Time

Don’t Wait to Pray – Martin Luther

It is a good thing to let prayer be the first business of the morning and the last at night. Guard yourself carefully against those false, deluding ideas which tell you, “Wait a little while. I will pray in an hour; first I must attend to this or that.” Such thoughts get you away from prayer into other affairs which so hold your attention and involve you that nothing comes of prayer that day.

– Martin Luther –
from A Simple Way to Pray

Are You Praying Without Ceasing? – EM Bounds

Pray without ceasing.  –Thes 5:17

Are you praying in everything without ceasing, in the closet, hidden from men, and praying always and everywhere? That is the personal, pertinent, and all-important question for every person.

– EM Bounds –

Time is Short – Charles Spurgeon

Time is short. Eternity is long. It is only reasonable that this short life be lived in the light of eternity.

– Charles Spurgeon –

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

Improve the Present Moment (Poem)

Improve the present moment! Why delay?
Why wait tomorrow when you have today?
Why plan for something that is hours hence?
You own no future hour—come, friend, commence!
Now is the time for working—now, right now—
Work in the present moment, never bow
To some dim future with its beckoning hand.
Your promise is the present—take command!
Grip your life, and hold with strength your mind.
Know your purpose, leave all doubts behind.
Wait not a moment though the skies be grey.
Wait not tomorrow–make your start today!
Now is the time to toil to gain a crown;
Put in your best endeavor, cast sin down.
Wait not till feet stumble on the mountain dark.
Up! Gird your loins tighter; press for the mark!
If you would work for God it must be now;
If you would win the garlands for your brow,
Redeem the time. Know you not the time is short?
‘Tis now for Christ your labor must be wrought.
Forget the past, and live the present hour,
God has designed to test your utmost power.
Be brave today; yield not to craven fears.
Who conquers now shall rule through endless years!
– Unknown –

God’s Grace Works Often in a Silent and Secret Way – Thomas Brooks

God oftentimes works grace in a silent and secret way and takes sometimes five, sometimes ten, sometimes fifteen, sometimes twenty years; yea, sometimes more, before he will make a clear and satisfying report of his own work upon the soul.

– Thomas Brooks –
from Heaven on Earth: A Treatise on Christian Assurance,1654