"The belief of God's love to us in Christ, the sweet hope of his mercy, will melt the heart to tenderness. I wish you to dwell upon this. It is the hope, the sense of God's love, that warms and thaws the cold and frozen heart of man."


 -John Angell James from 'Being Born Again'

"Faith is not believing that you are a Christian, but believing that Christ died for sinners, and trusting in him; and unbelief is not doubting that you are a Christian, but doubting Christ's willingness to save you, and thus rejecting him."

-John Angell James from 'Being Born Again' or originally 'The Anxious Inquirer'

Concerning Prayer

John Angell James, in his book The Anxious Inquirer, has pointed out some very helpful instructions for prayer. He is speaking, again, mainly to unbelievers that are anxious about their soul and about salvation, but I believe these words of advice are helpful for us all as well. James writes:

"Attend with regularity and seriousness upon the preaching of the gospel. Sermons are invaluable helps to the anxious inquirer. Hear the word preached with a deep conviction that it will do you no good but as God blesses it, and therefore look above the minister to God. Pray before you go to hear sermons; pray while you hear; and pray after you have heard. Go from the closet of private prayer to the place of public worship, and from the place of public worship back again to prayer. Apply the word as you hear it to yourself; hear with attention, hear as for your life, hear as for salvation."

And again:

"Attend meetings for social prayer. The prayers of good men not only bring down blessings from God, but breathe the spirit of true piety. The prayer-meeting is an atmosphere of devotion. Inquirer, frequent prayer-meetings, then; it is there the solemn impressions of sacred things are strengthened. You are there prayed with, and prayed for; you there learn what advanced Christians feel and desire, and their prayers are some of the best instructions you can receive; there you may find your own heart knit together in love with the people of God."

Concerning Faith

I have recently started reading through Being Born Again by John Angell James. This book was a little hard to find, it was originally titled The Anxious Inquirer. This book was given to soldiers in the Confederate Army along with many other tracks and books. This book is meant to be used to point someone who is anxious about their soul to the Scriptures. I have found many things the author points out are good for someone who has already placed their hope in Christ as well. Here are a few lines starting with some words on faith. James writes:

"See then the importance, the tremendous importance, of faith in Christ. It is the hinge on which salvation turns; it is that, without which all knowledge, and all impressions, and all convictions, and all duties, will leave us short of heaven at last. Fix it deeply in your mind, therefore, that FAITH IS THE SAVING GRACE, or in other words, it is that state of mind with which salvation is connected; being brought into this state, you would be saved though you died the next hour, and without this you would not be saved, even had you been for years under the deepest concern."

"Faith is not a belief in your own personal religion--this is the assurance of hope--but it is a belief that God loves sinners, and that Christ died for sinners, and for you among the rest; it is not a belief that you are a real Christian, but that Christ is willing to give you all the blessings included in that term; it is the belief of something out of yourself, but still of something concerning yourself. The object of faith is the work of Christ for you, not the work of the Spirit in you. It is of great consequence that you should attend to this, because many are apt to confound these things. If I promise a man alms, and he really believes what I say, and expects relief, I, in the act of promising him, am the object of his faith, and not the state of his own mind in the act of believing. If therefore you would have faith, or possessing it, would have it strengthened, you must fix and keep your eye on the testimony of Christ which you find in the gospel."

Lastly James writes about prayer:

"Prayer is the first step in the divine life, prayer the second, prayer the third, and indeed it is necessary through the whole Christian course."