More Great Quotes

"Someone asked 'Will the heathen who have never heard the
Gospel be saved?' It is more a question with me whether we --
who have the Gospel and fail to give it to those who have not --
can be saved." - Charles Spurgeon

"A thing is not necessarily true because badly uttered, nor false
because spoken magnificently." - Saint Augustine

"Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending. You plan a tower that
will pierce the clouds? Lay first the foundation of humility."
- Saint Augustine

"Humility is the foundation of all the other virtues hence, in the
soul in which this virtue does not exist there cannot be any other
virtue except in mere appearance." - Saint Augustine

"He loves God too little, who loves ANYTHING (together with Him),
which He loves not for His sake." - St. Augustine

"A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship
Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word,
'darkness' on the walls of his cell."- C.S. Lewis

"If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most
for the present world were precisely those who thought most of
the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the
other world that they have become so ineffective in this." - C.S. Lewis

"The safest road to hell is the gradual one - the gentle slope, soft
underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without
signposts." - C.S. Lewis

"There are far better things ahead than any we leave behind."
- C.S. Lewis

"God doesn't call the equipped; He equips the called." - Anonymous

"The Devil is not afraid of the Bible that has dust on it." - Anonymous

"If men can get to heaven by being good then the death of Christ
is the worst waste in human history." - Dr. Toussaint

Edward Payson - criticality of prayer

EDWARD PAYSON - PRAYER Makes HISTORY
-by David Smithers.

E. M. Bounds in his classic little book "Power Through Prayer",
wrote, "What the Church needs today is not more or better
machinery, not new organizations or more and novel methods, but
men whom the Holy Ghost can use - men of prayer, men mighty
in prayer."

Edward Payson was just such a man; a man mighty in prayer.
"He prayed without ceasing and felt safe nowhere but at the throne
of grace. He may be said to have studied theology on his knees.
Much of his time he spent literally prostrated with his Bible open
before him pleading the promise; "I will send the comforter and
when He, The Spirit of Truth is come, He will guide you into all
truth." Payson's advice to his fellow ministers was, "prayer is the
first thing, the second thing and the third thing necessary to a
minister. Pray then my dear brother, pray, pray." It has been well
said that the secret of Edward Payson's ministry was that he
prayed much in secret. The scars on his bedroom floor testify to
this fact. Next to Payson's bed were deep grooves in the hardwood
floor were his knees had pressed repeatedly in times of travail.

To read "Praying Payson's" diary is to be touched by his heart
longings and tender love for Jesus and the lost. On January 4,
1807, he wrote, "I was favored with a spirit of prayer beyond all my
former experience. I was in great agony and wrestled both for
myself and others with great power. God seemed to bow the
heavens and come down and open all His treasures, bidding me,
take what I would."

January 29th, "I never felt such longings after God or such a desire
to depart to be with Christ. My soul thirsted for more full
communion with my God and Savior. I do not now feel satisfied as
I used to with the manifestations of the divine presence, but still
feel hungry and craving." February 18, "I was enabled to lie at
Jesus' feet and to wash them with the tears of contrition. No
pleasure I have ever found in the Christian life is superior to this."
February 28, "I was favored with great enlargement in prayer. I
seemed to be carried out of myself into the presence of God."

Like all true men of prayer, Payson understood the need for true
humility. "It was the burden of his secret prayers that he might be
delivered from pride, from self-seeking, from preaching himself
instead of Christ Jesus the Lord." Through humility and fervent
prayer he was always in hopes of seeing a fresh wave of revival.
"The revivals which took place under his labors were numerous and
were characterized by a depth and power seldom seen." Often
Payson congregation was overwhelmed with a sense of Christ's
presence and power and irresistibly brought to tears. Mr. Payson's
diary testifies of the power and necessity of prayer for revival.
September 27th, "In the evening I was favored with great faith and
fervency in prayer. It seemed as if God would deny me nothing,
and I wrestled for multitudes of souls, and could not help hoping
there would be revival here." September 28, "I was favored with the
greatest degree of freedom and fervency in interceding for others. I
seemed to travail in birth with poor sinners and could not help
hoping the God is about to do something for His glory and the
good of souls." Within days, "Praying Payson" saw his prayers
answered through a fresh work of revival power.

On April 23, 1808, Edward Payson wrote, "My heart seemed
ready to break with its longings after holiness." Such longings for
heart purity, revival power and the person of Jesus are the marks
of a healthy and normal Christian life. The lack of these precious
things in the modern Church reveal a nominal Christian life. Too
much of what is called the Church today is not fit to live or die.
The nominal Christian is unfit to deal with our demon possessed
age or the coming judgment seat of Christ. Truly the Church's
greatest need is for men and women, mighty in prayer. We need
men and women who will pray and yearn for revival. Lord make us
a praying people!
__________________

References Used:

Memoir, Select Thoughts and Sermons of Rev. Edward Payson
Compiled by Asa Cummings

Touching Incidents and Remarkable Answers to Prayer by S. B. Shaw

Power Through Prayer by E. M. Bounds
--
~Source - WWW.WATCHWORD.ORG