The Holy Spirit, Not Discipline

"The biblical prescription for resolving the conflict between flesh and Spirit is not personal discipline or self-control. It is the power of the Holy Spirit."

- Chuck Smith

Source: Smith, Chuck. Why Grace Changes Everything. The Word For Today, 2001: p. 131.

How We Receive God's Blessing

"Never forget that the blessing of God's Spirit in our lives is not granted to us because one day we became holy enough to deserve His blessing. It came to us when at last we saw the light and simply believed God to keep His Word."

- Chuck Smith

Source: Smith, Chuck. Why Grace Changes Everything. The Word For Today, 2001: p. 120.

Jesus Is Truth

"In John 17:17 our Lord does not say, 'Thy word is truth', He remarks rather, 'Thy word is truth'. Earlier in the Gospel of John He had indeed identified Himself as the truth [14:6] 'I am...the truth', were His words. In the present passage, however, when He is not speaking of Himself, but the Word of God, He characterizes that Word as true. Christ is Himself the Truth, and when He speaks of Himself, there is need for Him to employ the definite article. In the prayer, however, He merely intends to characterize the Word of God as truth. 'The Word of God', we may paraphrase, is true; it speaks the truth; the message which it offers is a true message. It is dependable; it is truth. The Word of which He speaks is the message of God; it is information which God has communicated to the world; it is that which God has spoken. The word of God, which Jesus Christ Himself has spoken, is truth."

- E.J. Young

Source: Young, E.J. Thy Word Is Truth - Some Thoughts on the Biblical Doctrine of Inspiration. reprinted 2008. Pennsylvania: Banner of Truth, 1957. p. 262.

Be Exposed to Christ

"The more we expose our lives to the white-hot sun of His righteous life (for, say, five, ten, fifteen, thirty minutes, or an hour a day), the more His image will be burned into our character— His love, His compassion, His truth, His integrity, His humility."

- R. Kent Hughes

Source: Hughes, R. Kent. Disciplines of a Godly Man. Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2001. 84.

Believing and Tasting

"There is a difference between believing that God is holy and gracious, and having a new sense of heart of the loveliness and beauty of that holiness and grace. The difference between believing that God is gracious and tasting that God is gracious is as different as having a rational belief that honey is sweet and having the actual sense of it's sweetness."

- Jonathan Edwards

Source: "A Divine and Supernatural Light." The Works of Jonathan Edwards. 5th. 2. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2005. Print.

Prayer

"One of the best ways to discover a Christian's chief anxieties and ambitions is to study the content of his prayers and the intensity with which he prays them. We all pray about what concerns us, and are evidently not concerned about matters we do not include in our prayers. Prayer expresses desire....As the hymn puts it, 'Prayer is the soul's sincere desire, uttered or unexpressed.'"

- John Stott

Source: Stott, John R. W. The Message of Ephesians. Inter-Varsity Press, 1979. P. 131

A Dwelling Difference

"If it's true that the Spirit of God dwells in us and that our bodies are the Holy Spirit's temple, then shouldn't there be a huge difference between the person who has the Spirit of God living inside of him or her and the person who does not?"

-Francis Chan

Source: Chan, Francis. Forgotten God:Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit. David C. Cook, 2009. p. 32

The Road to Holiness

"Holiness is arrived at by no low road. The road to holiness is narrow and steep and exceedingly lonely. There is no other road. 'It is the way the Master went, shall not His servants tread it still?' [Horatias Bonar]."

- Frances J. Roberts

Source: Roberts, Frances J. Come Away My Beloved. Barbour Publishing, Inc., 1970. p 186.