The history of God’s specific movements with the Church is not the history of His adding something, but of His bringing back to the primal fullness with which He filled His Son.
– T. Austin-Sparks –
Surrender
True Repentance – George Whitefield
True repentance will entirely change you; the bias of your souls will be changed, then you will delight in God, in Christ, in His law, and in His people.
– George Whitefield –
Your Support and Comfort for Affliction – Brother Lawrence
Continue, then, always with God; it is the only support and comfort for your affliction.
– Brother Lawrence –
from The Practice of the Presence of God
May My Life Be Yielded to be Wielded – Jim Elliot
Take me, O God, and may my life be yielded that it might be wielded. Yea, I would know wielding the sword myself so that my hand would cleave theretowholly helpless without the Wordweary in its use but unrelenting in my clutch of it (2 Samuel 23:2-6).
– Jim Elliot –
from his August 14, 1948 Journal
Need Time Alone With God – Austen Phelps
It has been said, that no great work in literature or in science was ever wrought by a man who did not love solitude. We may lay it down as an elemental principle of religion, that no large growth in holiness was ever gained, by one who did not take time to be often, and long, alone with God.
– Austen Phelps –
from The Still Hour: Communion with God in Prayer, 1859
Clinging to Christ – John Owen
The first effect of a true love for Christ is our clinging to him. The believer’s soul is knit to Christ’s soul as David’s was to Jonathan’s (1 Samuel 18:1). Love produces a firm clinging to Christ crucified that makes a soul in some sense always present with Christ on the cross.
– John Owen –
from The Holy Spirit, 1674
Let Jesus Do His Work Within Us – Andrew Murray
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
Every Renunciation Led to Glory – Elisabeth Elliot
After the Crucifixion came the Resurrection. After the Resurrection the Ascension. Because Jesus wore a crown of thorns, He now wears a crown of glory. Because He came poor, He now sits enthroned. Because He made Himself of no reputation, He now has a name which is above every name. Because He was willing to become a slave, He is now Master of everything. Because He was obedient to death, He is Lord of Life and holds the keys of hell and death. Because He made Himself of no reputation, every knee will someday bow before Him. Every renunciation led to glory.
– Elisabeth Elliot –
from The Path of Loneliness
All My Requests Are Lost In One – Charles Wesley
All my requests are lost in one: “Father, Thy will be done!”
– Charles Wesley –