The Great Comforter
"It is the Spirit who quickens ; the flesh profits nothing." John 6:63 All real religion begins with the quickening of the Spirit. When we experience this . . . we begin to breathe after spiritual things; we open our eyes in a new world; we hunger and thirst after righteousness; and at length taste that the Lord is gracious. We then have . . . new thoughts, new desires, new hopes, new fears, new joys, and new sorrows. The eye fixes on Christ, the heart goes out to Christ, and the chief desire of the soul is to be like Christ. The Spirit not only quickens us at first — but all through life we need and are dependent on the Spirit's quickening. He quickens us to pray, and He quickens us in prayer. It is His quickening which puts . . . life into our graces, energy into our prayers, confidence into our expectations, and enables us to resist Satan, steadfast in the faith. If His quickening power is withheld — we soon grow dull, cold,