Inspirational Quotes by John Flavel
“We are inclined to a sinful trust and dependence upon each other, and to an inordinate fear and dread of each other. We act as if the creature were a god rather than a man, a spirit rather than flesh. Thus, our fear magnifies and exalts the creature, putting it (as it were) in God’s room and place. God rebukes this sin in His own people: “I, even I, am he that comforteth you: Who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass; and forgettest the LORD thy maker?” (Isa. 51:12–13a). It is evident that fear exalts people and belittles God. It thinks upon a person’s hamful power so much that it forgets God’s saving power. In this way, a mortal worm, which perishes as the grass, eclipses the glory of the great God, who stretched forth the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth.”
― John Flavel ,
“The less fear a person has, the more happiness he has—unless, of course, it is that fear which is his happiness and excellence.”
― John Flavel ,
“I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me” (Jer. 32:40b). That is a different kind of fear from the one that startles you. God promises to put it in you—not to shake and undermine your assurance, but to guard and maintain it.”
― John Flavel ,
“The carnal person fears man, not God. The strong Christian fears God, not man. The weak Christian fears man too much and God too little.”
― John Flavel ,
“Regrettably, many modern readers grow perplexed at the mere mention of the fear of God. They reject any notion that fear is to characterize the Christian’s approach to God.”
― John Flavel ,
“El reino y el poder del pecado pueden cohabitar junto con los más excelentes dones naturales bajo el mismo techo. Es decir, en el mismo corazón.”
“¿Qué es lo más central y medular sobre guardar el corazón? Protegerlo del pecado. No hay nada que dañe más la comunión del creyente con Dios que el pecado. El”
“Affliction is a pill, which, being wrapt up in patience and quiet submission, may be easily swallowed; but discontent chews the pill, and so embitters the soul. God throws away some comfort which he saw would hurt you, and you will throw away your peace after it; he shoots an arrow which sticks in your clothes, and was never intended to hurt, but only to drive you from sin, and you will thrust it deeper, to the piercing of your very heart, by despondency and discontent.”
“Eye the wisdom of God in all your afflictions: behold it in the choice of the kind of your affliction, this, and not another; the time, now, and not at another season; the degree, in this measure only, and not in a greater; the supports afforded you under it, not left altogether helpless; the issue, to which it is overruled, it is to your good, not ruin. Look upon all these, and then ask thy heart that question God asked Jonah, “Dost thou well to be angry?” Surely, when you consider all, what need you have had of these rods, that your corruptions will require all this, it may be much more, to mortify them; that without the perishing of these things, you might have perished forever; you will see great reason to be quiet and well satisfied under the hand of God.”
“The world is not a theater large enough to display the glory of Christ upon or unfold even half of the unsearchable riches that lie hidden in Him. And such is the deliciousness of this subject, Christ, that were there ten thousand volumes written upon it, they would never become tiring to the heart. We used to say that any one thing can finally tire us and this is true, except about this one eminent thing, Christ, and then one can never tire, for such is the variety of sweetness in Christ.”
“Providence so orders the case, that faith and prayer come between our wants and supplies, and the goodness of God may be the more magnified in our eyes thereby.”
topics: Blessings
“If God has given you but a small portion of the world, yet if you are godly He has promised never to forsake you (Heb. 13:5). Providence has ordered that condition for you which is really best for your eternal good. If you had more of the world than you have, your heads and hearts might not be able to manage it to your advantage.”
topics: Blessings
“The more afflictions you have been under, the more assistance you have had for this life of holiness.”
topics: Affliction
“La Providencia Divina ha ordenado las condiciones [laborales] que son exactamente las mejores para el beneficio eterno de tu alma. Si tuvieras más de lo que tienes, quizá ni tu cabeza ni tu corazón hubieran sido capaces de usarlos para tu bien.”
“Afflictions have the same use and end to our souls, that frosty weather hath upon those clothes that are laid and bleaching, they alter the hue and make them white.”
topics: Affliction
“Es justamente esta noción de saber que el trabajo que realizamos ha sido exactamente ordenado por Dios para nosotros lo que nos previene”
“por un lado de caer en la ociosidad en el mismo, y por el otro de tenerlo como un fin en sí mismo de tal manera que se convierte en nuestro dios.”
“The most wise God orders the dispensations of Providence in a blessed subordination to the work of His Spirit. There is a sweet harmony between them in their distinct workings. They all meet in that one blessed issue to which God has by the counsel of His will directed them (Romans 8:28; Ephesians 1:11).”
― John Flavel ,
“en control, si es que no estoy consciente que Dios está en control de todas las cosas en mi propia vida y que lo que estoy experimentando en la actualidad no es de ninguna manera producto del azar. Es”
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John Flavel (1628 - 1691)
Was an English Presbyterian clergyman, puritan, and author. Flavel, the eldest son of the Rev. Richard Flavel, described as ‘a painful and eminent minister,’ who was incumbent successively of Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, Hasler and Willersey, Gloucestershire (from which last living he was ejected in 1662), was born in or about 1630 at Bromsgrove.He was ejected from his living by the passing of the Act of Uniformity in 1662, but continued to preach and administer the sacraments privately till the Five Mile Act of 1665, when he retired to Slapton, 5 miles away. He then lived for a time in London, but returned to Dartmouth, where he labored till his death in 1691. He was married four times. He was a vigorous and voluminous writer, and not without a play of fine fancy. His principal works are his Navigation Spiritualized (1671); The Fountain of Life, in forty-two Sermons (1672); The Method of Grace (1680); Pneumatologia, a Treatise on the Soul of Man (1698); A Token for Mourners; Husbandry Spiritualized (1699).
John Flavel was an English Presbyterian clergyman. Flavel was born at Bromsgrove, Worcestershire and studied at Oxford. A Presbyterian, held livings at Diptford (in Devon) and Dartmouth. He was ejected from the latter as a result of the Great Ejection of 1662; however, he continued to preach there secretly. After the Declaration of Indulgence 1687, became a minister of a Nonconformist Church there.
He was a prolific and popular author. Among his works are The Mystery of Providence (1678), Husbandry Spiritualised (1669) and Navigation Spiritualised (1671), The Seamon's Companion (1676), titles which suggest some of his characteristics as a writer.
He died at Exeter, Devonshire, on 26 June 1691. Flavel is commemorated in the name of Flavel Road on Bromsgrove's Charford Estate.
John Flavel (or Flavell) was born in 1628 in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire. He was the son of Richard Flavel, a minister who died of the plague in 1665 while in prison for nonconformity. John Flavel was educated by his father in the ways of religion, then "plied his studies hard" as a commoner at University College, Oxford. In 1650, he was ordained by the presbytery at Salisbury. He settled in Diptford, where he honed his numerous gifts.
He married Joan Randall, a godly woman, who died while giving birth to their first child in 1655. The baby died as well. After a year of mourning, Flavel married Elizabeth Stapell and was again blessed with a close, God-fearing marriage, as well as children.
In 1656, Flavel accepted a call to be minister in the thriving seaport of Dartmouth. He earned a smaller income there, but his work was more profitable; many were converted. One of his parishioners wrote of Flavel, "I could say much, though not enough of the excellency of his preaching; of his seasonable, suitable, and spiritual matter; of his plain expositions of Scripture; his talking method, his genuine and natural deductions, his convincing arguments, his clear and powerful demonstrations, his heart-searching applications, and his comfortable supports to those that were afflicted in conscience. In short, that person must have a very soft head, or a very hard heart, or both, that could sit under his ministry unaffected."