Psalm 32:5
"I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin."

David's grief for sin was bitter. Its effects were visible upon his outward frame: "his bones waxed old"; "his moisture was turned into the drought of summer." No remedy could he find, until he made a full confession before the throne of the heavenly grace. He tells us that for a time he kept silence, and his heart became more and more filled with grief: like a mountain tarn whose outlet is blocked up, his soul was swollen with torrents of sorrow. He fashioned excuses; he endeavoured to divert his thoughts, but it was all to no purpose; like a festering sore his anguish gathered, and as he would not use the lancet of confession, his spirit was full of torment, and knew no rest.

At last it came to this, that he must return unto his God in humble penitence, or die outright; so he hastened to the mercy-seat, and there unrolled the volume of his iniquities before the all-seeing One, acknowledging all the evil of his ways in language such as you read in the fifty-first and other penitential Psalms. Having done this, a work so simple and yet so difficult to pride, he received at once the token of divine forgiveness; the bones which had been broken were made to rejoice, and he came forth from his closet to sing the blessedness of the man whose transgression is forgiven.

See the value of a grace-wrought confession of sin! It is to be prized above all price, for in every case where there is a genuine, gracious confession, mercy is freely given, not because the repentance and confession deserve mercy, but for Christ's sake.

Blessed be God, there is always healing for the broken heart; the fountain is ever flowing to cleanse us from our sins. Truly, O Lord, thou art a God "ready to pardon!" Therefore will we acknowledge our iniquities.

—C.H. Spurgeon (Devotional)

The prayers that we offer are, as it were, keys by which to come to the treasures that God reserves for us.

—John Calvin

Prayer is an earnest and familiar talking with God.

—John Knox

Though desolate; put your trust in the LORD. You know who hath said, I will never leave or forsake thee.

—George Whitefield

Habakkuk 3:17-18
Although the fig tree shall not blossom, Neither shall fruit be in the vines;

The labour of the olive shall fail, And the fields shall yield no meat; The flock shall be cut off from the fold, And there shall be no herd in the stalls:

Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.

Get an interest in the unchangeable God, then thou art as a rock in the sea, immoveable in the midst of all changes.

—Thomas Watson

Temptations, of course, cannot be avoided, but because we cannot prevent the birds from flying over our heads, there is no need that we should let them nest in our hair.

—Martin Luther

Fill your affections with the cross of Christ, that there may be no room for sin.

—John Owen

If you wish to know God, you must know His Word.

—C.H. Spurgeon

Colossians 1:9-14
For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;

that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness;

giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins.

Resolved, to study the Scriptures so steadily, constantly & frequently, as that I may find, and plainly perceive myself to grow in the knowledge of the same.

—Jonathan Edwards

It is no small comfort to the saints that this world is the worst place that they shall ever be in. If the traveler has spent all his money, yet it does not much trouble him if he knows himself to be within a few miles of his own home.

—John Flavel

Go to Church!

Hebrews 10:23-25
Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

As kids we played games drawn from scenarios of war. When a friend approached we pretended that we were guards. The dialogue was simple: “Halt! Who goes there? Friend or foe?” Our categories left no room for indifferent neutrality. They were restricted to two options, friend or enemy. Those are the only options we have in our relationship with God—nobody is neutral. We are either God’s friends or God’s enemies.

Jonathan Edwards once preached a sermon noscriptd, “Man, Naturally God’s Enemies.” In this sermon Edwards declared: “Men, in general, will own that they are sinners. There are few, if any, whose consciences are so blinded as not to be sensible they have been guilty of sin … And yet few of them are sensible that they are God’s enemies. They do not see how they can be truly so called; for they are not sensible that they wish God any hurt, or endeavor to do Him any.”

Yet despite human protestations to the contrary, Scripture clearly describes natural fallen men as enemies of God. Paul, in speaking of our salvation, wrote, “when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son” (Romans 5:10). Again, “And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies [of God] in your mind by wicked works (Colossians 1:21). Also, “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.”
(Romans 8:7)

It is not pleasure that you should fear, but uncontrolled desire.

—Augustine

Get this deep into your soul, 'Christ died for me,'
and you will soon be ready to die for him.

—C.H. Spurgeon

Oh, men and women, pray through, pray through! Do not just begin to pray and pray a little while and throw up your hands and quit; but pray and pray and pray until God bends the heavens and comes down.

—R.A. Torrey

Scripture is the ongoing rapport between heaven and earth, between Christ and his church, between God and his children.

—Herman Bavinck

Humility is the beginning of worship.

—John Calvin

There is a false tenderness in the world — a tenderness cut off from Christ — that poses as compassion and leads to concentration camps.

—John Piper

Prayer turns theology into experience.

—Tim Keller