GOD-DEVOTION TO
On January
12, 1723, I made a solemn dedication of myself to God, and wrote it down;
giving up myself, and all that I had to God; to be for the future, in no
respect, my own; to act as one that had no right to be himself, in any
respect. And solemnly vowed to take God
for my whole portion and felicity; looking on nothing else, as any part of my happiness, nor acting as if it were; and His law for the
constant rule of my obedience: engaging to fight against the world, the flesh
and the devil, to the end of my life.
I have this
day solemnly renewed my baptismal covenant and self-dedication, which I renewed
when I was received into the communion of the church. I have been before God;
and have given myself, all that I am and have to God, so that I am not in any
respect my own: I can challenge no right in myself, I can challenge no right in
this understanding, this will, these affections that are in me; neither have I
any right to this body, or any of its members: no right to this tongue, these
hands, nor feet: no right to these senses, these eyes, these ears, this smell
or taste. I have given myself clear away, and have not retained anything as my
own. I have been to God this morning, and told Him that I gave myself wholly to
Him. I have given every power to Him; so that for the future I will challenge
no right in myself, in any respect.
Jonathan Edwards
“Extractions
from his Private Diary,” Jonathan Edwards: A Profile, Hill and Wang, 1969, p.
12-13.
God, I pray
Thee, light thee idle sticks of my life and may I burn
for Thee. Consume my life, my God, for
it is Thine. I
seek not a long life, but a full one, like You, Lord Jesus.
Jim Elliot
No one can
sum up all God is able to accomplish through one solitary life, wholly yielded,
adjusted, and obedient to Him.
D.L. Moody
Day by day,
dear Lord, of Thee three things I pray:
To see Thee more clearly, To love Thee more
dearly, To follow Thee more nearly.
Richard of Chichester
Quoted in: Sinclair Ferguson, A Heart for
God, 1987, p. xi, by permission Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA.
I am a
disciple of the Messiah. I will not let
up, look back or slow down. My past is
redeemed, my future is secure. I am done
with low living, small planning, smooth knees, mundane talking, chincy giving, and dwarfed goals. I no longer need pre-eminence, prosperity,
position or popularity. I don't have to
be right, first, tops, recognized, praised or rewarded. My face is set; my goal is sure. My road is narrow, my way is rough, my
companions few. My God is reliable, my
mission is clear. I cannot be bought,
compromised, detoured, delayed or deluded.
I will not flinch in the face of adversity, not negotiate at the table of the
enemy or meander in the maze of mediocrity.
I am a disciple of the Messiah. I
must go until He comes, speak of all I know of Him and work until He stops me. And when He comes for His
own, by the grace of God, He will have no problem recognizing me, because my
colors are clear.
Unknown Zimbabwean Pastor
What you are
when you are alone with God, that you are – and nothing more. You may make a great show of love and faith
in church, singing like Pavarotti or attracting the masses to your profound
Sunday school lectures. But if there is
no private communion between you and Jesus – frequent and deep communion – then
your religion is worthless.
Kris Lundgaard
The Enemy Within, P&R Publishing, 1998,
p. 119.
I
am no longer my own, but Yours. Put me to what You
will, rank me with whom You will; put me to doing, put me to suffering; let me
be employed for You or laid aside for You, exalted for You or brought low for
You; let me be full, let me be empty; let me have all things, let me have
nothing; I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things to Your pleasure and
disposal.
John Wesley
The
Methodist Service Book, Methodist Publishing House, 1975, D10.
[His] heart
is ever lifted up to God at all times and in all places. In this he is never hindered, much less
interrupted, by any person or thing. In retirement
or company, in leisure, business, or conversation, his heart is ever with the
Lord. Whether he lie down or rise up,
God is in all his thoughts; he walks with God continually, having the loving
eye of his mind still fixed upon Him, and everywhere “seeing him that is
invisible.”
John Wesley
Works, VII, Zondervan, www.zondervan.com, 1959, p. 343.
I would like
to buy three dollars worth of God, please. Not enough to explode my soul or
disturb my sleep, but just enough of Him to equal a cup of warm milk or a
snooze in the sunshine. I don't want enough of Him to make me love a black man
or pick beets with a migrant. I want ecstasy, not transformation. I want the
warmth of the womb, not a new birth. I want a pound of the Eternal in a paper
sack, please. I would like to buy three dollars worth of God, please.
Wilbur Reese
Nothing less
than a living sacrifice is demanded. Not
a loan, but a gift; not a compromise, but a sacrifice; not our poorest, but our
best. Not a dead but a living
offering. Each drop of our blood, each
ounce of our energy, each throb of our heart, we must offer to God.
Joseph Pearce
Quoted by Curtis C. Thomas, Practical
Wisdom for Pastors, Crossway Books, 2001, p. 133.
Used by Permission.
O Lord our
God, grant us grace to desire Thee with our whole heart; that, so desiring, we
may seek, and seeking find Thee; and so finding Thee may love Thee; and in
loving Thee, may hate those sins from which Thou hast redeemed us.
St. Ansel
If you stop
and ask yourself why you are not so devoted as the (early) Christians, your own
heart will tell you that it is neither through ignorance nor inability, but
purely because you never thoroughly intended it.
William Law
You see, if
we hold back one tiny speck, we are not yielded. There are no degrees of “yieldedness.” It is all or nothing. If we say that we are yielded in every single
area of our life, but are holding back in one tiny area, then we are not
yielded. A burnt offering is totally
burnt. You do not get a leg to keep for
yourself. If we hold back one tiny speck
from the Lord, we have not put our all on the altar! Others may never know, but God does. We may
LOOK quite spiritual, but if we are holding back “just a little,” we are not
yielded. When we put self on the altar, we are reckoning self to be dead – not
sick, or lame, or almost dead, but DEAD!
Death knows no degrees. We are to put our ALL on the altar.
J. Delany
Abiding in Christ, Chapter 9, Used by
Permission.
I wish that
saints would cling to Christ half as earnestly as sinners cling to the
devil. If we were as willing to suffer
for God as some are willing to suffer for their lusts, what perseverance and
zeal would be seen on all sides!
C.H. Spurgeon
We want
personal consecration. I have heard that
word pronounced purse and all consecration, a most excellent
pronunciation. He who loves Jesus
consecrates to Him all that he has, and feels it a delight that he may lay
anything at the feet of Him who laid down his life for us.
C.H. Spurgeon
My son, say
thou thus in everything: ‘Lord, if this be pleasing unto Thee, let it be so.
Lord, if it be to Thy honor, in Thy name let this be
done. Lord, if Thou seest it good, and allowest it to be profitable for me, then
grant unto me that I may use this to Thine honor. But
if Thou knowest it will be harmful unto me, and no
profit to the health of my soul, take away any such desire from me.’
Thomas a Kempis
Devotion
signifies a life given, or devoted to God.
He therefore is the devout (godly) man, who lives no longer to his own
will, or the way and spirit of the world, but to the sole will of God, who
considers God in everything, who makes all the parts of his common life, parts
of piety (godliness), by doing everything in the name of God, and under such
rules as are conformable to His Glory.
John Murray
Principles of Conduct, Eerdmans, 1978, p.
230.
Lord, I give
up all my own plans and purposes, all my own desires and hopes, and accept Thy
will for my life. I give myself, my life, my all utterly to Thee to be Thine forever. Fill me with Thy Holy Spirit. Use me as Thou
wilt; send me where Thou wilt; work out Thy whole will in my life at any cost,
now and forever
Betty Stam
[Sarah
Edwards] did not permit this soul communion to interfere with her daily duties
and tasks, but somewhere in her busy schedule there was always time for a quiet
walk with God. The children early
learned to respect their father’s study hours, but they also recognized these
times which were necessary for their mother, these moments when she needed to
be alone to lose herself in God. They
sensed their mother was Martha; but also she was Mary who sat at the feet of
her Lord.
Edna Gerstner
Jonathan and Sarah: An Uncommon Union, pg. 154, Soli Deo Gloria.
When all were
in their places Father said grace and, excusing himself, left the family to
retire to his study. He frequently spent
thirteen hours a day studying. He
managed this amazing amount of time by husbanding every hour of the day. He usually arose at four in the morning,
indulging himself in the later rising time of five in the winter. In this way he was far along in his studies
while the household slept. He preferred to
eat alone, usually certain foods which he had by
experimentation discovered kept his mind and body most sprightly. This morning he did not eat the rich menu
which Venus set before the rest of the household, the home-cured bacon and the
delicious hot breads. But at the end of
the meal, he rejoined his family for morning devotions.
Edna Gerstner
Jonathan and Sarah: An Uncommon Union, pg. 192, Soli Deo Gloria.
[Jonathan
Edwards wrote of Sarah], “They say there is a young lady in (New Haven) who is
loved of that Great Being, who made and rules the world, and that there are
certain seasons in which this Great Being, in some way or other invisible,
comes to her and fills her mind with exceeding sweet delight; and she hardly
cares for anything, except to meditate on him… she has a strange sweetness in
her mind, and singular purity in their affection… you could not persuade her to
do anything wrong or sinful…. She is of
a wonderful sweetness, calmness and universal benevolence of mind…. She will
sometimes go about from place to place, singing sweetly; and seems to be always
full of joy and pleasure; and no one knows for what. She loves to be alone, walking in the fields
and groves, and seems to have some one invisible
always conversing with her.”
Edna Gerstner
Jonathan and Sarah: An Uncommon Union, pgs. 153- 154, Soli Deo
Gloria.
If God would
grant us the vision, the word ‘sacrifice’ would disappear from our lips and
thoughts; we would hate the things that seem now so dear to us; our lives would
suddenly be too short; we would despise time-robbing distractions and charge
the enemy with all our energies in the name of Christ. May God help us to judge
ourselves by the eternities that separate the Aucas
from a comprehension of Christmas, and Him, who, though He was rich, yet for
our sakes became poor so that we might, through His poverty, be made rich. Lord
God, speak to my own heart and give me to know Thy holy will and the joy of
walking in it. Amen.
Nate Saint
Written just before he was martyred by
the Auca Indians in South America.
Do not have
your concert first and tune your instruments afterward. Begin the day with God.
Hudson Taylor
Quoted in: A Place of Quiet Rest, Moody,
2000, p. 99.
He therefore
is the devout man who lives no longer to his own will, or the way and spirit of
the world, but to the sole will of God, who considers God in everything, who
serves God in everything, who makes all the parts of his common life parts of
piety by doing everything in the name of God and under such rules as are
conformable to His glory."
William Law
Oh that God
would give me the thing which I long for!
That before I go hence and am no more seen, I may see a people wholly
devoted to God, crucified to the world, and the world crucified to them. A people truly given up to God in body, soul
and substance! How cheerfully would I
then say, 'Now lettest thou thy servant
depart in peace.'
John Wesley
He who has
God and everything else does not have more than He who has God alone.
Popular Puritan Saying
It may well
be that (we are) denied triumph after triumph because we will not bring to
Christ what we have and what we are. If, just as we are, we would lay ourselves
on the altar of service of Jesus Christ, there is no saying what Christ could
do with us and through us. We may be sorry and embarrassed that we have not
more to bring -- and rightly so, but that is not reason for failing or refusing
to bring what we have and what we are. Little is always much in the hands of
Christ.
William Barclay
The Gospel of John, v. 1, Saint Andrew Press,
Edinburgh: 1975.
For my part,
my soul is like a hungry and thirsty child; and I need His love and consolation
for my refreshment. I am a wandering and lost sheep; and I need Him as a good
and faithful shepherd. My soul is like a frightened dove pursued by the hawk;
and I need His wounds for a refuge. I am a feeble vine; and I need His cross to
lay hold of, and to wind myself about. I am a sinner, and I need His righteousness.
I am naked and bare; and I need His holiness and innocence for a covering. I am
ignorant, and I need His teaching; simple and foolish, and I need the guidance
of His Holy Spirit. In no situation, and at no time, can I do without Him. Do I pray? He must prompt, and intercede for me. Am I
arraigned by Satan at the divine tribunal. He must be
my Advocate. Am I in affliction? He must be my Helper. Am I persecuted by the
world? He must defend me. When I am forsaken, He must be my support; when I am
dying, my life; when moldering in the grave, my Resurrection. Well, then, I
will rather part with all the world, and all that it
contains, than with Thee, my Savior.
Gotthold
We cannot
give God anything; for everything is already His, and all we have comes from
Him. We can only give Him praise, thanks, and honor.
Martin Luther
I once read
the following definition of a fanatic: "A fanatic is a person who, having
lost sight of his goal, redoubles his effort to get
there." The fanatic runs around frantically getting nowhere. He is a
basketball player without a basket, a tennis player without a net, a golfer
without a green. For a Christian to make progress in ... learning to please
God, he must have a clear idea of what his goal is. ... Jesus stated it this
way: "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these
things shall be added to you."
R.C. Sproul
Pleasing God. Christianity
Today, v. 34, n. 9.
We do not
segment our lives, giving some time to God, some to our business or schooling,
while keeping parts to ourselves. The
idea is to give all of our lives in the presence of God, under the authority of
God, and for the honor and glory of God.
That is what the Christian life is all about.
R.C. Sproul
Am
I robbing God of time? How easy to do, and how impossible to repay! We have lost
the sacred art of spending time with God, and nothing else can ever take its
place. No repentance however deep, no restitution however costly, no sorrow
however complete, can do away with the necessity for a daily time of sacred
quiet, alone with God.
Gordon Guinness
The height of
devotion is reached when reverence and contemplation produce passionate
worship, which in turn breaks forth in thanksgiving and praise in word and
song.
R. Kent Hughes
Disciplines of a Godly Man, Crossway Books,
1991, p. 90.
Prayer
is the acid test of devotion.
Samuel Chadwick
The mark of a
saint is not perfection, but consecration.
A saint is not a man without faults, but a man who has given himself
without reserve to God.
Brooke Foss Westcott
Be much alone with God. Do not put Him
off with a quarter of an hour morning and evening. Take time to get thoroughly acquainted.
Talk everything over with Him. Pour out every thought, feeling, wish, plan, and
doubt to Him. He wants converse with His creatures. Shall His creatures not
want converse with Him? He wants, not merely to be on “good terms” with you, if
one may use man’s phrase, but to be intimate. Shall you decline the intimacy
and be satisfied with mere acquaintance? What! Intimate with the world, with
friends, with neighbors, but not with God? That would look ill indeed. Folly,
to prefer the clay to the potter, the marble to the sculptor, this little earth
and its lesser creatures to the mighty Maker of the universe, the great “All
and in all!”
Horatius Bonar
Follow
the Lamb, 1861.
Our
obligation to love, honor and obey any being is in direct proportion to that
being's loveliness, honorableness and authority. Since God is of infinite loveliness, infinite
honor and infinite authority our obligation to Him is infinite.
Jonathan Edwards
The Justice of God and the Damnation
of Sinners, Sermon.
God thirsts
to be thirsted after.
Augustine
Nothing
else but the habitual and predominant devotion and dedication of soul, and
body, and life, and all that we have to God; and esteeming and loving, and
serving, and seeking Him, before all the pleasures and prosperity of the flesh.
Richard Baxter
A Puritan Golden Treasury,
compiled by I.D.E. Thomas, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 2000, p. 139.
So often we
try to develop Christian character and conduct without taking the time to
develop God-centered devotion. We try to
please God without taking the time to walk with Him and develop a relationship
with Him. This is impossible to do.
Jerry Bridges
The Practice of Godliness, NavPress, 1996, p.
14, www.navpress.com. Used by
Permission.
We can build
Godlike character only upon the foundation of a whole-hearted devotion to
God. God must be the very focal point of
our lives if we wish to have godly character and conduct. This point cannot be overemphasized. Too many of us focus on the outward structure
of character and conduct without taking the time to build the inward foundation
of devotion to God. This often results
in a cold morality or legalism, or even worse, self-righteousness and spiritual
pride… Godly character flows out of devotion to God and practically confirms
the reality of that devotion.
Jerry Bridges
The Practice of Godliness, NavPress, 1996, p.
54, 55, 56, www.navpress.com.
Used by Permission.