Do not let us imagine that we can take into our fellowship and enlist under one banner men who simply affirm truth about Jesus, unless in their own lives there is an absolute loyalty to the Lord Christ.
– G. Campbell Morgan –
Obedience
Living By Aid of the Holy Spirit – John Owen
We are taught in an especial manner to pray that God would give his Holy Spirit unto us, that through his aid and assistance we may live unto God in that holy obedience which he requires at our hands.
– John Owen –
from his book The Holy Spirit, 1664
Praying for Revival – AW Tozer
Have you noticed how much praying for revival has been going on of late—and how little revival has resulted? I believe the problem is that we have been trying to substitute praying for obeying, and it simply will not work. To pray for revival while ignoring the plain precept laid down in Scripture is to waste a lot of words and get nothing for our trouble. Prayer will become effective when we stop using it as a substitute for obedience.
– AW Tozer –
Obedience Better than Sermons – Dietrich Bonhoeffer
One act of obedience is better than one hundred sermons.
– Dietrich Bonhoeffer –
Our Danger Lies in Resisting Him – Fenelon
God is our true Friend, who always gives us the counsel and comfort we need. Our danger lies in resisting Him; so it is essential that we acquire the habit of hearkening to His voice, or keeping silence within, and listening so as to lose nothing of what He says to us. We know well enough how to keep outward silence, and to hush our spoken words, but we know little of interior silence. It consists in hushing our idle, restless, wandering imagination, in quieting the promptings of our worldly minds, and in suppressing the crowd of unprofitable thoughts which excite and disturb the soul.
– François Fénelon –
(1651-1715)
God’s Work Done in God’s Way – Hudson Taylor
God’s work done in God’s way will never lack God’s supplies.
– Hudson Taylor –
Pray for Guidance vs Obedience – Elisabeth Elliot
Does it make sense to pray for guidance about the future if we are not obeying in the things that lie before us today? How many momentous events in Scripture depended on one person’s seemingly small act of obedience! Rest assured: Do what God tell you to do now, and, depend on it, you will be shown what to do next.
– Elisabeth Elliot –
from Quest for Love
Prayer Will Become Effective When … – AW Tozer
Have you noticed how much praying for revival has been going on of late – and how little revival has resulted? I believe the problem is that we have been trying to substitute praying for obeying, and it simply will not work. To pray for revival while ignoring the plain precept laid down in Scripture is to waste a lot of words and get nothing for our trouble. Prayer will become effective when we stop using it as a substitute for obedience.
– AW Tozer –
Thomas Brooks on the Conquest of Sin
In conquering of those enemies that be within, you make a conquest over the devil and hell itself. … And as this is the most noble conquest, so it is the most necessary conquest. You must be the death of your sins, or they will be the death of your souls. Sin is a viper, that does always kill where it is not killed.
– Thomas Brooks –