The one concern of the devil is to keep Christians from praying. He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work, and prayer-less religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom, but trembles when we pray.- Samuel Chadwick
As long as you can laugh at yourself you will never cease to be amused.
Nothing great in the world has ever been accomplished without passion. - Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
"Jesus didn't die so we'd be sorry. He died and then He was resurrected so we'd be changed."
There is a big difference between being sorry and being changed.
C.S. Lewis called pride a “spiritual cancer” that devours love and contentment. Pride is a sign of our own insecurity and feelings of inferiority. Pride and inferiority are actually opposite sides of the same coin and are both sin, a preoccupation with self that leaves little room for God’s spirit of humility.
We all struggle with pride and must constantly battle the tendency to measure every circumstance and relationship against the narcissistic viewpoint of “What’s in it for me?” Pride has no place in the life of a Christian because pride steps between God and us. To think that God stands in opposition against prideful people is a strong and sobering statement that should send us all running to the place of humility.
When we have the Holy Spirit we don't need signs.
haracter isn’t made in a crisis, but that’s when it’s on full display.
Write nothing, say nothing, think nothing that you cannot
believe to be true before God.
~Joseph Joubert~
God has given us a message of hope: 2,000 years ago His Son died on the cross to take away our punishment, to open up the doors of heaven, and to give us everlasting life. If your one to believe you have no gifts or talents, let this resonate in your heart, If you are a believer and have a relationship with him you have the best of gifts and the Holy Spirit is in you to lead you and teach you.
“A life is not [significant] except in the impact it has on other lives.”
~ Jackie Robinson
There are people whose feelings and well-being are within our influence, and we will never escape that fact. Who are you responsible for as a leader?
"There is no power on earth that can neutralize the influence of a high, simple, and useful life."
~ Booker T. Washington
"He is greatest whose strength carries up the most hearts by the attraction of his own."
~ Henry Ward Beecher
"It is no use walking anywhere to preach unless our walking is our preaching."
~ Attributed to St. Francis of Assisi
"Leadership should be more participative than directive, more enabling than performing."
~ Mary D. Poole
Forgiveness means setting a prisoner free, and discovering that prisoner is you.
Be determined to act immediately in faith on what God says to you when He speaks, and never reconsider or change your initial decisions.
“I was like a stone lying in deep mire, and He that is mighty came and in His mercy raised me up and, indeed, lifted me high up and placed me on top of the wall. And from there I ought to shout out in gratitude to the Lord for His great favours…” —St. Patrick, from the “Confession of Saint Patrick”— 450 A.D.
Hell is a place where you fail to look unto the Lord!
Wisdom must be from God, because it can be found
only in relation to him.
~Edmund P. Clowney~
Once the Holy Spirit comes into you, all the wisdom you need is there if you are willing to listen, obey,pray, and read His word.
Unless it is law, never be moved by man unless God says stop!
As Christians, we don't belong to ourselves any longer. We aren't our own. And we were purchased with a pretty hefty price tag. As a result, our sole purpose in life should be to respond in joyful obedience and service to Him.
“To take all that we are and have and hand it over to God may not be easy; but it can be done, and when it is done, the world has in it one less candidate for misery.” —Paul E. Scherer
“Emotionally healthy people understand the limits God has given them. They joyfully receive the one, two, seven, or ten talents God has so graciously distributed. As a result, they are not frenzied and covetous, trying to live a life God never intended.”
Scazzero, Peter, The Emotionally Healthy Church
When we lose our inner peace, we often go off in directions outside the will of God, trying to live a life God never intended for us.
Most of our time is spent working. So, what does it mean to live out our faith at work, whether in an office, a home, a school or medical facility? God created us for meaningful work that glorifies him and serves people, workplaces, and communities. The work of Christians in the marketplace, in education and in social sectors matters greatly to God and creates significant gospel intersections with people and culture.
We are to be on mission wherever our feet take us and pursue the good of all through redemptive cultural engagement that brings renewal and reconciliation.
Division is not God's plan. He desires unity and instructs His people to pursue it. Every person who wishes to see and exhibit unity with their Christian brothers and sisters, another person is trying to create arguments, spreading rumors, engaging in gossip, or instigating arguments. Those who wish to divide often destroy churches, families, and communities.
WHAT WILL DO YOU SERVE?
YOUR Will, THE WORD ONLY, OR GOD'S SOVEREIGNTY, OR ALL THREE?
The strength of your organization is often reflected by how deep into it people have the ability to say, "yes." Do your best to delegate the power to make decisions.
Be faithful in the little things. Often, the small things that no one sees bring the big results that everyone wants.
Delayed obedience is disobedience.
It is not the riches you have it is the riches that have you!
SCARCITY
scar·ci·ty
ˈskersədē/Submit
Noun: scarcity; plural noun: scarcities
the state of being scarce or in short supply; shortage.
"a time of scarcity"
God provides, we consume, then you lack... So you owe you owe so it's off to work you go. #BLUR
synonyms: shortage, dearth, lack, want, undersupply, insufficiency, paucity, scarceness, scantness, scantiness, meagerness, sparseness, poverty; deficiency, inadequacy; unavailability, absence; rareexiguity, exiguousness
"the scarcity of affordable housing"
antonyms: abundance, excess, surplus. Scarcity refers to the limited availability of a commodity, which may be in demand in the market. The concept of scarcity also includes an individual capacity to buy all or some of the commodities as per the available resources with that individual.
The Abundance Cycle~
God supplies, we give, God multiplies, then my faith grows...
You never come second when you put God first in your life!
Closed hands = cold hearts that will never meet the needs of the community.
“God has not given us Bible prophecy to scare us but to
prepare us.”
Don’t coddle, pet, and pamper the sheep. Our calling is to feed, protect, and warn the sheep.
The longer you walk with the Lord, the more sensitive you become to sin in your life.
Dr. Steven Lawson
"If you live with Jesus, his life becomes your life."
Charles Spurgeon
“Let us call iniquity what is really iniquity, rather than to call it weakness, temperament, failure, hangups, or to fall back on the tired excuse, ‘It’s just the way I am.’”
Elisabeth Elliot
The early Church was married to poverty, prisons, and persecution. Now we’re trying to marry the Church to prosperity, personality, and popularity.
Leonard Ravenhill
Ignorance of the Bible is the root of all error. Knowledge of the Bible is the best antidote against modern heresies.
J.C. Ryle
“Read the Scripture, not as an attorney may read a will, but as the heir reads it, as a description and proof of his interest.”
Matt Smethurst
Anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows, but only empties today of its strength.
—Charles Spurgeon
“In severe affliction,
their abundance of joy
and their extreme poverty
overflowed in a wealth of generosity.”
2 Corinthians 8:2
In spite of affliction. In spite of poverty. Joy was abundant. Its effect was love.
Joy in God is a radical thing.
John Piper
“True worship must worship God as He exists, not as we wish Him to be.”
—Dr. James White
None but such who have a living faith in Jesus Christ, and are truly born again, can possibly enter into the kingdom of heaven.
George Whitefield
"Nobody ever outgrows Scripture; the book widens and deepens with our years." -
Charles Spurgeon
"The elect receives mercy, the reprobate receives justice. Nobody receives injustice."
- RC Sproul
“My knowledge of that life is small, The eye of faith is dim, But it’s enough that Christ knows all, And I shall be with him.” —
Richard Baxter
"Life is either a great adventure or nothing at all." -
Helen Keller
"Let the Bible be the guide of our life, our comfort, and our instruction."
— Charles Spurgeon
"Your life should be a magnet to draw men to Christ."
— Charles Spurgeon
When a person struggles and struggles with a major medical problem, it is agonizing to go on and on, not knowing what the problem actually is. It is glorious when someone is able to reveal what the problem actually is. Part of the glory of the law is that it reveals the basic problem under which all humanity struggles: sin. Yet, it is a far more glorious matter to have a remedy for a problem revealed. Grace is that remedy.
Your strength will run out, the power of your Lord never will.
With all of the church growth strategies and pragmatic clutter within evangelicalism today, it is imperative that we get back to what works--the Scripture.
Virgil Walker
"We have so many little boys playing marbles with the diamonds of God."
Vance Havner
Christian leaders in the New Testament - Worked between preaching. Did not have excess money. Were content with food and clothing. Did not set up other pastors on pedestals or have special titles. In other words, they were examples of Christ, not examples of success and $$$.
We owe it to God, ourselves, and those around us to prepare for suffering. Part of that preparation is choosing to allow suffering to drive us deeper into God’s love.
Randy Alcorn
If God is not changing your situation maybe he is changing your heart.
Krishna Dharma
The "me" generation will need to change its focus or there will never be enough laws to protect anyone's interests.
"Let all things else go, that you might be filled with God."
— Charles Spurgeon
When God is the focus of our lives and we rest fully in Him trusting in His supernatural plan even during times when we're waiting with unanswered prayers, joy springs up!
“The light that shines from the Crucified is a light…which both illuminates the obscurity of being and overcomes the darkness of nonbeing.” —
Nicolas Berdyaev
I am thy servant to do Thy will, and that will is sweeter to me than position or riches or fame, and I choose it above all things on earth or in heaven.
~A.W. Tozer~
One of the greatest rewards that we ever receive for serving God is the permission to do still more for him.
~C.H. Spurgeon~
"The pastor who cares about the spiritual growth of his people must make God and His Word the centerpiece of his ministry. " —Steven Lawson
"Bad theology hurts people." - J.I. Packer
“Preaching has no power unless God the Holy Spirit takes His Word and penetrates hearts with it.” -R.C. Sproul
"We can have theologians who aren’t preachers. But we can’t have preachers who aren’t theologians." - Will Bassett
"When I enter the pulpit with the Bible in my hands and in my heart my blood begins to flow and my eyes to sparkle for the sheer glory of having God's word to expound." - John Stott
"Oh, to be bathed in a text of Scripture, and to let it be sucked up into your very soul, till it saturates your heart!" - Charles Spurgeon
“God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.” - C.S. Lewis
God made life, and God alone can tell us its meaning. J. I. Packer For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. Philippians 1:21
35: What is Sanctification? A: Sanctification is the work of God’s free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God and are enabled more and more to die unto sin and live unto righteousness. Westminster Shorter Catechism
Salvation is the best thing we can pray for to ourselves, or to them we love. —Puritan Robert Traill, Works 1:119
Let me never forget that the heinousness of sin lies not so much in the nature of the sin committed, as in the greatness of the Person sinned against. —Valley of Vision, Pg. 143
The church is like a river. If it gets wider instead of deeper it will lose its power. —Puritan Thomas Manton
Augustine, in his book against Pelagius, affirms that it has been the custom of the church in all ages to baptize infants. Yea, it was an apostolic practice. Paul affirms that he baptized the whole house of Stephanus. —Thomas Watson
A man cannot be wise to salvation, and passionately addicted to any temporal interest. —Puritan Thomas Manton, Works 7:212
Every sinner that God saves effectually, is a person that not only thinks he is needy of the grace of God, but he thinks he is more needy of it than anybody else in the world. —Puritan Robert Traill, Works 2:424
It is natural for all men, ignorant of the righteousness of God in Christ, to devise ways of their own to render themselves acceptable in the side of God. —Robert Traill, Works 2:419
“Dear teachers of children, let our teaching be more and more scriptural!” — Charles Spurgeon
"It is impossible for God to do that which is unkind." — Charles Spurgeon
Just in case no one has told you this already today: JESUS LOVES YOU.
"Christ's cross is the Jacob's ladder by which we climb up to heaven." — Charles Spurgeon
"There is no hand so soft as that which was nailed to the cross." — Charles Spurgeon
In Christ are the glorious excellencies of God represented unto us, and by faith do we behold them. John Owen
“Meditate on God with God; that is, when we would undertake thoughts and meditations of God, his excellencies, his properties, his glory, his majesty, his love, his goodness, let it be done in a way of speaking unto God … done in a way of prayer and praise.” — John Owen
It’s a wise decision to give yourself fully to the Lord as His bond slave because He takes excellent care of those committed to Him. Their lives are filled with purpose and focus, their hearts with peace and joy. Jon Courson
"The minister who does not pray over his work is a vain and conceited man." — Charles Spurgeon
It’s not enough just to hear the Word. It’s not enough just to come to Bible study. You and I must believe. And ‘believe’ is not a noun—it’s a verb. Jon Courson
Tony Evans
In your spiritual journey, you do not need to know where you are going as much as Who you are
following.
"God is the great tear wiper." — Charles Spurgeon
"Look to the Word of the Lord and long to be conformed to it in all things." — Charles Spurgeon
When the efficacy of Christ’s death and resurrection are effectively applied to the heart of any man, he cannot but turn from sin to God. He becomes a new creature, living and acting by new principles and rules. John Flavel
This is a God that delights in mercy. His grace is infinite and endures forever. God is love itself, and the infinite fountain and ocean of it. Jonathan Edwards
Always respond to every impulse to pray. The impulse to pray may come when you are reading or when you are battling with a text. I would make an absolute law of this: always obey such an impulse. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
The same Gospel that has worked for 2,000 years still works today.
"Prayer is not a vain exercise; it is heard and answered." — Charles Spurgeon
The answer for America is not in the White House but in God's House -Leonard Ravenhill -
Not for yourself, O church, do you exist, any more than Christ existed for himself. -C.H. Spurgeon -
"Our Lord knows all his redeemed by name. There is no failure of memory with him." — Charles Spurgeon
We never lose his company." — Charles Spurgeon
Leave out the cross and you've killed the religion of Jesus. Charles Spurgeon
"My voice has no power to save unless Christ shall use my voice and make it the echo of his own." — Charles Spurgeon
How often we think we are trusting in the Lord, when really we are resting on comfortable circumstances; and when they become uncomfortable, how much faith have we? A.W. Pink
ing which is said of Christ, 'He went about doing good!' Oh, that whatever I may at any time possess of this world's good, it might be consecrated to God! The Lord ever preserve me from the mean vice of covetousness! Andrew Fuller
"Brethren, the Lord must not only open the gates of heaven to us at the last, but he must open the gates of our heart to faith at the first." Charles Spurgeon
It is not great talents God blesses so much as great likeness to Jesus. A holy minister is an awful weapon in the hands of God.. Robert Murray McCheyne
Alas! how many professors are more concerned for the mistakes of government—than for their own sins!" John Newton
“O dear friend, when thy grief presses thee to the very dust, worship there!” C.H. Spurgeon
Nothing gives believers more joy than to see God glorified. R.C. Sproul
"To be forgiven is such sweetness that honey is tasteless in comparison with it. But yet there is one thing sweeter still and that is to forgive." C.H. Spurgeon
Life is short, death is sure; sin the curse, Christ the cure. Steve Lawson
Until God gives me the roll call of the Elect, I shall continue preaching the “Whosoever Will” Gospel. That is the Gospel we are to preach today. Charles Spurgeon
The sharp two-edged sword of the Word of God is without a dull book, a blunt chapter, or a flat verse. Steven Lawson
There are many roads that lead to hell, but only one way to go to heaven. Steven Lawson
Never did I meet a Christian, who in his old age, said that he had made a mistake in relying upon Christ as his Saviour. Charles Spurgeon
I want to tell you something, I want to make it very clear: don't listen to your heart, listen to the Word of God. Paul Washer
"The Provider in heaven is better than any provider on earth." — Charles Spurgeon
“This blood-sealed friendship changes not; the cross is ever nigh.” - Horatius Bonar
"Show me the condition of your Bible and I will accurately gauge the condition of your soul." -A.W.Tozer.
Love to God is an excellent means for growth of grace. - Thomas Watson
"Let your prayers be earnest, full of fire." — Charles Spurgeon
“I love the ocean because it remains me of how massive God is, and how small I am.” - Kasi Pruitt
Ten million years will not put a strain on the clock of eternity. -Leonard Ravenhill -
What is the best safeguard against false doctrine? The Bible regularly read, regularly prayed over, regularly studied. -J.C. Ryle -
There is a real service of Christ in the distribution of the Gospel in printed form, a service the result of which heaven alone shall disclose. How many thousands have been carried to heaven instrumentally upon wings of these tracts, none can tell. —Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)
"You should serve the Lord with intense delight, because of what he has done for you." — Charles Spurgeon
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