I recently shared these 15 nuggets of wisdom from D.L. Moody with our church staff. They were obviously mined from a consistent walk with the Lord and great experience in ministry. They are taken from the book The Overcoming Life, published by Bridge-Logos, Alachua, Florida.
Advice for Christian Servants
by D.L. Moody
- Have for constant use a portable reference Bible, a Cruden’s Concordance, and a Topical Textbook.
- Always carry a Bible or Testament in your pocket, and do not be ashamed of people seeing you read it on trains, etc.
- Do not be afraid of marking it or making marginal notes. Mark texts that contain promises, exhortations, warnings to sinners and to Christians, Gospel invitations to the unconverted, and so on.
- Set apart at least fifteen minutes a day for study and meditation. This little time will have great results and will never be regretted.
- “Prepare your heart to know the way of the Lord and to do it” (Ezra 7:10).
- Always ask God to open the eyes of your understanding that you may see the truth, and expect that He will answer your prayer.
- Cast every burden of doubt upon the Lord. He will never suffer the righteous to be moved. Do not be afraid to look for a reason for the hope that is in you.
- Believe in the Bible as God’s revelation to you, and act accordingly. Do not reject any portion because it contains the supernatural or because you cannot understand it. Reverence all Scripture. Remember God’s own estimate of it: “Thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name” (Psalm 138:2).
- Learn at least one verse of Scripture each day. Verses committed to memory will be wonderfully useful in your daily life and walk. “Thy word have I hid in mine heart that I might not sin against thee” (Psalm 119:11). Some Christians can quote Shakespeare and Longfellow better than the Bible.
- If you are a preacher or a Sunday school teacher, try at any cost to master your Bible. You ought to know it better than anyone in your congregation or class.
- Strive to be exact in quoting Scripture.
- Adopt some systematic plan of Bible study: either topical or by subjects, like “The Blood,” “Prayer,” “Hope,” etc., or by books.
- Study to know for what and to whom each book of the Bible was written. Combine the Old Testament with the New. Study Hebrews and Leviticus together, the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles, the Prophets and the historical books of the Old Testament.
- Study how to use the Bible so as to “walk with God” in closer communion, also so as to gain a working knowledge of Scripture for leading others to Christ. An old minister used to say that the cries of neglected texts were always sounding in his ears, asking why he did not show how important they were.
- Do not be satisfied with simply reading a chapter daily. Study the meaning of at least one verse.
