 |
| -- |
Daily Victory &
Fighting Temptation Quotes
"If any man will deny himself, take up his cross and follow me, daily..."
"Oh! that it could be understood that the whole of spiritual life that is in any man is received direct from the Spirit of Christ by faith, as the branch receives its life from the vine. Away with this religion of resolutions! It is a snare of death. Away with this effort to make the life holy while the heart has not in it the love of God. Oh! that men would learn to look directly at Christ through the Gospel and so close in with Him by an act of loving trust as to involve a universal sympathy with His state of mind. This, and this alone, is sanctification."
"Genuine faith will be manifested in good works; for good works are the fruits of faith. As God works in the heart, and man surrenders his will to God, and cooperates with God, he works out in the life what God works in by the Holy Spirit, and there is harmony between the purpose of the heart and the practice of the life. Every sin must be renounced as the hateful thing that crucified the Lord of life and glory, and the believer must have a progressive experience by continually doing the works of Christ. It is by continual surrender of the will, by continual obedience, that the blessing of justification is retained. Those who are justified by faith must have a heart to keep the way of the Lord. It is an evidence that a man is not justified by faith when his works do not correspond to his profession. James says, "Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was his faith made perfect?" (James 2:22). The faith that does not produce good works does not justify the soul. "Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only" (James 2:24). "Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness" (Rom. 4:3)." Bible Students' Library Series, April, 1893 (Selected Messages, Vol. 1, p. 397)
"If Christ justifies you, He will sanctify you! He will not save you and leave you in your sins." Robert Murray McCheyne "Why, then, are we justified by faith? Because faith we apprehend the righteousness of Christ, which is the only medium of our reconciliation to God. But this [justification] you cannot attain, without at the same time attaining to sanctification.... Christ therefore justifies no one whom he does not also sanctify. For these benefits are perpetually and indissolubly connected, so that whom he illuminates with his wisdom, them he redeems; whom he redeems, he justifies; whom he justifies, he sanctifies.... Since, then, the Lord affords us the enjoyment of these blessings only in the bestowment of himself, he gives them [justification and sanctification] both together, and never one without the other. Thus we see how true it is that we are justified, not without works, yet not by works; since union with Christ, by which we are justified, contains sanctification as well as righteousness." John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book III, Chapter xvi, Section 1 5/25/2009 "Giving offense in nothing...." 2 Cor. 6:3 H. C. G. Moule lists the aims of the Christian: “To be like Him ‘whom, not having seen, we love’; to displace accordingly, in grace reality, self from the inner throne, and to enthrone Him; to make not the slightest compromise with the smallest sin. We aim at being entirely willing, nay, definitely to will, to know with ever keener sensibility what is sin in us, and where it is, that it may be dealt with at once by the Holy Spirit. We aim at nothing less than to walk with God all day long; to abide every hour in Christ, and He and His words in us; to love God with all the heart, and our neighbour as ourselves; to live, and that in no conventional sense, ‘no longer to ourselves, but to Him who died for us, and rose again.’ We aim at ‘yielding ourselves to God’ as the unregenerate will yields itself to sin, to self; at having every thought brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ-every thought, every movement of the inner world; a strict, comprehensive captivity, an absolute and arbitrary slavery. In the region of outward life our aim is, of course, equally large and pervading. It is to break with all evil, and follow all good. It is never, never more to speak evil of any man; never to lose patience; never to trifle with wrong, whether impurity, untruth, or unkindness; never in any known thing to evade our Master’s will; never to be ashamed of His name. I emphasize again and again this never, for there is the point. As believers in our Lord Jesus Christ, as those who are not their own, but bought, and who accordingly, in the strictest sense, belong to Him all through, our aim is, it must be, across any amount of counter thoughts, ‘never to grieve Him, never to stray’; always in the inner world, always in the outer, to ‘walk and to please Him.’ I say again, this is our aim, not in any conventional sense, such as to leave us easy and tolerably comfortable when we fail. Not so; God forbid. Failure, when it comes across this aim, will come with the pang of a shame and disappointment, which we shall little wish to feel again. It will be a deeply conscious discord and collision. It will be a fall down a rough steep. It will be a joy lost, or, at best, deferred again. It will be the missing of a divine smile, the loss of ‘the light of the countenance of the King.’” H. C. G. Moule, from Christian Sanctity 5/22/2009 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus..." Php 2:5 "There is another law—a higher law-the highest law of the christian life. It is this: In everything hold yourself subject to the Holy Spirit's leading. Whenever these two laws come into conflict remember that the lower law always yields to the higher. It is a law of life that where two laws come into conflict the lower law always gives way to the higher. That is a supreme law both of nature and in legislation. Now, the highest law of the christian life is to yield constantly to the leading of our Companion-the Holy Spirit." 5/5/2009 "How shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to your word.... Your Word I have hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you." Psalms 119:11 "When the holy principles of the Word of God become the ruling element in a man's life, they will lead him to act rightly, not impulsively. There is then an abiding Christ in his heart, whose bidding he obeys, and light and grace flow forth in words and deeds. This is the religion of Jesus Christ. This is the inexhaustible source of the only true species of power which the human agent, sanctified to God, may freely exercise. Vol. 7, Manuscript Releases, p. 228 5/3/2009 “God takes men as they are... They are not chosen because they are perfect, but notwithstanding their imperfections, that through the knowledge and practice of the truth, through the grace of Christ, they may become transformed into His image.” Desire of Ages, p. 294 4/28/2009 “Early the next morning, soon after daybreak, I went over on my knees carefully and prayerfully all the passages on the Victorious Life that were given in a little yellow leaflet that the speaker had distributed. What a comfort and strength it was to see how clear God’s Word was that victory, not defeat, was his will for his children, and to see what wonderful provision he had made! Later, during the days that followed, clearer light came. I did what I was asked to do - I quietly but definitely accepted Christ as my Saviour from the power of sin as I had so long before accepted him as my Savior from the penalty of sin. And on this I rested.” Rosalind Goforth, How I Know God Answers Prayer (read the whole story) 4/3/2009 "Self-absorption is always a temptation to young people, and if their religion is of a sort to add to this self-absorption, I feel that it is a serious mistake. If I had my way, the whole subject of feelings and emotions in the religious life would be absolutely ignored. Feelings there will be, doubtless, but they must not be in the least depended on, nor in any sense taken as the test or gauge of one’s religion. They ought to be left out of the calculation entirely. You may feel good or you may feel bad, but neither the good feeling nor the bad feeling affects the real thing." Hannah Whithall Smith (Read more of Hannah's thinking on this subject) 3/8/2009 "But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, . . . and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." Ephesians 2:4-6. "As God raised Christ from the dead, that He might bring life and immortality to light through the gospel, and thus save His people from their sins, so Christ has raised fallen human beings to spiritual life, quickening them with His life, filling their hearts with hope and joy. Christ gave Himself for the redemption of the race, that all who believe in Him may have everlasting life. Those who appreciate this great sacrifice receive from the Saviour that most precious of all gifts —a clean heart. They gain an experience that is more valuable than gold or silver or precious stones. They sit together in heavenly places in Christ, enjoying in communion with Him the joy and peace that He alone can give. They love Him with heart and mind and soul and strength, realizing that they are His blood-bought heritage. Their spiritual eyesight is not dimmed by worldly policy or worldly aims. They are one with Christ as He is one with the Father." "We are to accept Christ as our efficiency, our strength, that we may reveal His character to the world." In Heaveny Places, p. 321. "Grace is an attribute of God shown to undeserving human beings. We did not seek after it, but it was sent in search of us. God rejoices to bestow this grace on everyone who hungers for it, not because we are worthy, but because we are so utterly unworthy. Our need is the qualification which gives us the assurance that we will receive this gift." My Life Today, p. 100 3/2/2009 "You must be born again." John 3:3 "Christ does not come into our lives to patch up the “old man.” Here is where unnumbered multitudes of Christians have been “hung up.” They thought it was Christ’s mission “to make them better.” There is absolutely no Biblical ground for any such idea. Jesus said that He had no intention of pouring His new wine into old pig-skins. ... Christ does not come to us to simply straighten out the “old life.” He has never promised to make us better. His entire redemptive work consummated upon the Cross, rests upon the assumption (it is more than an assumption-God says it is a fact) that man’s condition is such that only a dying and a being born again, can possibly meet the exigencies of the case. So far from attempting to patch man up, and then leaving him to imitate as best he can the pattern given in Judea two thousand years ago, Christ takes him down into the grave where the “old life” is utterly terminated, and then makes him the participant of His resurrection. Christ our Lord fastens us to Himself and imparts to us an entirely “new life." F. J. Huegel (Read more on this here) 2/27/2009 "For we are made partakers of Christ" Heb. 3:14 "What is impossible to me as an imitator of Christ, becomes perfectly natural as a participant of Christ. It is Only when Christ nullifies the force of my inherent "self' life," and communicates to me a Divine life, that Christian living in its true sense, is at all possible for me." F. J. Huegel 2/25/2009 Gal. 6:14 "But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world." 1 Cor. 9:27 "But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified." "Satan has no great controversy, no real quarrel with those who are content to go along professing to be Christ's, while 'self' in one form another sits, so to speak, upon the throne. So long as the 'old life' is not displaced, so long as the cross is simply looked upon as a distant symbol, so long as no inner crucifixion takes place releasing the spiritual faculties and entailing a vital union with Christ in the power of His ascension-life, the Enemy is not greatly alarmed." "The 'self-life' and the Satanic spirit are in unconscious affinity. However polished the former--it may shine with the culture of the ages and bear the religious glow of the best in natural religions---it is still 'self,' it is still 'flesh-life.' It has the curse of God upon it. It has the smell of infernal associations about it. It stinks. 'The carnal mind is enmity with God' (Rom.8). It hates Him while it pretends to love Him. Where 'self-life' dominates, be the religous professions what they may, Satan finds plenty of ground on which to work." "If the 'self-life' is supreme, Satan does not have to be invited in. The lines are already set for the 'electric' current to flow. Satan is master of ceremonies, though he be apparently non-existent." F. J. Huegel, Bone of His Bone, pp. 76,77,80. 2/24/2009 "Many "good" people will be found wanting in the final judgment." 2/19/2009 "The best way to combat with sin is upon our knees." Thomas Watson 12/29/2008 "Then you will lay your gold in the dust, and the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks. Yes, the almighty will be your gold and your precious silver; for then you will have your delight in the Almighty, and lift up your face to God. You will make your prayer to Him, He will hear you, and you will pay your vows. You will declare a thing, and it will be established for you; so light will shine on your ways." Job 22:24-28 "What is the secret of spiritual progress? It is the letting go of our own will and mind to the fact, to the truth, that after all, though Christians at our best, wanting to be a hundred percent for the Lord, it is not in us either to be or do. Our will can never do it, our reason can never accomplish it, our impulses and desires can never get us there. We have to come to a brokenness and yieldedness where nature is laid low in the dust and all our treasure is with the stones of the brook and the Almighty becomes our treasure (Job 22:24-25); the Lord alone our wisdom, our strength and vision, our desire. Until you and I have learned the lesson of that utter brokenness and yieldedness and letting go to the Lord, spiritual progress is delayed." Austin Sparks From the Wilderness to the Land 11/28/2008 "I die daily." 1 Cor. 15:31 "The only right a Christian has is the right to give up his rights." Oswald Chambers 11/21/2008 “When self is submerged in Christ, true love springs forth spontaneously. It is not an emotion or an impulse but a decision of a sanctified will. It consists not in feeling but in the transformation of the whole heart, soul, and character, which is dead to self and alive unto God. Our Lord and Saviour asks us to give ourselves to Him. Surrendering self to God is all He requires, giving ourselves to Him to be employed as He sees fit. Until we come to this point of surrender, we shall not work happily, usefully, or successfully anywhere.--Lt 97, 1898. 11/1/2008 “I humbly believe our life is to learn our nothingness and His being everything; when we agree with Him that we are nothing and not astonished at our evil nature breaking forth, when we are willing for the last to be first, when we are willing to be the least in Heaven that every one we know should be higher than ourselves, then, I think, our lesson is learnt. If we are annoyed at any disparaging remark or conduct of our fellows, it is because we are not yet fully aware of our being nothing.” Charles Gordon, General Gordon’s Letters to his Sister, p. 19 9/17/2008 "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee." Isaiah 26:3 "One of the greatest enemies to faith is indolence. it is much easier to lie and suffer than to rise and overcome. It is much easier to go to sleep on a snowbank and never wake again than to rouse one's self and shake off the lethargy and overcome the stupor. Faith is an energetic art. Prayer is intense labor. The effectual working prayer of the righteous man availeth much. Satan tries to put us to sleep as he did the disciples in the garden. Let us not sleep as do others, but let us awake and be sober, continuing in prayer and watching thereunto with all perseverance (Ephesians 6:18), stirring up ourselves to take hold of God's strength, not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promise (Hebrews 6:12). It is the wind that carries the sailing ship across the waves, but the wind is powerless unless the hand of the boatman is held firmly upon the rudder and the rudder set hard against the wind. In like manner we hold the rudder; God fills the sails. It is not the rudder that carries the ship, but it is the rudder turned against the wind that carries the ship. So God keeps us in perfect peace while we are stayed upon Him" (Isaiah 26:3). A. B. Simpson 9/10/2008 "Here is where the work of the Holy Ghost comes in, after your baptism. You are baptized in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. You are raised up out of the water to live henceforth in newness of life--to live a new life. You are born unto God, and you stand under the sanction and the power of the three holiest Beings in heaven, who are able to keep you from falling. You are to reveal that you are dead to sin; your life is hid with Christ in God. Hidden "with Christ in God"--wonderful transformation. This is a most precious promise. When I feel oppressed and hardly know how to relate myself toward the work that God has given me to do, I just call upon the three worthies, and say: You know I cannot do this work in my own strength. You must work in me, and by me, and through me, sanctifying my tongue, sanctifying my spirit, sanctifying my words, and bringing me into a position where my spirit shall be susceptible to the movings of the Holy Spirit of God upon my mind and character. And this is the prayer that every one of us may offer." 1SAT 367 8/14/2008 "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." Galatians 2:20 "... by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." 2 Peter 1:4 "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." 2 Cor. 5:17 "The very first lesson for those who embrace the message of truth to learn, is to be in union with Christ and to have the power of His grace in the soul, melting away all dross of character, bringing into subjection even the thoughts. This must be done through the subduing of the heart, that Christ may impress and write His law upon it. This is the work to be accomplished for every soul, that all who love the truth will reveal its sanctifying, refining, ennobling power upon the character, in the spirit, in the words, and in the actions. Each will be a channel of light through which Christ will communicate." TSA 28 8/14/2008 "Nor is there salvation in any other, for ther eis no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." Acts 4:12 "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." 2 Cor. 5:17 "None but Christ can fashion anew the character that has been ruined by sin. He came to expel the demons that had controlled the will. He came to lift us up from the dust, to reshape the marred character after the pattern of His divine character, and to make it beautiful with His own glory.” Desire of Ages, p. 38 7/27/2008 "We feel strongly that the recollection of past sins is one of the greatest hindrances to present holiness and usefulness. Such recollection weakens our confidence, prevents our usefulness, and reminds us of the “pleasures of sin”; so there follow feeble witness, fruitless work, and fresh falling into sin. Moreover, remorse, or agony of feeling, or self-condemnation, can do nothing to heal the wound. The atoning blood of Christ is sufficient for that. In fact, so sufficient-if one may use such an expression-that after the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, Christians are nowhere told to pray for the forgiveness of their sins. The command is simply to confess them to God, and their forgiveness is assured." Unknown Christian (Read More...) "God’s Word is absolute on the completeness of the victory that is the experience of every child of God who trusts that victory wholly to Christ. It is not a once-for-all victory; it is a moment-by-moment victory, enjoyed each moment only in the present, but enjoyed completely in that present moment as the believer “looks away” from all else “unto Jesus,” the author and perfecter of our faith (Heb. 12: 2). But what a perilous life it is! Satan hates it; for it is an incarnate advertisement of the sufficiency of his Conqueror, Jesus Christ. Therefore to trust Christ for complete victory is to be moved up into the front line trench of the Christian warfare; and front line trenches are perilous places when the attack is on. There is no life in the world so perilous as the Victorious Life. Neither is there a life so safe. Where the onslaughts of the Adversary are the most terrific, the grace of the Captain of our salvation is the most effectively demonstrated. Some of the perils are so subtle. so unexpected, that they may not be recognized unless we frankly face them in advance as terribly real possibilities-nay, not possibilities, but certainties. We need a supernaturally sensitized consciousness of these perils if we would be safeguarded." Charles Trumbull (Read more on the dangers of the Victorious Life...) 6/19/2008 "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9 "Whatever the sin, if the soul repents and believes, the guilt is washed away in the blood of Christ." Desire of Ages, p. 322 6/9/2008 "Jesus is the Great Healer of all our spiritual diseases. He loves to undertake the care of the sin-sick soul, and never lost one who betook itself to His cross. Come with your spiritual disease, O my soul; it may have baffled every physician and distanced every remedy--Jesus and His Atonement can cure it. "He heals all your diseases." He binds up the broken heart, heals our backslidings, restores our wanderings, revives our declensions; and when faith droops through trial, and the spirit faints in adversity, and love chills through temptation, Jesus the Healer comes, and by the fresh application of His blood, and by the renewed communication of His grace, and by the quickening energy of His word, He heals us." Octavius Winslow (Read More) 5/2/2008 The following is undoubtedly among the most famous quotations on holiness written, and completely changed Hudson Taylor's life. Though often wrongly attributed to Stephen Tyng, it comes from Henry Law. “The grace of faith springs up: This is the chain, which binds the soul to Christ, and makes the Saviour and the sinner one. A channel is now formed by which Christ’s fullness plenteously flows down. The barren branch becomes a portion of the fruitful stem. Christ’s vital juices permeate the whole. The limbs receive close union with the head, and one life reigns throughout the total frame. Reader, would you be holy? The way is only one. All other roads lead down to deeper mire. Christ must come in. All is dark death, except where Jesus lives. All is pure life and loveliness, where Jesus reigns. Draw near and nearer to the Gospel-page. There gaze on Christ, till the soul’s features melt into His likeness. The Gospel heard, and read, and loved, are the bright wings on which the Spirit flies. The Spirit’s presence brings the Saviour near. The Saviour welcomed, is all Holiness begun. The Saviour cherished, is all Holiness advancing. The Saviour never absent, is Holiness complete. Holiness complete, is heaven’s full blaze. Believer, this subject has a warning voice. You mourn short-comings. You find the hated monster sin still striving for the rule. Evil is present, when you would do good. Help is laid up for you in Christ. Seek clearer interest in Him. Faith sows the seeds. Assurance brings in golden sheaves. They, who most deeply feel, that they have died in Christ and paid in Him sin’s penalties, ascend to highest heights of godly life. He is most holy, who has most of Christ within, and joys most fully in the finished work. It is defective faith, which clogs the feet, and causes many a fall.”—Henry Law, Christ is All: The Gospel of the Pentateuch, p. 55 4/15/2008 “But First they gave their own selves unto the Lord.” “First gave their own selves to the Lord.” That IS the secret of victory over sin, it is the secret of right relationship with God and Man, the secret of power with God, and with men. It is only through the surrendered life that God can work. God cannot use you in any special way if you are holding back part of your life from him. If there is one little chamber of which you hold the key, and into which God has not fully entered, he cannot greatly use you. Your intellectuality may be great, your genius may be superb, your social standing may be beyond question. But God does not use people for these reasons. God uses them when he has all there is of them, and ONLY then. (Emphasis supplied) The minister who has yielded almost all to Jesus, but is holding back just a little, is because of this fact standing in the way of the receipt of fullness of power. I am sure I can give him the secret of God’s mighty working in a human life. Let him have the unconditional right of way. I dare say there are some men even in the pulpit to-day who have not the power of God because God cannot control them. There is many a man in the pew who is shorn of power because God has not the right of way in his life.—Wilbur Chapman, Power and Its Secret 4/3/2008 “I fear it is sometimes forgotten that God has married together justification and sanctification. They are distinct and different things, beyond question, but one is never found without the other. All justified people are sanctified, and all sanctified people are justified. ... Tell me not of your justification, unless you have also some marks of sanctification. Boast not of Christ’s work for you, unless you can show us the Spirit’s work in you.” J. C. Ryle, Holiness, p. 47 3/29/2008 "My son, give me your heart." Proverbs 23:26 "What God requires of us, is a will which is no longer divided between Him and any creature; a simple, pliable state of will which desires what He desires, rejects nothing but what He rejects, and wills without reserve what He wills, and under no pretext wills what He does not. ... Blessed is he who thus gives himself to God! He is delivered from his passions, from the opinions of men, from their malice, from the tyranny of their maxims, from their cold and miserable raillery, from the misfortunes which the world attributes to chance, from the infidelity and fickleness of friends, from the artifices and snares of enemies, from the wretchedness and shortness of life, from the horrors of an ungodly death, from the cruel remorse that follows sinful pleasures, and finally from the everlasting condemnation of God! The true Christian is delivered from this innumerable multitude of evils, because, putting his will into the hands of God, he wills only what He wills, and thus finds comfort in the midst of all his suffering in the way of faith, and its attendant hope." 3/10/2008 "Through the right exercise of the will an entire change may be made in the life. By yielding up the will to Christ, we ally ourselves with divine power. We receive strength from above to hold us steadfast. A pure and noble life, a life of victory over appetite and lust, is possible to everyone who will unite his weak, wavering human will to the omnipotent, unwavering will of God." Counsels on Health, p. 440 3/4/2008 “Who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.” 2 Tim. 1:9 “A Christian must daily renew himself and grow as a palm tree and intend to do enough as befits his name as if he just became a Christian today. Daily he is to groan that he might not be a false Christian. As each man is to endeavor according to his occupation to fulfil in the best way his calling, so we are called to Christ with a holy calling. Where there is no such holy intention there is no improvement and no growth and maturity in Christ; indeed, the life-giving spirit of Christ is not there. Such an intention to do good comes from the Holy Spirit and is the prevenient grace of God that attracts, draws, and drives all men.” Johann Arndt True Christianity, p. 118. p2p 2/29/2008 “Through the same faith we may receive spiritual healing. By sin we have been severed from the life of God. Our souls are palsied. Of ourselves we are no more capable of living a holy life than was the impotent man capable of walking. There are many who realize their helplessness, and who long for that spiritual life which will bring them into harmony with God; they are vainly striving to obtain it. In despair they cry, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from this body of death?” Romans 7:24, margin. Let these desponding, struggling ones look up. The Saviour is bending over the purchase of His blood, saying with inexpressible tenderness and pity, “Wilt thou be made whole?” He bids you arise in health and peace. Do not wait to feel that you are made whole. Believe His word, and it will be fulï¬ï¿½lled. Put your will on the side of Christ. Will to serve Him, and in acting upon His word you will receive strength. Whatever may be the evil practice, the master passion which through long indulgence binds both soul and body, Christ is able and longs to deliver. He will impart life to the soul that is “dead in trespasses.” Ephesians 2:1. He will set free the captive that is held by weakness and misfortune and the chains of sin." Desire of Ages 203 1/6/2007 To venture upon the occasion of sin, and then to pray, ‘Lead us not into temptation,’ is as to thrust your finger into the fire, and then to pray that it might not be burnt. There is no conquest over sin, without the soul turning from the occasion of sin. It is impossible for that man to get the conquest of sin-who plays and sports with the occasions of sin. God will not remove the temptation to sin, except you turn from the occasion of sin. It is a just and righteous thing with God, that he should fall into the pit-who will adventure to dance upon the brink of the pit; and that he should be a slave to sin-who will not flee from the occasions of sin. As long as there is fuel in our hearts for a temptation, we cannot be secure. He who has gunpowder about him had need keep far enough away from sparks! To rush upon the occasions of sin is both to tempt ourselves, and to tempt Satan to tempt our souls! It is very rare that any soul plays with the occasions of sin-but that soul is then ensnared by sin! It is seldom that God keeps that soul from the acts of sin, who will not keep off from the occasions of sin. He who adventures upon the occasions of sin, is as he who would quench the fire with gasoline! Ah, souls, often remember how frequently you have been overcome by sin, when you have boldly gone upon the occasions of sin! Look back, souls, to the days of your vanity, wherein you have been as easily conquered as tempted, vanquished as assaulted- when you have played with the occasions of sin. As you would for the future be kept from the acting of sin, and be made victorious over sin, oh! flee from the occasions of sin!—Thomas Brooks Precious Remedies 11/10/2007 “Many are perfectly ready to take life from Jesus Christ who hesitate to take law from Him. But there can be no real loyalty unless we make Him the Lord of our conduct as well as the Saviour of our soul.” Gregory Mantle, Counterfeit Christian, “Lord of All, Or Not Lord At All” p. 123 11/9/2007 "Nothing can be more perilous for us than to be allowed to stand upon our lees, knowing nothing of spoliation and disturbance. "Providence is an agitating power to break the incrustations of evil, and let the gales of the Spirit blow where they list in us. And so by a double process, God's Providence and God's Spirit, both in unity (for God is always at one with Himself), we are perfected in holiness and finished in the complete beauty of Christ." So the ways of pain and grief in us, the transient ways, are discovered, searched out, and cleaned away, and the unpleasant odor of the carnal life gives place to a life redolent with God." This concentration of looks upon the greatest of that martyr-band (Jesus), who was also far more than a martyr, will promote endurance in conflict and patience under discipline. It will remind us how necessary suffering is. If He, the Captain, could not be perfected without it, much less we who belong to the rank and file. If suffering wrought such blessing in Him, what blessing will it not work in us, for whose sakes He was made perfect! Discipline, instead of being hurtful, has been consecrated as the minister of the divine purpose. It is now one of the teachers in God’s school. Instead of trembling at it, shrinking from it, or fainting under it, let us rather rejoice in it. When we pass through the doorway above which DISCIPLINE is written, let us give praise to God, for in that school we shall learn the most precious of lessons. “Let us rejoice in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, probation; and probation hope; and hope putteth not to shame; because the love of God hath been shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy Spirit which was given unto us” (Rom. 5:3-5 RV). —Gregory Mantle, Better Things From Above, "Better Discipline" 11/5/2007
“Measure thy life by loss instead of gain;
Not by the wine drunk, but the wine poured forth; For love’s strength standeth in love’s sacrifice; And whoso suffers most hath most to give.” —F B Meyer Joseph 10/8/2007 "Faith is dependence upon God. And this God-dependence only begins when self-dependence ends. And self-dependence only comes to its end with some of us when sorrow, suffering, afliction, broken plans and hopes bring us to that place of self-helplessness where we throw ourselves upon God in seeming utter helplessness and defeat. And only then do we wake to find that we have learned the lesson of faith: to find our tiny craft of life rushing onward to a blessed victory of life and power and service undreamt of in the days of our fleshly strength and self-reliance. Oh, the victory of what the world would call a broken life! Broken in self-strength to find the strength of God: broken in fortune to find the riches of God: broken in earthly pleasure-quests to find the joy of God." James McConkey, The Ministry of Suffering 9/30/2007 "The greatness of a man's power is in the measure of his surrender." William Booth 9/29/2007
For all through life I see a cross,
Where sons of God yield up their breath; There is no gain except by loss, There is no life except by death; There is no vision but by faith, No glory but in bearing shame, No justice but in taking blame; And that Eternal Passion saith Be emptied of glory and right and name — Anon. 9/26/2007 “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Phil. 2:12,13 Work it out in love. Work it out in daily, faithful ministry. Work it out as God works in you. But more than that, You may miss it. You may fall short of God’s perfect plan for your life. Therefore work it out ‘with fear and trembling’! .... Trembling—lest the god of this world blind you to the vision of service which God is ever holding before you. Trembling—lest the low standard of life in fellow Christians about you lead you to drop yours to a like groveling level. .... Trembling—lest some little circle in the dark ends of the earth should fail of the giving, the praying, or the going which God has long since planned for you. Trembling—lest the voices of worldly pleasure and ambition dull and deafen your ears to the one voice which is ever whispering, ‘Follow thou me; follow thou me.’ —James McConkey 9/19/2007
“My God! my God! and can it be
I sin, and heaven and earth go round
Shall it be always thus, O Lord?
O, by the pains of Thy pure love,
Ever when tempted make me see,
And make me feel it was my sin,
9/18/2007
Give Me thine heart, but as I gave it thee;
Or give it Me at least as I Have given Mine To purchase thine. I halved it not when I did die; But wholly gave Myself to set thee free. But while thine heart’s divided, it is dead; Dead unto Me, unless it live To Me alone, It is all one To keep all and a part to give: For what’s a body worth without a head? Yet this is worse, that what thou keep’st from Me Thou dost bestow upon My foes: And those not mine Alone, but thine: The proper cause of all thy woes From whom I gave My life to set thee free. Have I betrothed thee to Myself, and shall The devil, and the world, intrude Upon My right Even in My sight? Think not thou canst Me so delude: I will have none, unless I may have all. I made it all, I gave it all to thee. I gave all that I had for it: If I must lose, I’d rather choose Mine interest in it all to quit: Or keep it whole. Oh, give it whole to me 9/15/2007
Is thy heart athirst to know
That the King of heaven and earth Deigns to dwell with man below, Yea, hath stoop’d to mortal birth? Search the Word with ceaseless care, Thou shalt find this treasure there. For if Christ be born within, Soon that likeness shall appear Which the heart had lost through sin, God’s own image fair and clear; And the soul serene and bright Mirrors back His heavenly light. Jesus, let me seek for naught But that Thou shouldst dwell in me; Let this only fill my thought, How I may grow liker Thee, Through this earthly care and strife, Through the calm eternal life. — Laurentius Laurenti 9/13/2007
Apart from Thee
I am not only naught, but worse than naught, A wretched monster, horrible of mien! And when I work my works in self’s vain strength, However good and holy they may seem, These works are hateful—nay, in Thy pure sight Are criminal and fiendish, since thereby I seek, and please, and magnify myself In subtle pride of goodness, and ascribe To Self the glory that is Thine alone. So dark, corrupt, so vile a thing is self. Seen in the presence of Thy purity It turns my soul to loathing and disgust; Yea, all the virtues that it boasts to own Are foul and worthless when I look on thee. Oh that there might be no more I or mine! That in myself I might no longer own As mine, my life, my thinking, or my choice, Or any other motion, but in me that Thou, my God, my Jesus, might be all, And work the all in all! Let that, O Lord, Be dumb, forever, die, and cease to be, Which thou dost not Thyself in me inspire, And speak and work. --Gerhard Tersteegen 8/5/2007 “All true obedience comes from the heart…if we consent, He will so identify Himself with our thoughts and aims, so blend our hearts and minds into conformity to His will, that when obeying Him we shall be but carrying out our own impulses.” Desire of Ages, p.391 7/18/2007 “How willingly would I be freed from the bondage of lusts and of empty pleasure, but I find in myself no strength or capability for it. This cannot be till the Lord Himself reveals Himself in us, raises up His dwelling-place in us, and inhabits it, filling it with His life, so that we are clothed in him, and He Himself thus fulfills in us all the righteousness of the Law. And in the place of them we shall hear the sweet and tender voice of grace and of the Gospel speaking within us. We shall be led out of the horror of the great darkness of the law by Christ Himself, and shall be as little children at the breast, drawing in the fullness of His grace and love in glad and gentle stillness, and He Himself will be the refreshment and the rest of our souls. It seems to me that the great Captain of our salvation drives us at times into a corner, in order that we may utterly despair of our own miserable righteousness. But the Lord knows the right moment to deliver us. Even waiting is unconscious advance, and to lose heart is a proof of self-confidence.” Gerhard Tersteegen (German Pietist) 6/28/2007 Charles Spurgeon, the preacher who constantly depended upon the prayers of his people, always had a full house to which to preach. The secret of his usefulness might be discovered in his own words: "It seems that Jehovah’s way is to lower those whom He means to raise and to strip those whom He intends to clothe. If it is His way, it is the wisest and best way. If I am now enduring the bringing low, I may well rejoice, because I see in it the preface to the lifting up. The more we are humbled by grace, the more we shall be exalted in glory. That impoverishment which will be overruled for our enrichment is to be welcomed. "Oh, Lord, Thou hast taken me down of late, and made me feel my insignificance and sin. It is not a pleasant experience, but I pray Thee make it a profitable one to me. Oh, that Thou wouldst thus fit me to bear a greater weight of delight and of usefulness, and when I am ready for it, then grant it to me, for Christ’s sake! Amen." 6/27/2007 “You will not attain sanctification save by much trouble and labor, and by a road which will appear to you quite contrary to your expectation. You will not, however, be surprised at it if you are convinced that God does not establish His great works except upon ‘the nothing.’ It seems that He destroys in order to build. He does it so in order that this temple He destines for Himself, built even with much pomp and majesty, but built nonetheless by the hand of man, should be previously so destroyed, that there remains not one stone upon another. “It is these frightful ruins which will be used by the Holy Spirit to construct a temple which will not be built by the hand of men, but by His power alone. God chooses for carrying out His works either converted sinners whose past iniquity serves as counterpoise to the exaltation, or else persons in whom He destroys and overthrows that ‘own’ righteousness, and that temple built by the hand of men, so built upon quicksand, which is the resting on the created, and in these same works, in place of being founded on the living stone, Jesus Christ. All that He has come to establish, by entering the world, is effected by the overthrow and destruction of the same thing He wished to build. He established His Church in a manner that seemed to destroy it. Oh, if men knew how opposed is the ‘own’ righteousness to the designs of God, we should have an eternal subject of humiliation and distrust of what at present constitutes our sole support.” Madam Guyon 6/13/2007 "Tell the poor desponding ones who have gone astray that they need not despair. Though they have erred, and have not been building a right character, God has joy to restore them, even the joy of His salvation. He delights to take apparently hopeless material, those through whom Satan has worked, and make them the subjects of His grace. He rejoices to deliver them from the wrath which is to fall upon the disobedient. Tell them there is healing, cleansing for every soul. There is a place for them at the Lord's table. He is waiting to bid them welcome." Christ Object Lessons 234
"Why are we so dull of comprehension? Why do we not cling to Jesus, and draw from him by faith the strength and perfection of his character, as the vine branch draws the sap from the living vine? We are to look to Jesus, and as temptations close us about, climb up step by step in the work of overcoming. Abiding in Christ, we become one with him. Then we are safe, entirely safe, against all the assaults of Satan. Christ living in the soul is revealed in the character. Man is nothing without Christ. But if Christ lives in us, we shall work the works of God. We shall represent Christ in our life, we shall talk of Christ because we meditate upon him. We shall grow up into Christ to the full stature of men and women in spiritual understanding.” Sings of the Times, October 10, 1892
"Yes, professing Christians invariably invent one way or another to get to heaven without holiness. In the place of holiness, some have substituted penance, pilgrimages, and praying to saints and angels. Thousand of professing Christians have no doubt but that, by a diligent use of these things without any holiness at all they shall see the Lord in glory. However, Protestants will not be satisfied in that manner. They are convinced that whoever leans on such things leans on the staff of a broken reed. Yet, thousands of such Protestants also think that they too will see God without holiness. How? Why, by doing no harm, generally doing good, going to church, and receiving the sacraments. And many thousands are content with this, believing they are on the high road to heaven. Yet, that is not much better than the hopes of the first group. However, other Protestants recognize that such nominal Christianity is not sufficient. They correctly say that such a religion does not stand on the right foundation. However, they go on to say that Christ has already accomplished and suffered everything for us. They say that His righteousness is imputed to us; therefore, we need none of our own. Since there is so much righteousness and holiness in Him, there needs to be none in us. In fact, they claim, that to think we have any holiness, or to desire to seek any holiness, is to renounce Christ. That from the beginning to the end of salvation, all is in Christ, nothing is in man. And that those who teach otherwise are preachers of legalism, and know nothing of the gospel." John Wesley
Some who come to God by repentance and confession, and even believe that their sins are forgiven, still fail of claiming, as they should, the promises of God. They do not see that Jesus is an ever-present Saviour; and they are not ready to commit the keeping of their souls to Him, relying upon Him to perfect the work of grace begun in their hearts. While they think they are committing themselves to God, there is a great deal of self-dependence. There are conscientious souls that trust partly to God and partly to themselves. They do not look to God, to be kept by His power, but depend upon watchfulness against temptation and the performance of certain duties for acceptance with Him. There are no victories in this kind of faith. Such persons toil to no purpose; their souls are in continual bondage, and they find no rest until their burdens are laid at the feet of Jesus. Faith and Works 38
5/18/2007
“Let me point out what we do not take seriously to heart today — that there is a difference between Christ being revealed to me and Christ being revealed in me. It is possible to have Christ revealed to me in the pages of the Word, in the lives of His people, and yet not to have Christ revealed in me. Christ revealed to me does not constitute salvation: Christ revealed in me is the hope and anchor of the soul. This indwelling Christ invests character with more than the most faultless natural quality. This indwelling so supernaturally alters a man that godliness will characterize every part of his being — body, soul and spirit.” Duncan Campbell
“We must meditate on the words of God, because it is through the Word of God that the Spirit of God comes in fullness to be the mighty occupant of our inner man. This after all, is the secret of strength—to be possessed of the strong Son of god, strengthened by his indwelling might, and filled by his Spirit. We can do all things when Christ is in us in unthwarted power. The only limit lies in our faith and capacity; or in other words, in our absolute submission to his indwelling. Little children can overcome when there is within them a Stronger than their foes. Weaklings may do exploits when the Mighty Conqueror who travels in the greatness of his strength makes them the vehicle of his progress. Nobodies, nonentities, broken reeds, bleached jaw-bones, quills plucked from the wild-fowl, and arrows that a babe could snap, accomplish marvels, because they are the channels through which the mysterious current of divine power and godhead flow forth to the world.” F B Meyer, Joshua, p. 24
5/6/2007
4/29/2007
Thou hidden love of God, whose height,
Whose depth unfathomed, no man knows, I see from far Thy beauteous light, And inly sigh for Thy repose; My heart is pained, nor can it be At rest till it finds rest in Thee. What is there more that hinders me From ent’ring to Thy promised rest Abiding there substantially, And being permanently blest? O Love, my inmost soul expose, And every hindrance now disclose! Is there a thing beneath the sun, That strives with Thee my heart to share? Ah, tear it thence, and reign alone, The Lord of every motion there! Then shall my heart from earth be free, When it hath found repose in Thee. Tell me, O God! if aught there be Of self, that wills not Thy control; Reveal whate’er impurity May still be lurking in my soul! To reach Thy rest and share Thy throne, Mine eye must look to Thee alone. O love Thy sovereign aid impart, To save me from low-thoughted care; Chase this self-will from all my heart, From all its hidden mazes there; Make me Thy duteous child, that I Ceaseless may, ‘Abba Father,’ cry. Ah no! I would not backward turn; Thine wholly, Thine alone I am! Thrice happy he, who views with scorn Earth's toys, for Thee his constant flame! O keep, that I may never move, From the blest footsteps of Thy love! Each moment draw from earth away, My heart, that lowly waits Thy call; Speak to my inmost soul, and say, ‘I am thy Love, thy God, thy All!’ To feel Thy power, to hear Thy voice, To taste Thy love, be all my choice. Gerhard Tersteegen 4/17/2007 "To walk before God and in His presence, is the ground and the costly jewel of true Christian living. I would have you above all things to grasp this firmly,because, when it is rightly understood and practiced, it includes all else." Gerhard Tersteegen 4/16/2007 “Where we stop doing and worrying, God begins, and He will be everything in our nothingness.” Lose Thyself
Be not afraid, though every stay
Should fail, or be removed away, And thou be stript of all; But lose thyself in that vast sea, The ocean of the Deity, And all they cares shall fall. In death which is the most profound, The purest life is always found; Then, blindly, all forego! He ne’re shall find, who will not lose; Who sinks from self, shall gain repose, Which none but he can know. Gerhard Tersteegen, From the Quiet Way by Emily Chisholm 4/15/2007 "This sly Satan-self may often be recognized by a favorite question it asks among Christian people about a great many so-called unimportant matters;-What’s the harm? But a true follower of Jesus never lives down upon the plane of “what’s-the- harm?” He lives up in a higher sphere with his Master, who “pleased not Himself,” but made it the steady, unfaltering aim of His life to do always those things that were pleasing to His Father. Men thought Him narrow and fanatical, but He cared not so long as He could daily hear that clear, sweet voice saying “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” The final touchstone which the follower of Jesus applies to every matter is this: Would it please Him?" From
Quiet Talks on Power by S D Gordon
4/13/2007 "For it is God who works in you, both to will and do for His good pleasure." Phil 2:13 "All true obedience comes from the heart. It was heart work with Christ. And if we consent, He will so identify Himself with our thoughts and aims, so blend our hearts and minds into conformity to His will, that when obeying Him we shall be but carrying out our own impulses. The will, refined and sanctified, will find its highest delight in doing His service. When we know God as it is our privilege to know Him, our life will be a life of continual obedience. Through an appreciation of the character of Christ, through communion with God, sin will become hateful to us. As Christ lived the law in humanity, so we may do if we will take hold of the Strong for strength. Desire of Ages, p. 668 4/12/2007 "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, He is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new!" 2 Cor. 5:17 Jesus himself, in his infinite mercy, is working on human hearts, effecting spiritual transformations so amazing that angels look on with astonishment and joy. The same unselfish love that characterizes the Master is seen in the character and life of his true followers. Christ expects that men will become partakers of his divine nature while in this world, thus not only reflecting his glory, to the praise of God, but illuminating the darkness of earth with the radiance of heaven. Thus will be fulfilled the words of Christ, "Ye are the light of the world." RH, December 24, 1908 4/5/2007 "And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice." John 10:4 "Whatever awaits us is encountered first by Him--each difficulty and complication; each wild beast or wilder robber; each yawning chasm or precipitous path. Faith's eye can always discern His majestic presence in front; and when that cannot be seen, it is dangerous to move forward. Bind this comfort to your heart: that the Saviour has tried for Himself all the experiences through which He asks you to pass; and He would not ask you to pass through them unless He was sure that they were not too difficult for your feet, or too trying for your strength. The Breaker always goes up before us. The Woodsman hews a path for us through the trackless forest. The broad-shouldered Brother pushes a way for us through the crowd. And we have only to follow. This is the Blessed Life--not anxious to see far in front; not careful about the next step; not eager to choose the path; not weighted with the heavy responsibilities of the future: but quietly following behind the Shepherd, one step at a time.” F B Meyer 4/1/2007 “Our hope is not hung upon such an untwisted thread as, ‘I imagine so,’ or ‘It is likely’; but the cable, the strong rope of our fastened anchor, is the oath and promise of Him who is eternal verity. Our salvation is fastened with God’s own hand, and Christ’s own strength, to the strong stake of God’s unchangeable nature.” Rutherford’s Letters. 1637 quoted in Ryle Holiness, p. 106 3/31/2007 Sanctification costs to the extent of "an intense narrowing of all our interests on earth and an immense broadening of all our interests in God." Oswald Chambers 3/30/2007
God moves in a mysterious way
Deep in unfathomable mines
Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
His purposes will ripen fast,
Blind unbelief is sure to err From William Cowper
3/28/2007
“As I lay down my pen, let me record my immovable conviction that His is the noblest service in which any human being can spend or be spent; and that, if God gave me back my life to be lived over again, I would without one quiver of hesitation lay it on the altar to Christ, that He might use it as before in similar ministries of love, especially among those who have never yet heard the name of Jesus…God gave His best, His Son, to me; and I give back my best, my all, to Him.” John G. Paton quoted in John G. Paton by Theodore Mueller, p. 126. 3/26/2007 I would, however, point out that this life can only be entered through a full and uncalculated yielding of ourselves, without our yielding being hedged round by conditions. Is this the life you desire? If so, are you prepared to place every key in the hands of Christ? I know how possible it is to hand over every key but one, but it is that one held back which determines whether you accept the Lordship of Christ or not. Andrew Murray when addressing a meeting here in Scotland is reported to have said: "It is comparatively easy to win people to a cross, but to a cross that leaves them uncrucified." So I close by asking, are you conscious of failure? If so, will you come to the Saviour now and discover that He can make you again and organize glorious victory on the field of your defeat." Duncan Campbell 3/22/2007 Phil. 2:13 "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure." “He brings to naught, destroys and rejects all that is not His own work; how He draws everything to Himself and absorbs it, that at last He may live and work in us and through us and reign alone as king. Happy the soul who refuses nothing to love, but places everything at His disposal, for only thus may all our works be done more and more in God.” Gerhard Tersteegen, Sermons and Hymns, p. 38
Learn More
New Resources |
Prayer Requests |
Intercessory Prayer |
Victory Overcoming Temptation |
Practical Christianity Guidance Trials |
Revival and Holy Spirit |
Christian Witnessing |
Small Groups |
Total Vegetarian Recipes |
Path2Prayer Blog |
Path2Prayer Seminars |
Books, Links |
Contact Me |
Home |
Site Map |
 |
|