Weakness with watchfulness will stand, when strength with too much confidence fails. Weakness, with acknowledgement of it, is the fittest seat and subject for God to perfect his strength in; for consciousness of our infirmities drives us out of ourselves to him in whom our strength lies.
The Bruised Reed
Cast yourself into the arms of Christ, and if you perish, perish there. If you do not, you are sure to perish. If mercy is to be found anywhere, it is there.
There is nothing more profitable in the world than humility, because, though it seems to have nothing, yet it carries the soul to Him who fills all in all.
God's children are strengthened by their falls. They learn to stand by their falls. Like tall cedars, the more they are blown, the deeper they are rooted. That which men think is the overthrow of God's children, doth but root them deeper.
I have learned in my spiritual life not to focus on temptation or I'll get hit by it every time. Instead, I have learned to look to Jesus, who saves me from the temptations as I focus on His Word.
He that is not faithful in a little will not be faithful in much, [and] he that giveth entertainment to a small temptation will also to a greater, if put upon it.Works 6:309
Temptations, when we meet them at first, are as the lion that reared upon Samson; but if we overcome them, the next time we see them we shall find a nest of honey within them.
A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is... A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness. They have lived a sheltered life by always giving in.
Men must not be too curious in prying into the weakness of others. We should labour rather to see what they have that is for eternity, to incline our heart to love them, than into that weakness which the Spirit of God will in time consume...The Holy Spirit is content to dwell in smoky, offensive souls.
I say there are two courts: one of justification, another of sanctification. In the court of justification merits are nothing worth, insufficient; but in the court of sanctification, as they are ensigns of a sanctified course, so they are jewels and ornaments.Complete Works (Edinburgh: James Nichol, 5:85)
He puts things to us in such an attractive manner that we find that we have fallen almost before we realize that anything has happened at all.Spiritual Depression (80)