I have often thought that the best Christians are found in the worst of times: and I have thought again, that one reason why we are no better, is because God purges us no more. I know these things are against the grain of the flesh, but they are not against the graces of the Spirit.
– John Bunyan –
Hope fills the afflicted soul with such inward joy and consolation, that it can laugh while tears are in the eye, sigh and sing all in a breath; it is called “the rejoicing of hope.” (Hebrews 3:6)
– William Gurnall –
If you are not doing the thing that lies nearest, because God as engineered it, when the crisis comes instead of being revealed as fit, you will be revealed as unfit. Crisis always reveal character.
– Oswald Chambers –
Such things as are most bitter to the flesh, tend to awaken Christians to faith and prayer, to a sight of the emptiness of this world, and the fadingness of the best it yield? Doth not God by these things (ofttimes) call our sins to remembrance, and provoke us to amendment of life? How then can we be offended at things by which we reap so much good?…. Therefore if mine enemy hunger, let me feed him; if he thirst, let me give him drink. Now in order to do this, (1) We must see good in that, in which other men can see none. (2) We must pass by those injuries that other men would revenge. (3) We must show we have grace, and that we are made to bear what other men are not acquainted with. (4) Many of our graces are kept alive, by those very things that are the death of other men’s souls…. The devil, (they say) is good when he is pleased; but Christ and His saints, when displeased.
– John Bunyan –
There are disasters to be faced by the one who is in real fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ. God has never promised to keep us immune from trouble; He says “I will be with him in trouble,” which is a very different thing.
– Oswald Chambers –
We are unable to penetrate God’s designs; and the things which seem to us most severe are often to be numbered among our most remarkable mercies. Let us take them submissively at his hand. If there is goodness anywhere, it is to be found in God. Let us trust him. Let us trust him in the dark.
– Ichabod Spencer –
from Practical Sermons
If you have Christ, you will have comfort, joy, peace and liberty; and when the trouble comes, you will find shelter and deliverance by coming near to Him.
– Charles Spurgeon –
from God Loves You
For God says, ‘If it the consequences you are afraid of, don’t come to Me for protection.’ There is a great difference between a selfish fear of consequences and wanting God’s protection because you have a work to carry out for Him.
– Rees Howells –
When you are in the dark, listen, and God will give you a very precious message for someone else when you get in the light. … Now he gives you the gift of humiliation which brings the softness of heart that will always listen to God now.
– Oswald Chambers –