A church in the land without the Spirit is rather a curse than a blessing. If you have not the Spirit of God, Christian worker, remember that you stand in somebody else’s way; you are a fruitless tree standing where a fruitful tree might grow.
– Charles Spurgeon –
We cannot have flowers without roots, or fruit without trees. We cannot have the fruit of the Spirit, without vital union with Christ, and a new creation within.
– JC Ryle –
from Expository Thoughts on the Gospels (Volume 2: Luke 6:27-38), 1856
The Holy Spirit is not a power that in any sense is subordinate to us, entrusted to us, or to be used by us. He is an energizing power that is over and above us, carrying forward His work from moment to moment. Our right place and our proper attitude must always be that of the deepest dependence in our own nothingness and impotence. Our chief concern is to let Jesus do His work within us.
– Andrew Murray –
from Experiencing the Holy Spirit
Surely of all the gifts of the early church for which we should long, there is none more needed than the gift of prayer—prayer that brings down the Holy Spirit on believers. This power is given to the men who say, “We will give ourselves … to prayer (Acts 6:4).
– Andrew Murray –