These inspirational and challenging Christian quotes are extracted from books and sermons by godly believers that we hope will challenge and encourage you as you run this race for the Lord Jesus. (For sharing the quotes that are in the image format, you can download them by clicking the download arrow that is on the image.)
George Muller was conscious of being too busy to pray as he ought. His outward action was too constant for inward reflection, and he saw that there was risk of losing peace and power and that activity even in the most sacred sphere must not be so absorbing as to prevent holy meditation on the Word and fervent supplication. The Lord said first to Elijah, “Go, hide thyself”; then, “Go, show thyself.” He who does not first hide himself in the secret place to be alone with God, is unfit to show himself in the public place to move among men.
The Bible says, “All flesh is grass” – not like trees but grass, grass which withers. Death is man’s signal failure. All our successes, breakthroughs, and inventions are swallowed up by the grave. We die like dogs and are put under the dirt – “to dust we return”… In our self-sufficiency, we will not come to God as ruined sinners in need of a Savior. We will not trust that He died to pay our sin debt; we will not hand our lives over to His control and live for Him. But, by the saving grace of God, some do. For them, death is but “sleep”. They shall rise again and reign with Christ forever and ever.
You and I, in the last analysis, are what we are when we are alone. I confess that in a sense it is easier for me to preach from a pulpit than it is to sit alone in my study; it is probably easier for more people to enjoy the presence of our Lord in the company of other Christians than when alone. Paul would have us enjoy what he himself was enjoying. He had a love for the Lord that rendered him independent of all that was happening.
When you notice that there is no sense of living water flowing in and out of you, do not be condemned. Do not drop your head. Do not run to the dark. Do not run away from God. Just say: “At this moment it’s not the reality it should be in my life, I will run boldly to Christ with the biggest bucket I can find, and I will wait and wait and wait and wait. I will give Him no peace until He fills me.”
You ought never to immediately send a harsh, rebuking letter or text message to someone, especially if you have written it in the heat of emotion. Let the message sit overnight. Let your passions cool, and then read the message again before you send it. This practice will save you much heartache that might otherwise spring from a hasty rashness.
One of the things that I find so hard about the ministry is that you have to fill so many different roles and adapt to so many different situations. One minute you are at a funeral with the loved ones of the deceased, then you are in an elders’ meeting debating a vision for the future, then you are at a prayer meeting, then a pre-engagement session, then a new member’s interview where the person thinks the church is awesome, then a meeting with a member who is thinking about leaving, then sharing the gospel with a homeless man, then heading off to meet an atheist for lunch; and in all of those situations you need appropriate words. You need to know if you ought to share a word of encouragement, an intellectual worldview challenge, simple kindness and courtesy, laughter, tears, or all of the foregoing! In all of ministry you are looking for words.
My printed journals and sermons have been blessed in an uncommon manner. I am only afraid lest people should idolize the instrument and not look enough to the glorious Jesus, in whom alone I desire to glory.
We have nothing but what we have received from God. If we see any truth or if we are kept from any error, it is sheer grace, for any of us is entirely vulnerable to making a regrettable blot.
Most “prayer meetings” (at least in Baptist circles) consist of a short sermon by the pastor, sharing of prayer requests by the people (usually related to health problems) and then a single prayer by the pastor! Amazing! What is the explanation? Probably the fact that Satan hates prayer (therefore resists us at the threshold of prayer—-tiredness, headaches, depressed feeling, a sense that “it won’t do any good to pray anyway”, etc.) and the fact that prayer is sometimes hard work. Some prayer meetings may be hard going, but it is still right to pray.
You may look down with contempt on some who do not know so much as you, and yet they may have twice your holiness and be doing more service to God.
‘Tis Jesus, the First and the Last,
Whose Spirit shall guide us safe home;
We’ll praise Him for all that is past,
And trust Him for all that’s to come.
My mind being now more open and enlarged, I began to read the Holy Scriptures upon my knees, laying aside all other books and praying over, if possible, every line and word. This proved meat indeed and drink indeed to my soul. I daily received fresh life, light and power from above. I got more true knowledge from reading the Book of God in one month than I could ever have acquired from all the writings of men.
One by one, pare and prune from your life every single crutch that has an “I” attached to it. When you become weak enough and small enough and nothing enough, all the strength and power of the Lord Jesus will be made perfect in you by your utter dependence and trust in Him.
The assembly of the saints is not the place to think about proving your rights. The gathering of the saints is the place to be ready to think about yielding your rights.
To have fellowship with men who deny the truth is to deny the truth by implying that the truth does not matter.