Working of God’s Mighty Power - A.W. Pink

“And what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places.” - Ephesians 1:19-20

“This is what God would have us know, and this is what our faith needs to be engaged with and exercised upon: that what God wrought in the Head, He will work in His members; that Christ is here represented as the pattern or standard of His operations to Christians. The love which moved the Father to work so gloriously in His Son is the love which the Father has for His sons (John 17:23). The physical, legal, and moral power which the Father put forth for Christ is being exercised for us. The wondrous works that power performed on the Redeemer will be duplicated in the redeemed.”

A.W. Pink, Gleanings From Paul

http://www.pbministries.org/books/pink/Gleanings_Paul/paul_14.htm

"Grace and the wisdom of God" - John Bunyan

“And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.” - Revelation 22:1

“When we read that out of the throne proceeds a river of grace; when we read this proceedeth out of the throne of God, it is as much as to say the wise God, who most perfectly knoweth all ways, counteth, in his wisdom, that to save men by grace is the best, most safe, and sure way: "Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace, to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed" (Rom 4:16). And, again, forgiveness is according to the riches of his grace, wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence (Eph 1:7,8).
Wherefore, to set grace upon the throne, to let grace proceed out of the throne as a river, is by the wise God, the only wise God, counted the best way, the safest way, the way that doth best suit the condition of a sinful man, and that tends most to the utter disappointment of the devil, and death, and hell.
Grace can justify freely, when it will, who it will, from what it will. Grace can continue to pardon, favour, and save from falls, in falls, out of falls. Grace can comfort, relieve, and help those that have hurt themselves. And grace can bring the unworthy to glory. This the law cannot do, this man cannot do, this angels cannot do, this God cannot do, but only by the riches of his grace, through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ. Wherefore, seeing God has set grace on the throne, and ordered that it should proceed from this throne to the world; yea, seeing he has made it king, and granted to it, to it only, the authority and sovereignty of saving souls, he has magnified not only his love, but his wisdom and his prudence before the sons of men. This, then, is his great device, the master-piece of all his witty inventions; and, therefore, it is said, as was hinted before, in this thing he hath proceeded towards us in ALL wisdom and prudence (2 Sam 14:14; Prov 8:11,12).”

- John Bunyan, The Water of Life

http://acacia.pair.com/Acacia.John.Bunyan/Sermons.Allegories/Water.of.Life/4.html

“Lord, send thy Spirit upon the churches!” – C H Spurgeon

“Soundness of doctrine is only worth having when it is the result of the living indwelling of God in the church; and because too much the Holy Spirit has departed, we see the signs that the orthodox faith is given up, and the inventions of man preached instead thereof.
Sometimes I breathe as I walk along, this prayer, that God would raise up more ministers to preach the gospel with power; there is so much feeble preaching, mere twaddling, and so little declaration of the gospel with power. But I do not know that I will pray that prayer again; I will put up this, “Lord, send thy Spirit upon the churches!” then will come the ministers, then will come the earnest workers. The Spirit of God will touch their tongues with fire, and they will say, “Here am I, send me,” and once again we shall have back the Puritanic age of preaching and ministries like those of Whitfield, Edwards, and McCheyne. The Spirit of God is the power of the church, and speaks with might in her.
My longing is that the churches may be more holy. I grieve to see so much of worldly conformity; how often wealth leads men astray; how many Christians follow the fashions of this wicked world. But shall I pray that the churches may be holy? I will, but I will put my prayer in this form, I will ask that God will give the Holy Spirit. He is the Spirit of holiness, he leads to obedience, purges from sin and creates the image of God in his people.”

- C. H. Spurgeon, Right Replies To Right Requests
http://bit.ly/4aHiS

O Christ, in Thee my soul hath found - James Mc­Gran­a­han

O Christ, in Thee my soul hath found,
And found in Thee alone,
The peace, the joy I sought so long,
The bliss till now unknown.

I sighed for rest and happiness,
I yearned for them, not Thee;
But, while I passed my Savior by,
His love laid hold on me.

I tried the broken cisterns, Lord,
But, ah, the waters failed;
Even as I stooped to drink they fled,
And mocked me as I wailed.

The pleasures lost I sadly mourned,
But never wept for Thee,
Till grace the sightless eyes received,
Thy loveliness to see.

Now none but Christ can satisfy,
None other Name for me!
There’s love, and life, and lasting joy,
Lord Jesus, found in Thee.

- James Mc­Gran­a­han

“A heavenly conversation brings much glory to the saints” – Jeremiah Burroughs

“A heavenly conversation is one that will bring much glory to yourselves. Though it’s true that the saints should aim at the glory of God most, there will come glory upon themselves whether they wish it or not if their conversations are in heaven. It’s impossible for the consciences of men not to be honored if they are walking in a heavenly conversation. There’s an excellent Scripture that shows that in glorifying God we glorify ourselves. In 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12, the apostle prays for them:
“Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness, and the work of faith with power.”
To what end?
“That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
He prays for the Thessalonians that they might walk so that they might have so much of the grace of God in them, that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ might be glorified in them. Oh, this is that which all the saints should desire and endeavor after, that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ should be glorified in them, and you in Him, he says. Labor that Christ may have glory in our glory, and then we shall have glory in Christ’s glory. This is a sweet and blessed life when the saints have such hearts that they can say, “Lord, let me have no glory, but that you may have glory in.” Then God says, “Is it so? Do you desire no further glory in this world but that I may have glory in? Then I will have no glory in this world but what you shall have glory in!” Christ will make us partakers of His glory as well as we shall make Him partaker of our glory. Oh, heavenly conversation that glorifies God will glorify the saints, too!”

– Jeremiah Burroughs, A treatise on earthly-mindedness

"Traders for heaven trust God much" - Jeremiah Burroughs

“Tradesmen who trade for great matters must trust much. They cannot expect to have present pay in great sums. It’s true, men who trade for little matters trade by retail. They usually take in their pence and two pence as their commodities go forth. But it’s not so with merchants who trade for great things in wholesale. Traders for heaven trust much and, indeed, the grace of faith is the great grace that helps in the trading for heaven; they have a little earnest for the present.

You who are traders and go to exchange and sell bargains for many thousands, you may not have more than twelve pence or a crown for the present, the first fruits of the Spirit, or a bare promise from Christ. This is that which binds the whole bargain, and they expect to have the full pay hereafter when they come to heaven. It is a happy thing when God gives men and women hearts to be willing to trust God for eternity; and if they have just a little comfort and grace now, they ought to look at that as an earnest penny of all the glory that Jesus Christ has purchased by His blood and that God has promised in His Word. You are not fit to be a tradesman for heaven if you cannot trust, if you cannot be content that great bargains should be bound with a little earnest. But that’s the soul that trades in heaven, that can be content to wait for the fulfilling of the promises, and to take what they have from God for the present, though it is but a very little, as an earnest to bind all those glorious things that God has promised in His Word.”

Jeremiah Burroughs, A Treatise on earthly-mindedness

http://www.puritanlibrary.com

"Look to God and the record of what He has done in Jesus Christ" - D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

“If you regard the gospel merely as a plan and scheme of life, whether social or personal; if you regard it merely as something that calls you to the high and the heroic and to a certain order of morality; you will never know the joy and the happiness which it offers. Regard the Christian life as being something primarily that you have to do and far from making you happy it will make you miserable, for you will be constantly aware of your own failure. But the glory of the gospel is that it is based upon something that God has done once and for all in Christ. What has He done?...God has acted. He has sent His only begotten Son into the world to live and die and rise again for us and for our salvation. ‘How can I feast and rejoice?’ Look unto Jesus Christ on the cross and see your guilt borne by Him and wiped out by Him. ‘How can I be happy’, you say, ‘when I am so filled with a sense of shame because of what I have been?’ To which the gospel answers:

The past shall be forgotten,
A present job be given.

In Christ there is a new beginning and you are no longer the slave of sin. And, in like manner, it tells you that your whole status and your situation are also changed. In Christ you become a child of God and are regarded as such by Him. You have been an enemy and an alien but now you are a son. Do not look to your own feelings, or your own record. Look to God and the record of what He has done in Jesus Christ. Rejoice, sing, cry aloud, be glad, Christ has cleansed away your sin and restored you to the favour of God which you had lost. Yes, the rejoicing is based purely upon what God has done.”

- D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Old Testament Evangelistic Sermons,
No Feasting: No Christianity

http://www.monergismbooks.com/Old-Testament-Evangelistic-Sermons-p-18605.html