We hear, sometimes, a great deal said about possessing a full assurance of being a child of God; and then, every now and then, we hear of a doubt, a hope. As good Joseph Irons used to say, "They keep hope, hope, hoping, hop, hop, hopping all their lives, because they can't walk." Little faith is always lame.
Do not harm the bodies of men and women; but destroy their sin with a stout heart and with a strong arm. Kill both the little sins and the great ones; let nothing be spared that is against God and His truth; but we have no war with the bodies of poor mistaken men and women.
If we could see things as they are if we were not deceived by the masquerade of this feeble life, if we were not so easily taken in by the masks and dresses of those who act in this great drama, be it comedy or tragedy if we could but see what men and women are behind the scenes, penetrate their hearts, watch their inner motions, and discern their secret feelings, we would find only a few who could bear the name of "blessed."
Deal gently, deal kindly, deal lovingly and there is not a wolf in human shape that won't be melted by kindness; and there is not a tiger in woman's form that won't break down and beg for forgiveness, if God should bless the love that is brought to bear on her by her friend.
The river of God is full of water; but there is not one drop of it that comes from earthly springs. God will have no strength used in His own battles but the strength which He himself imparts; and I would not have you that are now distressed to be the least discouraged by it. Your emptiness is but the preparation for your being filled; and your casting down is but the making ready for your lifting up.
People who have no brains are always great persons; but those who think, must think their pride away, if God is with them in their thinking.
There was never a saint yet, that grew proud of their fine feathers, that the Lord didn’t plucked them out one by one. There never was an angel yet, that had pride in his heart, that didn’t lose his wings, and fall into Hell, as Satan and those fallen angels did; and there will never be a saint who indulges in self-conceit, pride, and self-confidence, that won’t have the Lord spoil their glories, and trample their honors in the mud, and make them cry out, "Lord have mercy on me."
Don't keep back any part of your life. Make a full surrender of every inclination of your heart; work to have but one purpose, and one aim. And for this purpose give God complete control of your heart.
Any person who trusts in their works, even in the smallest amount, is a lost soul. They who trust in the smallest fragment of their works, though it is so small that they themselves cannot discern it, will be lost.
How easy it is for you and I to boast in ourselves! How hard it is to be humble! That demon of pride was born with us, and it will not die one hour before us. It is so woven into our very natures, that we will never hear the last of it until we are dressed in our grave clothes and lying in our coffin.
Now a person's heart has only enough life in it to fully pursue one object. You must not give half of your love to Christ, and the other half to the world. No person can serve God and money, because there is not enough in the heart to serve the two.
There is not a spider hanging on the wall that doesn't have a purpose; there is not a weed growing in the corner of the church lot that doesn't have a reason for being there; there is not a single insect fluttering in the breeze that does not accomplish some divine decree; and I will never believe that God created any man or woman, especially any Christian man or woman, to be a blank, and to be a nothing. He made you for a purpose.
Now, the heart is the reservoir of a person, and our life is allowed to flow in its proper season. That life may flow through different pipes—the mouth, the hand, the eye; but still all the actions of the hands, the eyes, and the lips, derive their source from the great fountain and central reservoir, the heart; and therefore, there is no problem showing the great need that exists for keeping this reservoir, the heart, in a proper state and condition, since otherwise that which flows through the pipes would be polluted and corrupt.
When the sunlight of God's mercy rises upon our needs, it casts the shadow of prayer far down upon the plain; or, to use another illustration, when God piles up a hill of mercies, He Himself shines behind them, and He casts on our spirits the shadow of prayer, so that we may have confidence, if we are in prayer, that our prayers are the shadows of mercy.
[Charles H. Spurgeon]
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