Bravehearted

March 15, 2012

The Holy Spirit is the immediate source of all holiness. The missionary must above all things be a holy man. The ideal teacher … is a holy man. He is entirely sincere, and perfect in love. He is magnanimous, generous, benign, and full of forbearance. He is pure in heart, free from selfishness, and never swerves from the path of duty in his conduct. He is deep and active like a fountain, sending forth his virtues in due season. He is seen, and men revere him; he speaks, and men believe him; he acts, and men are gladdened by him. He possesses all heavenly virtues.  He is one with Heaven.

– Griffith John –

March 14, 2012

Self-sourcing asks, “How can I use you?” Spirit-sourcing asks, “How can I minister to you?” Self-sourcing sees inconvenience. Spirit-sourcing sees opportunities. Self-sourcing protects and guards. Spirit-sourcing flows and gives. Self sourcing is demanding; Spirit-sourcing is giving. I become the answer to the needs of your life, because He is the answer to the needs of my life.

– Stephen Manley –
from Eating at the Cross (Acts 2.42)

March 11, 2012

Men and women who hear the Gospel regularly, I often fear much for you. I fear lest you become so familiar with the sounds of its doctrines, that insensibly you become dead to its power. I fear lest your religion should sink down into a little vague talk about your own weakness and corruption, and a few sentimental expressions about Christ, while real practical fighting on Christ’s side is altogether neglected. Oh, beware of this state of mind! Be doers of the Word, and not hearers only. No victory—no crown! Fight and overcome!

– J.C. Ryle –
from The Great Battle

March 4, 2012

Jesus Christ does not want to be our helper; He wants to be our life. He does not want us to work for Him; He wants us to let Him do His work through us, using us as we use a pencil to write with – better still, using us as one of the fingers on His hand.

– Charles Trumbull –

March 3, 2012

It has got to become patently obvious to others that the kind of life you are living is not only commendable, but that it is beyond all human explanation! That it is beyond the consequences of man’s capacity to imitate, and however little they may understand this, clearly the consequence only of God’s capacity to reproduce Himself in you!

– Ian Thomas –

March 2, 2012

I ought to pray before seeing any one. Often when I sleep long, or meet with others early, it is eleven or twelve o’clock before I begin secret prayer. This is a wretched system. It is unscriptural. Christ arose before day and went into a solitary place. David says: ‘Early will I seek thee’; ‘Thou shalt early hear my voice.’ Family prayer loses much of its power and sweetness, and I can do no good to those who come to seek from me. The conscience feels guilty, the soul unfed, the lamp not trimmed. Then when in secret prayer the soul is often out of tune, I feel it is far better to begin with God—to see his face first, to get my soul near him before it is near another.

– Robert Murray M’Cheyne –

February 27, 2012

The chief danger of the 20th Century will be religion without the Holy Spirit, Christianity without Christ, forgiveness without repentance, salvation without regeneration, politics without God, and heaven without hell.

– William Booth –

February 22, 2012

It is the Holy Ghost in us that is everything, and the Father is willing to bestow Him upon the weakest if he will only ask in the spirit of implicit faith and entire self-surrender. My cry these days is for a Pentecost, first on myself and my missionary brethren, and then on the native Church, and then on the heathen at large.

– Griffith John –

February 21, 2012

Measure thy life by loss and not by gain, not by wine drunk, but wine poured forth; for love’s strength standeth in love’s sacrifice, and he who suffers has most to give.

– Lilias Trotter –