On Fire For God?
Do you want to know how to be on fire for God? To explode your spiritual life? Prayer is powerful. There is a spiritual world that is very real. God is Sovereign King and Lord of all. Satan is fighting and does not like Christians to believe that their God is powerful, and to pray, believing He will act! Because he knows that prayer is so powerful that it can change the WORLD! Do you want to set your spiritual life on fire? Read on!
This is week 3 of 5 weeks in which every Tuesday and Thursday, I will be posting an excerpt from the work, entitled “Do You Pray?” by J. C. Ryle, which my husband introduced to our family many years ago, and read to us during our family devotions. It is every bit as powerful today!
Each part can be read separately, so don’t worry if you’re coming into this series in the middle! No problem! But, do go back and read all the posts!
Read and Share all the posts in this Series on Prioritizing Your Spiritual Life, “Do You Pray” by J. C. Ryle:
- Part 1: “Prayer is Helpful to Your Greatest Spiritual Growth”
- Part 2: “Do You Have a Powerful Prayer Life”
- Part 3: “Want to Know the Guaranteed Way to Reach God in True Prayer?”
- Part 4: “Do you Know the God Who Answers Prayer”
- Part 5: “Want to Know How To Explode Your Spiritual Life?”
- Part 6: “How to Immediately Turn If You Are a Backsliding Christian”
- Part 7: “How to Have Terrific Happiness and Contentment”
- Part 8A: “How to End Prayerlessness for Spiritual Survival”
- Part 8B: “The First Steps How to Be Saved By Jesus”
- Part 9: “How to Have a Prayer Life That You and God Both Love”
- Part 10: “How Much Do You Want From God”
And now, “Want to Know How to Explode Your Spiritual Life?”
Part 5, of “Do You Pray?”
by J. C. Ryle
“I ask whether you pray because diligence in prayer is the secret of eminent holiness.”
Wendy GunnOn Fire For God As I Fight The Good Fight
“Without controversy there is a vast difference among true Christians. There is an immense interval between the foremost and the hindermost in the army of God.
They are all fighting the same good fight but how much more valiantly some fight than others. They are all doing the Lord’s work but how much more some do than others.”
On Fire For God as I Run the Race
“They are all light in the Lord; but how much more brightly some shine than others. They are all running the same race; but how much faster some get on than others.
They all love the same Lord and Saviour; but how much more some love him than others. I ask any true Christian whether this is not the case. Are not these things so?”
On Fire for God More Than I Am
“There are some of the Lord’s people who seem never able to get on from the time of their conversion. They are born again, but they remain babes all their lives. You hear from them the same old experience.
You remark in them the same want of spiritual appetite, the same want of interest in any thing beyond their own little circle, which you remarked ten years ago. They are pilgrims, indeed, but pilgrims like the Gibeonites of old; their bread is always dry and moldy, their shoes always old, and their garments always rent and torn. I say this with sorrow and grief; but I ask any real Christian, Is it not true?”
On Fire For God or Not? A Self-Evaluation
“There are others of the Lord’s people who seem to be always advancing. They grow like the grass after rain; they increase like Israel in Egypt; they press on like Gideon, though sometimes faint, yet always pursuing. They are ever adding grace to grace, and faith to faith, and strength to strength.
Every time you meet them their hearts seem larger, and their spiritual stature taller and stronger. Every year they appear to see more, and know more, and believe more, and feel more in their religion.”
On Fire for God and Zealous of Good Works
“They not only have good works to prove the reality of their faith, but they are zealous of them. They not only do well, but they are unwearied in well-doing. They attempt great things, and they do great things.
When they fail they try again, and when they fall they are soon up again. And all this time they think themselves poor, unprofitable servants, and fancy they do nothing at all.”
On Fire for God and A Beautiful Christian
“These are those who make religion lovely and beautiful in the eyes of all. They wrest praise even from the unconverted and win golden opinions even from the selfish men of the world.”
“Prayer is the surest remedy against the devil and besetting sins.”
J. C. Ryle
On Fire for God And Setting Others On Fire
“It does one good to see, to be with, and to hear them. When you meet them, you could believe that like Moses, they had just come out from the presence of God.
When you part with them you feel warmed by their company, as if your soul had been near a fire. I know such people are rare. I only ask, Are there not many such?
Now how can we account for the difference which I have just described? What is the reason that some believers are so much brighter and holier than others?”
On Fire For God Because Of My Prayer Life
“I believe the difference, in nineteen cases out of twenty, arises from different habits about private prayer. I believe that those who are not eminently holy pray little, and those who are eminently holy pray much.”
“I dare say this opinion will startle some readers. I have little doubt that many look on eminent holiness as a kind of special gift, which none but a few must pretend to aim at. They admire it at a distance in books.”
Not On Fire For God And Dangerously Apathetic
“They think it beautiful when they see an example near themselves. But as to its being a thing within the reach of any but a very few, such a notion never seems to enter their minds. In short, they consider it a kind of monopoly granted to a few favored believers, but certainly not to all.”
On Fire For God Because I Am Faithful to Pray
“Now I believe that this is a most dangerous mistake. I believe that spiritual as well as natural greatness depends in a high degree on the faithful use of means within everybody’s reach.
Of course I do not say we have a right to expect a miraculous grant of intellectual gifts; but this I do say, that when a man is once converted to God, his progress in holiness will be much in accordance with his own diligence in the use of God’s appointed means.”
On Fire For God in My Private Prayers
“And I assert confidently that the principal means by which most believers have become great in the church of Christ is the habit of diligent private prayer.”
On Fire for God and It Makes a Difference
“Look through the lives of the brightest and best of God’s servants, whether in the Bible or not. See what is written of Moses and David and Daniel and Paul.”
“Mark what is recorded of Luther and Bradford the Reformers. Observe what is related of the private devotions of Whitefield and Cecil and Venn and Bickersteth and M’Cheyne.
Tell me of one of all the goodly fellowship of saints and martyrs, who has not had this mark most prominently–he was a man of prayer. Depend upon it, prayer is power.”
Depend upon it, prayer is power!
J. C. Ryle
On Fire For God By The Holy Spirit’s Work, But He Loves to Be Asked
“Prayer obtains fresh and continued outpourings of the Spirit. He alone begins the work of grace in a man’s heart. He alone can carry it forward and make it prosper. But the good Spirit loves to be entreated. And those who ask most will have most of his influence.”
On Fire For God And Longing To Be So
“Prayer is the surest remedy against the devil and besetting sins. That sin will never stand firm which is heartily prayed against. That devil will never long keep dominion over us which we beseech the Lord to cast forth. But then we must spread out all our case before our heavenly Physician, if he is to give us daily relief.
Do you wish to grow in grace and be a devoted Christian? Be very sure, if you wish it, you could not have a more important question than this–Do you pray?”
If you haven’t shared the posts in this Series, share them now!
I recommend that you copy each of these posts, or bookmark them, so you can read a little or a lot at a time. Print them out, if you’re like me and like to underline parts that the Lord causes to jump off the page!
May I suggest that you read this aloud with your family this summer! You could take time during your family devotions or in the evenings, or with your kids right after lunch, or during your Morning Basket time. The little ones won’t get everything, but you’ll be surprised how much they will get.
Pray Biblically, Specifically and Believing Faithfully, and Watch The Lord Work!
Let it spur you on to a deeper spiritual life!
Apply what you read: There’s Tremendous Power in Prayer!!
Read and Share all the posts in this Series on Prioritizing Your Spiritual Life, “Do You Pray” by J. C. Ryle:
- Part 1: “Prayer is Helpful to Your Greatest Spiritual Growth”
- Part 2: “Do You Have a Powerful Prayer Life”
- Part 3: “Want to Know the Guaranteed Way to Reach God in True Prayer?”
- Part 4: “Do you Know the God Who Answers Prayer”
- Part 5: “Want to Know How To Explode Your Spiritual Life?”
- Part 6: “How to Immediately Turn If You Are a Backsliding Christian”
- Part 7: “How to Have Terrific Happiness and Contentment”
- Part 8A: “How to End Prayerlessness for Spiritual Survival”
- Part 8B: “The First Steps How to Be Saved By Jesus”
- Part 9: “How to Have a Prayer Life That You and God Both Love”
- Part 10: “How Much Do You Want From God”
Have a Great Day Making Your Home For God!
I help Christian moms raise their kids according to Biblical principles, get organized to manage life, achieve their unique God-given goals and dreams, and fulfill God’s purpose for them to make a difference in the world through my workshops, courses, and coaching founded on Biblical principles. You are already successful in many areas. I can help you in those that you’re not. Dream big dreams, and see God transform and use your life in amazing ways! Let’s work together for your success!
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J.C. Ryle – (1816-1900), first Anglican bishop of Liverpool
