If you will tell me when God permits a Christian to lay aside his armour, I will tell you when Satan has left off temptation. Like the old knights in war time, we must sleep with helmet and breastplate buckled on, for the arch-deceiver will seize our first unguarded hour to make us his prey. The Lord keep us watchful in all seasons, and give us a final escape from the jaw of the lion and the paw of the bear.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the importance of remaining vigilant and prepared against temptation at all times.
Charles Spurgeon's quote highlights the necessity for Christians to stay spiritually armored and aware, suggesting that just as knights must remain ready for battle, individuals must guard against spiritual deception and temptation. The reference to God and the necessity of constant vigilance implies that the struggle against evil is ongoing and that one must not allow complacency to lead to downfall.
In practice
In a sermon on resilience, a pastor may quote this to encourage the congregation to remain spiritually prepared.
Amusement should be used to do us good “like a medicine”: it must never be used as the food of the man...Many have had all holy thoughts and gracious resolutions stamped out by perpetual trifling. Pleasure so called is the murderer of thought. This is the age of excessive amusement: everybody craves for it, like a babe for its rattle.
When you see no present advantage, walk by faith and not by sight. Do God the honor to trust Him when it comes to matters of loss for the sake of principle.
It is far easier to fight with sin in public than to pray against it in private.
You will never glory in God till first of all God has killed your glorying in yourself.
After faith comes repentance, or, rather, repentance is faith's twin brother and is born at the same time.
["All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant."] The original Hebrew word that has been translated "paths" means "well-worn roads' or "wheel tracks," such ruts as wagons make when they go down our green roads in wet weather and sink in up to the axles. God's ways are at times like heavy wagon tracks that cut deep into our souls, yet all of them are merciful.
You know, my friends, there comes a time when people get tired of being trampled over by the iron feet of oppression.
It wasn't until I stood in my truth and told everybody that I had $250,000 in credit card debt. At that point, everything turned around for me. I had to reveal the truth about what I didn't have, more than pretend about what I did. That was interesting.
A sword in hand is a sure sign of a violent mind; but one does not become non-violent merely by throwing the sword away.
Fire really means a certain kind of burning in the soul that one can no longer tolerate when one is pushed against a wall.
It was times like these when I thought my father, who hated guns and had never been to any wars, was the bravest man who ever lived.
When you compare what people endured in the South in the 60s to try to get the right to vote for African Americans, and to compare what people were subjected to there to what happened in Philadelphia - which was inappropriate, certainly that . . . to describe it in those terms I think does a great disservice to people who put their lives on the line, who risked all, for my people.
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