Miles J. Stanford, The Complete Green Letters , p. 18.

And in the matter of service, in witnessing and helping others, we must watch and wait for the hungry, the needy heart, if there is to be abiding fruit. Again Stoney says, "The true value of anything is known only when it is wanted." ...

In this light, our needs are invaluable! We must face up to the fact that without spiritual hunger, we cannot feed on the Lord Jesus Christ. From our personal experience, Matthew 5:6 whould mean much to every one of us—"Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled." All too often believers ar eexhorted and even pressured to grow before there is an acute awareness of need, before there is true spiritual hunger. And, sad to say, in most instances when there is real heart-hunger, very little spiritual food is offered. One of the main reasons for so much evangelistic effort and personal work coming to little or nothing is that truths are forced on the "victim" to be saved before he is aware that he is lost. The work will soon come to naught unless an overpowering conviction of sin causes the lost to reach out with the grip of personal faith, and find their need fully ment in the Savior.

Links of interest:

The Large-type Christian cabinet, p. 15 (1881)

James Butler Storey, Letters on subjects of interest (1876), p. 29

My Brethren - Biography - J. B. Stoney

Exclusive Brethren - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia