John Bunyan (1628 – 1688) was an English writer and Puritan minister best known for his masterful Christian allegorical work – Pilgrim’s Progress. The book, written while Bunyan was in prison, is regarded as one of the most important works of theological fiction in the English language and has been translated into more than 200 languages.
Bunyan grew up in poverty and while he occasionally attended church he was more interested in playing sports on Sunday and was famous for his filthy-mouthed speech. At 16, Bunyan joined the army at the height of the English Civil War and had his life providentially spared when once a fellow soldier switched sentry assignments with him, and the man who took his place was shot in the head with a musket bullet and died. This incident showed Bunyan that God had spared his life and that He had a great work for him to do.
After the war, Bunyan returned home and married. His wife loved to read to him from religious books and the Bible and slowly he felt convicted that his lifestyle didn’t measure up to what he knew it should be. While attending church with his new wife his feelings of guilt mounted and he slowly began to change giving up Sunday sports and swearing.
According to Tiner: “He was baptized as an adult in the River Ouse. Yet, he lacked peace and suffered an inner struggle that plunged him into despair. He felt he could never be good enough to deserve God’s love. Only after reading Luther’s commentary on Galatians and understanding salvation by God’s grace did his outlook become positive.”1
Slowly, Bunyan began to feel relief from his inner struggles, and felt compelled to share his faith. He became an effective field preacher conducting open-air services where he began to attract large crowds. Since, at this time open-air services were illegal, Bunyan was sentenced to three months in prison. When his sentence was up he was told he would be released as long as he wouldn’t preach again. Bunyan refused and the months turned to years; which in the end totaled twelve years behind bars.
During his long prison sentence Bunyan understood that he clearly was suffering for the sake of Christ. Ironically while in jail he began to experience the religious freedom that he was denied while a free man. In prison he could read his Bible, preach, and sing hymns with no restrictions. In addition, he was allowed and had plenty of time to write. As a result of his imprisonment, he was able to complete many of his sixty books, including his classic Pilgrim’s Progress.
Below are a sampling of Bunyan’s many insightful quotes on spiritual matters that I pray will encourage you on your walk with the Lord.2
“If my life is fruitless, it doesn’t matter who praises me, and if my life is fruitful, it doesn’t matter who criticizes me.”
“You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.”
“In prayer it is better to have a heart without words than words without a heart.”
“Pray and read, read and pray; for a little from God is better than a great deal from men.”
“He who runs from God in the morning will scarcely find Him the rest of the day.”
“Prayer will make a man cease from sin, or sin will entice a man to cease from prayer.”
“In times of affliction we commonly meet with the sweetest experiences of the love of God.”
“Whatever contradicts the Word of God should be instantly resisted as diabolical.”
“Pray often, for prayer is a shield to the soul, a sacrifice to God, and a scourge for Satan.”
“Prayer is a sincere, sensible, affectionate pouring out of the soul to God, through Christ, in the strength and assistance of the Spirit, for such things as God has promised.”
“In all your prayers forget not to thank the Lord for his mercies.”
“Our sins, when laid upon Christ, were yet personally ours, not his; so, his righteousness, when put upon us, is yet personally his, not ours.”
“Great grace and small gifts are better than great gifts and no grace.”
“And, indeed, this is one of the greatest mysteries in the world; namely, that a righteousness that resides in heaven should justify me, a sinner on earth!”
“No man, without trials and temptations, can attain a true understanding of the Holy Scriptures.”
“If people really see that Christ has removed the fear of punishment from them by taking it into Himself, they won’t do whatever they want, they’ll do whatever He wants.”
“I have often thought that the best Christians are found in the worst of times.”
“The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, and they that lack the beginning have neither middle nor end.”
1 John Hudson Tiner, For Those Who Dare (Green Forest, Arkansas: Master Books, Inc. 2002), p. 69.
2 All of these quotes are from the following website:
TOP 25 QUOTES BY JOHN BUNYAN (of 190) | A-Z Quotes (azquotes.com)
When reading this devotional about Paul Bunyan, I am reminded of John 16:8. It says the Holy Spirit will convict the world of sin. In Paul Bunyan’s life, the Word of God is what changed his life. The circumstances around him didn’t change him. It was the conviction of the Holy Spirit that brought him into a true relationship with Jesus Christ. Thank you Lord for the precious Holy Spirit.