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 –
Temptations Transformed From Lions to Honey – John Bunyan
Maturity
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 –
The Root of All Godliness – William Carey
Prayer —secret, fervent, believing prayer—lies at the root of all personal godliness.
– William Carey –
Delighted to be Brought to Your Knees – Billy Sunday
The backslider likes the preaching that wouldn’t hit the side of a house, while the real disciple is delighted when the truth brings him to his knees.
– Billy Sunday –
Walking Through Difficulty, Obscurity, and Suffering – FB Meyer
We all need to go to Arabia to learn lessons like these. The Lord Himself was led up into the wilderness. And in one form or another, every soul who has done a great work in the world has passed through similar periods of obscurity, suffering, disappointment or solitude.
– FB Meyer –
1847-1929