When I speak of a person growing in grace, I mean simply this —that his sense of sin is becoming deeper, his faith stronger, his hope brighter, his love more extensive, and his spiritual mindedness more marked.
– JC Ryle –
Maturity
Student of the Bible – DL Moody
I never saw a fruit-bearing Christian who was not a student of the Bible.
– DL Moody –
Maturity Takes Time – DL Moody
Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
2 Peter 3:18
Although you may be born again, it will require time to become a full-grown Christian. Justification is instantaneous, but sanctification is a lifework. We are to grow in wisdom. We are to add grace to grace. A tree may be perfect in its first year of growth, but it has not attained its maturity. So with the Christian: he may be a true child of God, but not a matured Christian.
– DL Moody –
from Day by Day with DL Moody
Temptations Transformed From Lions to Honey – John Bunyan
Temptations, when we meet them at first, are as the lion that reared upon Samson; but if we overcome them, the next time we see them we shall find a nest of honey within them.
– John Bunyan –
A Pharisee vs A Spiritual Man – AW Tozer
A Pharisee is hard on others and easy on himself, but a spiritual man is easy on others and hard on himself.
– AW Tozer –
The Purity of Gold – Amy Carmichael
The goldsmith never leaves his crucible once it has entered the fire. He periodically lifts out the gold, lets it cool, rubs it between his fingers, and if not satisfied puts it back … This time he blows the fire hotter than it was before, and each time he puts the gold back into the crucible, the heat of the fire is increased, “It could not bear it so hot at first, but it can bear it now; what would have destroyed it then helps it now.” “How do you know when the gold is purified?” we asked, and he answered, “When I can see my face in it, then it is pure.”
– Amy Carmichael –
from Gold Cord
How Long Do You Pray? – Wesley L. Duewel
Many Christians are so spiritually frail, sickly, and lacking in spiritual vitality that they cannot stick to prayer for more than a few minutes at a time.
– Wesley L. Duewel –
Pressed Into Living a Christ-life Outpoured – Lettie Cowman
Pressed out of measure and pressed to all length;
Pressed so intensely it seems, beyond strength;
Pressed in the body and pressed in the soul,
Pressed in the mind till the dark surges roll.
Pressure by foes, and a pressure from friends.
Pressure on pressure, till life nearly ends.
Pressed into knowing no helper but God;
Pressed into loving the staff and the rod.
Pressed into liberty where nothing clings;
Pressed into faith for impossible things.
Pressed into living a life in the Lord,
Pressed into living a Christ-life outpoured.
– Lettie Cowman –
Get Your Brain on the Word of God – Oswald Chambers
The great need for the saint is to get his brains at work on the Word of God; otherwise he will stagnate, no matter how much he may name the Name of God.
– Oswald Chambers –