Once you admit you don’t have all the answers, you can start asking the right questions.
Holiness is not more by faith without effort
than it is effort without faith.
~J. I. Packer~
When we minister the law to others as a means of developing a godly life, they also experience condemnation. On the other hand, when we live by grace, we grow in righteousness. When we minister the message of grace to others, they can grow in righteousness. Godliness results from ministering the new covenant of grace because it is a "ministry of righteousness."
You can find the strength to remain where God wants you to remain, if you look for the strength not in yourself, but in your God. "As I urged you when I went into Macedonia - remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine." (1 Timothy 1:3)
We may give without loving, but we cannot love without giving.
The Pressure to Fit In
Sometimes we think of peer pressure as something that only affects our kids. But it is a natural part of our makeup, and it affects us all. Peer pressure—the desire to fit in with others—is a good thing. It is part of God’s design for us. In the beginning, He said, “It is not good for man to be alone.” We are meant to be in relationships and community with other people, and that’s made easier by everyone fitting in. There can even be a very positive side to peer pressure; it can motivate us to do better and be better people if we are with positive role models who are living right. The problem is that much of the peer pressure our children face today can be negative. I hear from so many parents heartbroken because of the immoral or damaging things their teenagers’ friends have introduced them to. When the natural curiosity of a teen to experience new things combines with the desire to belong to a group that is doing negative things, it only gets more negative, like adding two negative numbers together. At the very core and foundation of teen culture today is a lack of relationship. Kids are talking to each other (or at least texting) all the time, but they’re having an extremely difficult time engaging in a meaningful way. They simply don’t know how to develop deep, honest and meaningful relationships. Back in the day, when our peers pressured us to do something wrong, they knew it was wrong and we knew it was wrong. That didn’t always keep us from doing it, but at least we had a sense of looking over our shoulders to keep from being found out while we did it. Today, peers are pressuring our teens to do things that are wrong, but they aren’t presented or thought of in that way. There are at least five things you can offer your child that no peer can match. Let me share these with you, and encourage you to begin making these vital connections using your unique resources as a parent.
Unconditional Acceptance – no friend can provide the depth of unconditional acceptance a parent can
Value – only you can affirm that they have innate value, no matter what they do or how they look
Wisdom – your teen will learn to value your wisdom if it is shared in discussions, not in lecturing
Experience – you’ve been through many of the same things they are facing and can help them get through it
Time – you have more time with them, and time is the crucial ingredient in building relationships that matter
Research shows the presence of a strong family relationship is one of the most important elements that builds resiliency—the ability to resist negative peer pressure—in teens. You can’t change a teenager by controlling them. You can only affect lasting change by touching their heart. So, spend time together. Talk to your children. Even more importantly, listen to them.
Peer pressure doesn’t justify bad behavior. But by understanding the enormous influence it has on our teens, we can try to understand and prepare them ahead of time to resist those bad influences. Whether your child is four or fourteen it is never too late to start building a strong relationship that will help them do right even if their friends don’t.
The sweetest of all sounds, is praise.
If it matters to you, it matters to God. If it troubles you, it is a concern to God. So bring it to Him. He is interested in detail.
There is no holding pattern for believers nor can we live in a neutral state. We are either going forward or backward. We are either being renewed or consumed. Do not relinquish any more life territory to the enemy. Run from sin!
God's divine nature is within you, at the very center of your being. You are blessed and filled with light.
Every moment is a miracle. Every breath is a blessing. Every day is an opportunity.
"It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer." Albert Einstein.
EVERYTHING IN THE NAME OF THE KING, JESUS CHRIST, OR LORD.....!
In Him, the mind is free to roam the broad pastures of His truth, the emotions soothed by the rippleless waters, and the will refocused.
Nature beckons us to God, not to itself.
You God, are my God, earnestly I seek you I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.
The empty places in our hearts were created to be filled by God alone. The deepest thirst of our soul can only be quenched by Him. Greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world. Two are better than one when the your better half is Jesus Christ.
*Man says show me and I'll trust you, God says trust me and I'll show you.
For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. Realize the Enemy’s True Identity.
Life is a marathon – not a fifty yard dash. Run To Win!
To survive and succeed in life, we must stop and take the long look, refusing to fix our gaze on the “little things” that are meant to divert God’s plan. If we want to live a life of victory, our glance must be on the circumstances and ourgaze must be on Him.
Choosing an eternal perspective is a spiritual discipline that makes stress yield to God’s peace. Does that mean we will float through each day without facing trials, defeats, enemies or impossibilities? No – but it does mean that the backdrop against which we view those dark moments will be replaced with the truth that there is an eternal purpose in every pain and that is through the struggle out of that darkness that we gain the strength to fly and become all God created us to be – now and forever.
A beekeeper once told pastor and evangelist, F.B. Meyer, how young bees are nurtured to ensure their healthy development. The queen lays each egg in a six-sided cell which is filled with enough pollen and honey to nourish the egg until it reaches a certain stage of maturity. The top is then sealed with a capsule of wax. When the food is gone, it is time for the tiny creature to be released. However, the wax is so hard to penetrate that the bee can only make a very narrow opening. In fact, the opening is so narrow that in the agony of exit, the bee rubs off the membrane that encases its wings. When the bee finally does emerge, its wings are strong enough to fly. The beekeeper said that a moth once got into the hive and devoured the wax capsules. The young bees easily escaped the capsule but they could not fly.
People may forget what you say, but they'll always remember how you made them feel.
With God there are mysteries but no mistakes.
~Michael Griffiths~
Faithfulness knows no difference between small and
great duties.
~John Ruskin~
Learn to LOVE being Uncomfortable! It's where LIFE is!
If you would have the life holy before men, let the heart be
pure before God.
~Thomas Manton~
How do you know if Jesus agrees or disagrees? You open your Bible.
When people are reluctant to commit to a romantic relationship,could it be that they are asking questions that create doubt, such as "What if there's somebody even better out there? What if I commit myself now and miss out?" This would keep them from being able to enjoy what they already have.
We are personally responsible for our own wrongs. We cannot blame someone else.
No attributes of God is more dreadful to sinners than His holiness.
~Matthew Henry~
A man once went to a minister for counseling. He was in the midst of financial collapse.
“I’ve lost everything,” he bemoaned.
“Oh, I’m so sorry to hear you’ve lost your faith.”
“No,” the man corrected him, “I haven’t lost my faith.”
“Well then, I’m sad to hear you’ve lost your character.”
“I didn’t say that,” he corrected. “I still have my character.”
“I’m so sorry to hear that you’ve lost your salvation.”
“That’s not what I said,” the man objected.
“I haven’t lost my salvation.”
“You have your faith, your character, your salvation. Seems to me,” the minister observed, “that you’ve lost none of the things that really matter.”
Contentment comes when we can honestly say with Paul, “I have learned to be satisfied with the things I have. I know how to live when I am poor, and I know how to live when I have plenty.”
Devotion to God is the only acceptable motive for actions that are pleasing to God.
~Jerry Bridges~
He is genuinely great who considers himself small
and cares nothing about high honours.
~Thomas à Kempis~
I find it interesting that when we read through the Bible, we read very little about the great historical figures of the day.
Dieting is a lifestyle change. It must be mind, body, and soul. One without the other will not work.
People would rather follow a leader with a HEART than a leader with a TITLE.
We don't always have to know what to say or what to do; just listen to the One who sent you. It's God's authority that authorizes us to speak on His behalf.
Stop stressing and straining to be a different you, because the real you is perfect and priceless. It's not only what God has to work with. It's what God wants to work with. And from that starting place, progress is possible.
Your weaknesses don't disqualify you. They actually qualify you even more, because they are the portals through which God's power permeates your life.
There is a difference between holding on to a principle and having a vision. A principle does not come from moral inspiration, but a vision does. People who are totally consumed with idealistic principles rarely do anything. A person’s own idea of God and His attributes may actually be used to justify and rationalize his deliberate neglect of his duty.
Balancing the Christian Life
“During my years of teaching, I know that I have developed idiosyncrasies. I am certain that I am unaware of some of them, but one that I do know about is my invariable reaction the chapel speaker who begins his message something like this: 'Now today, young people, I'm going to be very practical in my message. I'll leave the doctrine to your teachers and the classroom - I just want to be practical.' By this time I have already tuned the speaker out, for he has made a fundamental mistake in disjoining doctrine and practice. All doctrine is practical, and all practice must be based on sound doctrine. A doctrine that is not practical is not healthy doctrine, and practice that is not doctrinal is not rightly based.”
― Charles C. Ryrie, Balancing the Christian Life
WHAT HAS GOD LAID ON YOUR HEART TODAY? LET YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA REFLECT THAT. THE HOLY SPIRIT IS ALIVE AND ACTIVE. AMEN!
Like it or not, people are looking at us as visible representatives of Jesus Christ. They are making evaluations about God according to the way that we live. Yes, it’s a lot of pressure. But it’s also part of being a disciple.
Sometimes people who have been Christians for ten or twenty years are still spiritual babies. They haven’t learned to feed themselves spiritually. They haven’t become as mature as they ought to be.
I often think of the children of Israel in the wilderness. They wanted to go back to Egypt ( the world to us),,, they murmured and complained, worshiped the creature rather than the creator who is blessed, and because of it they did not enter the promised land. They all died in the wilderness all the adults.
AGE DOES NOT MAKE US MATURE IN CHRIST
I LOVE THE PERSON URIAH THE HITTITE WAS AS A LEADER. THERE WAS NOTHING DAVID COULD DO TO SEPARATE HIM FROM HIS MEN. HE STADE WITH THEM EVEN WHEN IT MEANT HE WOULD NOT BE WITH HIS WIFE.
Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in God’s truth. Breathe out trust. The truth is that we don’t know what’s best for us. Sometimes what seems horrible and painful to us is what God is using to change us, grow us, and help us. Not everything is good, but we have to have faith that our God is good and will use everything for good.
Pastors need Jesus too.
Pastors need pastors too.
Pastors need friends too.
Pastors need grace too.
Pastors need prayer too.
Pastors need rest too.
Pastors need encouragement too.
Pastors need family time too.
Pastors need the Gospel too.
Pastors are only humans too.
Balancing the Christian Life
“During my years of teaching, I know that I have developed idiosyncrasies. I am certain that I am unaware of some of them, but one that I do know about is my invariable reaction the chapel speaker who begins his message something like this: 'Now today, young people, I'm going to be very practical in my message. I'll leave the doctrine to your teachers and the classroom - I just want to be practical.' By this time I have already tuned the speaker out, for he has made a fundamental mistake in disjoining doctrine and practice. All doctrine is practical, and all practice must be based on sound doctrine. A doctrine that is not practical is not healthy doctrine, and practice that is not doctrinal is not rightly based.”
― Charles C. Ryrie, Balancing the Christian Life
Devotion to God is the only acceptable motive for actions that are pleasing to God.
~Jerry Bridges~
The Bible isn’t primarily a history book. It’s a Living Book.
These verses proclaim another significant difference between the glory of the old covenant of law and the glory of the new covenant of grace. This difference is seen in various contrasting phrases: "was glorious" versus "more glorious," "had glory" versus "exceeds much more in glory," "made glorious" versus "glory that excels," and "was glorious" versus "much more glorious." The old covenant of law is characterized by substantial glory, whereas the new covenant of grace is characterized by excelling glory.
Hey moms and dads … your teens want to be prepared for the world that they’re about to enter and that means you have to be intentional about allowing them to experience life at a level that exposes them to the reality of their culture, while protecting them from making life-changing decisions that can alter the course of their destiny. It’s a delicate balance.
Have you ever been mad at Jesus and told Him about it? What happened? How did He respond? Your feelings aren’t something to be ashamed of. Jesus empathizes with us about our emotions with us. He enters in with us!
OSWALD CHAMBERS
We can understand the attributes of God in other ways, but we can only understand the Father’s heart in the Cross of Christ.
“God allows us to experience the low points of life in order to teach us lessons that we could learn in no other way.” - C.S. Lewis
“Progressive Christianity” is often code language for compromising on old sin.
The Bible isn’t an old book, it’s an eternal Book. It’s not history book, it’s a living Book. We’ll always do well to stick to the Book.
When Jesus encountered the woman caught in adultery (John 8)… He told the woman, “that He didn’t condemn her”, but He didn’t say, “go live your truth or be your authentic self.” He said, “go and sin no more.” Jesus doesn’t affirm people towards their sin, He calls people to repent away from it.
"Don't look for platforms, just look for opportunities to serve..." - Randal Tonini
"I would say that a ‘dull preacher’ is a contradiction in terms; if he is dull he is not a preacher. He may stand in the pulpit and talk but he is certainly not a preacher. With the grand theme and message of the Bible dullness is impossible." - Martyn Lloyd Jones
"In a pastor there is demanded not only learning, but such zeal for pure doctrine as never to depart from it." -John Calvin
"The Word is like the sun in the firmament. . . . It hath virtually in it all spiritual light and heat. But the preaching of the Word is as the motion and beams of the sun, which actually and effectually doth communicate that light and heat unto all creatures." - John Owen
It never surprises me when a human being falls in love and wants to identify with Jesus. It always amazes me that he would want to identify with us.
Forgiveness and reconciliation are the way of Jesus. Therefore, humble repentance and change are essential.
People need encouragement and hope for themselves and their loved ones. Ray Bentley
Some Christians believe what God says and some don’t. Those who don’t, find themselves engulfed in despair, defeat, and discouragement. Jon Courson
Victory comes as we learn to abide in Christ. Chuck Smith
The Word of God has the ability to ground and stabilize you like nothing else in your life.
You have all great need to study your Bibles well. According to their diligence in using of the word of God, is the thriving of men’s souls. —Puritan Robert Traill, Works 2:95
Tony Evans
Many people are being held back from reaching their destiny because they have a chain around their necks called unforgiveness.
What is the whole earth, after all, compared with the greatness of God? Charles Spurgeon
"None shall see God in heaven who have not been purified by grace while here below." — Charles Spurgeon
Justification is not sanctification; it is an old Popish error, sown in the heart of a great many Protestants, to think they are the same. Justification and sanctification are always inseparable, but they are wonderfully distinct. —Puritan Robert Traill, Works 2:403
"I do believe we slander Christ when we think we are to draw the people by something else but the preaching of Christ crucified." — Charles Spurgeon
"I have no hope apart from this belief—that Jesus Christ, in my place, bore both my punishment and sin." — Charles Spurgeon
He that will not be rich in Christ, must be poor and condemned still in the first Adam. —Robert Traill, Works 2:410
STOP GIVING GOD CONVENIENCE AND START GIVING HIM CONSISTENCY.
SOMETIMES YOU DON'T GET WHAT'S RIGHTFULLY YOURS, UNTIL AFTER FOLKS HAVE LEFT: GENESIS 13:14-17, "AFTER LOT LEFT, THE LORD SAID TO ABRAM, “LOOK AROUND YOU. LOOK NORTH, SOUTH, EAST, WEST. ALL THIS LAND THAT YOU SEE I WILL GIVE TO YOU AND YOUR PEOPLE WHO LIVE AFTER YOU...” (ERV)
IF YOU LIVE FOR THEIR APPROVAL, YOU'LL DIE FROM THEIR REJECTION! THERE IS ONLY ONE VALIDATION NEEDED.
GOOD LEADERS ARE LIKE DIAMONDS: RARE, VALUABLE, AND FORMED UNDER PRESSURE.
LET PEOPLE TALK! THEIR TALK CAN'T CHANGE WHAT GOD CALLED YOU TO DO! YOUR ASSIGNMENT IS BASED ON YOUR COVENANT WITH GOD, NOT A CONFERENCE CALL WITH MAN.
LEADERS, IF THEY DIDN'T FULFILL THE ASSIGNMENT WITHOUT A TITLE, WHAT MAKES YOU THINK THEY'LL DO IT WITH ONE?! CONSISTENT BAD FOLLOWERS WILL NEVER MAKE CONSISTENT GOOD LEADERS.
"Mothers make men. They have the formation of their boys’ characters. — Charles Spurgeon
"Don't look for platforms, just look for opportunities to serve..." - Randal Tonini
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. —Puritan Robert Traill, 1:255
"When asked, 'What is more important: Prayer or Reading the Bible?' I ask, 'What is more important: Breathing in or Breathing out?'" — Charles Spurgeon
Without absolutes revealed from...God Himself, we are left rudderless in a sea of conflicting ideas... -John Owen -
The modern man would be rich if he possessed even the crumbs that fall from the table of the Puritans. -C.H. Spurgeon -
People are dying through lack of knowledge. We are not here to be popular, but to tell the naked truth. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
The church is always to be under the Word; she must be; we must keep her there. —Martyn Lloyd-Jones
There is no moment in our life in which we can do without God's constant upholding. Charles Spurgeon
"There is nothing little in God; his mercy is like himself; it is infinite. You cannot measure it." — Charles Spurgeon
"The Bible in memory is better than the Bible in the bookcase." — Charles Spurgeon
"Look rather at God's end in afflicting, than to the measure and degree of your affliction." -Christopher Love.
The Lord will never fail us, even if earth and hell should stand in the way. Charles Spurgeon
"Leave out the cross and you've killed the religion of Jesus." — Charles Spurgeon
The Christian who has stopped repenting has stopped growing. A.W. Pink
If you can look on sin without sorrow, you have never looked on Christ. Richard Sibbes
If you do not wish to be burned, don't walk upon the coals of temptation. William Gurnall
"God's Word is sufficient, inerrant, infallible, authoritative, and complete. Any belief or claim otherwise is to deviate from orthodox Christianity and to enter error and heresy." Dustin Benge
When God forgives, he forgives forever. Until God can change or lie, he will never bring to mind again the sin of that man who he has pardoned. Charles Spurgeon
When the time comes for you to die, you need not be afraid, because death cannot separate you from God’s love. C.H. Spurgeon
I cannot tell you how much I owe to the solemn words of my good mother. Charles Spurgeon
No one was ever called by God to greater suffering than God's only begotten Son R.C. Sproul
"The church is not an option for a true believer. It is the very family of God to which every true believer longs to be a part." John MacArthur
Let me clear up something, God is not against you having things... He's against things having you... Voddie Baucham
We are only as strong as the time we spend with God in His Word and in Prayer. Paul Washer
"Modern philosophers will accept anything except the bleeding substitute for guilty man." — Charles Spurgeon
Men may have atheistical hearts without atheistical heads. Their reasons may defend the notion of a deity, while their hearts are empty of affection to the Deity. —Stephen Charnock, The Existence and Attributes of God, 1:137
I fully believed the truth of the divine declaration, that pardoning mercy and sanctifying grace were to be obtained by all who should sincerely implore them, in the name and for the sake of our great Mediator. - William Wilberforce
"There is no ideal place for us to serve God except the place he sets us down." — Charles Spurgeon
“A heart attitude of sacrificial love… eliminates dictator and dominator husbands. You can’t love your wife like Jesus and selfishly order her around.” — John Crotts, Mighty Men, 19
"You are as much serving God in training your own children, as you would be if you lead an army to battle for the Lord." — Charles Spurgeon
Much of our difficulty as seeking Christians stems from our unwillingness 2 take God as He is and adjust our lives accordingly -A.W. Tozer -
Infirmities, sickness, even corporeal death, are but trifles in comparison with the moral and spiritual effects of the Fall, -A.W. Pink -
"Just because a church is large doesn't mean it's healthy. It could just mean it's swollen." — Charles Spurgeon
"God loves to forgive more than you love to sin." — Charles Spurgeon
Life is not about accomplishing great things, or how important people think you are, or how big your church is, on the earth. It’s about character. It’s about fidelity. It’s about faithfulness. It’s about the fruit of the Spirit. It’s about loyalty.
The world is not falling apart. The world is falling into place!
We need the energy, passion, and vision of the younger generations, and the wisdom of the older. But we also need to view and present what God has revealed to us through His Word with hope, victory, compassion, and joy.
I feel for young people whose lives are just getting started as they hear a constant drumbeat of danger, troubles, and a hostile world. If they are exposed to Bible prophecy, they too often hear only a message that sounds like “the end is near.” No wonder some ask, what have we got to look forward to and why should we even have kids?
OSWALD CHAMBERS
To read the Bible according to God’s providential order in your circumstances is the only way to read it, viz., in the blood and passion of personal life.
Do you recognize your anxiety? Jesus isn’t ignoring your problems, worries, or concerns! He’s with you and wants to help not just your situation, but also your internal state.
Living by the old covenant of law requires a "performance based life," which depends upon man's sufficiency. This produces spiritual bondage. Living by the new covenant of grace provides a "relationship based life," which depends upon God's sufficiency. This results in spiritual liberty.
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