Converting Grace

We can no more turn our hearts than turn the world upside down. It is the Redeemer by his Spirit who must take away our heart of stone, and by the influence of the Holy Spirit, give us a heart of flesh. I might as well attempt to reach the heavens with my hands; I might as well go to some churchyard and command the dead to rise. I might as soon shake my handkerchief and bid the streams divide and they give way as to expect a soul to turn to God without the grace of the Mediator. Come, my dear hearers, I am of a good man's opinion that prayed he might be converted every day. In the divine life, not to go forwards is to go backwards; it is the great part of the Spirit of God to convert the soul from something that is wrong to something that is right, every day, hour, and moment of the believer's life - so that, in short, his life is one continued act of converting grace.

George Whitefield Daily Readings, Randall J. Pederson, ed., Christian Focus Publications, 2010, from the May 3 reading.