Quotes about Church

One of the old Church fathers said that we cannot better understand the Trinity than as a revelation of divine love—the Father, the loving One, the Fountain of love; the Son, the beloved one, the Reservoir of love, in whom the love was poured out; and the Spirit, the living love that united both and then overflowed into this world. The Spirit of Pentecost, the Spirit of the Father, and the Spirit of the Son, is love.

It is the very essence of true religion, the channel of all blessings, the secret of power and life. Not only for ourselves, but for others, for the Church, for the world, it is to prayer that God has given the right to take hold of Him and His strength.

The relationship among the members of the church depends on united and unceasing prayer. This relationship is spiritual and can only be maintained by unceasing prayer.

No question to the church is of more intense and pressing importance than this: What can be done to waken believers to a sense of their holy calling and make them see that to work for God and offer themselves as instruments through whom God can do His work ought to be the one purpose of their life?

The power of the church truly to bless, rests on intercession — asking and receiving heavenly gifts to carry to other men. Because this is so, it is no wonder that where — owing to lack of teaching or spiritual insight, trust in our own diligence and effort, the influence of the world and the flesh, and that we work more than we pray — the presence and power of God are not seen in our work as we would wish.

The measure of believing and continued prayer will be the measure of the Spirit's working in the church. Direct, definite, and determined prayer is what we need.

The first truth is that Christ actually meant prayer to be the great power by which His church should do its work, and that the neglect of prayer is the great reason the church has not greater power over the masses in Christian and in heathen countries.

One of the chief causes of the feeble life in the church is the mistaken idea that our happiness is the main object of God's grace. God's objective is far holier and far higher! He has saved us that we in turn might save others. Every believer is ordained to be the means of imparting to others the life he or she has received.

There is need of a great revival of spiritual life, of true fervent devotion to our Lord Jesus, of entire consecration to His service. It is only in a Church in which this spirit of revival has at least begun, that there is any hope of any very radical change in the relation of the majority of our Christian people to mission work.

The Bible does not authorize us, either by the words of the Lord or His apostles, to believe that the gifts of healing were granted only to the early church;

Christ meant prayer to be the great power by which His church should do its work, and the neglect of prayer is the reason the church lacks greater power.

Also while I was at Missouri, I was elected president of the Burall Bible Class—a huge class made up of students from both Missouri and Stephens College. Growing up, I had always gone to church and Sunday school every Sunday; it was an important part of my life. I don't know that I was that religious, per se, but I always felt like the church was important.