Quote Title Quotation Source
Be Careful What You Ask For Do you think you can ever possibly have to bear so much that you ought not have to bear anymore? How does right enter into the matter at all? I really do not know. Before we begin talking about not having our rights, let’s wait until we receive some honor or gratification, or are treated kindly, for it is certainly not right that we should have anything in this life like that. Teresa of Avila – The Way Of Perfection, circa 1575
The Dominion of Flesh Over the Soul After the fall, all which belongs to the soul comes under the control and bondage of that which belongs to the flesh. All psychological forces are thus governed by physiological forces. Satan’s objective is to liberate man’s soul power through the breakdown of the outer shell of his flesh so as to free his soul from its fleshly bonds, thereby manifesting his latent power. This is what Revelation 18:13 means by making merchandise of men’s souls. Indeed, man’s soul has become one of the many items of the enemy’s commodities. The enemy desires especially to have man’s psychological abilities as his merchandise. At the end of the age, particularly during the present moment, Satan’s intention is to carry through what he had at the beginning aimed at in the Garden of Eden. Although he initiated the work of controlling man’s soul in the garden, he had not fully succeeded. For after his fall, man’s whole being, including his soul power, came under the flesh. In other words, man’s psychological forces came under the dominion of his physiological forces. The enemy failed to make use of man’s soul power; accordingly his plan was foiled. Watchman Nee – The Latent Power of the Soul, circa 1939, coypright 1972 by Christian Fellowship Publishers, Inc.
3 Unions, 3 Persons, 1 Unity When the union is in the understanding alone, it is a union of pure intellect and is attributed to Jesus as a distinct person. When the union is in the memory, affected by an absorption of the soul into God and a profound forgetfulness of one’s self, it is attributed to the Father as a distinct person. And when it takes place in the will alone, by a loving joy, without sight or knowledge of anything else, it is a union of love and is attributed to the Holy Spirit as a distinct person. The latter is the most perfect of all, because it comes closer than any other to essential union and is generally the road by which the soul arrives at it. Jeanne Guyon – Song of the Bride, circa 1690, copyright 1997 by Whitaker House
Which Every Joint Supplieth Among the members of the body of Christ, there is a great diversity of gifts and operations. Some who are confined to their homes because of sickness or other duties may have more time for waiting on God. Others, who are overworked, find it very difficult to take time and be quiet before the Lord. These may mutually supply each other’s lack. Andrew Murray – God’s Plans for You, circa 1890, © 1983 by Whitaker House
The Umbra of Self-efforts In most cases, the modern church has departed from the Light of God and most often dwells in the shadows cast by Reality. The church busies its members with forms of religion rather than Fact. We have made prayer, worship, Bible study, ministry, evangelism and missions the outward signs of our beliefs. Why impress the world with shadows cast by the sun when they can see the Son shining directly on all things. “Ye shall be witnesses unto Me.” You can never see the sunny side of things, till by faith, you pass to the heavenward side. Tom Van Hoogen
Gazing On the Beauty of Perfection The “will” which is here signified, is that the light of heart, and that certain pleasure, in the law, which does not look at what the law promises, nor at what it threatens, but at this only: that “the law is holy, and just, and good.” Hence it is not only a love of the law, but that loving delight in the law which no prosperity, nor adversity, nor the world, nor the prince of it, can either take away or destroy; for it victoriously bursts its way through poverty, evil report, the cross, death, and Hell, and in the midst of adversities, shines the brightest. Quote by Martin Luther from The Treasury of David by Charles H. Spurgeon, abridged by David Otis Fuller, circa 1880, © 1968 by David Otis Fuller, Published by Kregel Publications
You Just Have to See for Yourself Oh could I tell, ye sure would believe it!
Oh, could I say what I have seen!
How should I tell or how can ye receive it,
How, till He bringeth you where I have been?		 Oswald Chambers – The Complete Works of Oswald Chambers
Money, The Currency of Another Economy Some of us have looked into the face of our idols and found that one of them is money. Though we, along with millions of other churchgoers, are saying that Jesus saves, we ask ourselves if we are not in practice acting as though it were money that saves. We say that money gives power, money corrupts, money talks. Like the ancients with their molten calf we have endowed money with our own psychic energy, giving it arms and legs, and have told ourselves that it can work for us. More that this we enshrine it in a secret place, give it a heart and a mind and the power to grant us peace and mercy. Elizabeth O Connor – Dealing With Money; excerpted from The Essential Writings of Christian Mysticism by Bernard McGuinn copyright 2006 by Random House, Inc.
So Much to Learn, So Far to Go He knew her through and through, in all the intricate labyrinth of her lonely heart, better far than she knew herself. No one understood better than he, that growing into the likeness of a new name is a long process, but he did not say this. He looked with a certain tender pity and compassion at the glowing cheeks and shining eyes which had so suddenly transformed the appearance of plain little Much-Afraid. Hannah Hurnard – Hinds Feet on High Places, circa 1950, © American version 1975 by Tyndale House Publishers.