The Greatest Source of Trouble in the Life of Faith (Manton)

In his treatise, The Life of Faith, Thomas Manton (d. 1677) spent some time explaining how to improve one's cheerful walking with God in obedience. For example, he wrote about meditating on God's promises and pleading God's promises in prayer. In this section, Manton also wrote a very brief paragraph explaining the source of all …

When the Church Becomes Worldly (Guinness)

 Here's a helpful commentary by Os Guinness on worldliness in the church: It would be idle to speculate what terrible new order today's trendy clerics and faithless Christian activists are greasing the slipway for.  But we need not wait for the outcome.  The truth is that the greatest enemy of the Western church is not …

…Less of Our Hearts (Wilberforce)

 I appreciate the following section of William Wilberforce's book called "A Practical View of the Prevailing Religious System of Professed Christians, in the Higher and Middle Classes in This Country, Contrasted with Real Christianity."  I've edited it slightly: True, practical Christianity consists in devoting the heart and life to God.  It is governed supremely and …

Causes of Spiritual Decline (Newton)

Sadly, there is such a thing as backsliding in the Christian life.  It's also called wandering from the path of following Jesus.  Indeed, we are prone to wander!  There are various reasons why Christians do sometimes wander or backslide.  We could put it in the form of a question: What are some of the causes …

Is The Church Ours To Reinvent? (Guinness)

  I love the subtitle of Os Guinness' 2003 book, Prophetic Untimeliness: A Challenge to the Idol of Relevance.  In this book, among other things, Guinness talks about how the church often assimilates modern assumptions and practices which lead to worldliness.  Speaking of the church assimilating modern practices, Guinness writes this: "The last generation of …