Spiritual life

“ Do thou bless them, and keep their work thine; that as, through thy natural laws, my heart beats and my blood flows without my thought for them, so my spiritual life may hold on its course, through, thy help, at those times when my mind cannot consciously turn to Thee to commit each particular thought to thy service. ”

“ Blessed be God, I was enabled to speak with life, power, and passionate desire of the edification of God’s people. *In the evening, I felt something spiritual and watchful, lest my heart should by any means be drawn away from God. Oh, when shall I come to that blessed world, where every power of my soul will be incessantly and eternally wound up, in heavenly employments and enjoyments, to the highest degree! ”

“ Into his spiritual sight will come the Principles of the divine Life, and as he approaches them, their incomparable beauty and majestic symmetry will astonish his vision, and gladden his heart with a gladness hitherto unknown. ”

“ How, then, should we act on these facts? Plainly we must endeavor to draw in as much spiritual life as possible, and we must place our minds in any attitude which experience shows to be favorable to such indrawal. ”

“ The good receive that Divine life, (for the Divine life, as before shown, is love and wisdom) into a mental organisation or form which is correspondent thereto; they receive that love or spiritual heat, and bring it forth again in the delicious fruits of good and benevolent actions; and they reflect that wisdom or spiritual light in the beautiful lights and colours of true, wise, and sparkling thoughts. ”

“ Thus, by that instinctive and warmly devoted direction of its behaviour which is love, and that willed attention to and communion with the spiritual world which is prayer, all the powers of the self are united and turned towards the seeking and finding of the Eternal. It is by complete obedience to this exacting love, doing difficult and unselfish things, giving up easy and comfortable things—in fact by living, living hard on the highest levels—that men more and more deeply feel, experience, and enter into their spiritual life. ”

“ It is that generous, pure and holy state of the soul which rests in the Lord, which takes home to the heart the spiritual life that He has taught, and which finds its chief pleasure and delight in doing good. ”

“ Our author parallels this fact of "life from life" in the spiritual world, and holds it to be as rigidly true in the one world as in the other. "The Spiritual Life," he holds to be "the gift of the Living Spirit." ”

“ We are so accustomed to connect the spiritual with the ideal and invisible, that it will need time and thought and faith to realize how the physical and the sensible influence our spiritual life, and must be under the mastery and inspiration of God’s Spirit. ”

“ and a moral life that is lived out of regard to the Divine is a spiritual life. ”

“ Which, then, shall be our choice, — the sinful, material, and perishable, or the spiritual, joy-giving, and eternal?
The spiritual sense of Life and its grand pursuits is of itself a bliss, health-giving and joy-inspiring. This sense of Life illumes our pathway with the radiance of divine Love ”

“ If we are to experience a deepening of spiritual life, we want to discover clearly what is the spiritual life that God would have us live, on the one hand; and, on the other, to ask whether we are living that life ”

“ Again, the true idea of Life results in the greatest blessing to mortals, for “when God, who is our Life, shall appear,” when this spiritual status of being is understood, “then shall we be like unto Him in glory.” ”

“ A heart purified by the grace of God, and firmly rooted in truth as its ground, is the source and common fountain for the successful development of all the main activities and functions of human life, those belonging to the sphere of sense, as well as to the psychical and spiritual realms, and this must more and more manifest itself as such a centre of the personality, sending forth light and life.—Lange’s Commentary. ”

“ Thus the sum of spiritual life consists in observing and fortifying the ways and movements of the Spirit of God in our soul, employing for this purpose all the exercises of prayer, spiritual reading, sacraments, the practice of virtues, and good works. ”

“ You, my friend, have taken the first step1 in the spiritual life; you have devoted yourself absolutely to God, to live wholly to his will, under the light and guidance of his holy Spirit, intending, seeking nothing in this world, but such a passage thro’ it as may tend to the glory of God, and the recovery of your own fallen soul. ”

“ But let them be elevated into the spiritual mind, where they are spiritually received, understood and rejoiced in, and they give the eternal freshness of spring to life in all its varieties and degrees, from the spiritual above to the earthly below. ”

“ Natural life, which consists in the union of the soul and body. Spiritual life, which consists in the union of God and the soul, by faith and love. Eternal life, which consist in the communion of the body and soul with God, by holiness, in the realms of bliss. ”

“ But, on the other hand, those who sow to the Spirit, who under the guidance and influence of the Spirit do live a holy and spiritual life, a life of devotedness to God and of usefulness and serviceableness to others, may depend upon it that of the Spirit they shall reap life everlasting—they shall have the truest comfort in their present course, and an eternal life and happiness at the end of it. ”

“ When we think of that which is spiritual, everything in life begins to ascend towards the higher spiritual states; that is, when our thinking of the spiritual is inspired with a deep soul desire to rise and live on the heights. ”

“ We may now understand how spiritual life originates. It enters the heart by faith. Christ reigns in the heart with His Holy Spirit, who sees, hears, speaks, works, suffers, and does all things in and through us over the protest and the resistance of the flesh. ”

“ As a result, your own heart is enlarged, your spiritual capacities increased, and, growing in grace, you advance in knowledge and favour with God. Those who walk this pathway are they to whom the Lord whispers His secrets, and whose souls He fills with heavenly delights. ”

“ This influence of individual subjects will be all the greater, of course, the nearer and more intimately they are united with the true centre of the universal spiritual life, the spirit of spirits, about which the universe gravitates, whether with or without the conscious will of the individual. ”

“ If I understand myself correctly, I feel this morning, as I have felt the greater part of my life, to be devoted mentally and physically, as far as duty requires and circumstances permit, and as the Lord and my brethren call, and as the Spirit of the Lord shall dictate, to the happiness of my fellow-men and to the advancement of the kingdom of God upon the earth. ”

“ Accordingly, we deem it philosophical to consider words as symbols of mental faculties, and to classify together such spiritual unities as joy, hope, faith, and love, the tendencies of which are to quicken and transform the ultimates of carnal life into the rudiments of an immortal one, the beginning of heaven on earth. ”

“ All exalted lives (spiritually) moving and living in similar planes of thought—born of their spiritual states—are attracted to each other in spirit life for the interchange of perceptions of Truth and bearing forward the work of illuminating such minds on Earth as are ready to receive along the lines of human progress and unfoldment, imparting “the things they are ready to know.” ”

“ When once the inward core of things has been grasped and the transforming experience has occurred, making a new man—freed, illuminated, sin-delivered, with "God the Life of the life and the Soul of the soul" [25] —the outward forms and the external things will fall into the right perspective and will receive their proper emphasis. ”

“ We have now to describe the detachment and purity of the three faculties of the soul and for this are necessary a far greater knowledge and spirituality than mine, in order to make clear to spiritual persons how strait is this road which, said Our Saviour, leads to life; so that, persuaded of this, they may not marvel at the emptiness and detachment to which, in this night, we have to abandon the faculties of the soul. ”

“ And then refresh your hearts as well as your brains—tired it may be, too often, with the drudgery of some mechanical, or merely calculating, occupation—refresh your hearts, I say, by lifting them up unto the Lord, in truly spiritual, truly heavenly thoughts; which bring nobleness, and trust, and peace, to the humblest and the most hardworked man.
For you can say in your hearts—All the things which I see, are God’s things. They are thoughts of God. God gives them law, and life, and use. ”

“ In this highest stage "the essential will of God is practiced," without strain or effort, because God Himself has now become the inner Life and Being of the person, the spring and power of the new-formed will. ”

“ Because our natural being is necessary to our spiritual well-being in this world, therefore, after the things of God's glory, kingdom, and will, we pray for the necessary supports and comforts of this present life, which are the gifts of God, and must be asked of him, Ton arton epiousion— Bread for the day approaching, for all the remainder of our lives. ”

“ Strength of Soul.—The sense of enlargement of life may be so uplifting that personal motives and inhibitions, commonly omnipotent, become too insignificant for notice, and new reaches of patience and fortitude open out. Fears and anxieties go, and blissful equanimity takes their place. Come heaven, come hell, it makes no difference now!
c. Purity.—The shifting of the emotional centre brings with it, first, increase of purity. The sensitiveness to spiritual discords is enhanced, and the cleansing of existence from brutal and sensual elements becomes imperative. ”

“ It is a medium of those divine and heavenly influences, the reception of which is spiritual regeneration and eternal life. It is true, it comes to us clothed in words formed from the appearances of the external world. ”

“ In linking holy and without blemish (or without blame) so closely, the Holy Spirit would have led us to seek [p222] for the embodiment of holiness as a spiritual power in the blamelessness of practice and of daily life. ”

“ If, however, an individual hath spiritual characteristics, and virtues that shine out, and his purpose in life be spiritual and his inclinations be directed toward God, and he also study other branches of knowledge—then we have light upon light:14 outer being luminous, his private character radiant, his heart sound, his thought elevated, his understanding swift, his rank noble. ”

“ Seek in God's presence to have the anointing of the Spirit of Christ so truly that your whole life may every moment be spiritual. ”

“ We realize that we have not lost his Holy Spirit; and if we continue to encourage it, it will be in us a spirit of life, light, intelligence, and truth,—in fact, a spirit springing up unto everlasting life. ”

“ So believing, so aspiring, so meditating, divinely sweet and beautiful will be your spiritual experiences, and glorious the revelations that will enrapture your inward vision. As you realize the divine Love, the divine Justice, the divine Purity, the Perfect Law of Good, or God, great will be your bliss and deep your peace. ”

“ Last—and here is the aspect of religious experience which is specially to concern us—Spirit is felt as an inflowing power, a veritable accession of vitality; energizing the self, or the religious group, impelling it to the fullest and most zealous living-out of its existence, giving it fresh joy and vigour, and lifting it to fresh levels of life. ”

“ In silent enjoyment, in subdued suffering, in sweet communion, we see how Thou art the very Life of our lives, the very Soul of our souls, the very stamina, the very substance, the very vitality of our existence. Thou art the whole plan, the complete purpose, the entire progress, of all our lives. Thou hast designed, Thou hast determined, Thou hast prescribed, the destiny of our lives. ”

“ So act as to elicit the latent spiritual possibilities in others, and thereby in thyself. ”

“ But from that Divine Love and Wisdom there proceed goodness and truth, which are spiritual heat and light: these flow from the Lord down into the heavens, and into the minds of angels there, and also into the minds of men on earth, giving light to the understanding and warmth to the heart. ”

“ So, in some future age, the time will come, when each one of us shall have more mind, and heart, and soul, than Christ on earth; more than all men now on earth have ever had; yes, more than they and all the souls of men now passed to Heaven;—shall have, each one of us, more being than they all have had, and so more truth, more soul, more faith, more rest and bliss of life. ”

“ Thou art the main-spring, the vital secret, the fountain-source, of our existence. What is life but a genial current of joy and grace that wells up incessantly from Thy centred self? Thou art the life, the inner vitality, of our senses. ”

“ God wants men and women in every vocation of life who are Spirit-filled; and who, by diligent study of the Word of God, by prayer, and by Christian testimony, live a Spirit-filled life that is perennial. ”

“ Give all to accept the Spirit of His life on earth, delight in the will of God, as the spirit of their life. May those who have never yet fully accepted this be brought to do it, and in faith of the power of the new life to say, I accept the will of God as my only law. May the Spirit of holiness be the spirit of their lives! ”

“ These three infallible truths, heartily embraced, and made the nourishment of your soul, shorten and secure the way to heaven, and leave no room for error, scruple, or delusion.
Expect no life, strength, or comfort, but from the Spirit of God, dwelling and manifesting his own goodness in your soul. The best of men, and the best of books, can only do you good, so far as they turn you from themselves, and every human thing, to seek and receive every kind of good from God alone; not a distant, or an absent God, but a God living, moving, and working in your inmost soul. ”