"Peace is not the absence of trouble, but the presence of Christ."
— Sheila Walsh
If you wish to know God you must know His Word.
~C. H. Spurgeon~
The essence of true leadership in Christ is we continually have to die to selves.
We dare not limit God in our asking, nor in His answering.
~John Blanchard~
Sacrifice can never substitute for obedience
God is not looking for ability as much as He is looking for availability.
It has been a wonderful experience to compete in the Olympic Games and to bring home a gold medal. But since I have been a young lad, I have had my eyes on a different prize. You see, each one of us is in a greater race than any I have run in Paris, and this race ends when God gives out the medals.
~Eric Liddell~ 1981
“In necessary things, unity; in doubtful things, liberty; in all things, charity.
—Augustine
Let us humbly sit at our Lord’s feet to receive rebuke or instruction as He sees fit.
~C. H Spurgeon~
The Lord holds you so close. He desires to comfort you with His presence and soothe your worries and hopelessness. Lean on Him for support and rest in Him!
God is God. If He is God, He is worthy of my worship and my service. I will find rest nowhere but in His holy will, and that will is infinitely, immeasurably, unspeakably beyond my largest notions of what He is up to. ~ Elisabeth Elliot
You’re not alone in your suffering and you’re not alone in wondering what God’s will is. He wants His will to be known! He’s not hiding from you.
Anyone can read the Bible. Many do. But to experience the Word as the holy eyes of God, peering into our hearts, allowing Him to see our true thoughts, intentions, and motivations—that’s another thing altogether. We may find ourselves exposed and naked before Him, defensive, desperate to avoid humiliation, dodging truth rather than admit our poverty of spirit.
After the cross and the resurrection, the Lord Jesus taught His disciples for forty days before He ascended to the Father. One of His strategic messages of preparation concerned the Holy Spirit enablement they would need to fulfill their ministry. "You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you." After this vital promise was given, Jesus was taken up into heaven to the right hand of the Father. Ten days later, on the day of Pentecost, this promise was fulfilled by the outpouring of the Spirit.
When the book of Acts addresses Holy Spirit empowering for ministry, three different terms are used to describe the same reality. When Jesus promised this power, He used the term "baptized with." "You shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now." When He indicated that this power would result in a worldwide witness, the term "come upon you" was used. "You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you." Then, when these promises of the Spirit were fulfilled, the term employed was "filled with." "And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit." It is clear that these three sets of terms in Acts 1 and 2 are all referring to the same spiritual phenomenon:
A man asked me recently to help him learn how to share Jesus. I asked him who in particular he wanted to talk with. He said, "I really don't know anyone who isn't already a Christian, so I don't know how to start." It's the dilemma of so many people who are Christians: they don't know anybody who isn't a Christian because they avoid relationships with people who aren't. Will you make some new non-Christian friends this week? Invite a co-worker to lunch, or sit with other parents at your son's soccer game.
When we were born again through faith in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit came to dwell in our lives from that point thereafter (1 Corinthians 3:16). After the new birth, our lives may be repeatedly filled to overflowing by the empowering presence of the Spirit. The testimony of the early disciples illustrates this.
What does love look like? It has the hands to help others. It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men. That is what love looks like. Augustine
If God seems slow in responding, it is because He is preparing a better gift. He will not deny us. God withholds what you are not yet ready for. He wants you to have a lively desire for His greatest gifts. All of which is to say, pray always and do not lose heart.
Augustine
A Christian is a mind through which Christ thinks, a heart through which Christ loves, a voice through which Christ speaks, and a hand through which Christ helps.
Augustine
To fall in love with God is the greatest romance; to seek him the greatest adventure; to find him, is the greatest human achievement. Augustine
The greatest kindness one can render to any man is leading him to the truth.
Augustine
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