“The greatest enemy of hunger for God is not poison but apple pie. It is not the banquet of the wicked that dulls our appetite for heaven, but endless nibbling at the table of the world. It is not the X-rated video, but the prime-time dribble of triviality we drink in every night. For all the ill that Satan can do, when God describes what keeps us from the banquet table of his love, it is a piece of land, a yoke of oxen, and a wife. The greatest adversary of love to God is not his enemies, but his gifts. And the most deadly appetites are not for the poison of evil, but for the simple pleasures of the earth. For when these replace an appetite for God himself, the idolatry is scarcely recognizable, and almost incurable.”

- John Piper, A Hunger For God, p.14

“Do you mortify? Do you make it your daily work? Be always at it whilst you live; cease not a day from this work; be killing sin, or it will be killing you.”

- John Owen, The Mortification of Sin, p.26

“This article, how we are saved, is the chief of the whole Christian doctrine, to which all divine disputations must be directed. All the prophets were chiefly engaged upon it, and sometimes much perplexed about it. For when this article is kept fast and sure by a constant faith, then all other articles draw on softly after, as that of the Holy Trinity, etc. God had declared no article so plainly and openly as this, that we are saved only by Christ; though he speaks much of the Holy Trinity, yet he dwells continually upon this article of salvation to our souls; other articles are of great weight, but this surpasses all.”

- Martin Luther, Table Talk, p. 234

“The choicest believers who are assuredly freed from the condemning power of sin, should also make it their business all of their days to mortify the indwelling power of sin.”

- John Owen, The Mortification of Sin, p.2

“Prayer and providence then, far from being antithetical, are actually reciprocal. Providence inspires prayer and prayer invokes providence. Here divine sovereignty and human responsibility mysteriously converge in a way we cannot fully explain but which is nonetheless real.”

- Thomas A. Tarrrants III, Why Pray?

“Prayer can lighten crosses for us, however heavy. It can bring down to our side One who will help us to bear them. Prayer can open a door for us when our way seems hedged up. It can bring down One who will say, ‘This is the way, walk in it.’ Prayer can let in a ray of hope when all our earthly prospects seem darkened. It can bring down One who will say, ‘I will never leave you, nor forsake you.’ Prayer can obtain relief for us when those we love most are taken away, and the world feels empty. It can bring down One who can fill the gap in our hearts with himself, and say to the waves within, ‘Peace; be still.’ Oh that people were not so like Hagar in the wilderness, blind to the well of living waters close beside them.”

- J.C. Ryle, A Call to Prayer, p.19-20

“Jesus can make those happy who trust him and call him, whatever be their outward condition. He can give them peace of heart in a prison, contentment in the midst of poverty, comfort in the midst of bereavements, joy on the brink of the grave. There is a mighty fullness that is ready to be poured out on every one that will ask in prayer. Oh that people would understand that happiness does not depend on outward circumstances, but on the state of the heart.”

- J.C. Ryle, A Call to Prayer, p.19

“True spiritual worship will draw a man into close communion with Jesus Christ himself. It will lift a man far above churches, and ordinances, and ministers. It will make him hunger and thirst after a sight of the King. The more he hears, and reads, and prays, and praises, the more he will feel that nothing but Christ himself will feed the life of his soul, and that heart communion with him is ‘meat indeed and drink indeed’ [John 6:55]. The false worshipper will in time of need turn to external helps, to ministers, to ordinances, and sacraments. The true worshipper will turn instinctively to Christ by simple faith, just as the compass-needle turns to the pole.”

- J.C. Ryle, Worship: Its Priorities, Principles, and Practice, p. 28

“A man must first recognize and consider what his sin is, and know the plague of his heart before he can be duly humbled for it. Th first creature God made was light. So the first thing in a penitent is illumination: ‘Now ye are light in the Lord’ (Eph. 5:8). The eye is made both seeing and weeping. Sin must first be seen before it  can be wept for.

Hence I infer that where there is no sight of sin, there can be no repentance. Many who can spy faults in others see none in themselves. They cry they have good hearts. Is it not strange that two should live together, and eat and drink together, yet not know each other? Such is the case of the sinner. His body and soul live together, work together, yet is unacquainted with himself. He knows not his own heart, nor what a hell he carries about him. Under a veil a deformed face is hid. Persons are veiled over with ignorance and self-love; therefore they see bit what deformed souls they have. The devil does with them as the falconer with the hawk. He blinds them and carries them hooded to hell: ‘the sword shall be upon his right eye’ (Zech. 11:17).

- Thomas Watson. The Doctrine of Repentance, p. 18-19