Holy Spirit, Gift of

I think that without exaggeration 19 out of 20 professed Christians are of no earthly account so far as building up Christ's kingdom, but are actually standing right in the way. The reason is they have just got life and settled down and have not sought for power. The Holy Spirit coming upon them with power is separate from conversion... We are leaky vessels and have to be kept under the fountain at all time in order to be kept full.

- Dwight Lynman Moody

Holy Spirit, Gift of

A heathen until 29 years. A voice spoke to me and said I was trying to work out my own salvation. I saw Christ's work was finished, I just had to submit. I was still ashamed to be a Christian when a verse dropped in my head. "Then shall ye seek me and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart."

-Charles Finney

Holy Spirit, Gift of

"Either Christianity is a downright fraud or I haven't got hold of the right end of the stick." Then and I claimed the gift of the Holy Spirit by Faith. Luke 11:3 " I you then being evil know how..." The last aching abyss of my heart was ten overfilled with the love of God.

-Oswald Chambers

Holy Spirit, Gift of

Suddenly while walking in the field this sentence fell upon my soul, "Thy righteousness is in heaven." With awe, with the eyes of my soul, I saw Jesus at God's right hand. There was my righteousness. I saw Jesus that it was not my good frame of heart that made my righteousness better or my bad frame of heart that made it worse, for my righteousness was Christ Himself. By faith we are lead into the mystery of the union with Christ. First, he preached sin and the Savior, second he preached the exaultation of Christ, lastly he preached the mystery of the union of Christ.

-John Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress p. 81 & 205

Holy Spirit, Gift of

One can live victoriously only by the Holy Spirit, not by might nor by power, but by the spirit. It was not an Attainment, but an Obtainment. Christ was God's unspeakable gift to the world. The Holy Spirit was Christ's gift to the Church. I must receive the Holy Spirit by Faith on the ground of Grace and He will sanctify my heart and apply the blood, thus cleansing me and making the victory purchased by Christ experiential. As I walk in the light, as He is in the light, He will maintain the life of Holiness and Victory in my life day by day.

-Holden, Stuart

Deeper Proof

"If you have shallow sorrows you will receive shallow graces. If you have deep afflictions you will obtain deeper proof of God's faithfulness."

—Charles Spurgeon, Beside Still Waters.

Prayer: Productivity and Waiting on the Lord

Let us not think that waiting on the Lord will mean getting less done. The truth is that by doing the Lord's work in the Lord's way we will accomplish more, not less. You need not fear that if you wait for God's Spirit you will not get as much done as if you charge ahead in the flesh. After all, who can do the most, you or the God of Heaven and earth?

Nor should we think that our role will be passive. The moving of the Holy Spirit should not be contrasted with either proper self-fulfillment or tiredness. To the contrary, both the Scriptures and the history of the church teach that if the Holy Spirit is working, the whole man will be involved and there will be much cost to the Christian. The more the Holy Spirit works, the more Christians will be used in battle, and the more they are used, the more there will be personal cost and tiredness. It is quite the opposite of what we might first think. People often cry out for the work of the Holy Spirit and yet forget that when the Holy Spirit works, there is always tremendous cost to the people of God--weariness and tears and battles.

- Francis Schaffer, No Little People, 73.

Concerns

"Concerns for man and his fate must always form the chief interest of all technical endeavors. Never forget this in the midst of your diagrams and equations."

-Albert Einstein, Quoted In: Do It! Let's Get Off Our Buts, Pg. 458

Safety

"Don't play for safety-it's the most dangerous thing in the world."

-Hugh Walpole, Quoted In: Do It! Let's Get Off Our Buts, Pg. 402

Guilt

"Guilt is never a rational thing' it distorts all the faculties of the human mind, it perverts them, it leaves a man no longer in the free use of his reason, it puts him into confusion."

-Edmund Burke, Quoted In: Do It! Let's Get Off Our Buts, Pg. 380

Giving in

"Never give in. Never. Never. Never. Never."

-Winston Churchill, Quoted In: Do It! Let's Get Off Our Buts, Pg. 298

Victory & Defeat

"Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat."

-Theodore Roosevelt, Quoted In: Do It! Let's Get Off Our Buts, Pg. 224

Life of Pleasure

"I can think of nothing less pleasurable than a life devoted to pleasure."

-John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Quoted In: Do It! Let's Get Off Our Buts, Pg. 196

Love

"For one human being to love another" that is perhaps the most difficult of all our tasks, the ultimate, the last test and proof, the work for which all other work is but preparation."

-Rainer Maria Rilke, Quoted In: Do It! Let's Get Off Our Buts, Pg. 178

Discovery

"One doesn't discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time."

-Andre Gide, Quoted In: Do It! Lets Get Off Our Buts, Pg. 142

Happiness

"The only true happiness comes from squandering ourselves for a purpose."

-William Couper, Quoted In: Do It! Let's Get Off Our Buts, Pg. 134

Fear Of Death

"Do not fear death so much, but rather the inadequate life."

-Bertolt Brecht, Quoted In: Do It! Let's Get Off Our Buts, Pg. 66

Cats & Life Functions

"Cats are intended to teach us that not everything in nature has a function."

-Garrison Keillor, Quoted In: "Do It! Let's Get Off Our Buts", Pg. 54

Truth

"I don't want any yes-men around me. I want everybody to tell me the truth even if it costs them their jobs."

-Samuel Goldwyn, Quoted In: Do It! Lets Get Off Our Buts, Pg. 52

Enemies

"It is hard to fight an enemy who has outposts in your head."

-Sally Kempton, Quoted In: Do It! Let's Get Off Our Buts, Pg. 22