If you faithfully witness for Christ, you will at times feel very much dejected. Men ought always to pray, and not to faint. Have no relish for anything of this world, do not be swallowed up in its cares. Roll your soul and all your cares on God. Perceive the all sufficiency of God and the stability of His promises. It is a mercy to have a God and Savior like JESUS. How miserable must the lost be who have no knowledge of, or value for the throne of grace. Atheists are the most daring and presumptuous wretches that you'll ever meet. You have never met a person as hardened as an atheist, and so determined to turn the Scriptures into ridicule. O how dreadfully depraved is human nature.
My soul is at times too much swallowed up with the things of this present world. Cherish God's words. The Gospel is true, Muhammed is accursed, and the Koran is of no authority. *Galatians 1:8-9* I wish for more submission in my heart to God's will. O for contentment, delight in God, and much of His fear before my eyes. It is hard work to always be in the exercise of a spirit of meekness.
Lord, please take full possession of my heart and mind. Men are anxious today to know the right way to enter Eternity. God, help me to take Jesus to the lost. O what a portion is God, and what a shame that I am not always satisfied with Him. We must practice absolute faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. God by His Holy Spirit must convince the lost of their sin. Human nature is the very same all the world over, and all conviction fails except if it is produced by the effectual working of the Holy Spirit.
O Lord, enlarge my heart. The foolish wandering of our mind takes us away from God. I need wisdom from above daily to know how to direct all my concerns and affairs, and fortitude and affectionate concern for the glory of God. My soul is like a mere jungle at times, not a well-managed garden. I wish for more subserviency to God's divine will. O what a body of death do I carry around, how little trouble I can bear, how little patience have I under the contradictions I meet with, how little are my afflictions sanctified.
We need the fellowship and countenance of our Christians friends to stir us up to holy activity and to be diligent in the things of God. No happiness or usefulness is to be expected unless we live near to God. O what a mercy it is to live near to God, and to realize His presence and goodness. Lack of communion with God leads to dullness and peevishness. We quickly become cross, fretful, easily annoyed, irritated, snappish, waspish, touchy, ugly, sulky, huffy, testy, spiteful, and disagreeable.
What a Hell life would be to be like those who fear not God. O how much more zealous are idolaters than Christians. Idolaters are so enthusiastic, dedicated, and fearless. The conversion of the lost is the object which above all others we should wish to pursue. O how little of my will is swallowed up in God. O Lord, enable me to contend for the truth as it is in Jesus. All my lot and times are in the hand of God. The natural man has no sense of God's infinite Wisdom and Goodness which order all things here below.
O what is there in all this world worth living for but the presence and service of God. My burning desire is that all the world may know the Incarnate God and serve Him. Testify of Christ Crucified to those around you. O that God would make me wholly resigned to His will in all things. How wicked is the heart of man, and what a curse must it be to be wholly under sin's wicked dominion; for then are all of God's mercies repelled, all privileges neglected, and all of God's authority slighted. Be resolved to spend and be spent in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Most High is a prayer-hearing God. I need abundant grace continually in order to communicate divine things to others. True believers will naturally speak of the things of Christ as a fountain casts forth streams of water. We must be enabled through Mercy to be faithful and speak of the necessity of faith in Christ's Blood so men may obtain salvation. Be valiant for the truth. All my hope is in the LORD, and all my comfort arises from God, for without the Holy Spirit's power can no man anywhere possibly be converted, and only the Spirit's power can convert the American heathen or the Borneo heathen. I am such a weak, unworthy thing.
Convert - the turning of the soul from sin to the Savior. Conversion is the the Holy Spirit turning a bad life into a godly one, to change the heart and moral character from enmity to God and from vicious habits, to the love of God and godly habits and living. To be converted means to become Christlike and childlike in faith, yielding, teachable, obedient, meek, lowly, and dependent on God. *Psalm 19:7; 51:13; Isaiah 6:10; Matthew 13:15; 18:3; Luke 22:32; John 12:40; Acts 3:19; Acts 28:27; James 5:19-20*
It is good to commit my soul, my body, and my all into the hands of God, for then the world appears little, God's promises great, and God is my all sufficient Portion. I long to have all the fetters of my besetting sins knocked off. Holy Spirit, draw me nearer to the Cross where Jesus died, draw me closer to His precious bleeding side. I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold. Christ is all I need. Jesus laid down His life to make a wretch like me His treasure and friend. His bloody wounds have paid all my ransom. My soul shall make her boast only in Jesus Christ.
I believe I'll decide upon a better life, I ought to be good, I'm bad, I'm sorry I am. I am wrong, I have offended God and lived rebelliously in sin. I ought to get right, I want to be good. I will give my life to nobler, better things. I will eschew evil, learn to do good, walk away from evil, walk in the light of God's fellowship. I will seek God's favor through faith in Jesus' blood, and seek to live in righteousness.
