by Vance Havner
Except ye eat of the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. John 6:53
Many dear people have a lovely doctrine or theory of the victorious life or the indwelling Christ or the Spirit-filled life, and they try to live on their theory, but thy do not feed on Christ. They are like a man trying to live on a cook book instead of food, chewing on a seed catalogue instead of on vegetables. They may be very orthodox Bible students, but they do not chew and digest the words which are spirit and life.
It is tragic to go through our days making Christ the subject of our study but not the sustenance of our souls. It is not the Word hid in the head but in the heart that keeps from sin. To appropriate Christ Himself, the Bread of Life, is to live by faith and grow. You can starve reading books on bread. You can search the Scriptures and not come to Him for life.
by Vance Havner
by A.B. Simpson
I press toward the mark—Philippians 3:14
We have thought much about what we have received. Let us think of the things we have not received, of some of the vessels that have not yet been filled, of some of the places in our lives that the Holy Spirit has not yet possessed for God and signalized by His glory and His presence.
Shall the coming months be marked by a diligent, heart-searching application of the rest of the oil (see Leviticus 14:17-20) to the yet unoccupied possibilities of our life and service?
Have we known His fullness of grace in our spiritual lives? Have we tasted a little of His glory? Have we believed His promise for the mind, the soul, the spirit? Have we known all His possibilities for the body? Have we tested Him in His power to control the events of nature and to move the hearts of men and nations? Has He opened to us the treasure house of God and met our financial needs as He might? Have we begun to understand the ministry of prayer, as God would have us exercise it? God give us the rest of the oil!
by A.B. Simpson
by A.W. Tozer
The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!" Luke 17:5
To receive in a measure more in keeping with God’s liberality five things are necessary. The first is faith. We must be convinced that God is kind, generous, goodhearted and ready to bestow His blessings upon His people with the bounty of a king. To have faith we must immerse ourselves in the Scriptures. And faith must be exercised if it is to be effective. Faith, like a muscle, grows by stretching. The second is capacity. That we differ from each other in spiritual capacity is too evident to need proof; but the reason is a great mystery and lies too deep for our understanding, certainly too deep for discussion here. It is enough to say that whatever his capacity each man can increase it if he will. The human soul is not a hard-baked vessel with a fixed size; it is a living thing capable of growth and expansion as it interacts with the gracious actions of the Holy Spirit.
by A.W. Tozer
by J.C. Ryle
The Christianity which is from the Holy Spirit will always have a very deep view of the sinfulness of sin. It will not merely regard sin as a blemish and misfortune, which makes men and women objects of pity, and compassion. It will see in sin the abominable thing which God hates, the thing which makes people guilty and lost in his Maker’s sight, the thing which deserves God’s wrath and condemnation. It will look on sin as the cause of all sorrow and unhappiness, of strife and wars, of quarrels and contentions, of sickness and death – the curse which cursed God’s beautiful creation, the cursed thing which makes the whole earth groan and struggle in pain. Above all, it will see in sin the thing which will ruin us eternally, unless we can find a ransom, – lead us captive, except we can get its chains broken, – and destroy our happiness, both here and hereafter, except we fight against it, even unto death.
by J.C. Ryle
by Dave Hunt & T.A. McMahon
Tom: We’re continuing with the gospel; we’re in the Gospel of
John:14:22: “Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? And Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.”
Dave, to begin with, we have “Judas…not Iscariot,” so it’s not Judas Iscariot.
Dave: Judas, the betrayer.
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by A.W. Tozer
And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. Matthew 28:20b
It is hardly possible to overstress the importance of unceasing inward prayer on the part of the one who would live the God-conscious life. Prayer at stated times is good and right; we will never outgrow the need of it while we remain on earth. But this kind of prayer must be supported and perfected by the habit of constant, unspoken prayer. But someone may question whether in a world like this it is possible to think of God constantly. Would it not be too great a burden to try to keep God constantly in the focus of our minds while carrying on our normal activities in this noisy and highly complex civilization? Francois Malaval had the answer to this: "The wings of the dove do not weigh it down," he said. "They carry and support it. And so the thought of God is never a burden; it is a gentle breeze which bears us up, a hand which supports us and raises us, a light which guides us, and a spirit which vivifies us though we do not feel its working."
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by Vance Havner
When God’s people are removed from this earth, you might as well try to dam up Niagara Falls with toothpicks as to stem the flood of lawlessness that will engulf mankind…he who now letteth will let until he be taken out of the way” ( 2 Thessalonians 2:7).
Thank God for the restraining Spirit today!
by Vance Havner
by Vance Havner
