The more prayers and searchings of heart come between our needs and supplies, our afflictions and reliefs, the sweeter are our reliefs and supplies thereby made to us. “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us; this is the Lord, we have waited for him, we will rejoice and be glad in his salvation” (Isaiah 25:9).
– John Flavel –
from The Mystery of Providence, 1678
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 –
The great danger facing all of us…is not that we shall make an absolute failure of life, nor that we shall fall into outright viciousness, nor that we shall be terribly unhappy, nor that we shall feel (that) life has no meaning at all – not these things. The danger is that we may fail to perceive life’s greatest meaning, fall short of its highest good, miss its deepest and most abiding happiness, be unable to tender the most needed service, be unconscious of life ablaze with the light of the Presence of God – and be content to have it so – that is the danger. That someday we may wake up and find that always we have been busy with husks and trappings of life and have really missed life itself. For life without God, to one who has known the richness and joy of life with Him, is unthinkable, impossible. That is what one prays one’s friends may be spared – satisfaction with a life that falls short of the best, that has in it no tingle or thrill that comes from a friendship with the Father.
– Phillips Brooks –
Consider the necessity of holiness. It is impossible that ever you should be happy, except you are holy.
– Thomas Brooks –
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
If anything was done in it that glorifies Christ, it had to be from Him. I was just … went along for the joy and pleasure trip.
– Paris Reidhead –
Whenever you get a blessing from God, give it back to him as a love gift. … Offer the blessing back to him in a deliberate act of worship. If you hoard a thing for yourself, it will turn into spiritual dry rot, as the manna did when it was hoarded. God will never let you hold a spiritual thing for yourself; it has to be given back to him that he may make it a blessing to others.
– Oswald Chambers –
Jesus can make those happy who trust him and call him, whatever be their outward condition. He can give them peace of heart in a prison, contentment in the midst of poverty, comfort in the midst of bereavements, joy on the brink of the grave. There is a mighty fullness that is ready to be poured out on every one that will ask in prayer. Oh that people would understand that happiness does not depend on outward circumstances, but on the state of the heart.
– JC Ryle –
from A Call to Prayer
Christ was in an agony at prayer (Luke 22: 44). Many when they pray are rather in a lethargy, than in an agony. When they are about the world they are all fire; when they are at prayer, they are all Ice.
– Thomas Watson –