The toils of day are over;
We raise our hymn to Thee,
And ask that free from peril
The hours of dark may be.
O Jesus, keep us in Thy sight,
And guard us through the coming night.
Be Thou our souls’ Preserver,
O God, for Thou dost know
How many are the perils
Through which we have to go.
Lord Jesus Christ, O hear our call
And guard and save us from them all.
~ Prayer of Anatolius (5th Century)
“He who keeps the commandment keeps his soul”
~ Proverbs 19:16a
There is something spiritually healthy about keeping God’s commands near and dear to our heart and mind. The Word of the Lord, His Law, His principles and precepts, the wisdom of God, are all divine nourishment to the soul. They bring vitality and strength to the faithful. By keeping the commands, one keeps, nurtures and renews their very soul.
The application of this verse isn’t to be understood in a legalistic manner where we believe we obtain greater grace or spiritual position simply because we adhere to the Lord’s Word. Rather, believers should come to understand keeping God’s commands is a privilege and spiritual benefit. God’s Word is sustenance. Therefore, let us keep the command as we keep our soul.
~ apl
“He said to them, “I must preach the kingdom of God… because for this purpose I have been sent.”
~ Luke 4:43
“The whole of the preaching of Jesus Christ and His apostles is concerned with the kingdom of God.”
~ Herman Ridderbos
“I will praise You, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will tell of all Your marvelous works. I will be glad and rejoice in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High.”
~ Psalm 9:1-2
“But there are times when those who sing, and sing well, have too much praise in their soul for it to enclose itself in words. Like some strong liquors which cannot use a little vent, but foam and swell until they burst each hoop that binds the barrel; so, sometimes, we want a larger channel for our soul than that of mouth and tongue, and we long to have all our nerves and sinews made into harpstrings, and all the pores of our body made mouths of thankfulness. Oh, that we could praise with our whole nature, not one single hair of our heads, or drop of blood in our veins, keeping back from adoring the Most High. When this desire for praise is most vehement, we fall back upon silence, and quiver with the adoration which we cannot speak.”
~ Charles Spurgeon
“Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling…”
~ Philippians 2:12
“You cannot take Christ for justification unless you take Him for sanctification… You can no more separate justification from sanctification than you can separate the circulation of the blood from the inhalation of the air. Breathing and circulation are two different things, but you cannot have the one without the other; they go together, and they constitute one life. So you have justification and sanctification; they go together, and they constitute one life.”
~ A.A. Hodge (1823-1886)
“For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.”
~ 1 Corinthians 15:22
“The Christ of God was not then first crucified when the Jews brought Him to the Cross; but Adam and Eve were His first real murderers; for the death which happened to them in the day when they did eat of the earthly tree was the death of the Christ of God or the divine life in their souls. For Christ had never come into the world as a second Adam to redeem it, had He not been originally the life and perfection and glory of the first Adam.”
~ William Law
“You shall receive power…”
~ Acts 1:8 (NKJV)
The Christian life is lived out in the power ‘δύναμις‘ of God. Namely, this power is the inner presence of the Holy Spirit. The believer who seeks to live a spiritual life by natural means will find himself weak and ill-equipped for such an undertaking. Therefore, through the enabling gift, strength and ability of the Spirit, we can live unto the Lord by the power He grants. This is power to endure trials, power over sin, power for ministry, power to worship, power to bear forth fruits of the Spirit, power to boldly witness for Christ and His Church. Let us then live by faith in a strong Savior that has sent His people such wonderful, gracious and holy power.
~ apl
“Christ and His cross are not separable in this life, howbeit Christ and His cross part at heaven’s door, for there is no house-room for crosses in heaven. One tear, one sigh, one sad heart, one fear, one loss, one thought of trouble cannot find lodging there.”
~ Samuel Rutherford
“Sound Bible exposition is an imperative must in the Church of the Living God. Without it no church can be a New Testament church in any strict meaning of that term. But exposition may be carried on in such way as to leave the hearers devoid of any true spiritual nourishment whatever. For it is not mere words that nourish the soul, but God Himself, and unless and until the hearers find God in personal experience they are not the better for having heard the truth. The Bible is not an end in itself, but a means to bring men to an intimate and satisfying knowledge of God, that they may enter into Him, that they may delight in His Presence, may taste and know the inner sweetness of the very God Himself in the core and center of their hearts.”
~ A.W. Tozer
“The true man of God is heartsick, grieved at the worldliness of the Church…grieved at the toleration of sin in the Church, grieved at the prayerlessness in the Church. He is disturbed that the corporate prayer of the Church no longer pulls down the strongholds of the devil… The church used to be a lightning bolt, now it’s a cruise ship. We are not marching to Zion – we are sailing there with ease. In the apostolic church it says they were all amazed – and now in our churches everybody wants to be amused. The church began in the upper room with a bunch of men agonizing, and it’s ending in the supper room with a bunch of people organizing. We mistake rattle for revival, and commotion for creation, and action for unction… The true church lives and moves and has its being in prayer.”
~ Leonard Ravenhill
A Prayer Life 