Give yourself unto reading. The man who never reads will never be read; he who never quotes will never be quoted. He who will not use the thoughts of other men’s brains, proves that he has no brains of his own. You need to read. . . . We are quite persuaded that the very best way for you to be spending your leisure time, is to be either reading or praying. You may get much instruction from books which afterwards you may use as a true weapon in your Lord and Master’s service. Paul cries, “Bring the books” — join in the cry.
Charles Spurgeon
The greatest needs of our times
The one thing we most urgently need in Western Christendom is a deeper knowledge of God. We need to know God better.
Carson, D. A.. A Call to Spiritual Reformation: Priorities from Paul and His Prayers .
Eternity
He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose
Jim Elliot
Suffering
“I have learned to kiss the waves that throw me up against the Rock of Ages”
Charles Spurgeon
If I had not felt certain that every additional trial was ordered by infinite love and mercy, I could not have survived my accumulated suffering.
Adoniram Judson
Many men owe the grandeur of their lives to their tremendous difficulties
Charles Spurgeon
There is no greater mercy that I know of on earth than good health except it is sickness, and that has often been a greater mercy to me than health.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1892). “The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit”
Prayer
“ What a man is alone on his knees before God, that he is, and no more. ”
Robert Murray M’Cheyne
Effective prayer is the fruit of a relationship with God, not a technique for acquiring blessings
D. A. Carson A Call to Spiritual Reformation
Judging by this example of Paul’s praying, it should already be clear that our chief concern in petition must not be that we might become successful, wealthy, popular, healthy, brilliant, triumphant, happy, or beautiful. Still less does Paul encourage us to pray that all our problems will disappear. Paul’s prayer is constrained by the framework he brings to it: he prays for more signs of the grace for which he has already thanked God, and he prays with eternity’s values in view .
D. A. Carson A Call to Spiritual Reformation
. Martyn Lloyd-JonesThe ultimate test of our spirituality is the measure of our amazement at the grace of God.
Advent
“The Son of God became a man to enable men to become sons of God.” – C.S. Lewis
Penuel 