The unction, the divine unction, this heavenly anointing, is what the pulpit needs and must have. This divine and heavenly oil put on it by the imposition of God’s hand must soften and lubricate the whole man—heart, head, spirit—until it separates him with a mighty separation from all earthly, secular, worldly, selfish motives and aims, separating him to everything that is pure and Godlike.
– EM Bounds –
Do we spend ten minutes a day in prayer? Do we consider it important enough for that? Ten minutes a day on our knees in prayer—when the Kingdom of heaven can be had for the asking!
Why, the wonder is not that we pray so little, but that we can ever get up from our knees if we realize our own need; the needs of our home and our loved ones; the needs of our pastor and the Church; the needs of our city—of our country—of the heathen and Mohammedan world! All these needs can be met by the riches of God in Christ Jesus.
– Unknown Christian –
from The Kneeling Christian
The greatest need of my people [as their pastor] is my personal holiness.
– Robert Murray M’Cheyne –
If Jesus had preached the same message that ministers preach today, He would never have been crucified.
– Leonard Ravenhill –
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
We’re suffering from a believism that never has believed and a receivism that never has received and it leads to deceivism.
– Vance Havner –
I’m not about to put up a silly skit and preach a 15-minute message on “how to cope” to a multitude of people who are dying and going to hell. I tremble at the thought.
– David Wilkerson –
Unless God has raised you up for this very thing, you will be worn out by the opposition of men and devils. But if God be for you, who can be against you? Are all of them together stronger than God? O be not weary of well doing!
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God requires to be represented by a fiery Church. He can and does tolerate many things in the way of infirmity and error in His children. He can and will pardon sin when the penitent prays, but two things are intolerable to Him–insincerity and lukewarmness. Lack of heart, and lack of heat are two things that He loathes, and to the Laodiceans He said, in terms of unmistakable severity and condemnation: “I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of My mouth” (Revelation 3:15-16). Nothing short of being red hot for God can keep the glow of heaven in our hearts these chilly days.
– EM Bounds –