Thursday, January 22, 2015

Quotes from the Clouds #3

This year, I hope share weekly posts of quotes. These quotes are from authors I'm reading and enjoying from the Clouds of Witnesses Reading Challenge.

For fellow participants, what I would LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to see is for people to share quotes from what they're reading. I'd love for you to share quotes occasionally with your readers and let me know about it. If you don't have a blog, you could always leave quotes in the comments here.

This week I'm sharing quotes from Oswald Chambers, Andrew Murray, Martin Luther, and A.B. Simpson.
Have you been asking God what He is going to do? He will never tell you. God does not tell you what He is going to do; He reveals to you Who He is. ~ Oswald Chambers, January 2, Utmost for His Highest
There are not three stages in spiritual life – worship, waiting and work. Some of us go in jumps like spiritual frogs, we jump from worship to waiting, and from waiting to work. God’s idea is that the three should go together. They were always together in the life of Our Lord. ~ Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, January 6
We have to get rid of the idea that we understand ourselves, it is the last conceit to go. The only One Who understands us is God. The greatest curse in spiritual life is conceit. ~ Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, January 12
Always take grace as something you don't deserve, something that is freely bestowed. The long, deep, boundless river is free; it is as free at the mouth as it is at the little stream, and free all the way along, and anybody can come and drink, and anybody can come and bathe in its boundless waters. ~ A. B. Simpson, Days of Heaven Upon Earth, July
Let this be a day of prayer. Let us see that our highest ministry and power is to deal with God for men. Let us be obedient to all the Holy Spirit's voices of prayer in us. Let us count every pressure a call to prayer. Let us cherish the spirit of unceasing prayer and abiding communion. Let us learn the meaning of the ministry of prayer. Let us reach persons this day we cannot reach in person; let us expect results that we have never dared to claim before; let us count every difficulty only a greater occasion for prayer, and let us call on God, who will show us many great and mighty things which we know not. And let it be a day of joy and praise. Let us live in the promises of God and the outlook of His deliverance and blessing. Let us never dwell on the trial but always on the victory just before. Let us not dwell in the tomb, but in the garden of Joseph and the light of the resurrection. Let us keep our faces toward the sun rising. Arise, shine. Rejoice evermore. In everything give thanks. Praise ye the Lord. Lord, give us Thy joy in our hearts which shall lift us to lift others, and fill us so we may overflow to others. ~ A.B. Simpson, Days of Heaven Upon Earth, July
WE MUST THINK not only of our waiting on God but also of God’s waiting on us. Look up and see our great God on His throne. He is Love—He longs and delights to bless. He has inconceivably glorious plans concerning each of His children to reveal in them His love and power by the power of His Holy Spirit. He waits with all the anticipation of a father’s heart. You may ask, “How is it, if He waits to be gracious, that when I come and wait on Him, He does not always give the help I seek?” There is a twofold answer. The first is that God is a farmer. He waits for the precious fruit of the earth and has patience. He cannot gather the crop until it is ripe. He knows when we are spiritually ready to receive the blessing to our profit and His glory. Waiting in the sunshine of His love is what will ripen the soul for His blessing. Waiting under the cloud of trial that breaks in showers of blessing is essential. Be assured that if God waits longer to answer than you anticipated, it is only to make the blessing all the more precious. The second answer points to what has been said before. The Giver is more than the gift; God is more than the blessing; and our time spent waiting on Him is the only way to learn to find our life and joy in Him. It is a blessing when a waiting soul and a waiting God meet each other. ~ Andrew Murray, Waiting on God
The gospel can show its power only where there is a cross and where there is suffering. Because it’s a word of life, it must exercise all its power in death. If dying and death are absent, then it can do nothing. No one would discover that it’s stronger than sin and death. That’s why God imposes the cross on all believers. He wants us to experience and demonstrate God’s power. ~ Martin Luther, Faith Alone, January 16
So if you want to be comforted when your conscience plagues you or when you are in dire distress, then you must do nothing but grasp Christ in faith and say, “I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s Son, who suffered, was crucified, and died for me. In his wounds and death, I see my sin. In his resurrection, I see the victory over sin, death, and the devil. I see righteousness and eternal life as well. I want to see and hear nothing except him.” This is true faith in Christ and the right way to believe. ~ Martin Luther, Faith Alone, January 18

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

No comments: