The life which I now live in the flesh.~ Gal 2:20
I expect to pass through this world but once therefore, if there be any kindness I can show or any good thing I can do to any fellow human being, let me do it now; let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.
~ Marcus Aurelius
This beginning of miracles did Jesus.
~ John 2:11
It was out of the common thing that the precious thing was brought; and it is out of the common things of daily life, presented obediently to Jesus and laid at His feet, that He brings His own glorious gifts, so that our whole lives become one great sacrament.
~ W. Hay Aitken
My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.
~ 2 Cor 12:9
God’s way of answering His people’s prayers is not by removing the pressure, but by increasing their strength to bear it. The pressure is often the fence between the narrow way of life and the broad road to ruin; and if our Heavenly Father were to remove it, it might be at the sacrifice of heaven. Oh, if God had removed that thorny fence in answer, often to earnest prayers, how many of us would now be castaways! How the song of many a saint now in glory would be hushed! How many a harp would be unstrung! How many a place in the mansions of the redeemed would be unfilled! If God answered all the prayers we put up to heaven, we should need no other scourge. Blessed it is that we have One who is too loving to grant what we too often so rashly ask.
~ F. Whitfield
… Sinners of whom I am chief…. Now unto the King, eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
~ 1 Tim 1:15,17
Only those who have struck the deepest note of penitence can reach the highest note of praise.
~A. J. Gordon
Being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.
Acts 1:3
This lingering for forty days is the crowning proof of Christ’s tender regard for His little flock. He who had laid down His life for them is loath to leave them. Though they had forsaken Him, and doubted Him, they had not wearied, much less had they worn out, His love. He stays to look again, and yet again, and yet again, upon them, as if turning back and lingering to bless them. It is all of a piece with His life of love. Everywhere He meets them without a touch of upbraiding, without recalling a single memory of all His bitter suffering, revealing Himself to the disciples with a tenderness and blessedness indescribably beautiful.
How can He go till He has healed the Magdalene’s broken heart? He must linger till poor Peter can venture near to have his forgiveness assured. He must stay to strengthen Thomas’ faith. He must tarry with them till He has made them feel that He is just the same friendly, brotherly Jesus that He has ever been, caring for them in their work, watching them with a yearning pity, stooping to kindle a fire for their warmth, and to cook the fish for their meal, and then to bid them come and dine.
~ Mark Guy Pearse
Let us not sleep, as do others.
~ 1 Thess 5:6
There are many ways of promoting Christian wakefulness. Among the rest, let me strongly advise Christians to converse together concerning the ways of the Lord. Christian and Hopeful, as they journeyed towards the Celestial City, said to themselves:
“To prevent drowsiness in this place, let us fall into good discourse.”
Christians who isolate themselves and walk alone are very liable to grow drowsy. Hold Christian company, and you will be kept wakeful by it, and refreshed and encouraged to make quicker progress in the road to heaven.
~ Spurgeon
We have known and believed the love that God hath to us.
~ 1 John 4:16
The secret of walking closely with Christ, and working successfully for Him, is to fully realize that we are His beloved. Let us but feel that He has set His heart upon us, that He is watching us from those heavens with tender interest, that He is working out the mystery of our lives with solicitude and fondness, that He is following us day by day as a mother follows her babe in his first attempt to walk alone, that He has set His love upon us, and, in spite of ourselves, is working out for us His highest will and blessing, as far as we will let Him, and then nothing can discourage us. Our hearts will glow with responsive love. Our faith will spring to meet His mighty promises, and our sacrifices shall become the very luxuries of love for one so dear. This was the secret of John’s spirit. “We have known and believed the love that God hath to us.” And the heart that has fully learned this has found the secret of unbounded faith and enthusiastic service.
~ A. B. Simpson
David enquired of the Lord.
~ 2 Sam 5:19
Christian, if thou wouldst know the path of duty, take God for thy compass; if thou wouldst steer thy ship through the dark billows, put the tiller into the hand of the Almighty. Many a rock might be escaped if we would let our Father take the helm; many a shoal or quicksand we might well avoid if we would leave it to His sovereign will to choose and to command. The Puritan said, “As sure as ever a Christian carves for himself he’ll cut his own fingers.” “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go,” is God’s promise to His people. Let us, then, take all our perplexities to Him and say, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” Leave not thy chamber this morning without enquiring of the Lord.
~ Spurgeon
Without me ye can do nothing.
~ John 15:5
I can do all things, through Christ which strengtheneth me.
~ Phil 4:13
Apart from Him we can do nothing. Whilst we are abiding in Him nothing is impossible. The one purpose of our life should therefore be to remain in living and intense union with Christ, guarding against everything that would break it, employing every means of cementing and enlarging it. And just in proportion as we do so, we shall find His strength flowing into us for every possible emergency. We may not feel its presence; but we shall find it present whenever we begin to draw on it. There is no temptation which we cannot master; no privation which we cannot patiently bear; no difficulty with which we cannot cope; no work which we cannot perform; no confession or testimony which we cannot make, if only our souls are living in healthy union with Jesus Christ; for as our day or hour, so shall our strength be.
~ F. B. Meyer
His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
~ Ps 34:1
Let not thy praises be transient a fit of music, and then the instrument hung by the wall till another gaudy day of some remarkable providence makes thee take it down. God comes not guestwise to His saints’ house, but to dwell with them. David took this up for a life work: “As long as I live, I will praise thee.”
~ Gurnall
