to believe he will help us to achieve. But we must not only believe that he will help us, but we must also believe that he is now helping us, we must not rely on our feelings of whether we are aware of being holy or not.

 

Taken from the book The Holy Spirit by John Owen 1674 Abridged by R.J.K. Law

Page 110

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

The World Appears Very Little To - Brother Lawrence

The world appears very little to a soul that contemplates the greatness of God.

 

Brother Lawrence 1614-1691

Taken from the book 1001Unforgetable Quotes about God, Faith and the Bible

Page 100

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Cause it to Shine Forever - Oswald Chambers

Here is the day, O Lord, Thy day, cause it to shine forever in our individual lives like a jewel.
 
Taken from the book The Quotable Oswald Chambers Oswald Chambers 1874-1917

Monday, December 17, 2012

What Makes Heaven to Be Heaven - Thomas Watson

This is that which makes heaven to be heaven, "We shall be ever with the Lord." (1 Thes 4:17)

 

Taken from the book Extracts from the Writings of Thomas Watson

Thomas Watson 1620-1686

Page 81

Friday, December 14, 2012

Parents, comfort your minds with these examples - JC Ryle

Samuel, in the days of his childhood, appears to have ministered unto the Lord some time before he really knew Him. "Samuel did not yet know the LORD, neither was the word of the LORD yet revealed unto him" (1 Sam. 3:7). The Apostles themselves do not seem to have understood all that our Lord said at the time that it was spoken: "These things understood not His disciples at the first: but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of Him" (John 12:16).

 

Parents, comfort your minds with these examples. Be not cast down because your children see not the full value of the means of grace now. Only train them up to a habit of regular attendance. Set it before their minds as a high, holy, and solemn duty, and believe me, the day will very likely come when they will bless you for your deed.

 

 

Taken from the book The Duties of Parents by JC Ryle 1816-1900

Thursday, December 13, 2012

The Essential Nature of Deity - Oswald Chambers

The essential nature of Deity is holiness, and the power of God is proved in his becoming a Baby. That is the staggering proposition the Bible gives - God became the weakest thing we know.

Oswald Chambers, 1874-1917

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Let Us Raise Our Thoughts Toward - Henry Scougal

Let us often withdraw our thoughts from this earth, this scene of misery, and folly, and sin, and raise them toward that more vast and glorious world, whose innocent and blessed inhabitants solace themselves eternally in the divine presence, and know no other passion but an unmixed joy, and an unbound love.

 

Taken from the book The Life of God in the Soul of Man

by Henry Scougal 1650-1678

Page 120

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

The Gift We Ought To Seek First - Andrew Murray

In the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord uttered His wonderful "how much more?" (Matthew 7:9-11). Here in Luke, where He repeats the question, there is a difference. Instead of speaking of giving good gifts, he says, "How much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit." He thus teaches us that the best of these gifts is the Holy Spirit, that in this gift all others are comprised. The Holy Spirit is the first of the Father's gifts and the one he delights most to bestow. The Holy Spirit is therefore the gift we ought to seek first.

 

Taken from the book Teach Me to Pray by Andrew Murray 1828-1917

Page 49

Monday, December 10, 2012

Sickness Helps to Make Us Think Seriously Of God - JC Ryle

Sickness helps to make us think seriously of God, and our souls, and the world to come. Most people in their days of health can find no time for such thoughts. They dislike them. They put them away. They count them troublesome and disagreeable.

 

Now a severe disease has a wonderful power of mustering and rallying these thoughts, and bringing them up before the eyes of a man's soul. Even a wicked king like Benhadad, when sick, could think of Elisha (2 Kings 8:8.) Even unbelieving sailors, when death was in sight, were afraid, and "cried every man to his god." (Jonah 1:5.) Surely anything that helps to make people think is good.

 

Taken from the book Sickness by JC Ryle 1816-1900

Page 10

 

Friday, December 7, 2012

Meditate Before You Pray

Meditate before you pray. Meditate on the promises and presence of God. Ask his gracious help, and the teaching of his Spirit.
 

Taken from the book A Pastor's Counsel: Wise Words for Weary, Wounded, and Wandering Sheep

Page 83

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Sorrow Is Good For Nothing but Sin - Thomas Watson

Sorrow is good for nothing but sin. If you shed tears for outward losses, it will not advantage you. Water for the garden, if poured in the sink, does no good. Powder for the eye, if applied to the arm, is of no benefit. Sorrow is medicinal for the soul, but if you apply it to worldly things it does no good. Oh that our tears may run in the right channel and our hearts burst with sorrow for sin!

 

Taken from the book The Doctrine of Repentance by Thomas Watson 1668

Page 63

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

They Will Not Profit Unless - Matthew Henry

We may entertain ourselves and our hearers long enough with discourses of the pleasantness of wisdom's ways, but they will not profit, unless they be mixed with faith. O that we would all mix faith with this truth! That we would yield to the evidence of it!

 

Taken from the book The Pleasantness of a Religious Life by Matthew Henry 1714

Page 50

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

The More I Suffer the More I – Charles Spurgeon

The more I suffer the more I cling to the gospel. It is true, and the fires only burn it into clearer certainty to my soul. I have lived on the gospel, and I can die on it. Never question it.

 

Taken from the book Letters of Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Charles Spurgeon 1834-1892

Page 136

Monday, December 3, 2012

Stars reflected in Puddles - Thomas Brooks

Although you see the stars sometimes by their reflections in a puddle, or in the bottom of a well, yes, in a stinking ditch; yet the stars have their situation in heaven. So, though you see a godly man in a poor, miserable, low, despised condition for the things of this world, yet he is fixed in heaven, in the region of heaven: "Who has raised us up," says the apostle, "and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." (Eph 2:6).

 

Taken from the book Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices

by Thomas Brooks 1652

Page 130