Work as if, Pray as if - Benjamin Franklin

Work as if you were to live a hundred years. Pray as if you were to die tomorrow.

Benjamin Franklin 1706-1790

The Real Attitude of Sin - Oswald Chambers

The real attitude of sin in the heart towards God is that of being without God; it is pride, the worship of myself, that is the great atheistic fact in human life.

 

Oswald Chambers 1874-1917

A Great Faith - Thomas Watson

A great faith is like an oak that spreads its roots deep and is not easily blown down, Colossians 2:7. A great faith is like the anchor or cable of a ship that holds it steady in the midst of storms. A Christian who is steeled with this heroic faith is settled in the mysteries of religion.

The Spirit of God has so firmly printed heavenly truths upon his heart that you may as well remove the sun out of the firmament as remove him from those holy principles he has imbibed. Behold here a pillar in the temple of God, Revelation 3:12.

Taken from the book The Lords Supper by Thomas Watson 1665

Pleasure - JC Ryle

"Pleasure", says Adams on second Peter, "must first have the warrant that it be without sin – then the measure that it be without excess."

Taken from the book Thoughts for Young Men by JC Ryle 1886

 

Faith Like Light, Love Like Warmth - Martin Luther

Faith like light, should always be simple and unbending; while love, like warmth, should beam forth on every side and bend to every necessity of our brethren.

Martin Luther 1483-1546

How Has God Loved Me? - Oswald Chambers

How as God loved me?  God has loved me to the end of all my sinfulness, the end of all my self-will, all my selfishness, all my stiffneckedness, all my pride, all my self-interest; now He says - "love one another, as I have loved you."  I am to show to my fellow-men the same love that God showed to me.  That is Christianity in practical working order.

 

Owsald Chambers 1874-1917

Let Us Test Our Religion - JC Ryle

It will not profit us to read about Christ, if we are not joined to Him by living faith. Once more then let us test our religion be this question; "What think we of Christ?"

Taken from the book Expository Thoughts on the Gospels by J.C. Ryle 1856

the exact expression of the disposition of Jesus - Oswald Chambers

Jesus Christ is infinitely bigger than any of my experiences, but if in my experiences I am coming to know Him better, then the expression will come out in the life, and its sign is the fruit of the Spirit - "love, joy, peace..." The fruit of the Spirit is the exact expression of the disposition of Jesus.

 

Oswald Chambers 1874-1917

Wake up and go to Work - DL Moody

Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.

Eph 5:14

 

When we as children of God wake up and go to work in the vineyard, then those who are living in wickedness all about us will be reached; but not in any other way. You may go to mass meetings and discuss the question of "How to reach the masses," but when you have done with discussion you have to go back to personal effort. Every man and woman who loves the Lord Jesus Christ must wake up to the fact that he or she has a mission in the world, in this work of reaching the lost.

 

Taken from the book To The Work by DL Moody 1837-1899

 

It is Said of Caesar - Thomas Brooks

It is said of Caesar, that 'he had greater care of his books than of his royal robes,' for swimming through the waters to escape his enemies, he carried his books in his hand above the waters, but lost his robes. Ah, what are Caesar's books to God's books?

Taken from the book Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices

by Thomas Brooks 1652

The Way to Avoid a National Desolation - Edmund Calamy

There is no way to avoid a national desolation but by a national reformation.

Edmund Calamy 1600-1666

August 17, 1662

By Peace he Destroys Many - JC Ryle

It becomes all professing Christians to be much on their guard against flattery. We mistake greatly if we suppose that persecution and hard usage are the only weapons in Satan's armory. That crafty foe has other engines for doing us mischief, which he knows well who to work. He knows how to poison souls by the world's seductive kindness, when he cannot frighten them by the fiery dart and the sword. Let us not be ignorant of his devices. By peace he destroys many.

 

Taken from the book Expository Thoughts on the Gospels by J.C. Ryle 1856

As Much Now as at First - Robert Murray McCheyne

You need the blood of Jesus as much now as at first. You never can stand before God in yourself. You must go again and again to be washed. Even on your dying bed, you must hide under Jehovah, our righteousness. You must also lean on Jesus. He alone can overcome the sin in you. Draw nearer and nearer to Him every day.

 

Taken from the book The Best of Robert Murray McCheyne

Robert Murray McCheyne 1813-1843

Everywhere in His Word - E.M. Bounds

Everywhere in His Word, God's actions and attitude are shaped by prayer. To quote all the scriptural passages that prove the immediate, direct, and personal relation of prayer to God would be to transfer whole pages of the Scripture to this study.

 

E.M. Bounds 1835-1913

The Daily Business of a Christian - Martin Luther

As a shoe maker makes a shoe, or a tailor makes a coat, so ought a Christian to pray. Prayer is the daily business of a Christian.

 

Martin Luther 1483 – 1546

The Only Proper Cause - Jonathan Edwards

The redeemed receive all their good from God. God is the author of it - the first cause of it, and the only proper cause.

Taken from the book The Best of Jonathan Edwards Jonathan Edwards 1703-1758

 

Love in the Small Things - George Macdonald

The things most readily to be done - those that lie not at the doorstep but on the very table of a man's mind - are often the most neglected and overlooked. Can a man become strong in righteousness without learning to perform ordinary acts of kindness for his neighbor? Will a man climb the last flight of the stair when he has never set foot on the lowest step? Could it be that the Lord, who demands high virtue of us, tests us first in little tasks before he entrusts to us bigger ones?

He who demonstrates love in the small things demonstrates love in all things. He who will do it only in great things, who neglects "small acts" and tasks, does not truly understand the nature of God's love.

Taken from the book The Best of George Macdonald

George Macdonald 1824-1905

The Matter of our Prayers - Matthew Henry

Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them; I will increase them with men like a flock. Ezekiel 36:37 King James Version

"Thus says the Lord GOD: This also I will let the house of Israel ask me to do for them: to increase their people like a flock. Ezekiel 36:37 ESV

 

God has spoken, and he will do it, and he will be sought unto for it. He requires that his people should seek unto him, and he will incline their hearts to do it, when he is coming towards them in ways of mercy. They must pray for it, for by prayer God is sought unto, and enquired after.

What is the matter of God's promises must be the matter of our prayers. By asking for the mercy promised we must give glory to the donor, express a value for the gift, own our dependence, and put honour upon prayer which God has put honour upon.

Taken from Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible by Matthew

Henry 1662-1714

Do you Above all Things Aim at Saving Souls - Charles Spurgeon

"I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some." 1 Corinthians 9:22.

 

What was Paul's great object in his daily life and ministry?

He says it was, to save some.

There are ministers of Christ present at this hour, together with City missionaries, Bible-women, Sunday-school teachers, and other workers in my Master's vineyard, and I make bold to enquire of each one of them,—Is this your object in all your Christian service? Do you above all things aim at saving souls?

 

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

Expect Help - George Mueller

Trust in the Lord for help. You will honor Him if you expect help from Him in this matter. Pray for help, expect help, and you will have it.

Take from the book The Autobiography of George Mueller 1805-1898

Praise Without Ceasing 1-1-12 Charles Spurgeon

"Let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually"- "continually" that is to say, without ceasing. Let us make an analogous precept to that which saith, "pray without ceasing," and say, "praise without ceasing."

 

Not only in this place or that place, but in every place, we are to praise the Lord our God. Not only when we are in a happy frame of mind, but when we are cast-down and troubled. The perfumed smoke from the altar of incense is to rise towards heaven both day and night, from the beginning of the year to the year's end.

 

Taken from the Book Spurgeon on Praise Charles Spurgeon 1834-1892