Category: Quotes

You Lord, Are Good

~ A Prayer Life ~ 2 Comments

For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, And abundant in mercy to all those who call upon You. Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer; And attend to the voice of my supplications.

~ Psalm 86:5-6

Here in this passage we find one of the mightiest appeals for answered prayer – God’s own goodness. David could seek no higher ground upon which to lay the basis for his petitions than the Lord’s own character. “You, Lord, are good”. What a testimony! Such a declaration! It is because of the goodness of God that His servant, can, by faith, approach the Lord for forgiveness, healing and restoration of his heart and soul.

And if we think this view of God’s good character is limited to just this one Biblical witness, listen to the testimony throughout Scripture. In 1 Chronicles 16:34 we read, “Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.” Elsewhere the Old Testament prophet Nahum writes, “The LORD is good, A stronghold in the day of trouble” (1:7). Mark, the Gospel writer, would also declare, “No one is good but One, that is, God” (10:18).

A.W. Pink, in his classic work on the attributes of God, describes the Lord’s goodness this way, “God is summum bonum, the highest good… The “goodness” of God refers to the perfection of His nature… There is such an absolute perfection in God’s nature and being that nothing is wanting to it or defective in it, and nothing can be added to it to make it better… The goodness of God is the life of the believer’s trust. It is this excellency in God which most appeals to our hearts. Because His goodness endureth forever, we ought never to be discouraged…”

Rather than being discouraged, David pled God’s goodness as his greatest encouragement while approaching Him in prayer and supplication. Do you find God’s innate goodness as a reason to come to Him in prayer? Do you trust that the Lord is good, just and holy and always ready to listen? May we rest upon the character of God and His goodness as the high ground while seeking His face during seasons of communion, fellowship and prayer with our Lord.

~ apl

His Precious Word

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“Formerly, when I rose, I began to pray as soon as possible. But I often spent a quarter of an hour to an hour on my knees struggling to pray while my mind wandered. Now I rarely have this problem. As my heart is nourished by the truth of the Word, I am brought into true fellowship with God. I speak to my Father and to my Friend (although I am unworthy) about the things that He has brought before me in His precious Word.”

~ George Muller

Psalm 149

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Praise the LORD! Sing to the LORD a new song, And His praise in the assembly of saints. Let Israel rejoice in their Maker; Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King. Let them praise His name with the dance; Let them sing praises to Him with the timbrel and harp. For the LORD takes pleasure in His people; He will beautify the humble with salvation. Let the saints be joyful in glory; Let them sing aloud on their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, And a two-edged sword in their hand,  To execute vengeance on the nations, And punishments on the peoples;  To bind their kings with chains, And their nobles with fetters of iron;  To execute on them the written judgment – This honor have all His saints. Praise the LORD!

Be A Nobody

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“God can achieve His purpose either through the absence of human power and resources, or abandonment of reliance on them. All through history God has chosen and used nobodies, because their unusual dependence on Him made possible the unique display of His power and grace. He chose and used somebodies only when they renounced dependence on their natural abilities and resources.”

~ Oswald Chambers

Keep Thy Crown

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“Hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.”

~ Revelation 3:11

Hold fast the gift which divine grace hath already bestowed on thee; the loss of it were the loss of thy crown. This exhortation is made necessary by such facts as these: – There is a tendency in the mind to under-estimate the gifts already in possession, and to forget how absolute is the connection between present grace and eventual glory; and there is also a tendency to depreciate the power and subtlety of the adversaries… Hold fast that which thou hast of love, faith, patience, prayerfulness, humility, knowledge, courage, perseverance. It may seem a light thing to give way to an erring momentary impulse; but understand that in that moment a bold, unscrupulous hand was stretched out to snatch away thy crown.

~ Rev. George Bowen (1816-1888)

Many Have Yielded

~ A Prayer Life ~ 1 Comment

“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”

~ 1 Peter 5:8

“Many have yielded to go a mile with Satan, that never intended to go two; but when once on the way, they have been allured further and farther, till at last they know not how to leave his company.”

~ William Gurnall (1616-1679)

We Mistake

~ A Prayer Life ~ 1 Comment

“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.”

~ Leonard Ravenhill

Into the Bosom of God

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“Christ choosing solitude for private prayer, doth not only hint to us the danger of distraction and deviation of thoughts in prayer, but how necessary it is for us to choose the most convenient places we can for private prayer. Our own fickleness and Satan’s restlessness call upon us to get into such places where we may freely pour out our soul into the bosom of God.”

~ Thomas Brooks (1608-1680)