Communion Quotes to Ponder

Photo: Teri Lynne Underwood

“If any occupation or association is found to hinder our communion with God or our enjoyment of spiritual things, then it must be abandoned. Anything in my habits or ways which mars happy fellowship with the brethren or robs me of power in service, is to be unsparingly judged and made an end of – ‘burned.‘ Whatever I cannot do for God's glory must be avoided.” –A.W. Pink

“The Christian who walks with the Lord and keeps constant communion with Him will see many reason for rejoicing and thanksgiving all day long.” –Warren W. Wiersbe

“Ministry is the least important thing. You cannot not minister if you are in communion with God and live in community.” –Henri Nouwen

“Closet communion needs time for the revelation of God's presence. It is vain to say, ‘I have too much work to do to find time.’ You must find time or forfeit blessing. God knows how to save for you the time you sacredly keep for communion with Him.” –A.T. Pierson

“While others still slept, He went away to pray and to renew His strength in communion with His Father. He had need of this, otherwise He would not have been ready for the new day. The holy work of delivering souls demands constant renewal through fellowship with God.” –Andrew Murray

Quotes to Ponder About the Bible

Photo: Brett Jordan

“Out of 100 men, one will read the Bible, the other 99 will read the Christian.” –Dwight L. Moody

“I think the greatest weakness in the church today is that almost no one believes that God invests His power in the Bible. Everyone is looking for power in a program, in a methodology, in a technique, in anything and everything but that in which God has placed it – His Word. He alone has the power to change lives for eternity, and that power is focused on the Scriptures.” –RC Sproul

“It shall greatly help ye to understand the Scriptures if thou mark not only what is spoken or written, but of whom and to whom, with what words, at what time, where, to what intent, with what circumstances, considering what goeth before and what followeth after.” –Miles Coverdale

“The Bible will always be full of things you cannot understand, as long as you will not live according to those you can understand.” –Billy Sunday

“There are times when solitude is better than society, and silence is wiser than speech. We should be better Christians if we were more alone, waiting upon God, and gathering through meditation on His Word spiritual strength for labour in his service. We ought to muse upon the things of God, because we thus get the real nutriment out of them ... Why is it that some Christians, although they hear many sermons, make but slow advances in the divine life? Because they neglect their closets, and do not thoughtfully meditate on God's Word. They love the wheat, but they do not grind it; they would have the corn, but they will not go forth into the fields to gather it; the fruit hangs upon the tree, but they will not pluck it; the water flows at their feet, but they will not stoop to drink it. From such folly deliver us, O Lord ...” –Charles H. Spurgeon

Starting before the Face of the King

The inside cover of the copy of “Words of
Wisdom” Coach Moore sent me.

The world will remember Appalachian State head football coach Jerry Moore for his impressive career statistics. Heaven will remember him for a different set of numbers.

I interviewed Moore six years ago for Baptist Press Sports. They had just won their second straight NCAA Division I FCS national championship. They went on to win the championship the next year as well.

Over his 24-year career at Appalachian State, Moore compiled a 215-87 record, making him the winningest coach in Southern Conference history. His team won ten conference titles, including six straight from 2005-10.

He illustrious career came to an end after last season. Some say he retired, some say he was pushed out. But either way, I have a feeling the 73-year-old won’t be thinking about his career statistics. Instead he’ll be thinking about the players he has coached over the years.

But let me back up a little.

When I talked to him, he came to life when I asked him about his devotional habits. He told me he uses a 31-day devotional guide called “Words of Wisdom” that a friend gave him while he was an assistant coach at Arkansas in 1989. The book only includes the words of the Psalms and Proverbs – broken down into daily readings of five psalms and one proverb.

“When I get up in the morning, I’ll pour myself a cup of coffee and I won’t read a newspaper,” Moore told me. “I won’t watch the news. I won’t read a flyer that may be laying there. I won’t read anything until I’ve read my five psalms and one proverb. I haven’t been a hundred percent, but I’ve started nearly every day that way since 1989.”

He tapes pictures of his relatives and friends throughout the book so he can remember to pray for them. And he has given hundreds of his players a copy of the book as well. Before he hands them a copy, he inscribes a quote from F.B. Meyer on the inside cover: “Let the first moments of the day, when your heart is fresh, be given to God. Do not see the face of man till you have seen the King.”

He once brought in a speaker who presented the gospel and 57 players and one coach either placed their faith in Christ for the first time or made a recommitment. He wrote down all 58 names in his “Words of Wisdom” book and he told me he prays for them regularly. It’s a beautiful legacy of one man who starts each morning before the face of the King of Kings.

A few days after our interview, a package arrived at my house. I opened it and found my own leather bound copy of “Words of Wisdom” from Coach Moore. He had my name engraved on the cover and inside he wrote the F.B. Meyer quote.

I think the book has gone through several editions and they are hard to come by, but I found one edition still available through Amazon.com (they have 19 used copies as of this writing). Of course, you don’t need to buy a copy. You can read five psalms and one proverb every day out of your own Bible. But the edition Moore sent me has is compact and has room for notes, prayers, and photos, so that’s nice too.

Either way, if you are struggling with something and need wisdom from on high, what better place to turn for the next month than the Psalms and Proverbs?

Being Changed by Prayer

Photo: Milan

Are you struggling with a situation at work or maybe with a personal decision? Is sin weighing heavy on your soul? Do you feel distant from God? Maybe the following insights will help you draw near to God once again.

“Groanings which cannot be uttered are often prayers which cannot be refused.” –Charles H. Spurgeon

“I think the reason we sometimes have the false sense that God is so far away is because that is where we have put him. We have kept him at a distance, and then when we are in need and call on him in prayer, we wonder where he is. He is exactly where we left him.” –Ravi Zacharias, “Has Christianity Failed You?”

“Not being changed by prayer is sort of life standing in the middle of a spring rain without getting wet. It’s hard to stand in the center of God’s acceptance and love without getting it all over you.” –Steve Brown, “Approaching God: Accepting the Invitation to Stand in the Presence of God”

“We have to pray with our eyes on God, not on the difficulties.” –Oswald Chambers

“He who kneels the most, stands the best.” –Dwight Lyman Moody

William Wilberforce on Private Devotions

This statue of Wilberforce is located in
Hull, England in the garden of the
house he was born in in 1759.
Photo: summonedbyfells

William Wilberforce (1759-1833), the man who fought so valiantly against slavery in Parliament, knew he could not do battle in the political trenches without pulling away to spend time with God every day.

Here is what he is quoted as saying about private devotions in John Piper’s book, Brothers, We Are Not Professionals: A Plea to Pastors for Radical Ministry.

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!

I don’t think Wilberforce was saying everyone should allot two hours every day for private devotions. Instead, he was saying he needed to allot that much time because if he didn’t he felt ruined in soul and body.

That made me think about how long I need to spend every day with the Maker. I don’t have an answer yet, but I’m working on one. How about you? How long do you need to spend with him?

Q & A with Author Nick Harrison

I first met Nick Harrison maybe eight years ago at the Glorieta Christian Writers Conference (now the CLASS Christian Writers Conference). He had a gentle spirit that impressed me. As I began to peruse his catalog of books, I was even more impressed.

He was, and still is, an editor at Harvest House Publishers. Now a senior editor at Harvest, he has been there for twelve years. He has written ten books – five of which are devotionals. They have a richness and depth to them you might enjoy.

I asked him to join us here at The Spiritual Man Cave for a Q & A and he was gracious with his time. I hope you will stop by his website and pick up one or two of his books to use during your devotional time.

Thanks for joining us here at The Spiritual Man Cave, Nick. We appreciate your time.

I’m happy to join you, Lee. The internet has opened up so many great opportunities for people to connect.

You have written a number of fabulous devotional books that use insight from saints of old, including His Victorious Indwelling: Daily Devotions for a Deeper Christian Life, and Magnificent Prayer: 366 Devotions to Deepen Your Prayer Experience. Obviously you think it is important to read and contemplate what saints of old had to say about the faith. Why is that?

To be honest, I just think these men and women from ages past had a depth to them we don’t often find today. They knew God and when they wrote, their words were packed with authority that remains today. 

Is there one story or quote that stands out to you from one of these two devotional books?

I’m a quote junkie, so to speak. It would be hard to find just one that stands out. Usually when I read a quote and it produces an “aha” moment in me, I assume it will do the same in my readers ... and it usually does. I can almost randomly select a quote from one of my books and find that it still speaks fresh truth to me.

I enjoy finding quotes from men and women who may be lesser-known Christians from the past. Many people have heard of Andrew Murray, Charles Spurgeon, and Hannah Whitall Smith; but how many have heard of Englishman George Wigram? He was foundational in the early days of the Plymouth Brethren.

Here’s a quote from my book “His Victorious Indwelling” that epitomizes the sort of thing I want my readers to understand about their riches in Christ. Wigram wrote: “You would not be easily startled by events if you saw all that you have in Christ to enable you to meet everything calmly.”

I like quotes like that for needy people, because I’m a needy person. I need to hear that I have everything I need in Christ to meet the challenges in my life.

Here’s one (also from “His Victorious Indwelling”) from John Newton, best known now for “Amazing Grace.” He wrote, “When first we enter into the divine life, we propose to grow rich; God’s plan is to make us poor.”

So many of our troubles come because we don’t understand that God uses events in our lives to bring us to the end of ourselves so we must depend fully on Him. When we realize our poverty, we’re ready for His spiritual riches.

Here’s a quote by Dwight Moody that I used in “Magnificent Prayer”: “Spread out your petitions before God, and then say, ‘Thy will, not mine, be done.’ The sweetest lesson I have learned in God’s school is to let the Lord choose for me.”

That’s a lesson I’ve learned too. God has chosen a life for me that has exceeded my hopes and dreams. And when I trace it back to one life-changing event, it was when I was in a place I had no business being and I prayed, “Lord, help me. Get me out of here. And if anything good ever comes out of my life, I’ll give you the glory.”

He did get me out of that situation and set me on the right path, so I truly do give Him the praise. I know where I’ve come from and I know what God has given me in terms of my family, my calling, and my relationship with Him. God has chosen the best for me. It’s no wonder one of my favorite Scriptures is Psalm 16:6, which reads “The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; Yes, I have a good inheritance.”

My new book (as yet untitled) will be out January 1 and once again I refer back to some of the wonderful writers of old. The book is about the promises of God and here are a couple of quotes that urge us to claim God’s promises in our lives:

“Is Christ yours? Then His promises are yours.” –Andrew Bonar

“Thank God, none of those promises are out of date, or grown stale. They are as fresh and vigorous and young and sweet as ever.” –Dwight Moody

“The Bible is a Book of precious promises; all the way we have to travel, they seem to be like a series of stepping-stones across the stream of time, and we may march from one promise to another, and never wet our feet all the way from earth to heaven, if we do but know how to keep our eyes open, and to find the right promise to step upon.” –Charles Spurgeon

Good stuff there!

*****

Come back tomorrow for Part 2 of the Q & A with Nick Harrison during which he discusses his own daily devotional time as well as offering some practice tips for us to implement.

The Privilege of a Quiet Time

Photo: Public Domain

Three quotes to reorient your way of thinking on this Monday morning about personal devotions:

“Rose early to seek God and found Him whom my soul loveth.  Who would not rise early to meet such company?” –Scottish clergyman Robert Murray M’Cheyne (from his journal in 1834).

“Perhaps we should stop talking about being ‘faithful’ to have a quiet time with God each day, as if we were doing something to earn a reward. It would be better to talk about the privilege of spending time with the God of the universe and the importance for our own sake of being consistent in that practice.” –Jerry Bridges, “Transforming Grace”

“A quiet time is a tremendous privilege you’ve been given. The creator of the universe has invited you to spend time with him every day. Imagine if your favorite actor, musician, singer, or athlete asked you to spend time with him or her every day. Would you say, ‘Sorry, I don’t have time for you’? Of course not!” –Rick Warren