Spiritual Deadness.

 God’s children are under [felt spiritual] deadness sometimes, which happeneth to them for many causes:

1. By reason of some sin committed, and not repented of, or not fully repented of. 2. By some good omitted, especially neglect of the means [of grace] whereby we may be kept alive, fresh and lively in God’s service. If we will not attend upon God in the means of grace, he will not bring us that help, comfort, and supply that otherwise we might have. 3. Another cause is unthankfulness for benefits received, especially spiritual benefits. 4. Pride in gifts; for we are told, ‘God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble.’ The garland we put on our heads soon withers… 5. Some great and heavy troubles. When we are afflicted sore, there is a deadness upon the heart, the spiritual life clogged. 6. Another cause is carnal liberty, or intermeddling with worldly vanities. When the children of God let loose their minds to vanity, and take immoderate liberty in the delights of the flesh, there is a deadness [that] comes upon them. In such cases, the Word of God is the only means to quicken us (i.e bring us back to life, revive us). The quickening Spirit delights to work by this means. If you would be quickened, you must use the means, attend upon reading and preaching, and meditating upon the Word. —Puritan Thomas Manton, See: Works 7:429-31, 33 and 38

You can make me clean

 Repentance is the sinner covering his mouth and crying, “Unclean, unclean!” Faith is the leper coming to Christ and saying, “Lord, if You will, You can make me clean.”

A.W. Pink

Countless Millions

 Now if there were but one mite (as you would say) amiss, it is certain that we were forthwith in danger of eternal death. But surely every of us shall find himself a sinner, not in some one point alone, but in a hundred thousand: not in some one fault, but in infinite sorts of faults. And when we shall have perceived never so many miseries in ourselves, God knows yet many more without comparison than we can: for he sees much clearer than we do.  

John Calvin.    (as found on Monergism .pdf.)

"Even if we were carefully to examine just one minute of our lives, we would find ourselves worthy of eternal death. Indeed, each one of us would discover ourselves to be sinners, not in just one area but a hundred thousand; not due to some one fault but to countless millions." 

John Calvin ,  (as found on twitter).

Rely on the God of Grace. Helplessness

 If we are not keenly sensitive to our helplessness, then we can make the means of sanctification the minister of self-righteousness and pride, thus defeating the end of sanctification.

We must rely not upon the means of sanctification but upon the God of all grace. John Murray

Valley of Vision

 “I step out into a wicked world, I carry about with me an evil heart, I know that without thee I can do nothing, and that everything with which I shall be concerned [today], however harmless in itself, may prove an occasion of sin or folly, unless I am kept by thy power.”

From Valley of Vision.

Sever Any Tie

 “God, send me anywhere, only go with me. Lay any burden on me, only sustain me. And sever any tie in my heart except the tie that binds my heart to Yours.”

— David Livingstone

he sees his sin

 The Nearer and Man gets to God, the greater he sees his sin.  Martin-Lloyd Jones.

Exalt the Power of God

 "We do not sufficiently exalt the power of God, unless we think it to be greater than our weakness. Faith then ought not to regard our weakness, misery, and defects, but to fix wholly its attention on the power of God alone.”

-John Calvin

Our Nothingness

 Growing in grace is a deepening realization of our nothingness; it is a heartfelt recognition that we are not worthy of the least of God's mercies.

Arthur W. Pink

Beholding the Glory

 “It is by beholding the glory of Christ by faith that we are spiritually edified and built up in this world, for as we behold his glory, the life and power of faith grow stronger and stronger. It is by faith that we grow to love Christ. So if we desire strong faith and powerful love, which give us rest, peace and satisfaction, we must seek them by diligently beholding the glory of Christ by faith. In this duty I desire to live and to die. On Christ’s glory I would fix all my thoughts and desires, and the more I see of the glory of Christ, the more the painted beauties of this world will wither in my eyes and I will be more and more crucified to this world. It will become to me like something dead and putrid, impossible for me to enjoy” (p. 7).

Beholding Christ’s glory is indeed the great and necessary privilege of the Christian life. The “painted beauties” of this world simply cannot compare to the true beauty that is Christ. The more we see Him, the more we become like Him. The more we become like Him, the more rest, satisfaction, and enjoyment we find in Him. May the Lord grant us grace to “experience the dawnings of eternal glory” today as we behold His glory in the Scriptures.

Thomas Watson

After grief, joy.

 After grief for sin there should be joy for forgiveness. - A. W. Pink

Divisions and Disagreements

 Divisions in a church: exposes hypocrites, sanctifies sincere believers, reveals the fickleness of those not rooted in the Lord’s Word - - and the wickedness of those who assume the appearance of good men, and they manifest the constancy and sincerity of the good.

-John Calvin Can we also extend this to "Disagreements in a church" also: provides the expression of sincere mercy, patience, love, grace, humility, sanctifying believers, reveals those rooted in the Lord, manifesting the constancy and sincerity of the saints. (Todd Lambert)

We must Look Away.

 For Christians struggling with assurance of salvation, consider:

True Christian righteousness is the righteousness of Christ who lives in us. We must look away from our own person. Christ and my conscience must become one, so that I can see nothing else but Christ crucified and raised from the dead for me. If I keep on looking at myself, I am gone. If we lose sight of Christ and begin to consider our past, we simply go to pieces. We must turn our eyes to the brazen serpent—Christ crucified—and believe with all our heart that He is our righteousness and our life. - Martin Luther, Commentary on Galatians