This collection of quotations is primarily designed for preachers, but we believe will be of benefit to new Christians, those involved in personal evangelism and all servants of our Lord Jesus Christ who need the help and encouragement which such tools can bring.
Some quotes or illustrations are great statements (even one-liners) from the Puritan fathers; others are up-to-date stories with a message.
Francis Dixon often used quotes and illustrations in his preaching, but was careful only to do so if they helped to press home a point, rather than over-stretching a spiritual application.
New quotes will appear regularly. We have tried to give credit where the source is known. We trust you will find them a blessing and a help.
David and Mary Tucker
CONSCIENCE
It is very necessary to keep on good terms with your conscience …. See to it that your conscience is constantly corrected by Christ’s standard. Never tamper with conscience, nor gag her protestations, nor drown her voice. Never say, ‘It does not matter for once.’ Never dare to let her voice wear itself out. To behave like this is to tamper with the most delicate moral machinery in the universe.
(F. B. Meyer)
CONSECRATION
(Romans 12:1) The more we ‘present’ or ‘offer’ our bodies to the Lord, the more it will seem to be ‘reasonable’. It becomes more and more a joyful sacrifice of praise.
(Anon)
CONSECRATION
Oh that we may die, not in mere hymn and prayer, but in deed and in truth, to ourselves, to our self-life and self-love. I never knew what it meant before – DEAD to all one’s natural earthly plans and hopes, DEAD to all voices, however dear, which would deafen our ears to His – ALIVE unto God.
(Amy Carmichael of Dohnavur)
CONSECRATION
Great God, let the world learn, through my life, what thou canst do by a man wholly devoted to thee.
(D. L. Moody)
CONSECRATION
(Ephesians 2:10)
I watched a potter at work today – choosing a marl of bluish-grey,
Ugly and dirty, unpromising stuff; he took it, and washed it till he’d got enough
To finish the task he’d set for the day.
His foot was steady, his hands were firm, I saw the wheel begin to turn –
Faster and faster, it spun on its way, then – all of a sudden he threw the clay.
How many years did it take to learn?
With love and patience those hands so skilled, shape up the pot that he has willed.
So long ago, before he began, he had in his mind his own special plan
And now at last it’s being fulfilled.
He slows down the wheel, and with fingers neat he places his pot in the infinite heat
Of the oven, so hot that it tempers the pot
Until tested and tried his work is complete.
Does the pot he now holds bring him pleasure? Will it always be something to treasure?
You and I are God’s clay – will we let Him today
Mould us to give Him this joy beyond measure?
(Cilla Watkins)
CONSECRATION
I think God often brings you to a point of surrender before He gives you what you long for. It partly proves that your obedience is greater than your desire.
(Alec Smith, “Now I call him Brother”)
CONSECRATION
Lay your life on the altar for God –
He’s calling for you today.
Lay your life on the altar for God,
This moment the Master obey.
The fields of the harvest are white
And workers are scattered and few.
Lay your life on the altar for God,
He’s calling for you, for you.
CONSECRATION
(Romans 12:1, Weymouth translation)
“I plead with you therefore, brethren, by the compassions of God, to present all your faculties to Him as a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to Him. This with you will be an act of reasonable worship.” Give all He asks, then take all He gives.
(Dr S. D. Gordon)
CONSECRATION
(Matthew 14:15-20)
At the feeding of the five thousand, the disciples could find only five loaves of bread and two fishes. ‘Let me have them’, said Jesus. He asked for all. He took them, said the blessing and broke them before He gave them out.
I remembered what a Chapel speaker, Ruth Stull of Peru, had said,
‘If my life is broken when given to Jesus, it is because pieces will feed a multitude, while a loaf will satisfy only a little lad.’
(Elisabeth Elliot)
CONSECRATION
Consecration is simply a matter of letting God have what He has paid for, or returning stolen property.
(Anon)
CONSECRATION
O Jesus, Jesus, dearest Lord,
forgive me if I say
for very love, thy sacred name
a thousand times a day.
I love thee so, I know not how
my transport to control –
thy love is like a burning fire
within my very soul.
Burn, burn, O Love, within my heart –
burn fiercely night and day
‘til all the dross of earthly care
is burned, and burned away.
O Jesus, Jesus, sweetest Lord –
for thou art that to me –
each hour brings joy before unknown,
each day new liberty.
(Faber)
CONSECRATION
‘Here, Lord, I bring within my trembling hand
This will of mine – a thing that seems so small –
But you alone, O Lord, can understand
How, when I yield you this,
I yield you all.’
(Anon)
CONSECRATION
I count upon Him being there to control. I reckon myself as not in authority.
(From Fred Mitchell’s diary)
CONSECRATION
Let me burn out for thee, dear Lord,
Burn and wear out for thee.
Don’t let me rust, or my life be
A failure, my God, to thee.
Use me, and all I have, dear Lord,
And get me so close to thee
That I feel the throb of the great heart of God
Until I burn out for thee.
(Bessie F. Hatcher)
CONTENTMENT
(1 Timothy 6:6 KJV) Contentment is not that I have what I want, but that I want what I have. (ANON)
CREATION
The origins of the human race were not up from the ape, but down from the hand of God.
(Billy Graham)
CRISES
(Ezekiel 24:18)
The great God wants our conspicuous crises to be occasions of conspicuous testimony.
(Dr J. H. Jowett)
CRISES
When our world is shattered and the bottom drops out, it is in fact the result of the most careful planning by a loving, wise, sovereign God.
(R. T. Kendall)
CRITICISM
The American Indian has been quoted as believing that he should not criticise others until after “he has walked in their moccasins for two moons”. Jesus identified Himself with us, to the point of “being in our shoes”.
(Anon)
CRITICISM
(Isaiah 27:8) When, in His inscrutable wisdom, (God) ordains the biting east wind of criticism to cut us, then, just then, He holds back other temptations that we are not brought down in failure, or swallowed up in grief.
(Fred Mitchell)