Be sure no time is so well spent as that which a man spends on his knees.- J.C. Ryle,Thoughts for Young Men

If money be not thy servant, it will be thy master. The covetous man cannot so properly be said to possess wealth, as that may be said to possess him - Francis Bacon, 1561 - 1626

To find something you can enjoy is far better than finding something you can possess. - Glenn Holm

Why grab possessions like thieves, or divide them like socialists, when you can ignore them like wise men? - Natalie Clifford Barney, 1876 - 1972

Man's best possession is a sympathetic wife. - Euripides, 480 - 406 BC

It should fill us with joy, that infinite wisdom guides the affairs of the world. Many of its events are shrouded in darkness and mystery, and inextricable confusion sometimes seems to reign. Often wickedness prevails, and God seems to have forgotten the creatures that He has made. Our own path through life is dark and devious, and beset with difficulties and dangers. How full of consolation is the doctrine, that infinite wisdom directs every event, brings order out of confusion, and light out of darkness, and, to those who love God, causes all things, whatever be their present aspect and apparent tendency, to work together for good.- J.L. Dagg, Manual of Theology, Gano Books, 1982 edition of original 1857 edition published by The Southern Baptist Publication Society, p. 86-87.

Scripture speaks about God working everything together “for the good” of those who love him (Rom. 8:28). But what is this “good?” It consists of believers being conformed (changed and remade) to the image of Christ (Rom. 8:29). Thus, all the experiences of life are intended, under the sovereign hand of God, to help us to grow towards the great goal of the Christian life – Christ-likeness.- Sinclair B. Ferguson, Healthy Christian Growth, by Permission of the Banner of Truth Trust, Carlisle, PA. 1991, p. 16.

Love has hands to help others. It has feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men. This is what love looks like. - Augustine

The workings of grace in the heart are utterly mysterious and unsearchable. We cannot explain why the word produces effects on one person in a congregation, and not upon another. We cannot explain why, in some cases--with every possible advantage, and in spite of every entreaty--people reject the word, and continue dead in trespasses and sins. We cannot explain why in other cases--with every possible difficulty, and with no encouragement--people are born again, and become decided Christians. We cannot define the manner in which the Spirit of God conveys life to a soul, and the exact process by which a believer receives a new nature. All these are hidden things to us. We see certain results, but we can go no further. "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." [John 3:8]~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Mark, [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1985], 74-75. {Mark 4:26-29}

Some leaders are born women.- Geraldine Ferraro, 1935 - 2011

Man, here below, lives so entirely among sensible things,
and meditates so little upon spiritual objects, that he comes
to look upon that which is spiritual as unreal, and upon
material things as the only realities. For most men, houses,
and lands, and gold are more real than God and the soul. The
former address the five senses, whereas "no man hath seen God
at any time," and the soul is not apprehensible by any sensuous
organ. Yet the invisible God is more real than any other being,
for he is the cause and ground of all other existence. It was
an invisible Mind that made the material chaos from nothing,
and brooded over it, and formed it into an orderly and
beautiful cosmos. The invisible is more firmly substantial than
the visible.- W. G. T. Shedd (1820-1894), Sermons to the Spiritual Man, New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1884, p. 177-178

The first mark of a healthy church is expositional preaching. It is not only the first mark; it is far and away the most important of them all, because if you get this one right, all of the others should follow… If you get the priority of the Word established, then you have in place the single most important aspect of the church’s life, and growing health is virtually assured, because God has decided to act by His Spirit through His Word. The congregation’s commitment to the centrality of the Word coming from the front, from the preacher, the one specially gifted by God and called to that ministry, is the most important thing you can look for in a church.- Mark Dever, Nine Marks of a Healthy Church, Crossway, 2000, p. 25, 38.

No man ever enters heaven until he is first convinced that he deserves hell. -John Everett

Success is a great deodorant. It takes away all your past smells.- Elizabeth Taylor, 1932 - 2011

Victory is won not in miles but in inches. Win a little now, hold your ground, and later, win a little more.- Louis L'Amour, 1908 - 1988

With the Lord Jesus Christ nothing is impossible. No stormy passions are so strong; He can tame them. No temper is so rough and violent; He can change it. No conscience is so disturbed; He can speak peace to it and make it calm. No person ever need despair, if they will only bow down their pride, and come as a humbled sinner to Christ. Christ can do miracles upon their heart. No person ever need despair of reaching their journey's end, if they have once committed their soul to Christ's keeping. Christ will carry them through every danger. Christ will make them conqueror over every foe. What if our relatives oppose us? What if our neighbors laugh us to scorn? What if our place be hard? What if our temptations be great? It is all nothing, if Christ is on our side, and we are in the ship with Him. Greater is He that is for us, than all those who are against us.~ J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Mark, [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1985], 85. {Mark 4:35-41} To do anything less than commit ourselves completely to our Lord in simple trust during the troubling times in our lives is to insult His wisdom. To resist Him, question Him, doubt Him, or criticize what He allows in our lives is to deny that He is the only wise God, and claim that we are wiser than He.- Richard L. Strauss, Treasures of Wisdom,www.bible.org, The best measure of spiritual life is not ecstasies but obedience. - Oswald Chambers The humblest citizen of all the land, when clad in the armor of a righteous cause, is stronger than all the hosts of error.- William Jennings Bryan, 1860 - 1925 A man who murders another shortens by a few brief years the life of a human being; but he who votes to increase the burden of debts upon the people of the United States assumes a graver responsibility.- William Jennings Bryan, 1860 - 1925

The attributes of God, once so full of terror, are become [the Christian’s] shield, his stronghold, and his triumph; and he can think of all the glorious perfections of the Almighty, and then say, “I will go unto God, my exceeding joy.” His resistless power, His infinite wisdom, His unchanging fidelity to His word – all these are sources of triumph to everyone who, having believed in Christ, has become a child of God.- John MacDuff, The Throne of Grace, Alexander Strahan Publishers, 1865.

Children of God... will you not bear witness, that, through all your trials and troubles, the faithfulness of your Savior's love has been the “very joy of your hearts?” You have had many crosses and losses – has He ever deserted you? You have been in severe afflictions, and have seen the flowers of many a “sweet hope” wither and decay – did your Friend desert you then? Others may have proved faithless – all other help may have failed you – friendship’s help, promised help, expected help – all, all may have been but as the foam upon the billow, as the footsteps in the sand – but, has Christ ever failed you? Could you, in the darkest and the saddest hour of your grief, say to Him? “Lord, You have promised what You did not perform.” Will you not bear witness concerning the past? – “Not one good thing has failed, of all that the Lord has promised – all has come to pass.”-John MacDuff, The Throne of Grace, Alexander Strahan Publishers, 1865.

If man is not fit to govern himself, how can he be fit to govern someone else?.- James Madison, 1751 - 1836

The essence of Government is power; and power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse.- James Madison, 1751 - 1836

When a man is getting better, he understands more and more clearly the evil that is still in him. When a man is getting worse, he understands his own badness less and less.C. S. Lewis

When a person turns to Christ empty—that they may be filled; sick—that they may be healed; hungry—that they may be satisfied; thirsty—that they may be refreshed; needy—that they may be enriched; dying—that they may have life; lost—that they may be saved; guilty—that they may be pardoned; sin-defiled—that they may be cleansed; confessing that Christ alone can supply their need—then they come to Christ. This, and nothing more than this, is coming to Christ.~ J.C. Ryle, Tract: Come!

The best Christian has not always a joyous day. Our sins make sorrows needful – our lack of watchfulness may bring disquietude and doubt, and, instead of “rejoicing in the Lord,” our hearts may be filled with despondency and gloom. Christian! if you have not this joy “abiding” in you now, you have cause for alarm; for, be assured, it is suspended, not from any lack of love on the part of your Savior, nor from any forgetfulness of you by the Holy Spirit, but, because you yourself have become less watchful, in guarding the citadel of the heart.
- John MacDuff, The Throne of Grace, Alexander Strahan Publishers, 1865.

Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters..- Albert Einstein, 1879 - 1955

Example isn't another way to teach, it is the only way to teach..- Albert Einstein, 1879 - 1955

If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or objects.

Women marry men hoping they will change. Men marry women hoping they will not.- Albert Einstein, 1879 - 1955

Settle it firmly in your mind that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself has spoken most plainly about the reality and eternity of hell. The parable of the rich man and Lazarus contains things which should make men tremble. But it does not stand alone. No lips have used so many words to express the awfulness of hell, as the lips of Him who spoke as never man spoke, and who said, "The word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s which sent Me" (John 14:24). Hell, hell fire, the damnation of hell, eternal damnation, the resurrection of damnation, everlasting fire, the place of torment, destruction, outer darkness, the worm that never dies, the fire that is not quenched, the place of weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth, everlasting punishment—these are the words which the Lord Jesus Christ Himself employs. Away with the miserable nonsense which people talk in this day, who tell us that the ministers of the gospel should never speak of hell! They only show their own ignorance, or their own dishonesty, when they talk in such a manner. No person can honestly read the four Gospels and fail to see that they who would follow the example of Christ must speak of hell.~ J.C. Ryle

Holiness: Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties, and Roots, “A Woman to be Remembered”, [Moscow, ID: Charles Nolan Publishing, 2001], 209, 210.

Prayer is the acid test of devotion.- Samuel Chadwick

The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people.

-- Theodore Roosevelt

Lord, often have I thought to myself, I will sin but this

one sin more, and then I will repent of it, and of all the rest

of my sins together. So foolish was I, and ignorant. As if I

should be more able to pay my debts when I owe more: or as if I

should say, I will wound my friend once again, and then I will

lovingly shake hands with him; but what if my friend will not

shake hands with me?-Thomas Fuller (1608-1661), Good Thoughts in Bad Times [1645], Chicago: United Society of Christian Endeavor, Boston, 1898, XXIII