“It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until He has hurt him deeply.” – A.W. Tozer
“Envy may be defined, or to the happiness of others considered as compared with their own. The thing to which envious persons are opposed is the comparative relation between that state of honor or happiness which others have, or may have, and their own state.” – Jonathan Edwards, sermon 5 in Charity and Its Fruits, in Works, Yale ed., 8:219
“Salvation is not verified by a past act, but by present fruitfulness.” – John MacArthur
“Grace puts its hand on the boasting mouth, and shuts it once for all.” – C.H. Spurgeon
“He who prays as he ought will endeavour to live as he prays.” – John Owen
“Doctrinal preaching certainly bores the hypocrites; but it is only doctrinal preaching that will save Christ’s sheep. The preacher’s job is to proclaim the faith, not to provide entertainment for unbelievers–in other words, to feed the sheep rather than amuse the goats” – J. I. Packer, A Quest For Godliness.
“Christ is the very essence of all delights and pleasures, the very soul and substance of them. As all the rivers are gathered into the ocean, which is the meeting-place of all the waters in the world, so Christ is that ocean in which all true delights and pleasures meet.” – John Flavel
“The issue is not why does God punish sin, but why does He permit the ongoing human rebellion? What prince, what king, what ruler would display so much patience with a continually rebellious populace? …We forget rather quickly that God’s patience is designed to lead us to repentance, to give us time to be redeemed…The supreme folly is that we think we will get away with our revolt.” – R.C. Sproul
“We are all by nature separate and far off from God. Sin, like a great barrier-wall, rises between us and our Maker. The sense of guilt makes us afraid of Him. The sense of His holiness keeps us at a distance from Him. Born with a heart at enmity with God, we become more and more alienated from Him, by practice, the longer we live. The very first questions in religion that must be answered, are these–”How can I draw near to God? How can I be justified? How can a sinner like me be reconciled to my Maker?” The Lord Jesus Christ has provided an answer to these mighty questions. By His sacrifice for us on the cross, He has opened a way through the great barrier, and provided pardon and peace for sinners.” – J.C. Ryle
“If you are to have peace with God there must be war with Satan.” – C.H. Spurgeon
“When you are the hero of your own story rest assured the devil is reading the story to you.” – R.C. Sproul, Jr
Jerome Weller was a theology student under Martin Luther’s direct influence, living in his home and tutoring his children for nearly a decade. In July 1530, Luther wrote a letter of advice to Weller who was in the midst of a depression.
. . . Excellent Jerome, You ought to rejoice in this temptation of the devil because it is a certain sign that God is propitious and merciful to you. You say that the temptation is heavier than you can bear, and that you fear that it will so break and beat you down as to drive you to despair and blasphemy. I know this wile of the devil. If he cannot break a person with his first attack, he tries by persevering to wear him out and weaken him until the person falls and confesses himself beaten.
Whenever this temptation comes to you, avoid entering upon a disputation with the devil and do not allow yourself to dwell on those deadly thoughts, for to do so is nothing short of yielding to the devil and letting him have his way. Try as hard as you can to despise those thoughts which are induced by the devil. In this sort of temptation and struggle, contempt is the best and easiest method of winning over the devil. Laugh your adversary to scorn and ask who it is with whom you are talking. By all means flee solitude, for the devil watches and lies in wait for you most of all when you are alone. This devil is conquered by mocking and despising him, not by resisting and arguing with him. . .
When the devil throws our sins up to us and declares we deserve death and hell, we ought to speak thus: “I admit that I deserve death and hell. What of it? Does this mean that I shall be sentenced to eternal damnation? By no means. For I know One who suffered and made a satisfaction in my behalf. His name is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Where he is, there I shall be also.”
Yours,
Martin Luther
Luther: Letters of Spiritual Counsel, trans. and ed., Theodore G. Tappert, 1960, (Vancouver, BC: Regent College Publishing, 2003), 85ff., paragraphing mine.
In review, Luther mentions five pieces of advice:
Rejoice because temptation testifies of God’s mercy to you.
Do not dwell on the deadly thoughts of the Devil.
Laugh your adversary to scorn.
Be around other believers.
Proclaim the good news of Jesus for you and your salvation.
“It’s dangerous to assume that because a person is drawn to holiness in his study that he is thereby a holy man. There is irony here. I am sure that the reason I have a deep hunger to learn of the holiness of God is precisely because I am not holy. I am a profane man… But I have had just enough of a taste of the majesty of God to want more.” – R.C. Sproul
“The power of the devil is alarming. Our Lord says to Peter, Satan has desired to have you, that he may sift you like wheat. These are indications of his tremendous power. But perhaps the ultimate proof of the power, and the confidence, and the ability of the devil, is to be found in the fact that he did not hesitate to tempt and to attack even the Son of God himself. He approached him with confidence, with assurance, for he had defeated all others. The greatest saints, the patriarchs of the Old Testament, and prophets, had all been defeated by the wiles of the devil.
Is this discouraging? I say again that it is far from discouraging. I find it to be most encouraging because now I understand what is happening. But still more, I know that the Lord reigneth. He is over all, and he has sent Someone into this world who has been able to master the strong man armed and to rob him of his armor.” – Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Exposition of Ephesians (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1998)
Do you mortify;
do you make it your daily work;
be always at it while you live;
cease not a day from this work;
be killing sin or it will be killing you.
– John Owen, “On the Mortification of Sin,” in Overcoming Sin and Temptation, ed. Kapic & Taylor (Crossway, 2006), p. 50.
“Cling to the great truth of electing love and divine sovereignty, but let not these bind you in fetters when, in the power of the Holy Spirit, you become fishers of men.” C. H. Spurgeon
“…human will does not by liberty obtain grace, but by grace obtains liberty.” – John Calvin
“There is no pit so deep but Christ is deeper still.” Corrie Ten Boom
“To be sovereign of the universe is no great matter to God. In himself, at home in ‘the land of the Trinity,’ he is Sovereign of a far greater realm. We must keep always before our eyes that vision of Lady Julian’s in which God carried in his hand a little object like a nut, and that nut was ‘all that is made.’ God, who needs nothing, loves into existence wholly superfluous creatures in order that he may love and perfect them.” – C. S. Lewis, The Four Loves (New York, 1960), pages 175-176.
“How astonishing is it that a person who is blessed forever and is infinitely and essentially happy should endure the greatest sufferings that ever were endured on earth! That a person who is the supreme Lord and Judge of the world should be arraigned and should stand at the judgment seat of mortal worms and then be condemned. That a person who is the living God and the fountain of life should be put to death. That a person who created the world and gives life to all his creatures should be put to death by his own creatures. That a person of infinite majesty and glory, and so the object of the love, praises and adoration of angels, should be mocked and spit upon by the vilest of men. That a person infinitely good and who is love itself should suffer the greatest cruelty. That person who is infinitely beloved of the Father should be put to inexpressible anguish under his own Father’s wrath. That he who is the King of heaven, who has heaven for his throne and earth for his footstool, should be buried in the prison of the grave. How wonderful is this! And yet this is the way that God’s wisdom has fixed upon as the way of sinners’ salvation, as neither unsuitable nor dishonorable to Christ.” – Jonathan Edwards, “The Wisdom of God Displayed in the Way of Salvation,” in Works (Edinburgh, 1979), II:144.
If your pastor is struggling, and you are not praying for him, the failure is yours too. If your pastor is succeeding, and you are praying for him, the victory is yours together.
“Other religions are spelled ‘do’… Christianity is spelled ‘done.'” – Bill Piper
“If my heart is right with God, every human being is my neighbor.” – Oswald Chambers
“I tend to find the doctrinal books often more helpful in devotion than the devotional books, and I rather suspect that the same experience may await many others. I believe that many who find that “nothing happens” when they sit down, or kneel down, to a book of devotion, would find that the heart sings unbidden while they are working their way through a tough bit of theology with a pipe in their teeth and a pencil in their hand.” – C. S. Lewis