Lord, give me firmness without hardness; steadfastness without dogmatism; love without weakness.
– Jim Elliot –
from his Journals, November 24, 1949
Consecration
Too Busy? – AB Christiansen
Too busy; O forgive, Dear Lord, that I should ever be, too much engrossed in earthly tasks, to spend an hour with thee.
– AB Christiansen –
A Test for True Prayer – EM Bounds
He only can truly pray who is all aglow for holiness, for God, and
for heaven.
– EM Bounds –
My Greatest Need – Robert Murray McCheyne
Minister of the gospel, say that of your congregation, “The greatest need for my people is my personal holiness.” Teacher
– Robert Murray McCheyne –
A Mighty Longing After God – AW Tozer
I want deliberately to encourage this mighty longing after God. The lack of it has brought us to our present low estate. The stiff and wooden quality about our religious lives is a result of our lack of holy desire. Complacency is a deadly foe of all spiritual growth. Acute desire must be present or there will be no manifestation of Christ to His people. He waits to be wanted. Too bad that with many of us He waits so long, so very long, in vain.
– AW Tozer –
The Root of All Godliness – William Carey
Prayer —secret, fervent, believing prayer—lies at the root of all personal godliness.
– William Carey –
Do You Blush? – William Secker
Many blush to confess their faults, who never blush to commit them.
– William Secker –
Hold Christ More Closely – JC Ryle
Let us hold to Christ more closely, love him more heartily, live for him more thoroughly, copy him more exactly, confess him more boldly, follow him more fully. Religion like this will always bring its own reward. Worldly people may laugh at it. Weak brethren may think it extreme. But it will wear well. In sickness it will bring peace. In the world to come it will give us a crown of glory that fades not away.
– JC Ryle –
from Sickness
The Difference Between Sin in the Wicked and in the Godly – Thomas Watson
There is as much difference between sin in the wicked and sin in the godly—as between poison being in a serpent and poison being in a man. Poison in a serpent is in its natural place and is delightful—but poison in a man’s body is harmful and he uses antidotes to expel it. So sin in a wicked man is delightful, being in its natural place—but sin in a child of God is burdensome and he uses all means to expel it.
– Thomas Watson –
from The Doctrine of Repentance