“We don’t need to know what God is doing, what He is going to do, or when He is going to do it; we just need to know that He is with us. God is working in your life right now in ways you don’t see, don’t feel, and don’t understand. Just because what’s going on in your life right now doesn’t feel good doesn’t mean He is not working. He is!”
Joyce Meyer
Joyce Meyer, Trusting God Day By Day, devotional reading for October 4
“The art of war is a science in which nothing succeeds which has not been calculated and thought out.”
Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), French Emperor and General
Here’s a quote from Martin Luther King, taken from a sermon he preached at Ebenezer Baptist Church on 4 February 1968, two months before he was assassinated, and which was played at his funeral:
“Every now and then I guess we all think realistically about that day when we will be victimized with what is life’s final common denominator – that something we call death. We all think about it and every now and then I think about my own death and I think about my own funeral. And I don’t think about it in a morbid sense. And every now and then I ask myself what it is that I would want said and I leave this word to you this morning.
If any of you are around when I have to meet my day, I don’t want a long funeral. And if you get somebody to deliver the eulogy tell him not to talk too long. Every now and then I wonder what I want him to say. Tell him not to mention that I have a Nobel Peace Prize – that isn’t important. Tell him not to mention that have 300 or 400 other awards–that’s not important. Tell him not to mention where I went to school.
I’d like somebody to mention that day, that Martin Luther King Jr. tried to give his life serving others. I’d like for somebody to say that day, that Martin Luther King Jr. tried to love somebody. I want you to say that day, that I tried to be right and to walk with them. I want you to be able to say that day, that I did try to feed the hungry. I want you to be able to say that day, that I did try in my life to clothe the naked. I want you to say on that day, that I did try in my life to visit those who were in prison. And I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity. Yes, if you want to, say that I was a drum major. Say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness.
And all of the other shallow things will not matter. I won’t have any money to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind. And that is all I want to say. If I can help somebody as I pass along, if I can cheer somebody with a well song, if I can show somebody he’s traveling wrong, then my living will not be in vain.”
“Nothing in life just happens. You have to have the stamina to meet the obstacles and overcome them.”
Golda Meir (1898-1978), Prime Minister of Israel
Warren Wiersbe states: ‘No one should take Communion who is not a true believer. Nor should a believer take Communion if their heart is not right with God and with their fellow believers. That’s why churches have a time of spiritual preparation [the confession and making peace with each other] before we take [Communion], so that partakers don’t bring [rebuke and judgment] on themselves.’
So before you drink from the communion cup, just think what was in the cup Jesus drank from in Gethsemane on the night before He was crucified. – You can drink from the cup with sweet assurance because He first drank from the cup in agony. On the eve of His death He prayed: ‘My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death… Father, everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will’ (Mark 14:34-36). Note the words ‘overwhelmed with sorrow.’ (If you think your sin is no big deal, perhaps those words will help to change your mind.) Christ drank from the cup of God’s wrath so that you could drink from the cup of God’s grace.
[Note: Source: The UCB Word For Today , 24/10/2013]
Source: The Transformation Study Bible (NLT), Colorado USA: David C. Cook Publishers (2009), Catalyst Notes: Remembering Our Saviour at Communion, p.1768 by Dr Warren W. Wiersbe
“If I throw out a boat hook, catch hold of the shore and pull, do I pull the shore to me or do I pull myself to the shore? Prayer is not pulling God to my will, but aligning myself with His.”
E. Stanley Jones (1884-1973), missionary and writer
Why does God allow evil to happen? ‘God is capable of preventing evil, and God desires to rid the world of evil. So why does God allow evil? Perhaps another way to look at that question is to consider the alternative ways that people might have God run the world. For example:
Instead of these alternatives, God has chosen to create a “real” world in which real choices have real consequences.’
Source: http://www.gotquestions.org/God-allow-evil.html
“No horse gets anywhere until it is harnessed. No steam or gas ever drives anything until it is confined. No Niagara is ever turned into light and power until it is tunnelled. And no life ever grows great until it is focused, dedicated and disciplined.”
Harry Emerson Fosdick (1878-1969), US clergyman and educator
The Church has always been infiltrated by false teaching – often mingled with truth so it’s not that obvious to the untrained eye. Like when Satan tempted Eve with the forbidden fruit: there was falsehood mingled with truth. First the serpent caused doubt: “Did God really say you must not eat from any tree in the garden?” Then the falsehood: ‘You won’t surely die’, he said, ‘God knows that if you eat it you will be just like God knowing good and evil.’ – It was a part-truth to disguise the lie: True, they did become like God in knowing good and evil, but a lie in saying they wouldn’t die.
Bishop J.C. Ryle voiced it like this: God says, “Abide in me. Cling to me. Stick fast to me. Live the life of close and intimate communion with me. Get nearer and nearer to me. Roll every burden on me. Cast your whole weight on me. Never let go of your hold on me for a moment.”
“If my life is fruitless it doesn’t matter who praises me, and if my life is fruitful it doesn’t matter who criticizes me.”
John Bunyan
“Fear knocked on the door. Faith answered it. Nobody was there!”
Harold Sherman
Think about this for a moment: One day in the future you are going to go to a funeral. There will be a short service and then everyone will leave; everyone, that is, except one person… you! This life is a short-term mission trip. Live it well. Be a blessing and add value.
R. Ian Seymour
“We are not human beings on a spiritual journey, we are spiritual beings on a human journey.”
Stephen R. Covey
Don’t ever make the error of thinking you will never make a mistake.
If we waited until all the traffic lights were on green before we set off on a journey then we’d never leave home.
One of these days really means none of these days.
“Security is knowing what tomorrow will bring. Boredom is knowing what the day after tomorrow will bring.”
Ziggy, cartoon philosopher
Romans 8:28 makes the promise that, “in all things God works for the good of those who love him” – ‘in all things’… REALLY? Yes, really. Even in painful situations God works things out for our good – ‘for the good of those who love him’. The prison of pain will one day become a prism of praise.
The English word “providence” comes from two Latin words: video, “to see,” and pro, “before.” God in his wisdom” sees before,” that is, plans in advance and “sees to it” that his will is accomplished.
Source: The Transformation Study Bible, (NLT), Colorado USA: David C. Cook Publishers (2009), p.1077
William Arthur Ward said of the church and his own Christian faith:
“I will do more than belong; I will participate.
I will do more than care; I will help.
I will do more than believe; I will practice.
I will do more than be fair; I will be kind.
I will do more than forgive; I will forget.
I will do more than dream; I will work.
I will do more than teach; I will inspire.
I will do more than learn; I will enrich.
I will do more than give; I will serve.
I will do more than live; I will grow.
I will do more than suffer; I will triumph.”
Source: The UCB Word For Today, 28/4/2013
Kindness is the language that the deaf can hear and the blind can see.
Mark Twain
“The happiest people I know are those who are busy working toward specific objectives. The most bored and miserable people I know are those who are drifting along with no worthwhile objectives in mind.”
Zig Ziglar
One Bible student has counted 162 references in the New Testament which warn people of hell – 70 of these were spoken by the Lord Jesus Christ. It is because God loves us so much that He warns us about hell so much. Whether we heed God’s warning or not is down to us.
H. G. Wells, speaking about great men of history, said of Jesus: “More than 1900 years later a historian like myself who doesn’t even call himself a Christian, finds the picture centring irresistibly around the life and character of this most significant man. (…) The historians test on an individual’s greatness is ‘What did he leave to grow?’ Did he start men to thinking along fresh lines with a vigour that persisted after him? By this test Jesus stands first.” – You can gauge the size of ship that has passed out of sight by the huge wake it leaves behind.
Source: Philip Yancey, The Jesus I Never Knew, 2000, London: Marshall Pickering, p.15
Grace is when God gives us the things we don’t deserve.
Mercy is when God does not give us the things we do deserve.
Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.
Dale Carnegie
Fear questions and retreats. Faith takes the things God has promised and moves forward. Fear says, “How?” Faith says, “God!”
Roy Lessin
In the Old Testament the prophet, Jeremiah, foretold of God’s promise to his people in exile. That same promise holds true to God’s people today: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11). – God has plans for you; good plans, plans to prosper you; to give you hope and a future. BUT you’ll never discover what those plans are until you come to God, or come back to Him. You’ll never be what you ought to be until you’re doing what you ought to be doing.
Time is a more valuable commodity than money. You can always find ways of getting more money but you can never get more time!
There should be no such thing as an isolated or independent Christian: As a believer you may survive apart from the church, but you can’t thrive. Your God-given potential will never be realised until you commit wholeheartedly to a local fellowship and invest yourself in serving God’s vision for the church.
“The only way to have a friend is to be a friend.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-82), American poet and essayist
Motivate but don’t manipulate: Motivation creates inspired energy but manipulation creates only stress.
“You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years trying to get other people interested in you.”
Dale Carnegie (1888-1955), writer and lecturer
God’s desire is for the believer to overflow with Himself; that we might… ‘Be filled with all the fullness of God (cf. Ephesians 3v19). A glass is only full when it overflows. Fullness can only be measured by overflow. God wants us to be so filled with Himself by the Holy Spirit that we overflow to others.
Humility is not thinking less of yourself it is thinking of yourself less.
Rick Warren
Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life, Zondervan Publishing, p.148
‘When you were born, you cried and the world around you rejoiced. May you so live your life for God that when you die, the world around you will cry and you will rejoice.’
Ancient Middle Eastern blessing
Why does God want me to be generous? Because he wants me to be like him.
Wherever God puts a full stop Satan puts a question mark.
“If I take care of my character my reputation will take care of itself.”
D. L. Moody (1837-1899), U.S. evangelist and hymnodist
Don’t be caught dead without Jesus!
“Without involvement there is no commitment. Mark it down, asterisk it, circle it, underline it. No involvement, no commitment.”
Stephen Covey
The greatest opponent of excellence is the phrase, ‘That’ll-do!’
It doesn’t matter what a person’s past may have been like; their future is spotless.
By the mile it’s a trial, by the yard it’s hard but by the inch it’s a cinch!
Prayer is not just monologue. It is dialogue. God speaks to us as we pray. Samuel said, “Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening” (1 Samuel 3:10). But we all too often say, ‘Listen, Lord, for your servant is speaking!’
Paul wrote: ‘God made him who had no sin to be sin for us’ (2 Corinthians 5:21). On the cross Jesus, in a sense, became the most sinful man the world has ever seen, as the sins of millions and millions of believers in every age, were poured into His body. That’s why, as He was dying, Jesus cried out, ‘My God, why have you forsaken me?’ (Matthew 27:26). The only time in the whole of eternity when God the Father was separated from His Son! – Like oil and water, sin and holiness just don’t mix: God had to turn away and be separated from Jesus as Jesus took our sin upon himself.
“A true friend is one who hears and understands when you share your deepest feelings. He supports you when you are struggling; corrects you gently and with love when you err; forgives you when you fail; prods you to personal growth and stretches you to your full potential. And most amazing of all, he celebrates your successes as if they were his own.”
Richard Exley, pastor and author
What causes people to do bad things? Is it their upbringing, their education, their relationships? All those things factor into who we are and what we do. But the Bible locates the source of our trouble inside of us, not outside of us! Jeremiah 17v9 says: ‘The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?’ Our deepest problem is located inside of us, in our heart. – Woody Allen once tried to justify a scandalous relationship with a young woman by saying: “The heart wants what it wants.” Those words are full of biblical truth! – Ever since Adam and Eve sinned, every aspect of our lives is marred by sin. Our hearts, which are the centre of our emotions, intellect and will, are deceitful and self-protective… What might heart deception look like in your life? Think about:
Explore Bible notes, 30/8/2012
“The difference between the ‘before’ and ‘after’ of becoming a Christian is not that before, you sinned, and that after, you are sinless. No – the difference is that before becoming a Christian, sin was in character, it did not really worry you or me. Whereas after becoming a Christian, it is utterly out of character, you do not want to do it. It causes you pain and regret when you do. Not so much because you have let yourself down – although there is that. But because you want to be pleasing Christ – and you have failed him.”
Nicky Gumbel
Source: Bible in One Year – Alpha, Day 203, accessed 22/7/2014
God will always work in you before He works through you.
“Whatever you vividly imagine, ardently desire, sincerely believe, and enthusiastically act on must inevitably come to pass.”
Mary Kay Ash, entrepreneur
Confession is not primarily something that God has us do because He needs it. We need to confess in order to heal and be forgiven and changed. When we confess properly two things happen. The first is that we are liberated from guilt. The second is that we will be at least a little less likely to sin in the same way in the future, than if we had not confessed. Sin will look less attractive to us.
John Ortberg
John Ortberg, 2002, The Life You’ve Always Wanted, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishers, p.129-130
Helen Keller, the American author and lecturer who was blind and deaf from infancy, said: “Can there be anything worse than blindness? Yes. The most pathetic person in the world is someone who has sight, but no vision.”
What would you change in your life, right now, if you knew for certain that Jesus was coming back in, say, six months? How would your life change; what would you do differently? Who would you seek to be reconciled with? Who would you start praying for? Who would you seek to share the gospel with? Who would you invite to come to an event or invite to join an enquirer’s course? What would you do differently; what would change if you knew for certain that Jesus’ return was just six months away? Friends, what makes you so certain that it’s not? Why are we so complacent?
Baptism is a sacrament instituted by Christ himself. According to the Anglican Book of Common Prayer baptism is: ‘An outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace.’ In other words, baptism is a sign or symbol that represents our acceptance of God’s grace to us in Christ and God’s acceptance of us through Christ. The 16th century reformer, John Calvin, explained it like this: ‘Circumcision was for the Jews their first entry into the church, because it was a token to them by which they were assured of adoption as the people and household of God. (…) In a like manner, we also are consecrated to God through baptism, to be reckoned as his people.’
We have to face up our sins before God can put them behind us. When we are ready to uncover our sins in confession, God is ready to cover them in forgiveness.
“‘Wait on the Lord’ is a constant refrain in the Psalms, and it is a necessary word, for God often keeps us waiting. He is not in such a hurry as we are, and it is not his way to give more light on the future than we need for action in the present, or to guide us more than one step at a time. When in doubt, do nothing, but continue to wait on God. When action is needed, light will come.”
J. I. Packer
J.I. Packer, Knowing God, (1993 edition), London: Hodder and Stoughton, p.271
“By perseverance the snail reached the ark.”
Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892), English preacher.
Joyce Meyer asks: What are you hoping for? What are you expecting in life? Are you looking for something good to happen or are you expecting to be disappointed? So many people are feeling hopeless these days. However, Jesus did not die for us to be hopeless. He died so that we could be full of hope. The devil wants to steal your hope and he will lie to you. He’ll tell you that nothing good can happen in your life or that the things you care about won’t last. If you’re struggling with a difficult situation, he’ll tell you it will never end. But you have to stay full of hope and remember that the devil is a liar. God can change everything! Our Father is good, and He has good plans for your life. If you will maintain your hope, especially in the midst of troubled and uncertain times, He has promised you “double for your trouble”. So refuse to give up hope. Start expecting God to do something, something good!
Joyce Meyer, Promises For Your Everyday Life, daily devotional on YouVersion, day 148 of 365
“When you look at a bright light and then close your eyes, what do you see? You see the same light even with your eyes closed. Keep your eyes closed and that light will slowly fade away. It is the same with gratitude.”
Paul J. Meyer, author
“Worry is the most popular form of suicide. It impairs appetite, spoils digestion, disturbs sleep, irritates disposition, weakens mind, warps character, saps bodily health and stimulates disease. Worry is the real cause of death in thousands of instances where some other disease is named on the death certificate.”
William George Jordan (1864-1928), writer
“I have tithed every dollar God has entrusted to me: And I want to say, if I had not tithed the first dollar I made, I would not have tithed the first million dollars I made.”
John D. Rockefeller, senior.
“There are 24 hours or 1440 minutes in a day. Invest just 1% of your time each day to learning new material or skills (that’s just 15 minutes a day, rounding it up) and over the course of a year you will have invested an extra 91 hours in additional study time. That’s like going back to college for three whole weeks every year!
R. Ian Seymour
R. Ian Seymour, excerpt taken from Maximise Your Potential
“Purpose in life is far more important than property or possessions. Having more to live with is no substitute for having more to live for. God’s purpose for you is not that you should sit around waiting for Jesus’ return to redeem the world. He wants your life to make a difference now. You are called to be a blessing to those around you.” – Nicky Gumbel
‘Lucky’ coincidences are just God’s way of staying anonymous.
We don’t notice ourselves growing older physically until we look at an earlier photograph, and then it hits us! And it’s the same with spiritual growth; it’s hard to gauge how far you have come until you look back and see where you were before Jesus saved you; before He turned your life around.
Bob Gass
Source: The UCB Word For Today, 22/8/2007
“Say much of what the Lord has done for you, but say little of what you have done for the Lord. Do not utter a self-glorifying sentence!”
Charles Spurgeon.
“Success makes success, as money makes money.”
Chamfort (1741-1794)
“If a man has a talent and cannot use it, he has failed. If he has a talent and uses only half of it, he has partly failed. If he has a talent and learns somehow to use the whole of it, he has gloriously succeeded, and won a satisfaction and a triumph few men ever know.”
– Thomas Wolfe
“Leadership is the talent for enabling others to use their talent… Leaders, like orchestral conductors, are there to enable all the voices or instruments to be heard to their best effect in harmony. Their role as leaders within their specific fields is to identify, develop and use all the talents of their people in a creative symphony of service to the common good.” – John Adair
Soren Kierkegaard wrote: ‘A man prayed, and at first he thought prayer was talking. But then he became more and more quiet until in the end he realised that prayer is listening.’ – Interesting that the same letters that make the word ‘silent’ also make the word ‘listen’.
Unity in essentials, liberty in non-essentials, charity in all things: As diversified as the Christian Church is, we are to make every effort to maintain unity in the essentials (which means adhering to the gospel), allow liberty (freedom of choice) in the non-essentials, and be charitable in all things, even when we passionately disagree! In other words, when we disagree we are not to be disagreeable. In the Church our unity in Christ means that our diversity does not become division. And our diversity means that our unity does not become uniformity.
John Stott noted that: “Depression is a fairly common condition among Christian people. I am referring not to clinical depression, which may need expert psychotherapy, but to spiritual depression which we should be able to handle ourselves.” – “For people who truly struggle with daily depression and live most of their lives in the depths of despair, it is important to understand the relationship between joy and thanksgiving. If you are a thankful person, joy cannot be so very far away. If you are a joyful person, I can guarantee that you count your blessings loudly and daily. Thanksgiving is the password that opens the door of His presence to His people. And, when you enter into His presence, you know that you will find there: JOY! So today if you are struggling with sadness or disappointment in life, make a list of things for which you are thankful. Don’t stop at 5 or 10, be lavish in your thanksgiving and make a list of 20 or 50 or 100 things for which you are grateful. Thanksgiving should be a genuine daily lifestyle. A grateful heart is the fertile growing place for the seeds of joy to spring up and blossom in abundance.”
[Note: Source: A Jolt of Joy, devotional on YouVersion, day 30 of 31]
John Stott, 2006, Through The Bible Through The Year, Abingdon Oxon: Candle Books, p.97
“Your success in life will be in direct proportion to what you do after you do what you are expected to do.” – Brian Tracy
One reason the Lord permits us to go through trials, is so we might not get too content or comfortable in our faith and stop growing.
A young violinist was giving a concert one day in front of a large crowd. He ended his concert with a flourish, and all the people stood up and applauded, shouting, “Bravo! Bravo! What a performance!” But the young man put his head down. As the people continued to clap, his eyes began to fill with tears. There was no smile on his face.
All of a sudden as the applause began to die, an old man sitting up in the balcony stood up and began to clap. As soon as the violinist saw that, a smile came across his face. He wiped the tears from his eyes. He smiled and held up his violin and walked off stage.
A man up in the wings said, “How come you were sad when the people stood up, but when that old man stood up, you became glad again?”
“Because the old man was my violin teacher,” the young musician explained, “and unless he stood up, my concert would have been a failure, because he is the only one who knows all the nuances of the music I played. He knows exactly how each piece is supposed to be played. It does not matter whether the people stand and applaud. I want to know if my teacher is going to stand and applaud.”
My friend, unless God is standing and applauding, we really haven’t done anything. Don’t be fooled by people’s applause. Make sure that Jesus Christ says, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
Tony Evans
Tony Evans, Time To Get Serious, 1995, Illinois: Crossway Books, p.193
“You do not have to go to church to be a Christian. You do not have to go home to be married either. But in both cases if you do not, you will have a very poor relationship.”
R. Kent Hughes
The only reason that Christ has not yet returned can only be that there are still more people who are yet to be saved. – I can’t think of any other reason from the scriptures to explain why Jesus has not yet come back. Can you?
Don’t doubt or be discouraged; it’s usually the last key in the bunch that fits the lock.
Life can be tough sometimes and we are often afflicted by the PLOM syndrome – poor little old me! We feel like God has abandoned us; our prayers go unanswered; we are left wandering around in no-mans-land, in the desert, and we think God has forgotten us. But God has not forgotten: God sees, God hears, God knows. God has not forgotten you. Your trials and troubles serve to refine your faith and trust in Him; they develop character, strength and perseverance. God says: “I, the LORD, made you, and I will not forget you” (Isaiah 44v21)… “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? [Maybe] Though she may forget, I will not forget you, says the Lord (Isaiah 49v15).” ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you’ (Hebrew 13v5). – God is working behind the scenes. Trust in his promises. He will provide for you. He will protect you. He will give you peace and rest in Him.
Joel Osteen writes: ‘A war is raging all around you, yet, amazingly, you may not even be aware of it. The battle is for your mind. Your enemy’s number one target is the arena of your thoughts. (The Hebrew word for ‘adversary’ is satan, which means ‘a person who opposes or fights against another’. In the Bible, the word is often used as a proper name for a powerful angel-like being who is the avowed enemy of God and humans. Although Satan has great powers, he is no match for God.) The enemy knows if he can control and manipulate the way you think, he’ll be able to control and manipulate your entire life. Indeed thoughts determine actions, attitude and self-image. Really, thoughts determine destiny. That’s why the Bible warns us to guard our minds. We must be extremely careful not only about what we ingest through our eyes and ears, but what we think about. If you dwell on depressing thoughts, you will live a depressing life. If you continually gravitate towards negative thoughts, you will gravitate towards negative people, activities, philosophies and lifestyles. Your life will always follow your thoughts.
Almost like a magnet, we draw in what we constantly think about. If you are always thinking positive, happy, joyful thoughts, you’re going to be a positive, happy, joyful person.
Our thoughts also affect our emotions. We will feel exactly the way we think. You will never be happy unless you first think happy thoughts. Conversely, it’s impossible to remain discouraged unless you first think discouraging thoughts. So much of success or failure in life begins in our minds and is influenced by what we allow ourselves to dwell on.
Some people say, ‘Well, my circumstances have got me down. You just don’t know what I’m going through.’ Actually, your circumstances haven’t got you down. Your thoughts about your circumstances have got you down. On the other hand, you can be in one of the biggest battles of your life and still be filled with joy and peace and victory – if you simply learn how to choose the right thoughts.’
Joel Osteen, Your Best Life Now, 2008, London: Hodder and Stoughton, p.133-136
Courage isn’t the absence of fear it’s the mastery of it.
Is prayer your steering wheel or is it your spare tyre?
Corrie Ten Boom
Remorse is not the same as repentance. – To be remorseful is to be sorry, but to repent is more than just being sorry: to repent is to confess and seek God’s forgiveness.
We have to understand that death was not part of God’s original creation plan. Death was an effect of sin. So, if death defeated Jesus, then sin has not been dealt with, and we are still lost. [A dead Saviour cannot save anybody!] Here’s the deal: If Jesus died and that was it, well there’s nothing remarkable about that. But if it’s true Jesus rose from the dead, then that changes everything. If Jesus rose from the dead that means he conquered the final enemy: death. That means that everything he claimed about himself is true. He isn’t just human. He is God. He is the answer to mankind’s problems. He is Saviour. Jesus didn’t just die. He rose from the dead. That’s what God would do, because an eternal, infinite God can’t be killed off – at least not permanently, by his creation. The resurrection proves that everything Jesus said was true. The resurrection gives Christians power to live in victory in this life, and it proves that life continues after our time on earth is over. The gospel is good news because of the resurrection.
Judah Smith
Judah Smith, 2013, Jesus Is, Nashville Tennessee: Thomas Nelson Publishers, p.180-182
People say, ‘I want to be used; I want to serve the church’… but then you ask them to stack the chairs or wash up or serve tea and coffee and they say, ‘now I’m just being used!’ – There’s no pleasing some folk!
A successful bank president, about to retire, was being interviewed by a reported: “Sir, to what do you attribute your success?”
“That’s easy to answer: good decisions.”
“And to what do you attribute your good decisions?”
“That’s easier still: the wisdom gained from experience.”
“And where did you get that experience?”
“Easy again: learning from bad decisions.”
Source: David McNally, Even Eagles Need A Push, 1990, New York: Dell Publishing, p.4
“My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher that the earth so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55v8-9 NIV). Astronomers have spied galaxies 12.3 billion light-years from earth. To put that distance into perspective, consider the fact that light traveling 186,000 miles per second takes only eight minutes to travel the 93 million miles between the sun and planet earth. Sunlight is only eight minutes old. But the light from the furthest galaxy takes 12.3 billion years to get here. That distance is virtually incomprehensible! And God says that is about the distance between His thoughts and our thoughts. Your best thoughts about God on your best day falls 12.3 billion light-years short of how good God really is. We underestimate God’s goodness by at least 12.3 billion light-years. (…) Maybe it’s time to stop putting God in a box the size of your cerebral cortex. Maybe it’s time to stop creating God in your image and let Him create you in His.
Mark Batterson
Mark Batterson, 2006, In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day, Colorado: Multnomah Books, p.28-29
Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones, former minister of Westminster Chapel in London, wrote a book called Spiritual Depression. In it he says: “The devil’s one object is so to depress God’s people that he can go to the man of the world and say: There are God’s people. Do you want to be like that?” Lloyd-Jones goes on to say: In a sense a depressed Christian is a contradiction in terms, and he is a very poor recommendation of the gospel. We are living in a pragmatic age. People today are not primarily interested in truth, what they are interested in is results. The one question they ask is: Does it work? They are frantically seeking and searching for something that can help them. (…) Nothing is more important, therefore, than that we should be delivered from a condition which gives other people, looking at us, the impression that to be a Christian means to be unhappy, to be sad, to be morbid, and that the Christian is one who scorns delights and lives laborious days. (…) Satan can’t rob us of our salvation, but he can definitely rob us of our joy. His great concern is to prevent anyone becoming a Christian, but when that fails, his one object then is to make them miserable Christians so that he can point men who are under conviction of sin to them and say: ‘That is Christianity; look at him or her. There is a picture of Christianity! Look at that miserable creature. Do you want to be like that?’
D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, 1965, Spiritual Depression, Michigan: Eerdmans, p.19-20, p.69)
John Dickson writes: ‘The message of Christianity gives us hope for this life and beyond. According to Jesus, death in not the scary mystery that many of us think it is. It can be the entrance into something incredible. Jesus was always on about ‘eternal life’. He never described it as fairies and angels floating through the air playing harps and listening to choir music. He likened it to a huge party, full of good food and drink, surrounded by great company – God especially. For the Christian, there is great reason for being hopeful about the future.’
John Dickson, A Sneaking Suspicion, p.120
“When God brings the blank space, see that you do not [try to] fill it, but wait… Never run before God’s guidance. If there is the slightest doubt, then He is not guiding. Whenever there is doubt – don’t… Wait for God’s time to bring it round and He will do it without any heartbreak or disappointment. When it is a question of the providential will of God, wait for God to move.”
Oswald Chambers
Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest, (2000 edition), Worcester: Oswald Chambers Publications, p.10
“For most of us, the unknown is so terrifying that we will remain with what we have long after it is apparent that it is punishing to do so.”
Daryl Conner
A Sunday school teacher asked the children: “Why is it necessary to be quiet when you go into the church?” A little girl called replied, “Because the people are sleeping.”
It has to be said, many people think of church services as boring, sometimes dead-boring, and to be fair a lot of church services are… BUT they absolutely should not be!
“One of the most powerful forces in the world is the will of men and women who believe in themselves, who dare to hope and aim high, who go confidently after the things they want from life.”
Rich DeVos, co-founder of Amway Corporation
“The only difference between a rut and a grave is its length, depth and how long you’re in it for!”
Art Holst (professional speaker)
“Be so busy giving recognition to others that you don’t need it yourself.”
Jim Rohn
There is no doubt that most non-Christians will walk into our homes ten times faster than they will walk into our churches. As we get to know people as friends, they will begin to confide in us about their burdens, longings, aspirations, frustrations and emptiness. As they tell us these things, we can say quietly (if our experience was similar), “You know, I used to feel like that until I had an experience that completely changed my outlook on life. Would you like me to tell you about it?”
Paul Little (professor of evangelism at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School)
Source: Paul Little, How to Give Away Your Faith, Downers Grove Illinois, IVP (1988 edition), p.46,59
“Don’t be afraid to give your best to what seemingly are small jobs. Every time you conquer one it makes you that much stronger. If you do the little jobs well, the big ones tend to take care of themselves.”
Dale Carnegie
My wife is a light eater… as soon as it gets light she starts eating!
“When you change from wishing and whinging to setting powerful value-driven goals, you move to a more positive and productive life. Negative emotions like frustration, fear, anxiety, stress, anger and depression plague people with no direction and therefore no focus or hope. Setting goals moves us from dreams with a remote possibility and reliance on blind luck to the results and relationships we are looking for. Living life with the attitude, ‘let’s wait and see how it turns out’ is a waste of your potential and your power.”
Jinny Ditzler
Source: Jinny Ditzler, 1994, Your Best Year Yet, London: Thorsons, p.139