Friday, May 31, 2013

Our Chief Concern - Andrew Murray

The Holy Spirit is not a power that in any sense is subordinate to us, entrusted to us, or to be used by us. He is an energizing power that is over and above us, carrying forward His work from moment to moment. Our right place and our proper attitude must always be that of the deepest dependence in our own nothingness and impotence. Our chief concern is to let Jesus do His work within us.

Taken from the book Experiencing the Holy Spirit by Andrew Murray 1828-1917

Thursday, May 30, 2013

Is He the God of the Hills - Richard Baxter

Is he the God of the hills, and not of the valleys? Did he love me in my youth and health, and will he not also in my age and pain and sickness?
 

Taken from the book Dying Thoughts by Richard Baxter 1683

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

The first effect - John Owen

The first effect of a true love for Christ is our clinging to him. The believer's soul is knit to Christ's soul as David's was to Jonathan's (1 Sam. 18:1). Love produces a firm clinging to Christ crucified that makes a soul in some sense always present with Christ on the cross.

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

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

I Wish - C.H. Spurgeon

I wish that men studied the praise they profess to present unto God more.

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

Monday, May 27, 2013

It Is Because We Have No Strength - D.L. Moody

A man may say, "I have no strength." Let him turn to Romans 5:6. "For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly." It is because we have no strength that we need Christ. He has come to give strength to the weak.

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

Friday, May 24, 2013

Often and Long Alone With God - Austin Phelps

It has been said, that no great work in literature or in science was ever wrought by a man who did not love solitude. We may lay it down as an elemental principle of religion, that no large growth in holiness was ever gained, by one who did not take time to be often, and long, alone with God.

Taken from the book The Still Hour: Communion with God in Prayer by Austen Phelps 1859

 

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Pray Without Ceasing - Oswald Chambers

 "Pray without ceasing" (I Thessalonians 5:17). Keep the child-like habit of continually exclaiming in your heart to God, recognize and rely on the Holy Spirit all the time. Inarticulate prayer, the impulsive prayer that looks so futile, is the thing God always heeds. The apostolic habit ought to be the persistent habit of each one of us.
 

Taken from the book If You Will Ask by Oswald Chambers 1874-1917

 

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

The New Heart Is Only Given To the Elect - William Guthrie

 Whatever changes be in hypocrites, yet their heart is not changed, and made new. The new heart is only given to the elect, when they are converted and brought under the bond of the covenant - 'I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me forever.' 'A new heart will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.' (Jeremiah 32:39, Ezekiel 36:26)
 

Taken from the book The Christians Great Interest by William Guthrie 1658

 

Monday, May 20, 2013

Did You Rejoice In the Lord This Morning - Charles Spurgeon

Did you rejoice in the Lord this morning when you woke? It is very sweet to wake up and hear the birds singing within your heart, but you cannot maintain that joy, no not even for an hour, no matter what you do. 'All my springs are in thee' (Psalm 87:7), my God, and if I am to joy and rejoice, You must anoint me continually with 'the oil of gladness' (Psalm 45:7).

Taken from the book God Loves You by Charles Spurgeon 1834-1892

 

Friday, May 17, 2013

Will You Therefore Limp - Thomas Watson

Better have men reproach you for being good, than have God damn you for being wicked. Be not laughed out of your religion. If a lame man laugh at you for walking upright, will you therefore limp?

Taken from the book The Great Gain of Godliness by Thomas Watson 1682

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

let us take this as our watch-word - Charles Spurgeon

Whether we are servants or masters, whether we are poor or rich, let us take this as our watch-word, 'As to the Lord, and not to men.' Henceforth may this be the engraving of our seal and the motto of our coat-of-arms; the constant rule of our life and the sum of our motive.
 
Taken from the book Council for Christian Workers by Charles Spurgeon  1834-1892

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Teach Us Still To Depend On Thee - Henry Scougal

Let us neither presume on our own strength, nor distrust thy divine assistance; but while we are doing our utmost endeavours, teach us still to depend on thee for success.

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

by Henry Scougal 1650-1678

Monday, May 13, 2013

Any Great Calamity - Oswald Chambers

Any great calamity in the natural world - death, disease, bereavement - will awaken a man when nothing else would, and he is never the same again. We would never know the "treasures of darkness" if we were always in the place of placid security.
 
Oswald Chambers, 1874-1917

Saturday, May 11, 2013

Do I love God's people? - George Burder

 Do I love God's people? Can I say to Christ, as Ruth to Naomi, "Thy people shall be my people?" Do I love them because they love Christ and bear his image? Do I feel a union of spirit with them, though they may not be of my party, or think exactly as I do? Can I say, "I know that I have passed from death of life, because I love the brethren?"
 

George Burder 1752-1832

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

 

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Do I love God's law?- George Burder

 Do I love God's law? Do I delight in the law of the Lord after the inward man, not wishing it less strict and holy, but loving it because it is holy? Am I as willing to take Christ for my King to rule over me, as for my Priest to atone for me? Do I hunger and thirst after righteousness? Do I pant and long and pray to be holy? Do I wish to be holy, as I wish to be happy? Do I hate all sin, especially that sin which most easily besets me, and labor daily to mortify it and to deny myself? Do I sigh for complete deliverance from remaining corruption, and rejoice in the hope of it, through a holy Jesus? Do I long for heaven, that there I may be satisfied with his likeness?
 

George Burder 1752-1832

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

 

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Do I love the Holy Spirit? - George Burder

Do I love the Holy Spirit? Do I honor him as the great Author of light and life, grace and comfort? Do I maintain a deep sense of my dependence on his agency in all my religious performances? Do I desire my heart to be his temple? Am I cautious lest I quench his holy motions, or grieve him by my sins? Am I sensible that without his influence I cannot pray, hear, read, communicate, nor examine myself as I ought?

 

George Burder 1752-1832

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

 

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Do I love Christ? - George Burder

Do I love Christ? To those who believe, he is precious; is he precious to me? Do I see infinite beauty in his person? Is he the chief among ten thousands to me, and altogether lovely Do I admire the length and breadth and depth and height of his love? Is the language of my very soul, None but Christ, none but Christ? Is it my grief and shame that I love him no more?

George Burder 1752-1832

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

 

Monday, May 6, 2013

Do I love God the Father - George Burder

Do I love God the Father? Do I think of him, and go to him as a loving Father in Christ? Have I the Spirit of adoption, so that I cry, Abba, Father? Do I love him as the Father of mercies, the God of hope, the God of peace, the God of love?

George Burder 1752-1832

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

 

Friday, May 3, 2013

That Is Not Suffering For the Son of Man - Oswald Chambers

I may be such a pig-headed cross-patched, and have such determined notions of my own, that no one can live with me. That is not suffering for the Son of Man's sake; it is suffering for my own sake.

Taken from the book The Quotable Oswald Chambers

Oswald Chambers 1874-1917

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Providences proclaims the truth - John Flavel

Do you see at any time a rub of Providence diverting the course of good men from falling into evil, or wicked men from committing evil? How loudly do such Providences proclaim the truth and certainty of the Scriptures, which tell us that 'the way of man is not in himself, neither is it in him that walketh to direct his steps' (Jer. 10:23), and that 'a man's heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps' (Prov. 16:9)!

Taken from The Mystery of Providence
John Flavel 1627-1691

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

A Christian's rule is - Andrew Fuller

A Christian's rule is the revealed will of God: and where the customs of the world run counter to this, it is his business to withstand them, even though in so doing he may have to withstand a multitude.

Taken from the book The Backslider
by Andrew Fuller (1754-1815)