Thank you Heavenly Father. You heard my petition. You have answered my plea.May your name be glorified and be praised.
Know what you want and reach out eagerly for it.
Why settle for a lesser vision? When you are destiny for greatness!
So much can change from one day to the next, but the one thing that always remains the same is God. Stay focused on Him. In God We Trust.
The moral of the story is, faith does not always bring you happiness, wealth or a comfortable lifestyle filled with fun things to do. What faith does bring us is hope while living out God's attitudes of: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, all for the glory of God and the establishment of his kingdom.
I played my role as the good Christian girl and spared everyone the drama of an argument. But that decision to remain silent split me in two. It convinced me that I could never really be myself in church. That I had to check my heart and mind at the door.
Turns out, I wasn't the only one struggling with doubt. I wasn't the only one questioning my church's position on homosexuality and gender roles, and a whole host of other issues. I wasn't the only one who felt lonely on Sunday mornings.
With God, you are stronger than your struggles and more fierce than your fears. God provides comfort and strength to those who trust in Him. Be encouraged, keep standing, and know that everything's going to be alright.
Who stands fast? Only the man whose final standard is not his reason, his principles, his conscience, his freedom, or his virtue, but who is ready to sacrifice all this when he is called to obedient and responsible action in faith and in exclusive allegiance to God--the responsible man, who tries to make his whole life an answer to the question and call of God.
The greatest education is the knowledge of God. God gives life, strength and wisdom for every accomplishment.
A crisp, clean $100 bill that is crumbled up, thrown to the ground, stepped on and rubbed in the dirt still maintains its value.Life may crumble you, throw you to the ground, step on you and rub you in the dirt, but you still maintain your value.Just as a crumbled up $100 bill still has purchasing power, your life still has purposeful power; and nothing or no one can ever take that away from you.
There are no smooth paths to success. You have to straighten many rugged roads and scale numerous walls for the ultimate triumph.
We can do what we ought to do, only by great grace that comes from God.
Maintain a persistent focus of what you want. You will attract the divine force to bring it into existence.
It is only by persistent focus on your dreams you will pull all the divine forces for the passion of fulfilled dream.
When faced with many rejections, don’t give up. Hold fast to your dreams and keep up with sacred-work, you will succeed in the sacred-time.
For every great success, diligence is desirable from the beginning to the very end.
The point at which things happen is a decision. In stead of focusing on yourself, focus on how you can help someone else.
As Christians, we are all engaged in the business of discerning and obeying God’s call, and this usually means that soon enough we find ourselves out beyond our own competence, frightened at what God demands and feeling cosmically abandoned, left in the lurch with a job for which our own resources are completely inadequate…Sooner or later, the panic touches each one of us who accepts God’s call and heads, eyes wide open, straight into some difficult and mysterious work—like pastoring a church, teaching a class, going back to school, learning a language, creating a work of art. The panic descends on everyone who accepts God’s call to do something that engages our heart and wracks our soul—like making a marriage proper through better and worse, raising a child and letting her go into adulthood, enduring a terrible illness, growing up, growing old. In fact, being called out far beyond our own competence is part of our regular experience with God.
When push to the wall. You have to develop strategies to scale over the wall.
Now there was only one hope, the sovereign grace of God. God would have to transform my heart to do what a heart cannot make itself do, namely, want what it ought to want. Only God can make the depraved heart desire God. Once when Jesus’ disciples wondered about the salvation of a man who desired money more than God, he said to them, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God” (Mark 10:27). Pursuing what we want is possible. It is easy. It is a pleasant kind of freedom. But the only freedom that lasts is pursuing what we want when we want what we ought. And it is devastating to discover we don’t, and we can’t.
Mothering or nurturing is not just a calling for women who have biological or adopted children. Mothering is a calling for all women. Every Christian woman is called to the spiritual motherhood of making disciples of all nations.
Due to the monstrous activity of a handful of extremists, the majority of the human society has been conditioned to believe that the term 'musalman' is somehow synonymous with terrorism. But the reality is, the term 'musalman' refers to someone with 'musallam iman,' that means, a pure conscience. Thus any individual whose conscience is pure and clear, is a musalman or muslim, regardless of socio-religious background. Likewise, any human being who loves his or her neighbor is a Christian. Hence, scriptures can't define your religion, only your actions with other people do.
If I see God as nothing more than a caricature of history or imagination I cannot do anything less than make myself my own ‘god’. And once I realize that in doing so my rendition of being a ‘god’ is embarrassingly inferior to the very caricature I am mimicking, I quickly come to realize that maybe the only thing that can be ‘god’ is a God. And if that is the case, I suddenly find myself hounded by the stunning reality that God is not a caricature.
So many people concentrate on knowing who a good preacher or a bad preacher is and so many people concentrate on knowing what the word of God is! The former is good but the latter is noble. The latter is the best answer to the former. The real duty of man is never to know man but to know God through Christ Jesus! Knowing the word of God is the true way to knowing God!
if you really want to understand the real fear of God, ponder over Joseph with Potiphar's wife in the secret place; think about Abraham on his arduous errand to sacrifice Isaac without the knowledge of Sarah ; understand the urgency Jesus Christ attached to His work and His eagerness to do His Fathers will; appreciate the courage with which Shadrach Meshach and Abednego stood against all odds and also remember Daniel in the Lions Den.
The more familiar acquaintance we have with God the more do we partake of him. He that passes by the fire may have some gleams of heat, but he that stands by it has his colour changed. It is not possible that a man should have any long conference with God and be no whit affected. If we are strangers to God it is no wonder that our faces become earthy.
The name of the Lord Jesus, and His Word is powerful as the two edged sword that can cut through the face of the earth and bring man to subjection to His Kingdom which is pregnant to be established. The pains of labour is being felt and will intensify in the years to come and the moment will come for us to meet our Bridegroom Christ Himself.
Every journey has a beginning. The starting point of prayer is God. Like a father who waits to hear every detail of your life, He waits for you. You don’t need to get dressed up and go to church to reverently pray. The God of the universe invites you to come as you are. You can endure anything when you are at God’s side. He is the transformer. He turns sorrow to joy. He turns bitter to sweet.
The theater of God’s redemption is this world. It is to this world that God came in Christ. Christ refused to allow His disciples to hide in an upper room with the doors locked because of fear. No tabernacles were allowed on the Mount of Transfiguration. We are called to be Christ’s witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). Jerusalem is in this world. Judea is in this world. Samaria is in this world. The ends of the earth are still on this earth. So we should not flee this world. But, oh, how many Christians try to do so. And in doing so, they may actually be displeasing the God who wants the world to be redeemed, not escaped.
Savour on the moment, while still waiting for sacred time.
We may have different points of arguments from perspectives of belief, faith and religion.But we must not hate each other. We are one human family.
A life of faith is an enduring sacred-existence.
Anyone who falls short of God’s grace, out of rage, can harm many.It our sacred duty to love, motivate and pray for one another, so we will all be under God’s grace.
You can read the word of God, but without mediation and prayer, we become spiritually weak and unfilled.
When faced with a difficult situation, do not panic but pray!
I never knew the extent of God’s greatness until I hang on to His glorious hope.
Upon reading, great stories by Great Spirits, the glorious inspiration penetrated our soul; we can’t help but to shed tears. It was a soul soothing and a deep spiritual awaken.
To see the first sun rise in New Year is the most sacredness of existence.
In the moments of adversity, we engaged our minds on beautiful thoughts, our spirit on spirituality and our hands on inspiration writings. What a good trade of pain for peace of mind?
The change from self-centeredness to human-centeredness is the key to peaceful existence.
A blessed deed is saying hello with a smile to someone you meet on the street, in the shop, in the bus, in the office, in the church, in the holy places, in the mosque, at the park, at the school, at the university…..’ This is the greatest action of belonging to one another.
You ought to welcome troubled-souls with your peaceful-spirit.
If you read stories, you find the strength, faith and hope to survive everyday life.
Challenges make us grow in faith, in spirit and in strength.
The fullness of existence is the experience of joy and sorrow, good times and dark times, pain and healing..
Tell me, who have never be knocked down by life’s circumstances? It takes grace and enough strength, to get up and begin again
Challenges are part of life;We weaken our spirit, when we act in fear and lose hope.But we strengthen our spirit, when we fearlessly with faith and hope, rise up to meet and conquer the challenges.
Without being push to the wall, we will have remained in our comfortable zone. But this circumstance challenges us to find the courage to move on.
You ought to ask God for a specific task. And He will grant you grace to accomplish it.
There is enough work for everyone. May you find your purpose and passionately live it.
May you find strength to survive life.
The purest thought comes from mediation on word of God.
Don’t allow the challenges to overpower you. Choose a positive attitude and persistent endurance over defeat.
Tell me, who in this life, were never guided in course of their realization of their goal?
You must resist negative thoughts, negative criticism and negative influences.
Lord I thank you for the gift of breath, eyes to see, ears to hear, tongue to taste, nose to smell; mouth to speak, face to smile, voice to sing, body to dance, legs to walk, mind to think and hands to write.
A prayer and positive affirmation are the keys for a divine intervention in any situation.
A joyful soul is the choice to dwell on amazing gift of life than the challenges.
Use your special gifts to fulfil your divine purpose.
Your special spiritual gifts and talents are your calling.
Beloved his harp cries out in the night an hour my body does shift, the jerk loves to open me up while laughter from Christ like he’s drunk. Shall I stare at her the jumping let live? My wants are my needs so within. The take gives.
Be content with what you have. You have enough to live happy life.
May our lifestyles be a testimony of the hope we have in Christ Jesus.
I walk boldly and confidently relying on God.
Always look heavenward in any situation.Trust God to grant you the needed grace and strength to overcome the situation.
Keep trusting God. He will lead you in every step of the journey.
You are never late in the pursuit of the dreams. Once you recognised your dreams and visions. You must reach out passionately to fulfill them.
We have been blessed with the privilege to live life. May we live to the fullness.
You are part of divine purpose. You have a divine power within you.
When I was a child, I thought like a child.When I became adult, I seek a deeper understanding of life.
God bless all mankind with faith, hope, love, joy and peace.
May God guide you on the new travel path.
Never doubt, pray and believe.
Pursue your God-given goals.
The basis of spiritual community is truth, the basis of emotional community is desire.The exclusion of the weak and insignificant, the seemingly useless people, from everyday Christian life in community may actually mean the exclusion of Christ; for in the poor sister or brother, Christ is knocking at the door.
Every soul craves to fill the void. Only God can satisfy and set us free.
We must let God be Himself in us. This means that we must let Him be Himself in others too. We ought not to judge the style of another person’s worship.But worship that is elitist or is reduced to the level of popular entertainment, worship that is emotional or aesthetic is worship in name only. It has the external form without the reality. What we long for is living worship. But how does this come about?Our churches should not be places where the unregenerate come on Sundays because they “like the worship.” Our churches ought to be places where the unregenerate feel uncomfortable because it is the Spirit who is important and who comes first. Our controlling principle must be obedience to the Spirit—no matter where He leads us.Psalm 37:4 is true for all of us, whomever we are or whatever we want. But when we delight ourselves in the Lord, some of our desires may wither away and be replaced by new ambitions. So it will not do to envisage a definite goal concerning the form our worship must take. We must first of all be sure that we are delighting ourselves in the Lord and then see what God does.
God’s grace and mighty power aided us in the accomplishment of our goals.
May God guide and lead us to a glorious future.
The more you read the Bible, the more transform your life will be.
Every citizen must pray for its nation.
The more we abide in Christ, the more His grace and power transform us into His image.
In the history of the world, we have left our footprints by our unique stories.
Don’t cry for them to be happy. Find courage to overcome the circumstance.
When God gives you a dream, He will grant you the grace to fulfil it.
To live without hope is to be dead alive!
Whatever your faith prompts you to do, begin now.
Hang on! God will be thy strength in any act of your pursuit.
Every beginner possesses a great potential to be an expert in his or her chosen field.
The world needs great inspirers, to ignite the light in every soul.
The more we serve, the more strength, we receive to keep the good deeds.
Pursue your dream with passionate commitment to the divine purpose.
God is the source of life, wealth and honour. Live life for His glory.
Fulfilling your divine passion brings gladness.
I'm not a rich man but I won't agree to be on its opposite;I'm blessed, I 'm an able man though I don't have those material richness I've learned to live in contentment by loving and valuing everything I have. I'm happy and thankful even though problems always seems to break me.I still manage to strive and overcome them, knowing that God is always with me.
With the power of God, we can scale any wall.
You ought to the read stories of how people have endured the worst situation. You will find the strength to survive life.
When you face the worst situation, what do you do? Do you cry? No!With positive mentality you can graciously overcome the situation.
What happen to you are tiny matters? You can overcome every hurdle with positive attitude.
Laziness has made our cities unclean. If we begin to work and act appropriately, we will clean our cities of any dirt.
Write it in your heart, that you live life to the fullness.
What God says you are is more important than what others think of you.
The courage to keep trying is willingness to triumph.
Ten greatest gifts; love, joy, peace, patience, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
Keep on exploring.Keep on evolving.Keep on experimenting.
Overcome darkness, so that you may walk in the light.
God determines the path of every man.
Our greatest quest in life should be to live in the light!
Every nation must have prayerful men and women to intercede for the country’s well-being.
Path of life, path of light!
We are all vessels of good honour.
You can capable of heroic deeds. Think well of yourself and act positively.
You have great talents. Aim for God best for your life.
The birth of a child is a sacred phenomenon.
Love endures every circumstance; Love never loses hope, never loses faith and never gives up.
The benefits often outweigh the suffering. Never concentrate on the pain, focus on the reward.
If have the gift of prophesy, all wisdom and knowledge and have no love, I have failed to manifest my true soul.
God of miracles.God of wonders.
You possess a great soul, awaken the spirit.
Elohim! Elohim!Great is the Holy God.
Life itself is sacred.
We are endowed with different kinds of gifts for different kinds of services.
Every time, I am lost and said a little prayer, I divine force, reach out to help me find my way.
I travel to know the life of great souls in the pages of a book.
God's grace is your inner strength.Go ahead and pursue your God-given dreams.
May you follow the path of light.
I am glad to be led by light.
We have been redeemed from darkness to the light. So we must live as people of light!
Grace abounds for everyday life.
Be determined to create the life you want.
We are capable of great works through the mighty power of the Holy Spirit.
God can use you. You must be willing to follow His leading.
Life gives us many test. We must graciously take each test!
O Lord, grant my dearest husband, Jeremiah Nii Mama Akita, the spirit of prayer and the grace to read thy word.
Everlasting light, everlasting glory.
If all we're doing is flinging words and emotions in all directions without any real consideration for the specific ways the enemy is targeting us and the promises of God that apply to us, we're mostly just wasting our time.
Heavenly Father, your ears are ever open to our prayers.Save us now!
[God] wants your adoration. He wants your confessions. He wants your thankfulness. He wants your requests. But most of all, He wants you and your love for Him with all your heart, strength, mind, and soul. What a joy it is to be so wanted by the Creator of everything.
Our existence and our environment enclose entities of divinity.
Pray when you're alone. Pray when you're with a lot of people. Pray when you're in small groups. Pray on your way in; pray on your way out. Pray in your closet, in your car, at your desk. Pray morning prayers, pray mealtime prayers, pray in between mealtimes. Pray fervently, expectantly, and unself-consciously. Pray when you're burdened, worried, sick, or brokenhearted. Pray when you're soaring, setting records, or dancing on a mountaintop. Pray when you're up, and pray when you're down. Pray when you're healthy, when you're sick, when you feel like it, and when you don't. (Especially when you don't.)
This moment is spectacular!
How passionate have on embrace life?
Arise! Arise! Arise and shine!May Christ message of eternal life fill your heart with everlasting love, hope, happiness and new dreams.
Once I am alive, I still have the chance to live rightly for the rest of my life.
Illuminate the wonderful light within you.
Seek grace and manna daily.
Never be afraid to travel on a new path.
The greatest privileges:You are saved.You are a child of Most High God.You are co-heirs with Christ.You share in Christ suffering, life adversities.You share in Christ glory, strength of will and survival of life's difficulties.
Seek and fulfil your divine purpose.
The hardest thing to ever do is to reveal the naked soul to the world. However, in doing so brings healing, growth, strength, and powerful inspiration!
If God is Love, He is, by definition, something more than mere kindness. And it appears, from all the records, that though He has often rebuked us and condemned us, He has never regarded us with contempt. He has paid us the intolerable compliment of loving us, in the deepest, most tragic, most inexorable sense.
It is not simply that God has arbitrarily made us such that He is our only good. Rather God is the only good of all creatures: and by necessity, each must find its good in that kind and degree of fruition of God which is proper to its nature. The kind and degree may vary with the creature's nature: but that there ever could be any other good, is an atheistic dream. George Macdonald, in a passage I cannot now find, represents God as saying to men, 'You must be strong with my strength and blessed with my blessedness, for I have no other to give you.' That is the conclusion of the whole matter. God gives what He has, not what He has not: He gives the happiness that there is, not the happiness that is not. To be God - to be like God and to share His goodness in creaturely response - to be miserable - these are the only three alternatives. If we will not learn to eat the only food that the universe grows - that only food that any possible universe ever can grow - then we must starve eternally.
We can achieve our goals either by human effort or by the power of God. The dependence on God’s power is the best choice.
They torture us but could not kill our spirit. We have greater divine power, guiding and protecting us.
All things are made beautiful at a timely hour.
May the Lord grant you, your every desire.
May God bless your journey on earth!
Renew your mind with the knowledge on scriptures daily. You will be better equipped to handle any situation.
When I seek him, root my values and desires in him, when I found my relationships and sense of self on him, my capacity for joy increases. The more I "have" Jesus, the deeper my enjoyment of him. He increases my desire for those things that are good, adds value to that which is benign, and diminishes the strength of the negative (the evil) that threatens to throttle me. My dependence on material values and experiences as the means by which I define or please myself decreases.
We are grateful for a happy marriage and a glorious future. Four years of a happy marriage! Happy Anniversary my dearest husband, Jeremiah Nii Mama Akita! I love you with all my heart, soul and body.
Grateful moments, blessed time.
Do all the good you can while you still have the opportunity.
Mediation on the scriptures transforms our lives.
The scripture gives us timeless hope.
There is no better place as better as where God has placed you, be it good or bad, for His better reasons. Just keep calm and be humble and diligent enough to learn the better and real reasons that shall take and place you at the best place He wants to place you! If you don’t understand the lessons, ask Him for the reasons. If He answers you fine, if not, just keep going and keep learning the lessons. You shall definitely get a good understanding in the end!
As those of you with children know, rational parenting is like the Loch Ness Monster. We all hope it's out there somewhere, but we don't know anyone who has actually discovered it (and if we do come across someone who claims to have found it, deep down we think that person is a little off.
I sat in the darkness, where there is not any created thing, and to you I was only a voice commanding valour and an unnatural virtue. You heard the voice in the dark, and you never heard it again. The sun in heaven denied it, the earth and sky denied it, all human wisdom denied it. And when I met you in the daylight I denied it myself.… But you were men. You did not forget your secret honour, though the whole cosmos turned an engine of torture to tear it out of you. I knew how near you were to hell. I know how you, Thursday, crossed swords with King Satan, and how you, Wednesday, named me in the hour without hope.
In the New Testament, God's steadfast love and faithfulness are seen, not in an act of deliverance from foreign enemies, but in sending the Son and raising Him from the dead to enact a global rescue mission (Romans 8:3.) Jesus is God's supreme, grand, climactic act of faithfulness. Not only that, but "faithful" also describes Jesus. Paul writes, "We know that a person is justified not by the works of the law but in faith in Jesus Christ" (Galations 2:16...). A better reading is "faithfulness of Jesus Christ" -- which is found in footnotes of many Bibles -- and the two readings couldn't be more different... Paul isn't saying, "You are not justified by your efforts but by your faith." The contrast he's making isn't between two options we have; the contrast is between your efforts and Jesus' faithfulness to you, shown in His obedient death on a Roman cross. Paul is interested in telling readers what Jesus did, Jesus' faithfulness, not what we do. God's grand act of faithfulness is giving His son for our sake. God is all in. Jesus' grand act of faithfulness is going through with it for our sake. Jesus is all in. Now it's our move, which really is the point of all this. Like God the Father and God the Son, we are also called to be faithful. On one level, we are faithful to God when we trust God, but faith (pistis) doesn't stop there. It extends, as we've seen, in faithfulness toward each other, in humility and self-sacrificial love. And here is the real kick in the pants: When we are faithful to each other like this, we are more than simply being nice and kind -- though there's that. Far more important, when we are faithful to each other, we are, at that moment, acting like the faithful God and the faithful Son. Being like God. That's the goal. And we are most like God, not when we are certain we are right about God, or when we tell others how right we are, but when we are acting toward one another like the faithful Father and Son. Humility, love, and kindness are our grand acts of faithfulness and how we show that we are all in.
Deep despair, dear Lord, deep despairMy heart yearns to be your heirBut my prayer remains unheardSpeak to me that I may hearAnd I will know that you can hearDeep despair, dear Lord Jesus , deep despair !Deep despair, dear Lord, deep despairYour voice I wait to hearYour presence I seek to be nearThat I may not live with fearAnd I will always be your heirDeep despair, dear Lord Jesus, deep despair! Deep despair, dear Lord , deep despairWhen expectations become desperationMay your might be my light That I may see you as my guideAnd do all things in your mightDeep despair, dear Lord Jesus, deep despair !Deep despair, dear Lord , deep despairMay I know who You really areThat I may know who I am really areAs I stand between my me and where I want to beIn a world that seeks hinder all I have to be Deep despair, dear Lord Jesus, deep despair!Deep despair, dear Lord, deep despairWhen all hope is goneAnd all I have leave my handsMay I smile for what you have doneAs You overcome condemnation with redemptionDeep despair, dear Lord Jesus, deep despair!
At the sixes and sevens of our mindlead us oh Lord in Thy mightIn the moment to decide on our planslead us oh Lord with Thy planin the middle of uncountable decisionslead us oh Lord with Thy decisionour heart desires, our mind hopesLead us oh Lord, lead us oh LordTo the abode of satisfaction, lead us!In the insatiable desires of lifeLead us oh Lord with Thy lightPeace we want, fulfillment we desireLead us oh Lord with Thy powerIn the unending trials and temptations of lifeLead us oh Lord with Thy lightour heart desires, our mind hopesLead us oh Lord, lead us oh lordTo the abode of satisfaction, lead us!
As we grow in the Christian life we face increasing danger of spiritual pride. We know the correct doctrines, the right methods, and the proper do's and don'ts. But we may not see the poverty of our own spiritual character. We may not see our critical and unforgiving spirit, our habit of backbiting, or our tendency to judge others. We may become like the Laodiceans of whom our Lord said, 'You say, "I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing." But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked' (Revelation 3:17).
The brief story of the supper at Emmaus carries within it a number of core principles of the Christian life as Luke understands it. First, the idea that one comes to know Christ through acts of generosity to other human beings. It is because of their kindness to a stranger that the disciples find the beloved teacher whom they had lost. Second, there is the idea that they can conjure his presence in prayer and in communal acts such as the breaking of bread - by remembering his life, death, and resurrection - even in an undistinguished house in an anonymous village. The simple acts of generosity and community in daily life are the acts that make real the living presence of Jesus.
That's the Christian life: a long journey in the same direction. It's about perseverance. Obedience. And a whole lot of grace. The hand of the master winemaker, forever pruning, producing fruit, and then making something profound and lovely out of our meager harvest.
Seek the blessings each day brings.
A day of birth is a glorious event.
As we plant in tears, we shall harvest with joy.
What a glorious day!
May you have faith to pursue your heavenly visions.
Seek grace and guidance from God.
Blessed are you who sow. Every seed you so plant, will grow into bountiful crops for great harvest.
May your heart overflows with exceeding joy.
Have you ever wondered why you did not rapture and go to heaven the day you became a Christian? It is because God has work for you to do here on earth! Having gone to heaven, Jesus expects you to be his body on earth. You are his hands, his feet, his voice.
Christ want to point this out and to warn His followers that in the world everyone should live as though he were alone and should consider His Word and preaching as the very greatest thing on earth, thinking this way to himself: “I see my neighbor and the whole city, and yes the whole world, living differently. All those who are great or noble or rich, the princes and the lords, are allied with it. Nevertheless I have an ally who is greater than all of them, namely, Christ and His Word. When I am all alone, therefore, I am still not alone. Because I have the Word of God, I have Christ with me, together with all the dear angels and all the saints since the beginning of the world. Actually there is a bigger crowd and a more glorious procession surrounding me than there could be in the whole world now. Only I cannot see it with my eyes, and I have to watch and bear the offense of having so many people forsake me or live and act in opposition to me.
I had treated my temporary earthly problems so emotionally and seriously that they became major energy zappers, brain drains, and heart breakers. I knew I was a Christian living in this world, but things didn’t really sink in until the concept of the purple wedge made me ‘see’ it and put things into perspective.
American Christianity is a story of perpetual upheavals in churches and individual lives. Starting with the extraordinary conversion experience, our lives are motivated by a constant expectation for the Next Big Thing. We're growing bored with the ordinary means of God's grace, attending church week in and week out. Doctrines and disciplines that have shaped faithful Christian witness in the past are often marginalized or substituted with newer fashions or methods. The new and improved may dazzle us for a moment, but soon they have become "so last year". Michael Horton, Ordinary, 16
When you became a Christian, you were still susceptible to living the way you learned to live before. Your brain was not wiped clean. That conflicts with this new life to which you gave yourself. Is it easy being a Christian in this world today? No! You are living in two contrary worlds at the same time. The two worlds have collided!
You have both feet in both worlds at the same time, at least for now. An understanding of this may or may not change what happens to you in this world, but it will definitely change how you see, react to, and handle things, especially if you keep in mind the new knowledge you have of where you are.
The real problem is that our values are changing and the new ones are wearing us out. But they're also keeping us from forming genuine, long-term, and meaningful commitments that actually contribute to the lives of others. Over time, the hype of living a new life, taking up a radical calling, and changing the world can creep into every area of our life. And it can make us tired, depressed, and mean. Michael Horton, Ordinary, 13-14
We want big results-sooner rather than later. And we've forgotten that God showers his extraordinary gifts through ordinary means of grace, loves us through ordinary fellow image bearers, and sends us into the world to love and serve others in ordinary callings. Michael Horton, Ordinary, 14
I have observed one thing among true Christians in their differences in many countries: What divides and severs true Christian groups and Christians - what leaves a bitterness that can last for 20, 30, 40 years (or for 50 or 60 years in a son's or daughter's memory) - is not the issue of doctrine or belief that caused the differences in the first place. Invariably, it is a lack of love - and the bitter things that are said by true Christians in the midst of differences.
I will place no value on anything I have or may possess, except in relation to the kingdom of Christ. If anything will advance the interests of that kingdom, it shall be given away or kept, only as by giving or keeping it I shall most promote the glory ofHim to whom I owe all my hopes in time and eternity.
They have concluded that it is their duty to rush forward on their journey no matter what the weather; I, on the other hand, am for waiting for favourable wind and current. They are for risking all for God at the snap of a finger; I am for taking advantage of every opportunity to secure my life and estate. They are for holding to their ideas even though all the world would be against them; I, however, am for religion insofar as the times, conditions, and my safety allow it. They are for religion when walking in rags and abuse; I am for it when it walks in silver slippers, in sunshine, and with applause.
Ask the Lord to give you a clear picture of who you are in Christ, and how much he desires you to be joyful in the abundant life of fruitfulness. Ask him to show you where you fit in eternity, and why it is so vital that you were brought into existence by the decree of God for this special moment of history. And ask him to give a vision for the maturity he desires you to have, and can perfect in you. Ask him to show you how you can reform your heart, mind and soul to grow and be useful to the master in his perfect plan to bring grace, mercy and salvation to a dying world.
From the experience of these years Dr. Lloyd-Jones was immovably confirmed in a truth which he had first seen in the New Testament. It was that evangelism is pre-eminently dependent upon the quality of the Christian life which is known and enjoyed in the church.
Ultimately, Adam's role as the leader and Eve's role as the helper have the same underlying purpose. It's all about serving and pointing others to Christ. Neither role is about us. They are both always about God. When serving God is our goal, having the title "helper" won't bother us. we can gratefully accept our God-defined position to bring honor to Him.
God works by means; and it is by his people that he principally carries on his cause in the world. They are his witnesses. They are his servants. He first makes them the subjects of his grace, and then the mediums. He first turns them from rebels into friends, and then employs them to go and beseech others to be reconciled unto God. For they know the wretchedness of a state of alienation from him. They know the blessedness of a return. They have "tasted that the Lord is gracious." Their own experience gives them earnestness and confidence in saying to those around them, "O taste, and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.
To my dear daughters, granddaughters, and all future brides, I thought it would be a wonderful tradition for each bride to write a little note and leave a legacy for those who come after her. How I wish my own mother had lived to see my wedding day and been present to share her wisdom!I make no pretense at being wise, but God is. The bible says we can ask for wisdom, and God will honor our request. As you consider marriage, first seek God's will and ask Him to direct your heart. Do not hasten to take your vows. Pause and reflect before you take such a momentous step, and be sure your mate honors God. A marriage is not just between a man and a woman--it is a holy union which must include the Lord to flourish.Ethan was God's gift to me. His patience, strength, and companionship were like a balm to my grief. We learned to work together and rely on one another until respect and affection sparked. Love came softly and grew in our hearts. How I thank God for bringing us together and blessing our union!Though hardships test us and extraordinary things thrill us, life is made up of mundane days. Love each other in the little, commonplace matters of life to strengthen your marriage, or it will wither from neglect. Appreciate what you have, and forgive as freely as you laugh.My darlings, my prayer is for you to make wise decisions of the heart--first in devoting your spirit to the Lord, then in giving your hand to a man. May each of you be blessed with a godly mate and know the joy of growing close together and growing old with him.
It is God's jealous love that both unnerves us and draws us to Him. His relentless pursuit, His fierce hatred of any rival, and His incomprehensible willingness to anguish on our behalf captures our heart for His love. His jealousy is our shield; it is our promise of eternal protection and passionate exclusivity. it is our confidence that the divine Lover will win His bride.
To successfully tell the story, we had to be willing to let people see us as we really were; with all our weaknesses, fears, and imperfections. There are important lessons we learned from the experience that we would not have adequately relayed to the reader if we had been less bold.” ~ Duane
Christians want to whine to everyone under the sun about their problems, instead of actually going to the only one who not only cares, but can actually do something about their problems. Next time you are sick, broken hearted or having problems, before you call your friends, post it on Facebook, or tell your pet fish, try going to God with it, and see how much better that works for you.
The essence of Christianity is centered upon the Lord Jesus Christ. The sum and substance of being a Christian is trusting Christ with the entirety of one’s being. The height of the Christian life is adoring Christ, the depth of it loving Him, the breadth of it obeying Him, and the length of it following Him. Everything in the Christian life revolves around Jesus Christ. Simply put, Christianity is Christ.