E. H. Hamilton

Afraid? Of what? To feel the spirit's glad release? To pass from pain to perfect peace, the strife and strain of life to cease? Afraid of what? --- Afraid? Of what? Afraid to see the Saviour's face, to hear His welcome, and to trace the Glory - Gleam from wounds of Grace? Afraid of that?? Afraid? Of what? A flash - a crash - a pierced heart; darkness - light - O Heaven's art! A wound of His counterpart! Afraid of that? --- Afraid? Of what? To enter Heaven's Rest, and yet to serve the Master blest, from service good to service best? Afraid of that?? Afraid? Of what? To do by death what life could not -- Baptize with death a stony plot, till souls shall blossom from that spot? Afraid of that??

Sadhu Sundar Singh

There are beautiful birds in the air, and twinkling stars in the heavens, but if you desire pearls you must plunge down into the depths of the ocean to find them. There are many beautiful things in the world around us, but pearls can only be discovered in the depths of the sea; if we wish to posses spiritual pearls we must plunge into the depths, that is, we must pray, we must sink down into the secret depths of contemplation and prayer. Then we shall perceive precious pearls.
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/singh/feet.html

Dwight L Moody

I prayed for faith, and thought that some day faith would come down and strike me like lightning. But faith did not seem to come. One day I read in the tenth chapter of Romans, "Now faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God". I had closed my Bible, and prayed for faith. I now opened my Bible, and began to study, and faith has been growing ever since.

Arthur John (A. J.) Gossip

Well, to begin with, you can pray. Pray!, you say scornfully, pray! I knew it would all fizzle out, and come to nothing. I could pray! Yes, you could pray, and, whatever you may think about it - using it as a poor makeshift of a thing much lower than a second-best, not really a best at all, on which men fall back only when they can do nothing effectively, and are too fidgety to be able to do nothing at all - Christ holds that prayer is a tremendous power which achieves what, without it, was a sheer impossibility. And this amazing thing you can set into operation. And the fact that you are not so using it, and simply don't believe in it and its efficiency and efficacy as our fathers did, and that so many nowadays agree with you, is certainly a major reason why the churches are so cold, and the promises seem so tardy of fulfillment.
http://www.preaching.com/resources/past-masters/11567017/

Ralph Erskine

Here is a cord of love let down, and the upper end of it is fastened to Christ's heart, and the lower end of it hanging down the length of your hearts. And, O! shall not Christ's heart and yours be knit together this day. Here is a cord to bind His heart to your heart, and your heart to His heart.
http://www.puritansermons.com/erskine/erskindx.htm

Edith Lovejoy Pierce

We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day.

Zach Conrad

Many times we are content with sitting on the sidelines, always hearing about other's lives being changed in huge ways and God being so important in their life. We go to church and hear people talk about what God has been doing in their life. We go to events and conferences that we hope will microwave our Christian maturity to well done. We read books on how other's lives were changed. And that is good enough for us, but deep down inside, we wish we could have that happen in our own life. So we make promises to try harder. We recommit our lives to Jesus. We might begin having devotions more often. But, after a while, the desire dies off and the excitement has turned into duty and we give up. Obedience makes the difference in a life that is sold out for God. It is seeing what God does with our attitude of following what He has in the Bible that brings about change in our hearts and a Christian walk that is on fire.
http://studentjourney.org/

Francois Fenelon

If you thus pour out all your weaknesses, needs, troubles, there will be no lack of what to say. You will never exhaust the subject. It is continually being renewed. People who have no secrets from each other never want for subject of conversation. They do not weigh their words, for there is nothing to be held back; neither do they seek for something to say. They talk out of the abundance of their heart, without consideration they say just what they think. Blessed are they who attain to such familiar, unreserved intercourse with God.

Phillips Brooks

Truth is always strong, no matter how weak it looks, and falsehood is always weak, no matter how strong it looks.

George A. Buttrick

For a man to argue, "I do not go to church; I pray alone," is no wiser than if he should say, "I have no use for symphonies; I believe only in solo music."
http://home.comcast.net/~pastorbob/devotional/georgebuttrick.htm