“Life-giving preaching costs the preacher much—death to self, crucifixion to the world, the travail of his own soul. Crucified preaching only can give life. Crucified preaching can come only from a crucified man.”

“This perpetual hurry of business and company ruins me in soul if not in body. More solitude and earlier hours! I suspect I have been allotting habitually too little time to religious exercises, as private devotion and religious meditation, Scripture-reading, etc. Hence I am lean and cold and hard. I had better allot two hours or an hour and a half daily. I have been keeping too late hours, and hence have had but a hurried half hour in a morning to myself. Surely the experience of all good men confirms the proposition that without a due measure of private devotions the soul will grow lean. But all may be done through prayer—almighty prayer, I am ready to say—and why not? For that it is almighty is only through the gracious ordination of the God of love and truth. O then, pray, pray, pray!—William Wilberforce”

“With sin on the rampage and demonic powers controlling more and more of our culture, we need an enduement of divine power similar to what God gave the early church. Why don’t we stop rationalizing and justifying the spiritual impotence all around us? Why not rather humble ourselves and seek God with all our heart for “something from heaven”?”

“At its core, prayer is not about the words that are spoken. Rather, it’s about uplifting our hearts to a God who can be trusted. It’s not about religious-sounding phrases, since tears and groans often receive the strongest responses. It is primitive and heart-centered, which is what makes it so unacceptable to many refined, intellectually proud believers and churches. In its purest form, prayer has a raw fervency and faith that prevails with God and secures answers otherwise thought impossible.”

“spiritual accountability proved insufficient for Peter, because no outward teaching can compare to the inward power of the Holy Spirit.”

“One of the ways the Spirit glorifies Christ is to build up his body for the common good. That is how God strengthens his church. Since the church is a spiritual organism, it needs spiritual ministry to build it up. Spiritual ministry can only come by the Holy Spirit showing himself through human beings. His power flows through human vessels.”

“As we open up our church meetings to God's power, they will not always follow a predetermined schedule or order. Who can outline what God might have in mind?”

“A basic sign of revival is that the wind is allowed to blow where it will.”

“when people know you love and care about them, you can speak difficult truth and they will receive it.”

“If we look at society today, if we look at the challenge of a country becoming more godless by the week, if we look at laws being passed that mock any form of morality — ​instead of lamenting and protesting, wouldn’t it be better for us to plead with God to visit his people?”

“Our forebears back in the the camp meeting days used to say that if people left a meeting talking about what a wonderful sermon the preacher gave or how beautifully the singers sang, the meeting had failed. But if people went home saying things like "Isn't God good? He met me tonight in such a wonderful way," it was a good meeting. There was to be no sharing the stage with the Lord.”

“But how can we effectively represent Christ, who in sacrificial love gave his life for others, if we don’t deeply care about those he died for? And since “God is love” (1 John 4:8), doesn’t it follow that the one great distinguishing characteristic of Christians everywhere should be a self-sacrificing love for people? Doctrine, apologetics, spiritual gifts, and prophecy charts are all great, but God is love. Without love, everything becomes meaningless (1 Cor. 13).”

“Only true faith in Jesus Christ as Savior, confirmed by the Holy Spirit living inside of us, makes us a new creation.”

“WE CAN’T SAVE OURSELVES We need God. We all need to repent of trying to extend his kingdom in our own strength. We need him to change things. The great news is that he delights in helping us when we listen, trust, and obey him. Don’t we want to make a difference and see God turn around the decline in Christianity? Don’t we want to see our family members and friends find Jesus as Savior? Then let’s draw closer to God and talk with him. This is what sincere believers in Christ have done for hundreds of years. And when they have, miracles happened. Nowhere in the Bible did God ever promise that anything would “work,” except him. If you’re a Christian who is bewildered and disheartened by the things you see going on, or if you’re a pastor or church leader who is discouraged by a lukewarm church and lack of fruit, be sure of this promise: “Come near to God and he will come near to you” (James 4:8).”

“The Holy Spirit is a real person—the third and coequal member of the Trinity. Though he is often overlooked or perhaps even neglected by many twenty-first-century believers, he is just as divine as the Father and the Son (Acts 5:3–4). Consider these facts: He possesses a divine personality and personally chooses people for ministry assignments (Acts 13:2). He communicates with us (Rev. 2:7) and searches out the deep things of God to make them known to believers (1 Cor. 2:9–12). He is the one who makes Christ a living reality to the believer (Eph. 3:16–17) and in fact is called the Spirit of Christ (Rom. 8:9). He is coequal with both the Father and Son as part of the mystery of the triune God.”

“It must be important to God, for he tells us that “without holiness no one will see the Lord” (Heb. 12:14). Holiness is not a list of dos and don’ts. Rather, it is Christlikeness.”

“God is not searching for talent or intelligence on earth, because he is the Almighty One! He already has everything he needs—except our hearts.”

“The next time you are faced with an insurmountable problem, I’d advise you to look into the heavens on a clear night.”

“If you have been waiting for an answer to prayer for a long time, remember that long waits often occur right before the biggest mountains come down.”

“The LORD is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all he has made”