LEAN UPON CHRIST
“If you would not be taken in any of Satan’s snares, then engage not against Satan in your own strength, but be every day drawing new virtue and strength from the Lord Jesus” Thomas Brooks (ref#379, p36).
“[Y]our strength to stand and overcome must not be expected from graces received, but from the fresh and renewed influences of heaven. You must lean more upon Christ than upon your duties. You must lean more upon Christ than upon spiritual tastes and discoveries. You must lean more upon Christ than upon your graces, or else Satan will lead you into captivity” Thomas Brooks (ref#379, p36).
“Believers are compared to earthen vessels, liable in themselves to be destroyed by a small blow; but they are so strengthened and tempered by the power and supply of divine grace that the fiercest efforts of their fiercest enemies against them may be compared to the dashing of waves against a rock. And that this may be known and noticed, they are exposed to many trials. But the united and repeated assaults of the men of the world and the powers of darkness afford but the more incontestable demonstration that the Lord is with them” John Newton (ref#376, p20).
“Christ will not fail you. He may permit, for wise and holy ends, the messenger of Satan to buffet you; but He will restrain the enemy, permitting him to go so far and no farther, and will make good His promise: ‘My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness’ (2 Co 12:9). This very temptation of your soul may make you better acquainted with Christ than ever. For this end, doubtless, He permits it” Octavius Winslow (ref#381, p45).
“God does deal with us as a loving but firm father deals with his children. He accepts us unconditionally because we are His sons and daughters in Christ, but He disciplines us for our good. And in the administering of His discipline He withholds the assurance of His forgiveness until we, through repentance, are ready to receive it” Jerry Bridges (ref#192, p206).
“In a little while, He will come and complete the victory begun in Paradise, continued in the wilderness, renewed on the cross, carried on through the long history of His church, and consummated in the day of His personal, glorious, and triumphant appearing. Tempted child of God! Take heart! Look up” Octavius Winslow (ref#381, p46)!
Bonnie's Prayer Affair 