Whenever you cannot understand a text, open your Bible, bend your knee, and pray over that text; and if it does not split into atoms and open itself, try again.
– Charles Spurgeon –
Bible – The Word
Names and Offices of Christ – JC Ryle
The names and offices of Christ, as laid down in Scripture, appear to me to show unmistakably that this communion between the saint and his Savior is not a mere fancy, but a real true thing. Between the Bridegroom and His bride, between the Head and His members, between the Physician and His patients, between the Advocate and His clients, between the Shepherd and His sheep, between the Master and His scholars, there is evidently implied a habit of familiar communion, of daily application for things needed, of daily pouring out and unburdening our hearts and minds. Such a habit of dealing with Christ is clearly something more than a vague general trust in the work that Christ did for sinners. It is getting close to Him and laying hold on Him with confidence, as a loving, personal Friend. This is what I mean by communion.
– JC Ryle –
Cream of the Morning – Charles Spurgeon
“To show forth thy loving kindness in the morning.” Psalms 92:2
We are full of vigor then. We will be tired before night comes round. Perhaps in the heat of the day we will be exhausted. Let us take care, while we are fresh, to give the cream of the morning to God.
– Charles Spurgeon –
from Spurgeon on Praise
The Effect of Scripture – William Perkins
The effect of scripture: it converts people, and even although it is completely contrary to their thinking and desires, it wins them to itself.
– William Perkins –
from The Art of Prophesying, 1592
Heroes Had Great Devotional Lives – Leonard Ravenhill
The men that have been the most heroic for God have had the greatest devotional lives.
– Leonard Ravenhill –
Serious Meditation on Holy Truths – Thomas Brooks
Remember that it is not hasty reading—but serious meditation on holy and heavenly truths, which makes them prove sweet and profitable to the soul. It is not the mere touching of the flower by the bee which gathers honey—but her abiding for a time on the flower which draws out the sweet. It is not he who reads most, but he who meditates most—who will prove to be the choicest, sweetest, wisest and strongest Christian.
– Thomas Brooks –
What Is Faith? – Elisabeth Elliot
Faith is a decision. It is not a deduction from the facts around us. We would not look at the world of today and logically conclude that God loves us. It doesn’t always look as though He does. Faith is not an instinct. It certainly is not a feeling—feelings don’t help much when you’re in the lion’s den or hanging on a wooden Cross. Faith is not inferred from the happy things always work. It is an act of the will, a choice based on the unbreakable Word of a God who cannot lie, and who showed us what love and obedience and sacrifice mean, in the person of Jesus Christ.
– Elisabeth Elliot –
from Secure in the Everlasting Arms, p94
Turning Away From All that Dims Christ in My Life – J. Wilbur Chapman
Anything that dims my vision for Christ, or takes away my taste for Bible study, or cramps me in my prayer life, or makes Christian work difficult, is wrong for me; and I must, as a Christian turn away from it.
– J. Wilbur Chapman –
Have You Read or Seen? – AW Tozer
The scribe tells us what he has read, and the prophet tells what he has seen. The distinction is not an imaginary one. Between the scribe who has read and the prophet who has seen there is a difference as wide as the sea. We are overrun today with orthodox scribes, but the prophets, where are they? The hard voice of the scribe sounds over evangelicalism, but the church waits for the tender voice of the saint who has penetrated the veil and has gazed with inward eye upon the wonder that is God.
– AW Tozer –