I grieve that my love is no stronger, and that I am no more like Him. I wonder at His glory, and sink before Him with shame. How is it that the soul being of such value, and God so great, eternity so near and yet we are so little moved?
– William Bramwell –
The worst sin is prayerlessness.
– PT Forsyth –
A man is dead when he no longer resists the will of God in anything. Dead men do not resist. You must go to God as a lamb, to obey, follow and die.
– Thomas Haire –
Pray, O pray, my brother! never, never quit your hold of the fullness of God; for time is nearly over, and if this fullness be lost it will be lost forever. I am astonished that we do not pray more, yea, that we do not live every moment as on the brink of the eternal world, and in the blessed expectation of that glorious country.
– William Bramwell –
The prayer that prevails with God is the prayer into which we throw our whole heart, the prayer of intense earnestness; and it is the Holy Spirit who inspires us to that intense earnestness in prayer. Oh, how cold and formal we are in many of our prayers. How little intense longing there is in our souls to obtain the thing that we ask. We pray even for the salvation of the lost with much indifference, though we ought to realize that if our prayers are not heard they are going to spend eternity in hell. But men and women whose prayer life is under the control of the Holy Spirit, pray with intense earnestness; they cry mightily to God; there is a great burden of prayer in their hearts; they pray sometimes with groanings which cannot be uttered.
– RA Torrey –
Preaching has no value unless it is the demonstration of the Spirit and of [His] power!
– D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones –
This is what is so unique about the kingdom of heaven. In other kingdoms, the kings rule from without. Jesus rules from within [us]. Other kings are satisfied as we supply them; Jesus wants to supply us. Other kings desire that we defend them; Jesus wants to be our defense. Other kings want us to serve them; Jesus wants to serve through us. In our absolute poverty, helplessness, we have nothing to offer Him. He can be our total supply and source His life through us. The only blockade to this relationship is our own self-sourcing.
– Stephen Manley –
from “The Poor” (Matthew 5:3)
These days of ours have sore need of a generation of praying men, a band of men and women through whom God can bring his great and his greatest movements more fully into the world. The Lord our God is not straitened within himself, but he is straitened in us, by reason of our little faith and weak praying. A breed of Christian is greatly needed who will seek tirelessly after God–who will give him no rest, day and night, until he hearkens to their cry. The times demand praying men who are all athirst for God’s glory, who are broad and unselfish in their desires, quenchless for God, who seek him late and early, and who will give themselves no rest until the whole earth be filled with his glory.
Does your one goal, one drive, all of your plans day and night focus on how to redeem your world? What you cry about, what upsets you, your tiredness, is it all focused on the one thing that beats in the heart of God? Do you see every person with the question of how you can be a redemptive force in their lives? Is every situation of your life viewed with a focus on redemption for the world? May I boldly say that if this is not true for you, you have missed the impact of the Gospel of Matthew and especially this initial call to His disciples [Matthew 4.19].
– Stephen Manley –
from his chapter “A Call to Continuity” in Commentary on Matthew 3-4