…as James 2:19 points out, if faith has a proper object but is merely credal, then the devils themselves can be said to believe – but with no benefit to them. Faith not only must have a proper object, but also must issue from need and be characterized by genuine trust and obedience.
D. A. Carson
Men that do not see God in an affliction are easily cast into a feverish fit. They will quickly be in a flame, and when their passions are up, they will begin to be saucy, and will make no bones of telling God to His face that they do well to be angry, Jonah 4:8-9….If God’s hand not be seen in the affliction, the heart will do nothing but fret and rage under affliction.
Thomas Brooks
Our Holy Father and our God, we give You thanks for Your infinite goodness and the abounding mercy that You shower upon us. Your mercies are new to us each morning, and Your covenant faithfulness is everlasting. In faithfulness and love You purposed from all eternity to provide for us a savior, Jesus Christ, to meet our greatest need. We were deserving only of death and damnation through the sin of our first father Adam and our own sins which we heaped upon his. Yet in Jesus Christ and His atoning work You have reconciled us to Yourself…at a cost which we can only begin to comprehend darkly at best.
Were that not enough, You have given us Holy Spirit to be our Counselor, Advocate and Comforter. By Him You gave Your word to prophets and Apostles, that it might be ours as well. By Him You converted our hearts, gave us new birth, and changed us from enemies to friends and children. By Him You help us to understand Your word, that it might be a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. By Him You recall to us all that we need to know, and keep our feet in level places. In Him You strengthen and guide us each day.
It is only as Your children, by Holy Spirit that we are able to come to You in prayer, O Father. And now…hear our prayers…
We know, because Your word tells us and because we know it in our own hearts, that our prayers, including this one, are insufficient. We are foolish, and we do not even know what to pray for. By Holy Spirit, O Father, complete our prayers and our thanks.
All this in Christ’s holy name we pray.
I feel that as long as the Shire lies behind, safe and comfortable, I shall find wandering more bearable: I shall know that somewhere there is a firm foothold, even if my feet cannot stand there again.
Frodo
Materialists and madmen never have doubts.
GKC
See how religion provides cordials, where irreligion administers corrosives.
Matthew Henry
A small circle is as infinite as a large circle.
GKC
