When we pray God shows up! Jer.33:3-4
"GOD IS GOOD no matter what your feelings are telling you"
When we base our expectations on God’s Word rather than what we see happening in the spiritual lives of others, they grow pregnant with possibilities. Some argue that God doesn’t work today like He did back in biblical times. Who says He doesn’t? Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever.....
Example is more forceful than precept. People look at me
six days a week to see what I mean on the seventh day.
~Richard Cecil~
Not all of us make the same sound. Some are soft, and others are loud. Some convert the lost. Others encourage the saved. And some keep the movement in step. All are needed!
*With God on your side, you can’t possibly lose.
Success will never lower it's standard to accommodate us; we have to raise our standard to achieve it.
The bridge between panic and peace is prayer.
When horrors happen we can't use God to make them unhappen any more than we can use a flood of light to put out a fire or Psalm 23 to find our way home in the dark.
As long as we live in God's universe, like it or not, we play by His rules.
Forgiveness is not an occasional act but, a permanent attitude. – MLK Jr.
As creatures of habit, we tend to go through life on autopilot. We often miss clues that indicate that our spirit is not enjoying the good health that God created it for.
In the same way that a physician puts us through a battery of tests to diagnose potential physical problems, God the Great Physician has given us a process of evaluating spiritual problems in our lives -- by measuring them against the fruit of the Holy Spirit!
A miracle is God doing what only God can do.
~Ronald Dunn~
“Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.”
— Goethe
Herbert Lockyer describes prayer: "Is prayer not the desire, opportunity, and privilege of talking with God?" Desire. Opportunity. Privilege. Those three words form the foundation of a healthy perspective of prayer. The Bible makes crystal clear the importance and significance of prayer. There are more than 650 prayers recorded in God's Word not including the Book of Psalms.
The destined end of man is not happiness, not health, but holiness. God’s one aim is the production of saints.
~Oswald Chambers~
As Christians, our lives are not always easy. Sometimes, we fight even greater battles as our enemy, Satan, deploys against us. What we know for certain is that God is with us, ready to fight the battle through us. Our journey is uphill, with a dead body upon our back, the devil doing what he can to pull us down.
~Philip Henry~
The Bible not only commands us to give thanks regardless of circumstances, but it also tells us to verbally give thanks to God. It would be like a husband never telling his wife that he loves her. She needs to hear it from him. And of course, a husband needs to hear "I love you" from his wife, too.
We are the bride of Christ, Amen!
“Perhaps it takes a purer faith to praise God for unrealized blessings than for those we once enjoyed or those we enjoy now.”
― A.W. Tozer
The idea that God will pardon a rebel who has not given up his rebellion is contrary both to the Scriptures and to common sense.
~A.W. Tozer~
Christians try to serve Christ all by themselves. Their isolation from other believers not only falls short of the biblical vision but also almost always fails. If you try to be a minister of Christ by yourself, it won’t work. If you share in his ministry with your co-ministers, then your efforts will bear fruit as God's Spirit works through the ministering community.
The body of Christ is so much bigger than the church building!
Christians are taught to be selfless and to deny self. Conversely, the world is consumed with self (self-interest, self-fulfillment, and self-reliance). Christianity and the world are in constant conflict with one another. It could be reasoned that the only reason any of us would not suffer persecution is that we are going in the same way, and are more in alignment with the unbelieving world, than with Jesus. A preacher once said, “If you go God’s way, you’re going to bump into the devil!”
Every day in marriage presents at least one opportunity to overcome incompatibility. That's because each day, you wake up as separate individuals with independent desires, wills, and ideas. You must learn to work together for the common good of your relationship.
Understanding and applying sacrificial love is impossible without Christ. Without Jesus, who is to say what love is? Without God's love made flesh, how can we say who's version of love is right, pure, and without contamination?
Instead, learn to be compatible, selfless, and loving individuals as you grow closer to Christ. Let his generous love transform your heart and flood your home. As it does, you will experience the deep joy that only comes from loving sacrificially and being loved the same way—first by Christ, then (ideally, hopefully) by your spouse.
One band one sound- One church with many members.
wisdom will never lower its standards to accommodate us; we must raise our standards to achieve it.
"Here is the history of the grass: sown, grown, blown, mown, gone. And the history of man is not much more." — Charles Spurgeon
"Atonement is the brain and spinal cord of Christianity. Take away the cleansing blood, and what is left to the guilty?" — Charles Spurgeon
"Grace is the mother and nurse of holiness, and not the apologist of sin." — Charles Spurgeon
"Infinite power shall stoop that you may lean upon its shoulder." — Charles Spurgeon
If you meet with a system of theology which magnifies man, flee from it as far as you can." — Charles Spurgeon "I would not give a penny for your love to the truth if it is not accompanied with a hearty hatred of error." — Charles Spurgeon "Only give truth time, and, God being with her, she must prevail." — Charles Spurgeon "There is a mutual delight in each other in the persons of the blessed Trinity, so that each divine person delights to glorify the rest." — Charles Spurgeon
"Cast yourself simply on Jesus; Let nothing but faith be in your soul towards Jesus." — Charles Spurgeon "Of two evils, choose neither." — Charles Spurgeon "A man who says, 'I was wrong,' really says, in effect, 'I am a little wiser today than I was yesterday.'" — Charles Spurgeon "The sermon which does not lead to Christ will make the devils in hell laugh, but make the angels of God weep." — Charles Spurgeon
"We trust in Jesus for what we cannot do ourselves. If it were in our own power, why look to him?" — Charles Spurgeon "The way up to heaven by works is very steep and narrow, and by one wrong step a man is dashed to pieces." — Charles Spurgeon "Of all spiritual food, the Bible is the most sustaining." — Charles Spurgeon "When God pardons a man's sins, he pardons them all." — Charles Spurgeon
"Sin necessitates death. Jesus died." — Charles Spurgeon
"Do not believe that there exists any man, much less any race of men, for whom the gospel is not fitted." — Charles Spurgeon "Christ loves you. He would sooner die than allow you to perish." — Charles Spurgeon
"The gospel is all about Christ from beginning to end." – Charles Spurgeon "Throw away your self-righteousness, for there is no hope for you so long as you cling to it." — Charles Spurgeon
There is no version of Christianity that permits you to continue sinning just because of God’s love for you. True love inspires true obedience.
‘Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling’ - which looks as if everything depended on us and our good actions: but the second half goes, ‘for it is God who works in you’ - which looks as if God did everything and we did nothing. C. S. Lewis Jesus has met, fought, and beaten the King of Death. Everything is different because He has done so. C. S. Lewis God clothes us with Christ’s innocence and assigns it to us, reckoning us on account of his holiness to be holy, pure and blameless. John Calvin My idea of God is not a divine idea. It has to be shattered time after time. He shatters it himself. He is the great iconoclast. Could we not almost say that this shattering is one of the marks of His presence? C. S. Lewis To walk out of his will is to walk into nowhere. C. S. Lewis
“While our circumstances might often remind us that we are living in a fallen world, the gospel is being preached and people on every continent of the earth are being gathered out of all the nations to worship him.” — Iain Wright
“Christ died for sinners. This is the sum of the gospel, the foundation of Christianity, the root and spring of all our comforts and hopes, of all our happiness here and hereafter.” David Clarkson Christ’s Dying for Sinners Works 3:64 “The Holy Scripture is the only sufficient, certain, and infallible rule of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience.” — The Baptist Confession of Faith, 1.1. If you are justified, you can no more be unjustified than Christ can be pulled down from heaven. - Sinclair B. Ferguson
"He has made His righteousness my righteousness, and my sin His sin. If He has made my sin to be His sin, then I do not have it and I am free. If He has made His righteousness my righteousness, then I am righteous now with the same righteousness as He.” — Martin Luther “True true religion is to imitate Christ.” — Thomas Watson
“Our iniquitous life was legally charged to Him on the cross, as if He had lived it, so that His righteous life could be credited to us, as if we lived it. That is the doctrine of justification by imputation—the high point of the gospel.” — John MacArthur
“Justified by faith is he who, excluded from the righteousness of works, grasps the righteousness of Christ through faith, and clothed in it, appears in God's sight not as a sinner but as a righteous man.” — John Calvin
“So when we say a man is justified, we mean that a grant of righteousness has been given to the believer in Jesus Christ by virtue of the mediatorial work that he accomplished.” — S. Lewis Johnson
“Can a man know God's love in Christ incarnate, and Christ's suffering for us, and his sitting at the right hand of God, the infinite love of God in Christ, and not be carried in affection back to God…?” — Richard Sibbes “The transference of our guilt to the Divine Substitute, and the transference of that Substitute's righteousness or perfection to us, must stand or fall together.” — Horatius Bonar
"We never move on from the gospel; we move on in the gospel.” –– J.I. Packer “If meditation on the heavenly life were the prevailing sentiment in our hearts, the world would have no influence in detaining us.” John Calvin (John ii:30)
“We must believe, then for there is no other alternative that the Righteousness in which we must be clothed, and through which we must be accepted, and by which we are made meet to inherit eternal life, can be no other than the work of Jesus Christ!” — Charles Spurgeon
“Proper thinking about God's secure salvation is essential and invaluable for both a Christian's living and dying… we gain assurance when we focus primarily on the person and work of the Lord jesus.” — Mike Abendroth
“Each day we are becoming a creature of splendid glory or one of unthinkable horror.” - C.S. Lewis
There are only two kinds of people: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, ‘All right, then, have it your way.’” - C.S. Lewis
“God alone can fill every corner of the soul of a man.” — Richard Sibbes
“Scripture’s self-authentication means that its inherent qualities demonstrate it to be inspired.” — Dr. Zachary Cole
“The heaviest end of the cross is laid upon our strong Savior.” — Samuel Rutherford
WHY ARE YOU COMPETING WITH PEOPLE? PAUL SAID I FINISHED MY RACE, NOT YOURS, NOT OURS, NOT THEIRS! BUT MINE! STAY YOUR LANE!
God is the MASTER at RECONSTRUCTION!
Oh what we COULD BE if only we stopped carrying the remains of who WE WERE.”
STAY FOCUSED. DON'T LET YOUR PAST MESS UP YOUR FUTURE.
NO MATTER HOW MANY ENEMIES ATTACK YOU – WHETHER INTERNALLY OR EXTERNALLY, ALWAYS KNOW THAT GOD IS STILL WITH YOU.
The Spirit of God is not restricted in any way.
Every fiber of our being—spirit, soul, and body—is made to be affected by the person of the Holy Spirit within us. Ray Bentley
Our Lord Jesus Christ commands us to pray against temptation. He doth not command us to pray against affliction. —Robert Traill, Works 1:158
Pride is self, contending with God for preeminence. -Stephen Charnock - Be more afraid of grieving God and wounding conscience than displeasing your friends in the world. -John Flavel -
"He who, when called upon to speak a disagreeable truth, tells it boldly and has done, is both bolder and milder than he who nibbles in a low voice and never ceases nibbling." -Johann Kaspar Lavater The hope of a believer is built upon a foundation that cannot be shaken, though it may and will be assaulted. - John Newton
The cross of Christ divides all mankind. There are only two sides, those for Christ, and those against Him. Think of the two thieves; from the side of Christ one went down to death cursing God, and the other went to glory. Moody
"It’s vital to remember that as a pastor you are first of all a Christian. You’re a sheep before you’re a shepherd." - Conrad Mbewe
"A vision of God is the end of boasting." -Charles Spurgeon. “That the triune God committed in eternity past to redeem elect sinners brings believers to a place of astonishment, humility, understanding, and praise.” — Patrick Abendroth
The most serious crimes ever committed against God are committed in corrupt worship. -John MacArthur - If a Christian is not having tribulation in the world, there's something wrong! -Leonard Ravenhill -
A loose and ungoverned tongue will be one evidence brought against men as a sign of their unrenewed hearts in the day of judgement. —Thomas Manton, Works 6:62
We proclaim that God justifieth the ungodly, neither by making him godly before he justify him (legalism), nor leaving him ungodly after he hath justified him (antinomianism); but that same grace that justifies him, doth immediately sanctify him. —Robert Traill, Works 1:255 Satan distracts 𝘰𝘶𝘳 prayers, but cannot blemish 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵’𝘴 intercession. —Puritan Stephen Charnock, Works 5:142
Sometimes we have to remind ourselves to stop looking only at what we can see with our natural eyes. The truth is, the spiritual dimension is eternal and more real than the physical world. Ray Bentley
“What is the best safeguard against false doctrine? The Bible regularly read, regularly prayed over, regularly studied. We must go back to the old prescription of our Master: ‘Search the Scriptures.’ (John 5:39).” - J.C. Ryle
As when he was on earth no man spoke as he spoke, so, now he is in heaven, never did any man or angel plead as he pleads. —Stephen Charnock, on Christ as our Intercessor and Advocate, Works 5:117
"How committed are we as a 21st-century church? Are we strong, steadfast, and persevering? Do we have enough courage and conviction to stand for the truth and say, 'I hate these practices, for I know that Jesus does too?'" —Alistair Begg
The more a wicked man gives himself to sin, the more a godly man gives himself to prayer.
The Bible is authoritative on everything of which it speaks. Moreover, it speaks of everything. -Cornelius Van Til - Has this world been so kind to you that you should leave with regret? There are better things ahead than any we leave behind. -C.S. Lewis -
Living on a mission means that you've resisted the world's plea to just mind your own business.
“Those who preach only out of duty produce listeners who listen only out of duty, a miserable exchange of boredom.” - Darius Salter
"If you love and listen to the wrong kinds of music your inner life will wither and die." -A.W.Tozer.
Then, are we christians indeed, when we come to live on the invisible realities of another world. - George Whitefield
Be content with such things as you have, since the Lord has ordered all things for your good -C.H. Spurgeon - Do not let the exciting + sensual swallow up your attention while the edifying + the sanctifying finds no place in your mind. -J.C. Ryle -
“Do we measure up? No! He measures up for us.” — Rosaria Butterfield
"Depression of spirit is no index of declining grace; the very loss of joy and the absence of assurance may be accompanied by the greatest advancement in the spiritual life." - Charles Spurgeon
If you want a religion to make you feel really comfortable, I certainly don’t recommend Christianity. C. S. Lewis
When something out of the ordinary happens in our lives, it may be the Lord trying to speak to us. When we have an unexpected change of plans, when something we weren’t preparing for happens, we think it’s the worst thing. Maybe something like this has happened to you recently. There has been a change in your plans. You wonder what’s going on. Maybe the Lord is trying to get your attention. It just might be the hand of God trying to say something or direct you in a certain way. And what may seem like a coincidence actually may be Providence. Disappointment is His appointment.
"[…] the humbler I lie at my Saviour’s feet, the more his glories strike mine eyes." - Charles Spurgeon
Friendship is a deep oneness that develops when two people speaking the truth in love to one another, journey together to the same horizon Refreshment: I have found that if, instead of praying for my own comfort and satisfaction, I ask the Lord to enable me to give to others, an amazing thing often happens—I find my own needs wonderfully met. ~ Elisabeth Elliot
"To be cast down, is often the best thing that could happen to us […]. Because, when we are cast down, it checks our pride." - Charles Spurgeon
I have this day been before God and have given myself - all that I have and am - to God; so that I am in no respect my own. I have given myself clean away. Jonathan Edwards
" The majority of churches that I come into contact with do not demonstrate that they are teaching their church how to defend the historic Christian faith. They’re not really dealing with answers." —Ray Ciervo
"[…] crushed with a load of grace, bowed down with a tremendous weight of benedictions, having such blessings from God that, if our soul were not cast down by them, they would be the ruin of us." - Charles Spurgeon
The more like Christ you are, the more the world will treat you like they treated Christ. Maybe you don't get much persecution because there's not much similarity. John MacArthur
“The more man reaches for material things on the outside the more he points to his bankruptcy on the inside.” Leonard Ravenhill
The kingdom of God in the teaching of Jesus is not a political reality but a religious-ethical dominion born of water and the Spirit. —Herman Bavinck
"God's mercy, peace, and love are like the sun — always shining down upon us, even when they are obscured by the clouds of life.”
“When a man has no strength, if he leans on God, he becomes powerful.”— D.L. Moody
"Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase."— Martin Luther King Jr.
"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched, they must be felt with the heart."— Helen Keller
"The measure of a life, after all, is not its duration, but its donation."— Corrie Ten Boom
"Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless."— Mother Teresa
we have begun to consider a summarized testimony of God's servants who experienced various consequences of accessing grace through faith. Two of these benefits were, they "subdued kingdoms" and "worked righteousness." These are wonderful realities, but these accounts show that relying upon the Lord can produce more consequences than these
You and I must get our understanding of the Holy Spirit right if we love the truth and want to glorify Jesus Christ with our lives.
If you’ve accepted Jesus as your Savior, He’s taken up residence in you and will never leave. He loves you and wants you to know Him intimately!
For some Christians, it’s a big deal to talk about their faith. But if we’re walking with God and our lives are pleasing to Him, we will find that Jesus overflows into our lives. One of the greatest compliments a nonbeliever can pay a believer is when they say, “I don’t know what you believe. I don’t know what it is about you that makes you the way that you are. And I don’t know where you get this special something. But whatever it is, I want it.”
We cannot outgive God. It is a privilege. It is a joy. And it pleases God when we invest in His kingdom.
It is difficult and discouraging to live only out of the mind. It is too limiting, and we are made for so much more.
Sometimes we have to remind ourselves to stop looking only at what we can see with our natural eyes. The truth is, the spiritual dimension is eternal and more real than the physical world.
God is not distant and unapproachable but rather humble and loving. He comes down off His throne and lowers Himself to interact with His children. He’s our Father, after all, and a perfect One at that.
You have to change your mind and rework your thinking. Our stinking thinking gets us into trouble. Replace that with the truth: Jesus came to let us be healed and forgiven. We don’t need to renegotiate the past; we can’t change it. We need to repent, change our minds, turn away from that which is harming us, and follow Jesus.
You and your unique purpose are a carefully orchestrated part of God’s plans.
You were created for a purpose! God, the One who made you specifically you, gave you unique gifts and talents, perspectives and a voice to be a shining light in this world. We need you to be you for the purposes of the Kingdom of God for His glory!
You were created to participate in God’s divine activity.
Let’s keep our eyes open to the divine work we can participate in today! Maybe it’ll be the gift of giving cash to someone in need for Christmas (which is right around the corner!), or the gift of helping, or the gift of loving someone who feels unseen or unheard. Remember, you are embraced by Jesus!
Jesus wants us to learn to reach out and trust Him to help and calm us, to forgive and restore us.
Jesus is THE pivotal person in all of history. People may try to squeeze Him into the box of “a good man” or “a prophet”, but it doesn’t work. He’s either God Himself, the Creator of all things, or He’s not worth following! Do you believe that He is God and He is good? And that He can change everything?
Viewing this life in light of eternity will ultimately bring more joy in the present.
It’s hard to think about a different perspective when we’re in pain or struggling, but that’s what will help us! Shifting from that black dot (which includes suffering, loss, waiting, and longing) to viewing circumstances in light of eternity is vital to our faith walk. Remember the faithfulness of God and how much He loves you and wait on Him in hope. ~
I can tell you with absolute conviction that lowering Biblical standards or attempting to redefine Biblical views is never an effective strategy for reaching the next generation with the Gospel.
What we must do is: - Teach the Bible as the authoritative Word of God. - Share the Gospel. - Love people by kindly, yet boldly sharing absolute Truth. - Be clear about traditional Biblical views on sexuality & marriage. - Don’t make God more tolerant than the Bible does.
He doesn’t call us to redefine Him for people. He calls us to preach repentance and faith, so that people will believe and worship Him for who He actually is.
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