The love of Christ is my prayer-book.
[b]-- Gerhard Tersteegen.[/b]
No erudtion, no purity of diction, no width of mental outlook, no flowers of eloquence, no grace of person can atone for the lack of fire. [b]Prayer ascends by fire.[/b] Flame gives prayer access as well as wings, acceptance as well as energy. There is no incence without fire; no prayer without flame.
[b]-- E. M. Bounds[/b]
Love is kindled in a flame, and ardency is its life. Flame is the air which true Christian experience breathes. It feeds on fire; it can withstand anything, rather than a feeble flame; but when the surrounding atmosphere is frigid or lukewarm, it dies, chilled and starved to its vitals. [b]True prayer MUST be aflame.[/b]
[b]-- E. M. Bounds[/b]
Tell me in the light of the Cross, isn’t it a scandal that you and I live today as we do?
[b]-- Alan Redpath[/b]
Well you speak of grace and my love so sweet
How you thrive on milk, but reject My meat
And I can't help weeping of how it will be
If you keep on ignoring My words
Well you pray to prosper and succeed
But your flesh is something I just can't feed!
[...]
To obey is better than sacrifice
I want hearts of fire
Not your prayers of ice
And I'm coming quickly
To give back to you
According to what you have done
[b]-- Keith Green, "To Obey is Better than Sacrifice"[/b]
Do you see, do you see, all the people sinking down,
Don't you care, don't you care, are you gonna let them drown,
How can you be so numb, not to care if they come,
You close your eyes and pretend the job's done.
Oh Bless me Lord, bless me Lord, you know it's all I ever hear,
No one aches, no one hurts, no one even sheds one tear,
But He cries, He weeps, He bleeds, and He cares for your needs,
And you just lay back and keep soaking it in, [b]oh, can't you see it's such sin?[/b]
Cause He brings people to your door,
And you turn them away, as you smile and say,
God bless you, be at peace, and all Heaven just weeps,
[b]Cause Jesus came to your door, you've left Him out on the streets.
Open up, open up, and give yourself away,[/b]
You've seen the need, you hear the cry, so how can you delay,
God's calling and you're the one, but like Jonah you run,
He's told you to speak, but you keep holding it in,
Oh, can't you see it's such sin?
The world is sleeping in the dark,
That the church can't fight, cause it's asleep in the light,
How can you be so dead, when you've been so well fed,
Jesus rose from the grave, and you, you can't even get out of bed,
Oh, Jesus rose from the dead, come on, get out of your bed!
[b]-- Keith Green, "Asleep in the Light"[/b]
The Gospel is not an old, old story, freshly told. It is a fire in the Spirit, fed by the flame of Immortal Love; and woe unto us, if, through our negligence to stir up the Gift of God which is within us, that fire burns low.
[b]-- Dr. R. Moffat Gautrey[/b]
To bring fire on earth He came;
Kindled in some hearts it is,
But O that ALL might catch the blaze,
And ALL partake the glorious bliss.
The baptism of the heaven-descended Dove,
My heart the altar, and Thy love the flame.
[b]-- George Croly[/b]
Come as the fire, and purge our hearts
With sacrificial flame;
Let our whole soul an offering be
To our Redeemer’s Name.
[b]-- Andrew Reed[/b]
Could a mariner sit idle if he heard the drowning cry?
Could a doctor sit in comfort and just let his patients die?
Could a fireman sit idle, let men burn and give no hand?
Can you sit at ease in Zion with the world around you DAMNED?
[b]-- Leonard Ravenhill[/b]
Give me the love that leads the way,
The faith that nothing can dismay,
The hope no disappointments tire,
The passion that will burn like fire,
Let me not sink to be a clod:
Make me Thy fuel, Flame of God.
[b]-- Amy Wilson Carmichael[/b]
O for a passionate passion for souls,
O for a pity that yearns!
O for the love that loves unto death,
O for the fire that burns!
O for the pure prayer-power that prevails,
That pours itself out for the lost!
Victorious prayer in the Conqueror’s Name,
O for a PENTECOST!
[b]-- Amy Wilson Carmichael[/b]
Their iniquity -- pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness.
[b]-- Ezekiel 16:49[/b]
Oh! for a heart that is burdened!
Infused with a passion to pray;
Oh! for a stirring within me;
Oh! for His power every day.
Oh! for a heart like my Saviour,
Who, being in an agony, prayed.
Such caring for OTHERS, Lord, give me;
On my heart let burdens be laid.
My Father, I long for this passion,
To pour myself out for the lost--
To lay down my life to save others--
"To pray," whatever the cost.
Lord, teach me, Oh teach me this secret,
I’m hungry this lesson to learn,
This passionate passion for others,
For this, blessed Jesus, I yearn.
Father, this lesson I long for from Thee--
Oh, let Thy Spirit reveal this to me.
[b]-- Mary Warburton Booth[/b]
Brethren, it is just so much humbug to be waiting for this, night after night, month after month, if we ourselves are not right with God. I must ask myself -- "Is my heart pure? Are my hands clean?"
[b]-- Comment from the Hebrides Revival[/b]
![[url=http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/image/earth_night.jpg]a photograph of the world at night[/url]](http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/image/earth_night.jpg){kind=link}