“Since the days of Pentecost, has the whole church ever put aside every other work and waited upon Him for ten days, that the Spirit’s power might be manifested? We give too much attention to method and machinery and resources, and too little to the source of power.”
Hudson Taylor (1832-1905) as recounted in The Prayer Motivator compiled and edited by Daniel Whyte III (Dallas: Torch Legacy, 2010) 91.
Read more“Another time Saint Anthony was traveling in the desert he found a plate of silver coins in his path. He pondered for a moment as to why a plate of silver coins would be out in the desert where no one else travels. Then he realized the devil must have laid it out there to tempt him. To that he said, “Ha! Devil, thou weenest to tempt me and deceive me, but it shall not be in thy power.” Once he said this, the plate of silver vanished. Saint Anthony continued walking along and saw a pile of gold in his way which the devil had laid there to deceive him. Saint Anthony cast the pile of gold into a fire, and it vanished just like the silver coins did. After these events, Saint Anthony had a vision where the whole world was full of snares and traps. He cried to the Lord, “Oh good Lord, who may escape from these snares?” A voice said back to him, “humility shall escape them without more.”
St. Anthony (251-356) in The Golden Legend: The Life of St. Anthony. For further reading on this desert father and the father of all monks, download (for free) The Life of St. Anthony by St. Athanasius.
Read more“The Christian should never worry about tomorrow or give sparingly because of a possible future need. Only the present moment is ours to serve the Lord, and tomorrow may never come.”
George Mueller, The Autobiography of George Mueller (New Kensington, PA: Whitaker House, 1984) 212.
Read more“You can always give without loving, but you can never love without giving.”
Amy Carmichael, (1867-1951), missionary to India who established an orphanage. For more on her life, read A Chance to Die: the Life and Legacy of Amy Carmichael by Elisabeth Elliot.
Read more“All the resources of the Godhead are at our disposal.”
Jonathan Goforth, (1850-1936), missionary, as recounted by his wife, Rosalind Goforth in Climbing: Memories of a Missionary’s Wife (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1940) 197.
Read more“It is true that we may desire much more. But let us use what we have, and God will give us more.”
Adoniram Judson (1788-1850) missionary in The American Baptist Magazine and Missionary Intelligencer vol. 1. (Boston: James Loring and Lincoln & Edmands, 1817) 99.
Read more“The self-giving love Christ has for us leads in turn to the believers’ giving themselves for the world in preaching the gospel, in social action, in peacemaking and through acts of self-giving and self-denial.”
Derek Tidball, The Message of the Cross, The Bible Speaks Today (Downers Grove: IVP, 2001) 24-25.
Read more“Possessions are so called that we may possess them, not they possess us. Why do you regard the matter as a slave? Why do you invert the order?”
St. Ambrose (330-397) Archbishop of Milan, as recounted by Charles Avila in Ownership: Early Christian Teaching (Eugene: Wipf & Stock, 2004) 88.
Read more“As God’s giving does not impoverish but enriches him, so we, as we offer back to God the gifts he has given and sanctified in us, are enriched in his glory and are satisfied in and through him.”
Kelly Kapic in God So Loved, He Gave: Entering the Movement of Divine Generosity (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010) 25.
Read more“Life is unpredictable. We can be happy one day and sad the next, healthy one day and sick the next, rich one day and poor the next, alive one day and dead the next. So who is there to hold on to? Who is there to feel secure with? Who is there to trust at all times? Only Jesus, the Christ.”
Henri Nouwen (1932-1996) in Bread for the Journey entry for December 24 (SanFrancisco: Harper, 1997).
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