Comfort and prosperity have never enriched the world as much as adversity has.
– Billy Graham –
Persecution
Don’t try to please everyone – JC Ryle
We must give up the vain idea of trying to please everybody. That is impossible, and the attempt is a mere waste of time. We must be content to walk in Christ’s steps, and let the world say what it likes.
– JC Ryle –
Proclaiming the Gospel – Underground Church
Never give up in freedom what we would never give up in persecution.
– Underground Church –
from Insanity of God
A Spirit of Thankfulness – Billy Graham
A spirit of thankfulness is one of the most distinctive marks of a Christian whose heart is attuned to the Lord. Thank God in the midst of trials and every persecution.
– Billy Graham –
Suffering for Christ – Francis Xavier
Yet more, Oh my God, more toil, more agony, more suffering for Thee.
– Francis Xavier –
Storms are Temporary – William Gurnall
Let this encourage those of you who belong to Christ: the storm may be tempestuous, but it is only temporary. The clouds that are temporarily rolling over your head will pass, and then you will have fair weather, an eternal sunshine of glory. Can you not watch with Christ for one hour?
– William Gurnall –
Why You Should “Waste Your Life” – Nate Saint
People who do not know the Lord ask why in the world we waste our lives as missionaries. They forget that they too are expending their lives … and when the bubble has burst, they will have nothing of eternal significance to show for the years they have wasted.
– Nate Saint –
(missionary martyr with Jim Elliot)
Trials, Troubles, Miseries, and Crosses – Thomas Brookes
Consider this, Christian: that all your trials and troubles, calamities and miseries, crosses and losses which you meet in this world are all the hell you shall ever have!!
– Thomas Brookes –
Let the Cross Slay You Utterly – AW Tozer
Though the cross of Christ has been beautified by the poet and the artist, the avid seeker after God is likely to find it the same savage implement of destruction it was in the days of old. The way of the cross is still the pain-wracked path to spiritual power and fruitfulness. So do not seek to hide from it. Do not accept an easy way. Do not allow yourself to be patted to sleep in a comfortable church, void of power and barren of fruit. Do not paint the cross nor deck it with flowers. Take it for what it is, as it is, and you will find it the rugged way to death and life. Let it slay you utterly.
– AW Tozer –