S D Gordon

Quiet Talks on Prayer S D Gordon

Publisher Marketing: A great sorrow has come into the heart of God. Let it be told only in hushed voice-one of His worlds is a prodigal! Hush your voice yet more-ours is that prodigal world. Let your voice soften down still more-we have consented to the prodigal part of the story. But, in softest tones yet, He has won some of us back with His strong tender love. And now let the voice ring out with great gladness-we won ones may be the pathway back to God for the others. That is His earnest desire. That should be our dominant ambition. For that purpose He has endowed us with peculiar power. There is one inlet of power in the life-anybody's life-any kind of power: just one inlet-the Holy Spirit. He is power. He is in every one who opens his door to God. He eagerly enters every open door. He comes in by our invitation and consent. His presence within is the vital thing. But with many of us while He is in, He is not in control: in as guest; not as host. That is to say He is hindered in His natural movements; tied up, so that He cannot do what He would. And so we are not conscious or only partially conscious of His presence. And others are still less so. But to yield to His mastery, to cultivate His friendship, to give Him full swing-that will result in what is called power. One inlet of power-the Holy Spirit in control. There are five outlets of power: five avenues through which this One within shows Himself, and reveals His power. Contributor Bio:  Gordon, S D In the early 1900s, S. D. Gordon was a widely traveled speaker in high demand. A prolific author, he wrote more than 25 devotional books, most with the phrase "Quiet Talks" in the title. His first book sold half a million copies over 40 years! He died in 1936. E. W. Kenyon said that "S. D. Gordon is a sporadic outburst of divine grace. He is unusual, as are all of God's rare tools... he is perfectly balanced in the Word and in the Spirit. He represents that rare but vanishing class of spiritually minded men of the last generation." "The Treasury of Quiet Talks Selections from S. D. Gordon" (1951) by John W. Bradbury gives this brief biography (adapted): "Samuel Dickey Gordon ministered the deep things of God, he was not an ordained minister, He could boast no academic degrees, he was never doctored [he never received an earned or honorary doctorate]. Theological concepts he obtained from his Bible. A plain man, controlled by a deep desire to edify God's people, he won the respect of the learned and at the same time the affection of the simple. "Gordon lived a long and useful life. He was born in Philadelphia August 12, 1859 and died June 1936. A public school education was all the academic training he had. But, as a young man, he was hard working, consecrated and sought the best God had for him. He served as assistant secretary of the Philadelphia Young Men's Christian Association in 1884-86 so efficiently that he became state secretary for the YMCA in Ohio, serving from 1886 to 1895. In this period he developed a quiet style of devotional speaking which was quite the opposite of the powerful forensics which dominated the pulpit style of that period.