“The first part of a good work is the will, the second is vigorous effort in the doing of it. God is the author of both. It is, therefore, robbery from God to arrogate anything to ourselves, either in the will or the act.”

When I took the leap, I had faith I would find a net; Instead I learned I could fly.

We should ask God to increase our hope when it is small, awaken it when it is dormant, confirm it when it is wavering, strengthen it when it is weak, and raise it up when it is overthrown.

Unless God’s Word illumine the way, the whole life of men is wrapped in darkness and mist, so that they cannot but miserably stray.

It is therefore faith alone which justifies, and yet the faith which justifies is not alone.

Repentance is the true turning of our life to God, a turning that arises from a pure and earnest fear of Him; and it consists in the mortification of the flesh and the renewing of the Spirit.

If God does nothing random, there must always be something to learn.

A man that extols himself is a fool and an idiot.

We must not think that [God] takes no notice of us, when He does not answer our wishes: for He has a right to distinguish what we actually need.

But those who wish to prove to unbelievers that Scripture is the Word of God are acting foolishly, for only by faith can this be known.

There is not one blade of grass, there is no color in this world that is not intended to make men rejoice.

Men will never worship God with a sincere heart, or be roused to fear and obey Him with sufficient zeal, until they properly understand how much they are indebted to His mercy.

Man’s mind is like a store of idolatry and superstition; so much so that if a man believes his own mind it is certain that he will forsake God and forge some idol in his own brain.

Whenever the Lord holds us in suspense, and delays his aid, he is not therefore asleep, but, on the contrary, regulates all His works in such a manner that he does nothing but at the proper time.

God works in his elect in two ways: inwardly, by his Spirit; outwardly, by his Word.

You must submit to supreme suffering in order to discover the completion of joy.

A man will be justified by faith when, excluded from righteousness of works, he by faith lays hold of the righteousness of Christ, and clothed in it, appears in the sight of God not as a sinner, but as righteous.

Being real is effortless, my child, because it means we’ve embraced exactly who we are.

Promise had made a bond with efforts! Sadly, ego came in between them.

For I found myself embarrassed with so many doubts and errors that it seemed to me that the effort to instruct myself had no effect other than the increasing discovery of my own ignorance

Good habits take effort to develop, but once you have them, everything is easy.

Discovering the truth about ourselves is a lifetime’s work, but it’s worth the effort.

You ask what I’ve been doing all this time as if surviving wasn’t much of an effort.

You have to put in the effort and go above and beyond everything you know. ⁣

Life gets better, not by chance but by consistent efforts from the individual end.